Glenmark Pharma Private Limited

Glenmark Pharma Private Limited Case Study Introduction * The company is headquartered in Baroda. * Mr. Ranjit Deshmukh holds the position of the Vice President. * Plants set up in Tamilnadu, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. * Markets bulk and cancer drugs and formulations. * Strong sales force of 700 people, supervised by 85 sales managers. * Salespeople have to compete with multiple competitors in different markets. * Competitors are from local manufacturers to large multinationals. Factors affecting sales effort * Sales effort is largely affected by the personal attitude of sales force towards the organization, job and the profession. In pharma sector, success largely depends on the growth in market share. * A negative attitude is more detrimental to the organization rather than to the individual. * Moreover it leads to low morale- this creates more problems to the organizations and also to the sales managers.Results of low motivation level * Such salespeople are mere order takers. * They d o not think creatively to increase sales. * They have a tendency to blame the marketing programme for poor sales. * They will never accept the lack of effort on their part. * They talk against the company. * They hardly give confidence to customers on the company’s products. Become argumentative with supervisors. * Also start giving credit to the competitor’s firm for their own sales failure. * Highlight the products of the competitor as being far better than that of their firm. * Complain that the salary paid to them is low. * Sales expenses are lower than other companies and it is restricting them from their goal achievement. * Some of them even quit the company and join other firms in the same sector.Problem Identification * Sales policy was altered considerably by the time product reaches to the customer level. * Sales people were not able to give their best to the company. People felt that there is something rotten happening in the field. * There was something tha t was grossly wrong with the sales staff. Means to identify the problems * Conducting a formal study to identify the problems of the sales staff. * They agreed upon hiring an independent consultant who can really talk to the salespeople to identify the problem. * They prepared a questionnaire containing 115 items covering 26 attitude areas. * Respondents had to give their opinion on a five point agreement scale. To make any remedial plan it is very essential to know what went wrong. 1.Issues related to security- I. Not a satisfactory compensation package. II. Fear from competitors. III. Inferiority Complex. IV. Below average attitude towards the company. 2. Issues related to achievement- I. No recognition or rewards for path breaking ideas II. No response on suggestions 3. Issues related to approval- I. Low status of job II. No rewards or recognition from higher management. III. 4. Issues related to advancement- I. No plan for growth or advancement from company’s side. II. In sufficient salary structure- lower than industry average. 5. Issues related to leadership- I.Dissatisfactory leadership. II. Failure of middle management to lead the salespeople and to give creative ideas. III. Higher management doesn’t want to listen to the problems of salespeople. IV. No cross functional co-ordination in the organization. 6. Issues related to Human Behaviour- I. Very high dissatisfaction among employees. II. Less coordial relationship with finance and account departments as the problems related to advances & expenses are knowingly created by these departments. REMEDIAL ACTION- 1. A compensation package directly related to the performance should be developed. 2.The training should be given regarding superiority of the products over competitor’s products 3. The Need Hierarchy Theory should be followed by sales supervisors where they access the need of every salesperson and motivators can be provided by deciding at what level of need hierarchy the s alesperson lies. 4. Sales managers should follow a role of motivator. 5. Middle management and top management should act as faciliatator for growth and self fulfillment. 6. A clear carrier path should be developed. 7. Proper communication of growth prospectives should be mentioned. 8. Appreciation of sales force on achievement of sales targets. . Proper training has to be imparted from time to time. 10. Disputes related to advance & expenses should be solved as quickly as possible. 11. There should be more inter-departmental coordination. LONG TERM MOTIVATIONAL PLAN FOR THE ORGANIZATION- SECURITY RELATED ISSUES:- 1. A compensation package directly related to the performance should be developed 2. The training should be given regarding superiority of the products over competitor’s products 3. An induction of new joinees should be conducted explaining the culture of the organization. ACHIEVMENT RELATED ISSUES:- 1.Non financial motivators should be used more. 2. The Need Hie rarchy Theory should be followed by sales supervisors where they access the need of every salesperson and motivators can be provided by deciding at what level of need hierarchy the salesperson lies. 3. Appreciation of sales force on achievement of sales targets should be done. APPROVAL RELATED ISSUE:- 1. Sales managers should follow a role of motivator. 2. The middle management should take a keen interest in providing approval of good work. 3. A strong communication policy oriented towards employees should be followed. LOYALTY RELATED ISSUE:- 1.A strong organisational culture backed by equity an opportunity for all should be followed. 2. Middle management and top management should act as faciliatator for growth and self fulfilment. 3. Aim at binding employees with organization ADVANCEMENT RELATED ISSUE:- 1. A clear carrier path should be developed. 2. Proper career anchors should be developed. 3. Proper communication of growth prospectives should be mentioned. LEADERSHIP RELATED ISS UE:- 1. Top management should emerge as role model to employees. 2. A conducive culture has to be followed where each employee is free to say what he feels & have a trust on leadership. . A right path should be shown to employees to have a pride on their leadership & their company. HUMAN BEHAVIOUR RELATED ISSUES:- 1. Employees should be treated as resource to the company rather than just a revenue generation tool. 2. Proper training has to be imparted from time to time. 3. Problems regarding sales pitching & sales presentation should be heard & resolve by experts. 4. Disputes related to advance & expenses should be solved as quickly as possible. 5. There should be more inter-departmental coordination.

