To what extent was the vietnam war part of the cold war

To what extent was the Vietnam War part of the Cold War? The Vietnam war was a cold war-era mllltary conflict In southeast Asia. conflict officially began on November 1st In 1955 and ended on April 30th 1975 with the fall of Saigon. With that it lasted nearly 20 years, which makes it one of the longest military conflicts ever In human history. The war was fought between the communistic North Vietnamese and the Anti-communlsuc south. The north was supported by various nations, including the Soviet union, China, Cuba, Bulgaria and any others.The south, which was supposedly the by far weaker army, was also supported by a number of countries, the US, South Korea, Australia, Spain and Thailand are only a few of the numerous supporters ot the South. The main problem in the war for the Anti-Communist forces was the Vietcong. which was a lightly armed south Vietnamese communist Guerrilla which was hard to fght, especially for the heavily armed US army. The Vietcong dug complicated tunnel sys tems and trenches to fight the US In to them unknown territory.The Vietcong referred this Guerrilla warfare in the rainforests to open battle. The Vietcong also used traps, mines and their knowledge of the region to bring a whole load of trouble upon the US troops. This resulted in heavy bombing raids by the US Air force, this was widely criticised around the whole world as it was seen as a breach of the human rights that the US bombed North Vietnam with napalm bombs. In total, more bombs were dropped on North Vietnam during the Vietnam War than on Germany in the Second World War!In 1968 the Guerrilla warfare stopped and during the national Tet holiday (from hich the attack got its name: Tet offensive) the North Vietnamese army started an assault against over 100 Vietnamese Cities, including the US embassy in Saigon. Although the Anti-communist forces were Initially driven back, they were quick to recover and struck back Immediately, decimating the ranks of the North Vietnamese Viet nam was the battlefield where the cold war was actually really fought, not only talked about or empty threats being thrown at each other. The united States used Vietnam to blow an attack against Communism in the world.Extinguishing communism was the major goal of the United States in the cold war and in Vietnam they had the perfect region to attack. The US and the Soviet union did not dare to attack each other directly. that is why they fought their war, also if not directly, in the muddy forests of Vietnam. None of them had the courage or the means to enter a direct conflict against the other, one tOf2 conflict during the cold war was not directly between the US and the Soviets as the Soviets only supported the North Vietnam army with money, ammunition and weapons.A direct intervening from the Soviets would probably have ended in a 3rd World War as many nations were already involved in the war in Vietnam and the US could not let a direct Soviet attack unpunished. With that, it was better for the rest of the world that the Soviet Union did not directly involve itself in the fighting. A widely discussed topic is the outcome of the Vietnam War. According to various American sourcesl the Vietnam War was won by the US when they finally left the country in 1975.It is though generally known that the North Vietnamese won the war, hey took the capital of the south; Saigon, on April 30th 1975 and with that won the war. The South Vietnamese army was defeated and left with a total of 800,00 casualties (military and civilian). The US had a total of 58,220 dead soldiers; additional 303,644 soldiers were wounded. The Anti-Communist army had a total of 670,000-1 casualties whereas the North Vietnamese had about 600,000-1 losses. Concluding, the Vietnam War was a huge, if not the major, part of the Cold War.

