Female Subjectivity and Shoujo (Girls) Manga

Female Subjectivity and Shoujo (Girls) Manga (Japanese Comics): Shoujo in Ladies’ Comics and Young Ladies’ Comics Fusami Ogi I. Sexist Reality and Ladies’ Comics: Women’s Lives and Experiences Shoujo manga experienced a turning point in the 1970s when more women began to choose different lives from those the traditional gender role system expected them to take. Although the Japanese social system supports women as housewives, the number of women who work outside the house has been increasing. In this article, I am going to survey the situation of women in Japan when ladies’ comics was born in the 1980s and consider how ladies’ comics could convey those women’s voices. The ? rst publication of the genre ladies’ comics is Be Love published by Kodansha in 1980. Its target reader is an adult female approximately 25 to 30 years old. Generally, the target readers of ladies comics are adult women or shoujo who are almost adult. Ladies comics seem to have performed two roles as a new kind of writing for women: the ? st is to present women’s desires when they are no longer girls; and the second is to offer alternate role models to adult women. In these respects, ladies’ comics is a genre which ? rst requires identi? cation with the category ‘‘woman,’’ rather than a genre which gives readers an objective point of view de? ned by the category ‘‘woman. ’’ The number of ladies’ comics magazines increased as if re? ecting women’s increased concern with their own lives. There were only two ladies’ comics in 1980, but the number went up to 8 in 1984, 19 in 1985, and 48 in 1991 (Shuppan 1996: 201; 1999: 226). The 1980s, when ladies’ comics became quite popular, was a time in which working women disrupted sexist myths which presented working women as unattractive and sexually frustrated (Buckley 1989: 107). It is signi? cant that after 1985 the number of ladies’ comics increased dramatically, because in 780 Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 781 1985 Kikai kintou hou [The Equal Employment Opportunity Law] was passed in the Diet, which guarantees equal employment opportunities to both men and women. However, the law was not strict and there was no punishment stipulated if companies did not follow the law. Since the law just encouraged companies to arrange equal opportunities for both men and women, most women had to continue their ? ght against the discrimination triggered by being women (Shiota 2000; Ueno 1995; Ueno 1990: 303; Sougou 1993: 268; Bornoff 1991: 452). Although the law barred sexual discrimination in the workplace, jobs and career expectations were still gender coded. The law was passed on May 17 in 1985, and by April 1 in 1986 when the law became effective, companies managed to invent two new categories to classify full-time jobs: sougou shoku [managerial career track] and ippan shoku [regular service]. According to Ueno Chizuko,1 in 1986, 99 % of male employees of new graduates were employed as sougou shoku, which includes business trips and transfers to other sections or branches in the future, and 99% of female employees recruited from among new graduates were employed as ippan shoku, which does not include the possibility of such transfer (Ueno 1990: 303). A woman in an ippan shoku position is generally called an ‘‘O. L. ,’’ or ‘‘of? ce lady. ’’ This position never allows the possibility of promotion. It is a position that re? ects the traditional feminine role as a housewife in a household. To cite Yuko Ogasawara: Most of? ce ladies are not entrusted with work that fully exercises their abilities, but are instead assigned simple, routine clerical jobs. They have little prospect of promotion, and their individuality is seldom respected, as evidenced by the fact that they are often referred to as ‘‘gifts. ’’ (1998: 155) Of? ce work that included preparing and serving tea to male workers was mostly reserved for the of? ce ladies (Allison 1994: 93). Ogasawara claims that ‘‘[I]ndeed, men in Japanese companies are dependent on women for their loyal and reliable assistance’’ (1998: 156). According to the data in 1996, women workers occupy 8. 2% of all managerial posts in Japan, while in the US, 42. 7% of the managerial posts are held by women (Inoue 1999: 115). The position of of? ce ladies only creates a glass ceiling. 782 A Journal of Popular Culture The law was not a happy avenue to equality between men and women. It was based on gender segregation. It forced female workers to work as late hours and at as physical and demanding jobs as men, and raised the number of female parttime workers (Sougou 1993: 268; Ueno 1995: 702). According to Shiota Sakiko, in 1987, 48. 2% of wives of employees had a job, and more than 40% of the wives with a job were part-time workers (Shiota 2000: 152). In fact, the Equal Employment Opportunity Law was not a law that encouraged women to pursue long-term careers. Rather, it was a law that aimed at protecting women who were also engaged in housework. Protecting the position of housewives, the Japanese government has maintained women as a low cost, secondary labor force (Shiota 2000: 175; Ueno 1995: 700). Shiota declares that in the 1990s the easiest lifestyle for a woman is still to choose the traditional female role, where a woman is economically supported by her husband (Shiota 2000: 165). Women who pursue careers have to choose either of two courses: to give up housework or to ? nd a substitute in the home for herself (Shiota 2000: 87). In fact, it seems dif? cult for most women to give up housework. Therefore, according to Shiota, if she cannot ? nd a substitute in the home for herself, she has to do with both housework and outside employment. However, the number of women who are pursuing careers has been increasing. The Equal Employment Opportunity Law opened opportunities for some women. The number of women whose work is not secondary is increasing (Konno 2000: 218-19). Moreover, the traditional form of marriage, in which men go out to work and women stay at home, is becoming obsolete. Anne E. Imamura remarks: [In the 1990s] The cost of living pushed women into the labor force, but the sluggish domestic economy cut into women’s gains in the job market. Women’s age at ? rst marriage rose to twenty-six, crossing the magic number of twenty-? ve, when womenFlike Christmas cakesF were supposed to become stale. Women were in no hurry to marry, and once married had fewer children. (1996: 4) Despite the reality of the current Japanese society, in which the birth rate (Inoue 1999: 5)2 is decreasing, according to Shiota, most women who work outside the house regard child raising as a part of their future happiness (2000: 84). According to Shiota, Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 783 n Japanese society, which values housework only in relation to housewives, women need different role models for their current lives from that of the conventional lifestyle for women, because more and more women do not conform to the conventional role models the society endorses. Ladies’ comics may provide women with such models and possible ideas for their futures. This genre may help women to generate a space where they can amuse themselves a s women and also consider their dif? culties in reality in the process of pursuing a more satisfying, ful? lling way of life. The increase in ladies’ comics magazines seems to re? ect ` women’s consciousness-raising vis a vis their position both within and outside the house. As we have seen, the Japanese social system has been more supportive of the position of housewife, which resulted in the increase in the number of housewives who also worked outside the home as part-time workers. The position as a part-time worker imposed a double bind on a woman: housework has continued being regarded as a woman’s duty and the woman’s labor force outside the house has been kept as secondary. However, the number of housewives who are engaged only in housework is decreasing and more women are participating in work outside the home. The Employment Equal Opportunity Law did not bring many bene? ts to working women, but as Ueno points out, the law permitted companies to require women to work outside the home as hard as men (Ueno 1995: 702). This meant that women had to be like men to work outside, but it also gave both men and women an opportunity to reconsider existing gender roles. That is to say, the law ironically exposed the fact that women were not the only ones that had suffered from traditional gender roles. Shoujo in Ladies’ Comics Ladies’ comics has become a genre which re? ects the contemporary dif? culties of women’s lives and their pleasures. In order to present ‘‘women,’’ the women writers each pursue the image in their own manner. As I pointed out before, the following two roles are crucial to examining ladies’ comics as writing for women: the ? st is to present women’s desires when they are no longer girls; and the second is to offer role models to adult women. In this section, I would like to explore 784 A Journal of Popular Culture these two points in turn, considering how ladies’ comics, as intended explicitly for a woman who is no longer a shoujo, is independent of shoujo manga, if they still share some aspects, I would like to examine how they rework the concept of gender and how the social background has been re? ected in those aspects. 1. A Woman as Sexual Subject The most crucial reason for the popularity of ladies’ comics in the 1980s, according to critics (Matsuzawa 1999: 29; Ishida 1992: 76), is the introduction of the theme of sexuality. Because shoujo is a common word in Japanese meaning a teen-aged female before marriage, it was very dif? cult to deal with the theme of sexuality in shoujo manga, in spite of its being a genre for women, by women, and about women. As a result, in the 1970s shoujo manga created a special way to use the male body in order to introduce the theme of sexuality. Ladies’ comics visualizes the theme of sexuality using adult women’s bodies. Ladies’ comics offered the theme of sexuality to both women writers and readers in a more suitable way for their age (Yonezawa 1988: 168) and the issues positively represent sexuality, showing women who frankly enjoy their sexual affairs (Fujimoto 1999b: 84). Employing women’s own bodies, ladies’ comics provided women, who were not allowed to be in a subject position for their sexuality and pleasure, with a space in which they can acknowledge and accept their sexuality. However at this point, we have a problem with ladies’ comics in that the texts represent women’s roles only from women’s points of view. For example, explicit sexual encounters from a female protagonist’s point of view are often depicted in ladies’ comics, which seem to challenge the pornographic discourse of maleoriented publishers. This may heighten woman’s consciousness, suggesting that women can also gain a subject position from which they can ‘‘look’’ at and objectify males. But we cannot say that the texts do not reinscribe the man/woman power relationship because they are written for female readers alone and thus do not affect male readers in any way. As long as these texts explore ‘‘women’’ only from the point of view of heterosexual women, the use of women by women is not much different from men’s use of women for purposes of sexual titillation (Pollock 1977: 142), which Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 785 retains the hierarchical power relationship; they remain mere