A Game of Thrones Chapter Sixty-four

Daenerys The flies circled Khal Drogo slowly, their wings buzzing, a low thrum at the edge of hearing that filled Dany with dread. The sun was high and pitiless. Heat shimmered in waves off the stony outcrops of low hills. A thin finger of sweat trickled slowly between Dany's swollen breasts. The only sounds were the steady clop of their horses' hooves, the rhythmic tingle of the bells in Drogo's hair, and the distant voices behind them. Dany watched the flies. They were as large as bees, gross, purplish, glistening. The Dothraki called them bloodflies. They lived in marshes and stagnant pools, sucked blood from man and horse alike, and laid their eggs in the dead and dying. Drogo hated them. Whenever one came near him, his hand would shoot out quick as a striking snake to close around it. She had never seen him miss. He would hold the fly inside his huge fist long enough to hear its frantic buzzing. Then his fingers would tighten, and when he opened his hand again, the fly would be only a red smear on his palm. Now one crept across the rump of his stallion, and the horse gave an angry flick of its tail to brush it away. The others flitted about Drogo, closer and closer. The khal did not react. His eyes were fixed on distant brown hills, the reins loose in his hands. Beneath his painted vest, a plaster of fig leaves and caked blue mud covered the wound on his breast. The herbwomen had made it for him. Mirri Maz Duur's poultice had itched and burned, and he had torn it off six days ago, cursing her for a maegi. The mud plaster was more soothing, and the herbwomen made him poppy wine as well. He'd been drinking it heavily these past three days; when it was not poppy wine, it was fermented mare's milk or pepper beer. Yet he scarcely touched his food, and he thrashed and groaned in the night. Dany could see how drawn his face had become. Rhaego was restless in her belly, kicking like a stallion, yet even that did not stir Drogo's interest as it had. Every morning her eyes found fresh lines of pain on his face when he woke from his troubled sleep. And now this silence. It was making her afraid. Since they had mounted up at dawn, he had said not a word. When she spoke, she got no answer but a grunt, and not even that much since midday. One of the bloodflies landed on the bare skin of the khal's shoulder. Another, circling, touched down on his neck and crept up toward his mouth. Khal Drogo swayed in the saddle, bells ringing, as his stallion kept onward at a steady walking pace. Dany pressed her heels into her silver and rode closer. â€Å"My lord,† she said softly. â€Å"Drogo. My sun-and-stars.† He did not seem to hear. The bloodfly crawled up under his drooping mustache and settled on his cheek, in the crease beside his nose. Dany gasped, â€Å"Drogo.† Clumsily she reached over and touched his arm. Khal Drogo reeled in the saddle, tilted slowly, and fell heavily from his horse. The flies scattered for a heartbeat, and then circled back to settle on him where he lay. â€Å"No,† Dany said, reining up. Heedless of her belly for once, she scrambled off her silver and ran to him. The grass beneath him was brown and dry. Drogo cried out in pain as Dany knelt beside him. His breath rattled harshly in his throat, and he looked at her without recognition. â€Å"My horse,† he gasped. Dany brushed the flies off his chest, smashing one as he would have. His skin burned beneath her fingers. The khal's bloodriders had been following just behind them. She heard Haggo shout as they galloped up. Cohollo vaulted from his horse. â€Å"Blood of my blood,† he said as he dropped to his knees. The other two kept to their mounts. â€Å"No,† Khal Drogo groaned, struggling in Dany's arms. â€Å"Must ride. Ride. No.† â€Å"He fell from his horse,† Haggo said, staring down. His broad face was impassive, but his voice was leaden. â€Å"You must not say that,† Dany told him. â€Å"We have ridden far enough today. We will camp here.† â€Å"Here?† Haggo looked around them. The land was brown and sere, inhospitable. â€Å"This is no camping ground.† â€Å"It is not for a woman to bid us halt,† said Qotho, â€Å"not even a khaleesi.† â€Å"We camp here,† Dany repeated. â€Å"Haggo, tell them Khal Drogo commanded the halt. If any ask why, say to them that my time is near and I could not continue. Cohollo, bring up the slaves, they must put up the khal's tent at once. Qotho—† â€Å"You do not command me, Khaleesi,† Qotho said. â€Å"Find Mirri Maz Duur,† she told him. The godswife would be walking among the other Lamb Men, in the long column of slaves. â€Å"Bring her to me, with her chest.† Qotho glared down at her, his eyes hard as flint. â€Å"The maegi.† He spat. â€Å"This I will not do.† â€Å"You will,† Dany said, â€Å"or when Drogo wakes, he will hear why you defied me.† Furious, Qotho wheeled his stallion around and galloped off in anger . . . but Dany knew he would return with Mirri Maz Duur, however little he might like it. The slaves erected Khal Drogo's tent beneath a jagged outcrop of black rock whose shadow gave some relief from the heat of the afternoon sun. Even so, it was stifling under the sandsilk as Irri and Doreah helped Dany walk Drogo inside. Thick patterned carpets had been laid down over the ground, and pillows scattered in the corners. Eroeh, the timid girl Dany had rescued outside the mud walls of the Lamb Men, set up a brazier. They stretched Drogo out on a woven mat. â€Å"No,† he muttered in the Common Tongue. â€Å"No, no.† It was all he said, all he seemed capable of saying. Doreah unhooked his medallion belt and stripped off his vest and leggings, while Jhiqui knelt by his feet to undo the laces of his riding sandals. Irri wanted to leave the tent flaps open to let in the breeze, but Dany forbade it. She would not have any see Drogo this way, in delirium and weakness. When her khas came up, she posted them outside at guard. â€Å"Admit no one without my leave,† she told Jhogo. â€Å"No one.† Eroeh stared fearfully at Drogo where he lay. â€Å"He dies,† she whispered. Dany slapped her. â€Å"The khal cannot die. He is the father of the stallion who mounts the world. His hair has never been cut. He still wears the bells his father gave him.† â€Å"Khaleesi, † Jhiqui said, â€Å"he fell from his horse.† Trembling, her eyes full of sudden tears, Dany turned away from them. He fell from his horse! It was so, she had seen it, and the bloodriders, and no doubt her handmaids and the men of her khas as well. And how many more? They could not keep it secret, and Dany knew what that meant. A khal who could not ride could not rule, and Drogo had fallen from his horse. â€Å"We must bathe him,† she said stubbornly. She must not allow herself to despair. â€Å"Irri, have the tub brought at once. Doreah, Eroeh, find water, cool water, he's so hot.† He was a fire in human skin. The slaves set up the heavy copper tub in the corner of the tent. When Doreah brought the first jar of water, Dany wet a length of silk to lay across Drogo's brow, over the burning skin. His eyes looked at her, but he did not see. When his lips opened, no words escaped them, only a moan. â€Å"Where is Mirri Maz Duur?† she demanded, her patience rubbed raw with fear. â€Å"Qotho will find her,† Irri said. Her handmaids filled the tub with tepid water that stank of sulfur, sweetening it with jars of bitter oil and handfuls of crushed mint leaves. While the bath was being prepared, Dany knelt awkwardly beside her lord husband, her belly great with their child within. She undid his braid with anxious fingers, as she had on the night he'd taken her for the first time, beneath the stars. His bells she laid aside carefully, one by one. He would want them again when he was well, she told herself. A breath of air entered the tent as Aggo poked his head through the silk. â€Å"Khaleesi, † he said, â€Å"the Andal is come, and begs leave to enter.† â€Å"The Andal† was what the Dothraki called Ser Jorah. â€Å"Yes,† she said, rising clumsily, â€Å"send him in.† She trusted the knight. He would know what to do if anyone did. Ser Jorah Mormont ducked through the door flap and waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimness. In the fierce heat of the south, he wore loose trousers of mottled sandsilk and open-toed riding sandals that laced up to his knee. His scabbard hung from a twisted horsehair belt. Under a bleached white vest, he was bare-chested, skin reddened by the sun. â€Å"Talk goes from mouth to ear, all over the khalasar,† he said. â€Å"It is said Khal Drogo fell from his horse.† â€Å"Help him,† Dany pleaded. â€Å"For the love you say you bear me, help him now.† The knight knelt beside her. He looked at Drogo long and hard, and then at Dany. â€Å"Send your maids away.† Wordlessly, her throat tight with fear, Dany made a gesture. Irri herded the other girls from the tent. When they were alone, Ser Jorah drew his dagger. Deftly, with a delicacy surprising in such a big man, he began to scrape away the black leaves and dried blue mud from Drogo's chest. The plaster had caked hard as the mud walls of the Lamb Men, and like those walls it cracked easily. Ser Jorah broke the dry mud with his knife, pried the chunks from the flesh, peeled off the leaves one by one. A foul, sweet smell rose from the wound, so thick it almost choked her. The leaves were crusted with blood and pus, Drogo's breast black and glistening with corruption. â€Å"No,† Dany whispered as tears ran down her cheeks. â€Å"No, please, gods hear me, no.† Khal Drogo thrashed, fighting some unseen enemy. Black blood ran slow and thick from his open wound. â€Å"Your khal is good as dead, Princess.† â€Å"No, he can't die, he mustn't, it was only a cut.† Dany took his large callused hand in her own small ones, and held it tight between them. â€Å"I will not let him die . . . â€Å" Ser Jorah gave a bitter laugh. â€Å"Khaleesi or queen, that command is beyond your power. Save your tears, child. Weep for him tomorrow, or a year from now. We do not have time for grief. We must go, and quickly, before he dies.† Dany was lost. â€Å"Go? Where should we go?† â€Å"Asshai, I would say. It lies far to the south, at the end of the known world, yet men say it is a great port. We will find a ship to take us back to Pentos. It will be a hard journey, make no mistake. Do you trust your khas? Will they come with us?† â€Å"Khal Drogo commanded them to keep me safe,† Dany replied uncertainly, â€Å"but if he dies . . . † She touched the swell of her belly. â€Å"I don't understand. Why should we flee? I am khaleesi. I carry Drogo's heir. He will be khal after Drogo . . . â€Å" Ser Jorah frowned. â€Å"Princess, hear me. The Dothraki will not follow a suckling babe. Drogo's strength was what they bowed to, and only that. When he is gone, Jhaqo and Pono and the other kos will fight for his place, and this khalasar will devour itself. The winner will want no more rivals. The boy will be taken from your breast the moment he is born. They will give him to the dogs . . . â€Å" Dany hugged herself. â€Å"But why?† she cried plaintively. â€Å"Why should they kill a little baby?† â€Å"He is Drogo's son, and the crones say he will be the stallion who mounts the world. It was prophesied. Better to kill the child than to risk his fury when he grows to manhood.† The child kicked inside her, as if he had heard. Dany remembered the story Viserys had told her, of what the Usurper's dogs had done to Rhaegar's children. His son had been a babe as well, yet they had ripped him from his mother's breast and dashed his head against a wall. That was the way of men. â€Å"They must not hurt my son!† she cried. â€Å"I will order my khas to keep him safe, and Drogo's bloodriders will—† Ser Jorah held her by the shoulders. â€Å"A bloodrider dies with his khal. You know that, child. They will take you to Vaes Dothrak, to the crones, that is the last duty they owe him in life . . . when it is done, they will join Drogo in the night lands.† Dany did not want to go back to Vaes Dothrak and live the rest of her life among those terrible old women, yet she knew that the knight spoke the truth. Drogo had been more than her sun-and-stars; he had been the shield that kept her safe. â€Å"I will not leave him,† she said stubbornly, miserably. She took his hand again. â€Å"I will not.† A stirring at the tent flap made Dany turn her head. Mirri Maz Duur entered, bowing low. Days on the march, trailing behind the khalasar, had left her limping and haggard, with blistered and bleeding feet and hollows under her eyes. Behind her came Qotho and Haggo, carrying the godswife's chest between them. When the bloodriders caught sight of Drogo's wound, the chest slipped from Haggo's fingers and crashed to the floor of the tent, and Qotho swore an oath so foul it seared the air. Mirri Maz Duur studied Drogo, her face still and dead. â€Å"The wound has festered.† â€Å"This is your work, maegi,† Qotho said. Haggo laid his fist across Mirri's cheek with a meaty smack that drove her to the ground. Then he kicked her where she lay. â€Å"Stop it!† Dany screamed. Qotho pulled Haggo away, saying, â€Å"Kicks are too merciful for a maegi. Take her outside. We will stake her to the earth, to be the mount of every passing man. And when they are done with her, the dogs will use her as well. Weasels will tear out her entrails and carrion crows feast upon her eyes. The flies off the river shall lay their eggs in her womb and drink pus from the ruins of her breasts . . . † He dug iron-hard fingers into the soft, wobbly flesh under the godswife's arm and hauled her to her feet. â€Å"No,† Dany said. â€Å"I will not have her harmed.† Qotho's lips skinned back from his crooked brown teeth in a terrible mockery of a smile. â€Å"No? You say me no? Better you should pray that we do not stake you out beside your maegi. You did this, as much as the other.† Ser Jorah stepped between them, loosening his longsword in its scabbard. â€Å"Rein in your tongue, bloodrider. The princess is still your khaleesi. â€Å" â€Å"Only while the blood-of-my-blood still lives,† Qotho told the knight. â€Å"When he dies, she is nothing.† Dany felt a tightness inside her. â€Å"Before I was khaleesi, I was the blood of the dragon. Ser Jorah, summon my khas.