Eat Pray Love Moving Metaphysical Journey English Literature Essay

Eat Pray Love Moving Metaphysical Journey English Literature Essay This paper considers the contentious space between self-affirmation and self-preoccupation in Elizabeth Gilberts popular travel memoir, Eat, Pray, Love. Following the surveillance of the female confessant, the female traveller has recently come under close scrutiny and public suspicion. She is accused of walking a fine line between critical self-insight and obsessive self-importance and her travel narratives are branded as accounts of navel gazing that are less concerned with what is seen than with who is doing the seeing. These tales of inward journeys, which are typical of New Age travel writing, necessitate thinking about representations of the other, as they call into question the conflicting aspects of authorship, privacy and the subjectivity of truth. The recurring emergence of these themes in womens travel not only reflects an absorbing feminist interest in questions of identity and existence, but also highlight continued anxieties about ontological questions such as Who am I? and What am I to believe? In reading these questions against the backdrop of womens travel, the possibility arises that the culture of narcissism is increasingly read as a female discursive practice. Following the backlash against Elizabeth Gilberts best-selling travel memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, the polar responses to the text from its female readership exemplify this problematic. The novel, which has been praised by some as the ultimate guide to balanced living and dismissed by others as self-serving junk, poses questions about the requisites in Western culture for being a female traveller and for telling a story that focuses primarily on the self. At present, womens travel writing is intersecting new spatial hybridities that have not been crossed before. The genre of travel is still considered a suspect site of exclusionary practices in which masculinist ideology has dictated the formal and epistemological terms of the genre. The genre of self-help, however, is increasingly read as a female discursive practice that is more concerned with ontological questions of being. What we are seeing increasingly, however, is not a separation of the two, but a blending and stretching of the rules and conventions of both. The result of this fusion is the emergence of new kind of hybrid writing, which one academic from Park University calls, the middled-aged narrative (Wood 2006). The middle-aged travel narrative follows the traditional quest of the male hero who leaves home as a rite of passage, except the prototype of the protagonist has changed. The narrator is now a restless female who is writing at mature age and usually, in the midst or aftermath of an existential crisis. This crisis is often knotted in the restraints of domestic duty. Her narrative, which emphasises a desire for personal growth and balance, employs travel as the register for this self-realisation. She typically embarks on a travel adventure that is based on undermining the decisions she has made in the past, in an attempt to facilitate activism and change in the future (ibid). The obvious implication of this, as Wood explains, is that if gender is a performance which defines identity, then identity can be changed, or redefined by new performances that may or may not still have the same gendered meaning (2006, 4). On leaving home, for example, the female travel writer assumes two positions that have traditionally been cast as male roles-the traveller and the writer. While travelling, she may perform multiple roles in an attempt to resist the self that has been previously imposed upon her. In doing so, she attempts to develop an autonomous female identity, and then, to give voice to that process afterwards. In considering this trend, and its social and cultural implications, it is difficult to move past the recent global success of Elizabeth Gilberts travel memoir, Eat, Pray, Love. At the time of writing, the book has sold more than 8 million copies world-wide on a seemingly simple premise: One Womans Search for Everything in Italy, India and Indonesia (Gilbert 2006). The memoir, which spent 155 weeks on the number one spot of the New York Times bestseller list, found its success on the story of a once happily married woman, who reeling from a contentious divorce, takes off around the world in search of what Bitch magazine calls an international safari of self-actualization (2010, par 5). The work, which has been translated into thirty languages, has spawned multiple lines of Eat, Pray, Love merchandise, including goat pillows, prayer shawls (which retail at $350 dollars), a Republic of Tea blend, a digital reader which comes preloaded with the book, a collection of fragrances and a fas hion line by designer Sue Wong. The film adaptation, directed by Ryan Murphy and starring Julia Roberts, opened in August this year to mostly unfavourable reviews. The film also has its own official travel partners, namely Lonely Planet (who sell pre-planned Eat, Pray, Love travel packages) and STA Travel, who