Louis Armstrong Essay -- Jazz Player Music Musician Biography Essays

Louis Armstrong Heroes are needed in the world to give people something to look up to, someone to be like. Louis Armstrong over came such adversities as poverty, a lack of good education, and racism to become one of the greatest jazz player not just of the 1920s but of the 20th century. Armstrong was one of the creators of Jazz and was one of the most popular entertainers from the 1920s. Starting out at a young age he never knew that one day he would be such a popular jazz player and also not knowing that one day he might even be called a hero. Armstrong was born on July 4, 1900 in the Storyville section of New Orleans. At the age of 12 his life changed. When he was parting for New Years Eve, he shot a gun into the air. He was soon arrested and taken to a center for juvenile offenders. He hated being there, but loved going to see the band at the center play everyday. When he got the chance to go play in the band, he quickly did. He first started out playing the Alto Horn then moved to the drums and finally ending up with the trumpet. Two years later at the age of fourteen he was released from the center. He went out and got jobs to help get him to be able to afford an instrument. His jobs included, selling papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a cart. On his off times he would go around to clubs like the Funky Butt Hall to listen to bands play. A jazz musician named King Oliver saw him and was impressed at his attendance at so many of the local clubs that he inquired of him as to if he wanted to learn to play the cornet. Armstrong said yes. He picked it up very quickly and soon was playing in bands for people that were absent. This soon lead to him starting his own band. This was all at the age of seventeen. Armstrong played with his band, known as Louis Armstrong Hot 5 or Hot 7, for two years and then King Oliver went to Chicago. Armstrong took a spot in Kid Ory’s orchestra one of the biggest known bands in the town. He played on the riverboats on the Mississippi River and got better at playing. All this without even knowing how to read music. While on the riverboat he was taught to read music which would help him out greatly later, when he became a band conductor. In 1922 he was called to Chicago by King Oliver. After arriving he made a change t... ... modern classical music. Contemporary classical composers like Darius Milhaud and Igor Stravinsky emulated much of Armstrong's work. In addition, Armstrong left his mark on other aspects of American culture as his fascinating personality truly influenced a nation. Armstrong's legacy can be traced into "dance, theater, the visual arts, fashion, poetry, and literature." Nobody has done more for jazz than Louis Armstrong. His contributions, influence, and legacy are immeasurable. Louis Armstrong truly is the jazz legend. As fellow trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie points out, "If it weren't for him, there wouldn't be any of us." When there is someone who beats all the odds to come out on top and shows you that you can do anything if you really want to. You probably will call them a hero. Hero doesn’t just mean saving lives and helping people that are in danger of dying, it can also be someone who makes you believe that you can do anything that you can imagine. Louie Armstrong helped lots of black people know that just because of their color, it didn’t mean that they couldn’t be one of the most famous people in the world.

Educational Problems in Egypt Essay

Egypt has the most significant educational system in the (MENA); Middle East and North Africa according to the Human Development Index (HDI). Although the educational system had been developing hastily since the beginning of the 1990s, Egypt had been continuously facing serious and accumulated problems in education. An exploding population, an increasing poverty, low literacy rates, drastic injustice in schools qualities; schools in urban areas where the rich can pay for education are better than other schools in different areas, Low teaching salaries and inconsistent funding for the educational system by the government, all led to a decreasing educational quality mainly in the most essential and indispensable part of the educational system which is basic education, also it led many teachers to the road of private tutoring for extra income. Moreover, memorization rather than critical thinking was unwillingly encouraged through physical punishment in schools and homes. For countless Egyptian children fragmented information was the result and that was never considered real knowledge. Yet again as a product of these causes, more and more escalating numbers of graduates are found unemployed. Egypt will continue to face an educational crisis, as lack of well trained teachers, effective schools and developed educational equipment unless a much better financial commitment is made by the government. This essay will first demonstrate the main causes of the educational problem, examine the effects of these problems on the society, discuss and analyze the previously proposed solutions and finally enlighten a solution that will most likely work in our Egyptian society.