The Failed Dream

The Failed Dream â€Å"The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch It yourself. † These are the words of the American forefather, Benjamin Franklin. His thoughts reflect the theme that runs through each word, idea and aspect of The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby highlights the flaws of the coveted American dream and how it can never be achieved. Fitzgerald illustrated the different areas of this principle in various characters, such as the Buchanan, George Wilson and, of course, the Infamous Jay Gatsby.These characters exemplify the empty promises of the â€Å"white picket fence† fantasy and the lies that we have been told all through our lives that If we work hard and honest enough, we will receive our reward. The Buchanan, Tom and Daisy, were created by Fitzgerald to show how the rich have their wealth not due to any merit of theirs, as so the American dream claims. Instead, thro ughout the plot, it is revealed how immoral, selfish, and irresponsible the rich are, all the things that one is told not to do to achieve true happiness, yet they have reaped the benefits of the dream. TheImmorality of the wealthy Is best personified through Tom Buchanan, who not only Is a chronic cheater, but also treats everyone else as Inferior to him. Early In the book, one of the first interactions a reader has with Tom is him talking to his mistress while hosting a dinner party with his wife. What is worse is the next chapter consists of him taking Nick, his wife's cousin, to meet this mistress. This shows not only his selfishness, but his lack of any conscience. Even when he discovered the infidelity of his own wife, he failed to see his own fault for the exact crime. Daisy Is no better.She was eager to have an affair from the first mention of It, when Nick called her to come alone. She didn't even consider the repercussions until push came to shove and she was forced to cho ose. â€Å"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy?they smashed up things†¦ Then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness†(pig 70). This could not better explain this couple. Their only concern was themselves. They gave no regard to anyone but themselves. Daisy, who claimed to love Gatsby, through him under the bus to take the fall for Myrtle's murder and ran into the arms of Tom.Both f them conspired to contently their superfluous life at the expense of theirs. They lived a life which breaks every code of morality and do not deserve their wealth, yet they are the ones who are enjoying the wonders of the fulfillment of the American dream. If the Buchanan are Fitzgerald example of people who have unjustifiably benefited from the American economic system, the opposite is George Wilson who has been cheated out of his inheritance. Wilson is the person the dream claims you should be to achieve It, hardworking, kind and moral.In every scene, except after the d eath of Myrtle, that George appears In, he Is working. He works his heart out yet all he has to show of it is a failed marriage and an empty bank account. As one edges toward the end of the book and the American dream unravels, George becomes the biggest indicator of this, â€Å"He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick†¦. So sick that he looked guilty, unforgivably guilty. Yet even when he discovers the Infidelity of his George's morality is the end when he finally seeks revenge. Granted, he murdered Gatsby, but he did this out of great mental torment and depression and even when e did it, he was filled with such regret that he could not live with himself afterwards. All the other characters, save for Nick, live in their sin without any sense of a conscience. If the American Dream is accurate, then George should be the most successful character in this tale, however, he is instead the pennil ess corpse.Gatsby is an example of someone who earned his American dream; however, he did not do it in the method that is advertised. Instead, Gatsby not only got his money through illegal means but he was also immoral and selfish. His actions, by definition, go against all that is upheld by the American dream so it should not be possible for Gatsby gain all he has. It is believed that if one works hard and is honest they will get their reward, yet we saw this is not true in George.On the flip side, Gatsby was able to obtain a fortune, but through illegal means. Not only is this but he not a hugely moral person though a reader might want to believe that. Instead, he is trying to take a married woman as his own, disregarding her husband, no matter how bad, and her daughter. These are not the actions of a ‘good man'. He was never content with what he had, always looking for more, even as a young man. He did not even care for his family as they were not wealthy and therefore not up to his standards.Gatsby instead did anything achieve success in the exact opposite way in the way one is told they can achieve it. The Great Gatsby seems like the tragic of failed love on the surface, however, it is really the poetic analysis of the tragedy of the American economic structure. One is told to work hard and be good and they will achieve success. Yet Fitzgerald magnified how this is a gross miscarriage of the truth. Instead, the people who have achieved success were handed it on a silver platter, like the Buchanan, or got it through immoral means, like Gatsby.He also shows how people who truly do believe in the dream try and try again but are cheated and never receive their reward, like George. The American dream is the universal aspiration of everyone on the planet. It is the almost religious belief instilled into the hearts of each person, influenced western society, from a young age. Yet only the select few who are already at the top stay there, looking down at th e rest of us as the gap widens; and leaving us to run the pursuit of happiness only to receive the only thing that is guaranteed, death and taxes.