advertise various trips to the cities featured in the film. For high-end travellers, there are also invitations from more luxurious tour companies, such as Micato Safaris Inspiration Tour, which encourages Eat, Pray, Love pilgrims or true devotees, to trace Gilberts steps in India for just under $20 000. The memoir then, which has become a global business phenomenon as well as a tourist mecca, appeals to a readership that is just as interested in self as with other. In the opening chapters, the novels narrator, Liz, a professional American woman in her mid-thirties, begins to question the performative roles that have defined her. She tells the reader, I dont want to be married anymore. I dont want to live in this big house. I dont want to have a baby (Gilbert 2006, 10). She explains that she is tired of being the primary breadwinner, the housekeeper, the social coordinator, the dog-walker, the wife and the soon-to-be-mother (ibid, 11). Similar to Rita Golden-Gelmans travel narrative, Tales of a Female Nomad, Gilbert also opens with divorce (Wood 2006, 8). She writes, On September 9, 2001, I met with my husband face-to-face for the last time, not realizing that every future meeting would necessitate lawyers between us, to mediate. We had dinner in a restaurant. I tried to talk about our separation, but all we did was fight. He let me know that I was a liar and a traitor and that he hated me and would never speak to me again. Two mornings later I woke up after a troubled nights sleep to find that hijacked airplanes were crashing into the two tallest buildings of my city, as everything invincible that had once stood together now became a smoldering avalanche of ruin. I called my husband to make sure he was safe and we wept together over this disaster, but I did not go to him. During that week, when everyone in New York City dropped animosity in deference to the larger tragedy at hand, I still did not go back to my husband. Which is how we both knew it was very, very over (Gilbert 2006, 5). Newly single, though not for long, Gilbert brands herself as a woman on the brink of becoming a self-governing individual. She decides she would like a spiritual teacher and constructs a fantasy about what it would be like to have one. She writes, I imagined that this radiantly beautiful Indian woman would come to my apartment a few evenings a week and we would sit and drink tea and talk about divinity, and she would give me reading assignments and explain the significance of the strange sensations I was feeling during meditation (ibid, 7). From the outset then, Gilbert articulates a desire to use (or misuse) travel as the vehicle for what she believes is her search for spiritual fulfilment. She decides she will spend a year travelling in three countries and goes onto establish an explicit reason for visiting each-Italy (to explore the art of pleasure), India (to explore the art of devotion) and Indonesia (to learn the art of balancing both). It was only later, Gilbert writes, after admitting this dream, that I noticed the happy coincidence that all these countries began with the letter I (ibid, 10). In Gilberts case, this constant reference to the e/motional I is particularly telling of the preoccupations of New Age Travel. Increasingly, women are using travel to pose questions such as, Who am I? Why am I here? and What am I to believe? These questions not only reflect an absorbing feminist interest in questions of identity, but also highlight continued anxieties about a collective female experience, which Bitch Magazi ne describes as wealthy, whiney and white (2010, par 5). The hybrid text that arises is more concerned with a search for self than with a search for an authentic travel experience. That is, the travel writing is less preoccupied with what is seen than with who is doing the seeing. What we are finding repeatedly in the work of Western women travel writers, is a resurgence in the obsession with the self which has less interest in the other. At its worst, this kind of writing can be self-obsessive, self-important and self-serving, but at its best it can create a richness and intimacy which is lacking in more objective travel texts. The middle-aged travel narrative, in particular, focuses on travel as a metaphor for a spiritual journey. It is rarely, if ever, framed as an objective investigation into an unknown culture. As the travel that emerges then, is imagined rather than reported, and creative rather than journalistic, the inward looking eye becomes more important than the outward. The central problematic then, in many books sold as travel memoirs, is that they actually minimalise and even dilute the travels they seek to voice. In Eat, Pray, Love, this usually happens in one of two ways. Either the place Elizabeth Gilbert ventures to (for example, the Balinese village of Ubud) is romanticised as an exotic other, or it is reduced, in the case of Naples and Mumbai, to a backdrop in her personal dramas. As a result, the memoir pushes the boundaries between self-insight and self-preoccupation. The consequence of this pushing is that the female travel writer has come under close scrutiny and