Case Study – Nike: Spreading Out to Stay Together

Case Study: Amazon: Nike: Spreading Out to Stay Together Nike, Inc. is an American  multinational corporation  that is engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. The company is headquartered near  Beaverton, Oregon, in the  Portland metropolitan area. It is the world's leading supplier of  athletic shoes  and  apparel  and a major manufacturer of  sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$24. 1  billion in its fiscal year 2012 (ending May 31, 2012). As of 2012, it employed more than 44,000 people worldwide. The brand alone is valued at $10. Billion making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. Nike and  Precision Castparts  are the only  Fortune 500  companies headquartered in the state of Oregon, according to  The Oregonian. The company was founded on January 25, 1964 as  Blue Ribbon Sports  by  Bill Bowerman  and  Phil Knight,  and offic ially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1978. The company takes its name from  Nike  the Greek goddess of victory. Nike markets its products under its own brand, as well as Nike Golf, Nike Pro,  Nike+,  Air Jordan,  Nike Skateboarding, and subsidiaries including  Cole Haan,  Hurley International,  Umbro  and  Converse.Nike also owned Bauer Hockey (later renamed  Nike Bauer) between 1995 and 2008. In addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high-profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of â€Å"Just Do It† and the  Swooshlogo. Discussion Questions: 1. When Nike CEO Phil Knight stepped down and handed his job to Bill Perez, he stayed on as chairman of the board. In what ways could Knight’s continued presence on the board have created an informal structure that prevented Perez from achieving full and complete leaders hip of Nike?Answer: Informal structures are the shadow organization that represents the actual working and communication relationships that may not resemble the formal organizational chart. When knight remained on the board, old communication relationships may have survived his departure from the CEO position, cutting Perez off from valuable information. Knight’s access to the informal communication network may have worked to spread rumors to Knight and back down the communication chain. These rumors may have contained inaccurate information, caused resistance to change and distracted members from their work.This may have reinforced Perez’s position as an outsider. 2. How can Nike utilize both traditional and newer organization structures to support the firm’s heavy strategic commitment to outsourcing? Answer: Network structures use information technology (IT) to link with networks of outside suppliers and service contractors. This outlines Nike’s efforts to outsource many nonexecutive responsibilities to reduce overhead. In addition to outsourcing production, the research and marketing business centers listed in the case could be part of a network structure.Other functions may include design, advertising, licensing, compliance sports and entertainment marketing. 3. Given the problems Nike has had with sweatshop labour being used in some of its foreign contractors, are there subsystems of the firm that need to be run with a mechanistic rather than organic design? Give examples to support your answer. Answers: Mechanistic designs are highly centralized and bureaucratic with an emphasis on command and control. This might suggest that mechanistic designs are appropriate for manufacturing in foreign countries.Organic designs are adaptive, decentralized and tend to respond to change more quickly. This would probably be a good fit for an organization that has far flung operations in different countries with different cultures that try to respond to rapidly changing technology, fashion, customer demands and economic conditions. Nike’s manufacturing subsystem should be run with mechanistic rather than organic so as to protect the image brand and its original designs. The design should be utmost unique and further differentiated, not conforming to culture.Design is could be one competitive advantage so it is important that the manufacturing of the products are conformed to the original ideas of the maker, uninfluenced by any other factors involved in its manufacturing process. Example of this idea is the use of differentiation strategy of companies to gain competitive advantage. 4. Further Research—Gather information on Nike’s recent moves and accomplishments, and those of its rival Adidas. Are both firms following the same strategies and using the same structures to support them? Or, is one doing something quite different from the other?Based on what you learn, what do you predict for the future? Will Nike stay on top, or is Adidas the next industry leader? The advertising strategy differs from company to company. Generally, Nike believes in spending 5-7% of its revenues in advertising and endorsement. Nike has planned to spend $4. 