Growth and Development of Characters: Gustad Noble and Elaine Risley Essay

In order to adapt in an ever-changing society, teeming with benevolence and intrigue, an individual must be able to adapt to differentiating surroundings. The human mind and body must grapple with disturbing memories or enthralling dramas of life. These thoughts are channelled through various emotions. Emotions are physical or mental expressions, often involuntary, related to feelings, perceptions or beliefs about elements, objects or relations between them, in reality or in the imagination. The growth and transformation of any entity cannot be justly physical, but also mental strength and wisdom. Past experience of any manner colours the human being for future of constant change. Gustad Noble of Rohinton Mistry’s Such A Long Journey and Elaine Risley of Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye demonstrate the pattern of the â€Å"circle of life†: karma, religion, family and friends. The readers can visualize modest lifestyles maturing in the wake of sudden changes. These modifications have the characters questioning their moral heart as their life charts towards uncharted waters. The authors’ interpretations of these realistic situations construct a model for the readers to judge their lifestyles by. Mistry and Atwood use literary devices, diction, and clever wordplay to enhance the reading experience for the audience. The readers witness the protagonists becoming better individuals through adversity, as they overcome unforeseen challenges. Eastern and Western societies are so different in so many ways, and yet there are some elements that are universal: betrayal, love, compassion, family, and friendship. The emphasis of Elaine and Gustad’s struggles creates an illusion that their tragedies are the readers’ tragedies as well. The central theme of both novels is the need to embrace emotions, especially sadness, and not to run from them and also their different perspectives of change and isolation. It depicts that life has its fair share of bumps in the road, but with persistence and determination, they can be overcome. In the storylines of both novels, friendship and betrayal become quite evident and explicit. In Cat’s Eye, Elaine Risley allows her body and mind to be abused by her so-called â€Å"friends† and to question her sense of identity. This teasing by the girls, Cordelia, Grace, and Carol, shatters Risley’s self-esteem and leads her to adopt disturbed habits, such as peeling her skin, biting her nails, and chewing her hair. In the aftermath of the bridge incident, Elaine stands up for herself and takes a step forward for freedom the girls’ torment and torture. Realization comes crashing down on her, of how she had fallen for the illusion of false friendship. Her childhood was scarred from all the emotional pain she endured. Similarly, in Such A Long Journey, Gustad Noble had also believed he had been betrayed by his closest friend, Major Jimmy Bilimoria. The Major had sent him a large sum of money to be deposited in the bank, however it was money supposedly to be used to aid rebels in East Pakistan in its war effort. Gustad first thought it would be a heroic mission, aiding the army, but he soon realizes the danger he is bringing to his family and career. Unlike Elaine, who was emotionally attached to her â€Å"best friends†, Bilimoria’s actions came as a sudden shock. Jimmy was like family to the Nobles, the children respected and loved him, and provided so much enjoyment to all. First, he departed without a goodbye and then left the Noble family into a trap of deception. Gaustad has his suspicions, but sees this as a test of loyalty to his old friend. His entire family was against it, and for the most part, so was he. However, Gustad would not let his friend’s call go unanswered, but needed a little persuasion. In both situations, the readers want to reach out and help, and make the ordeal seem less complicated, but both characters are emotionally attached to their friends. When it comes to whether friendship was of importance, Elaine and Gustad stand on opposite sides. Gustad was the more open-minded of the two, even showing respect to the mentally unstable Tehmul, while Elaine shunned Cordelia physical, but was still shaken by her past traumas. Gustad does not prefer change as his life in the past is described as paradise to him. It is with change, comes problems. He blames the theme of change of causing his son not to go to IIT, as his son has changed into a different person from before who does not respect him. He also blames the theme of change on Jimmy’s betrayal as Jimmy in the past was seen as the â€Å"loving brother† but now, he focuses on deceiving Gustad to gain his own selfish goals. Gustad’s reluctance to change is further emphasized by the black wall which represents his life in the past during the war, and by leaving those on his windows he emphasizes that he wants things to be just as how they were back then. The black wall is another symbolist element used to represent change, although Gustad is disgusted by its pungent odour, he doesn’t want the wall to be demolished as it is the source of his isolation and separates himself from the rest of the world. On the contrary, with Elaine, change is almost constant throughout the novel. Her suffering in the hands of Cordelia, Grace, and Carol have left her scrambling for answers and questioning her sense of identity. As she matures into an adult, her haunting memories of her childhood continue to stay with her. Constant flashbacks remind her of the past, and how she overcame it. The marble of the cat’s eye is used to represent change, as it was like a talisman that protected Elaine from her past hardships. Before, it was Cordelia who held the upper hand in their relationship, but as they became adults, Elaine realized how both their lives ended in completely contradictory paths. Since everything did not go her way in her past, everything must be perfect in the future, and thus constant change. Both Elaine and Gustad explore the nature of memory and identity, and how experience of the present is coloured by past events. Spirituality and religion also impact the growth and development, as it plays a crucial theme in the lives of Elaine and Gustad. As the world seemed to crash down on him, such as Roshan’s illness, Sohab’s attitude towards going to IIT, Major Jimmy’s issue and his quarrel with a neighbour, Gustad would always turn to his prayers to solve these problems. In Hinduism and Christianity/Catholicism, a person of pure heart is always commended with good fortune, and this was displayed with both Gustad and Elaine. Elaine can be depicted as an immigrant from the start of her arrival in Toronto, different physically and mentally. She was raised as a boy, growing up with her brother Stephen, and was interested in different things than what â€Å"normal† girls would like. The other girls used Elaine like a lower being, in order to feel good about their sub-par appearance. The emotional pain Elaine felt was cured with the aid of the Virgin Mary. One can imagine the Virgin Mary speaking through Elaine as she rejected Cordelias’ demands, freeing her from her prison of unjust treatment. Likewise, Gaustad and his kusti allowed him too overcome the various obstacles in his life. For example, his sacrifice to save an elder’s life left him only with a minor limp, as his friend Major Bilimoria saved him from extensive damages. Also, as the stress began to mount to its peak on Gustad, the readers can easily identify his Gustad’s misfortunes began turning the other way; Roshan recovering, Sohab returning, and learning of Jimmy’s true motifs of the money. One can imagine the wall of divine beings, an idea of Gustad himself, helped alleviate these burdens. This wall became a temple itself, as provided a diverse mental comfort to those to look at it. Gustad would always praise the street artist who brought this monument to life, as it depicted the spiritual beings that the mortals worshipped to prosper in various aspects of life. Faith is almost always the first thing people turn to in times of need and quite different in both Elaine and Gustad’s cases. Elaine did not even believe in any superior beings, until Grace invited her to attend church. It’s peculiar because afterwards, as she prays to Jesus, that she is demanding her prayers are granted. She imagined God as someone who would answer all her problems in a heartbeat. In reality, sometimes life doesn’t turn your way all the time, and Elaine did not know that. This may be why she converted into a Catholic and worshipped the Virgin Mary. Gustad, on the contrary, seems to have been a religious man since his childhood. His childhood memories were fantasizing about protecting a castle and fighting off dragons with his sacred kusti. In the current timeframe of the novel, the readers learn countless people made it theirs. The wall had a certain calming aura about it, and that it is his morning ritual to pray before he commences anything else. Although both Gustad and Elaine’s thoughts upon faith and religion are quite different, one can say that it was divine intervention that aided them throughout all their hardships and suffering. Individuality or independence can be defined as the state or quality of being free from subjection or from the influence, control, or guidance of individuals, things, or situations. Gustad and Elaine feel the necessity of isolation, and confining themselves in their minds, without expressing inner emotions for a majority of the novels. The readers can witness the evolution of Gustad’s character as the novel progresses, before problem after problem began to amount. One can only imagine the internal pain he feels as Roshan falls ill, Sohrab defying his father’s ambitions, and Bilimoria’s apparent betrayal, it is hard not to wonder how he manages to cover his emotions. Gustad is one who does not like to express his emotions publicly, but is very open with his wife Dilnavaz. They both share a special bond, where they continuously support one another through the rough times. Again, the black wall comes into significance again. Gustad covers the windows of Khohad Building to isolate it from the atrocities of the world. The wall can be symbolism to support, protect, or guard something; similarly this is the same idea in the confines of Gustad’s mind as the wall represents the congested emotions trapped in his head. By demolishing the wall, it is as though he is letting himself become vulnerable and open. This represents the theme of isolation, as Gustad locks his emotions and only releases them when he cannot bear it anymore, especially when Tehmul dies and Sohrab returns towards the end. Elaine can also relate to isolation as well. As the other girls were tormenting her, she was always alone, no one to turn to. Her parents were completely oblivious to what was going on with their daughter. For example, after Elaine fell into the river and returned home, her mother did not accuse the other girls at all, even though Elaine covered up for their sake. She kept all her thoughts and feelings to herself, not knowing the load she had put on herself. Even as an adult, she continued to hide things from her closest family; another example being hiding her relationship with Josef from Jon after they were married. The readers understand Elaine’s behaviour; she cannot trust another person because of her past experiences. She hasn’t fully recovered from the entire ordeal. However, the one true difference between the two is that Gustad always turns to his family, while Elaine keeps to herself. When analyzing Mistry’s Such a Long Journey and Atwood’s Cat’s Eye one can clearly distinguish the significant components of both novels that the protagonists evolving as an individual and adapting tot their changing societies with a fair amount of struggle. Gustad Noble and Elaine Risley share many similarities, and also a variety of differences. They have both been through tough situations, and recovered in an assortment of ways. The readers witness the protagonists becoming better individuals through adversity, as they overcome unforeseen challenges. Eastern and Western societies are so different in so many ways, and yet there are some elements that are universal: betrayal, love, compassion, family, and friendship. Gustad had to let go of a simple lifestyle and found himself innocently drawn into a dangerous network of lies and deception. Elaine on the other hand found herself not being able to let go of a horrific childhood where a trio of other girls torment ed her. This impact on her life caused her to become more cautious in the future and also developing an obsession over those who caused her the misery. Family, friendship, karma, religion along with change and isolation affected how both Gustad and Elaine solved their problems. Gustad was amounted with family problems, with is daughter falling ill and his eldest son defying his ambitions. Gustad turned to his faith in order to find some sort of compassion and sympathy in his darkest hours. He did not express his emotions publicly, only releasing them to Dilnavaz when he could not bear them anymore. Change was not an option for Gustad, as he was not ready to accept them all; one example being the apparent betrayal for Major Jimmy Bilimoria. Unlike Gustad however, Elaine had no one to turn to discuss her issues. Due to the traumatic ordeal with Cordelia, Grace and Carol, Elaine had her self-esteem and body image shattered as she scrambled for answers. These events lead her to living a very conservative life, almost turning into the person she very well hated. As both she and Cordelia became adults, it is almost as if there fortunes had turned tables, on opposite ends of life. The same with Gustad, his good-natured character allowed his suffering to be minimal. Religion and spirituality had different affects and meanings with both protagonists. Gustad believed all his problems would be answered if he prayed with the right mindset. Elaine thought that her troubles would just disappear because of the abilities of superior begins, and the reason why she began attending church. Material objects also play important roles, Gustad’s black wall and Elaine’s marble. The black wall represented isolation and protection from the horrors and filth of the outside world. Even though it was treated without value, it provided Gustad with a special comfort, and probably the reason he turned it into a shrine. Elaine used the cat’s eye marble was used as a talisman, protecting her from her dilemmas. Even as she grew, one of her most influential paintings was the image of her marble, showing how she recovered from her horrific past. Thus, both Gustad Noble and Elaine Risley were impacted differently by family and friends, the themes of change and isolation, and most importantly, their understanding of their past experiences allowed them to mature as individuals.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