† â€Å"No,† said Qotho. â€Å"We will go. For now . . . Khaleesi. † Haggo followed him from the tent, scowling. â€Å"That one means you no good, Princess,† Mormont said. â€Å"The Dothraki say a man and his bloodriders share one life, and Qotho sees it ending. A dead man is beyond fear.† â€Å"No one has died,† Dany said. â€Å"Ser Jorah, I may have need of your blade. Best go don your armor.† She was more frightened than she dared admit, even to herself. The knight bowed. â€Å"As you say.† He strode from the tent. Dany turned back to Mirri Maz Duur. The woman's eyes were wary. â€Å"So you have saved me once more.† â€Å"And now you must save him,† Dany said. â€Å"Please . . . â€Å" â€Å"You do not ask a slave,† Mirri replied sharply, â€Å"you tell her.† She went to Drogo burning on his mat, and gazed long at his wound. â€Å"Ask or tell, it makes no matter. He is beyond a healer's skills.† The khal's eyes were closed. She opened one with her fingers. â€Å"He has been dulling the hurt with milk of the poppy.† â€Å"Yes,† Dany admitted. â€Å"I made him a poultice of firepod and sting-me-not and bound it in a lambskin.† â€Å"It burned, he said. He tore it off. The herbwomen made him a new one, wet and soothing.† â€Å"It burned, yes. There is great healing magic in fire, even your hairless men know that.† â€Å"Make him another poultice,† Dany begged. â€Å"This time I will make certain he wears it.† â€Å"The time for that is past, my lady,† Mirri said. â€Å"All I can do now is ease the dark road before him, so he might ride painless to the night lands. He will be gone by morning.† Her words were a knife through Dany's breast. What had she ever done to make the gods so cruel? She had finally found a safe place, had finally tasted love and hope. She was finally going home. And now to lose it all . . . â€Å"No,† she pleaded. â€Å"Save him, and I will free you, I swear it. You must know a way . . . some magic, some . . . â€Å" Mirri Maz Duur sat back on her heels and studied Daenerys through eyes as black as night. â€Å"There is a spell.† Her voice was quiet, scarcely more than a whisper. â€Å"But it is hard, lady, and dark. Some would say that death is cleaner. I learned the way in Asshai, and paid dear for the lesson. My teacher was a bloodmage from the Shadow Lands.† Dany went cold all over. â€Å"Then you truly are a maegi . . . â€Å" â€Å"Am I?† Mirri Maz Duur smiled. â€Å"Only a maegi can save your rider now, Silver Lady.† â€Å"Is there no other way?† â€Å"No other.† Khal Drogo gave a shuddering gasp. â€Å"Do it,† Dany blurted. She must not be afraid; she was the blood of the dragon. â€Å"Save him.† â€Å"There is a price,† the godswife warned her. â€Å"You'll have gold, horses, whatever you like.† â€Å"It is not a matter of gold or horses. This is bloodmagic, lady. Only death may pay for life.† â€Å"Death?† Dany wrapped her arms around herself protectively, rocked back and forth on her heels. â€Å"My death?† She told herself she would die for him, if she must. She was the blood of the dragon, she would not be afraid. Her brother Rhaegar had died for the woman he loved. â€Å"No,† Mirri Maz Duur promised. â€Å"Not your death, Khaleesi.† Dany trembled with relief. â€Å"Do it.† The maegi nodded solemnly. â€Å"As you speak, so it shall be done. Call your servants.† Khal Drogo writhed feebly as Rakharo and Quaro lowered him into the bath. â€Å"No,† he muttered, â€Å"no. Must ride.† Once in the water, all the strength seemed to leak out of him. â€Å"Bring his horse,† Mirri Maz Duur commanded, and so it was done. Jhogo led the great red stallion into the tent. When the animal caught the scent of death, he screamed and reared, rolling his eyes. It took three men to subdue him. â€Å"What do you mean to do?† Dany asked her. â€Å"We need the blood,† Mirri answered. â€Å"That is the way.† Jhogo edged back, his hand on his arakh. He was a youth of sixteen years, whip-thin, fearless, quick to laugh, with the faint shadow of his first mustachio on his upper lip. He fell to his knees before her. â€Å"Khaleesi, † he pleaded, â€Å"you must not do this thing. Let me kill this maegi.† â€Å"Kill her and you kill your khal,† Dany said. â€Å"This is bloodmagic,† he said. â€Å"It is forbidden.† â€Å"I am khaleesi, and I say it is not forbidden. In Vaes Dothrak, Khal Drogo slew a stallion and I ate his heart, to give our son strength and courage. This is the same. The same.† The stallion kicked and reared as Rakharo, Quaro, and Aggo pulled him close to the tub where the khal floated like one already dead, pus and blood seeping from his wound to stain the bathwaters. Mirri Maz Duur chanted words in a tongue that Dany did not know, and a knife appeared in her hand. Dany never saw where it came from. It looked old; hammered red bronze, leaf-shaped, its blade covered with ancient glyphs. The maegi drew it across the stallion's throat, under the noble head, and the horse screamed and shuddered as the blood poured out of him in a red rush. He would have collapsed, but the men of her khas held him up. â€Å"Strength of the mount, go into the rider,† Mirri sang as horse blood swirled into the waters of Drogo's bath. â€Å"Strength of the beast, go into the man.† Jhogo looked terrified as he struggled with the stallion's weight, afraid to touch the dead flesh, yet afraid to let go as well. Only a horse, Dany thought. If she could buy Drogo's life with the death of a horse, she would pay a thousand times over. When they let the stallion fall, the bath was a dark red, and nothing showed of Drogo but his face. Mirri Maz Duur had no use for the carcass. â€Å"Burn it,† Dany told them. It was what they did, she knew. When a man died, his mount was killed and placed beneath him on the funeral pyre, to carry him to the night lands. The men of her khas dragged the carcass from the tent. The blood had gone everywhere. Even the sandsilk walls were spotted with red, and the rugs underfoot were black and wet. Braziers were lit. Mirri Maz Duur tossed a red powder onto the coals. It gave the smoke a spicy scent, a pleasant enough smell, yet Eroeh fled sobbing, and Dany was filled with fear. But she had gone too far to turn back now. She sent her handmaids away. â€Å"Go with them, Silver Lady,† Mirri Maz Duur told her. â€Å"I will stay,† Dany said. â€Å"The man took me under the stars and gave life to the child inside me. I will not leave him.† â€Å"You must. Once I begin to sing, no one must enter this tent. My song will wake powers old and dark. The dead will dance here this night. No living man must look on them.† Dany bowed her head, helpless. â€Å"No one will enter.† She bent over the tub, over Drogo in his bath of blood, and kissed him lightly on the brow. â€Å"Bring him back to me,† she whispered to Mirri Maz Duur before she fled. Outside, the sun was low on the horizon, the sky a bruised red. The khalasar had made camp. Tents and sleeping mats were scattered as far as the eye could see. A hot wind blew. Jhogo and Aggo were digging a firepit to burn the dead stallion. A crowd had gathered to stare at Dany with hard black eyes, their faces like masks of beaten copper. She saw Ser Jorah Mormont, wearing mail and leather now, sweat beading on his broad, balding forehead. He pushed his way through the Dothraki to Dany's side. When he saw the scarlet footprints her boots had left on the ground, the color seemed to drain from his face. â€Å"What have you done, you little fool?† he asked hoarsely. â€Å"I had to save him.† â€Å"We could have fled,† he said. â€Å"I would have seen you safe to Asshai, Princess. There was no need . . . â€Å" â€Å"Am I truly your princess?† she asked him. â€Å"You know you are, gods save us both.† â€Å"Then help me now.† Ser Jorah grimaced. â€Å"Would that I knew how.† Mirri Maz Duur's voice rose to a high, ululating wail that sent a shiver down Dany's back. Some of the Dothraki began to mutter and back away. The tent was aglow with the light of braziers within. Through the blood-spattered sandsilk, she glimpsed shadows moving. Mirri Maz Duur was dancing, and not alone. Dany saw naked fear on the faces of the Dothraki. â€Å"This must not be,† Qotho thundered. She had not seen the bloodrider return. Haggo and Cohollo were with him. They had brought the hairless men, the eunuchs who healed with knife and needle and fire. â€Å"This will be,† Dany replied. â€Å"Maegi, † Haggo growled. And old Cohollo—Cohollo who had bound his life to Drogo's on the day of his birth, Cohollo who had always been kind to her—Cohollo spat full in her face. â€Å"You will die, maegi,† Qotho promised, â€Å"but the other must die first.† He drew his arakh and made for the tent. â€Å"No,† she shouted, â€Å"you mustn't.† She caught him by the shoulder, but Qotho shoved her aside. Dany fell to her knees, crossing her arms over her belly to protect the child within. â€Å"Stop him,† she commanded her khas, â€Å"kill him.† Rakharo and Quaro stood beside the tent flap. Quaro took a step forward, reaching for the handle of his whip, but Qotho spun graceful as a dancer, the curved arakh rising. It caught Quaro low under the arm, the bright sharp steel biting up through leather and skin, through muscle and rib bone. Blood fountained as the young rider reeled backward, gasping. Qotho wrenched the blade free. â€Å"Horselord,† Ser Jorah Mormont called. â€Å"Try me.† His longsword slid from its scabbard. Qotho whirled, cursing. The arakh moved so fast that Quaro's blood flew from it in a fine spray, like rain in a hot wind. The longsword caught it a foot from Ser Jorah's face, and held it quivering for an instant as Qotho howled in fury. The knight was clad in chainmail, with gauntlets and greaves of lobstered steel and a heavy gorget around his throat, but he had not thought to don his helm. Qotho danced backward, arakh whirling around his head in a shining blur, flickering out like lightning as the knight came on in a rush. Ser Jorah parried as best he could, but the slashes came so fast that it seemed to Dany that Qotho had four arakhs and as many arms. She heard the crunch of sword on mail, saw sparks fly as the long curved blade glanced off a gauntlet. Suddenly it was Mormont stumbling backward, and Qotho leaping to the attack. The left side of the knight's face ran red with blood, and a cut to the hip opened a gash in his mail and left him limping. Qotho screamed taunts at him, calling him a craven, a milk man, a eunuch in an iron suit. â€Å"You die now!† he promised, arakh shivering through the red twilight. Inside Dany's womb, her son kicked wildly. The curved blade slipped past the straight one and bit deep into the knight's hip where the mail gaped open. Mormont grunted, stumbled. Dany felt a sharp pain in her belly, a wetness on her thighs. Qotho shrieked triumph, but his arakh had found bone, and for half a heartbeat it caught. It was enough. Ser Jorah brought his longsword down with all the strength left him, through flesh and muscle and bone, and Qotho's forearm dangled loose, flopping on a thin cord of skin and sinew. The knight's next cut was at the Dothraki's ear, so savage that Qotho's face seemed almost to explode. The Dothraki were shouting, Mirri Maz Duur wailing inside the tent like nothing human, Quaro pleading for water as he died. Dany cried out for help, but no one heard. Rakharo was fighting Haggo, arakh dancing with arakh until Jhogo's whip cracked, loud as thunder, the lash coiling around Haggo's throat. A yank, and the bloodrider stumbled backward, losing his feet and his sword. Rakharo sprang forward, howling, swinging his arakh down with both hands through the top of Haggo's head. The point caught between his eyes, red and quivering. Someone threw a stone, and when Dany looked, her shoulder was torn and bloody. â€Å"No,† she wept, â€Å"no, please, stop it, it's too high, the price is too high.† More stones came flying. She tried to crawl toward the tent, but Cohollo caught her. Fingers in her hair, he pulled her head back and she felt the cold touch of his knife at her throat. â€Å"My baby,† she screamed, and perhaps the gods heard, for as quick as that, Coh ollo was dead. Aggo's arrow took him under the arm, to pierce his lungs and heart. When at last Daenerys found the strength to raise her head, she saw the crowd dispersing, the Dothraki stealing silently back to their tents and sleeping mats. Some were saddling horses and riding off. The sun had set. Fires burned throughout the khalasar, great orange blazes that crackled with fury and spit embers at the sky. She tried to rise, and agony seized her and squeezed her like a giant's fist. The breath went out of her; it was all she could do to gasp. The sound of Mirri Maz Duur's voice was like a funeral dirge. Inside the tent, the shadows whirled. An arm went under her waist, and then Ser Jorah was lifting her off her feet. His face was sticky with blood, and Dany saw that half his ear was gone. She convulsed in his arms as the pain took her again, and heard the knight shouting for her handmaids to help him. Are they all so afraid? She knew the answer. Another pain grasped her, and Dany bit back a scream. It felt as if her son had a knife in each hand, as if he were hacking at her to cut his way out. â€Å"Doreah, curse you,† Ser Jorah roared. â€Å"Come here. Fetch the birthing women.† â€Å"They will not come. They say she is accursed.† â€Å"They'll come or I'll have their heads.† Doreah wept. â€Å"They are gone, my lord.† â€Å"The maegi,† someone else said. Was that Aggo? â€Å"Take her to the maegi.† No, Dany wanted to say, no, not that, you mustn't, but when she opened her mouth, a long wail of pain escaped, and the sweat broke over her skin. What was wrong with them, couldn't they see? Inside the tent the shapes were dancing, circling the brazier and the bloody bath, dark against the sandsilk, and some did not look human. She glimpsed the shadow of a great wolf, and another like a man wreathed in flames. â€Å"The Lamb Woman knows the secrets of the birthing bed,† Irri said. â€Å"She said so, I heard her.† â€Å"Yes,† Doreah agreed, â€Å"I heard her too.† No, she shouted, or perhaps she only thought it, for no whisper of sound escaped her lips. She was being carried. Her eyes opened to gaze up at a flat dead sky, black and bleak and starless. Please, no. The sound of Mirri Maz Duur's voice grew louder, until it filled the world. The shapes! she screamed. The dancers! Ser Jorah carried her inside the tent.