2 Billion until 2014 for endorsements alone. With the huge size of Nike, it is tough for other companies to allocate a big amount for their marketing expenses. Moreover, Nike has always an edge when it comes to advertising and marketing. The table below shows the advertising strategy for the major players in the industry.Company| Strategy| Nike| * Endorsing Athletes * Sponsoring Sports events * City based advertisements * Banners ; Billboards * Themes on bringing inspiration and innovation to every athlete in world| Adidas, Reebok| * Sponsoring Sports events * Endorsing Athletes * Themes on improving performance of every athlete in the world | Puma| * Mixing influence of sports, lifestyle ; fashion * Puma concept retail stores * Puma fashion shows * New stuff advertising campaigns * Building seasonal momentum during holiday seasons| Other companies| * Minimal or less advertising based on stores|Nike has invested a lot so far in developing a premium brand that implies high quality and care for the customer. Nike has a wide range of products ranging from athletics to life style and also in different price ranges. Therefore, it is always a challenge to fight against brand dilution within Nike. The following gives an idea of the customer’s perception of the brands. Company| Branding message and strategy| Nike| Athletic, Influential, Outgoing, Aggressive, hi tech, futuristic, retro cool American way of living Associated with Athletes at top of their sportTo bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in world| Adidas, Reebok| Clear, orderly, Practical, hi tech, Sophisticated, Sincere Conservative European style To improve performance of every athlete in the world Associated with elite soccer players/teams, NBA stars, Hip hop artists| Puma| Elegant, colorful, fresh, spontaneous, individual, metropolitan, international Mixing influence of sports, lifestyle ; fashion Fashion brand, performance ; casual footwear, fringe, extreme sports| Other companies| Based on their product lines. Generally not a strong brand message|In general, Nike’s shoes are associated to be of high quality and stylish. Reebok’s are comfortable and casual, and the Adidas brand boasts superior performance and is â€Å"perceived as a professional, technically orientated brand with strong European roots. Nike fields some of the best in class technological practices and has a few patents to its credit. Nike emphasizes on these and has developed a lot of new products with use of high technology and sophistication. An example of that is the microprocessor shoe to give great experience and comfort to the customer.However, Adidas is also working on high tech innovations to provide high quality shoes. Lately, Adidas and Nike have been doing entertainment based marketing campaign by forming alliances with technology/entertainment companies. Nike had an alliance with Apple to sell Nike shoes with Apple iPods while Adidas tied up with Microsoft to sell Adidas goods with Microsoft Xbox gaming systems. So far the success of these alliances is yet to be quantified. Nike follows a 100% outsourcing strategy. Most competitors follow the outsourcing strategy.Exceptions to this are New Balance and other smaller players. New Balance claims that 75% of its production is from the US and other small companies produce in the US as well. In general, Nike might still be the industry leader if it compensates its weaknesses in organizational structures with different strategies such as focusing on innovation and development, following differentiation and pricing-based strategies, and investing on sustainability research. References: http://www. nike. com/ph http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nike,_Inc. http://www. scribd . com/doc/91701683/Case-Study

Emphasizing Cultural Attributes Essay

Abstract Students identified for special education programs, either for the gifted or for students in need of more intensive instruction, are often identified solely by their qualifying label or diagnosis in close to all circumstances. The emphasized focus on this one attribute often results in a lack of acknowledgement for the culture of the child and how that culture affects learning style and social behavior. The students in these programs may not have the self-awareness to know and be proud of their heritage nor might their peers have an idea of how each are the same and different because of these ancestral qualities. This lack of recognition disrupts the efforts that both schools and communities put forth in establishing multicultural environments for learning and socializing. It causes people to view special education students with a narrow perspective which then affects the manner in which they ultimately view all other groups. Reversing this trend and helping people to consider special education students as whole persons is achievable through simple yet intensive education of both students and professional educators. A combination of special education curriculum and professional development focusing on differentiation between cultural characteristics and label-related behaviors would provide the framework, tools, and training needed to implement a consistent education about cultural diversity as well as broaden the awareness of administrators, teachers, and instructional staff regarding different cultures and ways of life. Resistance from districts or schools would be challenged with research based findings and statistics as well as active experiences from educational establishments already piloting the program. By infusing a diversity curriculum for special education and helping professional educators to consider these students for all of their natural qualities, including but certainly not limited to their qualifying factors for special education, the multicultural movement is perpetuated. Teachers are the greatest role models for both students and community members. Providing curriculum and training in the area of cultural diversity empowers teachers to make subtle and grand changes to their schools and communities. Throughout our education system, students are labeled and categorized so as to ensure proper delivery of instruction and academic services. This labeling process occurs via a series of assessments, observations, and includes correlation