image-promoters rather than image-makers. This limitation of ladies’ comics is re? ected in the fact that ladies’ comics present marriage as a natural goal for a woman. As Arimitsu Mamiko remarks, ladies’ comics mainly functioned as a reinscription of patriarchal values and a female version of pornography (Arimitsu 1991: 154). As long as the characters in ladies’ comics question whether they can get married or continue their marriage safely, they never question the system itself. To envision a woman’s future position as a ‘‘happy’’ housewife and mother might even enhance the myth of motherhood as a natural result of marriage. Here women objectify themselves according to patriarchal codes, reinforcing heterosexual gender roles and preserving a ? xed ideology. Considering that the genre ladies’ comics does not abandon the traditional view of ‘‘women’’ but perpetuates it, we cannot help but see the genre reinscribing the existing value of gender. However, considering the turning point in shoujo manga in terms of sexuality in the 1970s, it is crucial to note that ladies’ comics provided women with a space in which they could confront and acknowledge their own bodies. Although most ladies’ comics might only represent the traditional power relationship between men and women, the space of women in manga for women has been changing, generating different forms. The history of shoujo manga as women’s space has existed for only a few decades and has offered various ways to challenge the existing gender roles. After the turning point in the 1970s, in which shoujo manga introduced the subversive theme of sexuality, shoujo as a female body has been secured by employing a boy’s body to explore the theme of sexuality. In terms of the theme of sexuality, ladies’ comics is one of the ‘‘failures’’ of shoujo manga. adies’ comics is a genre which can deal with explicit sexuality that shoujo manga could not handle. As a gendered category for women, ladies’ comics is a younger sister of shoujo manga. But ladies’ comics is not a genre which takes over the characteristics of shoujo manga regar ding sexuality. Instead, dealing with a taboo subject for shoujo’s sexuality, ladies’ comics is a genre for a woman who fails to be a shoujo. Shoujo manga has interpellated readers and writers in terms of gender, while portraying taboo subjects in the form of the absence of the shoujo. The category ladies’ comics as a women’s genre would also tell women how to perform as 786 A Journal of Popular Culture ‘‘women’’ and signal writers and readers that they are reading what has been written for adult ‘‘women,’’ while portraying what shoujo cannot be or do. Here, the existence of ladies’ comics, which promises women’s sexual pleasure, seemingly performs what adult women want, and reinscribes the existing power relationship between man and woman merely by replacing male gazes with female gazes. However, as a ‘‘failure’’ of the category shoujo manga, it also disturbs a woman when she sees her sexuality in a traditional way. As a supposedly sexual ‘‘subject’’ in pornographic representations for women in ladies’ comics, a female reader may enjoy her sexual desire, but may also see her sexual desire of an adult woman as a ‘‘failure’’ of a shoujo or what is not shoujo. The female sexual subject of ladies’ comics destabilizes the idea of shoujo, which does not contain female sexuality of women and does not present women’s bodies. Ladies’ comics, as a category for women, reinscribes the traditional values of women, but at the same time, as a ‘‘failure’’ of shoujo manga, promising to introduce what shoujo or a future woman should not have, stimulates the world of comics for ‘‘women. ’’ This characteristic of ladies’ comics, which presents what shoujo manga cannot contain, might emphasize and develop ladies’ comics as pornographic representations of women’s bodies, which could not directly be represented in shoujo manga and needed to be transformed into other bodies. In this sense, pornographic representations of ladies’ comics are part of the concept of shoujo and its absence, rather than a result of a mere reversal of a male and female power relationship which merely looks at a woman’s body as a sexual object. 2. Role Models to Women Another function of ladies’ comics has been to present various images of women’s lifestyles as role models for other women. Mainly dealing with themes which closely report women’s daily lives such as love, marriage, and work (Yonezawa 2000: 1009), the purpose of the genre has been to describe ‘‘real’’ women’s lives (cf. Fujimoto 1990: 193-94). A shoujo manga writer, Shouji Masako, who is currently writing ladies’ comics, comments that writing shoujo manga is easier than writing ladies’ comics, because in shoujo manga you can Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 787 pursue dreams and readers would not recognize them as lies (Shouji Masako 1983: 110). A realist perspective on women’s lives is one difference between shoujo manga and ladies’ comics. Since the 1970s, one of the crucial reasons for shoujo manga to be treated as serious ? ction has been its use of fantastic illusions in addition to realistic concepts. As Fujimoto Yukari remarks, in the world of shoujo manga, most of the working women’s occupations are special ones such as designers, pianists, actresses, or models, where talent and originality matter; ladies’ comics, however, even in the late 1980s, depict common women’s daily lives (Fujimoto 1994). Offering various familiar lifestyles and their problems, ladies’ comics becomes a sphere in which women can see their own lives as women. However, ladies’ comics, as well as shoujo manga, does not always encourage women to be independent (Matsuzawa 1999: 29) and to ? ht traditional, patriarchal values, which compel women to stay within a subsidiary position. For example, Waru [A Bad Girl], a long-run ladies’ comic from 1988 to 1997 in Be Love, presents the success story of a woman who continuously overcomes the dif? culties of her lower status as an of? ce lady and at the same time never gives up her love. Some readers regard Waru as an example of ladies’ comics with a feminist point of view which encourages women readers to be independent (Sakamoto 1999: 27). At the same time, this work has been criticized in that the heroine is totally passive and merely lucky (Erino 1991: 177). Erino Miya claims that the heroine does not do anything to further her career. The protagonist only accepts other people’s advice, and never doubts it, and she is asked to do things which seem to have no relation to her career, such as to remember a sweeper’s name. This work only regards a woman as a person who cannot do anything without help and never discovers her life by herself, but always thinks about love. Although some ladies’ comics depict the severe and unequal reality which women may face at the of? ce, most stories end with a happy marriage to a nice husband. Yet according to Murakami Tomohiko, since the 1990s, ladies’ comics began to be regarded as a genre which also deals with social issues. Until then, ladies’ comics had drawn attention only to its pornographic and radically sexual scenes (Murakami 2000: 1006). As a genre which deals with women’s 788 A Journal of Popular Culture eality, ladies’ comics began to focus on more social and political issues, such as domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and so on, presenting how the woman character tackles the problems, suffers, and sometimes makes mistakes, rather than clearly suggesting which solution she should take. Ladies’ comics draws both women’s reality and their fantasies in a more serious way than shoujo manga, in that shoujo are at an age when they can still enjoy illu sions of gender, while the reality faced by readers of ladies’ comics requires them to consider marriage as if it were a social obligation. The theme of marriage in ladies’ comics begins to appear as one social and political issue, while shoujo manga deals only with a process to marriage. Moreover, differently from shoujo manga, ladies’ comics can present issues after marriage, including divorce as a principal theme. For example, Amane Kazumi, one of the most productive ladies’ comics writers, deals with current women’s issues in a serious way. Shelter, one of her ladies’ comics, depicts a woman who is beaten by her husband (see Figure 1). They had two daughters. The younger daughter was very smart and her father’s favorite. After she died in an accident on her way home with her mother, the father’s violence toward his family erupts. His violence unveils his male-centered values and contempt toward his wife. The wife and their elder daughter escape from the husband and go to a shelter for battered women. Shelter depicts how the female protagonist overcomes her problem, recovers her con? dence, and regains an independent life, which she once had as a lawyer. Presenting other women who share the same problem, this work considers different cases of domestic violence. As we see in this manga, ladies’ comics as a genre about women living in reality as adults, seems to show more concern about the process of how the heroine and other women change their lives, rather than about a solution leading to a happy ending. This work not only reveals male dominance within society, but also portrays each woman’s ? aws and how she easily spoils her partner and their relationship without knowing it, for example, by only being concerned about her ? nancial status and being supported by her husband although she does not love her husband any more. In this work, each story ends when a woman decides to change her life in a positive way, which leaves an impression of a happy ending. Yet in fact, it is not simply a happy ending. It is a new beginning for her life, Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 789 Figure 1. Amane Kazumi. Shelter. Tokyo: Hakusensha, 2001. 