DBQ essay on Asoka Essay

Asoka was one of the greatest rulers of ancient India. He was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha who established the first Indian empire. Chandragupta reigned for twenty-four years before relinquishing his throne in favor of his son, Bundusara (Asoka’s father), who left no noticeable mark upon the empire. My thesis would be that Asoka was an enlightened ruler and not a ruthless conqueror. The first reason why I think Asoka was an enlightened ruler and not a ruthless conqueror because in document C it states that â€Å"Asoka gave rich gifts to the poor.† With this being said this means that Asoka was caring to the poor and if he was a ruthless conqueror he would not have cared to do anything of that sort. This document would help answer the question â€Å"Asoka: Ruthless Conqueror or Enlightened Ruler?† because it says that in this document the Asoka had awoken to the Buddhist religion. The second reason why I think Asoka was an enlightened ruler and not a ruthless conqueror because in document E it states that â€Å"Today if a hundredth or a thousandth part of those people who were killed or died or were deported when Kalinga was annexed were to suffer†¦, it would weigh heavily on the mind of the Beloved of the Gods [Asoka].† With this being stated this means that Asoka was very sorry for taking over Kalinga and if it was to happen today he would to be able to forgive himself. This document would help answer the question â€Å"Asoka: Ruthless Conqueror or Enlightened Ruler?† because he is wanting forgiveness from the surviving Kalingans for what he did. My third and final reason why I think Asoka was an enlightened ruler and not a ruthless conqueror because in document F (which is a document of a person’s opinion named Jawaharlal Nehru) it states that â€Å"Asoka though an emperor, was greater than any king or emperors.† With this being said this means that Nehru thought highly of Asoka and was a kind, righteous, and good willing emperor. This document would help answer the question â€Å"Asoka:  Ruthless Conqueror or Enlightened Ruler?† because it shows that people in India thought highly of Emperor Asoka. My conclusion is that Asoka was an enlightened ruler and not a ruthless conqueror because if he was a ruthless conqueror he would not have been thought highly of people in India, he would not have cared to give riches to the poor, and he would not have been the Beloved of the Gods.