supervision. She is dismissed as a pulp producer, a pawn under industry pressures and an over-exuberant performer whose work emerges, in what Jonathan Raban calls, literatures red-light district (1987). The consequence of this surveillance for the travel memoir, is that its reception draws polar responses from the reading public. Since its debut, the novel has been accused of being self-absorbed and sexist, and even branded by the New York Post as narcissistic New Age reading, curated by [Oprah] Winfrey (Callahan 2007, par 13). According to Karlyn Crowley, in The Oprahfication of American Culture, Winfrey is a mainstream spokesperson for this kind of writing, as she marries the intimacy and individuality of the New Age movement with the adulation and power of a 700 Club-like ministry (2010, 35). In recent interviews with guests, Oprah announces to her audience, Live your best life! She promotes the message again on her website, in her magazine and during her book club. But according to some critics, much of Oprahs advice actually moves women away from political, economic, and emotional agency by promoting materialism and dependency masked as empowerment (Barnes-Brown and Sanders 2010, par 3). Much of the backlash against the book then, is tied up in what readers perceive as Gilberts own privilege, as well as annoyances they have with her everyday travel complaints and her preoccupation with sacrificing everything for David-a New York actor who she dates after divorcing her husband. On a trip to Bali, in which Gilbert is commissioned to write a story about Yoga vacations, she is invited to visit a ninth-generation medicine man. Gilbert, spends significant narrative time grappling over what she will ask him. She writes, Our Yoga teach had told us in advance that we could each bring one question or problem to the medicine man, and he would try to help us with our troubles. Id been thinking for days of what to ask him. My initial ideas were so lame. Will you make my husband give me a divorce? Will you make David be sexually attracted to me again? (Gilbert 2006, 9). Later, Gilbert admits, I was rightly ashamed of myself for these thoughts: who travels all the way around the world to meet an ancient medicine man in Indonesia, only to ask him to intercede in boy trouble? (ibid). Many readers (who obviously agreed with Gilbert on the matter) voiced their own complaints online. Who does this woman think she is? one blogger asks, Anyone should be so lucky to eat a pizza in Naples off their publishers pay check. If she thinks she has something to complain about, writes another, (under the alias Eat, Pray, Shove), then she should try raising a child alone. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gilbert told how she has stopped going online to read her reviews. All you end up doing is defending yourself to people who you dont know, she said. Two weeks later youre on a lovely walk in the woods with your dog and youre having an argument in your head with somebody from Amazon.com (Valby 2010, par 6). Perhaps the most gender-specific retaliation to Eat, Pray, Love is Andrew Gottliebs travel memoir, Drink, Play, [emailprotected]#k, which sold itself on the premise of One Mans Search for Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas and Thailand (Gottlieb 2008). In the book, Bob Sullivan, a jilted husband, embarks on a quest to find meaning amongst the glitz and glamour of Vegas, rediscover his passion for drinking in Ireland, and finally, to experience the hedonistic pleasure palaces of Thailand. As the blurb reads, After a life time of playing it safe, Mr. Sullivan finally follows his heart and lives out everyones deepest fantasies. For who among us hasnt dreamed of standing stark naked, head upturned, and mouth agape beneath a cascading torrent of Guinness Stout? What could be more exhilarating than losing every penny you have because Charlie Weiss went for a meaningless last-second field goal? And what sensate creature could ever doubt that the greatest pleasure known to man can be found in a leaky bamboo shack filled with glassy-eyed, bruised Asian hookers? Bob Sullivan has a lot to teach us about life. Lets just pray we have the wisdom to put aside our preoccupations and listen (ibid). Others, however, praise Eat, Pray, Love, as an everyday womans guide to balanced living. A shared message that many female readers seem to distil from the novel is that a woman should not have to apologise for writing a travel story that is primarily about herself. As one bloggers explains, Gilbert has written about what she feels is the most important and defining time of her life, and millions of women like me, have found it useful and stirring. Despite this sense of belonging, or collective appreciation, Gilbert constantly wonders throughout the novel, how she will fit into some sort of community after she returns from her travels. Much of Gilberts angst seems to originate from a sense of alienation from both herself and those around her. As her mother explains to her, You have to understand how little I was raised to expect that I deserved in life, honey. Remember-I come from a different time and