What Is Entrepreneurship free essay sample

The concept of entrepreneurship was first established in the 1700s and the meaning has evolved ever since. Many people simply define entrepreneurship as the practice of starting ones own business. However, most economists believe it is more than that. (par. 1) To some economists, the entrepreneur is one who is willing to bear the risk of a new venture if there is a significant chance for profit. Others emphasize the entrepreneurs role as an innovator who markets his or her innovation. Still other economists say that entrepreneurs respond to unsatisfied market demands by developing new goods or services. (par. 2) In the 20th century, economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) focused on how the entrepreneurs desire to innovate and improve creates change. Schumpeter viewed entrepreneurship as a force of creative destruction. The entrepreneur creates new combinations, and renders old industries obsolete. Basically, an entrepreneur destroys old and established ways of doing business by creating new and better ways to do them. We will write a custom essay sample on What Is Entrepreneurship? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page (par. 3) Business expert Peter Drucker (1909-2005) took this idea further, describing the entrepreneur as someone who actually searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. A quick look at changes in communications – from typewriters to personal computers to the Internet – illustrates how entrepreneurs can exploit change to create new businesses. (par. 4) Most economists today agree that entrepreneurship is a necessary ingredient for stimulating economic growth and employment opportunities in all societies. In the developing world, successful small businesses are the primary engines of job creation, income growth, and poverty reduction. Therefore, government support for entrepreneurship is a crucial strategy for economic development. (par. 5)

the hebrews essays

the hebrews essays The ancient Middle East and Mesopotamia was largely a multicultural society composed of small, often insignificant kingdoms that were regularly torn between the forces of powerful empires, from Babylon to Egypt to Greece to Rome. One of these small kingdoms through its religion, philosophy, and law became one of the most important cultures in Middle Eastern and Western history. The word Hebrew appears to have been derived from the world Hiberu, which was found in writing sent to Egypt by one of the small states that Egypt had left behind when it withdrew from Canaan in the 1300s BC. These states were distressed by the arrival of nomadic tribes that came in waves across generations. Hiberu meant outsider and probably referred to a great variety of migrants. Beginning as a closely-knit, war-like group of wandering tribes, this culture enjoyed for a short period, one of a histories greatest empires, but it soon fell into a small and feeble state. The Hebrews would surface as one of the most significant culture of the West and Middle East, giving us monotheism, law, and a new history for the west. For the first hundred years the Hebrews wandered and roamed the region of Mesopotamia, Palestine, and northern Egypt. From about 1950 BC to 1500 BC they rambled around the ancient Near East. Around 1500 BC they settled in the fertile land of northern Egypt called Goshen. It was here that these drifting tribes developed a national identity. Around 1200 BC the Hebrews, also called "The children of Israel left Egypt in an event called the Exodus. This historical event was lead by Moses. The Old Testament's Book of Exodus describes an unnamed pharaoh ordering the slaughter of all male Hebrew infants, and it describes a Hebrew woman trying to save her infant son, Moses, by putting him adrift on the Nile in a tiny boat of reeds caulked with tar pitch. Moses was credited with ...

Pathophysiology Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pathophysiology - Case Study Example As the discussion outlines the changes in cardiac enzyme levels include the elevated troponin I, elevated myoglobin, elevated CPK and cardiac troponin T. However, cardiac troponin T, and I are the most common marker of myocardial injuries due to their high specificities and sensitivities for diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. The most common pathophysiologic precipitating event s of ACS are plague rapture, hypertension, chest discomforts and pains that spreads to the left arm and lower jaws. The chest pains are usually associated with sweating and nausea. The other precipitating events can include anemia, acute thrombosis that is induced by rapture and an unstable angina. Bradycardias or excessive slow heart rate and tachycardias (excessive faster heart rate) may also precipitate the ACS. This study discusses that the rationale includes administering of reperfusion therapy either with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), thrombolytic therapy or bypass surgery in the failure of the two methods. However, pre-hospital thrombolysis (PHT) is more preferred than percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) due to the time factor. Consequently, all STEMI patients on COX-2 inhibitors except aspirin is to discontinue their use due to increased mortality risk, heart failure, hypertension, reinfarction and myocardial rupture related to their use. Additionally, IV Beta Blockers should be given during the first 24 hours. The use of morphine and nitroglycerin in managing ischemic chest pains is because morphine helps in reducing the discomfort as a pain reliever while nitroglycerin temporarily opens the arteries thus, enhancing the flow of blood to and from the heart.