Digital Divide essays

Digital Divide essays There was a time, not long ago, when the so-called digital divide was perceived and illustrated as a huge canyon or a mile-wide river. On the one side stood the technology-rich, happy because they had access to computers at work, school, and home. On the other stood the technology-poor, unhappy because they had no access at all. The digital divide is possibly the single, largest, segregating force in today ¡s world. The lack of access, knowledge and understanding of digital capabilities that are changing the world is shocking. These capabilities are mainly focused upon the personal computer, Internet access and the skill to navigate and effectively utilize these technologies. Due to the relatively high costs and relatively low priority associated with addressing this issue, a generation of children and families will mature without these tools that are proving to be the key to the future. An estimated 429 million people are online globally, but even this overwhelming number is small when considered in perspective. Of those 429 million, 41% are in North America and they only represent 6% of the world ¡s entire population. According to the Digital Divide Network, global Internet statistics include: Statistics compounded by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the perspective of the digital divide in the United States include: 41.5% of all U.S. homes have Internet access « 86.3% of households earning $75,000 and above per year...

Having a Job in High School Has More Benefits Than Just a Paycheck

Having a Job in High School Has More Benefits Than Just a Paycheck SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Having a job used to be a rite of passage for high school students. They’d put in some hours during the school year and over the summer and often be able to pay for most of their college expenses with the money they earned.However, as today’s current high schoolers are facing piles of homework, pressure to excel on sports teams and clubs, and tuition costs that no entry-level job could ever cover, many people are rethinking the concept of high schoolers working. Are there still benefits to having a job in high school?Yes. There are many reasons for a high school student today to have a job, and those benefits extend far beyond just a paycheck. Having a job in high school can not only be a great experience in and of itself, it can also set you up to get even better jobs in college and beyond.In this article, I use my experience of working as a teenager to go over the key benefits of having a high school job. I also end by giving tips on the best jobs for high school students. My High School Work Experience When I was 14 years old, my mother told me that I needed to get a job in order to pay for college. Happy with my sporadic babysitting work, I resisted and told my mother that, no matter what job I got, I’d never be able to pay for college on a high school worker’s salary. To prove my point, I even got a calculator and showed her it’d take several years of full-time work on a minimum wage salary to cover college costs. My mother dismissed those arguments and told me that there were plenty of other reasons why I should get a job beyond just the paycheck. So I found myself applying for and eventually accepting a job as a swim instructor and lifeguard at my town’s local pool.I ended up working at the pool through all four years of high school and eventually was promoted to a manager position. In the summer, I’d teach swim lessons in the morning and lifeguard in the afternoon, and during the school year I’d teach swim lessons weekend mornings and supervise the office occasional weekday evenings. Not everything about the job was great, and there were times I hated jumping in the pool on cold mornings and trying to convince cranky kids to follow my instructions, but overall, like my mother said, I got many benefits from the job beyond just the paycheck (although having spending money of my own was definitely nice). At my job, I made lots of new friends, more than I had made in high school actually. I also gained numerous skills including CPR training and office experience.Additionally, I was also able to use my work experience (as well as my experience as a manager) to stand out from other job applicants in college and get a paid research job as a freshman in college. Having a job in high school gave me work experience, independence, and a better idea of the type of career I wanted, and many other high school students can benefit from having a job.Even if the job doesn’t pay well, or relate to your future career, or seem all that fun, there are still tons of benefits to having a high school job, and we’ll go over them in this article. The 6 Key Benefits of High School Jobs There are numerous benefits to getting a job in high school, some of which are obvious and others less so. This section covers six of the main benefits you can expect to get from having a job as a high school student. #1: You’ll Earn Money The most obvious benefit to getting a job in high school is that you’ll be making money. Now, since you’re starting at the bottom rung of the ladder, this likely won’t be a ton of money. When I first started working, I made the princely sum of $5.25 an hour (before taxes), and that’s not going to make anyone rich. However, even the salaries of low-paying jobs begin to add up over time, and since you’re in high school, your expenses are very low or non-existent. That means you can put all that money towards whatever you want, like a college fund or new clothes or attending concerts, instead of having to pay bills and students loans. My parents recommended that I put half my