place than you do (Gilbert 2006, 29). According to Wood, Gilbert then attempts to answer the difficult questions of her life with the knowledge that, unlike Cinderella, she can choose not to go the ball (2006, 11). It seems her struggle is, essentially, one of choice. In India, she finally finds a place for herself, not at a physical location, but in language-or more specifically, in the Sanskrit word antevasin which Gilbert translates as one who lives at the border (ibid, 70). She writes, When I read this description of the antevasin, I got so excited I gave a little bark of recognition. Thats my word, baby!Im just a slippery antevasin-betwixt and between-a student on the ever-shifting border near the wonderful, scary forest of the new (ibid). In a recent interview with the Borders Book Club, Gilbert also describes how many women have attempted to follow her journey, literally. Every once and a while, I get a letter from somebody who says, Okay, so I went to Italy, I found the gelataria where you ate that gelato and then I went to Naples and I found that pizzeria, and I had the pizza, and now I want to go to India. Can you tell me the name of your Ashram? (2010) This idea that happiness can be packaged through anothers travel experience is not without consequence. Should readers of Eat, Pray, Love fail, the genre holds them accountable for not being ready to get serious, not wanting it enough, or not putting themselves first (Barnes-Brown and Sanders 2010, par 7). Gilbert herself seems to acknowledge this, and affirm it, with a proclamation of what she calls The Physics of the Quest. If you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting (which can be anything from your house to your bitter old resentments) and set out on a truth-seeking journey (either externally or internally), and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared-most of all-to face (and forgive) some very difficult realities about yourselfthen the truth will not be withheld from you. Whether or not the book is the ultimate spiritual guide to balanced living or just self-serving junk, the central question that the memoir poses is perhaps more important than its reception. What is the requisite for being a female traveller and for telling a story that is focussed primarily, perhaps even extravagantly, on the self?

Essay on School Field Trips

Can teachers and students imagine all year in class without a chance at a hands-on experience? Field trips should continue throughout the remainder of the school year, because students can put skills into action, learning in new environments, and enhance the curriculum. The way students can put skills into action is by working together with classmates to achieve one goal. If field trips are abolished students that do not learn well in the classroom may lose interest in a particular subject. Field trips teach students that they can learn everywhere. To begin with, field trips are a great way for students to put skills they learn in the classroom into action. There are three different types of different methods of learning, including visual, auditory, and tactile. By taking field trips away tactile learners would not learn as well as the visual and auditory. Tests and classroom education may not work so great for some children, field trips put every student at the same level. The learning is experience rather than taught. Additionally, learning in new environments can provide challenges for more individualize learning. During field trips students can learn as much information as they want to, but in the classroom restrictions apply because of the different learning styles. Field trips expose students to new experiences which may lead to new interest or talents. This can be helpful to the students in the long run because they have seen what they like and enjoy doing; therefore they can get an education and pursue that interest. Above all, field trips enhance the curriculum for the students. The students, by field trips, are aware that they can learn from anywhere and everywhere on earth. Field trips are simple tasks, but they teach students so many useable things in life that are needed in the future workplaces. Some of these things include: problem solving, analytical thinking, theory making, and critical thinking skills. These skills will stick with them for the rest of their life, but if students do not get to go on field trips no skills will be experienced. In conclusion, field trips are expensive, however if we want our students to experience skills that will stick with them we must continue to go on educational field trips. Financial restrictions are a burden to the school system even if the admission is free. Gas, bus driver, and food is what pushes the cost up. Money is not everything in life when it comes to education we must put everything else aside and put students first. That’s why our school does not need to cut field trips for the remainder of the year, because it puts our skills into action, lets students learn in new environments, and enhances the curriculum. While books can teach and computers can instruct, but they do compare to hands-on experience.