Referring to your Wider Reading Essay

By Comparing Extracts A, B and C and Referring to your Wider Reading, Examine how Typical in both Style and Treatment of Subject Matter these writings are of Literature from or about the First World War The experiences of men and women within the war differed drastically, due to the different roles played by each gender; women lacked knowledge of the trauma undergone by soldiers on the frontline, due to their lack of personal experience. However, there was not only contrast between men and women in their attitudes and view of the war: Depending on the nature of their involvement in the war, attitudes of women were many and varied, as were those of men. Written by Jessie Pope, a writer well-known for the propaganda portrayed by her poetry throughout the war, ‘Who’s for the Game?’ harbours an extremely motivational, patriotic tone. This is due to the fact that Pope was commissioned to write poems that would encourage young men to join up and fight for their country. As such, this poem illustrates Pope’s utilisation of certain literary techniques in order to rouse an arguably ill-founded passion inside young men to fight to defend their country. Pope’s use of rhetorical questions throughout this poem acts as a gripping device, and holds the attention of the reader; ‘Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played, The red, crashing game of a fight?’ †¦Who’ll give his country a hand?’ As well as demonstrating Pope’s use of rhetorical questions and the patriotism within her poetry, this quote also illustrates her technique of comparing the brutal war to a sport’s ‘game’, which is further supported by her statement; ‘Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?’ in which sport’s terminology is utilised, in order to enable her target audience, the young men of the time, to relate to what is being said: Sport’s games were popular amongst boys of the early Twentieth Century, and by comparing the war to a such a game, Pope appeals to these boys. The above quote also demonstrates Pope’s technique of challenging the masculinity of the young men, as she implies that those who don’t fight are cowards, again this is further developed by the statement; ‘Who would much rather come back on a crutch Than lie low and be out of the fun?’ As she was ignorant of the brutality of the reality of war, Pope’s idealisation of, and her naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve, patriotic approach to the war enraged many of those who were actively involved in the fighting. World War One poet, Wilfred Owen, particularly despised Pope for her habit of romanticising the aspects of war that she was ignorant of. He was in fact so passionate about his dislike for her that he directly addresses her, in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, when he states, ‘If you could hear†¦the blood Come gargling from the froth corrupted lungs†¦ My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori’. Expressing a similar attitude to that of Pope, Marian Allen glorifies the war in her poem, ‘The Wind on the Downs’, in which she speaks of her inability to accept the death of a loved one. In support of this subject matter, a disbelieving, longing tone is conveyed, with a sense of naivety also conveyed by Pope in ‘Who’s for the Game’. This naivety is present due to the lack of personal experience that these two writers have had of the brutal reality of the First World War. As Pope remained on the home front in order to write poetry for the newspapers, Allen was typical of many more women at the time of the war; she remained at home whilst her lover went to fight in the war, and consequently she had view of war that was such due to the propaganda portrayed by the media and writers such as Pope. Allen’s use of soft and endearing language develops this idea of Allen as a naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve writer in terms of the War, as her failure to accept her lover’s death is symbolic of her genuine ignorance to the nature of his death, and in fact life, whilst serving. The repetition of this denial towards her loss reinforces this point; ‘You have not died, it is not true†¦ That you are round about me, I believe†¦ How should you leave me, having loved me so?†¦ It seemed impossible that you should die’. That we’re introduced to the concept of his death through her line, ‘Because they tell me, dear, that you are dead,’ carries with it an air of denial, due to her expression that she was told, and not that she actually believes it herself. The line would be much less effective had it said ‘Because you are dead’. Allen’s idealisation of her lover and his life in, and out of the war, may be due to the manner in which she received the news of his death, and how little of the truth she was told. This is a subject directly addressed by Siegfried Sassoon in ‘The Hero’, as he speaks of the ‘gallant lies’ an officer had delivered to the mother of a soldier who had actually died a horrific death. It is portrayed by Allen that her and her lover ‘thought of many things and spoke of few’ when he returned home on leave, thereby conveying that he found it difficult to speak of the truth to her. This seeming feeling of not being able to confide in anyone one the home front was common amongst soldiers in the First World War. R.C Sherriff demonstrates it in his play ‘Journey’s End’ through Stanhope’s reluctance to take leave, and Susan Hill illustrates it through Hilliard’s emotional isolation from his family in ‘Strange Meeting’, as he cannot even speak to his sister of the ‘nightmares’ he encounters whilst at home on leave. Had Allen known the honest nature of her lover’s death, and life at war, she may have expressed a different view through this poem. Vera Brittain did gain an insight into the reality of what life must have been like for the men at war, through receiving her dead fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s uniform via post. The refined view she adopted of the war was aided by the condition of the uniform; ‘damp and worn and simply caked with mud’, exhibiting the ‘hole’ made by the bullet that killed him. These quotes are taken from Extract C, an extract from ‘Letters from a Lost Generation’. In this particular letter, Brittain is writing to her brother about the terrible ordeal of examining the uniform, an experience that proved to be somewhat revelatory for Brittain, as it was this following the loss of her fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ that spurred her to join up and become a V.A.D. Brittain composed this letter in 1916, which was a pivotal year within the war; a year in which many attitudes of those who previously supported the war were manipulated by its seeming newfound futility. Owen expresses in ‘Futility’, ‘Was it for this the clay grew tall?’ which strongly conveys his view that the war became superfluous, and that the Earth did not develop to be destroyed in such a brutal, futile way. Siegfried Sassoon also made a famous declaration stating his opposition to the continuation of the War in 1917, as a result of events in 1916, such as the infamous ‘Battle of the Somme’. This declaration, and therefore Sassoon’s change of view towards the war is a component of Pat Barker’s ‘Regeneration’. The form of a letter allows Brittain to utilise several literary techniques, such as varying sentence lengths and use of the five senses to create impact. Effective examples of blunt sentences used by Brittain are, ‘It was terrible’ And ‘No, they were not him’. These two statements demonstrate how Brittain made use of short sentences in order to reflect the blunt, direct nature in which her realisation of the reality of war hit her. In contrast to these short sentences, Brittain displays many complex sentences in order to convey a vivid image of the scene of the uniform before her; ‘The mud of France which covered them was not ordinary mud; it had not the usual clean, pure smell of earth, but it was as though it were saturated with dead bodies- dead that had been dead a long, long time.’ This sentence illustrates Brittain’s use of powerful adjectives, such as ‘saturated’, to strengthen her intended effect, and her application of the repletion of ‘long’, and ‘dead’, in order to emphasise certain factors of what she is conveying. Varying sentence lengths is not a facet of either Allen’s ‘The Wind on the Downs’ or Pope’s ‘Who’s for the Game’. This is due to these extracts taking the forms of poems, which makes it difficult for such a technique to be applied. However, Pope manages to exploit her chosen form of a poem in order to aid her purpose. She imposes a strong marching rhythm, which is supported by the typical ABAB rhyme scheme, thereby giving her poem a sense of soldiers marching to war, which can be perceived by the young men reading it. Similarly, Allen makes use of a regular rhyme scheme in order to give her poem fluidity and enhance the idealised depiction of death, which inevitably highlights Allen’s ignorance to the truth of conditions at war. Pope employs simple language and colloquialisms in her poem, due to its form and audience: As it appeared in a national newspaper, the audience was broad, and so the use of simple language meant the poem would appeal to everyone. The colloquialisms, such as ‘lie low’ ‘†¦give his country a hand’ illustrate Pope’s ability to relate to her intended audience, as boys of the time would find this language common and therefore easy to relate to. The patriotism conveyed by Pope is also illustrated through the latter of the two colloquialisms above. This patriotic attitude was shared by Rupert Brooke, as is conveyed through his poem, ‘The Soldier’ when he writes; ‘A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam’ Brooke died of dysentery before carrying out any active service in the war, and therefore, he too was ignorant of the true conditions of life in the trenches. Thus, his poetry often illustrated naivety and patriotism, similar to others, like Pope and Allen, who were ignorant of the brutal reality of war. Through comparing these three texts we can consequently deduce that although one would assume women to have adopted a romantic view towards the act of fighting for one’s country due to their lack of active involvement in the war, there were actually a range of views produced amongst women as a result of the first world war, expressed through their various pieces of literature.