At first the door wouldn't open. The knob turned under my hand so I knew it wasn't locked, but the rain seemed to have swelled the wood . . . or had something been shoved up against it? I drew back, crouched a little, and hit the door with my shoulder. This time there was some slight give. It was her. Sara. Standing on the other side of the door and trying to hold it shut against me. How could she do that? How, in God's name? She was a fucking ghost! I thought of the BAMM CONSTRUCTION pickup . . . and as if thought were conjuration I could almost see it out there at the end of Lane Forty-two, parked by the highway. The old ladies' sedan was behind it, and three or four other cars were now behind them. All of them with their windshield wipers flopping back and forth, their headlights cutting feeble cones through the downpour. They were lined up on the shoulder like cars at a yard sale. There was no yard sale here, only the old-timers sitting silently in their cars. Old-timers who were in the zone just like I was. Old-timers sending in the vibe. She was drawing on them. Stealing from them. She'd done the same with Devore and me too, of course. Many of the manifestations I'd experienced since coming back had likely been created from my own psychic energy. It was amusing when you thought of it. Or maybe ‘terrifying' was the word I was actually looking for. ‘Jo, help me,' I said in the pouring rain. Lightning flashed, turning the torrents a bright brief silver. ‘If you ever loved me, help me now.' I drew back and hit the door again. This time there was no resistance at all and I went hurtling in, catching my shin on the jamb and falling to my knees. I held onto the lantern, though. There was a moment of silence. In it I felt forces and presences gathering themselves. In that moment nothing seemed to move, although behind me, in the woods Jo had loved to ramble with me or without me the rain continued to fall and the wind continued to howl, a merciless gardener pruning its way through the trees that were dead and almost dead, doing the work of ten gentler years in one turbulent hour. Then the door slammed shut and it began. I saw everything in the glow of the flashlight, which I had turned on without even realizing it, but at first I didn't know exactly what I was seeing, other than the destruction by poltergeist of my wife's beloved crafts and treasures. The framed afghan square tore itself off the wall and flew from one side of the studio to the other, the black oak frame breaking apart. The heads popped off the dolls poking out of the baby collages like champagne corks at a party. The hanging light-globe shattered, showering me with fragments of glass. A wind began to blow a cold one and was quickly joined and whirled into a cyclone by one which was warmer, almost hot. They rolled past me as if in imitation of the larger storm outside. The Sara Laughs head on the bookcase, the one which appeared to be constructed of toothpicks and lollipop sticks, exploded in a cloud of wood-splinters. The kayak paddle leaning against the wall rose into the air, rowed furiously at nothing, then launched itself at me like a spear. I threw myself flat on the green rag rug to avoid it, and felt bits of broken glass from the shattered light-globe cut into the palm of my hand as I came down. I felt something else, as well a ridge of something beneath the rug. The paddle hit the far wall hard enough to split into two pieces. Now the banjo my wife had never been able to master rose in the air, revolved twice, and played a bright rattle of notes that were out of tune but nonetheless unmistakable wish I was in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten. The phrase ended with a vicious BLUNK! that broke all five strings. The banjo whirled itself a third time, its bright steel fittings reflecting fishscale runs of light on the study walls, and then beat itself to death against the floor, the drum shattering and the tuning pegs snapping off like teeth. The sound of moving air began to how do I express this? to focus somehow, until it wasn't the sound of air but the sound of voices panting, unearthly voices full of fury. They would have screamed if they'd had vocal cords to scream with. Dusty air swirled up in the beam of my flashlight, making helix shapes that danced together, then reeled apart again. For just a moment I heard Sara's snarling, smoke-broken voice: ‘Git out, bitch! You git on out! This ain't none of yours ‘ And then a curious insubstantial thud, as if air had collided with air. This was followed by a rushing wind-tunnel shriek that I recognized: I'd heard it in the middle of the night. Jo was screaming. Sara was hurting her, Sara was punishing her for presuming to interfere, and Jo was screaming. ‘No!' I shouted, getting to my feet. ‘Leave her alone! Leave her be!' I advanced into the room, swinging the lantern in front of my face as if I could beat her away with it. Stoppered bottles stormed past me some contained dried flowers, some carefully sectioned mushrooms, some woods-herbs. They shattered against the far wall with a brittle xylophone sound. None of them struck me; it was as if an unseen hand guided them away. Then Jo's rolltop desk rose into the air. It must have weighed at least four hundred pounds with its drawers loaded as they were, but it floated like a feather, nodding first one way and then dipping the other in the opposing currents of air. Jo screamed again, this time in anger rather than pain, and I staggered backward against the closed door with a feeling that I had been scooped hollow. Sara wasn't the only one who could steal the energy of the living, it appeared. White semeny stuff ectoplasm, I guess spilled from the desk's pigeonholes in a dozen little streams, and the desk suddenly launched itself across the room. It flew almost too fast to follow with the eye. Anyone standing in front of it would have been smashed flat There was a head-splitting shriek of protest and agony Sara this time, I knew it was and then the desk struck the wall, breaking through it and letting in the rain and the wind. The rolltop snapped loose of its slot and hung like a jointed tongue. All the drawers shot out. Spools of thread, skeins of yarn, little flora/fauna identification books and woods guides, thimbles, notebooks, knitting needles, dried-up Magic Markers Jo's early remains, Ki might have called them. They flew everywhere l ike bones and bits of hair cruelly scattered from a disinterred coffin. ‘Stop it,' I croaked. ‘Stop it, both of you. That's enough.' But there was no need to tell them. Except for the furious beat of the storm, I was alone in the ruins of my wife's studio. The battle was over. At least for the time being. I knelt and doubled up the green rag rug, carefully folding into it as much of the shattered glass from the light as I could. Beneath it was a trapdoor giving on a triangular storage area created by the slope of the land as it dropped toward the lake. The ridge I'd felt was one of the trap's hinges. I had known about this area and had meant to check it for the owls. Then things began to happen and I'd forgotten. There was a recessed ring in the trapdoor. I grabbed it, ready for more resistance, but it swung up easily. The smell that wafted up froze me in my tracks. Not damp decay, at least not at first, but Red Jo's favorite perfume. It hung around me for a moment and then it was gone. What replaced it was the smell of rain, roots, and wet earth. Not pleasant, but I had smelled far worse down by the lake near that damned birch tree. I shone my light down three steep steps. I could see a squat shape that turned out to be an old toilet I could vaguely remember Bill and Kenny Auster putting it under here back in 1990 or '91. There were steel boxes filing cabinet drawers, actually wrapped in plastic and stacked up on pallets. Old records and papers. An eight-track tape player wrapped in a plastic bag. An old VCR next to it, in another one. And over in the corner I sat down, hung my legs over, and felt something touch the ankle I had turned in the lake. I shone my light between my knees and for one moment saw a young black kid. Not the one drowned in the lake, though this one was older and quite a lot bigger. Twelve, maybe fourteen. The drowned boy had been no more than eight. This one bared his teeth at me and hissed like a cat. There were no pupils in his eyes; like those of the boy in the lake, his eyes were entirely white, like the eyes of a statue. And he was shaking his head. Don't come down here, white man. Let the dead rest in peace. ‘But you're not at peace,' I said, and shone the light full on him. I had a momentary glimpse of a truly hideous thing. I could see through him, but I could also see into him: the rotting remains of his tongue in his mouth, his eyes in their sockets, his brain simmering like a spoiled egg in its case of skull. Then he was gone, and there was nothing but one of those swirling dust-helixes. I went down, holding the lantern raised. Below it, nests of shadows rocked and seemed to reach upward. The storage area (it was really no more than a glorified crawlspace) had been floored with wooden pallets, just to keep stuff off the ground. Now water ran beneath these in a steady river, and enough of the earth had eroded to make even crawling unsteady work. The smell of perfume was entirely gone. What had replaced it was a nasty riverbottom smell and unlikely given the conditions, I know, but it was there the faint, sullen smell of ash and fire. I saw what I'd come for almost at once. Jo's mail-order owls, the ones she had taken delivery of herself in November of 1993, were in the northeast corner, where there were only about two feet between the sloped pallet flooring and the underside of the studio. Gorry, but they looked real, Bill had said, and Gorry if he wasn't right: in the bright glow of the lantern they looked like birds first swaddled, then suffocated in clear plastic. Their eyes were bright wedding rings circling wide black pupils. Their plastic feathers were painted the dark green of pine nee-dies, their bellies a shade of dirty orange-white. I crawled toward them over the squelching, shifting pallets, the glow of the lantern bobbing back and forth between them, trying not to wonder if that boy was behind me, creeping in pursuit. When I got to the owls, I raised my head without thinking and thudded it against the insulation which ran beneath the studio floor. Thump once for yes, twice for no, asshole, I thought. I hooked my fingers into the plastic which wrapped the owls and pulled them toward me. I wanted to be out of here. The sensation of water running just beneath me was strange and unpleasant. So was the smell of fire, which seemed stronger now in spite of the damp. Suppose the studio was burning? Suppose Sara had somehow set it alight? I'd roast down here even while the storm's muddy runoff was soaking my legs and belly. One of the owls stood on a plastic base, I saw the better to set him on your deck or stoop to scare the crows, my dear but the base the other should have been attached to was missing. I backed toward the trapdoor, holding the lantern in one hand and dragging the plastic sack of owls in the other, wincing each time thunder cannonaded over my head. I'd only gotten a little way when the damp tape holding the plastic gave way. The owl missing its base tilted slowly toward me, its black-gold eyes staring raptly into my own. A swirl of air. A faint, comforting whiff of Red perfume. I pulled the owl out by the hornlike tufts growing from its forehead and turned it upside down. Where it had once been attached to its plastic base there were now only two pegs with a hollow space between them. Inside the hole was a small tin box that I recognized even before I reached into the owl's belly and chivvied it out. I shone the lantern on its front, knowing what I'd see: JO'S NOTIONS, written in old-fashioned gilt script. She had found the box in an antiques barn somewhere. I looked at it, my heart beating hard. Thunder boomed overhead. The trapdoor stood open, but I had forgotten about going up. I had forgotten about everything but the tin box I held in my hand, a box roughly the size of a cigar box but not quite as deep. I spread my hand over the cover and pulled it off. There was a strew of folded papers lying on top of a pair of steno books, the wirebound ones I keep around for notes and character lists. These had been rubber-banded together. On top of everything else was a shiny black square. Until I picked it up and held it close to the side of the lantern, I didn't realize it was a photo negative. Ghostly, reversed and faintly orange, I saw Jo in her gray two-piece bathing suit. She was standing on the swimming float with her hands behind her head. ‘Jo,' I said, and then couldn't say anything else. My throat had closed up with tears. I held the negative for a moment, not wanting to lose contact with it, then put it back in the box with the papers and steno books. This stuff was why she had come to Sara in July of 1994; to gather it up and hide it as well as she could. She had taken the owls off the deck (Frank had heard the door out there bang) and had carried them out here. I could almost see her prying the base off one owl and stuffing the tin box up its plastic wazoo, wrapping both of them in plastic, then dragging them down here, all while her brother sat smoking Marlboros and feeling the vibrations. The bad vibrations. I doubted if I would ever know all the reasons why she'd done it, or what her frame of mind had been . . . but she had almost certainly believed I'd find my own way down here eventually. Why else had she left the negative? The loose papers were mostly photocopied press clippings from the Castle Rock Call and from the Weekly News, the paper which had apparently preceded the Call. The dates were marked on each in my wife's neat, firm hand. The oldest clipping was from 1865, and was headed ANOTHER HOME SAFE. The returnee was one Jared Devore, age thirty-two. Suddenly I understood one of the things that had puzzled me: the generations which didn't seem to match up. A Sara Tidwell song came to mind as I crouched there on the pallets with my lantern shining down on that old-timey type. It was the ditty that went The old folks do it and the young folks, too / And the old folks show the young folks just what to do . . . By the time Sara and the Red-Tops showed up in Castle County and settled on what became known as Tidwell's Meadow, Jared Devore would have been sixty-seven or -eight. Old but still hale. A veteran of the Civil War. The sort of older man younger men might look up to. And Sara's song was right the old folks show the young folks just what to do. What exactly had they done? The clippings about Sara and the Red-Tops didn't tell. I only skimmed them, anyway, but the overall tone