JWT China Case Study Essay

I. Summary This case studies the business strategy and expansion of JWT China from the late 1990s to 2008. As part of one of the world’s largest marketing communications network, JWT China grew into one of the largest integrated communications companies in China operating from offices in various parts of the country. The case delivers a thorough history of and inclusive insights into China’s advertising industry and the challenges for foreign and domestic firms operating within a highly regulated media environment controlled by the Chinese government. Moreover, this case offers understandings and perceptions into the structure of the highly segmented Chinese consumers market, exploring the socio-economic disparities in income access as well as culturally determined consumer behavior across different regions and urban and rural areas. The case allows us to explore how these trends might impact JWT’s advertising and marketing strategies in the future and how to evaluate JWTâ €™s business expansion in China dealing with local and foreign competition. II. Problems and Situation: The biggest problem of JWT is how to adapt with China’s fast-growing economy and rapid rise of consumption. With the growing economy, there will be more competitors from both international and local areas. Therefore, JWT China has to strategize its expansion to take advantage of a bigger market share. The second problem of JWT China is â€Å"their consumers were becoming increasingly individualistic and demanding participants in the marketplace† . This change requires JWT to constantly re-evaluating its channel and advertising approaches for a more sophisticated consumer markets. In the other words, JWT China has to always investigate and learn about their consumers’ trends, cultures. characteristics, wants and needs to meet their changing requirements. III. Key Issues: The foreign company should be careful by making business in China because of the Chinese consumer behavior, their history and culture. As a major advertising agency, JWT should be very careful with the multinational commercials in order to avoid the conflict and have a positive impact. Since  Chinese consumers can be characterized as very highly traditional, their culture and history should be taken in high considerations. As one of the major companies on the Chinese market, JWT is able to quickly and easily secure its great market share and major role on the market. However, as there is a problem with Chinese income gap, the company should try to target cheaper goods and services, which can bring more profit and advantages. By using marketing and advertising strategies for more affordable products, JWT will explore different segments of Chinese consumers; it will affect them and will bring the positive impact over itself. Although China is the fastest grow country and has a great ability of inventing the new technology, adopt the new and transform its traditional media understanding to the new media, TV, newspapers and radio still have the greatest impact over the Chinese population. Having in mind, every second person of China uses computer and internet; Chinese consumers are not willing to adopt the new advertising media as a primary source. Using the data from some research we can say that China is a country without a middle class. Because of the difference in the social status of Chinese, there is a significant problem- how to find and determine that middle class. The government also has a great impact over the advertising agencies in China. The law has some regulation for advertising contents, and prohibits some wordings that are not appropriate for the Chinese consumers. Advertising agencies in China were subject to the Advertisement Law of People’s Republic of China. Dealing with local clients also is a challenge for JWT compared with foreign clients since it is difficult to convince the local ones to implement advertising strategies that had long-term brand vision instead of focusing solely on quick returns. In addition, it is harder to develop the loyalty of local clients, which leads to a shorter relationship between JWT and local clients. IV. Advantage and Disadvantage Advantage: – JWT China is one of the largest integrated communications companies in China, and their Shanghai office become the largest creative center of the company. It means they have a big market share and their brand has already established securely in Chinese’s eyes. In addition, being a pioneer in  marketing and communications industry mean JWT China has the advantage of a trend setter and a wide spreading image. – JWT China has built a strong team which is diversified, talented and creative. It ensures they will manage the growth and competition in a quick, effective and creative method. From their recruiting and training processes, JWT nurtures leadership skills and creativity and talent of its employees as its powerful assets. – JWT China operated as a multinational company. This brings them the chance to be transparent and product-oriented work environment under excellent international leadership. – JWT China optimizes its services by synergize th e Team JWT â€Å"solar system†, including JWT Shanghai, Always, Glendinning and RMG Connect. This powerful team allows JWT China to manipulate the nationwide smart promotion management network. It also enhance JWT China to adapt with various demands and changes from different level of clients. Disadvantage: -Based on Chinese culture and media understanding, JWT could have some problems with staying at the top in advertising world. First we can say that China was considered as an â€Å"old media† market. Although, every family member owns a personal computer, Chinese consumers do not rely on Internet commercials. In China, television, radio and newspapers are still predominant. If the company continues to develop print and TV ads it will have a great success. On the other hand, if the company starts to work more on Internet advertisements and leave the standard commercials behind, it will not be able to continue establishing a good and profitable business in China -.With China being such a vast and diverse place with various tiers, and customs and values of people differing from province to province; thus, it requires a variation approaches to be successful. JWT China, as a big enterprise, may have disadvantage in quickly adapting and customizing to each specific consumer’s cultures and interests in regards of disparity of region and income. – Along with the mentioned culture difference, JWT will need more time and effort to understand the sophisticated difference between Chinese and Western, compared to domestic or local agencies who operated by entirely Chinese people. V. Conclusion/ Outcome The future of JWT in China will eventually lead to expansion and growth to meet with the fast growing China’s economy. However, to keep their pioneer position in China advertising industry, JWT has to solve many arising concerns regarding the conflicts among JWT’s different disciplines within their company. They also have to find an efficient strategy to win over their domestic competitors regards of scales, market shares and client’s relationships. In addition, although JWT China already possessed a deep understanding of Chinese’s cultures and history in the past , they still need to focus on any hidden and sophisticated changes reflects the social-economy changing. In conclusion, the future for JWT China is promising, but there are many challenges and difficulties to overcome.