The Heroes Of The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ever since we started this thing we like to call school or learning we have been shown countless oddities through history. Everything from writers like Homer, strong hearted warriors with their kings and queens, all the way up the the Parthenon where they can all stand together equal. They had pride and love for their people and their land. We have also learned that today things are much different. We do not have the strive for life and knowledge the way we used to and things are not necessarily the most equal. Our hearts are chained in the cave and our pride is lost in the clouds. When it comes down to it nowadays we fight over the pettiest things. We have all this greed, people fighting over who is more fashionable. We are too exposed and distracted by stuff that honestly does not matter and probably never will. If we take Achilles for example, he is the strongest warrior to live in the Achaean army. His pride so great he does not even want to fight. People say he is too prideful and that is what killed him in the end. â€Å"A man dies still if he has done nothing.† Achilles really took this to heart or should I say the heel... A man who fights not for his people but his love and pays the ultimate price. When his mom brought up his past of when he was young being dipped into the river Styx, he knew he was hamartia from the begging. This is how Homer got his point across in the Iliad. In the society we live in we live our lives day by day working our routine by waking up,Show MoreRelatedThe Tragic Heroes Of The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald2344 Words   |  10 PagesComparative Essay: Exceptional Heroes Victorious living does not mean perfect living in the sense of living without flaw, but it does mean adequate living, and that can be consistent with many mistakes (Jones). Usually a story of one hero whose story is one filled with suffering, calamity and disaster eventually ends in death. The hero posses a hamartia which leads them to make fatal mistakes. Both Macbeth and Gatsby are portrayed as tragic heroes in their respected text. Both characters are similarRead MoreThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald930 Words   |  4 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald is mostly known for his images of young, rich, immoral individuals pursuing the American Dream of the 1920’s (Mangum). This image is best portrayed in his greatest novel, The Great Gatsby, alongside his principal themes, â€Å"lost hope, the corruption of innocence by money, and the impossibility of recapturing the past† (Witkoski). Fitzgerald was identified as a modern period writer because his themes and topics were in consistent with traditional writing (Rahn). The modern periodRead MoreLost Generation By F. Scott Fitzgerald1396 Words   |  6 PagesModernism. Modernism Literature reached its peak in America from the 1920s to the 1940s. F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most prominent representatives of this genre and entered Modernism in the United States above all as the first exponent of his ideas. In the works of Fitzgerald the topic â€Å"Lost generation† is in disastrous pursuit of wealth that swept the young post-war America. The fact that Fitzgerald wrote about rich people and their lives is almost always present critical and sober lookRead MoreEssay on Jay Gatsby: A Tragic Hero1084 Words   |  5 Pagesdisproportionate to his crime (Aristotle). In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully creates main character Jay Gatsby as such a figure. By molding his protagonist in the shadows of such a literary icon, Fitzgerald’s hopes of introducing the classic American novel to the public are realized. Through analysis of the novel, the claim that Jay Gatsby was created as a tragic hero is irrefutable. Before the reader even considers a probe at the novel’s binding, Gatsby is firmly solidified in his or herRead More F. Scott Fitzgerald’s All the Sad Young Men Essay1271 Words   |  6 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald’s All the Sad Young Men F. Scott Fitzgerald’s All the Sad Young Men was his sixth book. The work was composed of nine short stories that had been published in magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post over the course of the previous year. The work was Fitzgerald’s third short story collection and followed the Great Gatsby in publication on the 26th of February 1926. To most, this book signaled Fitzgerald’s staying power as many of his seniors had believed that his initialRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgerald Research Paper1504 Words   |  7 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald is in many ways one of the most notable writers of the twentieth century. His prodigious literary voice and style provides remarkable insight into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, as well as himself. Exploring themes such as disillusionment, coming