Working Capital and Financial Environment Case Study

Working Capital and Financial Environment - Case Study Example in this case, the most important elements in the environment are the other actors involved either directly or indirectly with a production process. In assessing the internal environment, the professionals try to identify all the relevant actors paying attention to stated goals and strategies. Abbott and Merck requires huge financial resources on research and development and financial internal control helps to evaluate and analyze financial situation and investments risks. In 2006, Abbott has $24.11 billion revenue while Merck has $23.34 billion. Merck operating margin is 24.48% while in Abbott operating margin is 17.84% (Abbott Laboratories 2007; Merck and Co. 2007). Internal control suggests that all activities are reasonably under control from the perspective of costs. Cost variances can be controlled by establishing a good change control process and sticking to it. First, all requests for changes are documented. The requests describe the impact of the change on costs, the schedule , the technical integrity of the deliverable, and other work being carried out. Once they are properly formulated, they are reviewed by a panel of players who are charged with overseeing progress on the activities.

Planning and the Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Planning and the Law - Essay Example From the research it can be comprehended that development of architectural planning and legal control on building construction in England has a long history which dates back to around 1180s. This history has generated accounts of interest for building enthusiasts. The legal control on building construction began in the English capital London which was densely populated. The buildings in the city were densely packed creating so many problems in the city and could only be solved communally. Houses could be built with thin party walls and poorly sited privies as well as gutters which could cause nuisances to the neighbors. In addition, there were complaints from the residents that one house could block light from the other. For this reasons, the authorities decided to set up building regulations that could give guidelines on building construction this was as early as 1189. During this medieval time, the greatest risk was fire outbreaks. In 1212, there was a devastating fire which huge d estruction in the city, the mayor of the city could regularly received complaints about building nuisance by one neighbor against the other. The problem of country and town planning in England worsened during the profound revolution which the country went through during the nineteenth century. The revolution in England brought about enormous growth of the country’s population especially in the urban centers.... The influx of people in the industrial town was partly as a result of the decline in agricultural activities in the countryside especially after 1850. At the begging, the conditions around the newly founded industrial towns were very appealing. For this reason, houses as well as industries drastically sprung up and were built side by side and no efforts were made for purposes of zoning or planning so to speak. People had to live within their places of work and thus they build their houses around the industries. Worse still, nobody seemed to care about the standards of building construction or even sanitation of the area. The haphazard construction of the houses and industries encouraged the spread of various diseases causing devastating outbreaks of typhoid and cholera in the industrial towns. Following the cholera epidemics that lead to loss of many lives, several commissions were formed to inquire on the causes and to give possible recommendation. Several reports were published suc h as the report by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1838and the Royal commission on the Health of Towns in 1842. These publication and other led to the enactment of a couple of legislations by parliament related to building construction in the country. Even though these Acts covered limited scope, as well as effects, they were significant in laying the basis of enduring legislative restrictions on the freedom of those who owned land to construct buildings as the deemed fit. A General Board of Health was established under the Public Health Act of 1848. This board was charged with the responsibility of ensuring that both the existing and new buildings provided

Media assignment - Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Media assignment Of Mice and Men Essay Task: compare the opening sections of the two films versions of Of Mice and Men the 1939 black and white film starring Lon Chaney Junior and Burgess Meredith, and the 1981 colour version starring Randy Quaid and Robert Blake. You should look at the sections from the beginning of each film to the point where in each one Lennie says, Im shutting up, on the night before they go down to the ranch. The 1939 version starts off with George and Lennie running away from a group of angry men. Both sets of people are running on foot, this is different in the 1981 film because the pursuers are on horseback. The 1939 film is obviously shot in a studio because the back projection is easy to make out, also there is no sense of distance between the chasers and the chased because they are never seen in the same shot because the studio is not big enough to have