26-27. r 2000 Kazumi Amane/Hakusenha. which is not guaranteed to be a better life than before. However, some reference to the actual law related to women’s status and reliable comments by the heroine as a lawyer may suggest to readers that this manga could help and encourage women who are in reality suffering from a problem. Thus, ladies’ comics develops as a genre for female readers and their issues, which shoujo manga could not take up. Nevertheless, ladies’ comics seems still to contain a conventional sense of femininity, which shoujo manga also displays as a genre. The following two points especially emphasize the traditional concept of femininity in ladies’ comics. First, as I suggested before, ladies’ comics presents many women who depend upon their husbands or partners and are waiting for someone who would lead them and love them. Second, ladies’ comics rarely present elderly or middle-aged female protagonists, although the genre was generated from women’s need to ‘‘grow up. ’’ 790 A Journal of Popular Culture The ? rst point supports a passive femininity like that of Cinderella which can be seen in shoujo manga. As we have examined, it also re? ects the current status of Japanese women, in which, as Shiota and other critics remark, the traditional woman’s life as a housewife totally supported by her husband has been the easiest, most traditional, and socially acceptable life for women to choose. This may explain why ladies’ comics are more concerned with marriage, than with women living independently of marriage. However, as we have seen in Shelter, the treatment of marriage has been changing and ladies’ comics is becoming a genre which shows the problems of current social issues about women who can be part of an unhappy marriage. The second point also re? ects traditional femininity. That is to say, in the world of ladies’ comics, the concept of youth seems still effective as a key concept of ideal femininity, just like in the world of shoujo. In comparison with men’s comics which presents many middle-aged male main characters, ladies’ comics, which rarely show older females as main characters, seem a part of shoujo manga, rather than an independent genre. One of the characteristics of the genre for adults might lie in its treatment of various types of characters in part de? ned by age. In this respect, ladies’ comics as a genre for women could have focused on widely aged female characters and have even expanded a sense of femininity regarding age. However, middle-aged women, as Susan Napier points out, have been excluded from the world of manga: ‘‘It is also interesting to note that there seem to be relatively few manga concerning middleaged women or mothers in contemporary Japan’’ (Napier 1998: 105). Nevertheless, in comparison to other genres, we ? nd more middle-aged and older women characters in ladies’ comics as subcharacters. Their problems are depicted from the younger heroines’ point of view, and in that sense, ladies’ comics at least do not ignore elder women, but include them. Thus, ladies’ comics still maintains the traditional sense of femininity, which shoujo manga also holds as part of its conventional sense of shoujo. In this respect, ladies’ comics has not made a genre of manga for women in a general sense yet. Rather, ladies’ comics is a genre which presents what shoujo manga cannot do. In other words, dealing with both tradition and subversion to the existing notion of shoujo and making a dissonance between them to destabilize the existing system must be a way which ladies’ comics takes over from shoujo manga. Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 791 Promising to show women who are not shoujo any more, ladies’ comics stimulates readers’ existing notion about women who still recognize imaginary shoujo in themselves. However these days, we see the term josei manga, which means manga for women, and which tries to replace the term ladies’ comics. Although it has not emerged yet, in a strict sense that there are no manga for women of different ages, this genre is gradually moving away from shoujo manga to a women’s genre. Performing what cannot be shoujo and promising the emergence of a genre of manga for women, the genre adies’ comics may also continuously urge women not to depend on the division anymore between shoujo manga for shoujo and ladies’ comics for women who are not shoujo, which divides women into only two types that supposedly never merge. Writing Women and Shoujo Manga The number of ladies comics magazines increased from two in 1980 to 48 in 1991, and to 57 in 1993, as I noted ea rlier. By 1998 the number had shrunk somewhat to 54. They still have a large readership, although their publication was reduced in the late 1990s. The total publication including special issues of ladies’ comics in 1998 was 103,820,000, which comprises 7% of all manga publication; the highest total publication of ladies’ comics was 133,520,000 in 1991 (Shuppan 1999: 226). However, the concept of ladies’ comics has gradually changed. As we have seen, the contents of ladies’ comics have experienced some change in that ladies’ comics also became a genre of political and social issues. Further, another genre of manga for women emerged from ladies’ comics and shoujo manga. In the late 1980s and 1990s, a different type of commercial magazine of manga for women came out: Young You in 1987, Young Rose in 1990, and Feel Young in 1991. While some data count these magazines as ladies’ comics, they have been regarded by critics and readers as another genre (Ishida 1992: 76; Fujimoto 1999a: 28). Since these early magazines share the word ‘‘young’’ in their titles, the new genre has been called ‘‘Young ladies’ comics. ’’3 Their target readers range from girls in their late teens to women under thirty. Yet the genre seems to cover a wider range of readers, since there are characters over thirty and readers’ pages often show letters from middle-aged 792 A Journal of Popular Culture women. Although we manage to distinguish these three genres, the actual boundaries regarding contents, readers, and writers among shoujo manga, young ladies’ comics, and ladies’ comics are somewhat vague, perhaps except for shoujo manga for lower teens and the special interest of ladies’ comics in pornography, horror comics, mothering, and so on (Yonezawa 2000: 1009). Besides, some young ladies’ comics magazines call themselves shoujo manga. For example, a phrase of the copy for Chorus, one of the popular young ladies’ comics magazines, signi? es the status of young ladies’ comics: shoujo manga mo otona ni naru [shoujo manga also grows up]. Young ladies’ comics is a contradictory genre which at once contains sexuality, shoujo, and adult women. How mi ght we explain the contradictory impulses at work in the new genre, which has both characteristics of shoujo manga and ladies’ comics, and at the same time, is different from the existing two genres in terms of women’s lives? I will explore what enables this alternative perspective, which can share and separate the two genres at the same time, considering how the genre young ladies’ comics can open a different perspective in the world of manga for women, and how the term shoujo, which these three genres share, functions upon this genre to create a new writing. Since the genre contains shoujo, young ladies’ comics can be regarded as a part of shoujo manga, but it also contains adult women and their issues and has characteristics of ladies’ comics. In this sense, young ladies’ comics is a genre between shoujo manga and ladies’ comics. As Fujimoto remarks, the concept of marriage seems to play an important role to distinguish these three genres. shoujo manga represents women before marriage and ladies’ comics deals with women after marriage, while young ladies’ comics represents both women’s lives before and after marriage. Fujimoto’s idea of the division between shoujo manga and ladies’ comics, i. e. , marriage, suggests that both shoujo manga and ladies’ comics are patriarchal products. Ishida Saeko also sees young ladies’ comics as a product between shoujo manga and ladies’ comics. Yet Ishida regards young ladies’ comics as manga closer to shoujo manga. According to Ishida, although it contains sexuality, the genre takes over the world of shoujo manga, which is more concerned with shoujo’s inner mind and cannot escape the narrow and personal world of ‘‘herself. ’’ In this respect, young ladies’ comics is not a totally new genre. That is because shoujo manga as the ? rst genre of Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 793 manga for women has heavily affected other genres of manga in terms of women, especially this genre which employs shoujo as main characters. Yet simultaneously, we may also ? nd some signi? cant characteristics in young ladies’ comics, in its treatment of the same term shoujo. These three genres share the concept of shoujo, but their modes of representation are different. Shoujo manga has shoujo, ladies’ comics has a taboo concept for shoujo in the form of sexuality, and young ladies’ comics has shoujo, although it deals with sexuality. They are all manga, for women, by women, of women, but make use of the concept of women in terms of shoujo differently . The characteristic of young ladies’ comics appears in its treatment of shoujo and reality, which distinguishes this new genre from shoujo manga and ladies’ comics. On the one hand, shoujo manga visualizes the concept of shoujo and, as I suggested, even if it introduces taboo concepts like displacement into male bodies to shoujo, readers would notice their existence in the form of the absence of shoujo. On the other hand, ladies’ comics deals with what is taboo to shoujo as a counter category to shoujo manga and tries to depict adult women’s real lives and issues which shoujo manga cannot imagine. Young ladies’ comics maintains a shoujo’s point of view, but it also inherits a characteristic from ladies’ comics, which surveys reality rather than fantasy and tries to present shoujo’s life and issues as part of the reality surrounding them, just like ladies’ comics tries to deal with women’s issues and lives from their own perspective as women. Reading works published as young ladies’ comics, we would never think at least at the ? rst glance that they are presenting ‘‘reality. ’ Many elements remind readers of shoujo manga: their cute characters with big eyes, their concern for love and inner feelings, and special situations or happenings which would rarely occur to ‘‘actual girls. ’’ Yet their concern for reality makes young ladies’ comics unique and different from shoujo manga. For example, let us examine Onna tachi no miyako [Women’s Utopia] (1992-1994) by Matsunae Akemi , one of the most productive and popular shoujo manga writers who also writes for young ladies’ comics. In the late 1980s, an early series of this manga was published as shoujo manga. From 1988 to 1990, Katorea na onna tachi [Women Like Cattleya], which employs the same characters, was published in LaLa, and from 1992 to 1994, Onna tachi no miyako was published in Bouquet. 794 A Journal of Popular Culture LaLa and Bouquet are both shoujo manga magazines. In 1993, the series was also published in a new magazine Chorus, which has been one of the popular young ladies’ magazines. This work experienced a transition from shoujo manga to young ladies’ comics. It is about three women characters running a nursing home for elderly people. At ? rst glance, this work may seem to present typical cute shoujo characters. Then immediately, we notice that this manga uses the term shoujo in a double sense. One is shoujo in their teens and the other is shoujo in an ideological sense, which signi? es women who have either shoujo’s mind and feelings or appearance despite their age, even if they are in their seventies. In Figure 2, an interviewer mistakenly asks them a question for girls. The interviewer immediately runs away after she notices that she made a mistake, but the ‘‘aged’’ girls complain why the interviewer does not de? ne a girl’s age up to 74, instead of 24. Using aged protagonists, this manga unveils how the term shoujo is ? ated on the notion of youth. Simultaneously, this manga portrays issues of old age and sometimes depicts aged characters’ pasts, Figure 2. Matsunae Akemi. Onna tachi no miyako. Vol. 1. Tokyo: Shueisha, 1994. 7-8. r 1994 Matsunae Akemi/SHUEISHA, Inc. Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 795 in which they were physically â₠¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬Ëœshoujo. ’’ Not seriously, but comically, this work depicts how they had to suffer as shoujo in a traditional world under the patriarchal society before the war, suggesting a contrast with the current meaning of shoujo, which appears totally liberal in the story. This disruption of the notion of age in the world of shoujo manga, which later moved into the category young ladies’ comics, might tell us how the term shoujo began to become a sign which can ? oat free from the body of shoujo. The characters insist that they are still shoujo. Yet their existence as shoujo might subvert our notion of the existing shoujo and the traditional shoujo image. In this work, shoujo is not a body anymore, but is an ideological concept that suggests that everyone can be shoujo if they want. Young ladies’ comics is a genre which visually uses shoujo manga’s technique and presents cute girls. Like ladies’ comics, the genre centers on female characters and their issues, but its representation offers ? exible images of shoujo, which does not always show the properly aged shoujo. The notion of shoujo can be applied to any body beyond its physical sense of being a teenaged female before marriage. A con? ict between the notion of shoujo and what is actually presented as shoujo subjects gives a twist to the world of shoujo. Young ladies’ comics is about shoujo, and does not always show a taboo concept to the category shoujo, as ladies’ comics tries to show. This aspect of young ladies’ comics, once again, refers to the fact that shoujo can be a signi? er which freely moves from the existing bodies of shoujo, emphasizing itself as an ideological notion, from which readers may take and get out whatever they want. Furthermore, such different treatments of reality among these three genres will appear in their different endings. A typical shoujo manga has been regarded as the story, of a prince and a princess with a happy ending to a love story such as Cinderella, in which a lower-status girl gains a higher-status husband through magic. Ladies’ comics present their works as part of real lives and expect the ending to provide readers with an actual solution which they would also have in their lives. Young ladies’ comics also concerns reality and many women writers for this genre claim that they want to write manga which does not end but continues in the same way as the real life that they are having now continues. In general, they regard shoujo manga as a limited genre which does not allow them to write what they are writing currently. The concept of the ‘‘real’’ 796 A Journal of Popular Culture ppears as if it were a common key word among them regarding their comments on the limit of shoujo manga. However, the concept of the ‘‘real,’’ which young ladies’ comics deals with, also seems to have a unique message, because young ladies comics does not abandon shoujo’s point of view, which also allows readers to see dreams. Despite its concern about real lives of women, the concept of shoujo still remains in young ladies’ comics. Yet, the difference between shoujo manga and young ladies comics can be found in their treatment of this shoujo. Basically, shoujo manga shows the world of a girl before the age of social duty. Young ladies’ comics seemingly present a similar world in which a character can appear as shoujo without any social obligations. However, young ladies’ comics also emphasize some aspects of the protagonist, which stress that she has also been living in a ‘‘real’’ life. In reality, ‘‘she’’ gets hurt, gets old, or gets changed in some way. She also witnesses somebody experiencing a change. A shoujo protagonist in young ladies’ comics appears not as a momentary existence which will ? nish once the story ends, but as an actual existence, just like the readers who are living and continue their lives after the story ends. This perspective, which sees shoujo’s life as one that will continue after the story ends, is common among popular authors in the ? eld of young ladies’ comics. For example, a wellreceived young ladies’ comics, Happy-Mania, by Anno Moyoko, which started in 1995 and ended in July 2001, presents a unique shoujo character, who easily makes love but cannot ? nd a boy whom she can trust. Unlike the existing type of shoujo, this heroine uses her body as her ? rst step to love. Anno says that she now writes a ‘‘real’’ love story with sexual scenes which Anno herself could have experienced but shoujo manga discourages (Anno 1999: 160). For example, in Figure 3, the protagonist is excited about her new love, while her friend, who is drawn as a smaller ? gure, asks her if they used a condom or not. Tracing this protagonist, who is easily blinded by her love, this story continues to show various cases of love affairs which young women might experience. Figure 4 shows a moment when she ? nds out that her boyfriend has another girlfriend. That does not end her love, and the story continues showing her pursuing her boyfriend until she becomes something like a stalker and ? nally notices what she is doing for a worthless male; she decides to ? d another lover. And then, another story Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 797 Figure 3. Anno Moyoko. Happy-Mania. Vol. 1. Tokyo: Shodensha, 1996. 97. r 1996 Anno Moyoko/Shodensha. 798 A Journal of Popular Culture Figure 4. Anno Moyoko. Happy-Mania. Vol 1. Tokyo: Shodensha, 1996. 112. r 1996 Anno Moyoko/Shodensha. Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 799 about this protagonis t begins. Although readers of shoujo manga may expect a happy ending, the readers here do not necessarily expect one (Anno 1999: 164). Moreover, Minami Qta, one of the popular young ladies’ comics writers, denies the concept of ending itself. Her work is quite different from typical shounen (boys) and shoujo manga which offer a clear ending. According to her (Minami 1997: 196), typical shounen and shoujo manga are stories about gaining something. Shounen manga deal with the pursuit of power, money, or a position, while shoujo manga aims at attracting a handsome boy. Yet, to her, ‘‘reality’’ does not cease the moment something has been attained. Makimura Satoru, a popular and renowned shoujo manga writer who has written for shoujo manga since the 1970s, refers to how she felt when she began writing for young ladies’ comics (Makimura 1999). She thought that she could not write any more dream-like works for manga. She wished to write ‘‘reality,’’ in which as long as she lived, she would face more uncomfortable facts. At the same time, she did not totally abandon shoujo manga. Yet she composed her works in a different way, using some aspects of shoujo manga. She began research outside the world of shoujo manga. Researching readers by herself, she found how deceitful and ? ctitious what she had written as shoujo manga was. Here, what she notes as the importance in the category genre of young ladies’ comics is to present ‘‘reality. ’ These young ladies’ comics writers ? nd shoujo manga full of deceits which tell only comforting myths to entertain shoujo with dreamlike ideas; young ladies’ comics allow them to write something other than fantasy. In fact, many popular young ladies’ comics writers share this wish for the ‘‘real. ’â€⠄¢ Onozuka Kahori, another popular young ladies’ comics writer, also makes similar comments that she is writing a life, not a story, with upheavals, which might even hurt you. They wish to show how shoujo will be if she continues her life. Even after the story ends, their characters’ lives would continue. Onozuka suggests that she would like to send a message to readers, which suggests that even if they can be hurt, they will be ? ne, and such experience will give them power to continue their lives (Onozuka 1999: 30). However, in speaking about the ‘‘real’’ that shoujo manga cannot present, we should note that these young ladies’ comics 800 A Journal of Popular Culture writers point out facts. On the one hand, they have shoujo, and on the other hand, they want the shoujo to grow up, move, and change. Can shoujo grow up? The term shoujo is a category for girls during a special period in which they are neither children nor adults. Yet some heroines in young ladies’ comics seem to already have grown up because they deal with the theme of sexuality. Considering the ideological function of the category shoujo, which has used even her absence as her substance, we note a similar function of the category shoujo in young ladies’ comics, which uses shoujo’s absence, rather than showing a heroine who is shoujo. By offering a heroine who grows up enough to deal with sexuality, but has not found a way to settle down herself in accordance with the social codes which her gender requires, such as marriage, young ladies’ comics make use of the concept of shoujo. This heroine, who already has a sexual body of a woman, offers shoujo’s absence, rather than her existence. The absence of shoujo functions here again as a key to perceiving the connection of the manga with a ‘‘real’’ life, which shoujo does not have; young ladies’ comics resists idealization which portrays only one piece of her life as if it were the best moment. The genre of ladies’ comics, which employs the theme of sexuality and women’s bodies and their issues, has been a practice of how to develop what shoujo manga has treated in the form of the absence of shoujo to describe women’s sexuality and their adult lives. Ladies’ comics enabled what shoujo manga could not contain. Then young ladies’ comics was born and dealt with what ladies’ comics could not contain. Showing both what ladies’ comics cannot contain and what shoujo manga cannot contain, the new genre, temporarily called young ladies’ comics, seems to occupy a place in between shoujo manga and ladies’ comics, but it is more than that, rooted in the term shoujo. Showing the body of shoujo, it alters the meaning of shoujo into that of a future adult woman, who is still in the process of changing and considering her life in reality. In 1999, the Kikai kintou hou [The Equal Employment Opportunity Law] of 1985 was amended. A clause concerning sexual harassment was added and the law became stricter. The older version of the law only encouraged companies not to discriminate against women, but the revised law bans discrimination in promotion, education, and so on. It becomes a company’s duty not to discriminate against employees in terms Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 801 of gender. However, there are still many points which need to be amended. For example, the new clause concerning sexual harassment does not ban sexual harassment. According to the new version of the law, it is a company’s duty to take sexual harassment into consideration. Under such circumstances, women’s struggle at work will continue. The category shoujo functions as an ideological apparatus for women to be free from social obligations such as marriage. Women’s world of manga began with the term of shoujo. Even a new genre for adult women has been formed out of shoujo manga and seems to be still part of shoujo, which could escape from the reality and social obligation. houjo still functions as an important aspect of comics for women. When will women in Japan escape the world of shoujo? The Japanese society imposes many problems on women although women are trying to get out of the category shoujo, which they claim ignores ‘‘reality. ’’ However, women continue to question the disconnection between the category shoujo and themselves as adult women, allowing them both to think of their actual lives from the point of view of a shoujo who has not been involved in social obligations yet, and to imagine themselves as shoujo. In that sense, the category shoujo still gives female readers a performative power by promising to show another perspective which is the reality in which they live, in a process of their search for their own way of living. Notes Japanese names appear in the same order as they appear in their articles or books. 2 Number of children to whom one woman shall give birth when she is between the ages of 15 and 49 years old. In 1997, the birth rate in Japan was 1. 