Comparative Analysis of American and Soviet Perspectives on the 1962 Essay

Comparative Analysis of American and Soviet Perspectives on the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis - Essay Example The two nations have some valid grounds for assigning different relevance to different truths, and even to similar truths. Apparently, the truths themselves, regardless how popular, understood, or overlooked, are similar for both (Fursenko & Naftali 1997). Furthermore, as claimed by Fursenko and Naftali (1997), even nowadays, the crisis is not accurately known. Scholars on both sides have concentrated on how the events of the crisis have made subsequent leaders more cautious and more keenly sensitive to the importance of preventing decisions that could provoke another war. However, there is insufficient knowledge in the United States as to the reason that incident is referred to by the Soviet as the ‘Caribbean crisis’, and how it may be critically considered as originating even partly from the U.S. decisions (Hirschbein 1997, 137). There is insufficient knowledge in the Soviet as to the reason it is appropriately viewed in the U.S. as a crisis caused by the covert entran ce of Soviet medium-range missiles into Cuba. And in these two nations there is inadequate focus on and knowledge of the entire interaction process, including not just conflicting points of view but conflicting paradigms of significant truth, or distinct groups of realities (Garthoff 1989). As stated by Nathan (1992), especially dissimilar base levels of transparency of documents or source materials in both nations complicate the issue of trying to attain some kind of consolidated historical and political point of view. The Cuban Missile Crisis: Comparing the Perspectives of U.S. and the Soviet Union The Soviet Union and the United States are superpowers with global ambitions, and at times those ambitions come to blows. Crisis management is needed if conflicts... This research aims to evaluate and present the Soviet Union and the United States as superpowers with global ambitions, and at times those ambitions come to blows. Crisis management is needed if conflicts occur; but crisis avoidance rooted in political control and recognition of dissimilarities is much to be desired. Reductions and regulations of arms control are vital in themselves and since they can positively influence political affairs. Nuclear war avoidance, and thus avoidance of any war implicating the Soviet Union and the United States, is of the greatest concern. Analyzing the experience and understanding the importance of the missile crisis of 1962 can help both nations to ascertain not only that this problem never happens again, but also that a bigger crisis never arises. The United States focused on crisis management. This inclination is true generally, and with regard to analysis of the Cuban missile crisis. In contrast, in the Soviet Union the common tendency and utmost attention paid to the 1962 Caribbean crisis has been aimed at improving crisis avoidance and political acceptance, instead of crisis management. Strangely invalidating the common stereotypes, the Americans have been moderate, cynical pragmatists, believing that, unfortunately, conflicts will arise and should be cautiously handled, whereas the Soviets have seemed to be hopeful, if not totally unrealistic, in claiming that crises can and should be avoided by political co-operation.

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Marketing - Essay Example Market segmentation was introduced in 1956 by Wendell Smith, and since then it has, more than any other marketing concept, been the subject of scholarly discussion and inquiry (Quinn, 2009). His main argument lay in the sense that goods will be able to realize their maximum potential utility if the differences among market segments were recognized and catered to, rather than if goods were produced indiscriminately for the mass market (Foedermayr & Diamantopoulos, 2008). The wisdom in segmentation is that it aids in creating a homogeneous group out of a heterogeneous market, for which a more effective marketing mix may be designed. This enhances the attractiveness of the firm and its products to the target segment, by allowing the company to more ably meet the customers’ perceived needs. Furthermore, the segmentation exercise undertaken by the company in the process of strategizing better enables the company to more specifically determine and understand customer needs, and the criteria by which such needs may be segmented. A closer match could therefore be created between the product design, the marketing approach, and the requirements of the customers (McDonald & Dunbar, 2007). Market segmentation is conceived of as a highly useful â€Å"sense-making† tool, often for the purpose of communicating to the targeted market in the most effective way (Quinn, 2009, p. 253). However, the degree to which it is useful as a tool for creating specific strategic plans is the subject of current debate. A salient criticism against reliance on segmentation as a concept emerged in the 1990s. At that time it became apparent to some scholars that consumer lifestyles continue to grow increasingly fragmented. As a result, market segmentation appears to become more and more ineffective as a valid method for defining the market of a firm (Quinn, 2009; Charles, 2002; Holt, 1997). The idea of â€Å"lifestyle† has been used to define market segments, but more and mor e the concept has become vague and ambiguous. In practice, it has become difficult to define in detail all customers served by a firm or industry, and increasingly the approach to segmentation is to identify the criteria most important to that business and divide the customers into groups according to those categories that are most manageable (Quinn, 2009, p. 255). The variations in lifestyles and the wide variety of differentiated products have created not a few general homogeneous markets; on the contrary, and for some industries in particular, customization of product and service designs have become the standard. For instance, in addressable and interactive communications are profiled against individualized customer analytics and propensity modelling; these assist in determining the likelihood that specific propositions shall be accepted (Bailey, Baines, Wilson & Clark, 2009). 2. What are the different segmentation processes for both B2C and B2B? To understand the different appro aches concerning B2C and B2B markets, it is necessary to define the terms. B2C is short for business-to-customer; that is, the business that supplies the product, whether good or service, is targeting the end user or individual consumer. On the other hand, B2B refers