The relationship between commodification and personal value in The Essay - 1

The relationship between commodification and personal value in The Moonstone and The Picture of Dorian Gray - Essay Example The early history of detective fiction is saturated with narcotic drugs. Wilkie Collins was a laudanum addict, and opium circulates through The Moonstone. However, not only there. The constellated concerns of opium, subjectivity, empire, and the Gothic recur frequently in texts throughout the nineteenth century, from Wilkie Collins and Dickens to Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray. Just as early detective fiction is deeply, perhaps constitutively, steeped in drugs, it is also associated with empire, and this connection is constitutive. In this fiction, crime is the dark side of conquest and imperial rule returning to pollute the metropolitan homeland. Exactly these fears and uncertainties about the human self and its coherence in the 1890s are reflected in Oscar Wilde’s treatment of the double theme in The Picture of Dorian Gray, though from a markedly different perspective. Wilde uses the tale of a beautiful young man who is granted his wish to remain young while his alter ego, a portrait, ages, to explore ideas about art and life. The novella derives from Wilde’s interest and commitment to the Aestheticism of Walter Pater and Decadence of Baudelaire and Huysman. The innocence of Gray is framed alongside the morality of the tormented artist, Basil Hallward, who paints the portrait and is clearly in love with its subject, and the irresistibly cynical dandy, Lord Henry Wooton, who teaches Gray that the only proper object in life is the pursuit of beauty. As Gray succumbs to the temptations supplied by Wooton, he is led into a life of decadence, an immorality the signs of which mark his portrait but not his person. On this downward slope of decadence Dorian is able to continue his life of revelry without revealing his murderous deed, but is now driven by another force, his hunger for opium. His name bears significance again here, especially when a woman in the opium den identifies him as "Prince