“Labeling of Genetically Modified Food Products” Essay

Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs were first introduced into Americas’ food supply in 1996, and there were 7 million acres of crops worldwide that were using GMO seeds. As of 2004, the crop size worldwide that uses GMO seeds had grown to 222 million acres with approximately 63% of those in the United States alone (253). As of 2008, more than 90 percent of soy crops and 75 percent of corn in the United States were raised from genetically modified seeds. As of now, in the United States, there are still no regulations to mandate the labeling of food products that contain GMOs. The United States only requires labeling of genetically modified foods if the food has a significantly different nutritional property, or unexpected allergens, or if the food contains toxins that are higher than acceptable levels. Most developed countries throughout the world have adopted differing regulations pertaining to labeling food products containing GMOs, although with some controversy. While the mandatory labeling requirements were enacted to allow consumer choice of whether or not to purchase foods that contain GMOs, mandatory labeling in the European Union and Japan for example, has resulted in retailers not stocking genetically modified foods on their shelves due to the perceived consumer aversion to genetically modified foods. Advocates of genetically modified foods argue that consumers already have a choice in what they can purchase, whether it is processed foods with traditionally grown ingredients, genetically modified processed foods or organic foods. The consumers of these nations voiced their opinions loudly, that they had the right to know if GMOs were in the food products they were buying, and their governments listened. In the United States, the FDA has stringent testing protocols that biotech firms must follow when developing a drug to bring to market. This protocol consists of different phases of drug trials with the first being a study of the possible side effects of said proposed drug on healthy subjects (meaning that if said drug is for treating colon cancer, the test subjects will be free from the disease) to determine if the subjects develop any side effects. If the phase 1 tests prove to meet FDA satisfaction, they are allowed to proceed to phase 2 of clinical trials which involve subjects that currently have the disease they are trying to treat with the new drug and the tests are done to see if the proposed drug actually treats the disease that they are aiming at. Some ask, that with such stringent testing done with drug chemicals that will be ingested by consumers, why aren’t those same stringent testing regulations implemented into the genetically modified food industry. There is much controversy on this matter in the United States, as Delborne and Kinchy write in the article â€Å"Genetically Modified Organisms†; Promoters of GMOs tend to favor science-based risk assessments (â€Å"sound science†), whereas critics tend to advocate the precautionary principle. Calls for science-based risk assessments often come from stakeholders who oppose increased regulation and want to see GM technologies developed and marketed. Specifically, they argue that before a technology should be regulated for possible risks, those risks must be demonstrated as scientifically real and quantifiable. Although the definition of â€Å"sound science† is itself controversial, proponents state that regulatory agencies such as the EPA and FDA have been too quick to regulate technologies without good evidence—arguing that such government interference not only creates financial disincentives for technological innovation but actually causes social harm by delaying or preventing important technologies from becoming available. Such a perspective views government regulation as a risk in itself. By contrast, advocates of the precautionary principle stress the existence of scientific uncertainties associated with many modern environmental and health issues. They have proposed a framework for decision making that errs on the side of precaution (â€Å"better safe than sorry†). Major components include the following: (1) anticipate harm and prevent it; (2) place the burden of proof on polluters to provide evidence of safety, not on society to prove harm; (3) always examine alternative solutions; and (4) include affected parties in democratic governance