J.R.R. Tolkien: Romanticist and Poet (2017) by Julian Eilmann

Book review , by John R. Holmes, of J.R.R. Tolkien: Romanticist and Poet (2017) by Julian Eilman

Fore and Aft: Abstraction in Tolkien’s “Ishness” Designs

Though Tolkien\u27s artwork tended toward the figural, there was a period during his undergraduate years in which he created abstracts under the name of Ishnesses. This essay examines the nature of abstraction, how it relates to medieval concepts of art, and how it relates to Tolkien\u27s visionary painting of subjects not in the primary world but in the Middle-earth of his vast imagination. Fore and Aft: Abstraction, Vanishing Point and Symmetry in Tolkien’s “Ishness” Design

Surviving in a Commoditized Worldy

This paper examines why organizations have adopted a wide range of responses when addressing the opportunities and threats posed by commoditization. Some may choose to focus on their cost base, whilst others may focus on innovation. Whatever strategy is adopted, it will be driven by a range of factors including the market or markets in which the organization operates the nature of its competition and how easy it is for them to become commoditized. This paper will present Ryanair, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Tesco, General Electric and Dell as examples of which highlight how different organizations have approached the challenge of commoditization. What we can conclude from these is that there are many different ways to tackle commoditization and that many organisations do so successfully. For those organizations which are comfortably outside the commoditized zone, it will give them some insights on what to do should the risk of commoditization increase to a point where action is necessary.Commoditization, Ryanair, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Tesco, General Electric and Dell

Where will commoditization take us?

Predicting the future is an imprecise science, and something that should always be carried out carefully and the results should be taken with a pinch of salt. That said it is sensible to assume that most of the drivers of commoditization are likely to remain in force for the foreseeable future. Unlike the futurologists who attempt to predict how society and technology will change over the next fifty years, we are only going to look a few years ahead, which is a more sensible time horizon. History is not always a good predictor of the future, but in the case of commoditization we think it is. It is clear that when we look back in time we can see how the process of commoditization has subsumed great tranches of industry, eliminated significant numbers of manual labourers and increased the general efficiency and effectiveness of society. In many respects we could argue that it was important to the advancement of the industrialised economies of the West. In projecting forward from this point, we should expect commoditization to continue to expand its footprint into areas which we currently think are outside of the realms of possibility. After all, no one would have expected the IT industry to have become so commoditized when it first emerged during the 1940s. And in the same way that white collar workers were caught out when they believed they were immune from the initial waves of downsizing and offshoring that affected the manufacturing sector, others at the mid- and high-end of the workforce may also be caught out sometime in the future. And as commoditization continues to advance it will touch on many more peoples’ lives and livelihoods.Commoditization, Offshoring, Talent, Technology, Competition, Inequality

Surviving in a Commoditized World

This paper examines why organizations have adopted a wide range of responses when addressing the opportunities and threats posed by commoditization. Some may choose to focus on their cost base, whilst others may focus on innovation. Whatever strategy is adopted, it will be driven by a range of factors including the market or markets in which the organization operates the nature of its competition and how easy it is for them to become commoditized. This paper will present Ryanair, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Tesco, General Electric and Dell as examples of which highlight how different organizations have approached the challenge of commoditization. What we can conclude from these is that there are many different ways to tackle commoditization and that many organisations do so successfully. For those organizations which are comfortably outside the commoditized zone, it will give them some insights on what to do should the risk of commoditization increase to a point where action is necessary.Commoditization, Ryanair, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Tesco, General Electric and Dell