shook me, just the same. I'd describe it as unfailing genial contempt. The Red-Tops were ‘our Southern blackbirds' and ‘our rhythmic darkies.' They were ‘full of dusky good-nature.' Sara herself was ‘a marvelous figure of a Negro woman with broad nose, full lips, and noble brow' who ‘fascinated men-folk and women-folk alike with her animal high spirits, flashing smile, and raucous laugh.' They were, God keep us and save us, reviews. Good ones, if you didn't mind being called full of dusky good-nature. I shuffled through them quickly, looking for anything about the circumstances under which ‘our Southern blackbirds' had left. I found nothing. What I found instead was a clipping from the Call marked July 19th (go down nineteen, I thought), 1933. The headline read VETERAN GUIDE, CARETAKER, CANNOT SAVE DAUGHTER. According to the story, Fred Dean had been fighting the wildfires in the eastern part of the TR with two hundred other men when the wind had suddenly changed, menacing the north end of the lake, which had previously been considered safe. At that time a great many local people had kept fishing and hunting camps up there (this much I knew myself). The community had had a general store and an actual name, Halo Bay. Fred's wife, Hilda, was there with the Dean twins, William and Carla, age three, while her husband was off eating smoke. A good many other wives and kids were in Halo Bay, as well. The fires had come fast when the wind changed, the paper said ‘like marching explosions.' They jumped the only firebreak the men had left in that direction and headed for the far end of the lake. At Halo Bay there were no men to take charge, and apparently no women able or willing to do so. They panicked instead, racing to load their cars with children and camp possessions, clogging the one road out with their vehicles. Eventually one of the old cars or trucks broke down and as the fires roared closer, running through woods that hadn't seen rain since late April, the women who'd waited found their way out blocked. The volunteer firefighters came to the rescue in time, but when Fred Dean got to his wife, one of a party of women trying to push a balky stalled Ford coupe out of the road, he made a terrible discovery. Billy lay on the floor in the back of the car, fast asleep, but Carla was missing. Hilda had gotten them both in, all right they had been on the back seat, holding hands just as they always did. But at some point, after her brother had crawled onto the floor and dozed off and while Hilda was stuffing a few last items into the trunk, Carla must have remembered a toy or a doll and returned to the cottage to get it. While she was doing that, her mother had gotten into their old Desoto and driven away without rechecking the babies. Carla Dean was either still in the cottage at Halo Bay or making her way up the road on foot. Either way the fires would run her down. The road was too narrow to get a vehicle turned around and too blocked to get one of those pointed in the right direction through the crush. So Fred Dean, hero that he was, set off on the run toward the smoke-blackened horizon, where bright ribbons of orange had already begun to shine through. The wind-driven fire had crowned and raced to meet him like a lover. I knelt on the pallets, reading this by the glow of my lantern, and all at once the smell of fire and burning intensified. I coughed . . . and then the cough was choked off by the iron taste of water in my mouth and throat. Once again, this time kneeling in the storage area beneath my wife's studio, I felt as if I were drowning. Once again I leaned forward and retched up nothing but a little spit. I turned and saw the lake. The loons were screaming on its hazy surface, making their way toward me in a line, beating their wings against the water as they came. The blue of the sky had been blotted out. The air smelled of charcoal and gunpowder. Ash had begun to sift down from the sky. The eastern verge of Dark Score was in flames, and I could hear occasional muffled reports as hollow trees exploded. They sounded like depth charges. I looked down, wanting to break free of this vision, knowing that in another moment or two it wouldn't be anything so distant as a vision but as real as the trip Kyra and I had made to the Fryeburg Fair. Instead of a plastic owl with gold-ringed eyes, I was looking at a child with bright blue ones. She was sitting on a picnic table, holding out her chubby arms and crying. I saw her as clearly as I saw my own face in the mirror each morning when I shaved. I saw she was about Kyra's age but much plumper, and her hair is black instead of blonde. Her hair is the shade her brother's will remain until it finally begins to go gray in the impossibly distant summer of 1998, a year she will never see unless someone gets her out of this hell. She wears a white dress and red knee-stockings and she holds her arms out to me, calling Daddy, Daddy. I start toward her and then there is a blast of organized heat that tears me apart for a moment I am the ghost here, I realize, and Fred Dean has just run right through me. Daddy, she cries, but to him, not me. Daddy! and she hugs him, unmindful of the soot smearing her white silk dress and her chubby face as he kisses her and more soot begins to fall and the loons beat their way in toward shore, seeming to weep in shrill lamentation. Daddy the fire is coming! she cries as he scoops her into his arms. I know, be brave, he says. We're gonna be all right, sugarplum, but you have to be brave. The fire isn't just coming,' it has come. The entire east end of Halo Bay is inflames and now they're moving this way, eating one by one the little cabins where the men like to lay up drunk in hunting season and ice-fishing season. Behind Al LeRoux's, the washing Marguerite hung out that morning is in flames, pants and dresses and underwear burning on lines which are themselves strings of fire. Leaves and bark shower down,' a burning ember touches Carla's neck and she shrieks with pain. Fred slaps it away as he carries her down the slope of land to the water. Don't do it! I scream. I know all this is beyond my power to change, but I scream at him anyway, try to change it anyway. Fight it! For Christ's sake, fight it! Daddy, who is that man? Carla asks, and points at me as the green-shingled roof of the Dean place catches fire. Fred glances toward where she is pointing, and in his face I see a spasm of guilt. He knows what he's doing, that's the terrible thing way down deep he knows exactly what he is doing here at Halo Bay where The Street ends. He knows and he's afraid that someone will witness his work. But he sees nothing. Or does he? There is a momentary doubtful widening of the eyes as if he does spy something a dancing helix of air, perhaps. Or does feel me? Is that it? Does he feel a momentary cold draft in all this heat? One that feels like protesting hands, hands that would restrain if they only had substance? Then he looks away,' then he is wading into the water beside the Deans' stub of a dock. Fred! I scream. For God's sake, man, look at her! Do you think your wife put her in a white silk dress by accident? Is that anyone's idea of a play-dress? Daddy, why are we going in the water? she asks. To get away from the fire, sugarplum. Daddy, I can't swim! You won't have to, he replies, and what a chill I feel at that! Because it's no lie she won't have to swim, not now, not ever. And at least Fred's way will be more merciful than Normal Auster's when Normal's turn comes more merciful than the squalling handpump, the gallons of freezing water. Her white dress floats around her like a lily. Her red stockings shimmer in the water. She hugs his neck tightly and now they are among the fleeing loons,' the loons spank the water with their powerful wings, churning up curds of jam and staring at the man and the girl with their distraught red eyes. The air is heavy with smoke and the sky is gone. I stagger after them, wading I can feel the cold of the water, although I don't splash and leave no wake. The eastern and northern edges of the lake are both on fire now there is a burning crescent around us as Fred Dean wades deeper with his daughter, carrying her as if to some baptismal rite. And still he tells himself he is trying to save her, only to save her, just as all her life Hilda will tell herself that the child just wandered back to the cottage to look for a toy, that she was not left behind on purpose, left in her white dress and red stockings to be found by her father, who once did something unspeakable. This is the past, th is is the Land of Ago, and here the sins of the fathers are visited on the children, even unto the seventh generation, which is not yet. He takes her deeper and she begins to scream. Her screams mingle with the screams of the loons until he stops the sound with a kiss upon her terrified mouth. ‘Love you, Daddy loves his sugarplum,' he says, and then lowers her. It is to be a full-immersion baptism, then, except there is no shorebank choir singing ‘Shall We Gather at the River' and no one shouting Hallelujah! and he is not letting her come back up. She struggles furiously in the white bloom of her sacrificial dress, and after a moment he cannot bear to watch her,' he looks across the lake instead, to the west where the fire hasn't yet touched (and never will), to the west where skies are still blue. Ash sifts around him like black rain and the tears pour out of his eyes and as she struggles furiously beneath his hands, trying to free herself from his drowning grip, he tells himself It was an accident, just a terrible accident, I took her out in the lake because it was the only place I could take her, the on ly place left, and she panicked, she started to struggle, she was all wet and all slippery and I lost my good hold on her and then I lost any hold on her and then I forget I'm a ghost. I scream ‘Kia! Hold on, Ki!' and dive. I reach her, I see her terrified face, her bulging blue eyes, her rosebud of a mouth which is trailing a silver line of bubbles toward the surface where Fred stands in water up to his neck, holding her down while he tells himself over and over that he was trying to save her, it was the only way, he was trying to save her, it was the only way. I reach for her, again and again I reach for her, my child, my daughter, my Kia (they are all Kia, the boys as well as the girls, all my daughter), and each time my arms go through her. Worse oh, far worse is that now she is reaching for ‘me', her dappled arms floating out, begging for rescue. Her groping hands melt through mine. I cannot touch, because now I am the ghost. I am the ghost and as her struggles weaken I realize that I can't I can't oh I couldn't breathe I was drowning. I doubled over, opened my mouth, and this time a great spew of lake-water came out, soaking the plastic owl which lay on the pallet by my knees. I hugged the JO'S NOTIONS box to my chest, not wanting the contents to get wet, and the movement triggered another retch. This time cold water poured from my nose as well as my mouth. I dragged in a deep breath, then coughed it out. ‘This has got to end,' I said, but of course this was the end, one way or the other. Because Kyra was last. I climbed up the steps to the studio and sat on the littered floor to get my breath. Outside, the thunder boomed and the rain fell, but I thought the storm had passed its peak of fury. Or maybe I only hoped. I rested with my legs hanging down through the trap there were no more ghosts here to touch my ankles, I don't know how I knew that but I did and stripped off the rubber bands holding the steno notebooks together. I opened the first one, paged through it, and saw it was almost filled with Jo's handwriting and a number of folded typed sheets (Courier type, of course), single-spaced: the fruit of all those clandestine trips down to the TR during 1993 and 1994. Fragmentary notes, for the most part, and transcriptions of tapes which might still be down below me in the storage space somewhere. Tucked away with the VCR or the eight-track player, perhaps. But I didn't need them. When the time came if the time came I was sure I'd find most of the story here. What had happened, who had done it, how it was covered up. Right now I didn't care. Right now I only wanted to make sure that Kyra was safe and stayed safe. There was only one way to do that. Lye stille. I attempted to slip the rubber bands around the steno books again, and the one I hadn't looked at slipped out of my wet hand and fell to the floor. A torn slip of green paper fell out. I picked it up and saw this: For a moment I came out of that strange and heightened awareness I'd been living in; the world fell back into its accustomed dimensions. But the colors were all too strong, somehow, objects too emphatically present. I felt like a battlefield soldier suddenly illuminated by a ghastly white flare, one that shows everything. My father's people had come from The Neck, I had been right about that much; my great-grandfather according to this was James Noonan, and he had never shit in the same pit as Jared Devore. Max Devore had either been lying when he said that to Mattie . . . or misinformed . . . or simply confused, the way folks often get confused when they reach their eighties. Even a fellow like Devore, who had stayed mostly sharp, wouldn't have been exempt from the occasional nick in his edge. And he hadn't been that far off at that. Because, according to this little scratch of a chart, my great-grandfather had had an older sister, Bridget. And Bridget had married Benton Auster. My finger dropped down a line, to Harry Auster. Born of Benton and Bridget Noonan Auster in the year 1885. ‘Christ Jesus,' I whispered. ‘Kenny Auster's grandfather was my granduncle. And he was one of them. Whatever they did, Harry Auster was one of them. That's the connection.' I thought of Kyra with sudden sharp terror. She had been up at the house by herself for nearly an hour. How could I have been so stupid? Anyone could have come in while I was under the studio. Sara could have used anyone to I realized that wasn't true. The murderers and the child victims had all been linked by blood, and now that blood had thinned, that river had almost reached the sea. There was Bill Dean, but he was staying well away from Sara Laughs. There was Kenny Auster, but Kenny had taken himself and his family off to Taxachusetts. And Ki's closest blood relations mother, father, grandfather were all dead. Only I was left. Only I was blood. Only I could do it. Unless I bolted back up to the house as fast as I could, slipping and sliding my way along the soaked path, desperate to make sure she was all right. I didn't think Sara could hurt Kyra herself, no matter how much of that old-timer vibe she had to draw on . . . but what if I was wrong? What if I was wrong?

Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Portfolio - Essay Example Attention, therefore, shall be devoted to the value of negotiation, and the interrelationship between negotiation and intelligence, as learnt throughout the course of this program. Selection of negotiation as the theme was determined by its persistent presence in the greater majority of the themes dealt with and topics covered. Whether explicit or implicit, covert or overt, the importance of negotiation never faded from attention and the imperatives of acquiring a conceptual understanding of this skill for subsequent practical exploitation was an overriding program concern and objective. To illustrate this point, I will use examples from all of the course’s theoretical studies, practical experiences and key readings. The MA in Diplomatic Studies combines between theory and practice, thus, acknowledging diplomacy to be, in part, the practical application of theoretical concepts. As such, academic discussions were consistently grounded in theory, with the aforementioned serving, not only to frame knowledge but, to provide students with interpretive tools as would allow them a more thorough understanding of international affairs and relations. IR theory emphasised the imperatives of negotiation and the role of intelligence therein. The divisive nature of IR theory, as evidenced in clear demarcations between schools of theory, highlights the utility of negotiation aiming towards a compromised theoretical outlook. Quite simply stated, the persistent division of theoretical schools into idealists and realists has culminated in a situation wherein events do not dictate interpretation but theory dictates the manner in which events will be interpreted, with the consequences being less than accurate understandings of the implications of the events in question. Neither the scope nor the complexities of IR withstands such clear, and highly delimiting, demarcations and, their enforcement lends to the loss of meaning. If a diplomat is