a long shot so all of the shots are close-ups. However the 1981 film it is shot outdoors and the pursuers are on horseback in the 1981 film to make it more exciting and to shorten the odds on George and Lennies escape. Having horses would be impossible in the 1939 film because it is shot in the studio and it would have been very hard for them to shoot a chase with horses in. There is a very different use of music in the opening sections, in the 1939 film there is little use of music and it does not change during the chase however the 1981 film uses music very obviously to make the viewing more pleasurable. Whenever George and Lennie are on shot the music is all jumpy as if the characters are being chased (which they are!) this gets the viewers attention up and helps them to feel part of the chase. Whenever the chasers are on screen there is bad-guy music and this shows the viewer that they are the bad-guys and George and Lennie are the good guys. This is a very simple technique to use but the 1939 film does not even need to. The only technique it uses is it has a very peaceful scene with some rabbits at and this peacefulness is broken up by the thrill of the chase. There is a big contrast here and it is designed to take the viewer surprise and keep them interested. This is significant and symbolic because George and Lennie are peaceful and all of their plans are made and then they are destroyed as if horses have trampled on them. There are also clouds that are seen usually at the start of a storm and this could signify the start of the storm for George and Lennie. The 1981 film was made for television, to keep the viewer interested they have the credits over the top of the action and because of this the credits are done with just text over the picture, they are presented very simply and this is because it is faster to do it this way so that it takes up less of the film and it can be done over the action without ruining that action. In the 1939 film it was one of the first films ever to have action before the credits. This meant that they took time over the credits because they were actually in the middle of a scene. An extract from the poem that the book and therefore the film are connected to is written of the side of the train carriage as if it has been written there. Then the writers name comes up in what looks like a handwritten font to look like a signature. The 1939 film mentions the poem by Robert Burns, which goes: The best-laid plans o mice an men Gang aft a-gley, An leae us nought but grief an pain For promised joy. This is significant because the film is about plans made by George and Lennie which seem to be god and nothing could go wrong with them but something goes drastically wrong and leave George and Lennie with nought but grief an pain. The 1939 film does mention this however the book on which the film was based and the 1981 film do not. This could be because the 1939 film considers its viewers intelligent enough to understand and that they are at the cinema for a bit of culture however the 1981 film was made for television and so just for the action of it and it would not want to bore its viewers with poetry since most of the viewers will be watching for the action of the film rather than the significance of a link to a poem. The remaining credits are done skilfully and use the motion of the train and the objects that go past as wipes to change the credit picture so that it almost looks like they are actually written on the train. The way that the credits break up the action and are in b etween two sections of the film show us that time has elapsed and that the beginning was just setting the scene and the rest of the film is the main storyline. In the 1981 film there is a whole section with Aunt Clara that is not in the original film on which the later one is based. When George and Lennie are walking to Aunt Claras the music in the background is Red River Valley played on the mouth organ. This tells us a lot because the mouth organ was an instrument used a lot in old school western movies so tells us where and when this film is set. A more important point is that the song is about going home and that implies that Aunt Clara is home. At Aunt Claras we are shown by his actions what Lennie is like when he says, Ive been here before and Arent you going to eat your pie George? This is a comical thing to say and produced some laughs while we were watching it but also shows that Lennie acts like a small child in the things that he says and does. Lennie obviously hero-worships George when he repeats everything George says and he is shown to be not so bright when he calls his own Aunt maam. George moans to Aunt Clara and the words are nearly exactly the same as when he moans to Lennie in the woods later on in this film and in the same place in the 1939 film. This could show that George is bitter about having Lennie tagging along with hi but the fact that he uses the same words again means that it is rehearsed and the words do not come from the heart so he does not really mean them. This also sets the scene for us when George says, He aint no kin. This tells us that George and Lennie are not related. The writer feels that he might need this scene in the film because Aunt Clara is mentioned later on and the fact that the film is intended for television where you get people watching who are not paying a lot of attention means that actions and characters need explaining more thoroughly. This also