of technologies. Critics argue that the precautionary principle is little more than a scientific disguise for anti-technology politics (187). Testing of GMOs in our food products should be done in a similar way as drugs are tested. The way that it stands now, all consumers are being treated as guinea pigs with this technology, and some are not convinced that it’s not having an impact on the health of consumers. The CDC has reported an 18 percent increase in food allergies among children under the age of 18 from 1997 to 2007. Even though there have been no long term scientific studies conducted to measure the health impacts of ingesting GMOs, some proponents use the absence of evidence as proof that GMOs are safe, but critics counter that absence of evidence cannot serve as GMOs safety, and accuse biotechnology corporations and governments of conducting an uncontrolled experiment by allowing GMOs into the human diet (192). As of 2010 no scientific studies have shown conclusively that currently licensed GMO foods harm human health. However, in many cases there is continued concern that the data and studies supporting GMO use are insufficient to declare GMO use safe, especially with regard to use in the open environment and over successive generations (419). In the United States, as mentioned early, manufacturers are only required to label genetically modified foods if the food has a significantly different nutritional property, or unexpected allergens, or if the food contains toxins that are higher than acceptable levels, whereas organically grown foods to which they would be labeled is considered a voluntary or optional label by the FDA and USDA, and have a more stringent set of labeling requirements that producers of these products must adhere to. â€Å"The presence of genetically modified substances above certain very low thresholds disqualifies the organic label. Organic farmers therefore sustained economic losses because of transgenic contamination of their crops† (186). Food label regulations in the United States are meant to tell consumers the ingredients, and nutritional composition of packaged food for sale. The purpose of food labels, are to allow consumers to make an informed decision on whether or not to purchase a particular product. There are polls in the United States that show roughly 85 percent of Americans want food labeling for products containing GMOs, yet government officials are resistant to mandating GMO labeling of food products stemming from pressure by the proponents of GMO production. The health and safety of this nation is at risk of being one huge nationwide experiment with genetically engineered foods, and if the biotech corporations and scientists are wrong about the safety of these products, it may have unrecoverable consequences not only in the United States, but across the entire world. It would be prudent for the government entities that were created to protect consumers, to err on the side of caution rather than on the side corporations. Americans have the right to know what is in the food products that we are purchasing, and the confidence in government agencies that are overseeing the development and manufacturing of these products, that they are 100 percent safe for us to eat just as those same agencies regulate the biotech corporations that develop and introduce new drugs to the market. Works Cited Collin, Robert William. â€Å"Genetically Modified Food. † Environment. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. 253-257. Battleground. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 31 July 2011. Davidson, Tish. â€Å"Food Labeling. † The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition. Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 407-412. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 31 July 2011. McIntosh, Philip. â€Å"Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). † Food: In Context. Ed. Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner. Vol. 1: Advertising Food to International Fund for Agricultural Development. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 416-421. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 Aug. 2011. Restivo, Sal and Peter H. Denton. â€Å"Genetically Modified Organisms. † Science and Technology. Ed. Vol. 1. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. 182-195. Battleground. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 31 July 2011.