The Individual Impacts of Commoditization

The process of commoditization has now entered its most significant phase. White collar work long the preserve of the educated elite is now going undergoing a significant transformation as it starts to commoditize. The principal impacts on the white collar employee include: One company, but many owners as the impacts of foreign ownership, buy-outs by private equity and takeovers by rivals continue to change the pattern of company ownership as well as employment. Few of us can expect to remain within a single company that retains its ownership for a lengthy period of time and with this comes additional uncertainty and insecurity The potential for most if not every white collar job being at risk from commoditization; perhaps not now, but certainly in the future. Remember, any job that can be codified is potentially at risk An increase in low level, routine work at the expense of the intrinsically interesting work most white collar workers have come to expect. This does not necessarily mean that work will be any less pressured. Evidence is pointing to the intensification of routine white collar work which is becoming more demanding not less. The loss of an obvious career path making it much harder to navigate through your working life. This is further compounded by the weakening of the relationship between education and employability which has until very recently been central to a successful career Economic instability and income stagnation as the China Price moves to the white collar labour market.Commoditization, employment

Economic and Business Responses to the Pressures of Commoditization

This paper examines the pressures of commoditization will continue to exert itself on companies and managers everywhere: the increasing impact of demographic change; the requirement to maintain a keen eye on costs in order to compete effectively within the global market; the continued advance of technology; the ability to standardize processes and eliminate major inefficiencies; the pressure to outsource and offshore business activities in order to exploit the cost advantages of cheaper labour and the opportunity for your competition to attack your markets and replicate your products and services more freely.Tackling commoditization in a fragmented or short-termist way will not allow you to understand its effects and nor will it provide the solid platform required to build an effective response. So when it comes to considering the potential impacts of commoditization you need to ask yourself the following two questions: 1. Can all or part of our business become commoditized? It is easy to believe that you are immune to the effects of commoditization and that you don’t need to respond to something that may not even be on your horizon. When responding to this question the best approach is to start from the position that everything you do is capable of becoming commoditized if not now, then certainly at some point in the future. Of course you may find that not everything can be commoditized, but it is far better to come to this conclusion after completing a thorough analysis of your business than making assumptions based upon a limited perspective or worse still, gut feel 2. How should we respond to the threat of commoditization? In particular should we embrace it or avoid it? This is a crucial question to answer once you have understood the threats and opportunities commoditization poses to the organization. As with any strategic decision it is likely to have significant operational implications. In some cases you may find that you have little alternative but to become more commoditized yourself, whilst in others you may be able to adopt a more flexible approach. When considering the response, you will need to think about such things as: • How can we insulate ourselves from the threat of commoditization? • Given the choice what parts of our business should we allow to become commoditized? • Where and in which markets should we innovate as a way of avoiding the commoditization trap? • Where should we target our investments – with our customers, on our back office processes, in research and development, on acquisitions or all of the above?Commoditization, Offshoring, Talent, Technology, Competition, Inequality

BREEAM for Healthcare - a report for NHS Estates and Facilities Policy

This report considers sustainable healthcare properties and in particular the use of BREEAM for Healthcare 2008 and the options for improving sustainability across the NHS

What determines credit participation and credit constraints of the poor in peri-urban areas, Vietnam?

This paper uses a novel dataset collected by the first author from peri-urban areas of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2008 to examine how the poor use their loans, and factors affecting their credit participation and credit constraints. The paper finds the presence of many commercial banks in the areas does not help the poor, but the poor rely heavily on informal credit. Loans in the peri-urban areas are mainly used for non-productive purposes, which stresses the importance of consumption smoothing motives. Further, households in more rural wards have a higher probability of borrowing than more urban households, thanks to better community relationships and higher interpersonal trust. Competition by borrowing neighbours adversely affects the opportunity for borrowing in urban wards where the poor households’ borrowings rely much more on subsidized credit funds. A closer look at specified microcredit sources reveals that household behaviours differ in each market segment. Furthermore, the poor are highly credit-constrained. Wealthier households, in terms of asset holdings and phone possession, among the poor group appear less credit-constrained. However, except in the most rural part of the study area, the likelihood of credit constraints increases with distance to the nearest banks, which suggests that supply-side intervention could help in overcoming credit constraints. Overall, the poor in urban wards are more credit-constrained because of exclusion by commercial banks and weak interpersonal trust