explains the music and some of Lennies comments such as Ive been here before. George is presented a lot differently in the 1981 film than in the earlier version. The fact that George could even consider leaving Lennie would be impossible in the 1939 version. Even in the 1981 version George stutters when e tells Lennie to sit and wait as if he is not sure whether he should be doing it and that it is not planned. George then looks at Aunt Clara whose expression is impossible to read which tells us that she perhaps can understand why George would want to leave Lennie (backed up by her agreement to Georges moans earlier on) but does not think that he will go through with it (which he doesnt.) Lennie then fidgets and looks helpless when George gets a lift, George has always been around and is Lennies comfort blanket. Lennie has complete faith in George when he mutters, I know youre going to come back but this is heard when an image of George on the truck seen and this makes the viewer very doubtful to whether Lennie is right to place his faith in George. There is more use of music when George walks back after changing his mind. There is music playing when George walks back which suggests that time has passed and it is used so that it is not silent. The music stands still when George stands still and jumps when Lennie jumps and there is bad-guy music when the bad-guys are on and chasey music when Lennie has to run. This music is to try and get the viewer involved and to help them understand the film. This is a literalist use of music but is also a simple technique and it provides the viewer with a sense of excitement and involvement. The 1939 film does not use this technique at all. The following chase in the 1981 film is very similar to the original chase in the 1939 film and the later film could even start there and miss out anything before it if it wanted to be the same as the film that it was based upon. It is shot outside and the chasers are on horseback, they are running a different way and there are long shots indicating distances and George and Lennie lose them in a different way but simply George and Lennie are being chased and are almost caught but somehow they manage to get away. Both films then have George and Lennie travelling, in the 1939 film they are on the bus and in the 1981 film they are walking down the railway track. Both films suggest that they have travelled a long way, they fact that they are on the bus shows that it was too far to walk and on the railway track you can se for miles backwards and that implies that they have walked for miles from backwards. When George throws the stone at the advert in the 1939 film it is a very good shot to hit the face and this is not very good film making simply too good to be true. He throws the stone because there is an advert for the railway and by taking the bus they will have to walk for ten miles. The person on the advert is smiling a lot so this will irritate George because he will not be in the mood for smiling. Other examples of shots being done artificially include the huge amount of back-projection used in the 1939 film and the small amount used in 1981. The 1939 back projection includes: the original chase; jumping onto the train shown by the actors running on the spot and then stopping when they get on to the train and on the bus, first when sitting down and next when near the driver, shown by the phoney movement of the drivers arms on the wheel (there are fake bus noises when it stops, using brakes and then pulls away again.) The scene by the watering pond it is shot in a studio where again fake running water noises are used and fake bug noises that are supposed to be realistic but in the 1981 film it is shot outside in the real open air and there are no bug noises there because none have been added in. The only place where back-projection was obvious in the 1981 film was when George was sitting on the truck and behind him was back-projection, cleverly edited with long-shots that were real and real film when he got on and off. Back-projection was used a lot more in the earlier film because by 1981 it was possible to do a lot more filming outside because technology had improved. The 1981 film uses other techniques though. The choice of music is very important because the music nearly always has meaning, this can be as explained above or by the actual piece of music itself. Red River Valley is used again when George and Lennie are by the river and because it is a song about going home it suggests that George and Lennie are going t their new home, which will be the ranch. New World Symphony is used when George and Lennie are walking along after the visit to Aunt Claras and the second chase. New World Symphony is based on a song Going Home which is used at funerals, this could mean that George and Lennie are on a trip to take one of them (Lennie) home for good. All the music is played on the harmonica, which is a plaintive instrument that amplifies the point that the songs are making. The last scene by the river are almost word-for-word the same in both films. The second film is an adaptation on the first film so this is to be expected. Even the acting of the four men is very similar and the moving around is the same. This could be because the adaptors of the second film have liked the way the first film does this part of the production and could not think of a better way to do it so they did it in exactly the same way as the first film.