Journal assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Journal - Assignment Example One of the significant things I have learnt is the importance of nurses joining professional organizations. I have learnt that organizations play a major role in addressing issues of nurses as well as influencing of health policy. Moreover, such body’s helps in addressing issues related to the society in terms of health. I have also realized that an individual cannot be able to further nursing goals as compared to a group. Hence, joining such entity can help in shaping and achieve nursing goals. On the other hand, I have noted that advocacy by nurse and such bodies are crucial in addressing the needs of the patients. This plays a significant role in the provision of quality care. Moreover, I have realized that various ethical issues arise as nurse work in various environments. Some of the ethical issues are likely to put one in a dilemma. Some of these issues may affect the performance of the nurse. As a result, one has to learn of various initiatives that can help address such challenges. The other important thing I have learnt is the influence advocacy. I have realized that advocacy can play a significant role in the transformation of the nursing profession, society health and individual nurse. The advocacy may help in highlighting some of the challenges ailing the health sector as well as influencing politicians to come up with favorable health policies as they use lobbyist. Additionally, I have realized how understaffing affects the health care outcomes. This is because the staffs may be overworked that may lead to poor concentration. Moreover, such nurses may be stressed and hence be not able to communicate with the patient efficiently. I believe more effort is needed to advance on professional Knowledge development and Communication. I need to undertake various initiatives so that to assume active responsibility for continuing to master these skills. One of the initiatives is to ensure that I have up to date knowledge on emerging

Marketing Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Marketing Research Paper - Essay Example Affordability and convenience to meet customer demands lie in the core mission of Kudler Fine Foods. The retail space of the shop of Kudler Fine Foods is quite spacious and stores fresh ingredients of domestic and imported food items. The company is thinking of new initiative to add to serving their customers needs in a far better way. Kudler Fine Foods is planning to undertake a catering service to meet the demands of their customers. Kudler Fine Foods after achieving significant growth in their gourmet grocery food section are planning to increase the cycle of purchasing activity, improve their operating efficiency and expand its services to more number of customers. Thus Kudler Fine Foods has been providing its customers with fresh and finest bakery products, meat, and cheese, dairy and also finest imported wines. The company wants to further target high-income customers who are not concerned about price but needs quality and uniqueness in the food products. As an initiative to th is objective, Kudler Fine Foods has opened a website which offers a list of grocery and food items available and also provides with the opportunity of e-commerce (Kudler Fine Foods, 2013). Recommended solutions with reasons Kudler Fine Foods after achieving considerable growth is focusing in expanding its services and at the same time increase its revenues with lower costs. There are several ways which can be recommended to fulfill the company’s objectives. The cost differentiation is not the only factor that draws customers to Kudler Fine Foods. On the other hand, their customers are more interested in receiving unique food product with freshness and also uniqueness in the service of the shop. Thus, it is recommended that that Kudler Fine Foods should focus at expanding their catering services to add to the convenience of their customers. As per marketing theory, the recommendations to Kudler Fine Foods can be broadly classified under adopting strategies for cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies. By cost leadership, Kudler Fine Foods will be able to produce food products which are cheapest in the industry. For this Kudler Fine Foods would have to develop alliances with companies that support their inventory management by transaction through computers. By adopting differentiation strategy, Kudler Fine Foods would be able to move ahead of its competitors by providing quality fresh foods and beverages to its customers. For this Kudler Fine Foods would have focus of proper maintenance of its storage and management of its inventory. Focus strategy can also be recommended for Kudler Fine Foods to identify their market segments or customers who can be targeted. Kudler Fine Foods can offer reward programs in order to draw the target customers and maintain their data in a database. Thus by studying the customer behavior pattern and bridging the gaps between the supply and demand, Kudler Fine Foods can plan for growth through alliance, innovation , internal efficiency and customer orientation. The other recommendations include holding cooking demonstration in their retail space, hiring a business manager for specialized

Consultancy Business Performance Management