Part Five Chapter III

III To Gavin's disappointment, it seemed that he would have to attend Howard Mollison's birthday party after all. If Mary, a client of the firm and the widow of his best friend, had asked him to stay for dinner, he would have considered himself more than justified in skipping it †¦ but Mary had not asked him to stay. She had family visiting, and she had been oddly flustered when he had turned up. She doesn't want them to know, he thought, taking comfort in her self-consciousness as she ushered him towards the door. He drove back to the Smithy, replaying his conversation with Kay in his mind. I thought he was your best friend. He's only been dead a few weeks! Yeah, and I was looking after her for Barry, he retorted in his head, which is what he'd have wanted. Neither of us expected this to happen. Barry's dead. It can't hurt him now. Alone in the Smithy he looked out a clean suit for the party, because the invitation said ‘formal', and tried to imagine gossipy little Pagford relishing the story of Gavin and Mary. So what? he thought, staggered by his own bravery. Is she supposed to be alone for ever? It happens. I was looking after her. And in spite of his reluctance to attend a party that was sure to be dull and exhausting, he was buoyed inside by a little bubble of excitement and happiness. Up in Hilltop House, Andrew Price was styling his hair with his mother's blow-drier. He had never looked forward to a disco or a party as much as he had longed for tonight. He, Gaia and Sukhvinder were being paid by Howard to serve food and drinks at the party. Howard had hired him a uniform for the occasion: a white shirt, black trousers and a bow tie. He would be working alongside Gaia, not as potboy but as a waiter. But there was more to his anticipation than this. Gaia had split up with the legendary Marco de Luca. He had found her crying about it in the back yard of the Copper Kettle that afternoon, when he had gone outside for a smoke. ‘His loss,' Andrew had said, trying to keep the delight out of his voice. And she had sniffed and said, ‘Cheers, Andy.' ‘You little poofter,' said Simon, when Andrew finally turned off the drier. He had been waiting to say it for several minutes, standing on the dark landing, staring through the gap in the door, which was ajar, watching Andrew preen himself in the mirror. Andrew jumped, then laughed. His good humour discomposed Simon. ‘Look at you,' he jeered, as Andrew passed him on the landing in his shirt and bow tie. ‘With your dicky-bow. You look a twat.' And you're unemployed, and I did it to you, dickhead. Andrew's feelings about what he had done to his father changed almost hourly. Sometimes the guilt would bear down on him, tainting everything, but then it would melt away, leaving him glorying in his secret triumph. Tonight, the thought of it gave extra heat to the excitement burning beneath Andrew's thin white shirt, an additional tingle to the goose-flesh caused by the rush of evening air as he sped, on Simon's racing bike, down the hill into town. He was excited, full of hope. Gaia was available and vulnerable. Her father lived in Reading. Shirley Mollison was standing in a party dress outside the church hall when he cycled up, tying giant gold helium balloons in the shapes of fives and sixes to the railings. ‘Hello, Andrew,' she trilled. ‘Bike away from the entrance, please.' He wheeled it along to the corner, passing a brand-new, racing green BMW convertible parked feet away. He walked around the car on his way inside, taking in the luxurious inner fittings. ‘And here's Andy!' Andrew saw at once that his boss's good humour and excitement were equal to his own. Howard was striding down the hall, wearing an immense velvet dinner jacket; he resembled a conjuror. There were only five or six other people dotted around: the party would not start for twenty minutes. Blue, white and gold balloons had been fastened up everywhere. There was a massive trestle table largely covered in plates draped with tea-towels, and at the top of the hall a middle-aged DJ setting up his equipment. ‘Go help Maureen, Andy, will you?' She was laying out glasses at one end of the long table, caught gaudily in a stream of light from an overhead lamp. ‘Don't you look handsome!' she croaked as he approached. She was wearing a scant, stretchy shiny dress that revealed every contour of the bony body to which unexpected little rolls and pads of flesh still clung, exposed by the unforgiving fabric. From somewhere out of sight came a small ‘hi'; Gaia was crouching over a box of plates on the floor. ‘Glasses out of boxes, please, Andy,' said Maureen, ‘and set them up here, where we're having the bar.' He did as he was told. As he unpacked the box, a woman he had never seen before approached, carrying several bottles of champagne. ‘These should go in the fridge, if there is one.' She had Howard's straight nose, Howard's big blue eyes and Howard's curly fair hair, but whereas his features were womanish, softened by fat, his daughter – she had to be his daughter – was unpretty yet striking, with low brows, big eyes and a cleft chin. She was wearing trousers and an open-necked silk shirt. After dumping the bottles onto the table she turned away. Her demeanour, and something about the quality of her clothing, made Andrew sure that she was the owner of the BMW outside. ‘That's Patricia,' whispered Gaia in his ear, and his skin tingled again as though she carried an electric charge. ‘Howard's daughter.' ‘Yeah, I thought so,' he said, but he was much more interested to see that Gaia was unscrewing the cap of a bottle of vodka and pouring out a measure. As he watched, she drank it straight off with a little shudder. She had barely replaced the top when Maureen reappeared beside them with an ice bucket. ‘Bloody old slapper,' said Gaia, as Maureen walked away, and Andrew smelt the spirits on her breath. ‘Look at the state of her.' He laughed, turned and stopped abruptly, because Shirley was right beside them, smiling her pussycat smile. ‘Has Miss Jawanda not arrived yet?' she asked. ‘She's on her way, she just texted me,' said Gaia. But Shirley did not really care where Sukhvinder was. She had overheard Andrew and Gaia's little exchange about Maureen, and it had completely restored the good mood that had been dented by Maureen's evident delight in her own toilette. It was difficult to satisfactorily puncture self-esteem so obtuse, so deluded, but as Shirley walked away from the teenagers towards the DJ, she planned what she would say to Howard the next time she saw him alone. I'm afraid the young ones were, well, laughing at Maureen †¦ it's such a pity she wore that dress †¦ I hate seeing her make a fool of herself. There was plenty to be pleased about, Shirley reminded herself, for she needed a little bolstering tonight. She and Howard and Miles were all going to be on the council together; it would be marvellous, simply marvellous. She checked that the DJ knew that Howard's favourite song was ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home', Tom Jones' version, and looked around for more little jobs to do: but instead her gaze fell upon the reason that her happiness, tonight, had not quite that perfect quality she had anticipated. Patricia was standing alone, staring up at the Pagford coat of arms on the wall, and making no effort to talk to anybody. Shirley wished that Patricia would wear a skirt sometimes; but at least she had arrived alone. Shirley had been afraid that the BMW might contain another person, and that absence was something gained. You weren't supposed to dislike your own child; you were supposed to like them no matter what, even if they were not what you wanted, even if they turned out to be the kind of person that you would have crossed the street to avoid had you not been related. Howard took a large view of the whole matter; he even joked about it, in a mild way, beyond Patricia's hearing. Shirley could not rise to those heights of detachment. She felt compelled to join Patricia, in the vague, unconscious hope that she might dilute the strangeness she was afraid everyone else would smell by her own exemplary dress and behaviour. ‘Do you want a drink, darling?' ‘Not yet,' said Patricia, still staring up at the Pagford arms. ‘I had a heavy night last night. Probably still over the limit. We were out drinking with Melly's office pals.' Shirley smiled vaguely up at the crest above them. ‘Melly's fine, thanks for asking,' said Patricia. ‘Oh, good,' said Shirley. ‘I liked the invitation,' said Patricia. ‘Pat and guest.' ‘I'm sorry, darling, but that's just what you put, you know, when people aren't married – ‘ ‘Ah, that's what it says in Debrett's, does it? Well, Melly didn't want to come if she wasn't even named on the invitation, so we had a massive row, and here I am, alone. Result, eh?' Patricia stalked away towards the drinks, leaving Shirley a little shaken behind her. Patricia's rages had been frightening even as a child. ‘You're late, Miss Jawanda,' she called, recovering her composure as a flustered Sukhvinder came hurrying towards her. In Shirley's opinion, the girl was demonstrating a kind of insolence turning up at all, after what her mother had said to Howard, here, in this very hall. She watched her hurry to join Andrew and Gaia, and thought that she would tell Howard that they ought to let Sukhvinder go. She was tardy, and there was probably a hygiene issue with the eczema she was hiding under the long-sleeved black T-shirt; Shirley made a mental note to check whether it was contagious, on her favourite medical website. Guests began to arrive promptly at eight o'clock. Howard told Gaia to come and stand beside him and collect coats, because he wanted everyone to see him ordering her around by name, in that little black dress and frilly apron. But there were soon too many coats for her to carry alone, so he summoned Andrew to help. ‘Nick a bottle,' Gaia ordered Andrew, as they hung coats three and four deep in the tiny cloakroom, ‘and hide it in the kitchen. We can take it in turns to go and have some.' ‘OK,' said Andrew, elated. ‘Gavin!' cried Howard, as his son's partner came through the door alone at half-past eight. ‘Kay not with you, Gavin?' asked Shirley swiftly (Maureen was changing into sparkly stilettos behind the trestle table, so there was very little time to steal a march on her). ‘No, she couldn't make it, unfortunately,' said Gavin; then, to his horror, he came face to face with Gaia, who was waiting to take his coat. ‘Mum could have made it,' said Gaia, in a clear, carrying voice, as she glared at him. ‘But Gavin's dumped her, haven't you, Gav?' Howard clapped Gavin on the shoulder, pretending he had not heard, and boomed, ‘Great to see you, go get yourself a drink.' Shirley's expression remained impassive, but the thrill of the moment did not subside quickly, and she was a little dazed and dreamy, greeting the next few guests. When Maureen tottered over in her awful dress to join the greeting party, Shirley took immense pleasure in telling her quietly: ‘We've had a very awkward little scene. Very awkward. Gavin and Gaia's mother †¦ oh, dear †¦ if we'd known †¦' ‘What? What's happened?' But Shirley shook her head, savouring the exquisite pleasure of Maureen's frustrated curiosity, and opened her arms wide as Miles, Samantha and Lexie entered the hall. ‘Here he is! Parish Councillor Miles Mollison!' Samantha watched Shirley hugging Miles as though from a great distance. She had moved so abruptly from happiness and anticipation to shock and disappointment that her thoughts had become white noise, against which she had to fight to take in the exterior world. (Miles had said: ‘That's great! You can come to Dad's party, you were only just saying – ‘ ‘Yes,' she had replied, ‘I know. It is great, isn't it?' But when he had seen her dressed in the jeans and band T-shirt she had been visualizing herself in for over a week, he had been perplexed. ‘It's formal.' ‘Miles, it's the church hall in Pagford.' ‘I know, but the invitation – ‘ ‘I'm wearing this.') ‘Hello, Sammy,' said Howard. ‘Look at you. You needn't have dressed up.' But his embrace was as lascivious as ever, and he patted her tightly jeaned backside. Samantha gave Shirley a cold tight smile and walked past her towards the drinks. A nasty voice inside her head was asking: but what did you think was going to happen at the concert, anyway? What was the point? What were you after? Nothing. A bit of fun. The dream of strong young arms and laughter, which was to have had some kind of catharsis tonight; her own thin waist encircled again, and the sharp taste of the new, the unexplored; her fantasy had lost wings, it was plummeting back to earth †¦ I only wanted to look. ‘Looking good, Sammy.' ‘Cheers, Pat.' She had not met her sister-in-law for over a year. I like you more than anyone else in this family, Pat. Miles had caught up with her; he kissed his sister. ‘How are you? How's Mel? Isn't she here?' ‘No, she didn't want to come,' said Patricia. She was drinking champagne, but from her expression, it might have been vinegar. ‘The invitation said Pat and guest are invited †¦ huge bloody row. One up to Mum.' ‘Oh, Pat, come on,' said Miles, smiling. ‘Oh, Pat, fucking come on what, Miles?' A furious delight took hold of Samantha: a pretext to attack. ‘That's a bloody rude way to invite your sister's partner and you know it, Miles. Your mother could do with some lessons in manners, if you ask me.' He was fatter, surely, than he had been a year ago. She could see his neck bulging over the collar of his shirt. His breath went sour quickly. He had a little trick of bouncing on his toes that he had caught from his father. She experienced a surge of physical disgust and walked away to the end of the trestle table, where Andrew and Sukhvinder were busy filling and handing out glasses. ‘Have you got any gin?' Samantha asked. ‘Give me a big one.' She barely recognized Andrew. He poured her a measure, trying not to look at her breasts, boundlessly exposed in the T-shirt, but it was like trying not to squint in direct sunlight. ‘Do you know them?' Samantha asked, after downing half a glass of gin and tonic. A blush had risen before Andrew could marshal his thoughts. To his horror, she gave a reckless cackle, and said, ‘The band. I'm talking about the band.' ‘Yeah, I – yeah, I've heard of them. I don't †¦ not my kind of thing.' ‘Is that right?' she said, throwing back the rest of her drink. ‘I'll have another one of those, please.' She realized who he was: the mousy boy from the delicatessen. His uniform made him look older. Maybe a couple of weeks of lugging pallets up and down the cellar steps had built some muscle. ‘Oh, look,' said Samantha, spotting a figure heading away from her into the growing crowd, ‘there's Gavin. The second most boring man in Pagford. After my husband, obviously.' She strode off, pleased with herself, holding her new drink; the gin had hit her where she most needed it, anaesthetizing and stimulating at the same time, and as she walked she thought: he liked my tits; let's see what he thinks of my arse. Gavin saw Samantha coming and tried to deflect her by joining somebody else's conversation, anybody's; the nearest person was Howard and he insinuated himself hastily into the group around his host. ‘I took a risk,' Howard was saying to three other men; he was waving a cigar, and a little ash had dribbled down the front of his velvet jacket. ‘I took a risk and I put in the graft. Simple as that. No magic formula. Nobody handed me – oh, here's Sammy. Who are those young men, Samantha?' While four elderly men stared at the pop group stretched across her breasts, Samantha turned to Gavin. ‘Hi,' she said, leaning in and forcing him to kiss her. ‘Kay not here?' ‘No,' said Gavin shortly. ‘Talking about business, Sammy,' said Howard happily, and Samantha thought of her shop, failed and finished. ‘I was a self-starter,' he informed the group, reprising what was clearly an established theme. ‘That's all there is to it. That's all you need. I was a self-starter.' Massive and globular, he was like a miniature velvety sun, radiating satisfaction and contentment. His tones were already rounded and mellowed by the brandy in his hand. ‘I was ready to take a risk – could've lost everything.' ‘Well, your mum could have lost everything,' Samantha corrected him. ‘Didn't Hilda mortgage her house to put up half the deposit on the shop?' She saw the tiny flicker in Howard's eyes, but his smile remained constant. ‘All credit to my mother, then,' he said, ‘for working and scrimping and saving, and giving her son a start. I multiply what I was given, and I give back to the family – pay for your girls to go to St Anne's – what goes round, comes round, eh, Sammy?' She expected this from Shirley, but not from Howard. Both of them drained their glasses, and Samantha watched Gavin drift away without trying to stop him. Gavin was wondering whether it would be possible to slip out unnoticed. He was nervous, and the noise was making it worse. A horrible idea had taken possession of him since meeting Gaia at the door. What if Kay had told her daughter everything? What if the girl knew that he was in love with Mary Fairbrother, and told other people? It was the sort of thing that a vengeful sixteen-year-old might do. The very last thing he wanted was for Pagford to know that he was in love with Mary before he had a chance to tell her himself. He had imagined doing it months and months hence, perhaps a year down the line †¦ letting the first anniversary of Barry's death slip by †¦ and, in the mean time, nurturing the tiny shoots of trust and reliance that were already there, so that the reality of her feelings stole gradually upon her, as they had upon him †¦ ‘You haven't got a drink, Gav!' said Miles. ‘That situation must be remedied!' He led his partner firmly to the drinks table and poured him a beer, talking all the while, and, like Howard, giving off an almost visible glow of happiness and pride. ‘You heard I won the seat?' Gavin had not, but he did not feel equal to feigning surprise. ‘Yeah. Congratulations.' ‘How's Mary?' asked Miles expansively; he was a friend to the whole town tonight, because it had elected him. ‘She doing OK?' ‘Yeah, I think – ‘ ‘I heard she might be going to Liverpool. Might be for the best.' ‘What?' said Gavin sharply. ‘Maureen was saying this morning; apparently, Mary's sister's trying to persuade Mary to go home with the kids. She's still got a lot of family in Liver – ‘ ‘This is her home.' ‘I think it was Barry who liked Pagford. I'm not sure Mary will want to stay without him.' Gaia was watching Gavin through a chink in the kitchen door. She was clutching a paper cup containing several fingers of the vodka that Andrew had stolen for her. ‘He's such a bastard,' she said. ‘We'd still be in Hackney if he hadn't led Mum on. She's so bloody stupid. I could have told her he wasn't that interested. He never took her out. He couldn't wait to leave after they'd shagged.' Andrew, who was piling additional sandwiches on an almost empty platter behind her, could hardly believe that she was using words like shagged. The chimeric Gaia who filled his fantasies was a sexually inventive and adventurous virgin. He did not know what the real Gaia had done, or not done, with Marco de Luca. Her judgement on her mother made it sound as if she knew how men behaved after sex, if they were interested †¦ ‘Drink something,' she told Andrew as he approached the door with the platter, and she held up her own polystyrene cup to his lips, and he drank some of her vodka. Giggling a little, she backed away to let him out and called after him: ‘Make Sooks come in here and get some!' The hall was crowded and noisy. Andrew put the pile of fresh sandwiches on the table, but interest in the food seemed to have waned; Sukhvinder was struggling to keep up with demand at the drinks table, and many people had started pouring their own. ‘Gaia wants you in the kitchen,' Andrew told Sukhvinder, and he took over from her. There was no point acting like a bartender; instead, he filled as many glasses as he could find, and left them on the table for people to help themselves. ‘Hi, Peanut!' said Lexie Mollison. ‘Can I have some champagne?' They had been at St Thomas's together, but he had not seen her for a long time. Her accent had changed since she had been at St Anne's. He hated being called Peanut. ‘It's there in front of you,' he said, pointing. ‘Lexie, you're not drinking,' snapped Samantha, appearing out of the crowd. ‘Absolutely not.' ‘Grandad said – ‘ ‘I don't care.' ‘Everyone else – ‘ ‘I said no!' Lexie stomped away. Andrew, glad to see her go, smiled at Samantha, and was surprised when she beamed at him. ‘Do you talk back to your parents?' ‘Yeah,' he said, and she laughed. Her breasts really were enormous. ‘Ladies and gentlemen!' boomed a voice through the microphone, and everyone stopped talking to listen to Howard. ‘Wanted to say a few words †¦ most of you probably know by now that my son Miles has just been elected to the Parish Council!' There was a smattering of applause and Miles raised his drink high above his head to acknowledge it. Andrew was startled to hear Samantha say quite clearly under her breath, ‘Hoo-fucking-ray.' Nobody was coming for drinks now. Andrew slipped back into the kitchen. Gaia and Sukhvinder were alone in there, drinking and laughing, and when they saw Andrew they both shouted, ‘Andy!' He laughed too. ‘Are you both pissed?' ‘Yes,' said Gaia, and ‘no,' said Sukhvinder. ‘She is, though.' ‘I don't care,' said Gaia. ‘Mollison can sack me if he wants. No point saving up for a ticket to Hackney any more.' ‘He won't sack you,' said Andrew, helping himself to some of the vodka. ‘You're his favourite.' ‘Yeah,' said Gaia. ‘Creepy old bastard.' And the three of them laughed again. Through the glass doors, amplified by the microphone, came Maureen's croaky voice. ‘Come on, then, Howard! Come on – a duet for your birthday! Go on – ladies and gentlemen – Howard's favourite song!' The teenagers gazed at each other in tantalized horror. Gaia tripped forward, giggling, and pushed the door open. The first few bars of ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home' blared out, and then, in Howard's bass and Maureen's gravelly alto: The old home town looks the same, As I step down from the train †¦ Gavin was the only one who heard the giggles and snorts, but when he turned around all he saw were the double doors to the kitchen, swinging a little on their hinges. Miles had left to chat with Aubrey and Julia Fawley, who had arrived late, wreathed in polite smiles. Gavin was in the grip of a familiar mixture of dread and anxiety. His brief sunlit haze of freedom and happiness had been overcast by the twin threats of Gaia blabbing what he had said to her mother, and of Mary leaving Pagford for ever. What was he going to do? Down the lane I walk, with my sweet Mary, Hair of gold and lips like cherries †¦ ‘Kay not here?' Samantha had arrived, leaning against the table beside him, smirking. ‘You already asked me that,' said Gavin. ‘No.' ‘Everything OK with you two?' ‘Is that really any of your business?' It slipped out of him before he could stop it; he was sick of her constant probing and jeering. For once, it was just the two of them; Miles was still busy with the Fawleys. She over-acted being taken aback. Her eyes were bloodshot and her speech was deliberate; for the first time, Gavin felt more dislike than intimidation. ‘I'm sorry. I was only – ‘ ‘Asking. Yeah,' he said, as Howard and Maureen swayed, arm in arm. ‘I'd like to see you settled down. You and Kay seemed good together.' ‘Yeah, well, I like my freedom,' said Gavin. ‘I don't know many happily married couples.' Samantha had drunk too much to feel the full force of the dig, but she had the impression that one had been made. ‘Marriages are always a mystery to outsiders,' she said carefully. ‘Nobody can ever really know except the two people involved. So you shouldn't judge, Gavin.' ‘Thanks for the insight,' he said, and irritated past endurance he set down his empty beer can and headed towards the cloakroom. Samantha watched him leave, sure that she had had the best of the encounter, and turned her attention to her mother-in-law, whom she could see through a gap in the crowd, watching Howard and Maureen sing. Samantha relished Shirley's anger, which was expressed in the tightest, coldest smile she had worn all evening. Howard and Maureen had performed together many a time over the years; Howard loved to sing, and Maureen had once performed backing vocals for a local skiffle band. When the song finished, Shirley clapped her hands together once; she might have been summoning a flunkey, and Samantha laughed out loud and moved along to the bar end of the table, which she was disappointed to find unmanned by the boy in the bow tie. Andrew, Gaia and Sukhvinder were still convulsed in the kitchen. They laughed because of Howard and Maureen's duet, and because they had finished two-thirds of the vodka, but mostly they laughed because they laughed, feeding off each other until they could barely stand. The little window over the sink, propped ajar so that the kitchen did not become too steamy, rattled and clattered, and Fats' head appeared through it. ‘Evening,' he said. Evidently he had climbed onto something outside, because, with a noise of scraping and a heavy object falling over, more and more of him emerged through the window until he landed heavily on the draining board, knocking several glasses to the ground, where they shattered. Sukhvinder walked straight out of the kitchen. Andrew knew immediately that he did not want Fats there. Only Gaia seemed unperturbed. Still giggling, she said, ‘There's a door, you know.' ‘No shit?' said Fats. ‘Where's the drink?' ‘This is ours,' said Gaia, cradling the vodka in her arms. ‘Andy nicked it. You'll have to get your own.' ‘Not a problem,' said Fats coolly, and he walked through the doors into the hall. ‘Need the loo †¦' mumbled Gaia, and she stowed the vodka bottle back under the sink, and left the kitchen too. Andrew followed. Sukhvinder had returned to the bar area, Gaia was disappearing into the bathroom, and Fats was leaning against the trestle table with a beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other. ‘Didn't think you'd want to come to this,' said Andrew. ‘I was invited, mate,' said Fats. ‘It was on the invitation. Whole Wall family.' ‘Does Cubby know you're here?' ‘Dunno,' said Fats. ‘He's in hiding. Didn't get ol' Barry's seat after all. The whole social fabric'll collapse now Cubby's not holding it together. Fucking hell, that's horrible,' he added, spitting out a mouthful of sandwich. ‘Wanna fag?' The hall was so noisy, and the guests so raucously drunk, that nobody seemed to care where Andrew went any more. When they got outside, they found Patricia Mollison, alone beside her sports car, looking up at the clear starry sky, smoking. ‘You can have one of these,' she said, offering her packet, ‘if you want.' After she had lit their cigarettes, she stood at her ease with one hand balled deep in her pocket. There was something about her that Andrew found intimidating; he could not even bring himself to glance at Fats, to gauge his reaction. ‘I'm Pat,' she told them, after a little while. ‘Howard and Shirley's daughter.' ‘Hi,' said Andrew. †M Andrew.' ‘Stuart,' said Fats. She did not seem to need to prolong conversation. Andrew felt it as a kind of compliment and tried to emulate her indifference. The silence was broken by footsteps and the sound of muffled girls' voices. Gaia was dragging Sukhvinder outside by the hand. She was laughing, and Andrew could tell that the full effect of the vodka was still intensifying inside her. ‘You,' said Gaia, to Fats, ‘are really horrible to Sukhvinder.' ‘Stop it,' said Sukhvinder, tugging against Gaia's hand. ‘I'm serious – let me – ‘ ‘He is!' said Gaia breathlessly. ‘You are! Do you put stuff on her Facebook?' ‘Stop it!' shouted Sukhvinder. She wrenched herself free and plunged back inside the party. ‘You are horrible to her,' said Gaia, grabbing onto the railings for support. ‘Calling her a lesbian and stuff †¦' ‘Nothing wrong with being a lesbian,' said Patricia, her eyes narrowed through the smoke she was inhaling. ‘But then, I would say that.' Andrew saw Fats look at Pat sideways. ‘I never said there was anything wrong with it. It's only jokes,' he said. Gaia slid down the rails to sit on the chilly pavement, her head in her arms. ‘You all right?' Andrew asked. If Fats had not been there, he would have sat down too. ‘Pissed,' she muttered. ‘Might do better to stick your fingers down your throat,' suggested Patricia, looking down at her dispassionately. ‘Nice car,' Fats said, eyeing the BMW. ‘Yeah,' said Patricia. ‘New. I make double what my brother makes,' she said, ‘but Miles is the Christ Child. Miles the Messiah †¦ Parish Councillor Mollison the Second †¦ of Pagford. Do you like Pagford?' she asked Fats, while Andrew watched Gaia breathing deeply, her head between her knees. ‘No,' said Fats. ‘It's a shithole.' ‘Yeah, well †¦ I couldn't wait to leave, personally. Did you know Barry Fairbrother?' ‘A bit,' said Fats. Something in his voice made Andrew worried. ‘He was my reading mentor at St Thomas's,' said Patricia, with her eyes still on the end of the street. ‘Lovely bloke. I would have come back for the funeral, but Melly and I were in Zermatt. What's all this stuff my mother's been gloating about †¦ this Barry's Ghost stuff?' ‘Someone putting stuff on the Parish Council website,' said Andrew hastily, afraid of what Fats might say, if he let him. ‘Rumours and stuff.' ‘Yeah, my mother would love that,' said Patricia. ‘Wonder what the Ghost'll say next?' Fats asked, with a sidelong glance at Andrew. ‘Probably stop now the election's over,' muttered Andrew. ‘Oh, I dunno,' said Fats. ‘If there's stuff old Barry's Ghost is still pissed off about †¦' He knew that he was making Andrew anxious and he was glad of it. Andrew was spending all his time at his poxy job these days, and he would soon be moving. Fats did not owe Andrew anything. True authenticity could not exist alongside guilt and obligation. ‘You all right down there?' Patricia asked Gaia, who nodded, with her face still hidden. ‘What was it, the drink or the duet that made you feel sick?' Andrew laughed a little bit, out of politeness and because he wanted to keep the subject away from the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother. ‘Turned my stomach too,' said Patricia. ‘Old Maureen and my father singing along together. Arm in arm.' Patricia took a final fierce drag on her cigarette and threw the end down, grinding it beneath her heel. ‘I walked in on her blowing him when I was twelve,' she said. ‘And he gave me a fiver not to tell my mother.' Andrew and Fats stood transfixed, scared even to look at each other. Patricia wiped her face on the back of her hand: she was crying. ‘Shouldn't have bloody come,' she said. ‘Knew I shouldn't.' She got into the BMW, and the two boys watched, stunned, as she turned on the engine, reversed out of her parking space and drove away into the night. ‘Fuck me,' said Fats. ‘I think I might be sick,' whispered Gaia. ‘Mr Mollison wants you back inside – for the drinks.' Her message delivered, Sukhvinder darted away again. ‘I can't,' whispered Gaia. Andrew left her there. The din in the hall hit him as he opened the inner doors. The disco was in full swing. He had to move aside to allow Aubrey and Julia Fawley room to leave. Both, with their backs to the party, looked grimly pleased to be going. Samantha Mollison was not dancing, but was leaning up against the trestle table where, so recently, there had been rows and rows of drinks. While Sukhvinder rushed around collecting glasses, Andrew unpacked the last box of clean ones, set them out and filled them. ‘Your bow tie's crooked,' Samantha told him, and she leaned across the table and straightened it for him. Embarrassed, he ducked into the kitchen as soon as she let go. Between each load of glasses he put in the dishwasher, Andrew took another swig of the vodka he had stolen. He wanted to be drunk like Gaia; he wanted to return to that moment when they had been laughing uncontrollably together, before Fats had appeared. After ten minutes, he checked the drinks table again; Samantha was still propped up against it, glassy-eyed, and there were plenty of fresh-poured drinks left for her to enjoy. Howard was bobbing in the middle of the dance floor, sweat pouring down his face, roaring with laughter at something Maureen had said to him. Andrew wound his way through the crowd and back outside. He could not see where she was at first: then he spotted them. Gaia and Fats were locked together ten yards away from the door, leaning up against the railings, bodies pressed tight against each other, tongues working in each other's mouths. ‘Look, I'm sorry, but I can't do it all,' said Sukhvinder desperately from behind him. Then she spotted Fats and Gaia and let out something between a yelp and a sob. Andrew walked back into the hall with her, completely numb. In the kitchen, he poured the remainder of the vodka into a glass and downed it in one. Mechanically he filled the sink and set to washing out the glasses that could not fit in the dishwasher. The alcohol was not like dope. It made him feel empty, but also keen to hit someone: Fats, for instance. After a while, he realized that the plastic clock on the kitchen wall had leapt from midnight to one and that people were leaving. He was supposed to find coats. He tried for a while, but then lurched off to the kitchen again, leaving Sukhvinder in charge. Samantha was leaning up against the fridge, on her own, with a glass in her hand. Andrew's vision was strangely jerky, like a series of stills. Gaia had not come back. She was doubtless long gone with Fats. Samantha was talking to him. She was drunk too. He was not embarrassed by her any more. He suspected that he might be sick quite soon. ‘ †¦ hate bloody Pagford †¦' said Samantha, and, ‘but you're young enough to get out.' ‘Yeah,' he said, unable to feel his lips. ‘An' I will. ‘Nigh will.' She pushed his hair off his forehead and called him sweet. The image of Gaia with her tongue in Fats' mouth threatened to obliterate everything. He could smell Samantha's perfume, coming in waves from her hot skin. ‘That band's shit,' he said, pointing at her chest, but he did not think she heard him. Her mouth was chapped and warm, and her breasts were huge, pressed against his chest; her back was as broad as his – ‘What the fuck?' Andrew was slumped against the draining board and Samantha was being dragged out of the kitchen by a big man with short greying hair. Andrew had a dim idea that something bad had happened, but the strange flickering quality of reality was becoming more and more pronounced, until the only thing to do was to stagger across the room to the bin and throw up again and again and again †¦ ‘Sorry, you can't come in!' he heard Sukhvinder tell someone. ‘Stuff piled up against the door!' He tied the bin bag tightly on his own vomit. Sukhvinder helped him clear the kitchen. He needed to throw up twice more, but both times managed to get to the bathroom. It was nearly two o'clock by the time Howard, sweaty but smiling, thanked them and said goodnight. ‘Very good work,' he said. ‘See you tomorrow, then. Very good †¦ where's Miss Bawden, by the way?' Andrew left Sukhvinder to come up with a lie. Out in the street, he unchained Simon's bicycle and wheeled it away into the darkness. The long cold walk back to Hilltop House cleared his head, but assuaged neither his bitterness nor his misery. Had he ever told Fats that he fancied Gaia? Maybe not, but Fats knew. He knew that Fats knew †¦ were they, perhaps, shagging right now? I'm moving, anyway, Andrew thought, bent over and shivering as he pushed the bicycle up the hill. So fuck them †¦ Then he thought: I'd better be moving †¦ Had he just snogged Lexie Mollison's mother? Had her husband walked in on them? Had that really happened? He was scared of Miles, but he also wanted to tell Fats about it, to see his face †¦ When he let himself into the house, exhausted, Simon's voice came out of the darkness from the kitchen. ‘Have you put my bike in the garage?' He was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal. It was nearly half-past two in the morning. ‘Couldn't sleep,' said Simon. For once, he was not angry. Ruth was not there, so he did not have to prove himself bigger or smarter than his sons. He seemed weary and small. ‘Think we're gonna have to move to Reading, Pizza Face,' said Simon. It was almost a term of endearment. Shivering slightly, feeling old and shell-shocked, and immensely guilty, Andrew wanted to give his father something to make up for what he had done. It was time to redress balances and claim Simon as an ally. They were a family. They had to move together. Perhaps it could be better, somewhere else. ‘I've got something for you,' he said. ‘Come through here. Found out how to do it at school †¦' And he led the way to the computer.

A Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen Essay -- Henrik Ibsen, A Dolls House

Nora Helmer keeps a big secret from her husband, Torvald and she fears what will happen if he ever finds out. She secretly borrows a large amount of money from Nils Krogstad, a fellow employee of her husband at the bank. This money is borrowed to help her husband recover from a serious illness. Nora never tells Torvald of the loan and pays it back in small installments with her household allowance. Torvald is appointed bank director and the first thing he wants to do is fire a man who once forged a signature on a document. This man is Nils Krogstad. It is later revealed that Nora also committed the same crime Krogstad has committed. Nora forged her father’s signature in order to get the money. Krogstad threatens to reveal Nora’s secret if her husband fires him from his job. Nora truly tries to convince her husband to not have Krogstad fired, but ault that Nora leaves him, but in reality it is neither of them, it is society. Truly, Torvald is weak and tries to take on a role that society is telling him to grasp on. He has to be dominant towards his wife and he has to be the â€Å"controller†. It took time for Nora to transform into a new person, but after she did, she became a person who could not stand to be a â€Å"doll† any longer. A doll must do whatever the controller wants them to do. Dolls are silent, do not express opinion and do not accomplish much without the controller. Nora was this doll and realized she no longer wanted to take part in this role. Torvald and Nora become victims of social pressures that define the perfect man and the perfect women not because of everything that went wrong in their relationship, but because Nora realizes she no longer wants to play â€Å"doll† with her husband, the â€Å"controller†.