Leadership Styles Of Harley Davidson Management Essay

Leadership Styles Of Harley Davidson Management Essay Introduction: This case study is about Harley-Davidson a prestigious American Motorcycle manufacturer situated at Milwaukee U.S.A, with a full year 2009 revenue of $4.29 billion and income of $70.6 million from continuing operations. (Press release www.harley-davidson.com) This analysis has its focus on a brief history of H-D, which includes the manufacturing issues and the problems it had, the various strategic changes made by H-D in the manufacturing process to achieve its goals. The implementation of JIT and its effect on the plant and the product, the Supplier development, Supplier relationship and the efforts towards Supply Chain Management. It also includes the Risks, costs and benefits of Supplier development, the Key learning which we take away from the case study and lastly it concludes with the future trends in SCM. A brief History: In 1970s heavy weight motorcycle market was in the hands of H-D. The Corporate parent AMF wanted to take advantage of this market dominance by production of more bikes at a faster rate.In the process they lost the focus on Quality and Supply Chain Management. In 1974 the quality of the product was at its bottom. Harley-Davidson needed a desperate change to overcome these issues, in 1981, a group of local management was put together to rebuilt the company. Key theories, Strategic changes and Implementation at H-D: 1. Inventory, Inventory Turns and Cash Flow: A downfall in sales due to the quality problems increased their inventory level to $24 million. H-D worked on Inventory Management. Inventory Turns The number of times a company rolls over its inventory per year is defined as its Inventory Turns. Calculation: Most commonly used method is to divide the annual sales of the company per year by the average inventory level maintained per year. For example, if the average sales of a company is $2,000,000 per year and the average inventory maintained for a year is say $50,000 than the inventory turns for that particular company is 8 ( ref. Supply chain metrics.com) The increase in the Inventory Turns of a company, generates more free cash flow. Free cash flow is an asset, as it can be used for other advantages rather than blocking the money in Inventory Stock. (Ref.Marie Leone CFO.com, Supply chain metrics.com) At H-D an inventory turns of 4.5/year was increased up to a level of 28.Consequently the inventory came down to $4 million. 2. Shift of manufacturing strategy from Push to Pull and JIT: PUSH and PULL PUSH is the traditional style of manufacturing in which a product is manufactured irrespective of its demand. The process then Pushs to the next step. It may be the selling of the product. This leads to unnecessary inventory, over stock because the production goes on without the actual demand of the product. PULL is the lean style of manufacturing in which a product is manufactured on demand. If there is no demand, there would be no production. This saves money as unnecessary production is avoided. Lesser inventory is maintained because what is produced is consumed. The customer will PULL the product from the manufacturing facility.Manufacturing facility is in tune with the market dynamics. (Ref.leanmanufacturingconcepts.com) Lean Thinking is an articulation of the core principles behind the Toyota Production System (TPS), acknowledged to be the most efficient in the world today. (Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chain Management the LEAN approach David Taylor and David Brunt) Just in Time Manufacturing (JIT) Just in Time Manufacturing Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing is a Japanese management philosophy applied in manufacturing which involves having the right items of the right quality and quantity in the right place and at the right time. The proper use of JIT manufacturing has resulted in increases in quality, productivity and efficiency, improved communication and decreases in costs and wastes. Goals of JIT: Finding customer needs and responding to it: Production is tuned according to the customer demands. Cost effective quality standards: quality should and must be the topmost priority, but it should be cost effective. Work for a minimum wastes: Elimination of wastes which are of no use for the production. Trust development in relationships with the suppliers: Supplier relationship is of utmost importance specially in the case of single sourcing, it is a strength of company to have strong supplier relations, both in terms of materials, inventory and deliveries on time. Plant designing for utmost efficiency and easy manufacturing: Plant design must ease the production process with least labour involvement. It must ensure to use the full plant potential. Striving hard for improvements on a continual basis: This makes organization competitive and committed to the needs of the costumers, as customer demands are always volatile. (Ref.Just in Time Manufacturing, T.C.E Cheng and S Podolsky; Curtin University of Technology, Australia; Institute for Manufacturing University of Cambridge) Changes and Quality development at H-D: H-D shifted from PUSH (anticipating demand) to PULL (responding to orders). Set up times were reduced drastically, it made smaller life-size feasible.H-D moved towards Just in Time manufacturing and Supply Chain Management. It invested in group problem solving program, like Quality Circle and made a policy to respond to any of the problem issues within two weeks. Employee involvement at H-D made them even more commited.An Example: To me every transmission and engine bolted is going to my motorcycle, Doug Tearney, Final Inspector Harley-Davidson. Supplier Selection and Development: Supplier Selection: JIT emphasis on single sourcing.Single Sourcing is a sourcing strategy in which the company buying is dependant