Social Media Strategy of Sainsburys - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2496 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Case study Level High school Did you like this example? This essay contains a brief introduction which will contextualise and define and the term social media marketing strategy. It will then analyse the UK supermarket chain Sainsburys social media marketing strategy with particular attention paid to their strengths and weaknesses. The conclusion will provide a concise set of recommendations for improvement which will be underpinned by academic theory. Introduction Use of the internet has shifted since its begging where individuals created and published content, to what is currently known as web 2.0, whereby content is continuously changed and updated by other users, essentially creating collaborative content (Oreilly, 2007). Web 2.0 can be seen as holding the ideological and technological enabler of social media (Kaplan and Heliean, 2010). Social media is defined as Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking (Oxford Dictionary, 2015). As such a social media marketing strategy can be understood to be how a firm tries to use social media for promotion with the aim of achieving their business objectives. Most firms use social media to communicate with external third parties, commonly adopting a multipronged strategy operating across numerous social platforms (Piskorski, 2011). The other key way in which firms use social media is for internal communication known as enterprise so cial media (ESM). Leonardi, Huysman, and Steinfield (2013) define ESM as Web-based platforms that allow workers to (1) communicate messages with specific co-workers or broadcast messages to everyone in the organization; (2) explicitly indicate or implicitly reveal particular co-workers as communication partners; (3) post, edit, and sort text and files linked to themselves or others; and (4) view the messages, connections, text, and files communicated, posted, edited and sorted by anyone else in the organization at any time of their choosing.. In line with Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) the four types of social media this essay focuses on are, collaborative projects, content communities, blogs and social networking sites. Sainsburys is one of the leading retailers in the UK with a current market share of 16.8%, and has diversified into services namely the finance and energy solutions sectors (Marketline advantage, 2015). Currently listed on Sainsburys social media page they have 4 twi tter accounts, a Facebook page, a YouTube channel and a Flikr profile (Sainsburys, 2015a), they also have created their own content community online called TrolleyTalk (Trolley Talk. 2015) which facilitates discussion among stakeholders on any issue regarding supermarket trade, as well as an ESM platform Yammer (Brooks, 2015). Currently Sainsburys external social media strategy incorporates three main elements, Customer service, Crisis control and sales. Sales appears to be the most prevalent across all platforms with their main twitter account, Facebook page and YouTube channel primarily attempting to stimulate sales through promoting recipes and competitions. The profile for Sainsburys main twitter account reads delicious recipes, food inspiration, competitions and customer service. Got a question? Our team is here to help! (Twitter, 2015a). The secondary aim appears to be raising brand awareness by promoting their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity, brand values an d press releases, seen on their twitter account @sainsburysnews (Twitter, 2015b). While their ESM objectives appear to be improving internal connectivity, sharing ideas and celebrating success (Brooks, 2015). An analysis of the strengths of this social media strategy will follow. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Social Media Strategy of Sainsburys" essay for you Create order Strengths of Sainsburys social media marketing strategy Klout a social media tool which is used to measure brand influence, has found Sainsburys to have the most influence on social media of any UK retailer (Briggs, 2014). This suggests that the way in which Sainsburys are using social media is extremely successful (Boyd, 2014) and the following section looks at three of the determining key factors of this. Firstly Sainsburys have partnered with a social media crisis management specialist Conversocial (Joeseph, 2013) in order to rapidly identify consumer issues on social media. This software is extremely useful to provide overviews during wide-scale crisis such as the horsegate scandal when horse meat was found in products in UK supermarkets including Sainsburys (BBC, 2013), but also for providing excellent customer service to dissatisfied customers. Due to the dynamic and public nature of social media dissatisfied customers now have the tools to be heard by millions and seriously damage a brands reputation (Gillian, 2007), but thi s also presents an opportunity for a firm to publically showcase their excellent customer service and improve their brand. Tax, Brown, and Chandrashekaran (1998) found that customer service which left a dissatisfied customer feeling satisfied actually improved a brand image further than if they had been satisfied with the original service they received. Conversocials software allows Sainsburys to pull all social media activity regarding them into one stream, theoretically giving the ability to respond to any comment within 45 