The 2008 Tibetan Unrest Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The 2008 Tibetan Unrest - Research Paper Example In 2008 during the eve of the Olympics, there was a series of unrest in Tibet (Merkel-Hess, Kate, Kenneth and Jeffrey54-55). During the same period, there was so much focus on Beijing. Tibet is a part of Beijing’s claimed territory (Goldstein 450). In March 14th, there were a succession of demonstrations, protests and riots ain the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. The unrest commenced on the 10th of March during the 49th commemoration of the abortive uprising in Tibet in 1959 in opposition of Beijing rule. The demonstrations spread over to several areas and various monasteries outside of Tibet. The unrest commenced with numerous monks from Drepung monastery staging peaceful protests. The monks were demanding the release of their fellow counterparts arrested in the previous autumn. The participants of the unrest direct their anguish to two civilians named Han and Wei. In the break of one weak, serious protests began marred with violence. There was widespread looting, killing, burning and rioting. Media reports found that this unrest was due to the socio-economic issues in Lhasa (Losada 340). The people of Tibet were infuriated by the high rates of inflation that resulted in the increase in prices of consumer goods and food (Goldstein 454-500). The youth were also complaining of inequality in access to jobs and education. James miles, a reporter of â€Å"The Economist†, termed the 3.14 riot as an eruption of tribal hatred. The rest of this paper will focus on Tibet’s struggle for sovereignty, the religious power and politics of the Tibet territory and the underlying causes of the event. Truth about the riots; the facts At the core of the conflict is a conflicting perspective on who is the rightful owner Tibet. In the early 1800s, China viewed Tibet as a vassal state that paid tribute to the emperor through a priest-patron relationship. In recent times, the relationship has become ambiguous. China suffered in the hands of the British during the same period when the British conquered Lhasa in 1904 (Merkel-Hess, Kate, Kenneth and Jeffrey 59). China has since struggled for the full claim of Tibet hence the delicate relationship between the two. The question of who ought to take blame for the 2008 unrest is therefore relative given both parties legitimise their clemency to Tibet. What really transpired during the killings? There has been little if any condemnation of the killings in Tibet by the western countries. Statements were made about the infringement of human rights by the People’s Republic of China overshadowing the real tribulations of the victims of the violence. The reality of the issue is that there were killings and destruction of property even from some of the reports by western media only that there was no attention paid to the magnitude of the killings. The unrest had a series of serious criminal activities including looting, beating, destruction of property and arson. The rioters set fire on more than three hundred places that include hospitals, schools, shops, houses of civilians and government offices. In addition, about 214 rooms burned down and another 56 vehicles torched. There were very brutal killings with an estimated 31 innocent people slashed or burnt to death (Merkel-Hess, Kate, Kenneth and Jeffrey 63). Another 51 police officers were injured with 12 of them suffering serious injuries. As such, the riot was

Global Warming a Hotly Debated Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global Warming a Hotly Debated Topic - Essay Example His greatest criticism focuses on the Stern report, upon which many other global warming proponents have based their claims. He begins by pointing out Stern’s lack of acknowledgement regarding the various scientific studies that refute that global warming is happening, as a responsible scientific research study should do, and then moves on to attack other aspects of Stern’s scientific method. â€Å"He is guilty of misreading the data, of distorting the evidence to suit his political masters’ dogma, of throwing numbers about with reckless abandon, of promoting alarmism in place of rational discussion, and of reinventing climate history.† Refuting Stern’s climatic claims, Lindzen offers verifiable dates regarding scientific inventions that facilitated accurate record keeping, but offers no sources to back up his other statements regarding evidence of a warmer Middle Ages or a colder 17th century, an expanding Greenland or the reasons behind increases in polar bear numbers. In his criticism, he accuses Stern and others of having a hidden agenda, centered on providing more power and money to those in positions of leadership, making the Stern report little more than political rhetoric. Although his stated purpose is to open up the global debate to explore other possible causes of global warming, he offers merely an attack on the Stern report, backed by a hypocritical lack of outside sources or acknowledgement of dissension in the ranks of supporters. The newspaper article was initiated in support of an upcoming network television special in which the Global Warming issue was to be examined in terms of its invalidity or at least lack of full investigation and hard evidence.

Student Stress - speech presentation (mainly based on the poster) Essay

Student Stress - speech presentation (mainly based on the poster) - Essay Example Stress works in cycles wherein we reach back at the point from where we started therefore stress is probably never ending phenomenon if it is not properly addressed. Stress is therefore for us like a never ending vicious circle which we encounter in everyday life and carry it also in our professional and daily routine life. Stress can have different effects on us and every one of us probably experience some of the effects of this on us. Most common physiological effects include headaches and loose motions, sleeplessness as well as increase in our anger levels. On the physiological side, we often experience loss of interest in our daily activities, aggression as well as showing irritability. On our social front, we find it difficult to socialize and communicate ourselves with our parents as well as our friends, poor performance in the shape of poor grades and a kind of social aloofness which continuously distance us from rest of the world. In order to overcome such situations, we, the students, therefore require support from our parents and teachers, exercise regularly so that our mood remain pleasant as well as increase our rapport with whom we can trust and express our deepest

Getting rid of the Federal reserve bank would solve americas problem Essay

Getting rid of the Federal reserve bank would solve americas problem - Essay Example Some Republican presidential aspirants have demonstrated open rejection of the Federal Reserve System. They have sited the US economic crisis as turmoil that emanated from poor policies guiding the Federal Reserve. These politicians seem to use arguments floated by some economists who believe that the Federal Reserve System is a burden to the American people (Meltzer 199). Ideally, presidential politics does not only shape the future of Americans, but also influence the global economic balances. US economy is a central factor in US politics because it influences the taxation programs, international relation, domestic social welfare, and the satisfaction of basic human needs by the American citizens. The US politics in the global scale depend on its economic power. Thus, politics concerning the US economy does not only influence the lives of US citizens, but also the conditions of life in other countries (Wells 2). For instance, the US economic crisis reverberated to international sca le shaking the global economy. The concern of the US political aspirant is to restore faith to the public. Banking regulations influence the flow of currency, which subsequently affect money market. These restrictions influenced banking system in US in early 1900s leading to the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 (Wells 2). The system came into operation in 1914 November. The intention of the Federal Reserve Act was to create an alternative source of bank and currency reserve, which could control panics when money supply in the market increased because of the need to expand business. History records that during the great depression, Federal Reserve failed to discharge its duty. About 9000 banking institutions collapse during that great period (Wells 3). Changes that Fed has developed over time in response to economic challenges has made many observers to believe that, Fed has on

The Participation Rate Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Participation Rate - Research Proposal Example Individuals are considered to be unemployed, for the purposes of the unemployment rate, if the individual is actively looking for work, but is unemployed. Workers who are out of a job, due to a temporary layoff, but expected to be recalled, are considered to also be unemployed. During the survey week, the individual must be not employed, available for work and taking active steps to find work, in order to be counted in the unemployment rate. Individuals who do not count in the unemployment rate are individuals who are discouraged, and no longer actively looking for work. ...The individuals who would not be included in the participation rate are those who are unemployed, but not actively looking for work, because they are discouraged. Also not included would be individuals who are not labor force. These are individuals who are not looking for work because they are going to school, are retired, are stay at home mothers or individuals with other family obligations, are confined to nursi ng homes, mental institutions or prisons, or inactive duty military (Bureau of Labor Statistics). B. Charts of Participation Rates for Females and Males (All Figures Come from The Australian Bureau of Statistics) 1954 In this case, the Australian Bureau of Statistics did not publish very much information which can be gleaned about males versus females and the participation rates. It did not publish information, which it did in later editions, that detailed the employment rate, the unemployment rate, the unemployment numbers and employment numbers, etc. Therefore, the chart below has much more sparse information than the later ones will. In 1954, the total number of men who were employed, including defense forces, was 2,821,000. The number of women who were employed, including defense forces, was 826,000. During this same period, there were 41,000 males who were unemployed and 14,000 females who were unemployed. The unemployment rate was 1.8% for males in this year, and 1.9% of femal es. Therefore, the total number of men who were participating was, for the year, 1954, 2,862,000. The total number of females participating for that year was 840,000 (Australian Bureau of Statistics). 1967 In 1966, there were a total of 3,351,800 males who were employed. There were 32,900 males who were unemployed.

Exploring the international Business environment Essay

Exploring the international Business environment - Essay Example Scenario planning was first implemented in military intelligence and military strategy studies. Scenario planning involves identifying trends and analyzing their predicted ramifications. Scenario planning helps organizations in implementing strategic investment, regulating hiring strategies and conducting capital planning. Organizations are able to execute scenario-based approaches to planning thereby developing credible solutions to potential challenges (Friedman, 2014). Scenario planning also helps firms to assess potential outcomes before implementation. Scenario planning is also beneficial in categorizing plans according to their short-term or long term feasibility. The paper will examine the demographic and religious forecast of Tajikistan until the year 2030 and the implications on Asian Development Bank’s strategic plan for Central and West Asian developing member countries. The Republic of Tajikistan is an autonomous country located in Central Asia. The country’s administrative, legislative and financial capital is Dushanbe. The country is bordered by Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and China. Up until September 1991 when the country gained independence, Tajikistan was part of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. At 143,100 square kilometres, the country is the smallest nation in Central Asia (CIA, 2015). Tajikistan is landlocked and very mountainous. The country is divided into four provinces: one capital province, one autonomous province and two other provinces. The head of state is the president while the government is led by a prime minister. The Tajikistani legislature comprises of a national assembly and an assembly of representatives. The judiciary implements a civil law system (CIA, 2015). Tajikistan is classified as the poorest country in Central Asia and among former Soviet states. The country’s slow economic growth is attributed to the high levels of corruption, poor governance, political unrest, economic

Assistant to the President Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assistant to the President - Essay Example Finally, part-time employment shapes the students career choices, enabling them to identify their limitations in terms of education and training, and the need for further improvements, which increases their future labor market prospects. The Assistant to the President part-time position is a unique opportunity for ambitious and focused college students who would like to increase their visibility in the labor market. In this paper, I will demonstrate why I believe that this position is timely and significant for my academic progress, career development and professional growth. I find the position of the assistance to the president very interesting in a number of ways. Firstly, this position would enable me to utilize my planning skills in assisting the president to plan and implement the â€Å"corporate giving† program. Secondly, I believe that working 10 to 15 hours a week will improve my GPA’s significantly. Thirdly, given the kind of training and experience I possess, I believe that the pay rate of 12 to 15 dollars per hour is quite attractive and appropriate to me. Fourthly, the flexibility of the position, with opportunities to work from home, will enable me to manage and utilize my time effectively. Fifthly, this position has attractive benefit packages, such as occasional use of corporate vehicle acceptable millage rate for use of personal vehicle. Based on these factors, I believe that this position is quite attractive and worth of my consideration. The assistant to the president position is very important for my career progress and growth. Firstly, this opportunity will serve as my entry position to the corporate team of the corporation. Secondly, the position has a promise of career advancement with increased responsibilities such as keeping track of applicants for funds, interviewing applicants at their place of work

Introduction to Communication in Health Essay Example for Free

Introduction to Communication in Health Essay Outcome 1: Understand why communication is important in the work setting? †¢ People communicate to give and receive information i.e. Child A has eaten a piece of toast during snack time, as child A doesnt usually do this we informed the parents of the childs progress at the end of our preschool session. †¢ People also communicate to give and receive instructions e.g. Child A has a lactose intolerance and therefore can only have Soya milk at snack times ,It is therefore vital that all staff follow these instructions. †¢ People also communicate to express any needs that they have in our preschool setting we have all weather outdoor play time so it is essential that all children have a suitable outdoor coat hat, gloves and Wellington boots. 2. Explain how effective communication affects all aspects of own work? See more: how to start an essay †¢ Being able to communicate with all individuals within our preschool setting helps to build a good foundation and understanding between us. Giving information in a clear manner that is understood by the recipient to ensure that the information is received in the right way, also taking the time to listen to other peoples points of view and concerns, And ensuring that we meet any needs or concerns that these partys may have. †¢ For children this means always talking to them at there level giving good eye contact and re-assuring facial expressions and body language. Giving them enough time to listen and process things that you say or ask of them and giving adequate time for a response, whenever appropriate using  positive tones to your voice. †¢ For parents using all available communication methods, from face to face communication, to telephone conversations or writing in the childs home school book. Using first names where ever possible and listening to and respecting the views of the parent/carer. Always re-assuring a parent that our first priority will always be there child. †¢ For our colleagues always have conversations in appropriate places, Give eye contact and correct body language also listen and be respectful of other peoples point of views and opinions. †¢ In our preschool setting we have many bilingual children and as English isnt there first language we use many different techniques to ensure they can understand what we are saying or asking them to do. During our snack time we count in all the childrens first languages, Chinese and Malayalam and use both pictures and hand signs to help the Children understand. Child A was doing an animal puzzle and showed me a pig piece I said Thats a pig and made the noise oink, oink whilst making a snout with My hand at my nose. 3. Explain why it is important to observe an individuals reaction When communicating with them? †¢ It is important to watch how people react to see how they are feeling and whether they understand the conversation or instructions you are giving to them. You can see if a person is comfortable by there body language, facial, Expressions and tone of there voice. We must use these skills to read both adults and children alike. Also taking in to account that different expressions can have different meanings in other cultures.