on a single company for almost all of the particular item or service. Suggestive qualitative aspects used for supplier evaluation: Design, development and process capacity. How capable the management is? Financial know-hows and structure of cost. Environmental Regulation Compliance. Longer-Term Relationship Potential. (Ref. Introduction to Operations and Supply Chain Management, Cecil C. Bozarth and Robert B. Handfield) Supplier development: Supplier development can be defined as any activity that a buyer undertakes to improve suppliers performance and/or capabilities to meet the buyers short-term, long-term supply needs. Or in other words, Supplier development can be loosely defined as the process of working collaboratively with suppliers to improve or expand their capabilities. (Ref. http://www.nist.gov/mep/manufacturers/supplier-development.cfm) A supplier development program must aim for improving the performance of a supplier; and helping them to get what they need to be successful in supply chain. Important functions of supplier development programs: Providing information about products, expected sales growth, etc. Suppliers need to become extensions of their customers. Training in the application of lean and quality tools. If suppliers had more information about the entire supply chain and had a true lean transformation underway, they would become more profitable and provide a better quality and lower-cost product, on-time. (Ref. http://lean-supply-chain.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-is-supplier-development.html) (Ref.Avoid the Pitfalls in Supplier Development Robert B. Handfield, Daniel R Krause, Thomas V .Scannell and Robert M. Monczka) Supplier Management at H-D: Supplier Optimization: H-D cuts its supplier base from 320 to 120 and established performance requirements. Suppliers must have MAN, JIT, Statistical Operator Control and Employee Involvement. Supplier problems and Solutions: H-D required JIT at Supplier end, but suppliers had problems with it as they deal with different types of customers. They ended up with Just in Time warehouses, which leads to quality problems. For JIT at supplier end, proper advance scheduling was given by H-D.Piston supplier KSG adapted to H-D requirements. It changed from producing to two months inventory, to producing as per the requirement. KSG did the entire process from bowing to packaging in just a space of 35ft with two-three operators, with unbelievable throughput time. Previously the same work was done with fifteen operators scattered all over the plant. Ultra Tool the metal stamping company, a supplier of H-D, had great success with MAN program. At Ultra tool for a number of operations on a part it required part movement. A cell was designed at Ultra Tool that reduces the part movement to just 10 feets.The parts were taken to a particular area in this cell and it included tooling as well. It made the process fairly quick. Commonality of purpose: Harley improved the processes at Ultra Tool; in return it had no price rise from this supplier for 3-4 years.(an example of mutual benefit to Customer and Supplier). Risks, cost and benefits of Supplier Development: Supplier development involves the cost which is incurred by the Customer company and no immideate returns are visible for it.This depend upon the need and the value of the product that the funds are allocated for the trainings and development of suppliers

A Comparison of the Weavers of Peace in Beowulf and Grendel :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Weavers of Peace in Beowulf and Grendel Queen Wealhtheow and Queen Hygd served as excellent role models for the courts in which they served. They exemplified the mannerisms and etiquette of the noble people. Queen Wealhtheow showed excellent poise from the very beginning of both texts. She was admirable as she passed the mead bowl around Heorot. The offering of the bowl was symbolic, being that the bowl was first given to Hrothgar and then passed to Beowulf, as if she presented him with her trust. Beowulf gave Wealhtheow his guarantee that he would be successful or die in battle. After she presented Hrothgar and Beowulf with the mead bowl she served the Scyldings, and did so as if they were her own people. She was not a Scylding, nor did she desire to be one, but she never made her unhappiness known, as described in Grendel. There is not great detail on Queen Hygd in Grendel, but from what the reader can gather from Beowulf, she is as much of a female role model as Queen Wealhtheow. She was young but very intelligent. In f act King Hygelac felt intimidated by Hygd’s intelligence. In both texts, Beowulf and Grendel, the main purpose of the Queens are to serve the courts as "weavers of peace.† In Grendel, however, Queen Wealththeow is described in much greater detail and serves a further purpose. The reader gains insight to a part Grendel that is not present in Beowulf, his desire for a human. For even though in Beowulf and Grendel, the main purpose of the queens is to serve the courts as â€Å"weavers of peace,† the queens also serve other purposes as role models, preservers of their kingdoms, emotional beings, mother figures and objects of beauty and lust. It was not unusual for women to be offered as tokens of peace within the noble courts. In the novel Grendel, Wealhtheow's brother, King of the Helmings, bestowed her to King Hrothgar to promote peace amongst the Helmings and Scyldings. "She had given, her life for those she loved. So would any simpering, eyelash batting female in her court, given the proper setup, the minimal conditions"(Grendel 102). It is ironic how she promoted peace from her arrival because she was an essential part in keeping peace, as the "weaver of peace" in both texts. Queen Wealhtheow however is not the only woman in the texts that was forsaken to encourage appeasement among feuding courts.