minutes. This not only gives them the ability to respond to large issues (such as the horsegate scandal) but also listen to individual customers issues and respond to them efficiently in the public domain, not only improving their brand with that individual customer, but with the wider audience. An example of a customer response by Sainsburys which went viral was a humorous response to a letter from a 3 year old girl regarding the name of one of their products. The exchange received more than 14,000 shares on social media sites, and resulted in Sainsburys renaming their product due to popular demand (Sheriff, 2013), resultantly receiving positive nationwide brand exposure due to coverage by the BBC (BBC 2013). Secondly Sainsburys have not merely adopted usage of existing social media channels, but have been proactive about creating two of their own TrolleyTalk and Yammer. TrolleyTalk allows Sainsburys the opportunity to not only dictate the marketing message they wish to portray, but also to shape the conversation happening between consumers (Mangold and Faulds, 2009), allowing Sainsburys to positively influence consumer brand perception. On their website Sainsburys claim this platform gives them the opportunity to reach approximately 4,000 people per week and gain rich insight on issues which concern customers and take immediate and effective action. The example they give is that during the recent UK supermarket price war on milk, co nsumers were becoming increasingly concerned with the negative effect on dairy farmers. Resultant of identifying this issue on the platform TrolleyTalk, Sainsburys took the initiative to advertise that they pay their dairy farmers a higher rate than their competitors (Sainsburys, 2015b). A study by Millward Brown digital cited in Sarner et al, (2011) found that brands which have online communities drove up to 12 times the traffic and made double the amount of online sales conversion than brands which solely used existing social channels. The final key strength of Sainsburys social media marketing is the high level of cross platform cohesiveness in the message they deliver. Their YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts all primarily generate food and recipe based content, and appear to be used for customer service. This cohesiveness avoids any confusion which can be caused by conflicting messages across different platforms (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Weaknesses of Sainsburys social media strategy Bull (2012) argues the case for brand journalism, and states that all communication by a firm must be consistent with their core values. While Sainsburys social media marketing strategy has a high level of cross platform congruency, it does not fully match up with their overall business strategy written on their website Our strategy: We know our customers better than anyone else. We will be there whenever and wherever they need us, offering great products and services at fair prices. Our colleagues make the difference, our values make us different. (Sainsburys, 2015c). While TrolleyTalk arguably provides them with a great opportunity to get to know their customers better, and Conversocial allows Sainsburys to efficiently engage with customers who require attention, Sainsburys social media has very little emphasis on promoting the values which they claim differentiate them. Sainsburys main twitter account very rarely if at all mentions the distinguishing corporate values upon whic h their strategy is based. They have a twitter account @sainsburysnews (twitter, 2015b) which provides updates on these sorts of issues, and despite having 10 times less followers, the posts on this account have a similar level of engagement to that of the main account @sainsburys. This points towards this content being far more engaging for consumers than what is currently being promoted on the main page. Sainsburys have four twitter accounts, which on average tweet 4 times per day each. Rowles (2014) suggests that the optimum amount of times for a brand to tweet is four per day, in order to prevent clogging up users feeds. While each individual Sainsburys account adheres to this basic principle, if a customer has subscribed to more than one of the accounts they will receive far more, up to four times the recommended amount of contact, which could prove invasive for consumers and make them unsubscribe from one or more accounts, regardless of whether they found the content engagi ng. If Sainsburys were to reduce the number of accounts they have on each platform it is possible Sainsburys would receive a higher level of social media engagement as well as reaching a larger audience (Singh, Veron-Jackson and Cullinane, 2008). This would give higher visibility to content regarding Sainsburys core values and the recent partnership with Argos digital which is being integrated into selected stores, maximising the impact of their competitive advantage on both fronts. While Sainsburys has recently adopted the use of an ESM platform called Yammer, it only has 10,000 users (Brooks, 2015). Sainsburys currently has 160,500 employees (Marketline Advantage, 2015) which highlights the small extent to which ESM is being used by Sainsburys. ESM can improve internal communications between the workforce and be used to promote the brand internally, and be used as a tool to manage the psychological contract (Mazzei, 2010) and as such this represents a missed opportunity. This w eakness ties in with the final one which will be discussed, which is the lack