Trade Protectionism And Worldwide Economic Contraction Case Study

Trade Protectionism And Worldwide Economic Contraction - Case Study Example Economic protectionist laws are struck down on the basis that the state has not used a more equitable means of achieving its goal. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate economic protectionism, explain the rationale for governments implementing protectionist policies and evaluate whether these policies were successful or otherwise. For example, when the purpose of a law is to shield Alaska’s infant timber processing industry from the effects of interstate and foreign competition, it is deemed as invalid. Similarly, a state’s labeling law in the apple growing industry would be considered to be economic protectionist if it were meant to prevent apple growers in other states from selling their fruits in the former state. Thus, where economic protectionism is a law’s ultimate goal, the measure can be held to be unfounded. However, if the apple growing state argues that requiring the use of a specific grade is a reasonable method to protect cons umers against fraud and deception, the court would most likely accept this argument (May & Ides 350). On the other hand, economic protectionism is also considered to be damaging if it is merely a means, a stepping-stone, or an intermediate goal towards the attainment of a legitimate end. For example, â€Å"a genuine quarantine law that bans the importation of diseased crops or animals is not economic protectionism if it was adopted for health reasons† (May & Ides 352) even though it has the incidental effect of shielding local sellers from competition from other states. Although quarantine laws are not invalid in themselves, they may be invalidated if they fail to meet one of the other requirements of the dominant Commerce Clause analysis. The Argument Against Economic Protectionism Support for continued trade liberalization may be declining, as the results from recent polls and political rhetoric suggest.