of age, and the corruption of the American Dream, Fitzgerald based most of his subject matter on his own despicable, tragic life experiences. Although he was thought to be t he trumpeter of the Jazz Age, he never directly identifiedRead MoreThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald821 Words   |  3 Pages The Great Gatsby Rough Draft The Japanese ideology of Kiazen is the idea of continuous improvement and change for the best. This idea is a Japanese idea that found its way into the Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby and is more than just the simple Japanese idea. It is the ‘Americanized version of the concept where the characters in The Great Gatsby seek out their American dream but the as they grow closer to achieving the goal, the goal eludes them and their Dream changes. The Great GatsbyRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay1195 Words   |  5 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel belongs to those that are particularly important for the American society as it reveals all the depraved sides of it. When the idea of the book came to him, Fitzgerald wanted to create something simple but at the same time deep and commonly important. And he succeeded with his goal. He created a masterpiece that is easy to read and perceive and that has already been filmed for four times and wou ld probably be attractive as a field for creativity for future generationsRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby1160 Words   |  5 Pagesopportunities, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby portrays the unattainability of this dream through the fantasies of Jay Gatsby’s character as well as the underlying judgmental tones of society. Gatsby portrays the unattainability of the American Dream through his love for Daisy. As shown in Novels for Students, â€Å"[Daisy] becomes the embodiment of the American Dream for [Gatsby] instantly†(Telgen 70). Gatsby has held onto his fascination of Daisy, which began five years earlier. Gatsby achieved everythingRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald2390 Words   |  10 Pages Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is an American short story writer and novelist who lived in the period between 24th September 1994 to 21st December 1940; his works are considered to be the paradigmatic compositions of the Jazz Age. He is a well-known member of the â€Å"Lost Generation† of the 20th century. During his life, he completed a total of four novels; Beautiful and Damned, This Side of Paradise, Tender Is the Night and The Great Gatsby (the most popular of all his stories)

Case Analysis of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1940 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Case Analysis of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Current Situation- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, a prime bank in UAE, launched in 1985 with limited liabilities and public share holdings, came into operation at UAE. Abu Dhabi Commercial bank had booked a net profit of AED 4201 million in the year 2014.The representation ADCB in London had been made on January 20th, 2015 by launching representative office. ADCB had celebrated 2nd EMSA GRAND PRIZE of 1 million AED won by Saleh Al Samali, one of the fortunate savings account holder. ADCB and Abu Dhabi terminals signed finance agreement for Landmark Abu Dhabi development at Khalifa Port on 4th January, 2015. ADCB contributed AED 245,000 In March 2015 to environmental efforts of Emirates Wildlife Society to support the movement with constant endeavor from past till date. Issue- The normal issue faced by any bank or financial institution is the emerging bad or doubtful debts. The loan given to an individual or any organization fro m the bank is sanctioned upon the credential of the borrower. Apparent observations with track record of the borrower are the main criteria for issuing the loan. If the borrower fails to get return from the investment done by bank loan, the situation of bad or doubtful debts occurs. In the terminology of finance it is named as Non Performing Assets or NPA. The more the NPA of the bank or financial organization, the more profits shrinkage is faced by the bank. The quantum of NPA directly affects the position of the bank. In the process, the share valuation in the stock market goes down. The stake holders are directly affected with this because of the lesser dividend or no dividend declaration demoralizes the share holders. The issue of NPA in case of ADCB had been critical in the last years, but the system of bad debts write off in case of investment properties now decreases had made the bottom line of NPA looked healthier when it reaches to Dh 2.08 billion with 27.1 % to total debts . Since the situation of debt crisis broke in Dubai financial market, there were constraints barring the banks to issue fresh loan. Anyway, the slow recovery of bad debts took place, which was always the sign of relief for the