39. 3 Mediaworks. /http://www. mediaworks. co. jp/alt/000/text/ya. htmlS. 4 Yonezawa remarks that ladies’ comics magazines have three kinds of target readers: ‘‘young Mrs. ’ for housewives, ‘‘ladies’’ for working women, and ‘‘young adult’’ for younger women around twenty. Ladies’ comics by major publishers employ many manga writers who were once engaged as shoujo manga writers. According to Yonezawa, the main stream of current ladies’ comics has been closer to shoujo manga. 1 802 A Journal of Popular Culture Works Cited Allison, Anne. Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club. Chicago: The U of Chicago P, 1994. Amane, Kazumi. Shelter. Tokyo: Hakusensha, 2001. Anno, Moyoko. Happy Mania. 11 Vols. Tokyo: Shodensha, 1996-2001. Anno, Moyoko, Fushimi Noriaki, and Saito Ayako. ‘‘Renai no real wo kakukoto. ’’ Eureka 29. 4 (1997): 154-64. Arimitsu, Mamiko. ‘‘Yokubou surukoto eno yokubou. ’’ imago 2. 10 (1991): 152-61. Bornoff, Nicholas. Pink Samurai: Love, Marriage & Sex in Contemporary Japan. New York: Pocket Books, 1991. Buckley, Sandra. ‘‘The Case of the Disappearing Subject: A Japanese Pornographic Tale. ’’ Discours social/Social Discourse 1/2 (Spring/ Summer 1989): 93-109. Erino, Miya. ‘‘ ‘Shiawase’ no dou dou meguri. ’’ imago 2. 10 (1991): 175-81. Fujimoto, Yukari. ‘‘Onnano ryoseiguyu, otokono haninyou. ’ Gendaino esupuri 277 (1990): 177-209. FFF. ‘‘Oshigoto! ’’ New Feminism Review 5. Tokyo: Gakuyoshobo, 1994. 130-51. FFF. ‘‘Shoujo manga ga mederu otoko no karada. ’’ Queer Japan. Vol. 1. Tokyo: Keisoshobo, 1999a. 24-8. F FF. Kairaku denryuu. Tokyo: Kawaideshobo shinsha, 1999b. Fukami, Jun. Waru. Vol. 1. Tokyo: Kodansya, 1989. Imamura, Anne E. , ed. Introduction. Re-Imaging Japanese Women. Berkeley: U of California P, 1996. 1-11. Inoue, Teruko, and Yumiko Ehara, eds. Women’s Data Book. 3rd ed. Tokyo: Yuhikaku, 1999. Ishida, Saeko. ‘‘Shoujo manga no buntai to sono hougensei. ’ Comic Media: Media Co-Mix. Tokyo: NTT, 1992, 54-89. Konno, Minako. OL no souzou. Tokyo: Keisoshobo, 2000. Makimura, Satoru. ‘‘KaisetsuFShoujo manga karano rihabili. ’’ Renai wa shoujo manga de osowatta. Tokyo: Shueisha, 1999. 246-53. Matsunae, Akemi. Onna tachi no miyako. 3 Vols. Tokyo: Shueisha, 1994. Mediaworks. /http://www. mediaworks. co. jp/alt/000/text/ya. htmlS. Minami, Qta. ‘‘Minna ai wo shira nai. ’’ Eureka 29. 4. (1997): 191-201. Murakami, Tomohiko. ‘‘Manga. ’’ Chiezou 2000: The Asahi Encyclopedia of Current Terms. T okyo: Asahi Shimbun sha, 2000. 1006-07. Female Subjectivity and Shoujo Manga A 803 Napier, Susan. ‘‘Vampires, Psychic Girls, Flying Women and Sailor Scouts: Four faces of the young female in Japanese popular culture. ’’ The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. 91-109. Ogasawara, Yuko. Of? ce ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies. Berkeley: U of California P, 1998. Onozuka, Kahori. ‘‘Onozuka Kahori Interview. ’’ Talking Heads 14: Tokyo Cuties (1999): 24-35. Pollock, Griselda. ‘‘What’s Wrong with ‘Images of Woman? ’’ The Sexual Subject: A Screen Reader in Sexuality. London: Routledge, 1992. 135-45. Sakamoto, Mimei, and Matsuzawa Kureichi. ‘‘Ladies’ Comics. ’’ Pop Culture. Tokyo: Mainichi shinbun sha, 1999. 24-9. Shiota, Sakiko. Nihon no shakai seisaku to gender. Tokyo: Nihon hyouron sha, 2000. Shouji, Masako. ‘‘Mangaka ha kudari no escalator wo nobotte yukuyounamono. ’’ Pafu 9. 5 (1983): 109-21. Shuppan Shihyou [An Index of Publication: An Annual Report]. Ed. Kurihara Kouji. Tokyo: Zenkoku shuppan kyoukai, Shuppan kagaku kenkyuujyo [The National Publishing League and Publishing Science Institute], 1996. Shuppan Shihyou [An Index of Publication: An Annual Report]. Ed. Kurihara Kouji. Tokyo: Zenkoku shuppan kyoukai, Shuppan kagaku kenkyuujyo [The National Publishing League and Publishing Science Institute], 1999. Sougou jyosei shi keikyuu kai. Nihon jyosei no rekishi: onna no hataraki. Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1993. Ueno, Chizuko. ‘‘ ‘Roudou’ gainen no gender ka. ’’ Gender no nihonshi. Vol. 2. Tokyo: Tokyo UP, 1995. 679-710. FFF. Kafuchousei to shihonsei. Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1990. Yonezawa, Yoshihiro. Speech Baloon Parade. Tokyo: Kawaideshobo shinsha, 1988. FFF. ‘Manga bunka. ’’ Gendai Yougo no Kisochishiki: Encyclopedia of Comtemporary Words. Tokyo: Jiyuu kokuminsha, 2000. 1007-11. Fusami Ogi is associate professor at Chikushi Jogakuen University, Fukuoka, Japan, and has a PhD in comparative literature from SUNY Stone Brook. Copyright of Journal of Popular Culture is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not b e copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

The Incarceration Of The United States - 2529 Words

Since 2002, The United States has had the highest incarceration rate in the world, and many of those imprisoned within the U.S. will be released and rearrested within three years (Langan Levin, 2002). Unfortunately, research has been mixed shown that the time spent in prison does not successfully rehabilitate most inmates, and the majority of criminals return to a life of crime almost immediately. Most experts believe that many prisoners will learn more and better ways to commit crimes while they are locked up with fellow convicts. There is a combination of programs and environmental conditions that impact the recidivism rates. The majority of prisons exist to protect the public and punish the offender (French Gendreau, 2006; Langan †¦show more content†¦His policies caused the growth of a massive corrections system that currently houses an estimated 2.2 million inmates. Since the 1970’s federal and state correction agencies have consistently struggled to meet the i ncreased demands brought on by the US Department of Justice and strict drug laws; this in turn created the opportunity for Corrections Corporation of America to form, the largest private prison network in the United States (Godard, T 2015). With the precedent it set with the first private detention center, CCA changed the face of US corrections for good. The private sector became the quick fix to the problem of overcrowded and understaffed public prisons. The penal system in the United States is often portrayed as being tough on crime, but to many other western nations the penal system in the United States is viewed as a broken system (Mallory, 2006). While this is a tough critique, the American incarceration rate is the highest in the world at over 714 per 100,000 U.S. citizens (Walmsley, 2008). This rate is much higher than many of other western European countries, whose average incarceration rate is only 95 per 100,000 citizens (Stern, 2002; Walmsley, 2008). America’s higher rate of incarceration might be more acceptable if it resulted in a safer society. Consequently, one could reasonably conclude that the United States’ political agenda for increasing punishment to decrease crime yields an ineffective result. Therefore, in the

Managing People Performance - Case Study - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2170 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Narrative essay Level High school Did you like this example? Contents JOB DESCSRITION AND ITS BENEFITS POSITION AND JOB DESCRITION Duties and responsibilities: Qualifications: Recruitment and selection process DIFFERENT RECRUITMENT APPROACHES DIFFERENT TYPES OF SELECTION AND INTERVIEW Conclusion References . Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Managing People Performance Case Study" essay for you Create order JOB DESCSRITION AND ITS BENEFITS Job description is a document which outlines the duty or work description of the employee, what actually company want from his/her employee in the term of effort. Job description consist different types of terms and conditions of the company that helps in the process of recruitment and selection, those aspects are: Description of position: job description provides the general information about the role that helps in the process of recruitment selection. This general information helps in attracting the right person for this job and employer can easily find the right person from those applicants (The Importance of Job Descriptions, n.d.). Function of the position: job description provides the duties of the position that helps the applicants to clear the view about that particular post, what company exactly looking for. In selection, that helps in filter the applicants through screening according to the position duties (The Importance of Job Descriptions, n.d.) Rather than those aspects job description can also be useful for the company in different ways like: Internal promotion: job description helps in internal recruitment, the person who is working in the company and exactly matches the job description and suits for that position, company can promote that person and this things also give motivation among the existing staff members. Analyzing performance: job description helps in analyzing the performance of the staff through analyzing their work according to the duties and KPIà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. Advertisement; job description helps in advertising the job vacancy in newspaper, company website and social media. Advertisement also helps in promoting the name of the company through various channels of promotion. POSITION AND JOB DESCRITION Every organization craft the job description according to the job title. Job description shows the duty, responsibility and other things which is designed for the particular post. Under this section organization is going to design a job description for the checkout supervisor. Checkout supervisor is a person who works for the aim to provide best customer service through their skills and knowledge. This person directly deals with customer, handle the queries of the customer and responsible to manages the customer flow through the checkout. Basic purpose: for this position the basic purpose is manage all the things at checkout point by helping the checkout clerks to provide best customer service for the organization, handle customer queries and ensures the customer satisfaction. Duties and responsibilities: Managing checkout clerks: supervisor have to manage the team of checkout staff, by helping them at checkout point and providing them a training of all about the checkout operations (Scott, n.d.). Maintain checkout points: supervisor duty is to maintain the checkout points by checking all the things is stocked over there or not. Those things are shopping bags, register tapping, billing roles etc (Scott, n.d.). Monitor customer flow: supervisor is responsible for monitoring the customer flow at checkout points because at this stage customer do not want to wait long because they already finishes their shopping and they are ready to pay for their purchased goods, at this point supervisor have provide the same level of satisfaction through their services and manages the customer flow (Scott, n.d.). Control transaction issue: supervisor is responsible to control the transaction issue where the checkout clerk got stuck, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the duty of supervisor to help him in solving that error and handle that transaction (Scott, n.d.). Reporting: supervisor have report the status of checkout points to the store manager and all the checkout clerks report to the supervisor. Qualifications: Diploma in business management level 7 or equivalent experience Minimum 1 year of management