The Concluding Sentence Of The Book: What It Means :: essays research papers

The last sentence in the book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain reflects the tone and character of Huck, the main character. "But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before." (497) The language and grammar reflect the manner of an "unsivilized" stray child. Huck want to remain the way he is - wild and crude, wants to keep his jargon and his lifestyle, without the decency that Aunt Sally wants to impose on him. Huck is not only driven by the fear of being domesticated by Aunt Sally, but also by his love for freedom, the ability to love, and being a survivor. Huck is a child of the wild and feels displaced and uneasy in a decent atmosphere of a house of Aunt Sally or Miss Watson. He has never had a home, and the house of the widow Miss Watson is no cozier to him than the empty barrels he used to sleep in or the woods. He feels even worse in the house because he has to play by the foreign rules. He has to accept Christianity, has to follow a rigid etiquette at dinner, wear clothes that are too stiff and clean for him, and he is not supposed to smoke. "I went up to my room à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and tried to think of something cheerful, but it warn't no use. I felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead. The stars were shining, and the leaves were rustled in the woods ever so mournful; and I heard an owl, away off who-whooping about somebody that was dead." (219) Huck's own environment is the uncultivated wild.Huck is a roving character. Most of the time of the story Huck spends on the river on the raft with Jim. The raft on the river is their safe shelter, their only home. "I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. [Jim and Huck] said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft." (327) The character of Huck is like the river - flowing and forever changing.

Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough

Introduction:Take that part of the history, when the first interactions between the native Indians and the British settlers. Mostly, it began with the initial hesitation, mutual distrust, pitched battles ensued, lots of bloodshed resulted with loss of human lives on either side, the true and noble emotions of the human beings played their part, love episodes between the white man and black beauties happened. Did it help to smooth the relations between then tribes and the settlers, or worsened the situation resulting in more mistrust and bloodshed. Many constrains come in the path of writing the history of the sixteenth century and what really happened in Jamestown, in the absence of authentic historical records   as for the conditions and contributions of the native Indians. British historians have sidetracked many facts, according to Helen Rountree and she has tendered archeological evidences to prove her findings.The Lives Changed:Pocahontas is regarded as the most famous Native American who ever lived, hailed from the native tribes. But as documented by the historians, during the process of settlement of Jamestown and for two subsequent centuries, the great Tribal Chiefs, Powhatan and Opechancanough took the front seats. Pocahontas demanded lots of attention for different reasons. Opechancanough captured the British captain John Smith. To save his skin and perhaps his life from his unpredictable captor, John Smith came out with certain original ideas to impress his captors in that land of uncertainties for the early adventurous settlers.He gave his captor a compass, and told him the details about a spherical earth which revolved around the sun. He had apprehensions whether his captor was a cannibal in which case Smith’s life was in danger. That was a wrong assumption– he was no cannibal but he ‘knew’ that the earth was flat. John Smith was duly presented before the paramount chief Powhatan. The meeting had positive results as for John Smith. He got an opportunity to meet Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas. Thinking him to be a good individual and believing that he had a firm ally, he released Smith from captivity. Within the next few decades his people were the subjects of the British Crown.The 400th anniversary of Jamestown’s founding:Helen Rountree is a nationally renowned scholar of Native Americans. Historians could not get much of the events that shaped the lives of Powhatan or Opechancanough, but Rountree’s book fills up this lacuna.  Ã‚   Pocahontas steals the limelight as for the remarkable life that she lived. All the three historical figures have been adequately covered in the book. The initial introduction, the interaction period and the final confrontation between the natives with the English settlers have been taken into account. An interesting turn to the events of the era was the intriguing diplomacy following     the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. This personal event was against the social traditions then practiced by the tribal. During Opechancanough’s reign the native sovereignty came to an end.The essential difference between the writing and recordings of the British Historians and Helen Rountree:The book written from the ethno-historical angle, Rountree has utilized two important tools required for honestly constructing historical facts—anthropology and written records. The writers among the white settles