The key principles of human resource management Essay

The key principles of human resource management - Essay Example This essay discusses that there are more similarities between personnel management and human resource management than difference and this is mainly assumed by different number of authors. According to Torington, a personnel management is continues process of growth and evolution where more expertise people are required. In this evolutionary process HRM is adding only a dimension to a multi faceted role and is not assumed as a revolutionary concept. But the concept of HRM should not be undervalued or underestimated. Storey has regarded HRM as different approach and philosophy for the management. HRM provides a new platform for managing personnel. Difference between Personnel management and HRM are mainly comprises of meaning than of substance. Thus the real difference between personnel and HRM is not actually what the concept are but who are defining the concepts. Another important difference between the two approaches is appreciation towards the employees. Personnel management believ es that employees are the key to improve the performance whereas HRM assumes that the employees are essential for success of the organisation. HRM concentrates on strategic fits unlike personnel management; HRM emphasis on individuals whereas personnel emphasis on collectively; Personnel management provides a generalised HR solution and HRM a much more tailored solution; There is an increase need of HR specialist in case of personnel management whereas in HRM senior mangers perform the work of an HR. Personnel is associated with trade union and managing conflict and HRM with performance, capabilities and outcomes. HRM has a strong emphasis over horizontal and vertical integration. It operates at a strategic level and personnel management is more operationally oriented (Banfield & Kay, 2008, p.40). Function of the human resource management in contributing to organisational purposes The functions of HRM have changed over the years and are continuing to change. The function of HR is to enable organisation to achieve the objectives by way of taking initiatives and providing the required guidance as well as support on matters relating to the organisations employees. The main motive is to develop HR strategies and policies in the organisations. HR functions also play an important part in creation of the organisation environment which enables the employees to utilise their capabilities to benefit both the organisation and the individual. The function of HRM also tends to provide advice and services which enables the organisation to get work done through individuals. The sophisticated HRM aims to achieve a strategic integration (Armstrong, 2006, p.54). The HRM concerns most of the managers as well as

Visual analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Visual analysis - Essay Example Dockers.com presents a webpage that is bold and straight-to-the-point, characteristics associated with being purposeful, one of Dockers’ lifestyle promises. Once on the site, consumers can already feel a sense of intention. Calibri and Arial fonts in basic colors of black and white dominate the page, consistent with a no-nonsense attitude Dockers portrays. Even the language on the site speaks of decisiveness as Dockers does not describe its clothes. Rather, it tells the consumers to take action by utilizing verbs such as make, explore and get. Black, a common color for formal clothes, presents a picture of solidity, another lifestyle promise from Dockers, and also classic elegance. This promise of solidity is again reinforced by the Dockers’ logo – an anchor that appears in full each time a user moves from page to page. The anchor, symbolizing steadiness, is also defined as a ‘person†¦ that can be relied on for support, stability, or security.† ( Anchor) With its taglines like â€Å"Dockers has your back† or â€Å"We’ve got you covered†, the brand reiterates once more its promise of dependability. Orange may not be a color associated with men. However, Dockers employs the color on its page for two reasons. For one, it is in line with the company’s lifestyle promise of a go-getter attitude. The orange links stand out making them easy to find and click. Consumers can readily know the current page because the orange is such a contrast to the black and gray letters that dominate the site. The second reason the orange works is because Dockers makes men feel confident in themselves to wear any color, even those usually utilized for females. In fact, if one is to browse the khaki section by color, the selection includes khakis in honey mustard and another in electric blue. In their Spring 2013 collection, khakis are offered in yellow and orange. The first page of the site features a set of pictures verti cally arranged on the center of the page. These have lines or two on each of them. Consumers will see that Dockers has anticipated the consumers’ needs and is prepared to satisfy these with messages such as â€Å"We’ve got you covered†, â€Å"Quality gifts that keep giving, at any price† and â€Å"Dockers has your back†. Again, these shows Dockers’ promise to make the consumer feel dependable. Dockers is able to make male consumers easily associate themselves with the male models on its site. The models in the pictures and videos are not overly handsome or muscular. They can be a father, brother, husband, uncle or friend, the very same consumers who visit the site. A commonality among them is their confident stance which emphasizes Dockers’ promise of determination. For the videos, Dockers chose to feature inspirational males who are enjoying the life they have carved out for themselves. Examples include Michael â€Å"Bear† Gry lls who is an adventurer, writer and television personality; Danny Hess, who makes environmentally-friendly surfboards; and, David Burnett, a teacher and architect who now helps make homes for Habitat for Humanity. By employing these personalities and having them share their passions on the site, Dockers is able to tell its audience that their clothes are the suitable partners of people who are confident, reliable and have a sense of purpose in their lives. The array of videos and pictures make the site visually appealing, especially since most audiences who shop for clothes do not take time to read blurbs and paragraphs but do enjoy clicking

Ethical Argument (Should Roe Vs. Wade be overturned) Should Abortion Essay

Ethical Argument (Should Roe Vs. Wade be overturned) Should Abortion be outlawed - Essay Example Should Roe v Wade be overturned? Absolutely not: this essay will look at the ethical dubiousness of the pro-life position, before highlighting the fundamental difference between the pro-life and pro-choice positions, to show that criminalizing abortion in modern America would subvert our self-image as the land of the free. In the twenty-first century, it is entirely invalid to use religious justifications to deny bodily autonomy to fully half the population – most pro-life arguments boil down to a Biblical belief that life begins at conception, which is a personal matter and not one that should affect people who do not necessarily hold the same belief. It is also an ineffective argument, as according to the Guttmacher Institute, Catholic women have abortions at about the same rate as non-Catholic women. Furthermore, the pro-life movement has undermined itself through conscious lies and hypocritical violence: House Bill 1210 in Indiana demands that a doctor tells a woman seekin g an abortion of â€Å"the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion† (HB 1210), even though the American Cancer Society has found no â€Å"cause-and-effect relationship between abortion and breast cancer†.

Samsun Galaxy Tablet's Design, Operations, and Supply Chain Strategies Research Paper

Samsun Galaxy Tablet's Design, Operations, and Supply Chain Strategies - Research Paper Example Moreover, they are the second largest semiconductor chip manufacturer in the world at present. Many people believe that they may surpass the leader Intel in that segment also in near future itself. It is widely believed that Samsung Electronics is best positioned for the new developments in the smartphone market and will continue to expand its leadership in memory, as well as new components like AMOLED and Mobile AP. The company is more favourably positioned than before in most of its product categories: it is quickly becoming the number one player in handsets (from a distant third place behind Nokia and Motorola in 2005), it's already the dominant number one player in TV (from fourth in 2004) and it's a major player in new components like Mobile AP (part of System LSI) and AMOLED (part of Display Panel), which are relatively new businesses. It has several "stars" including smartphones, tablets, AMOLED and System LSI; a few "cash cows" such as DRAM and featurephones; and one real "do g" in LCD displays (Samsung Electronics: The Jewel of the Samsung Empire — Secrets of Success and Future Growth Engines, p.151) Even though Apple Inc is believed to be the most valuable technology company in the world, the death of Steve Jobs has opened many opportunities for Samsung to defeat Apple not only in mobile phone market but also in the tablet market as well. At present Apple Inc and Samsung are believed to be engaged in fierce battle to dominate the smartphone and tablet market. Even though Apple was successful in introducing world’s first touch screen phone (iPhone), Samsung was able to give a strong reply to iPhone with the help of their Galaxy S2 and S3 series of smart phones. Same way, Apple introduced iPad or tablets much earlier than Samsung; however, Samsung tabs are causing strong challenges to iPads even though they came little bit late in the market. Samsung Electronics Co. is so big and profitable that the measure for telling when the company is d oing better than normal is when it goes on a streak of setting record quarterly profits. It happened in 2010 and it’s happening now. Samsung’s second quarter results broke the record set in the first quarter. Some analysts think the third quarter will be even better, but that net income will drop sequentially in the fourth (Samsung 5 Lessons: The 2nd Record Edition) In short, Samsung is one of the most rapidly growing consumer electronics companies in the world at present. Samsung tablets are capturing wide public attention because of its superior performances and cheaper prices compared to the products of its competitors. The future of tablets is bright since it is a blend of mobile phones and laptops. It should be noted that mobile phones are handy; however, its capabilities are limited compared to a laptop. Same way, laptops are convenient for computing purposes; however, they are bulky and heavy weighted. On the other hand, tablets can be used as a computer as well as a smartphone. Moreover, it is handy and light weighted. In short, the future of tablets seems to be extremely bright and hence it is important to learn more about this produc