paychecks in my savings account, so I did that and used the other half to buy an expensive guitar that I could have never have afforded without my job.And even if your high school job is an unpaid internship or volunteer work, not to worry. There are plenty of other benefits of a high school job, which we discuss below. #2: You’ll Learn New Skills No matter what your first job is, even if it seems incredibly easy and/or incredibly boring, you’re guaranteed to pick up skills you didn’t have before.These skills can include anything from learning how to work a cash register, to building customer service skills, to figuring out the trick to balancing all those restaurant dishes on your arms at once. The skills you learn may not be that interesting to you, and they may not be anything close to the skills you need for your future career, but it never hurts to gain new knowledge. It may end up being interesting or useful to you down the line. At my job, I learned how to teach different swimming strokes, how to administer CPR, and a host of first-aid skills. These are all pretty helpful to know, however; I didn’t end up using most of them in my future jobs. The main skill that was useful for other jobs I had down the line was learning how to use a pretty obscure computer program to track pool visitor numbers. It was clunky and annoying to learn, but, years later, I applied to an internship that also used the same program, and my future boss told me that having that random skill helped me beat out the competition and get the job. So don’t knock any of the skills your job teaches you because they may come in handy someday. #3: You’ll Gain Work Experience In addition to learning new skills, your high school job will help you gain valuable work experience. Everyone goes through a learning curve when they first begin working as they learn how to manage their time effectively, how to interact with coworkers, how to make sure they get to work on time, etc. No matter what other strengths you have, you’re going to be a pretty bad employee until you figure those basic work skills out. This is why a lot of employers are hesitant to hire someone who’s never worked before, even if they have great grades and otherwise seem like they could be an excellent worker. A few months after I started working, my job had a mandatory meeting one night that every employee had to go to. However, I didn’t go because, for some reason, I didn’t believe it was really mandatory or important for me to attend that meeting. Afterwards, I got a stern talking to from my boss and it was embarrassing, but it’s better to make those mistakes early on, when the stakes are low and your boss is more likely to be understanding. By college, with four years of work experience under my belt, I definitely wasn’t making those beginner mistakes during my research job. So, even if your high school work experience only amounts to flipping burgers for a summer at your local fast food joint, that can still give you a huge leg up over people with no work experience when you apply to jobs in college and later on. If you start learning the skills to being a good employee in high school, you’ll set yourself up to be an outstanding employee later on down the line. So make your mistakes now instead of later (but don’t make the same mistake I did because that was pretty dumb of me). #4: You’ll Learn More About What Kind of Career You Want As a high school student, you’ve likely spent a lot of time thinking about the type of career you want to have, even if you haven’t come to any firm conclusions about what you want to do. Thinking about and researching different types of jobs is great, but the best way to figure out what you want to do is to actually try different jobs out. Now, your high school job likely isn’t the job you want to get after you finish school, but it’s still a great way to get a taste of the working world and figure out which things you enjoy in a job and which you don’t. When I was a teenager, I was pretty sure I was going to be a scientific researcher and possibly a professor. That career had nothing to do with my high school job of teaching swim lessons and being a lifeguard. However, I was able to use my high school work experience to get a better idea of what kind of job I would enjoy. One of the best ways to do this was to think about what I liked and what I didn’t like about my high school job. Things I liked included being around people, being active and outside, and working with kids. Things I disliked included knowing I was responsible for the safety of everyone in the pool, giving kids low marks on their swimming tests, and dealing with parents who were angry their child didn’t pass to the next swim level. None of this radically changed my career goals, but it did encourage me to consider having a job that let me do more than just sit at a desk or in a lab, and it made me think more critically about being a professor, where I’d regularly have to give out low grades and speak with unhappy students and parents. #5: You’ll Meet New People Unless your high school job involves sorting old moss specimens in a warehouse by yourself (a job I also once had), you’ll meet lots of new people at work.Your coworkers will likely be people you wouldn’t have met otherwise, which is a great way to expand your social circle beyond your high school friends and learn more about different types of people. Many workplaces that employ high school students have a lot of similarly-aged people working there who often develop a strong camaraderie, which means your new coworkers could end up being some of your best friends. However, there’s also the possibility that you won’t like someone you work with, whether