Contributions To The History Of Josef Stalin Essay

Contributions To The History Of Josef Stalin - Essay Example Stalin died in the year 1953 after having lived fifty-six years full of both challenges and failures (64). The accomplishments of Stalin As a leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin made numerous mistakes, but his tenure in office is also remembered for having been of immense importance to Russia. According to the research compiled by Kaplan, the accomplishments of Stalin cannot be ignored (93). First, Boobbyer states that Stalin is remembered for his contribution to driving the country towards economic stability, which would only be possible through the process of industrialization (58). This, according to analysts and researchers of the history of the USSR, Stalin did due to his inferiority complex. His major aim was to match the standards of the other industrialized countries. In the long run, the country was subjected to rapid industrialization processes so as to have a share of the ‘big muscle’ as well. With the construction of the industries, as Boobbyer indicates, a gr eat percentage of the sectors in the economy were heavily mechanized – agriculture, for instance (62). In the long run, the industrialization process boosted development in the country despite the depression that was faced in the capitalist countries. Though taxpayers were forced to pay more for the success of these industries, the country is reported to have immensely gained from the industrial revolution. In relation to World War 2, Roberts indicates that Stalin drove his armies towards the defeat of Germany in the course of the war (255). This created a very huge impact of the Soviet Union in the world at that particular time. With his ability to dodge Roosevelt, Stalin managed to confiscate all the war equipment that would lead to his success against Germany.

Strangers on a Train Flim Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strangers on a Train Flim - Essay Example He uses double crossing at various point. Firstly, the lighter of Guy Haines plays an important role in the movie and has a crosses tennis racket set. Secondly, in the beginning of the film, Hitchcock shows Bruno ordering for two drinks, no the train. This again, is an attempt to accentuate the criss-crossing theme. Thirdly, the initial part of the film shows a murder being committed and this is captured as double reflection on the glasses of the victim. Thus, Hitchcock makes use of this motif to create a greater impact on the audiences. 3) Hitchcock sets most of the story in the world of Washington, D.C. (not the setting in the novel on which the film is based). Name three places in D.C shown in the film, and explain briefly how this world (physical and cultural) contributes to the meaning of the story. Washington D.C is the main setting of ‘Strangers on the Train’ and Hitchcock shows us few scenes placed in the capital. Firstly, the scene where in the two strangers get down form their cabs and board the train is a great way to establish the capital city, in the movie. Secondly, the scene before Miriam is murdered shows her with her two boyfriends, at an amusement park. This again is set in Washington D.C. Thirdly, the scene wherein Guy Haines, the tennis pro is shown at a tennis club is again set in Washington D.C. The very fact that Guy’s girlfriend, Ann Morton’s father is a Senator strengths the Washington D.C setting further more. The physical world at Washington D.C is rather rich and sophisticated, with shiny cabs, amusement parks, tennis clubs, etc. This establishes the

Human Resources Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Human Resources Management - Research Paper Example The job knowledge tests are based on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) that may either be administered via a computer or paper and pencil. Personality tests tend to assess the candidate’s personality characteristics that relate to the job. Such factors include extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, conflict avoidance and resolution skills, and agreeableness. These tests may be based on MCQs or True/False questions and are also administered via a computer or paper and pencil. Situational judgment tests provide the candidates with situations in which they are required to tell how they would perform. These situations are usually the ones the candidates would be encountering at work. These tests may either be administered in written form or may be videotaped. These tests tend to evaluate the informed decision making skills of the candidates in tough circumstances and with very little time to make the decision. Interview is amongst the most widely employed methods of selection. Most interviews are unstructured which means that there are no definite questions and these interviews are without any agreed-upon standards of evaluation of the candidate’s performance. These interviews may be conducted face-to-face, over the phone, or in a group. Structured interviews, on the other hand, evaluate the candidate’s skills with the help of a definite set of questions previously set by the interviewer. Like the unstructured interviews, the structured interviews are also conducted either face-to-face, over the phone, or in a group. Interviewing is a technical process and requires very fine skills on the part of the interviewer for the skills of the candidate to be appropriately judged. There are certain strategies and precautions that can help an interviewer make the interview effective. Some organizations take the services of an employment agency to conduct the