Foundation of Western Civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Foundation of Western Civilization - Essay Example The earlier Greeks could come up with a question about the nature of the world and look for an answer that was entirely independent on the supernatural powers this set the pace for the then intellectual revolution. They question the origin of the world and by so doing ignited what is now science and also ignited philosophy. The great leadership with morals in the west had foundation in the people of antique, in those early days the Hebrews introduced some ideas, their god was very powerful and could destroy whenever he wants however he was open to persuasion and subject to good morals he will however destroy those who stray from the moral standard within the society. This was borrowed to today with leaders always having to pass the moral test if they have to be elected. The Jewish religion had also impact on the west. Their God was neither superhuman nor like human beings but of high stature in comparison to human beings. They brought in righteousness into western culture, they believed that god is a righteous god and he is just and fair to forgive, if one repents the sins he will be forgiven. The prophets tell people to be righteous so that they can be saved from the punishment from God. This Jews religion and tradition brought morality to the west that is still the mode up to today. These believe in Gods power and righteousness is still part of the western culture and heritage. In Jews religion we are the children of God and this brought a different view of mankind as being children of God. The Greeks started thinking and not attributing everything to gods, they start curing diseases and reasoned that they were caused by natural causes and not curses or being from gods. From that foundation research and development in medical fields kicked off. The Greeks became to say that laws are made by humans and not from gods they start to make laws that helped control human beings and keep them within the

Marketing Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing - Research Proposal Example The information will be collected using secondary and primary data collection methods, in which the latter will be conducted using focus groups. The collected data will then be analysed using grounded theory analysis methods. The soft drinks industry in the UK is a mature sector, which includes firms that market non-alcoholic items. Because there are so few opportunities for growth as compared to existing business, most of the companies in this sector seek to diversify existing offerings so as to gain market share and a competitive edge (Santos, 2013: p33). Others also seek to pursue acquisitions and/or lucrative arrangements for distribution of their products to expand their geographic reach, product portfolios, and operations. The largest companies, including PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, offer reliable dividends with an above-average stability of stock prices and regular increases. In addition, for those that are more venturesome, a number of selections exist, such as developing overseas markets and energy drinks in order to serve niche markets. In general, while soft drink manufacturers are able to turn in steady performances across the entire business cycle, stressful economic times and consumer awareness portend threats to their profitability and overall business performance (Walker, 2013: p44). Historically, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have been the major players in the non-alcoholic beverage industry, distributing well-renowned non-carbonated and carbonated drinks globally using sizeable bottling companies. Related capital spending for these companies amounts to billions of dollars annually. By using lucrative distribution agreements and acquiring smaller players in the market, both companies are able to boost their results, especially as consumers tend to favour the more famous soft drink brands (Tremblay & Tremblay, 2012: p59). Sales,

Costa Coffee Essay Example for Free

Costa Coffee Essay The remote environment comprises factors that originate beyond and usually irrespective and out of Costa Coffees control. Economic factors Since Costa Coffee is a multinational business, top-level managers must consider the economic situations on both the National (Egypt) and International levels. Currencies exchange rate (Forex) affects Costa Coffees final products prices as well as operation costs. Costa Coffee imports high quality coffee beans from rainforest farms where it pays for in local currency, and sells as coffee in another country with its local country. Hence, when the Egyptian Pound depreciates, the cost of beans relatively increases; therefore, causing a fall in profit margin and vice versa. If depreciation is too much, then Costa might increase its selling prices. Moreover, interest rate is vital for a business considering expansion as Costa Coffee. As interest rates increase, Costa Coffee’s ability and willingness to expand or open new branches decreases; due to the high cost of capital. Furthermore, the stock market plays a significant role in encouraging investors to invest in Costa Coffee due to the increasing profits and the good reputation. Finally, high economic growth rate of a country leads people to increase their consumption of Costa Coffees products; since they have more income. Social Factors Egyptians’ culture and lifestyle has dramatically changed in the last 10 years. People are more willing to go to cafes for lunch, dinner or simply a snack. Considering the Egyptian demographics of lifestyle and age groups, most of the Egyptian population falls in the youth age group. Hence, Costa Coffee plays music and offers an atmosphere that is convenient for all ages with special attention to youth. Costa Coffee respects the religion of each nation in which it operates. To clarify, Costa Coffee neither sells alcoholic drinks nor pork-containing food. In addition, Costa Coffees menu is written in both English and Arabic languages. English is the most widely spoken language, and Egypt is known as a touristic attraction. Plus, Egyptians like to come across a menu written in their own language for simplicity and showing cultural respect. Also, many people nowadays are concerned with their health; Costa Coffee is providing low-calorie food, a variety of fresh salads, sandwiches, and fresh fruit juice. Political Factors Governmental rules and regulations could affect the firms suppliers and the price of the raw materials. Imposed taxes or tariffs on the imported coffee beans add to raw materials cost. Rules regarding social insurance add to labor costs. Political instability and strikes do affect labor and consumers of Costa Coffee. Technological Factors Advanced machines affect the firms performance and efficiency through producing tasty coffee as quick as possible. High quality and speed of service affects customer satisfaction and loyalty. Costa Coffee uses highly advanced brewers and coffee makers for the best coffee cup. Besides, the use of the Internet to facilitate transactions between Costa and its suppliers lowers transaction costs and decreases lead time. As a result, stakeholders are more satisfied with increased profits and lower costs. Ecological Factors Costa Coffee uses recyclable paper bags and paper cups. And, it tries to reduce its energy consumption as steps towards a greener environment. It also ensures adherence to responsible farming practices, so that natural habitats are protected thereby reducing deforestation and carbon emissions. Furthermore, Costa is working to deliver green (LEED) certification for new stores beginning later this year and is working closely with its suppliers to develop more environmentally friendly packaging. Industry Environment Operating Environment A firm’s operating environment is related to environmental factors that directly affect the firm and its success in obtaining necessary resources. Yet, they are still factors beyond its area of control. 1. Competitors Costa coffee in Egypt faces high direct competition where around almost every corner in the cities, a coffee shop exists. Therefore, product differentiation is a must, and persistent high-quality is the way to keeping customers. Whichever Costa Coffee shop you enter, you are greeted the same, indulge in the same taste and pay what you see in the menu. Menu prices are tax inclusive which is different than most of other coffee shops. Competitors include, but are not limited to, Starbucks Coffee, Cilantro and Beano’s cafe. Creditors Costa’s past payment records and working capital position are the main attributes affecting creditors decisions. Considering the Egyptian markets, banks are not rare to find. Costa might be dealing with several banks, and may be granted loans from several areas. Hence, creditors have little leverage; since interest rates are controlled by central bank of Egypt as well. Customers Costa coffee is a service firm. Therefore, its utmost goal is customer satisfaction and loyalty to yield profits. Constantly monitoring Egypt’s demographics is essential in keeping a convenient atmosphere. For instance, Costa must always recognise what the youth are listening to these days to be able to play the optimum collection of songs in its branches while abiding by the brand’s image. Accessibility of location and parking spaces are of the main issues regarded by people when deciding on their hang-outs. And, the customer buyer behaviour of whether they prefer more salads and sandwiches rather than desserts; affects how much of each should be available at Costa’s branches. Labor Costa’s reputation and image is kept through its workers. Costa has to respect labor rights especially now that people are more aware of the rights than ever before. Also, Costa has to be selective in its waiters and baristas to keep the brand’s image and reputation. As a result of Costa’s reputation, highly-qualified workers apply for jobs at Costa Coffee. Suppliers Supplier relationships are as important as customer relationships. A good supplier relationships decreases yield time and enhances firm’s productivity. In Costa’s case, supplier power is not high as Costa has multiple suppliers, with low switching costs. However, supplier relationships are well-attended to at Costa Coffee; as part of its social responsibility towards coffee-growing countries.