Leslie Fay Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Leslie Fay Case Study - Essay Example The essay "Leslie Fay Case Study" tries to deeper understand what happened at the Leslie Fay Companies by analyzing the business organization. The first four are geared in the strategic aspect of the firm. Prior to the audit failure, Leslie Fay’s mission is to design, manufacture, and sell moderately priced and stylishly conservative women’s dresses. The company’s product lines are targeted to women aged 30-55 years old. Even though indirectly stated, the company has no plan of changing its products in order to cope with the emerging trends. The company opts to stick with its current fashion statement. In order to pursue its vision of staying on top on the industry, Leslie Fay utilizes a strategy of designing and manufacturing products by trusting the instincts of the designers. It should be noted that as opposed to other industry players which rely on customer preference, the business organization opted to create what is fashionable for the customer. The whole marketing mix of Leslie Fay can be stated as offering fashionable clothing at a moderate price in department stores and enhancing a customer experience by offering seasonal discounts. Armed with this strategy, Leslie Fay captures its market niche and creates strong brand equity. In terms of financing, the firm relies both on liabilities and equities. It can be recalled that Leslie Fay banked on its prominence and profitability and went public in as early as 1952. The technology is seen as insignificant in the operation of Leslie Fay.

Analysis of First Eucharistic Prayer Research Paper

Analysis of First Eucharistic Prayer - Research Paper Example Scholar Mazza explores and examines the four texts available to him in order to decipher the structure and content of the First Eucharistic Prayer: (1) Jewish festive meal, (2) Luke’s Last Supper, (3) Didache, and (4) the First Letter to the Corinthians. The â€Å"texts† that describe the rituals characterized in the Jewish festive meal and the Didache were written anonymously since both texts are oral tradition; this implies that the two texts were made by the people who practiced them -- there was no particular author who wrote them. In Luke’s document, it is assumed that the writer is Luke who was one of the disciples of Jesus. And the author of the Letter to the Corinthians is none other than St. Paul himself. In his rigorous research, Mazza uncovers the nature of this Eucharistic Prayer and how it shapes the study of Christology and Ecclesiology. According to Mazza (1999, p.20), Luke’s description of the Last Supper has similarity or â€Å"analogous† to the Jewish festive meal. Monti (1993, p.117) says that the Last Supper instituted by Jesus of Nazareth is considered by many Christians as the â€Å"most important aspects of this liturgy (i.e., eucharistic prayer).† And Mazza attempts to find a connection or relationship between the Last Supper and the Jewish festive meal; after all, Jesus was fundamentally a Jew. There are three basic stages of the Jewish festive meal: first, the rite of the Qiddush as an introduction to the festive celebration; second, the meal proper; and third, the rite of the cup accompanied by Birkat ha-Mazon (Mazza, 1999). In the Qiddush rite, it begins with the rite of the cup and the reading taken from the passage in the Book of Genesis. Afterwards, a short blessing is performed. At the concluding part of the Qiddush is the rite of bread. After the rite of the Qiddush and the me al proper is the recitation of the Birkat ha-Mazon; Birkat ha-Mazon is a ritual characterized by thanksgiving to God, usually

Purchasing Power Parity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 15000 words

Purchasing Power Parity - Essay Example A new Eviews workfile is generated from the main menu of the Eviews by selecting File/New/Workfile, which opens up the create workfile dialogue box. Dated-regular frequency is chosen as the workfile structure type, frequency is chosen as monthly with the start date as 1990-1 and end date as 2011-03 as shown in fig1. The data from the excel is then imported by selecting the Proc/Import/Read Text-Lotus-Excel options of the main menu and choosing the dataset Data_Canada_PPP.xls. The number of series is entered as 3 in the Excel spreadsheet import dialogue box as shown in fig2. The data is imported successfully and is verified with the original data in the excel sheet by opening the generated data as shown in fig 3. Fig 1 Generate New Workfile Fig 2 Enter the number of series of Data Fig 3 Verifying the imported data 2) Generating Real Exchange Rate qt Real Exchange Rate qt is obtained by the formula: qt = st – pt + pt* -------- 1 where st = log(Exchange_rate) -------- 2 pt = log(CPI_Can) -------- 3 pt* = log(CPI_US) -------- 4 The formulae 2 to 4 are first generated using the Genr option in the workfile. The value of qt is then generated using the formula 1. The generated qt is shown in fig 3. e Fig 3 Value of qt 3) Plotting the graph (qt) Fig 4 shows the graphical view of series of values of qt. ... This can be tested using: Interpretation from Graphical representation: A non-stationary series produces lines with definite upward and downward trend with the passage of time, whereas a stationary series does not produce any such lines. Observing the Correlogram or Autocorrelation function (ACF): For a stationary process, the ACF will decline to zero in a quicker fashion whereas for a non-stationary process, the ACF declines in a linear fashion. From the graphical representation of real exchange rates between Canada and US shown in fig 4, it can be noted that the real exchange rate is likely to have some sort of random walk-up and walk-down pattern over the period of time. The presence of random walks indicates that the series qt seems to show non-stationarity in behaviour. However, the random walk does not show any increasing or decreasing trend. 4) Unit Test Root Non-stationarity of a process is characterized by the presence of unit root. In order to test whether the process is st ationary or not, it would suffice if we can check for the presence of unit root. This check can be performed by employing Augmented Dickey-Fuller’s test. The overall objective of this test is to test the null hypothesis that ? = 1 in: yt = ? yt-1 + ? + ut against the one-sided alternative ? < 1. So we define the hypothesis as H0 : yt = yt-1 + ? + ut (qt is non-stationary, ? =1) H1 : yt = ? yt-1 + ? + ut (qt is stationary. ? < 1) Subtracting the above equation with yt-1, we get the simplified equation as: ? yt = ? yt-1 + ? + ut Where ? = ?-1. Now the hypothesis for the presense unit roots can be written as: H0 : ? =0 (qt contains a unit root and is