Orgainizational research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Orgainizational research - Essay Example The fact that Ahold and Enron were the source of empirical evidence may have incorporated some form of bias, as the two organizations were high-ranking CSR organization prior to the induction of the concept. H (4): Four, the uniqueness of the CSR strategies determine its success. This follows Smith’s concept that if a firms’ strategies are conceived carefully and genuinely, then they must be unique despite the similarities of corporate reports even from the closest rivals. This research focuses on a new perspective on CSR: A sense-making approach that will enhance our understanding on CSR strategies and the impacts of specific sense-making processes in an organization. The assumption is that a thorough investigation and understanding of how people speak, talk, and tend to behave towards CSR strategies will provide a rich context of exploration on the nature of CSR in organizations (Banerjee, 2007). Essentially, the research combines the theories of sense making by Weick and other scholars (including Palazzo and Bazu, and Wheaterbee and Mills). The research uses a qualitative case study approach for collection of data, as this generally enables consideration of specific elements of industry and context, as well as respecting the unique nature of CSR (Leedy and Ormrod, 2010). The concept of CSR is has been constantly expanding and evolving over time, presenting difficulties in analyzing theories on CSR. Moreover, different scholars combined different approaches using similar terminologies but came up with diverse definitions. Examples include corporate social performance, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder management, corporate governance, sustainable development, and corporate citizenship, among others (Banerjee, 2007). There literature review identifies six foci of CSR in a chronological order. The first focus of CSR was a pro-CSR attitude, fostered by the legitimacy and social contract

American Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Culture - Essay Example Many of them were graduates of Cambridge University, and they became Anglican priests to make changes in their local churches. They encouraged direct personal religious experience, sincere moral conduct, and simple worship services. Worship was the area in which Puritans tried to change things most; their efforts in that direction were sustained by intense theological convictions and definite expectations about how seriously Christianity should be taken as the focus of human existence. After James I became king of England in 1603, Puritan leaders asked him to grant several reforms, of which, mostly are rejected and the repressive attitude of Archbishop William Laud caused most of the Puritans to emigrate. Those who remained formed a powerful element within the parliamentarian party that defeated Charles I in the English Civil War. After the war the Puritans remained dominant in England and during the whole colonial period Puritanism had direct impact on both religious thought and cultural patterns in America. In the 19th century its influence was indirect, but it can still be seen at work stressing the importance of education in religious leadership and demanding that religious motivations be tested by applying them to practical situations. Often in society people are criticized, punished and despis

Information and Communication Technologies in Virgin Atlantic Essay

Information and Communication Technologies in Virgin Atlantic - Essay Example With emphasis on the airline industry, the emergence of internet and the subsequent development of extranets and intranets forced airlines to rethink their strategies on technological innovation and enhance their competitiveness in their market niche. The internet has proved a source of opportunity to tackle distribution costs and reengineer the structure of the airline industry (Alamdari and Mason, 2006:123). These technological innovations seek to monitor a wide range of business processes in the airlines, as well as identifying ways of improving these processes. This report examines the implementation of the online ticket booking by Virgin Atlantic Airways to achieve cost reduction and competitive advantage objectives. The report works on the assumption that the previous booking systems had flaws in efficiency and effectiveness, thus the company sort to redesign the booking process to attain some competitive edge against its competitors and increase its effectiveness and efficienc y in general (Olugbenga, 2006). Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited, famously as simply Virgin Atlantic, is a British airline headquartered in West Sussex, England. The airline, founded in 1984, has become the second largest carrier in Britain serving the major cities in the world. Currently based in Manchester airport, Heathrow airports, and Gatwick in London, the airline operates long-haul services to more than thirty destinations worldwide, as far apart as Shanghai and Las Vegas. Virgin Atlantic enjoys huge popularity, receiving top business, trade, and consumer awards worldwide. The airline has credit for pioneering a range of innovations and setting new service standards, with its competitors seeking to follow the same... This essay stresses that for Virgin Atlantic to achieve competitive advantage in the airline industry, it needs to develop and implement innovative strategies to improve the sale of ticket, as this forms the primary source of income. The company may integrate ICT tools to achieve this, including developing an efficient booking system incorporated into the official website of the company. This paper makes a conclusion that ICT may support all business functions, thus integral in the efficient operation of the entire travel industry. ICT provides tools for searching for profitable and meaningful niche market segments and identify value added components for the services and products, as well as differentiate these services and products through special media to market segments. Flexibility and cost effectiveness are among the products of ICT in this process, as they are integral in cost efficiency maximization and cost reduction. The impact of ICT on the airlines industry is persuasive, as information forms the core foundation of the daily operations and the strategic management of organizations. This is evident from the implementation of Virgin Atlantic online ticket booking. The online service has significantly improved the services of the company in all levels of management. Subsequently, there has improvement in tickets sales, with increased efficiency and effectiven ess. At the strategic level, airlines must continuously assess all the external elements of the environment, as well as customers’ needs and competitors, and subsequently adapt to them to enhance their competitiveness