No Money, No Honey

Chapter 1 Marketing: Creating and Capturing Customer Value 1) All of the following are accurate descriptions of modern marketing, EXCEPT which one? A) Marketing is the creation of value for customers. B) Marketing is managing profitable customer relationships. C) Selling and advertising are synonymous with marketing. D) Marketing involves satisfying customers' needs. E) Marketing is used by for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 2 and 4 2) According to the opening scenario, the Tide marketing team is MOST concerned about which of the following? A) maintaining its brand share B) fostering customers' emotional connections with their product C) advertising their product's benefits D) comparing the effectiveness of their product to other brands E) incorporating consumer-generated marketing in the marketing mix Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 2 3) According to management guru Peter Drucker, â€Å"The aim of marketing is to ________. † A) create customer value B) identify customer demands C) make selling unnecessary D) set realistic customer expectations E) sell products Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 5 ) ________ is defined as a social and managerial process by which individuals and organizations obtain what they need and want through value creation and exchange. A) Selling B) Advertising C) Bartering D) Marketing E) Negotiating Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 5 5) Which steps of the five-step marketing process are about understanding customers, creating customer value, and building strong customer relationships? A) the first two only B) the first three only C) the first four only D) the last three only E) the last four only Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 5 ) According to the simple five-step model of the marketing process, a company needs to ________ before designing a customer-driven marketing strategy. A) determine how to deliver superior value B) build profitable relationships with customers C) use customer relationship management to create full partnerships with key customers D) understand the marketplace and customer needs and wants E) construct key components of a marketing program Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 5 7) ________ are human needs as shaped by individual personality and culture. A) Needs B) Wants C) Demands D) Values E) Exchanges Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 6 8) When backed by buying power, wants become ________. A) social needs B) demands C) physical needs D) self-esteem needs E) exchanges Answer: B Diff: 1Page Ref: 6 9) What do companies call a set of benefits that they promise to consumers to satisfy their needs? A) market offering B) value proposition C) demand satisfaction D) need proposition E) evoked set Answer: A Diff: 1Page Ref: 6 10) Which of the following refers to sellers being preoccupied with their own products and losing sight of underlying consumer needs? A) selling myopia B) marketing management C) value proposition D) marketing myopia E) the product concept Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 6 11) When marketers set low expectations for a market offering, the biggest risk they run is ________. A) disappointing loyal customers B) decreasing customer satisfaction C) failing to attract enough customers D) failing to understand their customers' needs E) incorrectly identifying a target market Answer: C Diff: 1Page Ref: 7 12) ________ is the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return. A) A value proposition B) Exchange C) Bribery D) Value creation E) Donation Answer: B Diff: 1Page Ref: 7 3) A(n) ________ is the set of actual and potential buyers of a product. A) market B) audience C) group D) segment E) exchange Answer: A Diff: 1Page Ref: 7 14) Consumer research, product development, communication, distribution, pricing, and service are all core ________ activities. A) exchange B) marketing C) management D) production E) customer relationship management Answer: B Diff: 1Page Ref: 7 Objective: 1-2 15) In the case of excess demand, ________ may be required to reduce the number of customers or to shift demand temporarily or permanently. A) marketing B) demarketing C) value marketing D) surplusing E) negotiating Answer: B Diff: 1Page Ref: 9 16) The art and science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with them is called ________. A) marketing management B) positioning C) segmentation D) selling E) differentiation Answer: A Diff: 1Page Ref: 8 17) Selecting which segments of a population of customers to serve is called ________. A) market segmentation B) positioning C) customization D) target marketing E) managing the marketing effort Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 8 18) Which of the following is the set of benefits a company promises to deliver the customer to satisfy their needs? A) a money-back guarantee B) low pricing C) good customer service D) a value proposition E) an attribute Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 9 19) Which of the following marketing management orientations focuses primarily on improving efficiencies along the supply chain? A) production concept B) product concept C) selling concept D) marketing concept E) social marketing concept Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 9 20) The ________ concept is aligned with the philosophy of continuous product improvement and the belief that customers will choose products that offer the most in quality, performance, and innovative features. A) product B) production C) customer D) marketing E) promotion Answer: A Diff: 1Page Ref: 10 21) The product concept says that a company should do which of the following? A) improve marketing of its best products B) market only those products with high customer appeal C) focus on the target market and make products that meet those customers' demands D) focus on making continuous product improvements E) make promoting products the top priority Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 22) â€Å"Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door† reflects the ________ concept. A) production B) marketing C) selling D) product E) target marketing Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 23) Which concept calls for aggressive selling and focuses on generating transactions to obtain profitable sales? A) marketing B) production C) product D) selling E) societal marketing Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 10 24) Which concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than competitors do? A) product B) production C) selling D) marketing E) equity Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 10 25) A firm that uses the selling concept takes a(n) ________ approach. A) outside-in B) myopic C) inside-out D) societal E) customer service Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 26) Though often criticized, the selling concept is particularly appropriate and effective with which of the following types of products? A) convenience B) shopping C) specialty D) unsought E) demarketed Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 27) Customer-driven marketing usually works well when ________ and when customers ________. A) a clear need exists; are difficult to identify B) customers know what they want; are loyal to the brand C) a firm can deliver the goods desired; are thoroughly researched D) a clear need exists; know what they want E) a need exists; don't know what they want Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 11 28) Marie Ortiz enjoys her work at Futuristic Designs, Inc. Her organization understands and anticipates customer needs even better than customers themselves do and creates products and services to meet current and future wants and demands. Marie's firm practices ________ marketing. A) customer-driven B) customer-driving C) relationship D) donor E) social Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 11 29) When customers don't know what they want or don't even know what's possible, the most effective strategy is ________ marketing. A) customer-driven B) customer-driving C) societal D) production E) product Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 11 30) The societal marketing concept seeks to establish a balance between consumer short-run wants and consumer ________. A) short-run costs and profits B) short-run ethics C) long-run welfare D) immediate health E) value propositions Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 11 31) Which concept holds that firms must strive to deliver value to customers in a way that maintains or improves the consumer's and society's well-being? A) marketing B) selling C) product D) societal marketing E) equity Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 11 2) The three areas of consideration that should be balanced in the societal marketing concept are consumer wants, society's interests, and ________. A) human welfare B) want satisfaction C) company profits D) short-run wants E) long-term needs Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 11 33) The set of marketing tools a firm uses to implement its marketing strategy is called the ________. A) promotion mix B) product mix C) marketing mix D) TQM E) marketing effort Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 12 34) Of the following, which is the most important concept of modern marketing? A) customer relationship management B) societal marketing C) consumer-generated marketing D) properly trained salespeople E) low prices Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 13 35) Building, keeping, and growing profitable relationships by delivering customer value and satisfaction is called ________. A) customer lifetime value B) customer perceived value C) customer relationship management D) database marketing E) societal marketing Answer: C Diff: 1Page Ref: 13 36) Customer-perceived value is determined by a customer's ________ of the benefits and costs of a market offering relative to those of competing offers. A) personal assessment B) rational expectations C) accurate assessment D) objective evaluation E) emotional understanding Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 13 37) ________ is defined as the customer's evaluation of the differences between all the benefits and all the costs of a marketing offer relative to those of competing offers. A) Customer equity B) Customer satisfaction C) Customer evangelism D) Customer-perceived value E) Marketing myopia Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 13 38) Which of the following is the term for customers who make repeat purchases and tell others about their positive experiences with a product or service? A) satisfied customers B) customer evangelists C) butterflies D) full partners E) social customers Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 13 39) A room upgrade offered by a hotel to a guest who often stays in the hotel is an example of a ________. A) frequency marketing program B) basic customer relationship C) club marketing program D) partner relationship management technique E) structural benefit Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 16 40) In which of the following situations has a company most actively turned its consumers into marketing partners? A) American Airlines awards frequent flyer points to returning customers. B) Paige Premium Denim jeans provide a superior quality and a perfect fit. C) iRobot invites enthusiastic Roomba owners to develop and share their own programs and uses for the company's robotic vacuum. D) Best Buy distinguishes between its best customers, called angels, and its less profitable customers, called demons, stocking merchandise to appeal to separate groups of its angels. E) Toyota develops a marketing presence on social networks and other online communities. Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 14 41) Using customer profitability analysis to weed out unprofitable customers and target winning ones for pampering is referred to as ________. A) customer relationship management B) positioning C) database marketing D) selective relationship management E) marketing myopia Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 17 42) Pete Sanchez, a recent graduate of business school, has a different approach than his marketing manager, who believes in keeping customers at arm's length and using mass media advertising. Pete knows that today few successful firms still practice true ________ and are instead turning to selective relationship management. A) club marketing B) frequency marketing C) mass marketing D) customer satisfaction E) market segmentation Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 16 3) The Niketown running club that organizes twice weekly evening runs and follow-up meetings in the Nike Store is an example of which of the following? A) a frequency marketing program B) a basic customer relationship C) a club marketing program D) a partner relationship E) a structural benefit provided for top customers Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 18 44) Which of the following has NOT contributed to the deeper, more interactive nature of today's customer relationships? A) e-mail B) Web sites C) online social networks D) traditional advertising E) video sharing Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 18 AACSB: Use of IT 45) Greater consumer control means that companies must rely more on marketing by ________ than by ________. A) interruption; involvement B) interaction; intrusion C) socialization; information D) producing; selling E) inspiration; competition Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 18 46) To create customer value and build strong customer relationships, marketers know they cannot go it alone; therefore, they practice ________. A) partner relationship management B) database marketing C) attractive Web site design D) customer equity E) consumer-generated marketing Answer: A Diff: 1Page Ref: 19 7) In today's world, marketing should be done by ________ employees in an organization. A) only marketing B) only marketing, sales, and customer-support C) only sales and technology D) only management and marketing E) all Answer: E Diff: 1Page Ref: 19 48) Through ________, many companies today are strengthening their connections to all partners, from providers of raw materials to components to final products that are delivered to final buyers. A) supply chain management B) direct marketing C) partnership relationship marketing D) customized marketing E) equity marketing Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 21 9) Suzie Chan strengthens her company's connections by treating suppliers of raw materials, vendors, and distributors as partners in delivering customer value. What type of management is she practicing? A) outside partnering B) inside partnering C) marketing D) supply chain E) customer development Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 21 50) The final step in the marketing process is ________. A) capturing value from customers B) creating customer loyalty C) creating customer lifetime value D) understanding the marketplace E) designing a customer-driven marketing strategy Answer: A Diff: 1Page Ref: 21 1) Stew Leonard, the owner of a highly successful regional supermarket chain, reacts adversely to losing a single customer sale. He feels that this amounts to losing the entire stream of future purchases that a customer is likely to make if he or she remains in the area. Stew Leonard's concern is an illustration of which of the following? A) share of customer B) market share C) profitability D) customer lifetime value E) market share maintenance Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 22 AACSB: Reflective Thinking 52) Which of the following is an example of consumer-generated marketing? A) Toyota's presence in online communities B) Nike's Nike Plus running Web site C) MasterCard's use of â€Å"Priceless† commercials shot by customers D) Neiman Marcus's InCircle Rewards program for its best customers E) The Lexus Covenant aimed at creating customer delight Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 20 53) When an airline goes after a â€Å"share of travel† from its customers, it is attempting to increase ________. A) customer lifetime value B) share of customer C) total customer spending D) customer satisfaction E) customer ownership Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 22 54) ________ is one of the best ways to increase share of customer. A) Targeting new customers B) Using bait and switch C) Cross-selling D) Relationship selling E) Partnership marketing Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 22 55) Amazon. com leverages relationships with its 35 million customers by offering them music, videos, gifts, toys, consumer electronics, and office products, among other items. Based on previous purchase history, the company recommends related CDs, books, videos, or other products that might interest a customer. This most directly helps Amazon. com capture a greater ________. A) customer lifetime value B) share of customer C) profit margin D) share of market E) customer equity Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 23 56) Which of the following is the total combined customer lifetime values of all a company's current and potential customers? A) share of customer B) customer lifetime value C) customer equity D) profitability E) share of market Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 23 57) The ultimate aim of customer relationship management is to produce ________. A) customer equity B) market share C) sales volume D) a reliable database E) higher profit margins Answer: A Diff: 3Page Ref: 23 58) A potentially highly profitable, short-term customer is a ________. A) true friend B) butterfly C) stranger D) barnacle E) true believer Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 24 59) Customers can be classified into four relationship groups, according to their profitability and projected loyalty. Which type of customers have the highest profit potential and strong loyalty? A) barnacles B) strangers C) butterflies D) true friends E) big fish Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 24 60) Which of the following statements about the Internet is most accurate? A) Companies are cautiously using the Internet to build closer relationships with customers and marketing partners alike. B) After the dot-com meltdown of 2000, fewer consumers are buying products and/or services online. C) The Internet makes it easy for consumers to view, interact with, and create marketing content. D) Consumer e-commerce looks promising, but business-to-business e-commerce is declining. E) Web 2. 0 involves a less balanced approach to online marketing than the original dot-com boom did. Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 26 61) Today almost every company, small and large, is affected in some way by which of the following? A) the societal marketing concept B) not-for-profit marketing C) global competition D) customer-generated marketing E) caring capitalism Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 26 62) Governmental agencies are becoming more involved in marketing as the years pass. When a local government advertises keeping the area's streams and water supply cleaner, it is involved in ________. A) green marketing B) social marketing campaigns C) demarketing D) environmental marketing E) partnership marketing Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 29 63) Briefly compare and contrast the concepts of needs, wants, and demands, giving an example of each. Discuss how these concepts relate to marketing practices. Answer: Human needs are states of felt deprivation. Needs are part of the human make-up; they are not created by external forces. Humans have a basic physical need for food, clothing, warmth, and safety; a basic social need for belonging and affection; and a basic individual need for knowledge and self-expression. Unlike needs, wants are not innate; instead, wants are needs shaped by culture, society, and individual personality. For example, an American needs food but wants a Big Mac and a soft drink. An American with ten dollars needs food, wants a Big Mac and soft drink, and demands lunch at McDonalds. Wants become demands when they are backed by consumers' buying power. Marketers conduct extensive research to understand customers' wants and demands. They then attempt to fulfill customers' wants and demands through their market offerings. Diff: 2Page Ref: 6 64) In a short essay, explain how and why marketers go beyond selling a product or service to create brand experiences. Answer: Sellers are most effective when they focus more on the benefits and experiences produced by their products and services than on the specific products and services themselves. Smart marketers focus on creating a brand experience, incorporating several products and services for their customers. By doing so, marketers hope to increase customer satisfaction, creating a body of customers who will repeatedly purchase their market offerings and recommend those offerings to friends. Diff: 2Page Ref: 7 65) Compare the selling and marketing concepts, listing the key components of each philosophy. Answer: The selling concept reflects an inside-out philosophy, while the marketing concept takes an outside-in perspective. The selling concept is typically practiced when an organization is marketing products or services that buyers do not normally think of purchasing, such as insurance or blood donation. Aggressive selling focuses on creating sales transactions rather than on building long-term relationships with customers, with the aim of selling what the company makes rather than making what the customer wants. The marketing concept, on the other hand, is based upon identifying the needs and wants of target markets and then satisfying those needs and wants better than competitors do. In contrast to the selling concept, marketing focuses on the customer, not the product, as the path to profits. Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 66) Briefly explain the societal marketing concept. Give an example of an organization that has effectively used the societal marketing concept. Answer: According to this concept, firms will succeed if they take underlying consumer needs and society's well being into account over the long term. A pure marketing concept can damage consumers' long-run welfare by focusing exclusively on satisfying consumers' short-run wants. Over a long period of time, this too-narrow focus can be damaging to the company. In setting their marketing strategies, marketers today need to balance company profits, consumer wants, and society's interests. Johnson & Johnson is an example of a company that has successfully implemented the societal marketing concept. The organization stresses honesty, integrity, and putting people before profits, an ethic that helped Johnson & Johnson quickly address and recover from the poisonous tampering of Tylenol capsules in 1982. Diff: 2Page Ref: 11 67) Explain why the aim of customer relationship management is to create not just customer satisfaction, but also customer delight. Answer: Customer satisfaction cannot be taken for granted. Because brand loyalty is dependent upon strong customer satisfaction, companies strive to retain, satisfy, and even delight current customers. Firms create customer delight by promising only what they can deliver and then delivering more than what they promised. They also create emotional relationships with key customers. Delighted customers make repeated purchases and become customers for life. More importantly, they also essentially become an unpaid sales force for the firm as â€Å"customer evangelists† who tell other potential customers about their positive experiences with the product. Diff: 1Page Ref: 13 68) In a short essay, discuss the challenges and advantages that new communication technologies have created for marketers. Answer: Through the Internet and related technologies, people can now interact in direct and surprisingly personal ways with large groups of others, from neighbors within a local community to people across the world. With communication technologies such as e-mail, blogs, Web sites, online communities, and online social networks, today's marketers incorporate interactive approaches that help build targeted, two-way customer relationships. Marketers can create deeper consumer involvement and a sense of community surrounding a brand, making a brand a meaningful part of consumers' conversations and lives. However, while new communication tools create relationship-building opportunities for marketers, they also create challenges. They give consumers a greater voice, and therefore greater power and control in the marketplace. Today's consumers have more information about brands than ever before, and they have a wealth of platforms for airing and sharing their brand views with other consumers. This benefits companies when views of its products are positive, but can be damaging when customers share stories of negative experiences with a company's products. Diff: 2Page Ref: 18 69) Define customer equity and explain how a company can increase it. Answer: Customer equity is the sum of the lifetime values of all a company's current and potential customers. Customer equity is dependent upon customer loyalty from a firm's profitable customers. Because customer equity is a reflection of a company's future, companies must manage it carefully, viewing customers as assets that need to be maximized. To increase customer equity, companies should work to delight their customers and establish full relationships with their most profitable customers. Diff: 1Page Ref: 23 70) Explain how the Internet has transformed the way in which we do business today. Answer: The Internet links individuals and businesses of all types to each other. The Internet allows firms access to exciting new marketspaces. The Internet has spawned an entirely new breed of â€Å"click only† companies–the â€Å"dot-coms. † The post-Internet frenzy of the late 1990s has introduced companies that are both savvy and face promising futures. These companies use a set of new Web technologies to reach customers, including blogs (web logs), vlogs (video-based logs), and social networking sites. â€Å"Brick-and-mortar† companies of the past are now â€Å"click-and-mortar† companies, with online presences aimed at attracting new customers and strengthening bonds with current customers. Approximately 65% of American Internet users now shop online, making a Web presence a necessity for any organization. Diff: 1Page Ref: 26 71) Greg Williams now has the buying power to purchase the computer system he has wanted for the last six months. Greg's want now has become a(n) ________. A) need B) necessity C) demand D) exchange E) transaction Answer: C Diff: 1Page Ref: 6 72) To avoid traffic gridlock in large metro areas, a community might use ________ to discourage travelers from driving during peak commuting hours. A) target marketing B) market segmentation C) demarketing D) marketing E) the production concept Answer: C Diff: 1Page Ref: 9 73) Cathy's Clothes is a small retail