Skills practice Essay Example for Free

Skills practice Essay There are many safety aspects that need to be considered when designing a training programme. A warm up is very important as it increases the blood flow, stimulates the level of activity and decreases the risk of injury and also may well help one concentrate better on the activity being performed. It also helps to prepare the body for the physical exercise that should follow it. It gently raises the pulse rate, which in turn prepares the heart for more strenuous activity. More oxygen and other fuels are transported to the muscles by the body. In a warm up there should be three phases; a pulse raiser, stretching and a skills practice. A cool down must also be preformed at the end of the session as this allows the body to recover by starting to remove the build up of lactate, and by stretching it allows the muscle fibres return to their initial condition. This helps return the body to its normal state in the quickest time possible. The blood flow will be kept high, waste products are washed out and the temperature slowly returns to normal. The equipment should always be checked before a match as if anything is not working properly or broken it could result in serious injury. This could be done by checking the bats for splits in them, using the correct rounders ball and making sure the posts are securely in position and that they cannot fall or cause an injury to a player.  The clothing should not be baggy or get in the way while playing, and if playing in warm weather light, airy clothes should be worn so as to prevent the player getting too hot and feeling faint. Jewellery should not be worn at all as this can get caught and cause damage or injury. Trainers must be worn as there will be running involved and so flat shoes will be needed. The playing surface should be on grass and should be firm. The pitch should be marked out with the course to run in a diamond shape. The posts and batting/bowling boxes should be clearly marked out.  The batting team must stand far back from the where the playing batter is standing as they could get hit either by the bat or if the ball goes behind. Also, players standing by a post must stand on the inside; otherwise it is obstruction, which could also cause injury by the batter running into the fielder. Throughout my training programme I managed to keep a high level of interest through each session, as each was very different, allowing me to try knew skills out each time. However, as I found chin-ups so hard, it made me dread doing that particular station, but at the same time more determined to do better. For each station and session I wanted to try and beat my own personal best, which made it a task and goal for me to reach, thus making it more interesting for me to complete. Planning of Monitoring  The exercises were in the correct order as no station followed another by using the same muscular groups. They were set in an order of using torso, arms, and legs and then repeated again. This made it easier to continue, and not too much strain was placed on a specific muscular group.  They were the correct choice as they tested my different abilities and helped improve my skills in diverse areas. This can help me while playing a rounders match, as the different skills needed would have been looked at and practised. I did not make any changes to my training programme during the course, although it would have been wise to have changed the chin-ups station in my fitness session as I did struggle with them. I was still able to do them, but I was unable to work flat-out for the whole required time. My heart rate was taken before I started, after the warm up and after every station. This helped me find out how hard I was working and whether over the course of the five weeks, I became fitter, resulting in a lower heart rate. My results show which stations I found easier and which I was best at performing. Final Evaluation  My post test score of the Illinois agility test was 20.37secs, but after my five week training programme, and having re-done the test, my time has improved to 19.18secs. It was an improvement of 1.19secs. Also, for my first abdominal curls test, I managed 82 sit-ups, but when I re-took it I was able to get up to 108, making an improvement of 26 sit-ups. This shows that my fitness level has increased form doing the five week training programme. My training programme was designed for one person during the fitness session and to work in pairs during the skills sessions. However, I had to work in a pair during the fitness session also as we had to time each other for each station. But this was not a problem as the rest gaps stayed constant, and it made it less complicated to do. All the equipment that was needed was available and there was not much setting up to do making it quick and easy to get on with. Overall, the programme was manageable and simple, as long as you are working in a pair. After completing the course, I find it a lot easier to complete each station with higher repetitions as my fitness level improved.  Although it was an exhausting and hard experience, I did enjoy it. I was able to increase my level of fitness, do a training programme that I designed and enjoyed and work with people that I got on with. This interaction did make it a lot more enjoyable. Out of the fitness stations, I enjoyed doing the sit-ups most, as I do these regularly and it is something I find easy and fun. However, I definitely liked the skills sessions best, as this put my rounders skills to the test and slowed me to play a part of a sport that I enjoy.  If I had to redo this in the future I would definitely change my chin-ups station in the fitness session as I found these hard and would probably have benefited a lot more with a different station.