did their own job. Their writings remained unchallenged, whether right or wrong, because there was not another writer, who could tell facts. By no account English can be termed as heroes. They were Tassantassas (strangers), squatters and invaders. The truth must be told, feels Rountree and she has constructed her recordings in an authentic manner on the basis of facts and evidences.When romance scores over history:History is an interesting subject; history with romance is very interesting. Historical fiction novels are good playing ground for the imaginative movies to sprout. For one thing, the historical characters lay quietly in their graves and they are not likely to challenge your version of their romance. John Smith, known in his day as a bad boy, would not have done anything good for the fifteen years young Princess Pocahonas, the daughter of Chief Powhatan. Did she play a role to save John Smith’s who was imprisoned by the Tribal Chief—can’t say but her contribution to lessen the tension between the colonists and the natives was noticeable and mentioned prominently by the historians. She married Jon Rolfe, a British nobleman. She learned to speak English. She adopted the Christian religion.She moved to London and became a lady. In the meantime, Powhatan tried and did his best for unity between the natives and colonists. He seemed to have succeeded for a while but later the conflicts resumed.The systematic and scientific approach to writing by Helen Rountree:Rountree wri tes without any prejudice, and calls spade a spade. She has termed the British settlers as invaders and rightly so. The book intensely covers the period from 1607 to 1644.She has highlighted three important points, a) Virginia Company’s settlement in Jamestown, b) deterioration of relations between colonists and natives and c) the wars of 1622 and 1644. She has given detailed description about the pre-invasion life of the tribes, highlighting the importance of  Ã‚   rituals in their life. She has mentioned the different lifestyles and environments, and shown how values were entirely different. The contents of the book give the overall picture of the founding of Jamestown from the Indian point of view.â€Å"Jamestown's founding approaches, nationally renowned scholar of Native Americans, Helen Rountree, provides in a single book the definitive biographies of these three important figures. In their lives we see the whole arc of Indian experience with the English settlers â⠂¬â€ from the wary initial encounters presided over by Powhatan, to the uneasy diplomacy characterized by the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, to the warfare and eventual loss of native sovereignty that came during Opechancanough's reign.† (Three†¦.)  Rountree, with her scholarly approach gives facts about seventeenth-century Powhatan culture. It is being appreciated by the scholars for the wealth of understanding it brings.   The lay readers like it for the personable prose and lively narrative structure. Her interpretations are backed up by careful, acceptable research-based reasoning and extensive knowledge.To get the truth, sieving the biased and none-sided approach of the British historians is a tough task and Rountree has managed her job well, despite hard constrains. Powhatan lacked a written language. She has relied upon evidence derived from archaeology. She has highlighted Powhatan’s own vocabulary of seasons linked to different forms of food g etting. One feels of getting the other side of the story—the real story! â€Å"In particular, the three main subjects of the book all begin to emerge—Powhatan and Openchancanough from their relative obscurity, and Pocahontas from the myths that have surrounded her since at least the nineteenth century. Just in time for 2007, they appear with all of the complexity of character and motivation that the history books have typically reserved for only a few of the â€Å"strangers† like John Smith.† (Virginia†¦.)Hollywood portrayals:â€Å"When Disney Studios released the 1995 movie, Pocahontas, Dr. Rountree subsequently devoted many interviews to debunking the myths surrounding the young girl who, today, plays such a pivotal role in the American imagination.† Recently Hollywood movie â€Å"The New World† is released. This movie is an adult version of the Pocahontas and John Smith romance.  Ã‚   The four hundredth anniversary of Jamestownâ₠¬â„¢s founding was inaugurated, May 2006, that will last for 18 months.Conclusion:Helen Rountree’s credits and achievements through this book can be summed up thus. She has thrown fresh light on the life and culture of the native Indians. One is able to understand Jamestown in a better perspective. The indigenous voices are heard. She has shown how important are the lives of Pocahonas, Powhatan and Openchancanough to understand what happened in and to Jamestown in the sixteenth century.References Cited:Rountree, Helan C. Book: Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown. Publisher: University of Virginia Press; Edition (June 15, 2006) ISBN-10: 0813925967: ISBN-13: 978-0813925967Article: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown. Target.comwww.target.com/gp/product/0813925967) Retrieved on 17th September 2007.Virginia Magazine of History and Biography: Article: Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown...www.vahistorical. org/publications/review_rountree.htm – 9k – Retrieved on 17th September 17, 2007