chain successfully selling women's clothing and accessories with a profitable focus on buyers who have relatively modest means. This is an example of ________. A) convenience B) social marketing C) market segmentation D) target marketing E) value packing Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 8 74) Jolene's firm markets preplanning services for a mortician. She finds that most of her target market wants to avoid discussing their future funeral needs, and she must somehow first get their attention. Jolene's firm is most likely practicing the ________. A) production concept B) marketing concept C) selling concept D) relationship concept E) societal marketing concept Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 75) Henry Ford's philosophy was to perfect the Model-T so that its cost could be reduced further for increased consumer affordability. This reflects the ________ concept. A) product B) production C) selling D) marketing E) societal marketing Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 9 76) Railroads were once operated based on the thinking that users wanted trains rather than transportation, overlooking the challenge of other modes of transportation. This reflects the ________ concept. A) product B) production C) selling D) marketing E) societal marketing Answer: A Diff: 3Page Ref: 10 77) Some fast-food restaurants offer tasty and convenient food at affordable prices, but in doing so they contribute to a national obesity epidemic and environmental problems. These fast-food restaurants overlook the ________ philosophy. A) marketing concept B) product concept C) production concept D) societal marketing concept E) selling concept Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 11 78) Members of the sales team at Dekko International visit only prospective customers who purchase a minimum of $50,000 of insulated wire per year. Dekko is using ________. A) selective relationship management B) a frequency marketing program C) a club marketing program D) demarketing E) a value proposition Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 17 9) You have just taken a new position in an organization and you're learning about the job functions of your new colleagues. You observe that your marketing manager is heavily involved in the process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships. Your marketing manager frequently speaks about the need to deliver superior customer value and satisfaction. Your manager is concerned with which one of the following? A) database management B) Web site hits C) the societal marketing concept D) partner relationship management E) customer relationship management Answer: E Diff: 1Page Ref: 13 0) Tommy Gray attempts to deliver customer satisfaction every day in his Audio Expressions installation business. He is a smart operator who knows that the key to this goal is to match ________ with ________. A) company performance; competition B) company performance; competitive prices C) relationship building; performance tools D) company performance; unique products E) customer expectations; company performance Answer: E Diff: 2Page Ref: 13 81) Shania works hard to foster an emotional relationship between her Internet customers and the beauty products and services that she and her staff sell. By promoting a company culture that values exceptional value and service, Shania aims to create ________ by going beyond the expected. A) customer delight B) customer satisfaction C) customer value D) customer equity E) customer involvement Answer: A Diff: 1Page Ref: 13 82) You are an assistant marketing director for a firm in a market with many low-margin customers. What type of relationship would it be most profitable for you to develop with these customers? A) full partnerships B) basic relationships C) basic partnerships D) club programs E) selective relationships Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 16 3) Elisandra, a marketing manager at a regional chain restaurant, has decided to sponsor a contest calling for customers to create commercials for the restaurant. Winning entries will be posted on the organization's home page. Elisandra's plan is an example of ________. A) consumer-generated marketing B) partner relationship management C) customer lifetime value D) community development aro und a brand E) selective relationship management Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 19 84) Afia, a team leader in charge of customer relationship management, is planning strategies for improving the profitability of her firm's least rofitable but loyal customers. She is also examining methods for â€Å"firing† customers in this group who cannot be made profitable. To which of the following customer relationship groups do these customers belong? A) butterflies B) true friends C) strangers D) barnacles E) short-term customers Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 24 85) A church targeting different demographic groups to increase attendance is an example of ________. A) for-profit marketing B) not-for-profit marketing C) societal marketing D) customer evangelism E) caring capitalism Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 28 6) Ben & Jerry's challenges all stakeholders, including employees, top management, and even ice cream scoopers in their stores, to consider individual and community welfare in their day-to -day decisions. Actions such as this by companies seizing the opportunity to do well by doing good reflects ________. A) environmentalism B) social responsibility C) profit marketing D) partnership management E) myopia Answer: B Diff: 1Page Ref: 27 Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Carol Veldt, owner of Seagull Terrace, watched her investment grow from a small, seaside motel to a thriving year-round resort in just a few years. Atop a bluff overlooking the Maine coast, Seagull Terrace had attracted thousands of visits during the summer months, but then faced a tremendous downturn in business during the winter months. â€Å"But, given the industry in the nearby towns, very little year-round competition, and our close proximity to Portland,† Carol added, â€Å"I couldn't understand why seasonality had to hit Seagull Terrace so hard! † So Carol spent her first winter devising a new marketing plan. She put together a promotional package designed to attract business travelers year-round. Carol's plan, then, involved a seasonal promotional gimmick? o be implemented from early winter to late spring–that would attract the same numbers as the large summer crowd. Her idea worked! During her second winter, Carol greeted numerous business travelers–both satisfied repeat guests as well as new guests who had been snagged by her promotional appeals. â€Å"We still have a long way to go,† Carol admitted. â€Å"Our delicatessen offers delicious entrees, but we'd like to expand that. We provide health club privileges off-site, but we'd like to eventually provide our own. These are goals I hope to achieve in a few years. Our first project, however, included a renovation of our guest rooms and I'm quite proud of the results. † Carol then added, â€Å"Actually there are so many possibilities! With an indoor pool area, I will eventually offer weekend get-aways throughout winter. † 87) Which of the following groups is specifically part of Seagull Terrace's target market? A) seasonal business travelers B) young families C) retirees D) summer campers E) athletes Answer: A Diff: 1Page Ref: 8 88) Carol Veldt's use of â€Å"promotional gimmicks† is an example of the ________ concept. A) selling B) marketing C) product D) production E) societal marketing Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 89) Renovations of the guest rooms at the Seagull Terrace and plans to add an indoor pool area are examples of the ________ concept. A) selling B) marketing C) product D) production E) societal marketing Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 90) Carol Veldt has decided to ask selected guests to participate in an extensive survey about their experience at Seagull Terrace and about their most desired amenities and vacation experiences. By implementing the suggestions she receives from guests, Carol would be following the ________ concept. A) production B) product C) selling D) marketing E) societal Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 91) What should sellers consider if they wish to avoid marketing myopia? Answer: Sellers should consider the particular benefits and experiences desired by their customers, and not just pay attention to the specific products they offer. Diff: 1Page Ref: 6 92) You are a manufacturer of tents, sleeping bags, and outdoor cooking equipment. How might you go about creating brand experiences for your customers? Answer: Such manufacturers should focus on the benefits enjoyed through the use of their products-access to the great outdoors, shared family experiences, and relived memories of the consumer's youth. Diff: 1Page Ref: 7 93) Think about suppliers and other marketing partners. A modern marketing system relies on profitable relationships all along the way. How might Wal-Mart rely on their marketing partners in order to offer low prices? Answer: Wal-Mart must rely on suppliers that will provide merchandise at low costs, a low-cost and efficient distribution system, an accurate and efficient customer relationship database system, and a strong partnership with each of the members of its supply chain. Diff: 1Page Ref: 8 4) The marketing team at Bead Beautiful, a line of jewelry targeted at pre-teenage girls, is meeting to formulate the products' value proposition. What should team members consider as they define a value proposition for Bead Beautiful? Answer: In considering Bead Beautiful's value proposition, the marketing team should identify the benefits and values the company promises to deliver to customers to satisfy their needs. The value proposition should differentiate Bead Beaut iful from other similar products, answering the customer's question â€Å"Why should I buy this brand rather than a competitor's? Diff: 2Page Ref: 9 95) Company X carries organizational and office supplies and follows the selling concept. Explain how Company X may lose sight of customer relationships with their marketing orientation. Answer: The company's aim is to sell its supplies rather than make what the market wants; such a strategy creates sales transactions but not long-term relationships. The company's likely faulty assumption is that customers who are persuaded to buy the product will like it or that they will buy the product again even if they weren't really initially satisfied. Company X will not foster customer loyalty with this approach. Diff: 2Page Ref: 10 96) Explain why electronics and pharmaceuticals manufacturers may use customer-driving marketing. Answer: In such industries, consumers do not know exactly what new products are available; therefore, consumers rely on such firms to tell them what they need. Diff: 2Page Ref: 11 97) What determines whether sellers create basic relationships or full partnerships with customers? Answer: The type of relationship a seller seeks to create with its customers is dependent on the number of customers and their profitability. A company with many low-margin customers develops basic relationships; a company with just a few high-margin customers invests resources to create full partnerships. Diff: 1Page Ref: 16 98) How can a marketer increase â€Å"share of customer†? Answer: The marketer can offer greater variety to customers; in addition, the marketer can train employees to cross-sell and up-sell in order to market more products and services to existing customers. Diff: 2Page Ref: 22-23 99) Explain what marketers can expect from individuals in the customer relationship group classified as â€Å"butterflies. Answer: â€Å"Butterflies† are profitable but not loyal. Marketers should enjoy this type of customer â€Å"for the moment† because they soon flutter off. Marketers should create profitable and satisfying transactions with â€Å"butterflies,† then cease investing in them until the next time around. Marketers can expect transactions with butterflies when conditions are optima l for the customer, but they should not expect butterflies to become loyal customers. Diff: 2Page Ref: 24 AACSB: Analytic Skills Skill: Application Objective: 1-4 100) Able works in the marketing department of an international company. In what ways might Able use modern technologies to conduct market research in order to learn more about and better serve his company's customers? Answer: Able could use videoconferencing to monitor customer focus groups discussing the company's products and services in various locations. Able could use online data services to learn more about the needs and wants of his customers, or he could create a customer database for the company to target individual customers with tailored offers. Diff: 2Page Ref: 25 101) In what ways might even a local retailer find itself touched by global competition? Answer: A local retailer might have global suppliers and customers. The retailer's goods may come from abroad, or components of those goods may be produced or assembled abroad. In addition, a local retailer may also sell goods over the Internet to international customers. Diff: 1Page Ref: 27 102) How is marketing being applied in the not-for-profit sector? Answer: Firms in the not-for-profit sector use marketing to enhance their images, to encourage donor marketing to attract memberships and donors, and to design social marketing campaigns to encourage specific causes. Diff: 2Page Ref: 28 -THE END-