bankers. Mission- The mission of ADCB, is normal for any banking sector organization. They are more eager to put emphasis on the customer- bank relationship. Bank normally falls under service industry. So the approach of the bank to an individual associated with them should be customized as per the needs of the client. With the catalogue of different type of services – whether it is loan or deposit account, the service is required for keeping the customer updated with the features, the advantages and disadvantages of the respective subject. There should not be any hidden factors been disclosed to the customers during briefing the customer about any product. Moreover, the bank has to invent more innovative products for the customers as per their needs . The products should be tailored and framed in such a manner that the priority of customer needs will get first priority. The banking industry has to frame its products as per the guidelines framed by the Finance Ministry of the country. As in case of ADCB, the Shari’ah compliant guideline is maintained to follow the financial guideline to be followed by the Islamic run governments. This guideline restricts them to offer products which are available in other banks of world. Irrespective of this limitation, ADCB strives hard to provide upgraded and updated standard of banking service to the doorstep of the customers. Objectives- Launched in the year 1985, ADCB had already crossed a long and successful run of 30 years. The tag line Long Live Ambition clearly depicted their objectives. The launching of products, the making of a strong and loyal customer base, the customization of the products, and providing constant flawless service were the basic objectives of ADCB. In addi tion , they have constant endeavor to introduce new products properly framed after rigorous exercise of the applicability of the product make them a landmark company in banking sector at UAE. The main or focused objectives of ADCB is to serve customers and to meet the objective, they have come up with different products of banking and other areas of financial activities.including issuance of different bonds. For business and personal banking, ADCB offers some structured products which are conventional and customized with pre package products those are linked to securities, commodities, options, indices, fixed income enabling the customers to get high yield of returns with the value addition of effective portfolio diversification. The ultimate objective now fixed is to achieve the optimum level of business by ensuring the customer satisfaction at its highest standard. Pest Analysis :- Political- To find out the political analysis of ADCB, first we have to understand the status of the bank as per proprietorship. ADCB is a bank formed in the year 1985, with the status of public shareholding with limited liability. The main owner is the government of Abu Dhabi with its 65% stake holding through Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. ADCB is one of the largest company as per the conditions of share holding and capitalization of market. As government is the main stake holder, the regular business activities are governed by the government and as the big brother of the investors, the government has to ensure security factor of the investors and the customers. As the political condition of UAE is not volatile ,the stability related to political aspect is comfortable for smooth functioning of ADCB. Economical – The economic condition of ADCB is strong, as per the records and statistics. The economic condition of any bank can be judged by the capital management of the bank. The Central Bank of UAE controls the economic area of ADCB. They have fixed guidelines de picting the maintenance of capital adequacy and the use of regulatory capital are mandatory techniques to monitor the economic performance of the bank. The benchmark fixed by Central bank of UAE and Basel committee set the ratio of total regulatory capital to risk weighted deposit as 12%. The performance of ADCB so far capital adequacy ratio is concerned showed remarkable achievement of 22.51% in 2011 and 23.05% in 2012 which shows the healthy condition of ADCB. Their profit booking of 2013 and 2014 of 3620 million AED and 4201 million AED also supports the comfortable economic condition of the bank. Social- The role of ADCB in respect of social responsibilities are concerned, are well attended to. There are so many social activities taken care by ADCB out of which are mentioned herewith- a) The waiver scheme of debt settlement as per the MOU with UAE Nationals defaulted Debt Settlement Fund in 2012, the bank had waived AED 22.7 million for 184 UAE nationals, b) launching of â₠¬Å"ADCB The Tree of Hope† charitable program for awareness of breast cancer and sponsorship of the fourth pink polo charity match for the same purpose, c) donations made to Latifa Hospital and on behalf of Emirates Millionaire Savings Account (EMSA) customers to Zakat fund, d) partnership