Compare and Contrast the United States Healthcare System with the Term Paper

Compare and Contrast the United States Healthcare System with the Healthcare System of Japan - Term Paper Example It is a combined effort of governments, creeds, charities, or other organizations to provide healthcare services to the common masses. According to World Health Organization (WHO), the concerned goal of healthcare system is to ensure effective care process with minimum financial costs. Healthcare system depends on four important factors that are source generation, provision of healthcare services, financing and stewardship (World Health Organization, 2012).Concerning the healthcare services being provided, it has been viewed that there can be several shortcomings a nation can face in terms of increased expenses, mortality rate and improper funding among others. In present day context, it has been revealed that healthcare system of the United States is deteriorating in the global platform due to the prevalence of certain major gaps within the entire system. Focusing on these aspects, the paper intends to present a comparison and contrast between the United States healthcare system and the Japanese healthcare system. This study focuses on determining the various setbacks faced by the healthcare system of both the countries and thereby would assist in deriving better knowledge regarding the loopholes of the entire healthcare system that need to be addressed. ... Consequently, government and concerned authorities require developing sustainable budget based healthcare plans that can address the evolving needs. Considering health statistics, it can be comprehended that it is applied to derive actual information about the cost, time-consumption and the difficulty level associated with the existing healthcare plan. In the United States, healthcare facilities are broadly operated and owned by the private organizations. Government provides health insurance for its employees but to a certain limit. It has been perceived that 60-65% of healthcare expenses of the US come from the Tricare, Medicare, Medicaid and child care programs (World Health Organization, 2012). Life Expectancy is a term that indicates the number of years an individual is expected to live according to the statistical estimates. The statistical factors of life expectancy entails certain calculations associated with a few imperative factors such as sex, occupation and physical condit ion. The United States’ life expectancy measures reveal the country to be ranked in the 42nd position worldwide. With regard to the report of WHO, it has been evaluated that the life expectancy rate associated with birth in the USA is 78 years (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). As per the recent study of the WHO, it can be ascertained that the depicted result related to life expectancy shows loopholes within the healthcare system of the US. In this regard, the reasons behind such setbacks include income and geographical factors. On the other hand, according to a recent survey conducted, it has been revealed that Japan has the longest life expectancy at birth worldwide. With regard to the detailed analysis

Acounting mangerial project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Acounting mangerial project - Assignment Example The issue of total quality management usually focuses on the quality of products or services that are been offered by Barber foods. The company deals with ser ices and products. The services that are involved in the delivery of food and the selling of food need to be perfect so as to be appealing to the customers. The customers require satisfactory products and services so as to become loyal to the company products. As a result of that, barber foods has invested a lot on the delivery of food products and the means through which the products are delivered. That is in an attempt to ensure that there is customer satisfaction (Caplan, 14). The advantage of the company applying the technique is the fact that the provision of quality usually helps in the cutting of costs. According to analyst, the best way in which a company can become cost effective is only by the company eliminating any sorts of defects that may occur at any point of manufacturing and that will help cut on costs that are not necessary. The main aim of using total quality management is t ensure that there are controls that are preventive that help in the prevention of defects that occur. The just in time technique is a technique whereby the products of a company are made available when needed. That is a useful strategy for barber foods because it deals with food which is a perishable product. That means that the availability of a stock that is large could lead to a loss to the company. Just in time strategy usually deals with the company availing its products when required by the customer. That means that there will be no instances of company costs resulting from perishable goods or any instances of stock outs because the products will be made available when required. The use of JIT has helped Barber foods to cut costs on work in progress, finished goods, and raw materials. It has led to the reduction of holding costs that is associated with stock and reduction

