Stream of Consciousness in Ernest Hemingways A Farewell to Arms :: Farewell Arms Essays

Stream of Consciousness in A Farewell to Arms      Ã‚  Ã‚   Many important American writers came to prominence during the Jazz Age, but their commonalities often stopped there. From lyrical to sparse, many different styles can be seen among these authors, such as those of Henry James, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway. One stylistic technique, stream of consciousness, was most associated with Joyce. Yet, Hemingway also used this technique with regularity and it is an important element in his war novel, A Farewell to Arms. This technique uses the interior monologue of a character to convey information, and thus the reader is allowed a more fluid picture of the true thoughts of the character, in this case, Lieutenant Frederick Henry. Also, the information contained in these stream of consciousness passages would not have been as effectively expressed in traditional prose style.    There are six specific passages in A Farewell to Arms that exemplify the stream of consciousness technique. Each of these is related to one of the themes of drunkenness and confusion, escape and fantasy, and disillusionment. These themes are presented in a progression, as Henry becomes more demoralized about his life and the war. The first passage comes early, as he relives the experiences of his weeks on leave. The Lieutenant has been drinking and his memories flow like the speech of an intoxicated person; continuing on from one subject to the next without regard for the listener. Of course, the reader is the only "listener" here, but there is a sense that Henry truly is lost in his own thoughts. His reeling thoughts attempt to summarize the previous few weeks in the following passage:    I had gone. . . to the smoke of cafes and nights when the room whirled and you needed to look at the wall, nights in bed, drunk, when you knew that that was all there was, and the strange excitement of waking and not knowing who it was with you, and the world all unreal in the dark and so exciting that you must resume again unknowing and not caring in the night, sure that this was all and all and all and not caring (13).    This description is in direct contrast to a previous description of the cold, clear, scenic Abruzzi, Henry's alternative vacation spot, emphasizing his confusion as well as the sensory overload of the Cova.

Illinois Program Plan on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Essay