Consultancy Business Performance Management Profile of Alpha Consultants Alpha Consultants is a Management and IT consultancy firm. It is a multi-disciplinary consultancy house, which offers services to both private and public sector organizations in a wide range of matters. Alpha Consultants offers knowledge innovation, brings in entrepreneurial drive, helps create bonds between clients and customers and helps organizations to achieve their goals with optimal efficiency. Alpha consultants have a resource pool of over 100 of experts available at their disposal. Depending on the requirement of the job and the expertise that are required for any particular project, services are acquired from the consultants from their resource pool. What makes Alpha consultants stand out from their competitors is the diverse skillset and background of their consultants. It allows the organization to step in a wider and a bigger market and do what others cannot. The professionals seated in the highest level at Alpha consultants bring multicultural experience, mainly in the field of development and health. This allows Alpha Consultants to pitch solid proposals for both public and private sector projects in the development and health sectors. However, over the years, Alpha Consultants has managed to hire consultants from all the various fields and sectors to make sure that they are able to cope with any challenges that a project has to offer. It adds more value and reliability to their profile, while also allowing them to aim at more diverse and new business opportunities. Moreover, Alpha Consultant is an IT firm which has been providing solutions to both private and public sector institutions. By IT, it is clear that there is a significant relation of computer oriented workforce. So, it is not difficult to categorize it as a service concern business organization. It is currently not having a larger span of services so it falls into the class of small and medium enterprises. The illustrative report will provide solutions and information related to management related functions along with other core operations of the consultancy house. Performance measurement is a set of tools to evaluate the performance of a firm. The services offered by Alpha Consultants include1: Research, Evaluation and Assessment Project Management, Design and Planning Strategy Analysis and Policy Reviews Institutional Development, Training and Organizational Management Advocacy IT Media Consultancy Vision Alpha consultants aims to become partner in knowledge based innovation with institutes that are looking to bring change to the world. Their vision is to make a name in service excellence with the help of their skilled and experienced consultants. Alpha consultants looks forward to become a name that is known to provide sustainable and innovative solutions and help their clients in capacity building, partnership building and organizational development. They want to become the bridge to fill in the gap between the clients and customers with a vision for both entrepreneurial and human development. 2[i] Every business has some certified Aims and objectives based on the strategy devised by the governing structure. Alpha Consultant as one a SME aims to extend the IT departments of their clients and provide multi-disciplinary services in the ICT spectrum. The technical facilities can be managed by IT Media Division with a mix of management services or it can deliver a full fledge built IT system to clients. The mixture of both will also be offered by the firm. Mission The fundamental purpose of the organization is to use their expertise and experience to help their clients achieve new milestones. Alpha consultants have highly professional, experienced and skilled experts in the field of Management, Development and IT. It is currently engaged with various NGOs and Public sector organization who are working in development sector in various less privileged and under developed areas. It has worked in various war and disaster struck areas for different national and international organizations. In the future, it aims to expand the target projects and aim to provide consultancy not just in development and health sector, but also in IT, Media, Education and other domains. It plans to move into more professional areas such as organization development and structural environment of organizations and work in more developed areas. Factors Affecting Business Performance Internal Innovation in the technology and the response of employees is considered of the most important factor affecting the business environment. In the case of this firm, which is in a way part of the growing IT industry it is necessary to give response to every change in the technology. The employees or the software engineers are not that much trained as the new technology comes and their expertise becomes outdated. External The political environment and the legislation of the authorities for IT activities have a great impact on management consultancy businesses. The licensing services and the tax structure changes rapidly whenever new technology is introduced that the business policies and strategy has to be changed. In the case of IT one of the most important factors is the availability of low cost substitutes being offered in the international market. Assessing the Situation – SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Extensive experience of the key personals in the assignment and their relations with officials in their major clients is the key strength of Alpha consultants. They have a broad range of clients and get various types of projects on regular basis. Alpha consultants has a wide set of expertise, the diverse resource pool allowing them to select experts from all various fields for any desired job. They have been known around the world and get large scale projects from international clients and get payments in international currency hence generating revenues and enhance profitability. The old presence of the company helps to gain the advantage of trust through which a good base of loyal customers can be maintained. About 64% of the customers of this SME are using it for supplies. This is a very strong feature of a firm. Company has got a strong financial position as there is no Debt to Equity ratios due to absence of Debt. The companys share is with 150 employees but they are serving their own company and they are connected with it (100, 2014). Weaknesses: Most consultants/experts are not employees, rather Alpha consultants has to hire freelance experts who work on contractual basis. Freelancer experts charge handsome amounts of fee and every time services are acquired, company has to search, track and negotiate with experts for each separate