Cost Accounting. A managerial emphasis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cost Accounting. A managerial emphasis - Essay Example This in turn drive up fixed costs due to imperfect factor substitution as managers turn to other less efficient activities or resources to substitute the activity that is used as the cost driver. The fixed cost is in turn costed over a lower level of activity, making the activity seem costly when in fact it might be a lucrative market or product (Doogar, 2001). Q12. In activity based management, cost driver analysis, cause-and-effect diagram, pareto analysis, and performance measurement are performed. Activity based analysis examines, quantifies, and explains the effects of the cost driver on the cost of an activity. Cause-and-effect diagram maps out causes that affect an activity, process, stated problem, or outcome. In pareto analysis, histogram of cost drivers that contribute to the total cost is constructed. Performance measurement identifies the work performed and the results achieved by an activity process or organizational unit (Porter, 2006). Q13. Andrew Carnegie installed weigh scales at all points in his mills to see whether material was saved or not. Rather than checking quality after the products have been produced, Edward Deming's ideas of Total Quality Management propounded a cease in dependence on mass inspections-quality must be designed and built into the processes, preventing defects rather than attempting to detect and fix them after they have occurred.

Summary canterville ghost Essay Example for Free

Summary canterville ghost Essay There was a horrible storm that night, but apart from that nothing scary happened. The nextmorning, however, when the family came down to breakfast, they found the terrible stain of bloodonce again on the floor. Washington cleaned it a second time, but the second morning it appearedagain. The third morning it was there, too, although the library had been locked up at night by Mr Otis himself. The following night, all doubts about the existence of the ghost were finally removed forever. Ateleven oclock the family went to bed and some time after, Mr Otis was awakened by a strangenoise in the corridor, outside his room. It sounded like the clank of metal, and it came nearer everymoment. Mr Otis got up and looked at the time. It was exactly one oclock. So Mr Otis put on hisslippers, went to the door and opened it. There, right in front of him, stood the ghost his eyeswere as red as burning coals; long grey hair fell over his shoulders and from his wrists and ankleshung heavy chains.? My dear Sir,? said Mr Otis, ? you must oil those chains. Its impossible to sleep with such a noisegoing on outside the bedrooms. I have therefore brought you this bottle of lubricator, and I will behappy to supply you with more if you require it.? With these words Mr Otis laid the bottle down,closed his door and went back to bed. Shocked, the Canterville ghost stood quite motionless for a moment, but then he growled angrily. Just at this moment, the twins appeared on the corridor and threw a large pillow at him! The ghosthastily escaped through the wall, and the house became quiet again. When the ghost reached his small secret chamber, he took a deep breath. No ghosts in history hadever been treated in this manner!