Inter Firm Relationships in the Silicon Fen

Inter Firm Relationships in the Silicon Fen The attention that clusters have received from policy makers and academics has substantially increased in the last 20 years. Since Porters seminal work on The Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990) presented clusters as one of the determinants of the international competitiveness of nations and regions, many scholars have adopted and further developed his approach. Porter bases his arguments on what he describes as the globalization paradox, pointing out that despite the logical implications that the globalisation process might have in dismissing the relevance of regional factors, the most competitive firms in world are located in groups geographically concentrated in specific locations. That perspective contributed to attracting attention to the existence of characteristics tied to a local context that could not be accessed by firms positioned elsewhere, and more, to the positive effects that the concentration and the geographic proximity could exert on the firms competitiveness. However influential, Porters ideas were not the precursor to discussing the competitive outcomes originating from the geographic concentration of firms (Martin and Sunley, 2003). The roots of cluster theory go back to the industrial districts identified by Marshall (1890), who offered the first detailed description about the economic and social systems created as a result of the spacial concentrations of industrial activities. The Marshallian industrial districts were arrangements of small firms interconnected by commercial operations (buyers and sellers) and other firms engaged in the same or similar activities, that shared productive factors, such as the labour market, infrastructure and tacit knowledge (Becattini, 2004, p. 68). According to Marshals descriptions, a group of firms operating in one specific sector within a well-defined, concentrated and relatively small geographic area would experience higher levels of productivity and innovation, indeed the emergence of a fertile e nvironment for technical and organisational developments. Thus the local characteristics would enable the emergence of an industrial atmosphere that would increase the firms potential to acquire (especially tacit) knowledge, and create positive external economies accessible only to the firms located within the district (Asheim, 2003, p. 416). That perspective tried to evidence that firms geographically concentrated could accesses restricted positive exogenous benefits (exogenous to firms, but endogenous to the district), which would be an alternative to the scale economies achieved by a single (integrated) firm. Additionally, following some of the seminal ideas proposed by Marshall, it is possible to observe a significant number of economic geographers that also explored regional development using the spatial economic agglomeration to support their ideas. Some examples of concepts emerging from that theoretical trend are regional innovation milieux (Crevoisier, 2004), neo-Marshallian nodes (Amin and Thrift, 1992) and learning regions (Asheim, 1995). More examples can be found in Markusen (1996, p. 297), in which another three different types of industrial districts are described according to the firms configurations, internal versus external orientations and governance structures: a hub-and-spoke industrial district, which is concentrated around one or more dominant firms; a satellite platform, formed by a group of unconnected branches embedded in external links; and the state-anchored district, concentrated on one or more public-sector institutions. Despite the logical and robust assumption s found in many of those concepts, their influence and dissemination were not as successful as the more general cluster framework proposed by Porter. Martin and Sunley (2003) attributes the successful dissemination of the Porter concepts to the very general descriptions and delimitations that encompass a wide range of actors and many different structures. Following much of the concepts proposed by Porter, the description of advantages conferred on clustered firms associated with a general and structured analytical framework stimulated the development and dissemination of academic studies and subsidized the creation of supply-side competitiveness policies directed at structuring and supporting the development of clusters (Pitelis, 2010). That fact resulted in what Martin and Sunley (2003) describe as a policy panacea in the use of clusters as a standard (sometimes the unique) target for promoting competitiveness, innovation and economic growth. Moreover, in the last 20 years an increasing number of empirical studies in different countries and sectors have been observed, which aim to identify and discuss the competitive outcomes originating from the concentration of firms and other actors in the same location, for example: Brazil à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" shoe manufacturing in the Sinos Valley (Schmitz, 2000); Spain à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the text ile and clothing industries in Catalonia (Porter, 1998); Taiwan à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" electronic products at the Hsinchu Science Park (Chen, 2008); and the United States à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" computer and information systems at the Silicon Valley (Saxenian, 1994). The large significant number of academic studies has resulted in a large number of definitions aiming to describe and establish an accepted cluster template (e.g., Enright, 1996; Swann and Prevezer, 1996, Rosenfeld, 1997; Porter, 1998) to support policy makers and academics has led to intense debates and controversial perspectives. Even though the concept of clusters has been increasingly widely disseminated and used by geographers, economists and policy makers, it has suffered from some conceptual confusion. Porter defines a cluster as a geographic concentration of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers firms in related industries, and associated institutions (for example, universities, standards agencies and trade associations) in particular fields that compete but also co-operate (1998, p. 197). However, Martin and Sunley (2003, p. 12) present consistent arguments that indicate the vagueness and superficiality of the concept proposed by Porter. Accordin g to their arguments, those characteristics make the concept of cluster means different things to different researchers and policy makers, creating problems for its proper use in the guidance of academics and governments. Those highly controversial aspects of the cluster theory have stimulated the continuous emergence of new concepts and definitions for clusters. Proposing a definition aiming to fill some of the gaps and failures found in extant cluster theory, Pitelis (2010, p. 5) defines clusters as geographical agglomerations of firms in particular, related, and/or complementary, activities, with a geographical dimension, that exhibit horizontal and/or vertical intra- and/or inter-sectoral linkages, which operate in the context of a facilitatory socio-institutional setting, and which co-operate and compete (co-opete) in inter-national markets. That definition tries offer to a more delimited approach that incorporates four major elements: geographical agglomeration, linkages, social-capital  [1]  and co-opetition (competition and cooperation). The use of those four elements in a single definition offers the possibility to cover the cluster characteristics using delimited criteria to identify and distinguish developed clusters from less complex geographical agglomerations of firms and institutions. Although it is possible to observe some level of ambiguity encompassing the clusters theory, the existence of links interconnecting local actors complemented by geographical dimensions constitute some of the main common points used to guide academics and policy makers with interesting by the competitive outcomes originating from clusters. Those characteristics have frequently been used as the starting point to understand the economic dynamics of clustered firms, putting emphasis on the levels of innovation and productivity emerging from the concentration of different actors in the same area. Suggesting conditional characteristics to the presence of competitive advantages obtained by firms inside clusters, Ketels (2004) considers that the positive economic effects originated from the geographical concentration will only take place if four critical characteristics are shared among firms and institutions: Proximity: they must be geographically close to allow the emergence of knowledge spillovers and to share the same common resources; Linkages: the necessity of similarities in their activities leading to the establishment of connections and synergies; Interactions: the social interactions developed among firms, clients, suppliers, research institutes, and so on, is what forms the social capital that becomes possible firms to achieve differentiated competitive performances; Critical mass: it is important to have a significant number of firms and institutions in order to create meaningful impacts on performance of the local actors. Those characteristics described by Ketels may be used to guide the identification and distinction between developed clusters (Pitelis, 2010) from incipient clusters (Schmitz, 1999) in order to dismiss some incorrect interpretations associated with the clusters dynamics. Considering that the presence of geographic concentration of firms in the same industry is strikingly common around the world (Porter, 1990, p.120), it is necessary the use of specific benchmarks to distinguish and classify different groups of firms geographically concentrated according to their specific characteristics (Gordon and McCann, 2000; Isbasoiu, 2006). Describing how the existence of local capabilities  [2]  create differentiated conditions for companies within real clusters, Menzel and Fornahl (2010) argue that clusters are essentially formed from path dependencies (Martin and Sunley, 2006), transaction costs economies (McCann and Sheppard, 2003) and small cognitive distances originating from spatial proximity (Maskell, 2001). Thus, that set of factors are expected to create a specific regional dynamics with influence on the firms economic performance. Taking into consideration the different stages of a cluster life cycle, and the misunderstandings related to the claims associated with the clusters and competitiveness, Schmitz points out that A group of small producers making the same or similar things in close vicinity to each other constitutes a cluster, but such concentration in itself brings few benefits (1999, p. 4), emphasizing that the mere presence of firms in a delimited area does not represent a source of value creat ion able to improve in a significant way the local economic performance. Following the arguments above, the differences between regional clusters and simple agglomerations (groups of firms) lie mainly on the interconnected nature and spatial proximity. Thus, clusters are characterized by intense collaborative networks and concentrations of collaboration and competition (co-opetitition) (Pitelis, 2010), conditions which offer significant opportunities and stimulate the emergence of regional competitive advantages (Steinle and Schiele, 2002). Complementarily, another critical characteristic observed within clusters is the diversity of actors. According to Porter (1990, 1998, 2000), an industrial cluster includes suppliers, consumers, related industries, governments, and supporting institutions such as universities. This way, the existence of a regional network formed by a significant group of interconnected local actors is one of the critical factors to understand the differentiated competitive performance of firms within clusters (Steinle and Schiele, 2002 ). Illustrating that argument, Saxenian (1994) observed that Hewlett Packard and other firms at the Silicon Valley had their performance improved by the development long-term partnerships with suppliers located geographically close. Moreover, based on that observation, Saxenian concluded that, especially in high-tech industries, the physical proximity represents a facilitator to the establishment of efficient collaborative arrangements required to create and manage complex products and services. 1.2 Evolutionary Stages of Industrial Clusters Despite the vast cluster literature, the number of academic works discussing the evolutionary patterns of clusters overtime is not so extensive. Some examples can be found in Pouder and John (1996), Klepper (2001, 2007), Wolter (2003) and Andersson et al., (2004), and despite the divergent perspectives, it is accepted that clusters follow a kind of life cycle comprised by different phases that significantly differ in their characteristics and influence on firms performance. Regarding the cluster dynamics, Pouder and John (1996) argue that comparative analysis between clustered and non-clustered firms during the industry life cycle reveal that firms within clusters outperform those geographically dispersed at the initial stages of development, and have a worse performance at its end. That fact suggests that the cluster life cycle is not just a local representation of the industry trajectory, but is a result from local peculiarities. The comparative analysis developed by Saxenian (1994 ) between the computer industry in Boston and Silicon Valley illustrates how different clusters belonging to the same industry are very likely to follow different trajectories (Menzel and Fornahl, 2010). Proposing a different perspective, Klepper (2001, 2007) suggests a model to demonstrate how the clusters life cycle is determined by some the industry patterns. Klepper analyzed the automobile, tire and television industries and observed that at the beginning of the industry life cycle it was not possible to observe clear geographic concentrations of firms, with most of the firms spatially dispersed. He observed that in those industries clusters started to emerge and develop according to the industry growth rates. Klepper argues that the local characteristics originating from the spacial proximity (e.g., intensive spin-off process) give the stimulus for the geographic agglomeration of the whole industry, not only for specific groups. At the time the industry growth rate reduces, the attractiveness to remain agglomerated will also decrease and the industry will become dispersed again. That model proposed by Klepper represents a Technology-Product- Industry (TIP) life cycle. The logic behind this model is on the impact that the evolution of products and innovations has on the size, number, and location of firms. Wolter (2003) criticizes the model proposed by Klepper arguing that the growth rate cannot explain the agglomeration process in all industries on equal basis. Moreover, Wolter disagrees with the determinist perspective proposed by the TIP model, once it neglects that mature industries can be reinvented by radical or incremental innovations of new products and process. Analyzing the economic performance of firms within clusters Pouder and John (1996) attribute to the existence of mental models and biased cognitive focus the characteristics responsible for shaping the movement through the clusters life cycle. Following that perspective, at initial stages the cluster dynamics creates an innovative environment that exerts positive impacts on the firms performance. However, overtime that initial condition is eroded by strong institutional pressures that create a homogeneous macroculture that acts inhibiting the innovative capacity of the firms within the cluster. As in the model presented by Klepper (2001, 2007), that trajectory proposed by Pouder and John may also be criticized by the determinism that ignores the possibility of adaptations or reconfigurations in order to avoid lock-ins and other negative effects. Considering the arguments proposed by Menzel and Fornahl (2010, p. 8) that very few clusters follow a rigid life cycle from emergence to growth and decline, it is expected that clusters evolve overtime according to the local dynamics created by economic and social interactions among firms and institutions. That dynamics may be influenced, but not strictly determined by industry patterns (Wolter, 2003). Following a generic and stylized trajectory, within successful clusters the local network formed by inter-firm connections will tend to be intensified overtime, with an increasing number of formal and informal interactions between the long-established companies and new the ones attracted to the cluster. Even though it is more conceivable to assume that the decisions adopted by firms and institutions are shaped by specific circumstances, a generic trajectory can be described following the stages illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1: The cluster life cycle C:UsersLucasAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsTemporary Internet FilesContent.WordSem tÃÆ' ­tulo.jpg Source: Andersson et al. (2004, p. 43) Agglomeration: It is possible to observe the existence of a number of companies and other actors (e.g. banks, government agencies, universities, accountants, and lawyers offices) in a specific region working around the same or interrelated activities. Emerging cluster: Forming the embryo to the cluster some actors start to cooperation around some core activities, and start to realize the existence of common linkages. Developing cluster: The linkages are intensified by the emergence and attraction of new actors to the region, resulting in the creation of more interaction. In this context the development of inter-firm-cooperation becomes more evident through the development of joint efforts. The Mature cluster: This stage is configured by the presence of a certain critical mass of factors that consistently influence the competitive performance of the firms inside the cluster. The internal dynamics is characterized by the presence of an institutional environment, strong linkages, complementarities and the emergence of new firms through startups, joint ventures and spin-offs. Transformation: Indeed the process of continuous environmental change in markets, technologies, regulations and other process, to be successful a cluster have to innovate and adapt to these new conditions, other way stagnation and decay may affect the cluster dynamics. That process of change/adaptation may happen through the emergence of one or several interconnected clusters with focus in other activities, or by new configuration in terms of networks of firms and institutions. The presence of economic benefits for clustered firms described by authors like Schmitz and Nadvi (1999), Ketels (2004), Isbasoiu (2006) and Pitelis and Pseiridis (2006) are closely related to the stage of development that a cluster is experiencing. For example, an emerging cluster is not actually a cluster, since the small number of firms is not expected to present a high level of linkages and do not form a critical mass. Moreover, the absence of strong interdependencies such as labour mobility, spin-off, socioeconomic networks and intense exchange of good and services prevent the emergence of local capabilities. Thus, same considering that this stage constitutes the embryo that determines the future cluster orientation, at this point the firms are not expected to be strongly influenced by a complex local dynamics. Observing that fact, Menzel and Fornahl (2010) present a skeptical position regarding the effectiveness of any competitiveness policy intended to stimulate the development of clusters at initial stages (agglomeration and emerging), since the existence of horizontal and vertical links among firms concentrated in the same region constitutes a very common fact around the world. Thus, it is almost impossible to distinguish agglomerations with real potential to become a cluster from less complex structures. Consequently, emerging clusters are almost always only described ex-post. After the initial stages of the clusters life cycle it is expected the development and intensification of interdependencies between firms within cluster boundaries (Press, 2006). Indeed the development of those interdependencies, firms start to resemble more with each other, being observe the emergence of convergent designs in terms of technological models (Menzel and Fornahl, 2010), specialized labour market (Cooke et al., 2007), production systems (Pitelis, 2010) and inter-firm relationships (Blien and Maier, 2008). Moreover, developing clusters also attract a high number of start-ups that act stimulating the intensification of intra-cluster relationships. This way, that process of convergence and expansion of the number of firms within the cluster boundaries culminates in the development of self-reinforcing external economies that decrease the heterogeneity among firms at the same time that creates benefits like transactions cost economies and the privileged access to local knowle dge. As clusters reach the stage of maturity, the standards and configurations originating from past decisions become consolidate and it is observed a reduction in the growth rate of firms attracted to the cluster (Klepper, 2007). At this point the cluster trajectory may take two different directions. Keep unchanged, and suffer with a homogenization process that creates bias economic activities and therefore prevent firms to adapt to external shocks (Menzel and Fornahl, 2010). That situation traps firms in previous successful development path and lead to the geographic dispersion of the local actors and to the deterioration of the interdependencies and capabilities. The other possible trajectory is observed in clusters that reach the stage of maturity and successfully sustain the local dynamics by a continuous process of reconfiguration and adaptation to the external shocks (Wolter, 2003). 