this is your boss, customers you need to help, or that one coworker who steals everyone else’s lunch. And even though that’s not as fun as being friends with everyone you work with, it’ll help prepare you for the many times in the future you have to work with or interact with someone you’re not crazy about. #6: You’ll Gain Independence One of the most important benefits of teenager jobs is that you’ll achieve a degree of independence you likely haven’t experienced before.As a high school student, you’ve probably lived your entire life with your parents and been under their rules or your school’s rules when you’re in class. At a job, you’re deemed responsible enough to manage your own duties, and you’ll have fewer restrictions than you likely do at home or school. As an employee, you’re not just a student or a kid; you’re a full-fledged member of the team who’s considered smart enough to handle some responsibility. Your teacher won’t be there to tell you to stop talking and pay attention, and your mom won’t be there to remind you to clean up after yourself. You’ll be responsible for taking care of all your job duties yourself. Some people worry that teenagers who have jobs give up their childhood too soon and take on too much responsibility, but in my experience and the experience of my friends who worked as teenagers, I never found this to be true.My job, even when I worked full-time in the summer, still gave me plenty of time to socialize and have fun, and I was proud to feel more â€Å"grown up† and know I was trusted by my boss to do my job well. Succeeding at a job and earning moneyall on your owncan help you gain a lot of independence and self-confidence, and it’s a great way to help prepare you for college and the future when your responsibilities and independence will only increase. What Are the Best Jobs for Teens? Sometimes high school students and their parents worry about what the â€Å"best† job for a teenager to have is or if the job they’re thinking about taking is good enough.The truth is that most teenager jobs are about the same prestige-wise. Working as a waitress is no better or worse than working in customer service or at a summer camp. Each of those jobs can provide the benefits we discussed in this article. No one is expecting a high schooler to get a job as an investment banker or astrophysicist, so don’t worry about a job that doesn’t seem like it’s â€Å"good enough.† Many rich and successful people starting out flipping burgers or folding clothes at their local mall. Ditto to people concerned about getting a job in high school that matches the career they want to have. If you can find a job as a high school student that’s in the field you eventually want to work in, that’s great, but be aware most high schoolers take jobs that have absolutely nothing to do with their career paths. That’s OK since your career goals are likely to change between high school and when you actually begin working full-time. The most important thing is just to get a job so you can get the work experience, new skills and added sense of responsibility. It’s OK if you don’t think the pay is that great or the job isn't something you’re really interested in. My first job paid very little and had nothing to do with my career goals, but I still got a lot out of it. If possible, I’d recommend an â€Å"official† job as opposed to under the table work like nannying since the former gives you more experience with common workplace tasks like clocking in and out, attending meetings, and working with managers and coworkers. These are all things you’ll probably need to know for future jobs, so it’s good to start getting used to them now.Workplaces known for treating young and new workers well are also a good bet. Finally, when you’re looking at jobs, make sure they’re convenient for you to get to and will work with your schedule. You don’t want to take a job only to find out a few weeks later that it conflicts with a sport or club you're in. Conclusion: The Benefits of High School Jobs Having a job is not for every high school student; many teenagers these days already have jam-packed schedules between school and sports and clubs. As a junior in high school, I had to cut back on my job hours during the school year because I was feeling overwhelmed with homework.However, for many high school students, there are numerous benefits to be gained by having a job. Not only will high school jobs give you a way to earn some money, meet new people, and gain some more responsibility, you can use your teenager jobs to get yourself a better job in college since can prove to employers you’ve already succeeded at one job. Some people wonder what the best jobs for teens are, but the truth is that any job with a decent boss, fair pay, and work that isn’t too miserable can get you all the benefits we discussed in this article. The most important step is just to go out there and find yourself a job. What's Next? Looking for job ideas?We've written a guide onthe eight best jobs for teensas well as steps to take to find the best job for you. Thinking about getting an internship?We've got you covered! Check out our step-by-step guide to getting an internship for teens for everything you need to know to land a top-notch internship. Looking to save your hard-earned earnings from your high school job? Check out our guides to saving money on the SAT and ACT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

The extent of bankers' awareness, attitude towards social enterprises Dissertation - 1