November the 12th 1939. Autumn. The hotel.... Essay Example for Free

November the 12th 1939. Autumn. The hotel. Essay We pulled up outside the hotel, the rain bouncing down on to the muddy track. The icy wind rattled the trees and blew the dead rotting leaves. The hotel was half covered in the gloomy fog, which hang like the black rippers cloak. This fog had been looming around for many days, but it seemed to be getting heavier. Through the heavy fog, we could see the black cut out shape of where the door used to be, now the door laid alone on the timber floor, decaying and covered in woodworm and an unusual fungus has start to move itself on to the door. Thats the front entrance for the hotel, I think? I said to my fellow partner. Has we look up the mist was so heavy we could only see the entries and the first floor of the hotel but the rested was cover in the gloomy mist. I gazed up at the full moon which was covered with the thick storm clouds which was starting gathering together like bees in a swam. The dim moonlight reflected off the dead looking trees, which casts weird, deformed, figure shapes on to the rotting leaves and the muddy path. To me the figures were moving toward us, but it just could be my eyes playing trick. I turned my head to what used to be a boating lake, but now a smelly swamp with a thick green crust of pondweed, which covered the surface. I remember the old days when I use to swimming in the lake on those hot summer days, but I would go near it now with all the pollution, which has been pumped, into it. Where are we going to start our search? George asked On the top floor, follow me I locked the car and headed to the door. Weeds and insects have taken over the hotel now. Nettles grew up from the floorboards. We entered Outside the rain stopped, but how long I asked myself The hotel was very quite accepted of the noises of the insects, too quite in my opinion. I headed towards the stairs, but at the same time I was weaving my way around the woodland weeds. I set down one foot on to the first step; the step cracked and fell to the basement below. When the wood hit the floor I heard a little grunt, but the crack of the wood hitting the floor shadowed most of the sound of the grunt I heard. Be very careful the floor is not that safe, and I think that we are not a lone. We walked up the creaky, squeaky old wooden stairs. Slowly we walked, side by side, our eyes looking dead straight, gazing forward into the thick dark hovering mist. We reached the top of the stairs in no time at all. I squinted into the darkness, trying to pick out a black book, which had a crystal object hidden in the leather cover, or so the town people said. We started to move once again, the rotting floor groaned and moaned, just crying for mercy with every step we made. The cold icy wind blew through every nook and cranny. Every breath we let out made us look like two old dragons letting steam run freely through our red scaly nose. My nose was red. My fingers were numb. At last we discover the room, 1 0 1 where thousands of mysteries lay. I took a deep icy breath and held it tight as I squeezed my red raw fingers into a fist. Very slowly I turn the knob and very slowly pushed the door open, its whining rusty hinges, screaming with pain. With a crack the doors hinges gave way to the heaviness of the old door and the door went crashing down on to the floor with a bang. As so as the door hit the floor I blinked has the little impacted of wind and the thick dust and that load boom hit me? The boom from the door shook the hotel, which was followed by a loader grunt. After the bang the old abandoned room fell silent, and the only sounds the hoot! Hoot! Of a creepy unseen owl and a Tick! Tock! Of the old grandfather clock, not forgetting the heavy thuds from our fast beating hearts. We gazed into the smelly; Bug infested, gloomy, candle lit room. The icy wind howled like a pack of blood thirty dogs or was it the wind that did the spine chilling sound? A shattered smoke stained window over looked a graveyard. The wind blew the ripped yellow cob webbed curtains, which cast a shadow of a ghost like image on to a winter picture with its crystal clear ice, which glistened and shone like the stars on a clear night. The candles flame dance to a groovy beat. The icy wind blew hard. The candle flames disappeared one by one. Total darkness. Dong! Dong! Dong! The Dong! Sound echoed around the old rotten timber hotel just like two heavy footsteps on a hard wooden floor. I pulled the torches out of my rucksack and pass one to George. With a flick of the switch the torches blinding light beaded out, I shaded my eyes best I could because I couldnt bare the light, which almost blinded us both. George peeled back his shirtsleeve and shone his torch on his watch. 3 i clock sir, are we staying or are we going? I never replied I had other thing on my mind because I was more interested about a bloodstain on the old looking bed. You are staying for ever! said a croaky young voice. After the voices two bright blue eyes peering out. I stared at the eyes and the eyes stared back. A deep chilling laugh came, like a wrinkly old teachers nail running down a black board. We cringed and covered our ears with our red raw numb hands. The windows smashed and the torches flicked, and packed up Silence The chilling eyes were still peering out. Here someones spying on us BANG OOPs Jesus Christ George what were you trying to do? Scare me to death? The two little eyes blinked and ran into a hole in the piano. A rat, just only a little rat I gave sighs of relief. I turn to face George, but George was not there? George! George! Where are you? by now I started to think if this was a good idea in the first place. I am down here you dummy I turn my head and looked to the floor. No youre not you liar Yes I am! O! Im upside down so look up at the roof You better not be lying and anyway how did you get up on the roof? I tilled my head and looked up. I dont know. By now things had started to get confusing and I started to get nervous. I felt like I was in a fun house. I sat myself down on the bed and rubbed my hands together just trying to get some warmth back into them. I gazed back up at George, but George was not there any