job. There are certain weaknesses as compared to other competing companies i.e. the concentration of the firm is divided into multiple segments under the name of Alpha Consultants. There are no separate services entities. Along with this the company is only targeting the local and the concentration towards internationalization is very less while other firms are going international or global. Considering the outreach the companies have got internationally now with the social media and search engine tools the competition has gotten very tough. Moreover, the handheld devices and smartphones influx have changed the dimension of IT industry on a massive level. Adapting to the changing needs of the market and new technologies has become very important for SME like Alpha Co and not being able to expand its outreach to international market has been a very major weakness. Opportunities: Due to their wide and diverse resource pool, they can handle all different sorts of projects and explore new work areas. Yet, Alpha consultants is associated with various NGOs and public sector organizations. Alpha consultants can use their IT and Media professionals to explore new IT grounds, provide services to Telecom giants and Entertainment industry. Also they can form collaboration with defense institutes to provide various services. As they get projects on usual basis, they need young talent as well as experienced staff. They provide employment opportunities to fresh graduates and experienced jobseekers to get benefit from their energetic minds and use them in project developments by providing economic salaries. Many of the IT firms from EU are now outsourcing the basic tasks to south Asian countries like India. This can be a good opportunity for Alpha Co to save costs along with efficiency in work. Another opportunity is to establish umbrella brands and other co-brands for different segment of IT services. Threats: The consultants who are not Alpha consultants’ employees but working only on contractual basis, get to interact with their clients and form bonds. These consultants not only gain experience under the banner of Alpha consultants, but if they decide to work alone, they can ruin these connections and the inside knowledge they have to offer competition. Freelancers will be working on organization projects; they may have access to the organizational internal details and may leak out this confidential information to others. If at some stage project accomplished by freelancer comes to the organization for feature addition or updations, the freelancer may not be available to complete that project or charge fee more than the budget. In that case, Alpha consultants has to hire a new freelance expert who will first have to understand all the previous work and this leads to wastage of time as well as money. There are multiple threats associated with IT business and SME sector. To make SME is not at all a difficult task. Most of the IT business and core operations are being performed in underdeveloped countries or the third world countries. The reason is that the cost is lessoned as compared to EU. So Alpha Consultants has threat of new entrants in the same field along with the cost determination in the current scenario of changing business environment. Overcoming Weaknesses There are different strategies to overcoming the weaknesses of SME like Alpha Co. The first solution is to outsource majorly activities for the development of infrastructure and software. Secondly, branding can prove to be a key of success. Human Resource system will be needed if the company is internationalized. According to the research the internationalization of the SME brings in 7% employment chances and gives growth to the firms. So for these methods and alternatives the evaluation is given in this report: Outsourcing: Most of the processes like development of the script of different software can be outsourced to other countries like India, where the IT infrastructure is cheap. In this way the company will be able to earn more profit by covering most of the cost incurred. The outsourcing technique will provide a contribution towards social welfare as the company will provide employment sources. Outsourcing for other activities will also help the company to attain the status of global organization. Branding: The services being offered separately can be considered as different brands like: Alpha Management Consultants Alpha Media Advocacy Consultants Alpha IT Consultants In this way different service segments will be considered as different service entities. These services will be provided under the umbrella of parent brand Alpha Consultancy. It will show the expansion of business in real as well as in imaginary terms. The co-branding technique will provide boost to the company. Compensation System: After going international, the company may develop some compensation systems to provide healthy incomes to the new employees from different companies. So that the motivation level of the employees may get higher and they may contribute towards innovation and development. Constraint and Restrictions There are many types of restriction mounted by the local authorities on small businesses. In the case of consultancy business, there are following restrictions: Registration The business or the SME should be registered under authorities with correct particulars. It should mention everything related to business and prove that is ethical business and there is no harm for environment. Authorization The SME should be authorized by the governing bodies of the country. The trademark should be registered and there should be acquisition of copyrights to run a Small Medium enterprise. This is very important that the name should be unique and in the case of IT, the processes should not be imitated from any other firm. Evaluation: The evaluation of small Medium Enterprise is necessary as the government of EU countries takes the working infrastructure of employees in account. The working of employees and the utilization of human resources are checked