The extent of bankers' awareness, attitude towards social enterprises business modes and social enterprises' ability to attr - Dissertation Example As far as financing of social enterprises are concerned, they are two sources of finances- grants and non-grants. It is, however, interesting to note that majority of social enterprises do finance their social activities through grants provided by various government or non-government institutions. The share of the grants provided by public agencies is much higher. In other words, social enterprises do mainly resort to government grants funding for fulfilling their social objectivities. (Anderson, Dees and Emerson, 2002; Guclu, Dees, and Anderson, 2002; Social enterprises have to depend on external sources of finance for fulfilling their social objectives as most of the time they are incapable of generating enough revenues from their business activities to finance their social activities (Dees, 1994). The more interesting thing to note that is they do not rely much on non-grants finance as an external source of their finance. Grant-dependency among social enterprises is quite prevalen t even if grants impose certain kind of restriction on their activities (Anderson, Dees and Emerson, 2002; Alter, 2006). ... (Dees, 1994; Blau, 2005). Problem statement Of course, popularity of non-grant finances like debt finance, equity finance etc have increased over time among social enterprises. Many experienced social enterprises are now using mixed approach of financing whether their combining grant and non-grant finances to finance their social activities. However, on average, non-grant finances are still less popular in comparison with grant finances and hence, the problems that social enterprise face while using grants still persists and work as obstacles in the path of realization of their goals. (Wei-Skillern, Leonard, and Stevenson, 2007; Dees, 1994) There are certain reasons behind less-dependency on non-grant finance, particularly lending which is considered to be one of the most common sources of finance for any business enterprise. The managers and founders of social enterprises generally claim that traditional lender like banks do not aware of their special needs and have a negative attit ude relating to the issue of extending loans to them. This claim is partially true. From the viewpoint of a lender, particularly of a banker, the flow of revenue and the capacity of paying all the debts with interest are the key factors and criteria for assessing the loan application of any organization. However, repaying loan with interests is certainly a challenge for the managers of those enterprises that operate in order to meet some social objectives. (Dees, Emerson, and Economy, 2001; Blau, 2005) Since social enterprises’ operational objectives are distinct from those of conventional business enterprises, the criteria for assessing applications for loans should not be same as

Fine and popular art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fine and popular art - Essay Example Such processes, although perhaps considered the results of skilled craftsmanship and artisanship in both the academy and the popular mind, were not generally believed to lend themselves to the type of refined art-making that the serious artist pursued. By emphasizing the role that art plays in popular culture and vice-versa, however, the pop art movement attempted to bridge the gap between what had been for the last several hundred years a strict division between the fine arts and the popular arts. ... While both may deal with such topics as race, economics, poverty, gender, and the like through their approaches to meeting human needs and providing form that shapes human content, the fine arts have traditionally been considered to be driven by a special refined quality that is sensitive and sensible and that revolves around a particular kind of insight and training, while the popular arts have traditionally been viewed as meeting economic needs with skilled action. The difference, in other words, seems to be a psychological one as well as an economic one. Popular artists apply skills to developing products and goods that, while beautiful, are primarily functional. Fine artists develop products which are primarily communicative. Larry Shriner, in his book The Invention of Art, argues that it was only in the 18th Century that the fine arts split off from the popular arts. Until that time many of the artists that today are considered serious fine artists from the past were essentially considered to very highly skilled artisans in their own day, and their works were considered to be highly representative forms of skilled craftsmanship. In 18th Century Europe, however, a cultural elite began to make distinctions between craftsmanship and â€Å"art† in order to separate themselves from the masses in taste and practice. The effort was so successful that they began to define art backwards, and works of skilled artisanship that were, for example, found in the colonies conquered by this cultural elite came to be called â€Å"primative art† – as though such products were approaching fine art but had not yet arrived. Shriner’s argument suggests that the distinction between fine art and the popular arts is largely