Permanent versus Transitory Earnings and Security Valuation

Permanent versus Transitory Earnings and Security Valuation In this study we examine the role of permanent and transitory earnings and cash flows in explaining security r in three major capital markets, UK, USA and France. We hypothesize that the relationship between cash flows and security returns improves when earnings are transitory and this robustness is country specific. The dataset consists of more than 40,000 USA, UK and French firm-year observations over a nine year period. Multivariate statistical regression analysis is undertaken to test the major research hypotheses. Results indicate that when earnings are transitory (not stable), investors pay more attention to cash flows and less attention to earnings, a result indicating that investors penalize firms with unstable earnings. In summary, the evidence provided in this study supports that indeed there are substantial differences in the way investors and financial analysts perceive financial information such as earnings and cash flows in the UK, France and the USA. These results shou ld be of great importance to the major stakeholders such as investors, creditors, financial analysts, especially after the recent global financial crisis and the collapse of giant organizations worldwide. Keywords: Permanent and Transitory Earnings, Capital markets, Earnings, Cash flows, France, Empirical. * Dr. Melita Charitou is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Accounting, University of Nicosia, Cyprus. Address for correspondence: Division of Finance and Economics, School of Business, University of Nicosia, Cyprus, email: [emailprotected] .1. INTRODUCTION Capital markets emphasized to a great extent the value relevance of earnings in the marketplace. The usefulness of earnings has also been examined recently in conjunction with cash flows (Bali et al (2009), Banker et al (2009), Bartov et al., 2001; Charitou et al., 2001, Ball et al., 2000, among others). Empirical research provided evidence to support that earnings are more useful than cash flows in the capital markets. Existing evidence on the association of operating cash flows beyond earnings in explaining security returns has been inconclusive. Furthermore, to date comparative international research on the value relevance of cash flows has been limited. Moreover, researchers argue that when aggregate data is used, it is assumed that the relationship between earnings and cash flows with security returns is homogeneous across firms. It should be noted that this assumption that investors react identically to earnings and cash flows of all firms is not that pragmatic.The present stud y hypothesizes the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and it depends on the transitoriness of earnings. Earnings persistence studies consistently report that earnings persistence is significantly positively associated with ERC (Easton and Zmijewski, 1989; Donnelly and Walker, 1995; Ali and Zarowin, 1992; Chambers, 2004). Cheng et al. (1996) extended prior studies on this topic and added cash flow variables in their models. They found that the incremental information content of cash flow from operations(CFO) should increase with a decrease in the permanence of earnings. Furthermore, Ali (1994) using non-linear models concluded that earnings, cash flows and working capital from operations(WCFO) have incremental information, which increases the lower are the absolute changes in earnings, cash flows and WCFO respectively. Finally, Ali and Zarowin (1992) show that the more transitory the previous periods earnings are, the greater the increase in the ERC and the expected incremental explanatory power from inclusion of the level variable. According to Cho and Chung (1991) the persistence meas ure used in those studies has 3 limitations: first, although persistence is changing over time, a constant parameter assumption is made which is problematic, especially when estimations are based on annual data for several year time series. Second, a measurement error problem exists, from using time-series reported earnings. Easton and Zmijewski (1989) use revision coefficient avoiding to some extend the latter problem. The third limitation is that persistence as measured by the time series of earnings is a crude proxy for the construct because it contains little economic content. Researchers also extended prior studies in order to examine the value relevance of the permanent and transitory earnings. Cheng et al (1996), Ali (1994), Ali and Zarowin (1992) and Easton and Zmijewski (1989) among others examine the impact of permanent and transitory earnings on the relations between returns and earnings or between returns and cash flows. Ali and Zarowin (1992) concluded that for firms with permanent earnings in the previous period, when the earnings level variable is included in the model, the incremental explanatory power and the increase in Earnings Response Coefficient (ERC) are small. Cheng et al. (1996) investigated whether the incremental information content of cash flows increases when earnings are transitory. Transitory earnings have smaller marginal impact on security returns. Moreover, their results showed that the incremental information content of accounting earnings decreases, and the incremental information content of cash flows increases with a decre ase in the permanence of earnings. Regression analysis was undertaken to test the major hypothesis. A sample of more than 40,000 USA, UK and French firm year observations was used to test the research hypotheses. The major conclusions of the empirical results are summarized as follows. First, regarding our basic proposition which stated that earnings and cash flows are associated with stock prices in USA, UK and France, results indicate that indeed both earnings and cash flows are taken into consideration by investors in their investment decisions. Second, regarding our major hypothesis which stated that the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and depends on the transitoriness of earnings, results indicate that when earnings are transitory (not stable), investors pay more attention to cash flows and less attention to earnings, a result indicating that investors penalize firms with unstable earnings. In summary, evidence provided in this study supports that indeed there are substantial differences in the way investors and financial analysts perceive financial information such as earnings and cash flows in UK, France and USA and that the value relevance of cash flows depends on the transitoriness of earnings. .2. LITERATURE REVIEW and Hypotheses development. Earnings are of primary importance to managers, because managerial executive compensation contracts are usually based on earnings. Managers select financial reporting methods to maximize the value of their bonus awards through incentives created by bonus schemes. In addition, managers indulge in income smoothing, that is, taking actions to dampen fluctuations in their organizations earnings, as investors pay more for a firm with a smoother income stream (Dechow et al. 2003; Barth et al. 2005). In the past few years there has been an increased interest in the role of earnings and cash flows in explaining security returns. Contextual factors, such as earnings transitoriness, have a common objective. To identify specific circumstances where the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is altered (improves or deteriorates). Using USA data, Freeman and Tse (1992) and Ali (1994) showed that transitory earnings have smaller marginal impact on security returns. Cheng et al (1996) and Charitou et al (2001) extended these studies by hypothesizing that when earnings are transitory, the value relevance of earnings diminishes, whereas the value relevance of cash flows is expected to increase. Earnings transitoriness was measured as the earnings change scaled by the beginning of period price and also by the earnings to price ratio. Extreme values of these measures could be considered as an indication of earnings transitoriness. Transitory items are expected to have limited valuation implications. Examples of transitory items in earnings include current and long-term accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition through asset sales of previous periods increases in market values, one time impact on income from changes in accounting standards. The results of the Cheng et al. (1996) study indicated that a) when level and changes in earnings and cash flows are included in the model, all are value relevant in the marketplace, and b) when earnings are transitory the value relevance of earnings diminishes substantially, and simultaneously the value relevance of cash flows increases. In summary, these results are indeed of great importance since earlier studies assumed that the earnings returns relation is homogeneous across firms. These studies, however, disprove this assumption and indeed show that the value relevance of earnings and cash flows depends on the permanence or transitoriness of these measures. The present study goes a step further to examine whether the value relevance of earnings and cash flows is country specific and whether it depends on the transitoriness of earnings. 2.2 Research HypothesIs Empirical evidence supports that earnings are valued more than cash flows in the marketplace. Extant evidence though on the incremental information content of cash flows beyond earnings in different countries when earnings are transitory has been inconclusive (Barth et al., 2004, Bartov et al., 2001). The inconclusive results in prior studies, and the limited research on this issue provide motivation for this study. The research hypothesis to be tested is: Hypothesis 1: The value relevance of cash flows improves when earnings are transitory, whereas the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory. The framework developed thus far suggests that both earnings levels and changes have explanatory power when they are included simultaneously in explaining stock returns. Earning changes are used as a proxy for unexpected earnings, following the assumption that earnings follow a random walk. Based on these arguments, in developing the theoretical framework on the transitoriness of earnings, it is proposed that annual earnings follow an Integrated Moving Average, IMA (1,1) process, which includes both levels and changes, i.e. permits for both transitory and permanent components. IMA was chosen because prior theoretical and empirical evidence shows that annual earnings follow a random walk (Cheng et al., 1996; Easton and Harris, 1991). This hypothesis predicts that the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory and therefore, the value relevance of cash flows improves in all three countries when earnings are transitory. The issue of the time permanence of earnings has raised the stimulus in the present study in examining the role of operating cash flows when earnings are transitory. As Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996) argue, earnings may contain transitory items with limited valuation implications. For example, transitory items that may be included are current and long- term accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition (through asset sales) of increases in market value previously (or currently), one-time impact on income from changes in accounting standards etc. Moreover, because of compensation contracts and debt covenants are often based on reported accounting income, incentives exist for managers to introduce transitory elements in earnings. Dechow (1994) and Charitou et al (2001) also argue that because management has some discretion over the recognition of accruals, this can be used to manipulate earnings. Following Ali and Zarowin (1992) and Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996), included in the theoretical framework, both levels and changes in order to characterise the unexpected components of earnings, whereas they also include levels and changes of cash flows from operations. This is done in order to test the hypothesis that when earnings are transitory the earnings response coefficients (ERCs) on both levels and changes will have reduced significance in explaining security returns. In this situation the importance of cash flows from operations will be greater. As in Freeman and Tse (1992) and Ali (1994) transitory elements are more likely to be present when unexpected earning values are large relative to price. Hence in the model [58], the coefficients c1t + c2t and c3t+ c4t represent the estimates of the earnings and cash flow response coefficients when earnings are mainly permanent. The coefficients c5t+ c6t and c7t+ c8t capture the additional information content of earnings and cash fl ows for firms with predominantly transitory earnings. It is expected c5t+ c6t to be negative and c7t+ c8t to be positive. In summary, following the aforementioned theoretical framework, I hypothesize that the incremental information content of cash flows from operations is expected to increase as the permanence of earnings decreases (see also Freeman and Tse, 1992; Ali, 1994; and Cheng, Liu and Schafer, 1996. Prior studies that examined earnings transitoriness include Cheng et al (1996) for the USA and Charitou et al (2000) for the UK. Prior studies have not examined the role of the cash flows when earnings are transitory in both Anglo-Saxon and code law countries. 3.0 Research Design 3.1 Dataset All industrial firms that belong in the Manufacturing Industry (SIC 100-4299, 4400-4799), Retail Industry (SIC 5000-5999) and Service Industry (SIC 7000-8999) from the USA, UK and France over the recent nine year period were selected. Industrial firms that had all the information available for the computation of operating cash flows, operating earnings and security returns were included in the sample, resulting in the following firm-year observations for the recent nine year period: USA =36695, UK =4234 and France = 1181. Consistent with prior empirical studies, observations that were regarded as outliers were excluded from the sample, i.e. observations with absolute change in earnings/market value, absolute change in cash flows/market value, earnings/market value and cash flow/market value greater than 150%. Also observations that were in excess of three absolute studentized residuals were considered outliers and were excluded from the sample. These restrictions resulted in approxim ate reduction of the sample size of about 2%, which is consistent with prior empirical studies. Therefore, the final sample size used for regression analysis purposes equals to 35872 firm-year observations for the USA sample, 4178 firm-year observations for the UK sample and 1165 firm-year observations for the French sample. 3.2 Measurement of financial and market variables In order to examine whether investors in UK, USA and France take into consideration in their investment decisions the levels and changes of earnings and cash flows, independent of each other, the following univariate regression model will be used: Univariate (Simple Regression) Model: RETit = b0 + biXi + eI (1) where: Xi: is replaced by: E: Operating Earnings ΔE: Change in operating-earnings CFO: Operating cash flows ΔCFO: Change in operating cash flows. RETit: stock return for firm i measured over a 12-month return interval ending three months after the fiscal-year-end. b0: the intercept term bi: slope coefficient ei: error term In order to test whether both the levels and changes of earnings and cash flows are valued differently in the capital markets, namely in USA, UK and France, the following multivariate regression model will be used: 3.3 Permanent vs transitory earnings models: In order to investigate the role of permanence of earnings, the basic regression model that includes the level and changes of earnings and cash flows will be extended to include additional dummy variables. The following model will be tested: RETit = c0 + c1Eit + c2 Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Eit + c3CFOit + c4 Ã¢â‚¬Å¾CFOit + c5Eit*D + c6 Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Eit*D + c7CFOit*D + c8 Ã¢â‚¬Å¾CFOit*D + eit where RETit= Security returns for the year, Eit = operating earnings CFOit = operating cash flows for firm i in period t,  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ denotes the change in a variable, eit is the error term for firm i in period t D is a dummy variable taking a value of one when earnings are transitory and zero otherwise. Consistent with Cheng et al. (1996), two alternative definitions are used to determine D. Under one approach, D equals 1 (0) when |  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Eit/ Pit-1 | is greater than (less than) its yearly cross-sectional median (Ali, 1994). Under the second approach, firms are ranked each year according to their Eit/ Pit-1 , placing firms with positive Eit/ Pit-1 into the first nine groups with equal number of firms per group and firms with negative earnings in the tenth group. Earnings are classified in the bottom two and top two groups as transitory (D=1) and earnings in the middle six groups as permanent (D=0) (Ali and Zarowin, 1992, Charitou et al, 2001). 4.0 EMPIRICAL RESULTS 4.1. Descriptive Statistics Table 1 presents basic descriptive statistics for all the earnings, cash flows and security returns variables examined in the study for all three countries (USA, UK and France) for the recent nine year period. Results indicate the following: a) the mean security return for UK and USA is the highest (0.092 and 0.08, respectively), whereas in France is somewhat lower, 0.055, b) the mean earnings level is higher for UK (0.057) and lowest for USA. For the French dataset the mean of earnings levels is 0.037; c) the mean of the cash flow levels is shown to be the highest for the French dataset (0.184) and lower for UK and USA (0.123 and 0.057, respectively); d) as expected the standard deviation of the levels and changes of cash flows is always higher than the level and changes of earnings in all three countries. These results are consistent with the results provided in prior empirical studies. Moreover, untabultated correlation analysis results indicate that there are no significant corre lations that may possibly affect the results. 4.2. Regression analysis results 4.2.1 Univariate and multivariate regression analysis results on the value relevance of earnings and cash flows for the USA, UK and France. Univariate results presented in table 2 indicate the following. First, as far as the value relevance of earnings is concerned, as expected, the results indicate that both the levels and changes in earnings are positive and statistically significant in all three countries. Interestingly, the size of the levels of earnings and the size of the changes in earnings is approximately equal in all three countries, in spite of the fact that the French financial reporting system is much more conservative. Specifically, the coefficients of the level of earnings are 0.759, 0.767 and 0.793 for the USA, the UK, and France, respectively. The coefficients of the changes in earnings are 0.701, 0.612 and 0.669, for the US, UK and France, respectively. As far as the R2 is concerned, results indicate that French earnings (levels and changes) are more value relevant than the earnings in the USA and the UK, even though the financial reporting system in France in more conservative. The R2 for the level of earnings is 11.20%, 8.80% and 6.70% for France, the UK and the USA. The same ranking applies to the changes in earnings, although the R2 is somewhat lower, indicating that the level of earnings is more value relevant than the changes in earnings. As far as the value relevance of cash flows is concerned, as expected, results indicate that cash flows are value relevant in all three countries. All the coefficients of the levels and changes in cash flows are positive and statistically significant. The size of the coefficients of cash flows as well as the magnitude of the R2 are somewhat higher in the Anglo-Saxon countries, suggesting that cash flows could be less value relevant in France. Moreover, as it was expected the size of the earnings coefficients and the magnitude of the R2 are relatively higher than the equivalent cash flow statistics. These results are consistent with our hypotheses, expectations and consistent with prior empirical evidence. This is due to the fact that earnings are considered more value relevant in the stock markets. 4.2.2 Multivariate regression analysis results for examining the valuation of earnings and cash flows when the earnings are transitory. Hypothesis 1 predicts that the value relevance of earnings decreases when earnings are transitory and thus, the value relevance of cash flows is expected to improve in all three countries when earnings are transitory. The issue of the earnings permanence has raised the stimulus in the present study in examining the role of operating cash flows when earnings are transitory. As Cheng, Liu and Schafer (1996) argue, earnings may contain transitory items with limited valuation implications. For example, transitory items that may be included are accruals such as losses due to restructuring, current recognition through sale of assets of previous periods, increases in market value, one-time impact on income from changes in accounting standards etc. Moreover, because of compensation contracts and debt covenants are usually based on profit, incentives exist for managers to introduce transitory elements in earnings and thus manipulate earnings. Results in Table 3 provide evidence to support hypothesis 1, that is, when earnings are transitory the role of earnings in stock markets decreases and the role of cash flows improves. Consistent with prior studies and with my theoretical framework, I included in my multivariate regression model in Table 3 both the level and changes of earnings and cash flows (Cheng, Liu and Schafer, 1996), in order to characterise the unexpected components of earnings and the unexpected components of cash flows from operations. This is done in order to test the hypothesis that when earnings are transitory the earnings response coefficients on both levels and changes will have reduced significance in explaining security returns. In this situation the importance of cash flows from operations will be greater. Therefore, in the model in Table 3, the coefficients c1t + c2t and c3t+ c4t represent the estimates of the earnings and cash flow response coefficients when earnings are mainly permanent. The coeff icients c5t+ c6t and c7t+ c8t capture the additional information content of earnings and cash flows for firms with predominantly transitory earnings. It is expected that c5t+ c6t to be negative and c7t + c8t to be positive. Specifically, results in Table 3 indicate the following. First, as expected, the sum of the coefficients of earnings (c3+c4) are positive and statistically significant in all three countries, the USA, the UK and France. These results indicate that in all three countries, the earnings are taken into consideration in the valuation of stock prices by security analysts and investors. Second, as expected, the sum of the coefficients of cash flows is positive and statistically significant in all three countries. Again, these results show that cash flows are important to security analysts and investors in the USA, the UK and France for stock valuation purposes. These results are consistent with the results provided thus far in all previous models. Third, the sum of the coefficients of earnings c5+c6 is negative and statistically significant in all three countries, the UK, the USA and France. These results are consistent with my expectations and with my hypothesis. These results mean that wh en earnings are transitory, i.e. when the variation of the earnings compare to stock prices is relatively high (in the present study above its median), then the stock market does not perceive this information as good news and the relative importance of earnings on stock prices decreases. This is measured by the sum of the coefficients of (c1+c2) + (c5+c6). To give an example to make things clearer, let us assume that earnings are stable, not transitory. In that case the effect of earnings on stock prices in the UK will be 5.65 (sum of coefficients of earnings c1+c2). In contrast, when earnings are transitory for a firm in the UK, the effect of earnings on stock prices will not be 5.65 as above, but it will be 5.65 minus 4.933 (b5+b6), which is 0.68 only. So for, stable or permanent earnings firms in the UK the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.65 whereas for transitory earnings firms the effect of earnings on stock prices in the UK is only 0.68. As far as the USA and France is concerned the results are consistent with the UK results just discussed. Specifically, in the USA results indicate that when earnings are permanent the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.88 (c1+c2), but when earnings are transitory (not permanent), then the effect of earnings on stock prices is only 1.08 (i.e. 5.88 minus 4.8 or c1+c2 minus c5+c6). Results in France also support the results of the UK and the USA. French results in Table 20 indicate that when earnings are permanent, the effect of earnings on stock prices is 5.66 (c1+c2), but when earnings are transitory (not permanent), then the effect of earnings on stock prices is only 1.15 (ie., 5.66 minus 4.51 or c1+c2 minus c5+c6). Fourth, as hypothesised, results in Table 3 support that the cash flow variables are taken into consideration by investors in investment decisions. Specifically, the sum of the coefficients of cash flows c3+c4 is positive and statistically significant in all three countries. For example, in the UK it is 0.15, in the USA it is 0.095 and in France is 0.18. These results are consistent with the results provided thus far in all previous models and hypotheses. Fifth, as hypothesised, results in Table 3 support that when earnings are transitory, investors and security analysts in the UK and the USA pay more attention to cash flows. This is evidenced by the sum of the coefficients of cash flows c7+c8. For example, in the UK when earnings are transitory, stock prices are affected more by 0.03 (c7+c8) from changes in cash flows. Similarly, in the USA, when earnings are transitory, stock prices are affected by 0.02 more from changes in cash flows. These results are very interesting because they show that in Anglo-Saxon countries such as the USA and the UK, investors do pay additional attention to cash flows because they do know that earnings are of lower value when they are transitory. On the other hand, consistent with prior evidence in previous models and tables of this study, French analysts and investors pay more attention to earnings because their code law system make financial reporting in France much more conservative, and thus the varia bility of earnings is not that high as the variability of earnings in the UK and the USA. Sixth, in all countries examined, results support that the model is statistically significant and the variation of stock returns as explained by the R2 is 15.6 in the UK, 12.8 in the USA and 17.2% in France. In summary, results presented in Table 3 support my hypothesis that when earnings are transitory (not permanent), investors pay less attention to earnings and more attention to cash flows. 5.0 Conclusions Consistent with our hypotheses and our expectations, these results indicate that earnings and cash flow information is country specific, that is investors and financial analysts pay different attention to earnings and cash flows depending on the country under investigation and on whether earnings are transitory or permanent. Specifically, results indicate that earnings and cash flows are perceived differently by investors, depending on the country to which they belong. When earnings are transitory, investors in Anglo-Saxon countries penalize more these firms because the effect of earnings on stock returns is much more negative (c5+c6= -4.933 and -4.8 for UK and USA, respectively, whereas it is only -4.51 for France). The results of this study have practical implications as well and should be of great importance to the major stakeholders such as investors, creditors, financial analysts, especially with the latest events that are taking place, and the major collapses of giant organizations worldwide such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, among others. Regulatory bodies, investors, financial analysts and the financial press, blamed among others, the possible manipulation of financial information supplied to the investors by these organizations. The question raised, is whether this type of information is taken into consideration by investors in their investment decisions.