The government of Illinois is aware of the drug and alcohol addiction on its almost 2 million residents. Abuse of alcohol and drugs may lead to addiction which is hard to control. â€Å"The human suffering and social and economic loss caused by the illness of alcoholism, addiction to controlled substances, the use of cannabis, and the abuse and misuse of alcohol and other drugs are matters of grave concern to the people of the State of Illinois† (2003). The government of Illinois invests on their person that is why they have the great effort to provide the best services as possible to its people. Alcohol and drug addiction if not prevented might cause your life in danger. Government efforts to support families in strengthening their relationship to each other would become a good avoidance. So as the Illinois government created one of its largest agencies such as the Department of Human Services (DHS). The DHS supports Illinoisans to become self-sufficient to live the life to the fullest. Being self-sufficient means Under DHS there are several programs like Alcoholism and Addiction, cash services for the people who are financially in need, child care, customer services, disability and rehabilitation, health and medical, housing, assistance for the victims of violence and abuse, parenting and youth services. â€Å"The Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (DASA) under the Department of Human Services consist of operational Offices/Bureau’s designed to reflect their mission and planning goals and objectives. Primary responsibilities are to develop, maintain, monitor and evaluate a statewide treatment delivery system designed to provide screening, assessment, customer-treatment matching, referral, intervention, treatment and continuing care services for indigents alcohol and drug abuse and dependency problems† (Illinois Department of Human Services, 1999). There are different services offered under DASA such as Case Management which is the provision, coordination, or arrangement of additional services. Another is the Community Intervention is provided within the community and focus on the community and its residents. The HIV Testing and Counseling is to identify and provide early intervention for persons who are at risk of becoming infected or who have become infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Intensive Outpatient Services are clinical services that include individual, group and family counseling and patient education. The DASA Early Intervention is pre-treatment services for individuals whose problems appear to be related to substance abuse but do not meet any diagnostic criteria. Residential Rehabilitation provides clinical and treatment rehabilitation services 24 hours a day. And Detoxification provides immediate and short-term clinical support for persons in the withdrawal process. The intention of toxicology services is to analysis urine, blood, or saliva to determine the presence of alcohol and / or other drugs in clients who receive treatment or intervention services. (Illinois Department of Human Services, 1997) According to the Illinois Substance Abuse Plan (2003) The functions of DASA is to design a comprehensive services to carry out in the whole state to prevent drug abuse and design an accessible treatment and rehabilitation needed by the individuals positive on its usage (p. ). The strategy on all state agencies must be coordinated to make one strategy applicable to their residents as a response to their mutual goals as provider of prevention, treatment and support. DASA acts as the state’s premier provider of rehabilitation and treatment of drug dependents in order to monitor any institutions/establishments and to prevent unreliable providers. These providers are private individuals or institutions rendering alcohol and drug treatment and rehabilitation. They should be accredited by DASA and abide by the rules and regulations. The organization of each institution (provider) must have a good management system that rewards their staffs or employees for rendering good service. DASA encourage, develop, and implement practices that help provider institutions to develop competencies within their workforce to collaborate with researchers, influence research designs, and support internal utilization of quality research within the organization. At this cause, each employee will encourage to do good outputs in their work. In the long run, provider institutions will become stable and efficient. These policies on providers make them more standardize and reliable institution for treatment and rehabilitation. Providers also make the treatment and rehabilitation accessible in all area around the state of Illinois. Individual providers should undergo training in DASA to become competent in the workforce. DASA also have standard training program for providers to increase their knowledge and skills. The people addicted to drugs and alcohol may experience discrimination and isolation to the community. The state government encourages respect for their rights as a person who is just in need of understanding and support. These government efforts reflected on their different services. The agency aims to treat the person addicted to alcohol or drugs not to separate or punish them from the deeds that they had. The program plan provided a system responsive to the needs of its recipients and prioritizes the elimination of the gaps between the needs and available resources. Resources must be well allocated to enhance services and secure its future use. The agency use 5 year program plan from 2003-2007 to comply with the National Treatment Plan of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). They developed the plan entitled the Bridging the Illinois Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Gap for Alcoholism and Other Drug Addiction Services Plan. The department formed different work groups supported by different members of the Subcommittee such as the Reducing Stigma and Changing Attitudes, Reducing the Gap in Services, Workforce Development, Connecting Services and Research, Accountability. Work groups are intended to evaluate and address issues in their particular area that will be used to improve objectives and goals for the program. Work groups are not just intended to evaluate the outcome of the existing plan but to develop the next implementation plan of the department. The state government wanted inform the people on the availability of different programs and seeks public understanding. Informing the people about their situation is the best preventive measure; the program used questionnaires and tools for evaluation and implementation of the plan. There is an appendix attached contained questionnaires for identifying if one person is light, moderate or heavy drinkers. These tools help the people to assess themselves in terms of the usage of alcohol and realize how much money they wasted for alcohols. The plan also introduced â€Å"Spending Calculators† for the individual to realize how much money they spend for alcohol use. â€Å"Create active linkages with a variety of agencies, organizations, communities and consumers around Illinois to focus on relevant knowledge development† (Illinois Substance Abuse Plan, 2003, p. ). These evaluation tools are definitely used by the agency for research purposes. Research will tell the agency if the services are still effective and efficient. If not they take developmental plans to improve services. Research will tell the agency how many people affected or addicted with alcohol or any substance. Whatever causes of alcohol or substance addiction may lead to family problems, ga ngs, lack of education and many alarming issues concerning the development of one person. It is a crucial situation to any parents if their child is positive to alcohol and drug addiction. If one of these appeared then the agency must strengthen their program on that particular aspect because all of these aspects influence the behaviour and character of the individual and it is interconnected to one another. It is also important for the agency to know what are the needs of the people addicted to alcohol and substance because the program for treatment and rehabilitation will depend on the needs of its recipients. The present findings will determine if the program plan is effective or not. If it is not then the agency will use the research findings and outcomes to develop the next program plan not only for the alcohol and drug abuse program but as well as on the other programs. Outcome evaluations is very important because the agency wanted not only to produce program plan but this will guide them in providing good and appropriate services for the people. Technology nowadays is present in our society and it is rapidly advancing. Technology became part of every person’s lives; it became our necessity and way of life. People become dependent on technology because this will not waste their time, effort and money. Almost all people have mobile phones, computers at home with internet access. This technological advantage will greatly help the agency in implementing their program. This is the easiest, fastest and non-expensive way to inform the people of the different services and most importantly to get evaluation outcomes needed for development. I must say that the agency uses the easiest, fastest and less expensive means to get evaluation outcomes. This is more comfortable for the agency because they will no longer have to do the door to door method and also for the respondents not to become disturb and if necessary they will participate anytime they want to. But this would become useless if the agency will just post evaluation tools in their website. They must find other way where to post these tools. Like for example posting it on different popular websites visited by a lot of people. Or they may even simultaneously require people to answer their evaluation tools right after they voted during state elections. The agency would enable many internet users to visit the website if it is accessible and user-friendly. Design or make the webpage more accessible to any kind of people whether adults, youth, children or even to those people that has physical disabilities. Create a good navigation in designing websites because this will surely become more usable and accessible. Technologies are essential in today’s society but we must still monitor the accuracy and efficiency of it. Maintaining the website is not that expensive if the agency has an in-charge group in doing maintenance. Research would become accurate if the tools used are efficient so it doesn’t matter how advance it was the most important is that the evaluation tools will answer the program objectives.