of visibility by the CEO on social media. Currently the CEO of Sainsburys Mike Coupe has a distinct lack of personal visibility on social media. Dutta (2010) found there to be three main benefits of a firms CEO having a notable social media presence. Firstly social media both internal and external, aids an executive in engaging with important contacts. It allows them to strengthen relationships or personify the companys support for a cause which adds credibility. Secondly the CEO can use social media to engage employees internally, enabling the CEO to increase his personal support through high internal visibility, which leads onto the third benefit which is learning. By having a higher profile within the company and being open to learn a CEO can gain feedback on any large scale changes from the workforce, which can lead to strategic changes having lower levels of opposition making them easier to impleme nt and in turn reduce staff turnover, an opportunity Coupe is currently not exploiting. Recommendations for improvement The following recommendations are resultant of the above analysis. It is recommended Sainsburys merge their @sainsburys and @sainsburysnews twitter accounts, providing half of the original content from each. This will allow them to promote their brand values to a much wider audience, and reduce the chance of excessive contact becoming invasive. In line with Rowles (2014) it is recommended they continue to tweet 4 times per day, only if they have content which they believe is worthwhile and will be of interest to their audience. It is recommended that Sainsburys advance efforts to increase participation on the internal social media platform Yama. A SWOT analysis conducted by Marketline Advantage (2015) found that the major threat to Sainsburys is the rising labour costs in the UK. As a result it is recommended that internal marketing and branding can be used in order to improve the psychological contract and resultantly raise employee retention (Mazzei, 2010). This will help to address the threat caused by rising labour costs by reducing recruitment and training costs associated with taking on new staff. It is recommended that the CEO of Sainsburys Mike Coupe starts to become an active user on both internal and external social media platforms. Internally high CEO visibility and approachability will go some way to improving the perception Sainsburys workforce has of its employer and will help to reduce staff turnover. It is recommended Coupe uses external social media to promote Sainsburys core brand values. If done strategically he can be used to personify the ethical values held by the company and strengthen the support the British public have of these values. This will not only make their campaigns further reaching, but it will also improve their credibility (Dutta, 2010). References BBC. (2013a). QA: Horsemeat scandal. Available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21335872 BBC. (2013b). Tiger bread renamed giraffe bread by Sainsburys. Available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16812545 Books, B. (2015). Sainsburys introduces Yammer social network for staff. Available: https://m.thegrocer.co.uk/people/people-news/sainsburys-introduces-yammer-social-network-for-staff/513910.article Boyd, L. (2014). Social Media. In: Jones, D Brand Fammous. Cornwall: Capstone. 1-287. Briggs, F. (2014). Sainsburys is most socially influential UK retail brand, new ranking finds. Available: https://www.retailtimes.co.uk/sainsburys-socially-influential-uk-retail-brand-new-ranking-finds/ Bull, A (2012). Brand Journalism. Abbingdon: Routledge. 1-322. Gillian, P. (2007). In: The new influencers: A marketers guide to the new social media.. Sanger: Quill driver books Joeseph, S. (2013). Sainsburys launches bid to drive social customer service. Available: https://www.ma rketingweek.com/2013/09/23/sainsburys-launches-bid-to-drive-social-customer-service/ Kaplan, A. and Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizens. 53 (1), 59-68. Oreilly, T. (2007). What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software. Communications strategies, (1), 17. Oxford Dictionary. (2015). Social Media. Available: https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/social-media Leonardi, P. Huysman, M and Steinfield, C. (2013). Enterprise Social Media: Definition, History, and Prospects for the Study of Social Technologies in Organizations. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 19 (1), 1-19. Mangold, W and Faulds, D. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizens. 52 (1), 357-365. Marketline Advantage. (2015). J Sainsbury PLC. A company profile. Mazzei, A. (2010). Promoting active communication behaviour s through internal communication.. Corporate Communications: An International Journal . 15 (3), 221-234. Piskorski, M. J. (2011). Social strategies that work. Harvard Business Review, 89(11), 116-122. Rowles, D (2014). Digital Branding: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Strategy, Tactics and Measurement. London: Kougan page. 1-300. Sainsburys. (2015a). Social Media. Available: https://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/media/social-media/ Sainsburys. (2015b). We know our customers better than anyone else. Available: https://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/about-us/business-strategy-and-objectives/we-know-our-customers/ Sainsburys. (2015c).. (2015). Business strategy and objectives . Available: https://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/about-us/business-strategy-and-objectives/ Sarner, A., Thompson, J. D., Drakos, N., Fletcher, C., Mann, J., Maoz, M. . (2011). Magic quadrant for social CRM. Gartner, Stamford. Singh, T., Veron-Jackson, L., Cullinane, J.. (2008). Blogging: A new play in your market ing game plan. Business Horizens. 