International Tax Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Tax - Assignment Example Since the jurisdiction for tax imposition in many cases is based on the residence status, the residents and non-residents distinction is of much importance (capitaltaxconsulting.com, 2011) 2. It should be noted that OECD model treat Article 4(1) of the OECD, gives a definition of a Contracting State resident as a person who is â€Å"liable to tax therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management, or any other criterion of a similar nature.† Article 4(1) further provides that a resident is not inclusive of any person who has a tax liability only in respect of income from sources in the country. This definition of a resident may seem straightforward; however, it raises a number of difficult issues. What does â€Å"liable to tax† mean? Is a person who is exempt from tax, such as a charity or a government, liable to tax? Is a person who does not pay any tax because of loss carryovers or deductions liable to tax? Are citizenship and place of incorporation cri teria of a similar nature? Liable to tax means the aggregate amount any given person is legally obliged to make payment of to the relevant authority due to a taxable event’s occurrence. Exempt persons may involve in a taxable event and thus at some point may become liable to tax (For instance; an instance where a government institution is supposed to withhold and remit taxes). A person having deductions or losses or may have a tax liability as long as taxable event is the ending result or a net claim on assets, for example net income. (investopedia.com, 2011) What determines whether a citizen is either a resident or a non-resident are the circumstances like domicile while a company’s incorporation makes it automatically a resident in many states (oecd.org, 2003) 3. Assume that Country A and Country B both define a resident as an individual who is present in the country for at least 183 days. Is it possible for an individual to be a resident of both Country A and Countr y B under this test? It is possible in a leap year. The countries are to further find a solution to the issue of residence like nationality to avoid taking the individual as a resident of both nations. (oecd.org, 2003) 4. What are the â€Å"Facts and circumstance† strengths and weaknesses test of residence? Under the test, Is it possible for an individual to be resident in two countries? In more than two countries? The outstanding strength that can be associated with the test of residence on â€Å"facts and circumstances† is that of giving a consistent way of determining whether an individual or a company is to be considered resident or not for the purposes tax imposition. The weaknesses attributable to this method of residence determination is that, given country’s test may be different from another and this kills uniformity in determining tax liabilities. A good example is that of Australia where for a person to be resident, they have to spend above average of their time in the state in the year of income while in Japan, they depend mostly upon the domicile or residence that is maintained for one or more years. (treasury.gov.au, 2011) In rare situations an individual can be resident in two or more countries like where they point out the person should be in the country for 183 days or more and it is in a leap year of income like in Canada and Ireland. (treasury.gov.au, 2011) 5. In a country using facts and circumsta

Melodrama And Film Noir In Mildred Pierce

Melodrama And Film Noir In Mildred Pierce Film noir first appeared when The Depression ended with society feeling the lack of material objects, in response to the end of the Second World War. The American Dream was coming under threat due to women being forced back into their domestic roles. It uses textual structures and style to show the nightmare that is the American Dream. Mildred Pierce (Michael Curitz, 1948) attempts to modernise a post-war economy by showing how important gender roles are in supporting a balanced family to the audience of the film. Mildred Pierce sheds light on the historical need to reconstruct an economy based on a division of labour by which men command the means of production and women remain within the family, in other words the need to reconstruct a failing patriarchal structure (Cook, 2005, p. 69). The film also touches on a fear of women by men returning from the war. Women were more independent and less feminine that before the war. The films themselves seem to indicate just how threatened and unsure hegemonic patriarchy was during the post-war years (Benshoff, 2007, p. 264).This film deals with the deterioration of a family in post-war America. While birth rates did soar after the war, so did divorce ratesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦men and women had very different experiences of the war, and the two often did not easily mesh (Benshoff, 2007, p. 262). Warner Brothers released the film in 1945, a year many American soldiers returned from World War II. It left millions dead, but the calamitous event also boosted womens place in society. During the WWII period, women became the main providers for their families while American men were at war, a situation that lead to increased independence for American women. Popular slogans and icons of the time, like Rosie the Riveter, encourage women to work and take charge of their lives. However, when men returned and re-entered the workforce, society expected women to step aside and rejoin the cult of domesticity. This background knowledge adds many layers of meaning to the movie and is vital to understanding the message of the movie. The protagonist of the film Mildred Pierce does everything in her power to help her children. Mildred is determined that her children will have greater opportunities in life than she and Bert have had (Lloyd Johnson, 2003, p. 14). Mildred dreams that one day her daughters will be prima donnas and concert pianists, and pursues these fantasies to the best of her abilities. Mildred attempts to shoulder fatherly responsibilities, which makes her the worst kind of mother possible. The matriarchal coup ends in disaster, and reveals the filmmakers message: a womans place is in the household, and she cannot hope to thrive in a mans world. Mildred replaces