Accounting & business performance

The current business environment is characterized by a high level of competitiveness and business organizations have to go through a constant process of change in order to develop and maintain a competitive edge that will allow them to maximize their profits.Profit maximization leads to maximization of shareholder wealth and therefore it is the ultimate objective that the management in every business organization strives to attain in the long term. However shareholders are not the only stakeholders to a business organization.Customers and employees are also important stakeholders and satisfying their demands is critical to maintaining the competitiveness of a business organization (cited in Spitzer, 2007). The process of satisfying customers is called customer relationship management.The process of satisfying the employees is called human resource management (cited in Armstrong, 2005). A critical aspect of human resource management is compensation management. Inasmuch as compensation management motivates employees and directly impacts the level of their performance, it is a serious concern for the management of a business organization.Compensation management, by influencing employees to target their efforts towards enhancing organizational effectiveness, forms an integral part of the management control system in a business organization.The management control system ensures that resource allocation happens in a manner calculated to maximize organizational effectiveness. This effectiveness is achieved through strategic alignment. As mentioned before, every business organization has to develop a competitive edge.This enables business organizations to set themselves apart so that customers are more willing to spend money for their products and services rather than for their competitors. Having a strategic focus is integral to developing and maintaining a competitive edge. In order to develop a strategic focus, the management of a business organization has to identi fy its core competencies.These competencies possessed by a particular business organization define what the strategic focus for that organization should be and the organization’s resources are allocated accordingly. One of the most important resources that an organization possesses is its employees. However employees do not possess the big picture.Therefore they are unable to structure the application of their skills efficiently and effectively on their own. That is why the management control system is of critical importance. The management control system in this regard works by means of a framework of rewards and penalties.An organization is a collective term (cited in Armstrong, 2005). It consists of a group of people working together to reach a common target which for a business organization, as mentioned before, is profit maximization. According to the definition above, how employees relate to one another in the organizational setting is a concern of the utmost importance .The effort here is one of identifying a structural framework which can be applied generally to understanding the nature of these relationships. Understanding the nature of the relationship between the superior and his subordinates reveals the set of motives and interests which the senior management of an organization can depend upon to improve the performance of their employees. One such structural framework is the agency theory.According to the agency theory, agents and principals have different motives and interests which guide their behavior and therefore conflicts of interest arise (cited in Atkinson, 2006). These conflicts must be eliminated if their efforts are to be directed to the common good of the organization.Examples of principals are the senior management of an organization while examples of agents may be the managers who work under them. An example of a conflict of interest may be a scenario where the senior management encourages a high level of risk-taking when it co mes to business ventures but the managers they are delegating tasks to do not like to take risks.In this respect, the common goal for both agents and principals to maximize profits is compromised because the two parties are following different approaches. Unless this conflict is resolved, it will be impossible for the senior management of an organization to maintain its strategic focus.How to resolve this conflict has been the subject of considerable research and there is widespread agreement in the scholarly circles that designing the right system of rewards and penalties is the critical issue in this regard.The highly competitive nature of the current business environment requires organizations to change their internal processes in a continuous improvement process. Because the industry is changing fast in terms of products and services and production technologies, the business organization operating in that industry also has to change in order to stay competitive.One of these chan ges is that business organizations can no longer afford to keep their performance measurement systems aligned to the past. That is why the balanced scorecard system is now being implemented in diverse industries in a wide variety of organizations to keep the performance measurement system forward-looking.According to the balanced scorecard, the management of a business organization has to look at the organization in terms of four perspectives: financial, customer, learning and growth and internal processes (cited in Spitzer, 2007).The balanced scorecard links these four perspectives under the framework of total quality management. According to the theory of total quality management, the process of quality control has to be embedded in all the processes organization-wide.The balanced scorecard puts this theory into practice by focusing management control on four key areas of an organizational structure. However once again, implementing the balanced scorecard requires the right system of rewards and penalties.It has been mentioned before that managers and employees have different goals and therefore delegation of duties and responsibilities is hampered. Removing this barrier to strategic alignment between management goals and the goals of their subordinates defines agency theory. The agency theory is very much relevant even when it comes to the implementation of the balanced scorecard.According to this methodology, the managers responsible for particular work processes have to design hierarchies of objectives, measures, targets and initiatives which will assess to what extent those work processes are meeting organizational standards (cited in Spitzer, 2007).Conflicts of interest between the senior management and its subordinates will arise because the senior management will require that lower level managers set aggressive targets for their work processes in the balanced scorecard. However the lower level managers will be unwilling to set aggressive targets becau se in the event these aggressive targets are not met, they risk losing their jobs. The senior management likes to take risks because it has a lot of choices in this respect, i.e. hiring other employees more suited to the task.However the employees will have a hard time finding another job and therefore they set easily attainable targets in order to ensure job security. This conflict can be resolved only through the right system of rewards and penalties.In designing the right system of rewards and penalties, the management has to decide whether the compensation should be behavior-based (fixed salary) or outcome-based (bonus, stock options, profit sharing) (cited in Armstrong, 2005).This decision is reached on the basis of whether the task in question is highly programmable, where senior management can specifically prescribe the behavioral requirements for the task, or not (cited in (cited in Spitzer, 2007).For example, when it comes to maximizing sales, the management has to offer it s sales employees a certain degree of latitude so that the sales employees exercise creativity in maximizing the number of sales in a specific period of time.In this respect, the senior management has no way of monitoring employee behavior and therefore the rewards or penalties are administered based on whether the number of sales reached the target or not. That is why rewards and penalties are important for the management control system.The objective of the management control system in this example is to make sure that in maximizing sales, employees put in their best efforts, which they will not according to the agency theory. That objective of the management control system is reached only through well thought out rewards and penalties which make employees extend their best efforts in attaining the organizational objectives.ReferencesSpitzer, Dean R. Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way WeMeasure and Drive organizational Success. Prentice Hall. (2007).Armstrong, Michael. Strategic Human Resource Management. Prentice Hall. (2005)Atkinson, Anthony A., et al. Management Accounting. McGraw Hill/Irwin. (2006).Horngren, Charles T., et al. Introduction to Management Accounting. Prentice Hall. (2005). Â  