and evaluated by different authorities. Responsibilities and Liabilities of Owner Managers Owner In small and medium enterprises there are multiple roles associated with owner of the business. Owner is not only an investor, but is also responsible to make business strategy of the business. Conduct Financial analysis and arrange the finances if needed. Check the legal requirement of the firm along with some attention to the marketing and sales activities of the business. Managing human resource and customer feedback evaluation is also one of the liabilities of owners. In SMEs with more than one owner it is important to contribute in terms of time and finance equally in the business. Manager There are four basic management functions which should be performed by every type of manager. These four basic functions include: Planning Leading Controlling Organizing By planning it is meant to plan the routine and day to day activities in the business. In the case of Alpha Consultants it is necessary to plan activities which are the part of multiple projects on going. Some are the management consultancy projects while other is the IT services being offered different firms. The manager should ensure the good planning. Then the manager should lead the working team of employees in accordance with the policy and objectives of the business. As to provide the solutions for IT and management both, it is necessary for a manager to provide a controlled environment in which the activities are organized to deliver best quality in time. Such services can only be delivered when there is a proper control and innovation is appreciated through the leading role of a manager in business (Fincham, 2000). Finance There financial status of Alpha Consultant is one of the best in its kind. It is a debt free company. There is no incorporation and the proprietorship is sole. The companys profit is increasing gradually with time due to appropriate cost base with respect to other companies. Marketing and Sales The customer base of Alpha Co must be very strong as it has started from providing services only to customers and now it reselling the services to end users as well as public and private sector. Most of the customers were of public sector organizations. The company has increased its business portfolio by providing multiple solutions. These multiple solutions include Infrastructure, Microsoft, networking, optimized desktop, Asset Management and security. The other SMEs in this category are only limited to one type of services like only security or networking. Very less firms are giving asset management software oriented services (Eikebrokk, 2007). According to the secondary research given in the assignment, IT firm from UK or EU can easily internationalize on the basis of services provided online. In this way the firm can increase the profit and employment capacity. Human resources There are about 600 people in the SME. They are very energetic and like tradition strong innovation is demanded from the skilled workers of the firm. The detailed analysis provides the competitive advantage of Alpha Co on other similar firms. This advantage is that apart from passionate employees the preference is given to disciplined, flexible and diversified employees. In this way the firm stands at its best among other firms of same category. Use of Technology As this is an IT related firm and knows better to use the technology. The company is using the technology related to multiple fields at once. It has got many advantages along with the disadvantages. It is very difficult for a SME to provide core operations of different or multiple solutions. Especially in IT one business SME can only provide expert solution for one factor of the technology. There are other firms in the category which are having customer base and expertise only in one sector of the technology. Whether it’s the web, security or networking Alpha Consultants is giving multiple solutions which is the good point but customer can perceive a Jack of all trades and Master of None type stereotype. Developing Strategies, Goals and Objectives: Considering the weaknesses and threats faced by Alpha consultants, a number of recommendations can be suggested: Alpha consultants has a huge resource pool. It has professionals and experts in tens of sectors and fields. However, the key professionals inside the organization are development experts, so they key focus is on development projects. It strongly needs a separate department that will be dedicated to hunting new opportunities and finding new projects. That way Alpha consultants will be able to target various new projects and explore untouched domains. As discussed in the SWOT analysis, when Alpha consultants has to acquire freelance experts for various projects, it not only allows the consultants and experts to get access to company’s information, but also allows them to interact with their clients. These freelance professionals can exploit this information. However, if Alpha consultants hires more experts as their employees rather than outsourcing to freelance expert, it can gain a lot of advantage. We have been discussed that Alpha consultants has both the valuable experience and a valued name in development and health sector. It can use this name and use their profile to land in new opportunities. By entering new domains, it is expanding and at the same time giving the business a bigger name. The goal of Alpha consultants at the moment should be to gain multi-sector and multi-regional experience using its already established name in development sector. Areas such as Telecom giants, Defense organizations, Financial Institutions and Entrepreneurial start-ups are key areas of focused. Alpha consultants with their experience can provide assistance to all these clients, while also helping their inner growth. References 100, T., 2014. The Top 100 European Software Vendors: European Software Vendors Ranking 2013. [Online] Available at: http://www.truffle100.com/2013/ranking.php [Accessed February 2014]. Eikebrokk, T.R., 2007. Information and Management: An empirical investigation of competency factors affecting e-business success in European SMEs. Elsevier. Europa, 2012. SoftCat: A Case Study. Europa. Fincham, J.E., 2000. Basic Management Principles. University of Kansas, School pf Pharmacy. ISO, 2012. Quality Management Report. ISO Central Secretariat. Softcat, 2014. SoftCat: Our People. [Online] Available at: http://www.softcat.com/who-we-are/our-people [Accessed February 2014]. www.softcat.com, 2014. Softcat Limited. Terms and Conditions for Customers. [Online] SoftCat Available at: www.softcat.com/explorer/files/SoftcatTerms_Conditions.pdf‎ [Accessed 2014]. [i] Alpha Consultants (2013). Alpha Consultants, Expertise in Detail. Retrieved From: http://www.Alphaconsultants.com/Alpha/closerlook.html