1.2 Clusters and Economic Performance The extant theory offers a wide range of explanations to justify the economic and competitive benefits experienced by firms located within clusters. Krugman (1991) stress the existence of increasing returns originating from the concentration of firms in the same area, arguing that the geographic proximity puts together the main parts related to firms activities (e.g., labours, firms, suppliers and costumers) resulting in transaction costs economies. Following other perspective, Schmitz and Nadvi (1999) argue that unintentional external economies are not sufficient to explain the competitiveness of firms located within clusters, attributing to the existence of deliberate joint actions (e.g., sharing equipments, associations, strategic alliances and producers improving components) a critical source of the competitive advantages. Pitelis and Pseiridis (2006) explain the levels of competitiveness and productivity associated with clustered firms considering the existence of specialized hu man resources, infrastructure and befits associated with unit costs economies complemented by the presence of an institutional atmosphere. Stressing a different point of view, Bahlmann and Huysman (2008) adopts the knowledge-based view of clusters to emphasize the relevance of knowledge spillovers among the firms to explain the advantages originated from the agglomeration process. Dupuy and Torre (2006) explains the existence of cluster in terms of the advantages originating from trust relationships that increase confidence and reduce risk and uncertainty about the intra-cluster operations taking place among the firms. Moreover, Zyglidopoulos et al. (2003), describe the positive effects that the reputation of a cluster may exert on the internalization process of small and micro enterprises through the alleviation of strategic constraints associated with factors like qualified work force, financing and reduction of the firms legitimation expenses. Despite that wide range of arguments, the most traditional perspective found in the cluster literature has explained the competitive advantages of clusters in terms of productivity and innovation (Pitelis, 1998; Porter, 1998), suggesting that the special characteristics originated from the economic and geographic proximity have significant impact on those two factors. Supplementary, Enright (1998) considers that the characteristics present inside the clusters local environment result in pressures, incentives and capabilities that increase the firms competitiveness comparatively to dispersed competitors, explaining the clustering process in terms of geographically restricted characteristics. Moreover, Solvell et al. (2003) suggests that the competitive advantages emerging from regional clusters may be classified as static and dynamics. According to this perspective, while the agglomeration process triggered and sustained intensively or exclusively by factors like natural resources, low cost labors and government subsidies offers a vulnerable (easy to be copied, substituted or simple eroded by environmental changes) competitive position, clusters based on dynamics characteristics like multi-sectorial externalities, advantages of scale and scope and specific knowledge spillovers are more dynamics and competitive. Extending the arguments presented by Solvell and his colleagues, Andersson et al. (2004) considers that the sustainability of static and dynamic competitive advantages is not strictly determined, arguing that static factors are the main responsible for the emergence of clusters, while the dynamics factors are only developed along the different stages of the cluste r life cycle. Complementing the understanding about the influence of the cluster dynamics on the firms economic performance some authors like Porter (2001); Garnsey and Heffernan (2007); Karlsson (2008) and Mason (2008) describe the existence of a self-reinforcing process originating from the agglomeration externalities that contribute to create a regional virtuous-circle of increasing productivity, competitiveness and value creation. Following that argument, the economic and geographic proximity will stimulate firms to innovate more indeed benefits originating from local capabilities, which will stimulate even more the agglomeration process through the intensification of inter-firm relationships and the attraction of other firms from outside the cluster, which in turn will strength the local capabilities (Blandy, 2003, p. 101). Thus, the dynamics of clusters is expected to be self-reinforced by agglomeration benefits with significant influence on the firms performance. Putting together the arguments associated with the economic impacts experienced by clustered firms indeed the existence of local factors, it is possible to identify and describe the following positive location-specific externalities: Cost savings indeed the geographic proximity with specialized suppliers, labours and distributors; Knowledge-spillovers (intentional and unintentional), since firms inside clusters can benefit from the knowledge dissemination process that may take place especially through inter-firm cooperation, specific linkages and labour mobility; Deliberate joint actions facilitated by the engagement in alliances and partnerships to achieve strategic objectives; Trust relationships, that through the geographic and economic proximity minimize the uncertainty associated with commercial operations, resulting in transactions costs economies; Pressures for higher performance, stimulated by the proximity with competitors; Specific Infrastructure and public goods that are oriented to attend the cluster demands, like roads, ports, laboratories and telecommunication networks; Complementarities, associated with firms in different activities but sharing common factors like raw material, clients and technologies that may enhance the cluster efficiency as whole. Discussing the role of regional clusters in shaping competitive patterns, Tallman et al. (2004) proposes a distinction between the types of competitive advantages emerging from clustered firms: based on traded interdependencies and based on untraded interdependencies. The concept of traded interdependencies is related to the existence of inter-firm transactions inside the cluster, and is observed in formal exchange operations that may take place in form of alliances, commercial operations and acquisitions. On the other hand, untraded interdependencies are related to less tangible effects, and are based on shared knowledge for which no market mechanism exists; with no formal exchange of value for value (Tallman et al. 2004, p. 261). To illustrate the mechanisms by which the untraded interdependencies take place, it is possible to mention unintentional external economies associated with tacit knowledge shared through mechanisms like labor mobility. Those different types of interdependencies, especially untraded, present at the cluster level, represent a source of competitive advantage that is likely to be causal ambiguous (for firms inside and outside the cluster) and high complex in terms of their origins, what consequently constitutes attributes difficult to be replicated by competitors. However, the presence of untraded effects, especially unintentional knowledge spillovers, is viewed Enright (1998) as a constraining factor for firms within clusters, since the establishment of an efficient information flow may limit the firms capacity to obtain monopoly profits from the development of innovations. Complementing the negative effects originating from the clusters dynamics, some authors also describe agglomeration diseconomies that have a negative impact firms located within clusters. For example, congestion effects (Arthur, 1990), institutional sclerosis (Pouder and John, 1996; Pitelis, 2010), rigidities associated with labour mobility and natural resources (Krugman, 1989) and pollution (Fan and Scott, 2003). This way, the dynamics and performance of a cluster is determined by the interplay between positive and negative externalities observed during the different stages of development that a cluster is expected to pass overtime (Wolter, 2003) Limitations in the Cluster Theory Notwithstanding the advances in the cluster theory some questions still remain insufficiently explored. One of the main limitations observed in the current state of the cluster literature is the lack of comparative perspectives to explain the advantages and disadvantages of clusters relatively to other alternative models of organization of economic activities. In his very novel approach, Pitelis (2010) suggests that any perspective trying to explain clusters in terms of absolute advantages is at the very best incomplete. In this context, Pitelis proposes the comparison of clusters vis-ÃÆ'  -vis to markets and hierarchies in order to understand the reasons and conditions that lead firms to engage in intra-clusters relationships, market operations (outside the cluster) or integrate within the firms hierarchy. In fact it is not necessary a great effort to conclude that most of the cluster theory has been developed following a mono-institutional approach (e.g. Porter, 1990, 1998; Saxe nian, 1994; Rosenfeld, 1998; Swann and Sennett, 1998; Schmitz and Nadvi, 1999), while some few exceptions concentrated on transactions costs (e.g. Fujita and Thisse, 1996; Iammarino and McCann, 2006; Takeda et al., 2008) and knowledge creation efficiency (e.g. Hendry et al., 2000; Tracey and Clark, 2003; Reinau, 2007; Kongmanila and Takahashi, 2009) have been drawn on a comparative approaches between clusters and open-market operations. Assuming the arguments proposed by many scholars that clusters are engines of innovation (Davis, 2006, p. 32), the lack of comparative perspectives do not answer the question why clusters are more efficient than markets or the hierarchy to improve the firms innovative capacity (Pitelis, 2010). Thus, despite the wide number of ramifications observed in the cluster theory such as innovative efficiency, productivity, social capital and social interactions, its explicative power remains almost always restricted Inter Firm Relationships in the Silicon Fen Inter Firm Relationships in the Silicon Fen The attention that clusters have received from policy makers and academics has substantially increased in the last 20 years. Since Porters seminal work on The Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990) presented clusters as one of the determinants of the international competitiveness of nations and regions, many scholars have adopted and further developed his approach. Porter bases his arguments on what he describes as the globalization paradox, pointing out that despite the logical implications that the globalisation process might have in dismissing the relevance of regional factors, the most competitive firms in world are located in groups geographically concentrated in specific locations. That perspective contributed to attracting attention to the existence of characteristics tied to a local context that could not be accessed by firms positioned elsewhere, and more, to the positive effects that the concentration and the geographic proximity could exert on the firms competitiveness. However influential, Porters ideas were not the precursor to discussing the competitive outcomes originating from the geographic concentration of firms (Martin and Sunley, 2003). The roots of cluster theory go back to the industrial districts identified by Marshall (1890), who offered the first detailed description about the economic and social systems created as a result of the spacial concentrations of industrial activities. The Marshallian industrial districts were arrangements of small firms interconnected by commercial operations (buyers and sellers) and other firms engaged in the same or similar activities, that shared productive factors, such as the labour market, infrastructure and tacit knowledge (Becattini, 2004, p. 68). According to Marshals descriptions, a group of firms operating in one specific sector within a well-defined, concentrated and relatively small geographic area would experience higher levels of productivity and innovation, indeed the emergence of a fertile e nvironment for technical and organisational developments. Thus the local characteristics would enable the emergence of an industrial atmosphere that would increase the firms potential to acquire (especially tacit) knowledge, and create positive external economies accessible only to the firms located within the district (Asheim, 2003, p. 416). That perspective tried to evidence that firms geographically concentrated could accesses restricted positive exogenous benefits (exogenous to firms, but endogenous to the district), which would be an alternative to the scale economies achieved by a single (integrated) firm. Additionally, following some of the seminal ideas proposed by Marshall, it is possible to observe a significant number of economic geographers that also explored regional development using the spatial economic agglomeration to support their ideas. Some examples of concepts emerging from that theoretical trend are regional innovation milieux (Crevoisier, 2004), neo-Marshallian nodes (Amin and Thrift, 1992) and learning regions (Asheim, 1995). More examples can be found in Markusen (1996, p. 297), in which another three different types of industrial districts are described according to the firms configurations, internal versus external orientations and governance structures: a hub-and-spoke industrial district, which is concentrated around one or more dominant firms; a satellite platform, formed by a group of unconnected branches embedded in external links; and the state-anchored district, concentrated on one or more public-sector institutions. Despite the logical and robust assumption s found in many of those concepts, their influence and dissemination were not as successful as the more general cluster framework proposed by Porter. Martin and Sunley (2003) attributes the successful dissemination of the Porter concepts to the very general descriptions and delimitations that encompass a wide range of actors and many different structures. Following much of the concepts proposed by Porter, the description of advantages conferred on clustered firms associated with a general and structured analytical framework stimulated the development and dissemination of academic studies and subsidized the creation of supply-side competitiveness policies directed at structuring and supporting the development of clusters (Pitelis, 2010). That fact resulted in what Martin and Sunley (2003) describe as a policy panacea in the use of clusters as a standard (sometimes the unique) target for promoting competitiveness, innovation and economic growth. Moreover, in the last 20 years an increasing number of empirical studies in different countries and sectors have been observed, which aim to identify and discuss the competitive outcomes originating from the concentration of firms and other actors in the same location, for example: Brazil à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" shoe manufacturing in the Sinos Valley (Schmitz, 2000); Spain à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the text ile and clothing industries in Catalonia (Porter, 1998); Taiwan à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" electronic products at the Hsinchu Science Park (Chen, 2008); and the United States à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" computer and information systems at the Silicon Valley (Saxenian, 1994). The large significant number of academic studies has resulted in a large number of definitions aiming to describe and establish an accepted cluster template (e.g., Enright, 1996; Swann and Prevezer, 1996, Rosenfeld, 1997; Porter, 1998) to support policy makers and academics has led to intense debates and controversial perspectives. Even though the concept of clusters has been increasingly widely disseminated and used by geographers, economists and policy makers, it has suffered from some conceptual confusion. Porter defines a cluster as a geographic concentration of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers firms in related industries, and associated institutions (for example, universities, standards agencies and trade associations) in particular fields that compete but also co-operate (1998, p. 197). However, Martin and Sunley (2003, p. 12) present consistent arguments that indicate the vagueness and superficiality of the concept proposed by Porter. Accordin g to their arguments, those characteristics make the concept of cluster means different things to different researchers and policy makers, creating problems for its proper use in the guidance of academics and governments. Those highly controversial aspects of the cluster theory have stimulated the continuous emergence of new concepts and definitions for clusters. Proposing a definition aiming to fill some of the gaps and failures found in extant cluster theory, Pitelis (2010, p. 5) defines clusters as geographical agglomerations of firms in particular, related, and/or complementary, activities, with a geographical dimension, that exhibit horizontal and/or vertical intra- and/or inter-sectoral linkages, which operate in the context of a facilitatory socio-institutional setting, and which co-operate and compete (co-opete) in inter-national markets. That definition tries offer to a more delimited approach that incorporates four major elements: geographical agglomeration, linkages, social-capital  [1]  and co-opetition (competition and cooperation). The use of those four elements in a single definition offers the possibility to cover the cluster characteristics using delimited criteria to identify and distinguish developed clusters from less complex geographical agglomerations of firms and institutions. Although it is possible to observe some level of ambiguity encompassing the clusters theory, the existence of links interconnecting local actors complemented by geographical dimensions constitute some of the main common points used to guide academics and policy makers with interesting by the competitive outcomes originating from clusters. Those characteristics have frequently been used as the starting point to understand the economic dynamics of clustered firms, putting emphasis on the levels of innovation and productivity emerging from the concentration of different actors in the same area. Suggesting conditional characteristics to the presence of competitive advantages obtained by firms inside clusters, Ketels (2004) considers that the positive economic effects originated from the geographical concentration will only take place if four critical characteristics are shared among firms and institutions: Proximity: they must be geographically close to allow the emergence of knowledge spillovers and to share the same common resources; Linkages: the necessity of similarities in their activities leading to the establishment of connections and synergies; Interactions: the social interactions developed among firms, clients, suppliers, research institutes, and so on, is what forms the social capital that becomes possible firms to achieve differentiated competitive performances; Critical mass: it is important to have a significant number of firms and institutions in order to create meaningful impacts on performance of the local actors. Those characteristics described by Ketels may be used to guide the identification and distinction between developed clusters (Pitelis, 2010) from incipient clusters (Schmitz, 1999) in order to dismiss some incorrect interpretations associated with the clusters dynamics. Considering that the presence of geographic concentration of firms in the same industry is strikingly common around the world (Porter, 1990, p.120), it is necessary the use of specific benchmarks to distinguish and classify different groups of firms geographically concentrated according to their specific characteristics (Gordon and McCann, 2000; Isbasoiu, 2006). Describing how the existence of local capabilities  [2]  create differentiated conditions for companies within real clusters, Menzel and Fornahl (2010) argue that clusters are essentially formed from path dependencies (Martin and Sunley, 2006), transaction costs economies (McCann and Sheppard, 2003) and small cognitive distances originating from spatial proximity (Maskell, 2001). Thus, that set of factors are expected to create a specific regional dynamics with influence on the firms economic performance. Taking into consideration the different stages of a cluster life cycle, and the misunderstandings related to the claims associated with the clusters and competitiveness, Schmitz points out that A group of small producers making the same or similar things in close vicinity to each other constitutes a cluster, but such concentration in itself brings few benefits (1999, p. 4), emphasizing that the mere presence of firms in a delimited area does not represent a source of value creat ion able to improve in a significant way the local economic performance. Following the arguments above, the differences between regional clusters and simple agglomerations (groups of firms) lie mainly on the interconnected nature and spatial proximity. Thus, clusters are characterized by intense collaborative networks and concentrations of collaboration and competition (co-opetitition) (Pitelis, 2010), conditions which offer significant opportunities and stimulate the emergence of regional competitive advantages (Steinle and Schiele, 2002). Complementarily, another critical characteristic observed within clusters is the diversity of actors. According to Porter (1990, 1998, 2000), an industrial cluster includes suppliers, consumers, related industries, governments, and supporting institutions such as universities. This way, the existence of a regional network formed by a significant group of interconnected local actors is one of the critical factors to understand the differentiated competitive performance of firms within clusters (Steinle and Schiele, 2002 ). Illustrating that argument, Saxenian (1994) observed that Hewlett Packard and other firms at the Silicon Valley had their performance improved by the development long-term partnerships with suppliers located geographically close. Moreover, based on that observation, Saxenian concluded that, especially in high-tech industries, the physical proximity represents a facilitator to the establishment of efficient collaborative arrangements required to create and manage complex products and services. 