Ted Baker Plc Is A London Listed Retail Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1368 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Ted Baker Plc is a London listed retail company. The company is headquartered in London and has operations in other European counties as well as US, Asia, Middle East and China. The company had gross revenue of pound;215.625million, a 15% jump from the year before. However, the profits for the year remained significantly unchanged at pound;17557, a 1.6% rise from the previous year. 85% of the total company revenue came from United Kingdom and the greater Europe with the rest coming from the US (12.9%) and Hong Kong (2.1%). By virtue of the companys overseas holdings, it is exposed to a number of risks. These include strategic, financial, operational and political risks. According to the firms latest annual report for the year ended 28 January 2012, the risks pose a significant threat to its performance and can inflict material changes to financial statements in the year of their occurrence. Most importantly, the firm has to measure the probability of their occu rrence and mitigate against their effect on its bottom line. Country risks As mentioned, Ted Baker operated in a number of countries. Each of these countries posses specific country risks to the firm. To begin with, the firm faces a number of country specific risks such as blockage in transfer of funds as well as cultural and institutional crash of norms. For instance, Ted Bakers Chinese operation faces a number of transfer restrictions from the country. That means that the company might have trouble in repatriating profits realized from there. To mitigate against this risk, the company has set up operations in Hong Kong, a relatively secure destination with minimal restriction on the transfer of capital and profits in and out of the country (Ted Baker Inc., 2012). Operations in a foreign country must observe the rules and regulations relating to ownership of business. In most of Ted Bakers operating countries, 100% ownership is not permissible. Therefore, local residents h ave to be included as strategic partners in the organisation to facilitate licensing by authorities. This dilution in ownership leads to weak control of organisational strategy. To mitigate against these risks, the company assesses its entry strategy n a case-by-case basis to ensure that the local investors in the target market add value to the management team. In most cases, the company acquires already established companies with their entire supply chain intact and retains some minority shareholding to ensure that it maintains the needed legal and regulatory threshold. Another country-specific risk that the company faces relates to human resource norms in the foreign operations. Since it is a UK company, it is used to having employees with flexible work schedule. However, the Middle Eastern workers have the right to take extended break during working hours to observe their religious rituals. In the same way, American workers have very strong labor unions that have very strong a bility to bargain for higher wages through industrial action. These factors pose enormous risks to the company and can result in material losses in those markets. Ted Baker also faces the risk of protectionism in its key markets. This is particularly so in the United States in the wake of the financial crises. USA is keen to protect its local industry and has therefore increased its non-tariff barriers for goods manufactured elsewhere. This increases the cost of doing business and erodes the businesss competitiveness in the American market. Ted Baker also faces risks relating to nepotism and corruption in its operating markets. In the Middle East for instance, executives hire employees based on kinship and other affiliations as opposed to merit. This makes it hard for the organization to attract and retain the best talent as hiring is best on referrals and not merit. It also opens up avenues for conflict of interest and outright corruption by the executives. Given that these e xecutives are part owners of the company as mandated by law, the company has no choice but to retain them. Most importantly, Ted Baker faces the risk of loss of intellectual property from its operating markets. This is especially true given that most countries require a mandatory percentage of local ownership in order to pass on expertise to them. In Hong Kong for instance, intellectual property rights are rarely enforced. Locals can steal proprietary design information and use it to make their own products. This poses enormous risk for the company. Country risk is higher in cases of long-term investment that are not made through a regulated market. Given the nature of entry the Ted baker uses in establishing its operations (mostly mergers and acquisitions), and the long-term nature of its investments, the company is exposed to high levels of risk. Worse still, most of the country risk elements that the company faces cannot be hedged effectively. This means extreme loss in the event of such risk crystallizing (Ted Baker Inc., 2012). Political risk Political stability is crucial to a firms sustained growth and profitability. Political instability in the Middle East poses a major problem for the firm. Following the Arab spring in the last few years, the firm experienced disruptions in supply chains in the region. This led to high operational costs and outright losses in cases of shutdowns (Ted Baker Inc., 2012). Ted baker assesses political risk at two levels: Macro and Micro. At the macro level, the firms management assesses the host countrys attitudes towards foreign investors and political stability. If the country is hostile to foreign investors and has a degree of political instability as indicated by civil strife or other indications, the market is considered unsafe and not worth investing in. Only countries that have relative political stability and that are friendly to international investors are considered targets for investments. At t he micro level, Ted Baker assesses whether its activities can conflict with the target countries existing regulations. However, this is not sufficient in the face of a changing political landscape as is the case in most of its operating markets. The management anticipates the likely effect of changes in the political landscape on the operations of the firm. In all the markets that the company has operations, the firm has minimal political risk at the micro level. This is because of its effective corporate governance structure that guides its operations (Ted Baker Inc., 2012). As detailed in its final report, Ted Baker relies heavily on effective corporate governance to stave off most of micro level risks. The principles of corporate governance guide its operations in all markets and this minimizes the chances of going against the rules and regulations. in particular, the company observes all rules of accountability (appropriate board size, transparent ownership, ownership neutral ity and defined board accountability), disclosure and transparency (broad, accurate and timely disclosure using proper accounting standards), independence (independent audits, dispersed ownership, independent oversight, independent directors) and shareholder equity (one vote per share) (Ted Baker Inc., 2012). Ted Baker has an insurance policy against political risks. Under the policy agreement, the company can claim compensation for occurrences such as inconvertibility, expropriation and loss of income from political violence. This is the most effective hedge against these risks. Ted Baker is also exposed to currency and exchange rate risk. This mainly occurs on purchases denominated in USD and Euros. The group also publishes its final accounts in sterling pound and it therefore incurs some losses in translation. To mitigate against these effects, the company used financial instruments (hedging) (Ted Baker Inc., 2012). Conclusion Ted Baker Plc has operations UK, France and other European counties, USA, Asia, Middle East and China. Most of the companys profit is derived from United Kingdom and the greater Europe with the rest coming from the US (12.9%) and Hong Kong (2.1%). Due to its international operations, the firm faces a number of risks both country specific and firm specific. These include transfer risks as well as cultural and institutional risks. The company has insured itself against most of the country specific risks. It leverages on strong corporate governance structures to avoid micro risks. Ted Bakers exposure to currency and exchange rate risk due to transactions done in different currencies as well as and translation of financial data to sterling pounds results in losses for the firm. To mitigate against these effects, the company uses financial instruments to hedge e its exposure. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Ted Baker Plc Is A London Listed Retail Finance Essay" essay for you Create order