51 (4), 281-292. Sherriff, L. (2013). Sainsburys Letter Tiger Bread Giraffe Bread Makes Lily Robinson And Chris King Internet Sensations. Available: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/01/25/sainsburys-letter-tiger-bread-giraffe-bread-lily-robinson-chris-king_n_1230595.html Tax, S., Brown, W., and Chandrashekaran, M. . (1998). Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: implications for relationship marketing. The Journal of Marketing., 67-70. Trolley Talk. (2015). Welcome. Available: https://www.trolleytalk.co.uk/Portal/default.aspx Twitter. (2015a). @Sainsburys. Available: https://twitter.com/Sainsburys Twitter. (2015b). @sainsburysnews. Available: https://twitter.com/SainsburysNews?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

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MRI vs. CT Scans free essay sample

Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are both diagnostic tests that provide us with high-resolution pictures of any area of the body. Both tests use computers to construct pictures to view within the body. Both of these tests are non-invasive procedures designed to provide medical professionals with a better understanding of the patient’s condition. There are, however, inherent differences in these tests’ mechanisms, sophistication, and application (â€Å"What is the Difference Between CT and MRI? †). In short, computed tomography uses a refined version of X-ray equipment to produce an image of the body. As the patient is slowly moved through the machine, its X-Ray tube rotates around the body and sends beams from all directions to a specific spot on the patient’s body. Because at any moment its beams are confined to a â€Å"slice† of the body about as thick as a dime, CT Scans end the confusion resulting from overlapping structure seen in conventional X-rays. The device’s computer translates this information into a detailed, cross-sectional picture of the region being scanned (Marieb 8). All of the pictures can be saved as a group on a computer, and can also be printed out to show the results to the patient (â€Å"Computed Tomography†). In contrast, an MRI produces high-contrast images for multiply areas of our body. This technique subjects the body to magnetic fields 60,000 times stronger that that of the earth’s. The MRI Pliura 2 primarily maps the body’s content of hydrogen, most of which is in water. The patient essentially lies in a chamber within a huge magnet. When the machine is turned on the body’s hydrogen molecules act like tiny magnets, spinning like tops in the magnetic field. Their energy is also enhanced by the radio waves of the machine, and when the machine is turned off the energy released is translated into a visual image. MRI distinguishes our body’s tissues based on their water content, so it can differentiate between the fatty white matter and the more watery gray matter of the brain (Marieb 9). Both of these tests operate differently and are better suited for different types of diagnoses (â€Å"CT Scan vs. MRI†). An MRI can be done for many different reasons. For instance, it is used to find problems such as tumors, bleeding, injury, or infection within the body. MRI’s are often done to provide more information about a problem seen by another type of medical image (â€Å"Magnetic Resonance Imaging†). For example, an MRI would be a physician’s best alternative if they needed to detect a disease within the body that could not be seen by the CT Scanner (Shiel). The magnetic field of the MRI allows it to gather information that cannot be seen by other types of medical imaging (â€Å"Magnetic Resonance Imaging†). Meanwhile, a CT scan is able to record images of bone, soft tissue, and blood vessels simultaneously, offering a clear advantage over the MRI in some cases. A CT Scan can also be used to guide needle biopsies during surgery. For instance, using a CT Scan can allow cardiologists to view images of arteries without ever having to do experimental testing. This painless procedure greatly assist physicians in diagnosing cardiovascular illnesses, musculoskeletal problems, and certain types of cancer. In some situations the CT would be the preferred scan of choice simply for its speed and limited Pliura 3 restrictions of the patient. Both of these scans offer unique advantages for different situations. The specific area of the body being viewed is another vital aspect to consider when picking which scan to use (Ryan). An MRI can be done for a number of injuries dealing with the head. It can look for aneurysms, bleeding of the brain, or problems such as damage caused by a stroke. The MRI can also find damage of the optic nerves, along with auditory nerves of our ears (â€Å"Magnetic Resonance Imaging†). Because dense structures do not show up at all in an MRI, it peers easily into the skull, enabling the delicate nerve fibers to be seen (Marieb 9). A spinal cord injury can prompt a physician to order an MRI instead of a CT Scan (â€Å"Magnetic Resonance Imaging†). For instance, multiple sclerosis plaques within the spinal cord do not show up well in CT Scans, but are dazzlingly clear in an MRI (Marieb 9). Additionally, the MRI will check the discs and nerves of the spine for conditions such as bulging