with any accompanying medical diagnosis or characteristics of such. Students whose assessment results place them outside the average or normal range are grouped either as â€Å"gifted† or â€Å"in need of more intensive instruction† and placed in special education. Once in a special education program, these students are primarily identified by their diagnosis, such as autistic or cerebral palsy, or label, such as gifted or savant. While this information is crucial to developing an academic plan that will challenge the student and initiate academic growth, these labels tend to cause educators and instructional support staff to lose sight of the student as a whole person. By failing to identify the cultural characteristics of students in special education, the school system makes itself vulnerable to failing the child. Children and their behaviors are shaped by their lifestyles at home and in the community. Households adhere to a variety of procedures and routines from how to manage hygiene to cooking practices to sharing and interacting with others. For students with additional traits that yield enrollment in special education, it is crucial to consider the cultural aspects of their lives so as to enhance the effectiveness of instruction and learning. By disregarding cultural characteristics, the students are at risk of being seen only for their disability or label and provided instruction based on statistics and research taken on other children with similar labels rather than truly individualized for each student. As a special education teacher, I can attest to the simplicity of developing lesson plans based on the disabilities seen in the classroom. Particularly if the classroom is tailored to one diagnosis, such as Autism, using pre-determined and proven methods that lend themselves to the disability are an easy way to deliver instruction and leave oneself believing the lesson was the best it could be. Unfortunately by adhering to published numbers and data collected about other students, scholars suffer both a diminished accessibility to the curriculum as well as misidentification of demonstrated behaviors during both academic and social time. When blinded by published data, educators are more prone to eliminate behaviors that are undesirable under the heading of the disability or label even though the same behavior is common in the culture of the student. Scholars are unable to fully connect with instruction or activities because cultural traits related to learning may be redirected or stopped. In a way, by identifying the student only by qualifying label and not also by gender, culture, or race, the school system is inadvertently causing the students to become more engrained in the shortcoming of their disabilities rather than giving them the knowledge and tools to overcome their obstacles. Additionally, the school forces the students to assimilate to a model of non-culture which results in a total loss of culture identification. In the case of gifted students, not emphasizing cultural differences leaves these leaders of the future short-handed in both social and networking skills. They will lack an understanding of themselves which can isolate them from their cultural peers as well as damage their ability to associate to their peers and colleagues both as children and as adults. Students, professional educators, and the community would benefit from a combination of diversity curriculum and professional development addressing the topic of cultural diversity in special education. As role models for both the students and the community, teachers will reap the most benefit from implementing such a program as well as have the greatest influence over the effectiveness of the results. By establishing a cohesive awareness about the cultural identities of students in special education, the manner in which the students and the community view all social groups will be improved. (MAISD, 2013) Curriculum written to the level of special education students would help both gifted and underachieving students gain a greater understanding and perspective about cultural diversity, allowing them to identify themselves and their peers as members of rich and honorable histories. (Minnesota State Colleges & Universities, 2013) This curriculum would parallel that of general education curriculum but with modifications to make it more accessible to the target audiences of special education. Additional lessons and activities about self identification and awareness, stereotypes of different cultures, comparison of cultural practices, and comparison of specific cultural behaviors and disability-related behaviors provide the foundation knowledge that many special educations students are lacking. Curriculum for special day classes would include creating consistent visual cues for identifying different cultures and the basic characteristics associated with each one. Gifted students would be given opportunities to delve into deeper thinking about their own heritage in comparison to that of their peers, the pros and cons of how different cultural lifestyles and attitudes affect society and the economy, and project how different cultural attributes may affect the future. (Schroeder, 2011). Implementation of this curriculum would be coupled with professional development for all school personnel. The professional development would focus on identifying students in special education by culture, gender, and race in addition to diagnosis or qualifying factors. Participants would receive a general foundation education about how different cultures look in the classroom and how those behaviors mimic