Carmen and Gypsy Culture :: essays research papers

The fascination with exoticism was more and more prevalent within romantic compositions as there was an increased yearning for far off lands within the composer’s imagination. ‘Composers of such works were not terribly interested in authenticity; their primary concern was to create a picturesque atmosphere that would appeal to audiences.’(Machlis p.190) Bizet romanticized gypsy culture in his opera and through the character, ‘Carmen’. The libretto gives off ideas in relation to the emerging theme of ‘naturalism’, where much focus was given to the working class and their suffering. Carmen and the other gypsies don’t have that middle class virtue. ‘But they are seen against the exotic allure of Spain and Bizet’s music invests them with a human dignity.’ (Machlis192) In much of the art, music and literature of the 19th century the female gypsy, in particular was characterized and stereotyped as free-spirited, stron g, deviant, demanding, sexually arousing, alluring and dismissive. This romantic construct of the Gypsy woman may be viewed as completely opposite to the proper, controlled and chaste, submissive woman held as the Victorian, European ideal. These descriptions are likened to the characters of Carmen in contrast to Micaela. ‘Carmen’ is all about women, especially women with exotic qualities who challenge the traditional morale. The women in ‘Carmen’ are seen not as passive but as active players in the social game. Carmen forever sings about freedom and love with no limits. ‘The freedom to travel, the freedom to exist – Carmen fights for the right to live.’(Feminist endings) The oriental fascination with the forbidden and taboo world of the gypsy other in music is characterized by the spontaneous dance-like rhythms, melodies and orchestration. Carmen’s most famous aria, ‘Habanera’ in which she tells of her conception of love, is a borrowed Cuban dance form, from Havana exhibiting Spanish flounces and likened to the ‘Tango’ dance style. The duple metre slow dance, lined with graceful dotted rhythms involves a lot of body movement and expression, characteristic of the gypsy. ‘Seguidilla’ also demonstrates the importance of dance to the gypsy culture, set in a typical  ¾ rhythm and sung to a poetic verse form. The combination of guitar-like accompaniment, pizzicato on the strings laced with ornaments and triplets, gives the piece character and cheek, as Carmen taunts Don Jose to fall for her charms. The accelerating gypsy dance opening Act 2 uses dissonances and sliding harmonies, creating that colour and richness typical of the exotic influence. Carmen and Gypsy Culture :: essays research papers The fascination with exoticism was more and more prevalent within romantic compositions as there was an increased yearning for far off lands within the composer’s imagination. ‘Composers of such works were not terribly interested in authenticity; their primary concern was to create a picturesque atmosphere that would appeal to audiences.’(Machlis p.190) Bizet romanticized gypsy culture in his opera and through the character, ‘Carmen’. The libretto gives off ideas in relation to the emerging theme of ‘naturalism’, where much focus was given to the working class and their suffering. Carmen and the other gypsies don’t have that middle class virtue. ‘But they are seen against the exotic allure of Spain and Bizet’s music invests them with a human dignity.’ (Machlis192) In much of the art, music and literature of the 19th century the female gypsy, in particular was characterized and stereotyped as free-spirited, stron g, deviant, demanding, sexually arousing, alluring and dismissive. This romantic construct of the Gypsy woman may be viewed as completely opposite to the proper, controlled and chaste, submissive woman held as the Victorian, European ideal. These descriptions are likened to the characters of Carmen in contrast to Micaela. ‘Carmen’ is all about women, especially women with exotic qualities who challenge the traditional morale. The women in ‘Carmen’ are seen not as passive but as active players in the social game. Carmen forever sings about freedom and love with no limits. ‘The freedom to travel, the freedom to exist – Carmen fights for the right to live.’(Feminist endings) The oriental fascination with the forbidden and taboo world of the gypsy other in music is characterized by the spontaneous dance-like rhythms, melodies and orchestration. Carmen’s most famous aria, ‘Habanera’ in which she tells of her conception of love, is a borrowed Cuban dance form, from Havana exhibiting Spanish flounces and likened to the ‘Tango’ dance style. The duple metre slow dance, lined with graceful dotted rhythms involves a lot of body movement and expression, characteristic of the gypsy. ‘Seguidilla’ also demonstrates the importance of dance to the gypsy culture, set in a typical  ¾ rhythm and sung to a poetic verse form. The combination of guitar-like accompaniment, pizzicato on the strings laced with ornaments and triplets, gives the piece character and cheek, as Carmen taunts Don Jose to fall for her charms. The accelerating gypsy dance opening Act 2 uses dissonances and sliding harmonies, creating that colour and richness typical of the exotic influence.