experience Knowledge of computerized till system. Recruitment and selection process RECRUITMENT Recruitment is all about attracting the right person for the right job. Big organization like food stuff always have a well-crafted infrastructure or plan to go through from their recruitment process. Food stuff always looks to use most cost effective way to attract the right person for the right job for example they advertise job vacancy on their company website and through board in stores, and applicants who are interested in store based job can directly apply through their store. But sometimes they have to use different channels of advertisement for their most specialist job such as baker. They advertise these vacancies on T.V, radio, company website, Google leaflets and in magazines. Foodstuff always follow the infrastructure of their recruitment process first they always try to fill up the available position internally through internal talent plan, if they are not able to find the right person. They took second step that is advertisement on intranet for two w eeks. SELECTION Selection process refers to choosing the right person from those applicants who applied for job. To choose a right person, they use screening. In the first stage of screening, selectors looks through the curriculum vitae (CV) of the applicants keenly. CV contains the information of job and education history of the applicant. A CV is the use as the main basic thing because CV reflects the image of that applicant. The company also have the software of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"job type matchà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ on its career webpage , in which applicant can find the best job for them and also helps the selecting staff in selection process. In screening process they filter applicants stage by stage, first CV screening, second successful candidates called for an interview, third applicants who successfully clear the interview called up from screening attend assessment center and rest of them who are not able to clear receive a letter. Applicants who clear the screening atten d assessment center invited for the second interview. After the second interview who successfully completed it receive an offer letter and contract. DIFFERENT RECRUITMENT APPROACHES There are two types of recruitment process that a company always uses to fill up that vacancy. Those approaches are: Internal process External process Internal process Internal process is refers to the process where organization try to fill up that vacant position through their existing working members or staff. Food stuff use its internal talent plan because they always prefer first to fill up that position within the organization. Under this plan foodstuff always looks to fill up the vacancy internally. If they find the suitable employee for that vacancy they promote that employee or move the position of that employee at the same level. Foodstuff also uses the intranet. It refers to the computer networking that uses internet protocol to share information through computer within the organization. Through intranet they do advertising internally for two weeks. Advantages of internal process: Cheaper à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" It is a cheaper process because in this company did not advertise that post on a big level. Saves time recruitment- it is a snappy process by doing internal recruitment company can easily save the time. Dis-advantages of internal process Limited choice à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" organization have to select from a limited number of staff. A vacant vacancy- it still leaves a vacancy at that level when organization promote someone for the new role. External process External process refers to the process where organization try to fill up the vacancy from outside the organization. Foodstuff advertise the vacancy on its company website and board in stores. For some specialist vacancy they also different channels of advertisement. They advertise on TV, radio, magazines etc. Advantages of external process Wider choice- Organization got a wider people choice for selection. New skills- through external recruitment organization introduce a new thinking and new ideas in it. Dis-advantages of external process Expensive- it is an expensive process because organization have to use their funds for advertisement. Time consuming- it is a time consuming because in this process organization have to follow the infrastructure of recruitment and process. DIFFERENT TYPES OF SELECTION AND INTERVIEW Selection is a process that helps in selecting the right person for the job. There are different types of selection test that is made for the applicants to test their skills those are: Practical test Psychological test Cognitive test Practical test à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" these test are very common for test the skills. This test actually helps to check the skills and work ability of the person in the working condition. These test are necessary for some positions for example working in barista, chef position etc. Advantages Makes the work easy for selector to select the right applicant by analyzing their performance through this test. Selectors can easily mark the score of the applicants objectively. Dis-advantages The person who actually works nicely cannot able to show their performance while selectors is watching his/her work sharply. Difficult to receive the results at timely manner. Psychological test- These test are help in determining the candidateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s personality, attitude and motivation. These test are specially designed by psychologist to measure those things. For example personality test (Chand, n.d.). Advantages This kind of test are less time consuming Selector can easily measure the personality type of the person and helps in selecting position whether this personality is suitable for the organization or not (Chand, n.d.). Dis-advantages These test are costly as compared to other test because these test are designed by psychologist that may charges organizations higher (Chand, n.d.). These test donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have a proper scale of marking so sometimes selectors face difficulty to choose the right person (Chand, n.d.). Cognitive test- Those test are very useful to measure the skills like mathematical, memory and reasoning power of the applicant. These test is necessary for admin roles for example banking position. Advantages Easily measure the skills of the applicant through this test This test have a proper scale of marking so there is no scope for making wrong choice. Dis-advantages The result of these test are more time consuming. These kind of test are repeatable so these test can easily cleared by cheating and other source. Interviews Interviews are basically a kind of test to check the oral skills of the applicant. These kind of test are necessary for some jobs like any position for customer service, vacancy of telecommunicate etc. there are three types of interview, these are: Panel interview One to one interview Group interview Panel interview: In this interview more than two interviewer are involved. A team of interviewer take the interview of a single applicant. Each interviewer have its own question of different level to measure the skills of candidate. Advantages Makes work easy for organization to select the best candidate. More than one interviewer is involved in it so can help in making right choice. Dis-advantages It creates a nervous or negative environment for the candidate. Candidate can become confuse because of rapid rate of questions. One to one interview- this interview is interviewed by one interviewer, who is manager or HR personnel. These type of interview are mainly based on questions. Advantages Candidate feel more comfortable in this interview as compared to panel. Interviewer can make their decision fast about the applicant. Dis-advantage Can only ask limited question of the particular field Require a person who have knowledge in every field of business. Group interview: in this interview a group of candidate is interviewed at the same time. A couple of topics are given to that group for discussion. Interviewer can easily measure the skills and knowledge of applicant. Advantages Easily save time by interviewing a group of candidate at the same time. In this interview candidates can freely share their ideas and knowledge. Dis-advantages Some candidates did not feel confident to share their idea in front of group. Clashes of personality of candidates. Conclusion Organization like foodstuff use and follow a particular pattern of selection procedure. This pattern helps the organization to interview the candidate at different level and test their skills and knowledge at different level. When they follow hierarchy of selection process they filters candidate and able to find the best candidate for that post. In this structure they test the candidate two times through interview. First time by screening of assessment center and finally by HR personal or manager. By doing this they do a kind of double check with their candidates. Food stuff did not use any other selection and interview type because they already have a nice structure in selection process where they got assessment center and interview for their candidates to measuring their strength. If they will put some more types of interview in their hierarchy of selection process, it create complexity in it and more time consuming so there is no need to add some different types of interview. References Chand, S. (n.d.). Psychological Tests of an Employee: Advantages, Limitations and Use. Retrieved 05 16, 2015, from https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/employee-management/psychological-tests-of-an-employee-advantages-limitations-and-use/27916/ Scott, G. (n.d.). Qualities Responsibilities of a Checkout Supervisor. Retrieved 05 15, 2015, from https://work.chron.com/qualities-responsibilities-checkout-supervisor-23818.html The Importance of Job Descriptions. (n.d.). Retrieved 05 15, 2015, from https://www.financialwisdom.com/pflsresourcecenter/HowardUniversity/SmallBusiness/JobDescriptions.shtml

Corporate Social Responsibility Csr - 986 Words