How to Write an Outline in MLA Format

How to Write an Outline in MLA Format How to Write an Outline in MLA Format Lately, there has been a lot of buzz around MLA format or style of writing. MLA stands for Modern Language Association. In the Modern Language Association (MLA) style an outline is not strictly required which means you may choose not to write one. However, you should know that an essay with an outline is better understood and accepted not only by the audience, but also by your instructor when it comes to grading you and acknowledging your work. So, our suggestion is to read this article carefully because it will explain you in details how to write an outline in MLA format. First, of course, you have to choose a thesis and research it well in order to write a good essay of any kind. In Modern Language Association (MLA) format you have to place the thesis above your outline. You can also type the word thesis with capital letters just above it. It will be good if you can state your thesis in one sentence. It has to present the topic and your opinion on it. You can also use comparison or contrast when starting to declare your thesis. It is very important for the MLA outline to provide examples, facts and ideas that support your thesis. So, after you have researched your thesis well, pick the strongest evidence which supports it first and the rest organize depending on its strength. Make a draft of your outline, it will help you reevaluate once more the information you have gathered. You may decide to add or delete something. Drafting an outline is important because it will show on early stage whether you have missed out important ideas and examples or you have used superfluous information. It is the supporting information, ideas and points that will create the main outlook of your essay. They will either make your thesis sound reliable and trustworthy or not. That is why careful research and initial drafting are extremely important. Writing an outline in MLA format, of course, has a few more general specifics. For the main ideas in your outline you must use Roman numbers followed by period, for information that clarifies the main ideas you have to use capital letters. Below come the Arabic numbers, then lower case letters follow and at the end numbers in parenthesis are used. Keep the different sections of your outline as parallel as possible. Below is a sample structure of MLA outline format. How to write an outline in MLA format Thesis: The importance of an extensive research when writing a paper is essential if you want your work to be acknowledged and accepted properly by the audience and the instructor and it is absolutely the good research that will make your paper sound convincingly, trustworthy and will be written in a professional manner. I. Research well the thesis you have chosen A. Find the strongest arguments that will support your thesis B. Find debatable counter arguments C. Think of a personal story that proves your thesis II. Make a draft on your outline A. Revaluate your thesis and arguments for the last time 1. Delete arguments that may sound unconvincingly 2. Organize your arguments by strength B. Check the reliability of the arguments you have chosen for the final time 1. Proofread the outline carefully a. Remove any grammatical or contextual mistakes (1) Read your outline and consider it for one last time There’s also one more type of outlining, although it’s rarely used; it is called a decimal one. It is very similar to the one described above, but the only difference is that it uses only Arabic numbers. For example: 1.0. Research well the thesis you have chosen 1.1. Find the strongest argument that will support your thesis 1.2. Find debatable counter arguments 1.3. Think of personal story that proves your thesis A well structured outline will give your whole essay a feeling of logical organization and coherent attitude. If you have trouble outlining the main topic and subtopic just ask yourself where an idea in question can be added or if it starts a whole new discussion. It is good to try to make all of the entries in the outline parallel. If you have done all of the above, writing not only an outline in MLA format but also the whole essay should be quite easy.