A Comparison of The Poplar Field by William Cowper and Binsey Poplars Felled 1879 by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Comparison of William Cooper and Bentley's Poplar Fields In 1879 Gerard Manley Hopkins was first defeated in that the two poems were about the riverside tree collection. Another thing in common with these poems is that they were cut afterwards, so the writers are now deprived of their pleasure in cold through colored. However, there are many differences between verses. Initially, we noticed that Hopkins used a more complex prosodic system to capture readers. Choose two verses given in the lecture. Let's compare and contrast these two poems (Binsey Poplars by Gerard Manley Hopkins and The Trees by Phillip Larkin). In a recent article by The Guardian, Billy Mills wrote that Trees have been rooted in poetry for centuries. - These two poems have many similarities in their contents. They all have a poetry relationship. The author wrote that his son is his father. My father thought that he was committing a crime, but this is a crime that God does not like. These two poems are related to th e life of the author. After Hopkins leaves his hometown and replaced his position in the world, the competition and cooperation between the father and his son lasted for a long time. For example, in 1879, Gerald Manley Hopkins wrote a letter to the bridge. I included some of my father's lines in Well Walk (Jots and other funny things.) Two months later, Hopkins created Bingxi Poplar Tree to celebrate the cutting of forest near Oxford Did. Clearly, competition with father is an important creative stimulus. Binsey Poplars is a religious poem, Hopkins has no personality. Everywhere in Binsey Poplars, the tone of poetry is sadness, appealing, anger, determination, and religion. This poem is written in spring rhythm which is an innovative metric format developed by Hopkins. In the spring rhythm, the number of accent in a line is calculated, but the number of syllables is not calculated. How to rhyme is different in each section. Since Binsey Poplars has only two sections, the system of v erse is AB, AC, BA, CC. This is also irregular. The position of the line of Binsey Poplars indicates that it is effective to run that line. This poem compares the line of a tree with the rank of a soldier. A military image means that the development of industry in rural areas is equivalent to war 'Binsey Poplars' was published in 1918. This is elegy of the scenery Hopkins knows intimately during Oxford. It has many atmospheric and landscape words like jumping sun - which means that the sun seems to interact with the environment. On the third line of the first quarter, he used felling three times. He did this to convey the sound of an ax hitting a tree. Hopkins believes that natural objects are like expressions created by God and that they use self to capture it. This poem is about Hopkins' love for Him and tells more about poplar logging.

Preparing to go global Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Preparing to go global - Essay Example As we are planning to go international, we must know the food taste of the people of foreign countries. In the foreign countries, we should prepare the food according to the taste of the people of those countries instead of preparing it with the same ratios of salt and pepper that our people like. Today, people demand excellence and quality in whatever they buy. The companies, which provide quality products to the customers, gain success in the international markets. Understanding of the global management concept also plays a key role in the success of the companies. Global management is a technique that companies use to run the business processes efficiently in the international marketplace. While running a business worldwide, different types of cultural, political, and economic issues appear which companies need to tackle effectively in order to gain success in the international markets. We can take the example of McDonalds, a fast food chain, which has achieved success in different parts of the world. The reason behind its success is extremely talented and skilled management staff, which has a complete understanding of the global management concept. The managers of McDonalds have developed effective marketing and market-entry strategies to establish their brand all over th e world. To gain success in internationally, we would need to understand all cross-cultural issues and international business practices in order to make a permanent place in the international markets. Our management staff needs to be skilled enough to set the dimensions of success for the company. We would need to know the way to optimize profitability and promote efficiency in the global marketplace. Development of an appropriate strategic marketing plan would also play a vital role in the success of Kestrel Growth Brands. The strategic marketing plan would encompass two motives. First motive would be to attract the customers towards the

Transtheoretical Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Transtheoretical Model - Essay Example Such a policy may have been commenced by advances in the classification of the equipotentiality of various explanations of client issues. Premature research proposed that a counselor's hypothetically based viewpoint in the area of alcohol and drugs about the source of a client's query were influential in creating revolution, apart from the actual satisfaction of the counselor's thinking (West, 2005). Moreover, consequent study has pointed out that the difference between the customer's faith and the analyst's message itself, rather than the accurate theoretically based substance of the message, is of major importance for client change. Researchers examined that the counselor's message itself allowed the user to observe the problem with a different angle that directed to efficient problem interpreting. In olden times, a few researchers and counselor instructors might have been more open to theoretical assimilation upon identifying a trend in practical searches that revealed comparatively small differences between therapeutic policies (Highlen & Hill, 1984). A significant peculiarity has been set between procedural eclecticism and theoretical incorporation. An eclectic strategy, exclusive of theoretical incorporation, tends to put down practitioners with a plan wanting in structure and practical trend. There is a lot to explore and perform for the structure that attains theoretical incorporation. (Prochaska, 1997) Researchers as well as theorists who proposed models that match with modern variations have documented the increasing trend in the direction of eclecticism. A methodical treatment selection was proposed in 1993 that reflects an individual's problem sternness and convolution, inspirational pain, confrontation power and handling style. The aspects that proposal drew awareness to are imperative for counselors to think about. The model may appear unclear and perplexing because the individuals have changeable measures of problems. (Gaw and Beutler, 1993) The aim of the article is to underline the role that the Transtheoretical Model of Change has played for practical eclecticism and theoretical incorporation. Another objective is to think about the intercession propositions of empirically resulting practices and phases of change. Transtheoretical Model Transtheoretical Model characterizes an experimentally derived chronological structure of general change that consists of multiple stages. This model is different from other counseling assumptions in that it was planned to present an amalgamative configuration to analysis practice. It was designed to combine various features of counseling without isolating application from theory. Transtheoretical Model also integrates a perceptive of the usual dynamic predispositions that individuals illustrate about self-change. In particular, it integrates what investigators have exposed about how a number of individuals, with problems usually seen in treatment, achieve required changes devoid of treatment (Tucker, 1995; Watson & Sher, 1998). This sort of invention of the model is imitative of the scientist-expert in that it was designed from a practically originated model of change. Transtheoretical model may be one solution to the recognized need of an incorporative and inclusive approach that various specialized people have