In the recent years, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained lots of attentions among public, and plenty of companies invest more efforts on the CSR activities (Hur, Kim and Woo, 2013). At the same time, companies can undertake their social responsibility in different ways, namely, CSR has some classifications, and most of scholars accept that there are three main classifications of CSR, which are related to social, economic and environmental issues. The reason why companies do CSR activities is that the pressure of the economy, society and environment enforce the company to take economic, social and environmental consequences of their business into account (Alsmadi Alnawas, 2012). What’s more, companies are able to gain benefits by undertaking social responsibility from the CSR activities. Positive brand image is the most vital benefit of CSR since it provides competitive advantage by having consumer commitment, which will give consumers’ high purchase intent ion and willingness to pay higher price for product or service (Mohr and Webb, 2005; S.M.M. et al, 2013). Ghosh and Das (2013) find out that companies are trying continuously to maintain and improve their brand image, because the positive brand image contributes to the competitive advantages and superior market share. And the positive brand image can influence customers’ purchasing behaviors since consumers prefer to choose the companies that have the good brand image (Maignan and Ferrell 2001). For instance,Show MoreRelatedCorporate Social Responsibility And Csr1566 Words   |  7 PagesSocial responsibility or also called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)- is the firm’s engagement (voluntarily initiated) in and its compliance (legally mandated) to environmental, social, and governance issues (The Foundation, 2014). Also, is based on stakeholder’s needs being financially sustainable, and CSR can come from both corporate or not-to-profit organizations. CSR has seven categories; Leadership, vision and values; Marketplace activities; Workforce activities; Supply chain activities;Read MoreCorporate Social Responsibility ( Csr )1167 Words   |  5 PagesCorporate Social Responsibility Introduction Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept which is also known as corporate citizenship, corporate conscience or in a simple way a responsible business. It is an integrated concept of self-regulatory business model for any organisation. Corporate Social Responsibility has been in practice for more than fifty years now, which has been adopted not only by domestic companies but also by transnational company with voluntary CSR initiativesRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility : Csr1232 Words   |  5 PagesCorporate social responsibility has become a buzzword within the industry in the last few years. Following the financial market crash investors and stakeholders began looking at corporations to act more socially responsible. The meaning of social responsibility differs across regions. Western countries are the ones who are pushing for corporate social responsibility -thesis-- A broad overview at corporate social responsibility (CSR) looks to corporations to make a change in the society or the environmentRead MoreCsr : Corporate Social Responsibility1598 Words   |  7 Pages CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined by many groups like, Tata steel, Coca Cola, Reliance, Videocon etc. Although they all stand for similar meanings connecting to taking responsibilities of the society as a business individual, its definition has been getting broader from a established point of view, corporate social responsibility is a type of business instruction included in a business demonstration. CSR policy functions as a self-regulatoryRead MoreCsr : Corporate Social Responsibility Essay1285 Words   |  6 PagesCSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility and it is a concept with many definitions and practices and also a buzzword in the media. In general, corporate social responsibility is the policies and progra ms of business corporations which tend to benefit society while improving a corporation’s public image and profitability at the same time. The meaning of it is implemented in different countries and companies differently. Warren Buffet said that it takes 20 years to build a reputation and onlyRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility ( Csr )863 Words   |  4 Pagestechnology in the last century. The term of Corporate Social Responsibility appears more often into public’s concerned and it has become a hot issue in recent years. This essay is going to discuss and provide an overview of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by debate some key issue in this area. 1.2 What is Corporate Social Responsibility? In 1953, Bowen’s Social Responsibility of the Businessman firstly discusses the idea of corporate social responsibility. He states the relationship between societyRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility ( Csr )1314 Words   |  6 PagesSocial responsibility has become a primal interest to the humankind for the past two decades. In the earlier days, the firms and organizations concentrated only on the financial part of the business and ignored the ethical, social and moral sectors. But in the recent times, the businesses are getting a grip of the significance of the social, ecological and environmental effects on their success. This has resulted in the emerging interactions between organizations and social segments thus giving riseRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility ( Csr )1173 Words   |  5 Pages Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is highly important to Millennials. If a company is lacking a CSR plan, now it a good time to start one. Millennials are looking for ways in making a positive impact on the world and are expecting the same from companies. They are looking for companies that contribute to the betterment of communities and the environment. Millennials put great value in supporting such brands, companies and organizations that share these values. Companies without a CSR in placeRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility : Csr979 Words   |  4 PagesThe notion of Corporate Social Responsibility is a phenomenon globally known for many years. In spite of the fact that CSR has been neglected for quite a long time, nowadays several authors deal with this issue, as revealed by the development of theories in recent years concerning the topic. In spite of the fact that there has been a huge growth of literature it is still impossible to simply define CSR. Many definitions trying to capture the concept of CSR exist, but their content varies (MattenRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility ( Csr )1370 Words   |  6 Pagesmore attention on the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The core issue is the appropriate responsibility of business. In as much as firms ought to obey the law, but beyond complete compliance with environmental laws, the question is whether firms have extra social responsibilities to commit part of their resources to environmental preservation voluntarily. This memo provides an exploratory investigation of the link between corporate social responsibility and the benefits accruing to a

Book Summary Essay Research Paper Man Against free essay sample

Book Summary Essay, Research Paper Man Against Darkness W.T. Stace Man Against Darkness is an essay written by W.T. Stace. He presents the philosophical background for the experiential stance of the modern universe. He tries to explicate why faith no longer plays an of import portion in the modern universe and what causes people to lose religion in faith. He begins his essay by explicating the point of view of the Catholic bishops of America and compared it to the thought of Jean-Paul Sarte, the Gallic existential philosopher philosopher. The bishops believe that the helter-skelter province of the modern universe is due to adult male s loss of religion, and the forsaking of God and faith. W.T. Stace does non believe in faith at all, yet he wholly agrees with the bishop s statement. Jean-Paul Sarte is an atheist and his position besides supports the statement of the bishops. We will write a custom essay sample on Book Summary Essay Research Paper Man Against or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Jean-Paul Sarte explains that, in the early yearss work forces depended on God as the beginning of moral ideals. Now, work forces understand that the universe is non ruled by religious forces, but instead by unseeable forces. Therefore ; our ethical motives must come from our head, and we are the 1 who decides what is right and what is incorrect. Stace, so subsequently goes on to explicate Mr. Betrand Russel s thought, which was different from both the bishops and Jean-Paul Sarte. Mr. Russel believes the faith has done more injuries than good and the disappearing of faith will be a approval to human being. Mr. Russel s thought is the same as that of M. Sarte. He stresses that adult male is entirely and friendless in the universe. Mr. Russel besides notes that scientific discipline produced such state of affairs. It is scientific discipline that made people lose religion in faith. Stace explains that scientists do non interested in inquiries such as is there god? Or what s the significance of life? They merely interested in understanding the procedures instead than the intents. They merely ask inquiries that begin with how but non why. Along with the ruin of the spiritual vision there went the ruin of moral rules and values. Ethical motives are human innovations. It is us who decide what s right and incorrect. It s a affair of sentiment. Morality is unsafe and it leads to chaos in society. Philosophers who see the danger attempt to give ethical motives a new foundation that does non affect spiritual thought. Stace references that philosophers may be able to make up ones mind what are good and bad, but the great multitudes of people may non be able to make so and the consequence will be catastrophe. Some people suggested replacing old faith with a new one, but Stace predicts that it will neglect. Why? Because work forces have lost the belief hence ; it can non be revived. Some proposed that we should turn to science itself, or the scientific spirit, for our redemption. Another inquiry that came up in the essay is can the whole civilisation live without faith? W.T. Stace explains that it is possible for educated work forces, philosophers, scientists, intellectuals, to populate their moral lives without faith, but he does non believe that the whole civilisation including the uneducated can make so. W.T. Stace sums up his chief thought in the decision of the essay. He states that work forces in the early clip are violent and as clip passed by the development of human civilisation made morality connect with faith. If modern adult male live without faith, they will drop back into the early stage, when work forces were violent and barbarous. After reading this essay, I have gain an apprehension of how of import faith is. I believe that faith have shaped up my ethical motives. I agree with Stace on many parts in the essay. I agree that we can non replace old faith with a new one, because one time work forces lose religion about something, they will non be able to travel back and believe in it once more. I do non hold that work forces lose religion in faith because of the scientific revolution. I believe that work forces are smart plenty to be able to understand nature without affecting the inquiry with God. When I was immature, I asked my female parent why does it rain and she answered that it is because God is shouting. I knew that it wasn t true. I didn t know what is rain, but I do cognize that it is non because God is shouting. I think that people are losing religion in faith because faith is non pure any longer. For illustration, many monastics are ravishing misss and got off with it because they have money to pay th e constabulary. The money came from us who devoted ourselves to religion because we genuinely think that faith is pure. I stopped believing in faith long clip ago and it s non because of scientific revolution. I lose my religion in faith because I think that I make my ain fate and there s no 1 in the sky to assist me populate my life. I choose what I want to be and where I want to travel and everything is based on my determinations. Whenever I fell, I couldn t see any manus making down from the sky to assist me. I solve my ain jobs and I can merely depend on me. That s why I do non believe in faith.

