(book) norwegian wood by HARUKI MURAKAMI Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

(book) norwegian wood by HARUKI MURAKAMI - Essay Example The sensitive portrayal of the Japanese youth who were caught in the web of contrasting culture of the East and the West, has turned into a universal appeal for understanding. The protagonist of the novel is Toru Wantabe who becomes nostalgic about his student days when he hears his favourite Beatle song ‘Norwegian Wood’ while travelling on the plane. The book is his flashback into his student life while he was studying in the University of Tokyo. The protagonist, throughout his recollection, has maintained a tender spot for the love of his life and at the same time his encounters with death, in the form of suicide have forced him to contemplate the wider meaning of life. The author has seemingly used death as a reconciliatory medium as well as that of alienation so much so that it has almost become a second theme of the novel. The book is a subtle love story of Toru and Naoko who are probably caught by circumstances into a relationship. Naoko was the girlfriend of Toru’s best friend, Kizuku. After Kizuku commits suicide at the age of 17, Naoko is lost in grief and subsequently, loses touch with Toru. They meet each other after a year in Tokyo where both of them, have gone to study. They are drawn towards each other through their common friend, who is dead. Each of them want to keep in contact because it brings them closer to Kizuku, who is more alive than dead, in the memories of the two characters. The inability of the characters to move away from the past is the bond that ultimately becomes the main cause of their separation. Though initially, Toru befriends Naoko because she was a link with his best friend but later, his feelings change into love or so he thinks. The author has used the protagonist to represent the contemporary youth who are shy to proclaim their love but are least hesitant to experiment with sex on a casual and

Crocargo Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Crocargo Logistics - Essay Example The business has been unable to generate enough capital to increase the ultimate profitability of the firm. The fundamental problem highlighted in this case is that of an inadequate costing system and an internal environment characterized by friction. The company is operating in a very hostile and competitive marketplace. The costing system that is needed to support the operations of the company is totally inadequate to keep the company operational for a very long time. The current costing system has been developed by the company’s operations manager who is more than satisfied with her costing system. She is not willing to take anyone’s opinion regarding the problems inherent in her system, as a result of which the company is not accounting for the costs it is actually incurring. The general manger of the company has finally realized this problem and has called for an external help who would suggest a more competitive costing method. Introduction An activity-based costi ng technique is one of those techniques which enable a company to identify its costs objects more accurately. This aspect of this technique has profound implications on a business, for instance it allows a company to identify unnecessary costs, price its products or services more efficiently and last but not the least it allows a company to be more competitive in its industry. ... So it goes like more the environment is competitive, more the costing system needs to be sophisticated. The costing system should effectively match costs with different cost objects. All these objects are integral to the ABC costing system (Brimson, 1991). Since the level of competition is high in the service competition, therefore a service firm needs to accurately estimate its costs. This new change in the industry has made costing a strategic issue; it has become so important that it effects long-term strategic decisions as well as day-to-day operating decisions. Costing has become so important because it helps a firm in: product or service organization, staffing and resource allocation. Accurate costing allows a company to plan resource consumption, price services properly and implement different strategies. But it is very difficult to initiate an Activity Based costing in a service firm, because in a service firm an employee is engaged in multiple activities involving different time-period. This makes it difficult to trace the resources consumed by a cost object (Cagwin and Bouwman, 2002). Even though the service industry is interested in implementing an activity based costing system, but since these models are made using the activity based costing models of a manufacturing firm as frame of reference, therefore the industry is facing multiple problems with regards to this technique’s implementation. The fundamental problem for this service industry is the absence of inventory, which receives an utmost importance while undergoing a valuation process. Other important cost variables are direct material and labor which are also absent in a service industry. This leads to a problem of estimating