men with women she chooses her female daughters over her male husband, which reinforces the idea of a matriarchy. Only Veda and Kay, who are female, can inherit from Mildred. The marriage dissolves on account of the Mildreds unbalanced, smothering, obsessive, insistent maternal love for her female children. Mildreds first flashback within the film has two distinct points of view: Mildred, the woman, and the detective, the man. The basic split is created in the film between melodrama and film noir, between Womans Picture and Mans Film, a split which indicates the presence of two voices, female and male (Cook, 2005, p. 72). Mildreds flashbacks are evenly lit, but cannot be trusted. The viewers process of picking up cues, developing expectations, and constructing an ongoing story out of the plot will be partially shaped by what the narrator tells or doesnt tell (Bordwell Thompson, 2008, p. 92). The detectives perspective explains the truth of the narrative, but is presented in shadows and low-key lighting. Mildreds discourse is the discourse of melodrama, her story is the stuff of which the Womans Picture was made in pre-war and war years when woman were seen to have an active part to play in society and the problems of passion, desire, and emotional excess (Cook, 2005, p. 71). The melodr amatic tone to Mildreds narration helps to pull the woman in the theatre into the storyline. Elizabeth Cowie suggests that the voiceover narration in Mildred Pierce is associated with melodramas because it markedly lacks a hard-boiled style (Cowie, 1993, p. 138). It isnt quite as simple as this however. Mildreds melodramatic narrative is put into doubt due to the film signalling her out as a possible suspect who manipulates people to get her way. On the other hand though her melodramatic story has a film noir style thats impossible to avoid and noirs dystopian feeling dominates this melodramatic narrative. Cook sees this as the point at which Mildred Pierce becomes a Mans Film because the womans discourse of melodrama has been taken away and replaced with noir (Cook, 2005, p. 71). One of the key messages in the film presents the idea for women to stand behind their men and to go back into the kitchen and cook pies. The detectives discourse is a representation of the mans role to find the truth through hard evidence. The detective is simply concerned with establishing the Truth, with resolving the enigma, while Mildreds story contains complexity and ambiguity, showing a concern for feelings rather than facts. (Cook, 2005, p. 71). Mildreds legs are fetish sized in order to control her sexuality. One part of a fragmented body destroys the Renaissance space, the illusion of depth demanded by the narrative, it gives flatness (Mulvey, 1975, p. 26). By the man taking a small part of the woman and focusing in on it, the woman, as a whole, is no longer a threat to the man. This entire scene sexualizes Mildred. Men in post-war America were threatened by the womans sexual prowess and often tried to repress it. The film gives an example of the brutal and enforced repressi on of female sexuality, and the institutionalization of a social place for both men (as fathers and husbands) and women (as mothers and wives) which rests uneasily on this repression (Cook, 2005, p. 69). Mildreds sexuality is repressed by the realization later in the film that it is Monte who is using Mildred and not the other way around. The filmmakers provide this devastation through three negative constructions of women in the film. Veda emerges from her childhood as a femme fatal, a sure sign that something went terribly wrong in her upbringing. The filmmakers imply that if Bert had been around he would have put her in her place. Bert says that he is so fed up with the way [Veda] high hats him that he would eventually cut loose and slap her right in the face. His attitude towards Veda contrasts sharply with Mildreds attitude, but in the end, Mildred hits their daughter first. Although he admits that he does not have the maternal connection that Mildred has with her daughters, he knows that her method of raising the kids isnt right. These lines are also important because they show that Bert, the patriarch, knows more about being a mother than the Mildred. She is too busy making pies to provide for her children to see what has gone wrong. Interest in business already makes her blind to domestic problems. While the role reversal between Mildred and Bert does not become apparent until the end, a hint of Berts predi ction about Veda shows up in the scenes following his departure. Veda, the next matriarch in the line of inheritance, already tries to control her mother after Wallys visit by trying to trade Mildreds dignity for a new house. Mildreds character is paralleled by Vedas character. The film asks us, through the device of metaphorical substitution , to confuse the wicked Veda with the honest Mildred, thus establishing Mildreds innate guilt, even though she is not guilty of the actual murder (Cook, 2005, p. 71). Through their intimate happenings with the same man at the same location, Mildred later discovers Veda and Monty kissing at the beach house, it is clear that cinema setting can come to the forefront; it need not be only a container for human events but can dynamically enter the narrative action (Bordwell Thompson, 2008, p. 115). Although Mildred did not kill Monte, she is guilty of an even bigger crime in post-war America: pursuing a career and becoming the head of a family. Mild reds take-over of the place of the father has brought about the collapse of all social and moral order in her world (Cook, 2005, p. 75). Mildred works her way up the socio-economic ladder. She possesses the traits