IKEA study case Essay Example

IKEA study case Essay What do you think of the company’s product strategy and product range? Do you agree with the matrix approach described in Figure B of the case? 5 3Despite the success there are many downsides to shopping at IKEA. What are some of these downsides? IKEA’s vision statement (in Figure C of the case) describes how the company seeks to build a â€Å"partnership† with its customers. What do you think of this vision statement? 4The fact that IKEA plans to have fifty stores in operation in the USA by 2013 is an indication of how optimistic the company is about the viability of its value proposition in this country. Do you think IKEA is being overly optimistic in its growth plans? How would you improve IKEA’s value proposition to make it even more attractive to American consumers? 7 5To achieve the kind of growth IKEA is hoping for, should the company change its product strategy? If so, in what way(s)? What about its product range — are there limitations to t he matrix approach? Should the company expand its product lineup to include a greater number of styles and price points? In what other ways should the company consider changing its product lineup? 8 6If you had to predict, what do you think IKEA’s value proposition and product lineup will look like in ten years? 9 7Industry observers have suggested that IKEA should open up smaller, satellite stores across the United States ( e. g. in shopping malls, strip malls, etc. ) By offering a limited range of IKEA products, these â€Å"IKEA Lite† shops would presumably give consumers who do not otherwise have access to a full size IKEA the opportunity to experience the brand. We will write a custom essay sample on IKEA study case specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on IKEA study case specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on IKEA study case specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In addition, consumers who do live near a full size IKEA would be able to use these mini outlets to make minor purchases (e. g. purchase a set of mugs as opposed to an entire living room set). Do you agree with this idea? Why or why not? 9 What factors account for the success of IKEA? There are several factors for the success of IKEA. Firstly, IKEA is known for its product differentiation and cost leadership. Although they have high sales revenues they do not become less sensible for cost-cutting which means that they try to save costs in as many areas as possible. Costs are kept under control starting at the design level of the value-added chain, by packing items compactly in flat standardized emblazes and stacking as much as possible to reduce storage space during and after distribution in the logistics process. Besides, employees are constantly reminded to save energy by turning of the light or computers if they are not being used. Additionally, since the furniture comes unassembled, people have to build up their furniture on their own at home but therefore pay way less money than at other retailers. Therefore they especially reach price-conscious customers. This actually means that they are operating in a niche market because normally Scandinavian furniture stands for high quality and therefore high prices, but they achieved to combine simplicity, design and space – and of course low prices. Secondly, IKEA’s store concept distinguishes itself from other furniture retailers. Its stores are self-service and feature special amenities such as a childcare center, Swedish cafes and often also stores where you can buy typical Swedish food. Therefore the shopping experience itself is very appealing to customers. Besides, although the IKEA stores are huge, the store layouts are carefully designed. There is always a light and bright atmosphere and the model bathrooms, living rooms, etc. are decorated in a cheerful and tasteful way. Moreover, it seems that the working atmosphere for employees is very personal and close since they all call each other by their first name, no matter which hierarchic position the person holds. What do you think of the company’s product strategy and product range? Do you agree with the matrix approach described in Figure B of the case? For us the product strategy including the matrix approach sounds very simple but convincing. By analyzing consumer’s trends first, they focus on their customer’s needs and wishes which always should be top priority. Then, by setting a price with the help of â€Å"the matrix†, which consists of three price ranges and four different styles, products developer cannot only compare their product easily to their competitor’s but also seek new opportunities. Due to the fact that every product category has its own matrix those can be used to identify gaps in the product line-up and therefore product managers can become aware of new market opportunities. Also, by always setting the price 30 or 50% lower than the competitors they are very attractive for people who do not have a lot of money or who are not willing to spend huge amounts on furniture and home decoration. Since IKEA has over 1,800 suppliers to choose from, they are able to balance cost-efficient labor with the company’s product quality standards. Sometimes different product components are also produced in different countries and the customer can decide at the end which one he wants (e. g. different colors of cushions, etc. ). In addition, it is very smart to use high-quality material for the more visible furniture surfaces and lower quality material for less visible and stressed parts. Besides, it is a smart idea to force its designers to pitch their ideas against each other: By doing this they have a higher variety to choose from and might end up with something more fashionable and special than if the design department had only presented one idea. We believe that the product strategy and range works very cost-efficiently and also allows achieving a higher penetration in the market. Since IKEA offers a huge variety, the probability is higher that everyone finds something he or she likes. Also it distinguishes them from other retailers who are not able to offer such a big product range because they have higher costs producing and providing them. Despite the success there are many downsides to shopping at IKEA. What are some of these downsides? IKEA’s vision statement (in Figure C of the case) describes how the company seeks to build a â€Å"partnership† with its customers. What do you think of this vision statement? There are two main downsides to shopping at IKEA: quality, service and missing customization. Since IKEA uses also low-quality material in order to set a low price, it often happens that the furniture only lasts for a few years and that especially while moving flats products can easily break. Secondly, the lack of service when it comes to home delivery or construction f the furniture purchased, is a downside as well. Customer need a big car, be able to understand the construction manual as well as having all the tools at home. Also, IKEA stores are often a little further outside the city so customer need to be willing to drive maybe one hour to get to the store. Although customers know that this is the concept of IKEA they might nevertheless feel overstrained to build up the furniture or do not po ssess cars big enough to bring their purchased items home. Last but not least, the product range nearly allows no personalization or customization. IKEA products are for the mass market and therefore are not able to fulfill everybody’s wished especially not for richer people who look for luxury or more unique goods. In IKEA’s mission statement they explain how they want to be partners with their customers. IKEA’s mission is to create a better everyday life by offering beautiful and durable furniture at low prices so that also people with smaller wallets are able to improve their homes. IKEA’s part in this partnership is to finding simple solutions, scrimping and saving in every direction – except when it comes to ideas. Also, their designers work with manufacturers to find smart ways to make furniture using existing production processes. Then their buyers look all over the world to find the best suppliers with the most suitable raw materials. After that, they buy in a bulk so that they get the best deals and the customers the best prices. The customer’s part now is to go to the store, pick out the furniture and then pick it up at the self-service warehouse. After that they have to get them home themselves and assemble them on their own. Since this service is not done by IKEA, they do not charge for it and the logical consequence is that IKEA and customer save money together. We think that the mission statement fits perfectly to IKEA’s core concept and core competency. If customers want to pay a low price for more or less quality and fashionable furniture they must be willing to do something for this in exchange. In this case they have to bring their products home and assemble them themselves. The success of IKEA shows that many people are willing to do that in order to pay less than at other furniture retailers. The fact that IKEA plans to have fifty stores in operation in the USA by 2013 is an indication of how optimistic the company is about the viability of its value proposition in this country. Do you think IKEA is being overly optimistic in its growth plans? How would you improve IKEA’s value proposition to make it even more attractive to American consumers? In our opinion this was not an overly optimistic goal. The past growing trend indicated that there was a high potential in the US furniture market. Since IKEA does not only have monster stores and great prices, it also created a niche. Furthermore, they analyzed two core problems in the US market and made adjustments: Firstly, they realized that Americans are very likely to stick with their furniture and home decoration for many years and more seeking for a lifetime product instead of something cheap that might only last for a few years. In order to convince Americans to change this habit and be more open for changing furniture more often, they started publishing commercials that were making fun of the American’s unwillingness to part with their furniture. These commercials were quite successful and maybe also lead to the increasing number of customers. Secondly, they saw that Scandinavian design was something for a small niche market and furthermore that only offering the same products that they had in Europe would not be successful. Consequently they made adjustments to the product range (e. g. bigger glasses) in order to meet the American’s expectations. These changes are important for creating a value proposition and can always be continued. By asking customers for feedback and also what changes they would like to see that are made they can extend their value preposition and reach more customers. These analyses and preparation were needed to set food in the US market. Since nowadays IKEA has 49 stores in the US (source: IKEA, â€Å"Welcome Inside†, 2011) they are very close to reaching their goal and also the USA is the second top selling country after Germany (11%). When it comes to improvements, IKEA could consider to offer furniture delivery and assembly service (the customer would have to pay for that service) to satisfy busy consumers or people that are unable to do the construction themselves. Furthermore, they could extend their product range with products that have a higher quality and therefore longer durability to satisfy quality-conscious consumer segments. To achieve the kind of growth IKEA is hoping for, should the company change its product strategy? If so, in what way(s)? What about its product range — are there limitations to the matrix approach? Should the company expand its product lineup to include a greater number of styles and price points? In what other ways should the company consider changing its product lineup? They should only change their product range when it comes to making adjustments in order to accommodate to American habits and standards. For example, to offer products that are bigger in size to fit in the American Homes. So far there are of course limitations to the matrix approach because it only offers three kinds of prices and four different styles and no â€Å"in-between-products† are possible. Nevertheless, in our opinion they should not change that because if they offer a greater number of prices and styles they will compete stronger with the high-end and low-end competitors. Although IKEA has reasonable prices they cannot and should not compete with low-end retailers such as Walmart, etc. because the margins would become lower. Also they do not have the service in order to compete with high-end stores. Therefore they should also stick with their four styles and not overwhelm the customers with all kinds of sub-styles etc. like those companies do. They state themselves that it is part of their philosophy not to have everything nor extreme or over-decorated items, but they have what helps to build a good home for a nice living. Nevertheless they offer many home products next to furniture, such as dinnerware, lamps, decoration, etc. Consequently shoppers can find everything they need in order to prepare a cozy home. All in all, we think IKEA should stick to their mission but obviously it makes sense to adjust a few features and details in order to appeal to American customers. The numbers these days show that IKEA was right to stick to their concept and therefore they achieved the growth they wanted. If you had to predict, what do you think IKEA’s value proposition and product lineup will look like in ten years? We believe that the value preposition and product line up will not undergo extreme changes. Since IKEA has a successful product strategy they do not need to change their core competency or create other competitive advantages. Obviously, in the upcoming years there will be new trends that IKEA has to implement in their product range and they also have to face the growing e-commerce market. This is why IKEA should start thinking about also selling their products online. This would also make it easier for customers since the delivery would be done by IKEA. Since this Harvard Case is from 2004 there have been some changes in the last years. In 2012 IKEA launched their first e-commerce site for the Russian market which experience high approval due to its combination of emotion, information and interaction. In this context interaction would mean for example that people can decorate and design their rooms online with a simulator that shows how each IKEA product would fit to different styles or living conditions. Industry observers have suggested that IKEA should open up smaller, satellite stores across the United States ( e. g. in shopping malls, strip malls, etc. By offering a limited range of IKEA products, these â€Å"IKEA Lite† shops would presumably give consumers who do not otherwise have access to a full size IKEA the opportunity to experience the brand. In addition, consumers who do live near a full size IKEA would be able to use these mini outlets to make minor purchases (e. g. purchase a set of mugs as opposed to an entire living room set). Do you agree with this idea? Why or why not? One the one hand it would be a good idea to start up satellite stores in location where access to nearest IKEA Superstore is more than an hour’s driving. A research into the areas demographics and spending habits could serve as an indicator whether a satellite store would be successful in the long term or not. Opening new IKEA satellite stores in smaller towns would also lead to higher brand awareness. This could serve as a way to advertize their global presence. Furthermore, an IKEA satellite store could carry smaller items which do not require much of the floor/ storage space but should include the virtual display and its detailed information so as to promote the IKEA brand. The smaller products could be displayed in a showcasing fashion to appeal the buyers. In addition they could show in smaller stores how the items there could be combined with bigger products (such as furniture) in order to inspire people and make them drive to the bigger stores to purchase the products. On the other hand, the unique shopping experience that usually is created in the big stores due to the carefully designed store-layouts, the Swedish’ restaurants and child care center would get lost. Customers who went for the first time to IKEA into a satellite store would get a complete different brand image than someone who goes to the flagship stores. Therefore IKEA’s unique points-of-difference would be lost. Furthermore, there is the threat that people would no longer connect IKEA with furniture but only with small home decoration products. This could lead to a decrease of sale in the bigger stores. Summarizing, we would therefore say that in order to install satellite stores there must be detailed analyses how big the demand would be and which customers would be likely to visit these stores – if they are familiar with the IKEA concept or if they are â€Å"newbies†. [ 1 ]. Cf. : http://www. e-commercefacts. com/news/2012/06/ikea-e-commerce-video/index. xml, seen on the 25. 11. 2012