Definition and Examples of Embolalia in Speech

Definition and Examples of Embolalia in Speech The term embolalia refers to hesitation forms in  speech-meaningless filler words, phrases, or stammerings such as um, hmm, you know, like, okay, and uh. Also called  filler, spacers, and vocal filler. Embolalia comes from two Greek words meaning something thrown in. In The Painted Word (2013),  Phil Cousineau observes that embolalia is a near-perfect word to describe what we all do at some point in our liveswe throw words around without thinking about them. Examples and Observations Um, this is a fairly unique moment both in our, you know, in our country’s history, and, and in, in, you know, my own life, and um, you know, we are facing, you know, unbelievable challenges, our economy, you know, health care, people are losing their jobs here in New York obviously um, ah, you know. (Caroline Kennedy, in an interview conducted by Nicholas Confessore and David M. Halbfinger of The New York Times, Dec. 27, 2008)Mrs. Kennedy has managed variously to seem utterly opaque while lacking in the basic skills of plain speaking. There has been not a little mockery of her dependence in conversation on the verbal filler, you know. She was heard to utter it 138 times in a conversation with reporters from The New York Times. In a single TV interview she reportedly galloped past the 200 mark. Thats a lot of you knows. (David Usborne, Now Voters Turn Against Kennedys Stuttering Campaign. The Independent, Jan. 7, 2009)Uh, in a school. And my father, he was, uh, from the United States. Just like you, ya know? He was a Yankee. Uh, he used to take me a lot to the movies. I learn. I watch the guys like Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney. They, they teach me to talk. (Al Pacino as Tony Montana in the film Scarface Ive heard about it. I hope you goyou knowI hope you go back to the ranch and the farm is what Im about to say. (President George W. Bush, explaining that he hadnt yet seen the film Brokeback Mountain, Jan. 23, 2006) Throwing Words Around The nervous, I mean, stammering habit of, you know, inserting, I mean kinda throwing meaningless words into, you know, a sentence, when youre, ah, talking. Tossing in the word throw was no accident, as evident in its  root word, the Greek emballein, from em, in, and ballein, to throw in or at . . .. So embolalia turns out to be a sixty-four-dollar-word to describe the habit of throwing around words without thinking . . .. The habit is characterized by often uncontrollable utterances  (hmm, umm, errr), and is a cringeworthy nervous tic in languages everywhere. The cause may be a general deterioration of the spoken word, or a lack of respect for it, sheer nervousness, or a disdain for proper, poetic, or colorful use of the language. (Phil Cousineau,  The Painted Word: A Treasure Chest of Remarkable Words and Their Origins. Viva, 2013)​ In Defense of Verbal Stumbles Modish public speaking coaches will tell you that its OK to say uh or um once in a while, but the prevailing wisdom is that you should avoid such disfluencies or discourse particles entirely. Its thought that they repel listeners and make speakers appear unprepared, unconfident, stupid, or anxious (or all of these together). . . .But uh and um dont deserve eradication; theres no good reason to uproot them. . . . Filled pauses appear in all of the worlds languages, and the anti-ummers have no way to explain, if theyre so ugly, what euh in French, or h and hm in German, or eto and ano in Japanese are doing in human language at all. . . .In the history of oratory and public speaking, the notion that good speaking requires umlessness is actually a fairly recent, and very American, invention. It didnt emerge as a cultural standard until the early 20th century, when the phonograph and radio suddenly held up to speakers ears all the quirks and warbles that, before then, had flitted by. (Michael Erard, â€Å"An Uh, Er, Um Essay: In Praise of Verbal Stumbles.† Slate, July 26, 2011) Further Reading Filler WordsDiscourse MarkerDysfluencyEditing TermsPlaceholderRepair

Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso The Glorious Artists Essay

Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso The Glorious Artists - Essay Example The essay "Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso The Glorious Artists" will help to understand the important role of such artists as Paull Klee and Pablo Picasso. Here will be discussed famous words of glorious artists. Abstract art never shows flowers as flowers, houses as houses etc. Mainly abstract art addresses issues that lie deeper than objects of material reality. Paul Klee was in a broad sense a transcendentalist who accepted that the material world was standing out among numerous realities open to human consciousness. His applications of color, pattern and miniature sign systems all address his endeavors to utilize art as a window to this philosophical rule. Klee challenged conventional limits differentiating visual art and composition by investigating another expressive, and to a great extent theoretical or graceful dialect of pictorial images and signs. Letters, arrows, musical documentation, old pictographs, or a couple of dark lines remaining in for an individual or question habit ually show up in his work, while seldom requesting a particular interpretation. The artwork that was chosen for the analysis is Winged Hero (1905). This artwork depicts a surreal humanlike creature with one wing. The artist wrote himself on the picture "Because this man was born with one wing, he believed he could fly. His attempts, of course, have only resulted in crashes and a broken left arm and leg". The odd creature could extremely well speak to a sort of self-portrait of the averageartist of the 20th century.

Critical Assessment and Comparison of the Competitiveness and Dissertation

Critical Assessment and Comparison of the Competitiveness and Profitability of the UK Food Retail Sector - Dissertation Example The analysis of the two sectors has revealed that there are mixed trends with respect to the performance of selected companies in this study. However, within the retail sector of UK, Morrison’s and Sainsbury are better performers as compared to Tesco. On the other hand, BG and Shell have superseded BP as per the financial analysis. The SWOT analysis of the retail companies and analysis through Porter’s Five Forces Model has revealed that there are significant opportunities for the companies to expand their businesses; whereas at the same time, the competition in the market is also at peak. Similarly, for oil and gas companies, the analysis showed that there are no significant threats for the companies, but for BP the oil spill incident is still showing it’s after effects. Introduction Two of the most successful and competitive industry sectors in the UK are the UK food retail industry (specifically supermarkets) and the UK Oil and Gas industry. Both industries ar e major contributors to the UK economy. The grocery market alone in 2011 was worth ?156.8 billion and in 2011-2012 the UK oil and gas industry paid production tax of ?11.2 billion, almost a quarter of the exchequers corporation tax (IGN, 2012; Oil & Gas UK, 2012). In times of austerity and economic recession such as the UK is currently experiencing, it is insightful to assess the financial health of each of these organizations using ratio analysis in order to understand how they are achieving their level of success. According to Jones (2006) ratios are an extremely effective means of achieving this because if suitable ratios are selected and applied it can reveal interesting facts about how the company is managed and run, and where there may be areas of potential risk and weakness such as excessive borrowing. Rationale The rationale for this study is to understand how different ratios are employed in different industries and to evaluate the challenges that can be encountered if the same ratio is used in different industries. There is an inherent risk in taking the output of financial ratio analysis at face value without fully appreciating the context of the output. Therefore, by examining two highly successful industries it is hoped to identify areas of best practice using financial ratios as guides. The industries selected for research arethe UK food retail sector and UK oil and gas. These two industries have been chosen for particular reasons. Firstly, the UK food retail sector is one of the most competitive market places in the UK,characterized by high output volumes, fast turnover and tight profit margins. It is an industry where any mistakes are quickly reflected in the financial data and stakeholders are unforgiving (Palmer, 2004; Retail Week, 2012). It is this level of competition and volatility which makes the industry an interesting study because food is essential to every household and so the performance of food retail giants such as Tesco, Sainsbury ’s and Morrison’s can be regarded as a sensible barometer of the current economic situation in the UK. Furthermore, the success of Tesco at the international level undoubtedly points to the value being created in this industry in the UK. This alone makes it an interesting area to conduct research in.The second industry, UK oil and gas plays a major part in the UK economy in terms of exports, technology, and