of the ideal all-American man: hard work, self-reliance, and perseverance. Her labours pay off in the Horatio Alger tradition and she reaps a handsome profit from her chain of restaurants. There are two messages in this sequence of events that contradict the ominous predictions of the kitchen scene first; her success demonstrates that if women leave their husbands, they are not condemned to lives of poverty and misery. Second, her successes with the restaurants show that women are also capable of being entrepreneurs in the business world. Ida also enters Mildreds world, and becomes another affirmative theme in the film. As the two bond they create a relationship that is an equitable partnership, devoid of the power structure present in Mildreds relationships with men. These positive elements build audience empathy for Mildred. They celebrate along with Mildred when her restaurant does well and cheer when she opens the new branches of her dinner. The audience becomes Mildred through this empathy and lives through her vicariously. But these positive themes are later used to manipulate the female audiences emotive response. The heroine, who momentarily enjoys business success, is destined to fail as a career woman as well as a mother. Mildred Pierce was, after all, designed as a lesson to the women of the post-war period in both its theme and its narrative. The empathy created from Mildreds success resounds as strongly during her fall from happiness. By manipulating the emotive response in this way, the film reaffirms patriarchal cultural values. The first of the negative themes begins Kays death. It warns of what happens when the nuclear family falls apart: while Mildred frolics at the beach with a new lover, her daughter is dying of pneumonia. Sylvia Harvey has argued that film noir contains a critique of the nuclear family so devastating that no narrative can resolve it (Harvey, pp. 22-34). The film constructs this scene as what happens with the decay of the nuclear family unit. While Mildred is off having an affair with Monte, her daughter is dying. The film teaches its audience how to avoid such a failed family ideal. The first sign of deterioration comes when Mildreds one night of illicit passion with Monte is followed by Kays death (Cook, 2005, p. 74). This film establishes ideal gender roles for the redevelopment of society while defining the fear of women present in post-war America. This ultimately sends the message of the importance of the family unit: a woman must stay true to her family as a whole even if it mean s living an unhappy life. The film implies that an ideal mother would have been on call, always ready to care for her children. Of course Kay dies; she is a sacrificial lamb for Mildreds excesses. Her death also makes it possible for Mildred to concentrate on Veda and Monte, two key figures in Mildreds destruction. The second negative theme deals with Mildreds maternal failure. As Mildred becomes more heavily invested in her business, Veda drifts further and further away from her, and buys into Montes materialistic values. Veda ultimately becomes the femme fatale of the movie, and serves as an example of why women cannot be successful businesswomen and mothers at the same time. Juggling two things at once does not work for Mildred because she can only focus on one thing at a time. Her obsession with making money forces her not to notice the unsavoury developments in her daughter Veda, which Bert forecasts earlier in the kitchen: The trouble is, youre trying to buy love from those kids and it wont work. One of the most powerful images in the movies occurs simultaneously as the couple steps into the dawns sunrise. Two cleaning women kneel scrub the floor as Bert and Mildred leave. A silhouette shot ensures that they scrub in anonymity and no discerning features of their faces can be seen. These two lowly scrub women are symbols of the two ambitious women of the film: Mildred and Ida. They wash floor as if trying to be cleansed of their sin: the sin of gaining a foothold in society. Truly repentant, they can no longer stand on their feet but only kneel down. Ultimately, this sends the message that female economic power must not be powerful at all only humble and faceless. In post-war America woman were unceremoniously fired from their jobs in order to create employment opportunities for returning men (Benshoff, 2007, p. 262). Society demanded that woman be in the home and that men be at the workplace. Mildreds involvement with a man that doesnt fit this mould consequently ends in her downfall and the deterioration of her family. The message presented in the film clearly outlines gender roles and what is expected of each sex in order to restore patriarchal order to America at this time. In 1947, America was recovering from an economic crisis, altered gender roles, a deteriorated male population, and high divorce rates. Leave it to Hollywood to instruct Americans on how to set everything straight again. Not only does this film present a number of messages detailing the womans place in the home and the mans place at work, but it also reflects a fear that woman had gained too much control, become too masculine, and would no longer be a link in healthy family units. The melodramatic ending that Mildred Pierce presents shows that the womens threat to the patriarchy of men cannot simply be resolved by love (Gledhill, 1987, p. 24). It uses extreme representations of women trying to step out of their domestic roles and reassures the women watching the film that although they might be discontented with being forced back into the home after the Second World War, their lives are considerably better than what is being shown on screen.