discs, herninated discs, or spinal tumors (â€Å"Magnetic Resonance Imaging†). In contrast, CT Scans can be used to get images of the body as a whole, or certain parts such as the chest, abdomen, pancreas, or limb. For example, a CT of the chest would look for problems with the lungs, heart, esophagus, or the tissues in the center of the chest (â€Å"Computed Tomography†). CT Scans are often used to take a full scan of a patient’s abdomen, and they are now considered the forefront for evaluating most problems that affect the abdomen (Marieb 8). As opposed to an MRI, a CT of the arm or leg would not only look at the soft tissue, but it would also examine the blood vessels and bones of that limb as well (â€Å"Computed Tomography†). Pliura 4 Although these cutting-edge technologies provide us with life-saving information, they both have problems of their own (â€Å"CT Scan vs. MRI†). The major concern with a CT Scan is the radiation. At maximum power, a CT Scan can give radiation equal to 600 chest X-rays. This can lead to the possibility of cancer in some patients (Ryan). Rebecca Bindman, professor of radiology and one of the nation’s top experts in the risk of radiographs, states that a 20-year old women who gets an abdominal-pelvic CT Scan has a 1 in 250 chance of getting cancer from that single scan. The best estimates are that radiation from CT’s cause 29,000 excess cancers each year in the U. S. , and this is mostly in women. Nearly 60 million Americans will receive a CT Scan in a given year, and some experts suggest over one-third of these scans are unnecessary. This leads to the realization that if we could reduce the unnecessary scans, we could possibly reduce cancer (Wachter). Pregnant women are also not recommend to get a CT for the large amounts of radiation that could be exposed to the fetus. In some cases the X-rays of a CT Scan can actually damage the DNA of the developing fetus. Since the federal government has no regulations on the amount of radiation a patient receives during a CT, the referring physician decides the strength of the dose. This is why it’s critical a physician has the best understanding possible to only give the necessary amounts of radiation (Ryan). Although the MRI avoids radiation exposure, it’s not without problems either (Shiel). One of the downfalls of this machine is that it makes a tremendous amount of noise during the scan. The noise sounds like a continual, rapid hammering, and is due to the rising electrical currents being opposed by the magnetic field. People who are pregnant or obese most often Pliura 5 cannot fit into the MRI system (â€Å"MRI: Advantages and Disadvantages†). This is due to the very narrow tube the patient must be inserted into. Because of this some patients experience a claustrophobic sensation during the procedure (Shiel). In fact, 30% of patients admit to having some level of distress while having an MRI (â€Å"Claustrophobia and MRI†). The time required to complete an MRI examination is also not something to be excited about. While a CT Scan only takes 5 minutes, an MRI can sometimes take over 30 minutes to obtain an accurate read (â€Å"CT Scan vs.  MRI†). Since the scan takes so long, it requires patients to hold still for extended periods of time. This is why infants often cannot get an MRI; they are not able to hold still for a long enough period. Even slight movements of the part being scanned can cause distorted images which means the scanning has to be repeated (â€Å"MRI: Advan tages and Disadvantages†). The procedure of both scans have similarities and differences between them. For instance, both consist of a contrast dye that is injected into the scan area to enhance the definition (Ragavan). Additionally, during both procedures a medical attendant will be close by in case of emergency (Shiel). A moving couch is what actually moves the patient through the scanner of both machines. However, with a CT the person is moved through a hoop that has the shape of a very large doughnut. Whereas with a MRI, the moving couch moves the patient through a cylinder that nearly encloses the body. The scan’s results also differ in the fact that a CT’s results show up as a 2-dimensional image, whereas the magnetism of the MRI allows it to build up a 3-dimensional image of the body (Ragavan). The cost of each procedure is another aspect to consider carefully, especially if the cost is coming out-of-pocket. To put simply, CT Scans are much cheaper than MRI’s. CT’s cost Pliura 6 anywhere from $1,200-$3,200 while an MRI can cost up to $4,000. As a general rule, the MRI usually cost double what a CT Scan would cost. It becomes the patient’s choice as to whether they want to spend less on a lower-grade image or more on a higher-grade image. The cost of the machine itself also distinguishes the two machines. A very low end CT Scanner costs around $150,000, while a top-of-the-line CT Scanner can cost in upwards of $450,000. This is a small amount when compared to the $1 Million dollars most new MRI machines cost. Furthermore, some of the top-of-the-line MRI machines can cost almost $1. 5 Million. Both the CT and MRI will require annual maintenance, which can also cost tens of thousands of dollars (â€Å"CT Scan vs. MRI†). In conclusion, and as mentioned earlier, each scan operates in its own way and both are better suited for different types of diagnoses. Therefore, it is not which scan is better overall, rather, it’s which scan will best help the physician diagnose the patient for that particular case. Works Cited â€Å"Claustrophobia and MRI. † proscan. com. PDF file. â€Å"Computed Tomography (CT) Scan of the Body. † WebMD. WebMD, 21 Sept. 2012. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. â€Å"CT Scan vs. MRI. † Diffen. Diffen, 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. â€Å"Magnetic Resonance Imaging. † WebMD. WebMD, 16 May 2011. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. Marieb, Elaine. Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology. San Franciso, CA: Pearson Benjamenin Cummings, 2009. Print. â€Å"MRI: Advantages and Disadvantages. † Anapol Schwartz. Anapol Schwartz, 2008. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. Ragavan, Vijayan. â€Å"MRI and CT Scan The Differences. † Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 8 Jul. 2012. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. Ryan, David. â€Å"Advantages and Disadvantages of a CT Scan. † LIVESTRONG. com. Demand Media, 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2014. Shiel, William. â€Å"Magnetic Resonance Imaging. † MedicineNet. com. MedicineNet. com, 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. Wachter, Bob. â€Å"A Game-Changing Statistic: 1 in 250. † The Health Care Blog. The Health Care Blog, 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 9 Mar. 2014. â€Å"What is the Difference Between CT and MRI? † University MRI Diagnostic Imaging Centers. University MRI, 2004. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

Counterparts/ James Joyce Essays - Counterparts, Dubliners

Counterparts/ James Joyce Strive To Do Nothing James Joyce has a very intricate way of writing his short stories. Dubliners is a book of short stories revolving around several totally different people from the city of Dublin, Ireland. Joyce puts these characters through a number of situations in order to show the moral characteristics of Dubliners. These situations inhibit many forms of human disturbances including: sexual frustration, escapism, self-identification, human unfullfillment, the struggle between the classes, and toiling with the characters sense of belonging. In the story Counterparts, Joyce uses a combination a psychologically challenging lifestyle and everyday sexual frustration to drive the main character, Farrington, to his breaking point. Farrington is the commonplace Dubliner with a pointless job and an everlasting need for a drink at the local bar. Reading the story, the reader can almost visualize this boring drunk moping around on the sad streets of Dublin. Farringtons job is one of repetition, being that he transcribes contracts all day, and his only excitement is the ten times a day he slips out of the office to run to the bar across the street. He cannot get motivated to do anything because he has no feeling of self worth. Farrington would probably rather be just a drunk who stays at the bar all day, but he needs the money to support his habit. Joyce describes several instances where Farrington is just sitting at his desk and cannot work which Joyce could be relating to either Farringtons stupidity or showing that Farrington is not doing what he wants because he is so conformant to society that he cannot figure out what to do with himself. In all of the Dubliners short stories, there is a struggle to succeed. The Dubliners seem to somehow always manage never to make any improvements in their lives and never succeed in anything that they Caplenor 2 do. Farrington wants to change but he cant because he does not have the means of doing it. The fact that the Farrington has already fallen so far behind at work, that there is no reason for him even to try to catch up serves as an analogy to the helplessness of Farringtons life and the pointlessness of life in Dublin. Farrington has almost a split personality between the bar and work. At the bar, he is respected as kind of one of the big men who is popular, yet at work, he is treated as he is a child and talked down to. Farrington has no idea who he is or what he wants out of life. He goes every day of his life without ever doing something worthwhile or meaningful. Farrington is challenged everyday and given some opportunities but he never cares, he never tries to fix anything, and he never attempts to advance the status of his life past the title of a drunk. In the beginning of the story, Joyce refers to Farrington as the man. It seems that Joyce makes this reference when Farrington is at work or at home. The only identification Farrington has is at the bar that he frequents. This negative environment at work and home forces him to do the things that cause his problems in the first place. Farrington cannot find a reason to change these factors because of the sense of helplessness in Dublin society. As in all the stories in Dubliners, Counterparts has a major erotic component. Women seem to be the only thing that motivate Farrington or any male Dubliner to take any initiative or think about what he is doing. Still it seems that Farrington cannot even achieve the recognition of any woman. Farrington misses his wife who had recently left him, and longed for someone to take care of him and give his life some purpose. Joyce tells of how Farrington can smell Miss. Delacours perfume from outside of the office. And when Mr. Alleyne scolds him in her presence Farrington defends him for the first Caplenor 3 for the first time out of years of being verbally battered by his boss. Joyce does not even say that Farrington is attracted to Miss Delacour, but he will still not let little Mr. Alleyne abuse him like that in front