more. Quietness Im behind you I jump once again. Do not do that to me Ive told you once I looked around. A broken glass lay on an Ouija board. A note said: The rest of the note was covered in blood. I looked out of the window and squinted to the graveyard. We need to check out that graveyard, I said. Whats this? I think its a death certificate for? For? There are no names on it. It has been erased. Look at the Signature James Wilber. James Wilber. The dead person is James Wilber. He died of suspicious circumstances. We are off to that graveyard. I turn and pointed to the window but there was no window and no door, we were stood in the graveyard? Hay! How did we get out here when we were up there? Where is the hotel? I turned and look into the distance, Theres the hotel, how ca it be? A about a minute ago we were in that room up there. I pointed. The graveyard was dark and misty. A dead ugly creepy tree hung over an old fashioned tomb. The howling wind blew a load of dead rotten leave, crisps packets and dust into my eyes. I tried to cover my eyes but it was no use so I wait for the wind to clear. While I was waiting for wind to clear, I thought of the different things, which could happen to us on our twisted little journey. When the wind cleared I opened my eyes. I saw George stumbling over roots, then stopping and slowly bending over to pick something up, it looks like a piece of paper. To me it looked like a potato chip bag, so Id carried on looking. Hey come and look at this I have just found he called over. I zigzagged my way around the gravestones. I reached his side and grabbed the paper. It was a dollar dating back to 1891. Is that real? It looks like it to me. Well where did it come from? America you dip stick. No you fool? I mean how did it get here? At this time the mist turned into a heavy fog and it was much colder. OOOUH! OW. OW. OOOUH! We have to get back to the hotel. A patter of feet, thundered on to the hard floor followed by a horrify howl. It sounds like! Like! Werewolves One of the werewolves jumps on to the tomb and gave us a horrifying look. I turned around and gazed back, 5 sets of red eyes were racing towards us. Run! The snapping of jaws and growling echoed in my ears. The hotel came in view. Closer and closer. We run through the opening and pick up the door, which was on the floor. The scrapping of claws scratched on the now replaced door. A thunderstorm started to settle in. I went for the light switch and stop and remember that the electricity was off. So I tried the torch, it was no good so I lit a candle and then found a spot to go to sleep. It was a chair with a white sheet hung over it, I ripped the sheet off, which cause a shower of dusted. The chair looked brand new. The rain started the thunder roared. The rain pounded down like bombs dropping in the war. This cause the rain to leak through the roof, which turned the room smelly, the scrapping of claws disappeared. How long will the rain last? Dont know Well I am off to sleep. George said. George lay on a couch and gazed up at the roof. Drip! Drip! Drip! Tick! Tock! Tick! Ill keep a look out for the first hour and you keep a look out for the next. Ok. Drip! Drip! Drip! Tick! Tock! Tick! I gazed over to George; he was out like a light. Bless him For many hours I tried to get to sleep that, but something was forcing me to stay a wake, The cold was getting worse so I decided to make a little fire. I got up and broke up some wooden chairs and made a pile of wood to light. I went to the cooker room and found some lighter fuel and went back. Four dips of the lighter fuel and one strike of a match and the fire was lit. The warmth rushed through my body like water out of a tap. The flames lit up the room. The full moon shone brightly through the black storm clouds and through the window. A flash of lighting lit up the room. I turn my head and flash. When the lighting flashed and the flames danced, a round object glistened in the light. I got up and walk over to the object, which was starting to bug me. Drip! Drip! Drip! Tick! Tock! Tick! Flash Crack I picked up the object and looked at it very closely. It was a coin, an America Cent. I reached deep into my pockets and pull out my glasses. The coin was dated back to 1891. On the back it said, in god we trust I walked back to the chair and reached for my side pocket and pull out the dollar bill and compared the two. On the back of the note it also said. In god we trust The same Drip! Drip! Drip! Tick! Tock! Tick! Flash Crack Dong! Dong! Dong! 12o clock Flash I gazed at the grandfather clock. What the hell? by now I am getting a bit excited because of the discovering I had just made. In side the clock was a parcel wrapped up in an America flag. I slow open the parcel just in case it was a bomb. I peeled back the flag slowly. In side the flag was a shoebox, I took the lid off slowly, I felt like a kid on Christmas day. In side the shoebox there was a black and white picture of a young man. At the top of the photograph was some writing, which said. JAMES WILBER, 21st of January 1900. In god we trust Died here in room 1 0 1 And there was the black book with the crystal object hidden in the cover we were looking for. The Young Cranky voice came again. Died here in 1 0 1 so come! Come The voice was much softer than last time, almost like a whisper. A big flash of lighting woke George up. George. Follow me. I said I headed to the stairs. We walked up the creepy, squeaky, creaky timber stairs. We reached the top of the stairs and head to the room 1 0 1 Theyre sat a ghost-like man. Thank you, thank you The ghost had a sad face but slowly the face change to a sneer. The ghost lifted its head up and starts shouting Give me the book! Why? Give me the damn book The hotel started to shake. No! Why? The ghost looked at me. His eyes seamed to burn me. Give me the book, now No The ghost rose in to the air and the eyes of the ghost changed from milky white to blood shot red. Smoke filled the room. Damn the fire down stairs I yelled loudly I turned and headed for the stairs. Stop. The ghost shouted out. No, get lost I shouted back My heart started to beat faster and faster. As soon as I hit the stairs, the stairs gave way and I hit the floor below with a THUND