Trainings Woeful Countenance Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trainings Woeful Countenance - Article Example The objective of the article is to use this exploration to emphasize that all contemporary training outcomes and interventions, mediated by Human Resource Development, should conform to ethical standards. Kopp and Desiderio successfully highlight the fallacious reasoning behind the physiognomy-based training manuals of the last century and sound a wake-up call for a critical evaluation of all contemporary training methods. Kopp and Desiderio draw the reader’s attention to several training manuals of the last century which are founded on the folk science of physiognomy, such as J. A. Hargrave’s Secrets of Selling, F.B. Goddard’s The Art of Selling, Ford Products and Their Sale and the Merton Method of linking physiognomic traits to job performance. The authors cite several of the axioms of this approach, which associate customer buying with the appearance of the face, or the shape of the skull: a Jew’s nose is acquisitive; a pointed chin is a mark of cunning; a broad forehead denotes idealism; a receding forehead indicates idealism. By this method, Kopp and Desiderio create a consensus among readers that â€Å"the sales training manuals that relied on physiognomy for their training techniques were at best, by today’s standards, politically incorrect and, at worst, blatantly bigoted, exploiting historical stereotypes† (2009, p. 136). The authors differentiate be tween the use of physiognomy in America as a tool to increase sales, and its use in Europe as an instrument to advance the agenda of racial discrimination. Having firmly established their case as to the illegitimacy of physiognomic traits as the foundation of training, the authors go on to interpret the implications in terms of contemporary practices in training and development. Kopp and Desiderio make the reader aware that the now discounted physiognomic influence which pervaded training in the early twentieth century was but

Services Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Services Marketing - Assignment Example Westin Hotels and Resorts' ad displays a quieter and more relaxed atmosphere that is implied by showing more of nature - the sea and the sky. MGM Grand Hotels shows otherwise. Its advertisement demonstrates more of a different kind of fun - active interaction with other people, party, clubs, and loud music. The service package that Westin Hotels and Resort wishes to offer its market is one that involves a quieter lifestyle. Its style includes more of a relaxed kind of fun that is in extremely distant from the noise and the pressure of a city life filled with diverse groups of people. The ad, though does not show the cost of being able to enjoy such kind of atmosphere, implies simply that the target market may not spend as much to be able to experience such a serene atmosphere. Westin Hotels and Resorts sell its products directly to its customers through its ads. Utilizing the publishing industry as its channel upon reaching its potential customers is one way. Thus, it can be inferred from these companies ads that Westin Hotels and Resort's target market are those who wishes to commune with nature, to find serenity and relaxation. This market involves people who are probably tired of the life in the city - the noise and the pressure of interaction with diversified group of people.

Kudler Fine Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kudler Fine Foods - Essay Example mmunicating and delivering value to customers, and also by managing customer relationships in such a way that it benefits the organization and its stakeholders (Kerin et al, 2006:8). The focus of the current strategic objectives of the Company is to improve customer loyalty and enhance customer profitability by offering expanded services such as cooking classes and parties in the store to increase customer frequency of visits and promote word of mouth marketing. Another initiative that is proposed is to track customer purchase behavior and offer loyalty points which may be redeemed for other specialty foods, airline tickets, etc. Thirdly, the Company is also integrating new software systems and starting employee training programs to improve efficiency of operations. With the help of technology, the Company is tracking financial data, so that customer behavior over time can be analyzed. Therefore Kudler is focusing upon delivering value to customers and managing customer relations to benefit the organization. However, before actually entering into this plan, the Company needs to carry out extensive marketing research. Marketing research encompasses the process of first arriving at a definition of the marketing problem and opportunity and then systematically collecting and analyzing information, which will form the basis upon which proposed action can be recommended (Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius 2006: 206). In the case of Kudler, it must be noted that most of the initiatives that are proposed are new ones – such as starting cooking classes and rewarding customer loyalty through a points system. While everyday discounts for regular customers have proven efficacy, the efficacy of the points system in ensuring customer loyalty has not been conclusively proved. Customer loyalty has been defined by Dick and Basu as â€Å"the relationship between the rela tive attitude toward an entity (brand/service/store/vendor) and patronage behavior.† (Dick and Basu, 1994:

Nurses' Responsibility in the Prevention of medications errors Essay

Nurses' Responsibility in the Prevention of medications errors - Essay Example The nurse administrators can reduce the nurses’ workloads in order to help reduce the errors. Another remedial procedure is to requiring all nurses to implement error reduction procedures. Reduction of nurse burnouts reduced medical errors. Nurses must responsively prevent or lessen of medication errors to permissible levels. Evidently, the findings indicate healthcare professionals, especially nurses, should responsively prevent or reduce medication errors to allowable occurrences. Keywords: medication errors, remedial action, burnout Nursing Professional’s Responsibility to End/lessen Medications Errors Introduction Healthcare entails the nurses’ role in the patient’s recuperation. The research delves on the types of medication errors. The research delves on medication error reduction strategies. Medical errors may cause the patients’ death. Medical errors can be reduced. Healthcare professionals, especially nurses, and other healthcare facility w orkers are responsible for the prevention of medication errors. The nurses are required to exert all efforts to eliminate medication errors. Most of the medication errors occur during certain situations. One of the situations is during the nurse duty shifts. One medication error occurs when the prior shift nurse forgets to give the medication to the patient. The next duty nurse erroneously does not scrutinize whether the prior duty nurse gave the patient the required medication. The error can be prevented by requiring all the next duty nurses to compulsorily scrutinize the prior nurses’ chart notations (Kalra, 2011). Further, Dorit Pud and Anat Zahavy reiterated â€Å"one of the best strategies to reduce medication errors is to scrutinize possible loopholes in the entire healthcare process and not focus on individual isolated medication error cases† (Dorit & Anat, 2010, p. 794). The loopholes include unintentional recording of medication intakes. Forgetting to record t he patient’s actual medicine intakes may persuade the next nurse to erroneously give the same medicine to the patient. The overdose may cause severe health effects on the patient. Further, M. Wernli and D. Schwappach insist that â€Å"patients can play an important part in reducing medication errors by persuading the patients to immediately report any perceived errors to concerned medical professionals for immediate remedy† (Wernli & Schawppach, 2010, p. 285). Another possible medication error may occur during patient transfers. The patient is originally staying at hospital’s left wing. The patient is transferred to right wing in order to lessen the time needed for the resident medical doctor to move from doctor’s office to the patient’s ward bed. When the patient is transferred to the right hospital wing, another nurse committed medication error when she made a new chart. The error can be avoided by requiring all nurses to exert more time and effo rt to ensure that the patient’s chart is religiously replicated to eliminate the medication errors (Kalra, 2011). Nurses must implement medical intervention requirements to eliminate medication errors (Zerwekh & Claborn, 2010). When the nurse discovers an error in the drug order, the nurse should immediately question whether the drug order is correctness. When the nurse gathers enough evidences to prove there was a medication error, the nurse must immediately report the medication er

Stakeholder Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stakeholder Management - Essay Example Stakeholder management is a hypothesis of organizational administration as well as business ethics, which makes efforts to address the values and principles in organizational management. Freeman in this article acknowledges and formulates the various stakeholder groups. He also recommends the techniques by which the managers can provide in due consideration of the interests of those in the group (Freeman, 2008; p.123). Blattberg (2004; p. 175), a political ideologist criticises the work of Freeman in regard to stakeholder theory for making assumptions that the welfare of the different stakeholders might be at best balanced or cooperated over each other. He argues that this is an output of its prominence on deliberation as the main mode of discussion for addressing the conflicts that arise due to the varying interests of the stakeholders. Blattberg (2004; p.174) asserts that dialogue is the best method which makes him emphasize what he terms as a â€Å"patriotic† notion of the company as an option to that related with the theory of stakeholders. Moreover, Miles (2012; p. 287) seems to be indifferent to Freeman’s ideas. According to Miles (2012, p. 288), the competitors can at times be considered as stakeholders due to their ability to influence the decisions of the organization. According to Mitchell et al. (1997; p. 861) the derivation or understanding of the meaning of stakeholder is based on the level of influence the decision making of an organization. The power of a stakeholder is often guided by legitimacy, which are the generally accepted and anticipated systems of conduct. Lastly, it is determined by the urgency where sensitivity of time or the seriousness of the claims by the stakeholders is concerned. Therefore, the authors suggest that by assessing the merging of these features in a twofold method, there are about eight types of stakeholders that can be