with Emirates Wild Life Society in collabortaion with WWF to raise awareness. These activities surely depicts that ADCB is well aware of their social responsibilities and never ignored that, instead reverted with positive manner. Technology- The technology used for execution of normal activities of ADCB is Newgen Technologies backed by Data Direct team. They are pioneer of launching sms banking, mobile banking etc.in UAE which are the need of banking business of 21st Century. A good technology backed by a competent team enable them to render service in effective manner. External Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces:- Barriers to entry- ADCB is backed by the UAE government and contro lled by the Central Bank of UAE. Hence the security part related to barriers to entry is well secured with the existence, the construction, the licensing part and the confirmation of required Capital with Capita Adequacy ratio well above the guide line set by Basel Committee and the Central Bank of UAE. The bargaining power of suppliers- In the case of ADCB, the suppliers are not conventional like manufacturing units. In banking sector, the biggest supplier are the service provider of technology, who normally enters in a long term agreement for providing the service and solution with trouble shooting so the question of bargaining power of suppliers are minimized. The bargaining power of buyers- The products , before the launching in the market, are well analyzed keeping in mind of the needs of the buyer, and to ensure their need is to be given the first preference within the limit of flexibility allowed by the authorities. Hence the bargaining power of buyers are also minimize d. Competitive rivalry- Due to its construction and structure, ADCB is ranked as third of the banks of UAE. There is no such big threat for their existence and the rivalry is not so because of their own solid system of implementation and execution. The threat of substitution- As its not marketing any consumable goods, the treat of substitution may not arise, because the substitution will not arise . Opportunities- With the introduction of new branches abroad and the new products in the forms of bonds launched in the market, ADCB has ample opportunity to grow more with the basic keeping strict, as ever. Threat- the only threat to ADCB is the volatile situation of the political scenario of UAE, apart from that there is no such threat. Overall evaluation of the external environment- As per the past data, the recent activities and the analysis of different factors, it is evident that the condition of ADCB is stable and well guarded by the pre conditions set by the authori ties . Internal analysis:- Organizational strategy- The organizational structure of ADCB shows the proper alignment of delegation of authority in every level and the strategy of maintaining the same will be the best option. The pyramid contains Board of Directors at the top, keeping Internal Audit, CEO and legal and board secretariats in the second tier and the last tier contains different departments of banking service- is the most ideal hierarchy pyramid for ADCB. Value chain analysis- With the mission to striver harder for achieving the optimal goal, ADCB started their ‘Towards Excellence’ journey in 2012 which, with the power of constant effort to support the goal of the clients their perfect value chain with human resources and technology works relentlessly. Strengths- ADCB has the best condition of ownership with government holding as 65% and the guideline framed by the authorities made them the strongest of the banks of UAE. Weakness- The deficienc y of internal capital generation and the regulators decision to make higher provision for bad debts may weaken the health of ADCB. Market Share- ADCB is placed comfortably in third place behind Emirates NBD Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Overall evaluation of internal environment- ADCB , with its perfect position placed third in the UAE banking sector is placed comfortably in the stage from where they can have a flying start heading for mission’ Towards Excellence’ in 2015. Key success factors- The foundation of ADCB supported by strong base of strategies and the policies taken by the management with the committed human resources are the key success factors. Alternatives :- Criteria Matrix to evaluate alternatives- The evaluation of alternatives as per criteria matrix shows the feasibility as ok for status quo maintained. Recommendations- Action Plan- The provision for NPA should be logically implemented to avoid the loss of capital, which is the only gray area of operation for ADCB. Contingency Plan- As per the high quality analytics and forecasting inclusive of proposal of Basel 3 committee recommendations, the provision for contingency funding plan had been implemented since 2009. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Case Analysis of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank" essay for you Create order