1.2 Evolutionary Stages of Industrial Clusters Despite the vast cluster literature, the number of academic works discussing the evolutionary patterns of clusters overtime is not so extensive. Some examples can be found in Pouder and John (1996), Klepper (2001, 2007), Wolter (2003) and Andersson et al., (2004), and despite the divergent perspectives, it is accepted that clusters follow a kind of life cycle comprised by different phases that significantly differ in their characteristics and influence on firms performance. Regarding the cluster dynamics, Pouder and John (1996) argue that comparative analysis between clustered and non-clustered firms during the industry life cycle reveal that firms within clusters outperform those geographically dispersed at the initial stages of development, and have a worse performance at its end. That fact suggests that the cluster life cycle is not just a local representation of the industry trajectory, but is a result from local peculiarities. The comparative analysis developed by Saxenian (1994 ) between the computer industry in Boston and Silicon Valley illustrates how different clusters belonging to the same industry are very likely to follow different trajectories (Menzel and Fornahl, 2010). Proposing a different perspective, Klepper (2001, 2007) suggests a model to demonstrate how the clusters life cycle is determined by some the industry patterns. Klepper analyzed the automobile, tire and television industries and observed that at the beginning of the industry life cycle it was not possible to observe clear geographic concentrations of firms, with most of the firms spatially dispersed. He observed that in those industries clusters started to emerge and develop according to the industry growth rates. Klepper argues that the local characteristics originating from the spacial proximity (e.g., intensive spin-off process) give the stimulus for the geographic agglomeration of the whole industry, not only for specific groups. At the time the industry growth rate reduces, the attractiveness to remain agglomerated will also decrease and the industry will become dispersed again. That model proposed by Klepper represents a Technology-Product- Industry (TIP) life cycle. The logic behind this model is on the impact that the evolution of products and innovations has on the size, number, and location of firms. Wolter (2003) criticizes the model proposed by Klepper arguing that the growth rate cannot explain the agglomeration process in all industries on equal basis. Moreover, Wolter disagrees with the determinist perspective proposed by the TIP model, once it neglects that mature industries can be reinvented by radical or incremental innovations of new products and process. Analyzing the economic performance of firms within clusters Pouder and John (1996) attribute to the existence of mental models and biased cognitive focus the characteristics responsible for shaping the movement through the clusters life cycle. Following that perspective, at initial stages the cluster dynamics creates an innovative environment that exerts positive impacts on the firms performance. However, overtime that initial condition is eroded by strong institutional pressures that create a homogeneous macroculture that acts inhibiting the innovative capacity of the firms within the cluster. As in the model presented by Klepper (2001, 2007), that trajectory proposed by Pouder and John may also be criticized by the determinism that ignores the possibility of adaptations or reconfigurations in order to avoid lock-ins and other negative effects. Considering the arguments proposed by Menzel and Fornahl (2010, p. 8) that very few clusters follow a rigid life cycle from emergence to growth and decline, it is expected that clusters evolve overtime according to the local dynamics created by economic and social interactions among firms and institutions. That dynamics may be influenced, but not strictly determined by industry patterns (Wolter, 2003). Following a generic and stylized trajectory, within successful clusters the local network formed by inter-firm connections will tend to be intensified overtime, with an increasing number of formal and informal interactions between the long-established companies and new the ones attracted to the cluster. Even though it is more conceivable to assume that the decisions adopted by firms and institutions are shaped by specific circumstances, a generic trajectory can be described following the stages illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1: The cluster life cycle C:UsersLucasAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsTemporary Internet FilesContent.WordSem tÃÆ' ­tulo.jpg Source: Andersson et al. (2004, p. 43) Agglomeration: It is possible to observe the existence of a number of companies and other actors (e.g. banks, government agencies, universities, accountants, and lawyers offices) in a specific region working around the same or interrelated activities. Emerging cluster: Forming the embryo to the cluster some actors start to cooperation around some core activities, and start to realize the existence of common linkages. Developing cluster: The linkages are intensified by the emergence and attraction of new actors to the region, resulting in the creation of more interaction. In this context the development of inter-firm-cooperation becomes more evident through the development of joint efforts. The Mature cluster: This stage is configured by the presence of a certain critical mass of factors that consistently influence the competitive performance of the firms inside the cluster. The internal dynamics is characterized by the presence of an institutional environment, strong linkages, complementarities and the emergence of new firms through startups, joint ventures and spin-offs. Transformation: Indeed the process of continuous environmental change in markets, technologies, regulations and other process, to be successful a cluster have to innovate and adapt to these new conditions, other way stagnation and decay may affect the cluster dynamics. That process of change/adaptation may happen through the emergence of one or several interconnected clusters with focus in other activities, or by new configuration in terms of networks of firms and institutions. The presence of economic benefits for clustered firms described by authors like Schmitz and Nadvi (1999), Ketels (2004), Isbasoiu (2006) and Pitelis and Pseiridis (2006) are closely related to the stage of development that a cluster is experiencing. For example, an emerging cluster is not actually a cluster, since the small number of firms is not expected to present a high level of linkages and do not form a critical mass. Moreover, the absence of strong interdependencies such as labour mobility, spin-off, socioeconomic networks and intense exchange of good and services prevent the emergence of local capabilities. Thus, same considering that this stage constitutes the embryo that determines the future cluster orientation, at this point the firms are not expected to be strongly influenced by a complex local dynamics. Observing that fact, Menzel and Fornahl (2010) present a skeptical position regarding the effectiveness of any competitiveness policy intended to stimulate the development of clusters at initial stages (agglomeration and emerging), since the existence of horizontal and vertical links among firms concentrated in the same region constitutes a very common fact around the world. Thus, it is almost impossible to distinguish agglomerations with real potential to become a cluster from less complex structures. Consequently, emerging clusters are almost always only described ex-post. After the initial stages of the clusters life cycle it is expected the development and intensification of interdependencies between firms within cluster boundaries (Press, 2006). Indeed the development of those interdependencies, firms start to resemble more with each other, being observe the emergence of convergent designs in terms of technological models (Menzel and Fornahl, 2010), specialized labour market (Cooke et al., 2007), production systems (Pitelis, 2010) and inter-firm relationships (Blien and Maier, 2008). Moreover, developing clusters also attract a high number of start-ups that act stimulating the intensification of intra-cluster relationships. This way, that process of convergence and expansion of the number of firms within the cluster boundaries culminates in the development of self-reinforcing external economies that decrease the heterogeneity among firms at the same time that creates benefits like transactions cost economies and the privileged access to local knowle dge. As clusters reach the stage of maturity, the standards and configurations originating from past decisions become consolidate and it is observed a reduction in the growth rate of firms attracted to the cluster (Klepper, 2007). At this point the cluster trajectory may take two different directions. Keep unchanged, and suffer with a homogenization process that creates bias economic activities and therefore prevent firms to adapt to external shocks (Menzel and Fornahl, 2010). That situation traps firms in previous successful development path and lead to the geographic dispersion of the local actors and to the deterioration of the interdependencies and capabilities. The other possible trajectory is observed in clusters that reach the stage of maturity and successfully sustain the local dynamics by a continuous process of reconfiguration and adaptation to the external shocks (Wolter, 2003). 1.2 Clusters and Economic Performance The extant theory offers a wide range of explanations to justify the economic and competitive benefits experienced by firms located within clusters. Krugman (1991) stress the existence of increasing returns originating from the concentration of firms in the same area, arguing that the geographic proximity puts together the main parts related to firms activities (e.g., labours, firms, suppliers and costumers) resulting in transaction costs economies. Following other perspective, Schmitz and Nadvi (1999) argue that unintentional external economies are not sufficient to explain the competitiveness of firms located within clusters, attributing to the existence of deliberate joint actions (e.g., sharing equipments, associations, strategic alliances and producers improving components) a critical source of the competitive advantages. Pitelis and Pseiridis (2006) explain the levels of competitiveness and productivity associated with clustered firms considering the existence of specialized hu man resources, infrastructure and befits associated with unit costs economies complemented by the presence of an institutional atmosphere. Stressing a different point of view, Bahlmann and Huysman (2008) adopts the knowledge-based view of clusters to emphasize the relevance of knowledge spillovers among the firms to explain the advantages originated from the agglomeration process. Dupuy and Torre (2006) explains the existence of cluster in terms of the advantages originating from trust relationships that increase confidence and reduce risk and uncertainty about the intra-cluster operations taking place among the firms. Moreover, Zyglidopoulos et al. (2003), describe the positive effects that the reputation of a cluster may exert on the internalization process of small and micro enterprises through the alleviation of strategic constraints associated with factors like qualified work force, financing and reduction of the firms legitimation expenses. Despite that wide range of arguments, the most traditional perspective found in the cluster literature has explained the competitive advantages of clusters in terms of productivity and innovation (Pitelis, 1998; Porter, 1998), suggesting that the special characteristics originated from the economic and geographic proximity have significant impact on those two factors. Supplementary, Enright (1998) considers that the characteristics present inside the clusters local environment result in pressures, incentives and capabilities that increase the firms competitiveness comparatively to dispersed competitors, explaining the clustering process in terms of geographically restricted characteristics. Moreover, Solvell et al. (2003) suggests that the competitive advantages emerging from regional clusters may be classified as static and dynamics. According to this perspective, while the agglomeration process triggered and sustained intensively or exclusively by factors like natural resources, low cost labors and government subsidies offers a vulnerable (easy to be copied, substituted or simple eroded by environmental changes) competitive position, clusters based on dynamics characteristics like multi-sectorial externalities, advantages of scale and scope and specific knowledge spillovers are more dynamics and competitive. Extending the arguments presented by Solvell and his colleagues, Andersson et al. (2004) considers that the sustainability of static and dynamic competitive advantages is not strictly determined, arguing that static factors are the main responsible for the emergence of clusters, while the dynamics factors are only developed along the different stages of the cluste r life cycle. Complementing the understanding about the influence of the cluster dynamics on the firms economic performance some authors like Porter (2001); Garnsey and Heffernan (2007); Karlsson (2008) and Mason (2008) describe the existence of a self-reinforcing process originating from the agglomeration externalities that contribute to create a regional virtuous-circle of increasing productivity, competitiveness and value creation. Following that argument, the economic and geographic proximity will stimulate firms to innovate more indeed benefits originating from local capabilities, which will stimulate even more the agglomeration process through the intensification of inter-firm relationships and the attraction of other firms from outside the cluster, which in turn will strength the local capabilities (Blandy, 2003, p. 101). Thus, the dynamics of clusters is expected to be self-reinforced by agglomeration benefits with significant influence on the firms performance. Putting together the arguments associated with the economic impacts experienced by clustered firms indeed the existence of local factors, it is possible to identify and describe the following positive location-specific externalities: Cost savings indeed the geographic proximity with specialized suppliers, labours and distributors; Knowledge-spillovers (intentional and unintentional), since firms inside clusters can benefit from the knowledge dissemination process that may take place especially through inter-firm cooperation, specific linkages and labour mobility; Deliberate joint actions facilitated by the engagement in alliances and partnerships to achieve strategic objectives; Trust relationships, that through the geographic and economic proximity minimize the uncertainty associated with commercial operations, resulting in transactions costs economies; Pressures for higher performance, stimulated by the proximity with competitors; Specific Infrastructure and public goods that are oriented to attend the cluster demands, like roads, ports, laboratories and telecommunication networks; Complementarities, associated with firms in different activities but sharing common factors like raw material, clients and technologies that may enhance the cluster efficiency as whole. Discussing the role of regional clusters in shaping competitive patterns, Tallman et al. (2004) proposes a distinction between the types of competitive advantages emerging from clustered firms: based on traded interdependencies and based on untraded interdependencies. The concept of traded interdependencies is related to the existence of inter-firm transactions inside the cluster, and is observed in formal exchange operations that may take place in form of alliances, commercial operations and acquisitions. On the other hand, untraded interdependencies are related to less tangible effects, and are based on shared knowledge for which no market mechanism exists; with no formal exchange of value for value (Tallman et al. 2004, p. 261). To illustrate the mechanisms by which the untraded interdependencies take place, it is possible to mention unintentional external economies associated with tacit knowledge shared through mechanisms like labor mobility. Those different types of interdependencies, especially untraded, present at the cluster level, represent a source of competitive advantage that is likely to be causal ambiguous (for firms inside and outside the cluster) and high complex in terms of their origins, what consequently constitutes attributes difficult to be replicated by competitors. However, the presence of untraded effects, especially unintentional knowledge spillovers, is viewed Enright (1998) as a constraining factor for firms within clusters, since the establishment of an efficient information flow may limit the firms capacity to obtain monopoly profits from the development of innovations. Complementing the negative effects originating from the clusters dynamics, some authors also describe agglomeration diseconomies that have a negative impact firms located within clusters. For example, congestion effects (Arthur, 1990), institutional sclerosis (Pouder and John, 1996; Pitelis, 2010), rigidities associated with labour mobility and natural resources (Krugman, 1989) and pollution (Fan and Scott, 2003). This way, the dynamics and performance of a cluster is determined by the interplay between positive and negative externalities observed during the different stages of development that a cluster is expected to pass overtime (Wolter, 2003) Limitations in the Cluster Theory Notwithstanding the advances in the cluster theory some questions still remain insufficiently explored. One of the main limitations observed in the current state of the cluster literature is the lack of comparative perspectives to explain the advantages and disadvantages of clusters relatively to other alternative models of organization of economic activities. In his very novel approach, Pitelis (2010) suggests that any perspective trying to explain clusters in terms of absolute advantages is at the very best incomplete. In this context, Pitelis proposes the comparison of clusters vis-ÃÆ'  -vis to markets and hierarchies in order to understand the reasons and conditions that lead firms to engage in intra-clusters relationships, market operations (outside the cluster) or integrate within the firms hierarchy. In fact it is not necessary a great effort to conclude that most of the cluster theory has been developed following a mono-institutional approach (e.g. Porter, 1990, 1998; Saxe nian, 1994; Rosenfeld, 1998; Swann and Sennett, 1998; Schmitz and Nadvi, 1999), while some few exceptions concentrated on transactions costs (e.g. Fujita and Thisse, 1996; Iammarino and McCann, 2006; Takeda et al., 2008) and knowledge creation efficiency (e.g. Hendry et al., 2000; Tracey and Clark, 2003; Reinau, 2007; Kongmanila and Takahashi, 2009) have been drawn on a comparative approaches between clusters and open-market operations. Assuming the arguments proposed by many scholars that clusters are engines of innovation (Davis, 2006, p. 32), the lack of comparative perspectives do not answer the question why clusters are more efficient than markets or the hierarchy to improve the firms innovative capacity (Pitelis, 2010). Thus, despite the wide number of ramifications observed in the cluster theory such as innovative efficiency, productivity, social capital and social interactions, its explicative power remains almost always restricted