The Navy Offers Better Job Benefits Than Civilian Jobs Essay Example for Free

The Navy Offers Better Job Benefits Than Civilian Jobs Essay Basic Thesis The Navy job gives more benefits than any civilian job. The Navy cares of its sailors. On enrolling, sailors will get an impressive array of benefits design to keep them healthy, comfortable and safe. The most distinguished part is that all of these previliges are above and beyond   Navy pay and grant. Health Benefits11 Two words — complete exposure. One other fringe benefit for on job Naval presonnels a is the complete healthcare exposure they get at all armed forces hospitals and dental benefits. If any one type of precise assistance were not obtainable, you would get a recommendation to where you require to go. This would also be included by Navy’s healthcareplan. Anytime there is any emergency or medical problem, visit neighboring medical benefit. Once a command has been reported to, the serviceman will be alloted a basic care physician, who can be a Navy doctor or a civilian physician. (Conway and Susan, 1990) Salary Benefits If the serviceman are searching for a occupation that offers him with much more than a only a salary, then the Navy is the place. Additionally to base pay, the Navy provides: Living lodgings or housing grant Free of cost dining assistances or food grant A uniform grant Complete healthcare benefits Additionally, Sailors at few duty stations are eligible for additional Cost of Living Grant (COLAs). When the serviceman add it all up,   pay in the Navy will be accumulate to much more than the similar pay in a civilian job where   basic requires aren’t already included. Job Guarantee The Navy offers excellent job guarantee. When the serviceman sign   bond with the Navy, it also signs one with the serviceman. The Navy assures to give the serviceman the training the serviceman require and put the serviceman in positions where the serviceman will be dared and can excel. The Navy assures to let the serviceman develop   management skills. And the more the serviceman give to the Navy, the more is returned by the Navy to the serviceman. (Conway and Susan, 1990) Employers will have strong incentives to hire the serviceman since the serviceman will have both excellent training and hands-on experience under   belt. Whilst in the Navy, the serviceman will learn both how to direct and how to implement the orders from seniors, allowing the serviceman to move into a range of positions. The character, sincerity and individual qualities developed whilst in the Navy are appealing to most employers. Family Benefits By enrolling the Navy family, the serviceman provide benefits for   family too. If the serviceman are married, with or without children, the serviceman can count on the Navy to care for the serviceman care for   family. First is the guarantee of a Navy job. Then there is the closeness of the Navy society — even if the serviceman are away from home, the Navy provides a strong support system for   family. And the quality of life in armed forces housing is exceptional. The Navy also provides the serviceman and   family housing and medical care. The serviceman can live on base or get a housing grant to live in an off-base house or flat of choice. Living on base offers perks same as residing in a gated society: guarantee, safety, cleanliness and a friendly, open environment. They are also constructed with the ease of the residents in mind. Wherever in the world the serviceman are stationed, the serviceman will find all the comforts of home: theaters, libraries, schools, day care and places of worship to say some. In short, living on a Navy base is no different from living in any civil society in America. Travel The Navy is a great way to explore the world, though there is frequently additional to see than the serviceman can get to. In the Navy, the serviceman get a chance to travel even when the serviceman’re not aboard ship. The Navy’s fantastic travel benefits begin with time off. Sailors get 30 days of paid leave annually. That’s a complete month throughout which the serviceman can relax, visit family — or travel to new places. It is easier to go places than the serviceman might imagine. Sailors can travel on armed forces flights around the world for free of cost on a standby, space–obtainable basis. If there is space on a flight going   way, the serviceman can get aboard. Additionally, as an active-duty member of the armed forces, the serviceman will often be qualified to reside in base lodging anywhere in the world. This includes lodging at any armed forces benefit, not only at the Navy’s, usually at a cost much lower than the serviceman would find at a hotel off base. Retirement When the serviceman decide to leave the Navy, the serviceman will continue getting assistance as a Navy expert. This can include the assistances of the Experts Administration in terms of finding job or schooling, no-money-down and low interest loans for new homebuyers, special hiring for government jobs, and receiving of Montgomery G. I. Bill money for school if the serviceman decide to contribute throughout enlistment. If the serviceman make the Navy   profession,   retirement benefits will be far greater. The serviceman will get generous retirement pay, and the serviceman will continue to get medical perviliges and on-base shopping benefits similar to those the serviceman enjoyed whilst on duty. Education The Navy emphasis a lot of importance on education. The Navy supports all Sailors to carry their education. To care for the serviceman, the Navy offers fund for college, means to pay off student credit debts, and also offers college classes on ships and bases. References Conway, Terry L. and Woodruff, Susan I. (1990) Perceived Quality of Life and Health-Related Correlates among Men Aboard Navy Ships; Armed forces Psychology. Volume: 2. Issue: 2. Pg 79.

Aztec Calendar Stone Essay Example for Free

Aztec Calendar Stone Essay Obtaining the knowledge that was passed down to them from earlier Mesoamerican cultures, the Aztecs carved the calendar stone in 1479 (Smith 253). At the time, the Aztecs lived in a very civilized world filled with amazing architecture, an impressively complex government system, and they also employed intricate systems of writing and calendric systems (Taube 7). The Calendar Stone was made by basalt stone. For the Aztecs, everything was pictorial in nature around this era. The calendar stone depicted different pictograms or Codex Magliabechianoand, which was primarily written on religious documents (Aztec-History). Art was centered around religion in this era. So the pictograms of the gods on the calendar stone would correlate with that subject matter. The Aztecs were a highly ritualistic civilization devoted to divination and their Gods. The Aztec calendar stone was created as a divinatory tool which was used for rituals, to forecast the future, and to determine which days were lucky and which days not for the outcome of various actions and events (Smith 254). The calendar had two systems. It had the sacred Tonalpohualli, which was based on the 260-day cycle and the Iuhpohualli, which was a 365-day cycle (Palfrey). Seen by the count, there is a five day difference between these two calendars. The five day differences were thought to be the most unholy, unlucky days of the year (Smith 257). The world was thought to be coming to an end. On the Aztec Calendar, the year was divided into 13-day periods. Each group of 13 days had a different deity ruling over the unit. This is because these units were thought to have a special symbolic influence and the deities were to ensure a positive outcome (Smith 256). In the middle of the Sun Stone, is the sun god Tonatuih. His tongue protruding between his teeth resembles a sacrificial flint knife. In his claw like hands he clutches human hearts (Palfrey). ‘Many scholars have debated on the stone’s meaning and purpose. Some suggest that, fixed horizontally; it served as a sacrificial altar, which would make sense because the stone was dedicated to the sun deity. Most agree though, that it offers a graphic representation of the Mexica cosmos’ (Palfrey). In The Aztecs, Smith sums up what is to be believed the thought of the Aztecs when they carved the calendar stone â€Å"The Aztec calendar stone conveyed the message that the Aztec empire covered the whole earth (territory in all four directions), and that it was founded upon the sacred principles of time, directionality, divine warfare, and the sanction of the gods† (Smith 270). Keeping the Aztec calendar is proof of ancient cultures mathematical and scientific achievements without the aid of modern technology. The study of the sun stone could lead to further advances in mathematics and acts as a road map to our celestial bodies from that era of our history. The Aztecs believe they felt justified in believing in this calendar because of numerous events that changed the course of history for them. Because Aztec Indians were fervent astronomers, they tracked the stars and correlated that between the days to create this sun calendar. Examples of events happening within the timeline of the calendar stone being built are these: Between 1452 and 1454, their capital city Tenochtitlan suffered from flood and famine, the following year on 4/16/1445 (Julian calendar) there was an eclipse of the sun. From 1473-1479, there were 4 more solar eclipses within a five year time frame (Aveni, Calnek). During this time the Aztec nation conquered and sacrificed many of the neighboring towns. Their leaders were wounded or killed, followed by violent earthquakes (Aveni, Calnek). There may have been even more visible eclipses seen by the Aztecs that have not been discovered because they were lost, or destroyed, or even confused with other natural events (Aveni, Calnek). If one were to take into consideration the Aztecs being a society with strong beliefs in deities, the Aztecs constant state of turmoil from wars and death and then couple that with a constant flow of solar eclipses; it wouldn’t take much to consider that the Aztecs might have thought there Gods were planning on ending their world†¦. again. The Aztecs might have carved this massive calendar from stone to give their future generations a chance to do things right, where they did not. Many other artifacts of the same caliber and craftsmanship were excavated around the time the calendar stone was. This was an amazing find, because in the early colonial period of the sixteenth century, pre-Hispanic stone sculptures were considered potent satanic threats to successful conversion (Taube 25). With the Spaniards thinking this, this lead to the destruction of many great pieces of art, manuscripts, and other forms of architecture. Thankfully, with the Aztecs foreseeing this frame of mind being a possibility and other circumstances occurring, many artifacts survived by being hidden in caves, on mountain tops, and even buried under Mexico City (Taube 25). After the artifacts were excavated, rather than being destroyed, they were treated as objects of curiosity and to be studied (Taube 25-26). I account for any differences between reception then and today by knowing people today have so many different religions and beliefs. Whereas the Aztecs were ignorant of the different beliefs we have today. They just had knowledge of what was taught to them by their elders as we do ours. There were not that many differences and very many similarities between American Indians of this era. In the way they did things to their architecture and sculptures. As a matter of fact, the Aztecs calendar was based of the earlier Mayan cultures. The Aztec calendar stone and Mayan calendar share many similarities. Both calendars have ritual days. The Aztec ritual day that was formed is the Tonalpohualli and the Maya ritual day is the Tzolkin. The day names on both calendars are also very similar. Both calendars used 18 months with 20 day counts along with other counts. The Aztec and Maya calendar stone is believed to have both mythological and astronomical significance. Both Native American cultures regarded their calendars as religious. Using the calendars, the Aztec and Maya priests dictated when to grow crops, when the dry and rainy seasons were, when to go to war, etc. (World Mysteries). The main way the Aztec calendar differed was in their more primitive number system and less precise way of recording dates. The year also started with different months. The Maya calendar tracked the movements of the planets and the moon. From this came their reckoning of time, and a calendar that accurately measures the solar year to within minutes. The Aztecs also kept the two different aspects of time, the Tonalpohualli, which was counting the days and the Xiuhpohualli which was counting the years (World Mysteries). The Aztecs believed they were living in the fifth and final stage of life. Because the Maya used a 360 day long cycle, they could tell that there were time periods way longer than the age of our universe (World Mysteries). It helped me figure out what some of the major celestial events where during the time the Aztec Sun Calendar was created. Palfrey, Dale. Mysteries of the Fifth Sun: The Aztec Calendar. n. p. Web. 8 January 1999. http://www. mexconnect. com/articles/199-mysteries-of-the-fifth-sun-the-aztec-calendar This is a website with basic information about the Aztec Sun Calendar. It gave me more insight into what the calendar looked like. Aztec-History. N. p. , nd. Web. 1996-2012 http://www. aztec-history. com This website has an enormous amount of information about Aztec Indians, from clothing to their demise and pretty much everything in between. The website gave me most of the information about the calendar stone I have so far. Smith, Michael. The Aztecs. Blackwell Publishers Inc. , 1996. Print. The book is Aztec Indians and their culture. This book helped me to understand the calendar stone more and why it was just a big part of Aztec life. Taube, Karl. Aztec and Maya Myths. British Museum Press, 1993. Print. This book detailed facts and myths about Aztec and Mayan Indians. This book helped me find what the Aztecs art and idols were see as in the early colonial period.