the behaviors related to different disabilities or levels of genius. For example, students with Asian heritage tend to avoid eye contact which is also a classic trait of Autism. An Asian student with an autism diagnosis should not be encouraged to make eye contact with adults even though eye contact is an area of social interaction that many autism programs focus on improving. Data taken on the student’s behavior should not include frequency of eye contact because results will yield poor performance that may or may not be related to the disability. In addition to increasing understanding in this area, teachers will be given the knowledge to find students whose cultural behaviors may have led to a misidentification for special education. Our public school system continues to demonstrate a disturbing number of students who have been wrongly identified for special education due to cultural characteristics or inability to relate to assessment tools because of cultural experiences or beliefs. By learning to differentiate between cultural and disability/label related behaviors, teachers will have a first-hand opportunity to ensure that all students are placed in appropriate classrooms offering them a just-right challenge. Professional development will include information about different White cultures for these students are often lumped together as â€Å"cultureless† and therefore disregarded as displaying behaviors that can be attributed to their heritage. (Perry, 2001) White students come from a myriad of ancestries; French, South African, Australian, Spanish, Welsh, and German to name a few, and each display their own unique array of culturally related behaviors. For example, the French culture adheres to hygiene practices that are different than most cultures. As a result, a French special education student may be adverse to water because of lack of exposure. It is important to refrain from automatically attaching the adverse reaction to sensory disregulation or irrational fear, two common characteristics of many disabilities. A special education student with South African roots may only eat meat and avoid vegetables, which reflects the heavy meat diet enjoyed by persons in this region. (Oplan, 2013) It would be easy to label this as â€Å"finicky eating† and relate it back to a diagnosis of Autism or Down Syndrome, disabilities that often manifest a very limited diet. Doing so, however, damages the child and his perception of his culture as it relates to American society. Implementation of curriculum and professional development would be relatively simple as long as districts and schools are willing to make an attempt. Upon introduction to school districts, both the curriculum and training would be supported by research based findings and statistical information regarding instances of misidentification for special education, the rise of disability diagnosis as compared to the increase of culturally diverse students in public school, parallels between cultural and disability related behaviors, and rates of school failure of students whose cultural needs were not served in the classroom. The program would include additional training for district selected educators to act as support personnel for both the curriculum and training as well as regional support contacts. An online live chat forum would be established and made available 24 hours per day, seven days per week to allow educators to exchange ideas, discuss challenges, and share successes. Teachers would have opportunities to provide feedback so as to keep the training and curriculum current as well as help them feel acknowledged and empowered to continue implementing the program. Education of special education students beyond the basics is crucial if they are going to have the tools and knowledge needed to actively participate in their communities as adults. In order to interact socially with others as well as protect themselves from bigotry and slander, these students need to understand cultural differences and how those differences both benefit and plague society. They need to know what their role is in establishing a greater sense of multiculturalism in school and the community and be able to share information so as to educate others. Gifted students need a well rounded education about the world and how it interacts, most especially as related to cultural differences. They need to know how to find the threads of commonality among cultural groups while simultaneously celebrating diversity. By maintaining these skills, the students will be in the best position to have a positive influence on society and increase cultural awareness and understanding as well as diminish misguided stereotypes about both disabilities and cultural behaviors. References Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. (2013). Building Respect for Diversity. Retrieved from http://ctlrespectdiversity. project. mnscu. edu/index. asp? Type=B_BASIC&SEC= %7B9F44AF3C-4968-437C-88B2-3AFE80A0D1DD%7D MAISD. (2013). Multiculturalism and Diversity. Retrieved from http://www. muskegonisd. org/ academicservices/for-community/multicultural/ Schroeder, Connie. (2011) Infusing Diversity into the Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www4. uwm. edu/acad_aff/climate/2011_campus_conversation/march11-infusing-diversity-presentation. ppt Perry, Pamela. (2001). White Means Never Having to Say You’re Ethnic: White Youth and the Construction of â€Å"Cultureless† Identities. Retrieved from http://jce. sagepub. com/content/ 30/1/56. abstract Oplan, David. (2013). South Africa. Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved from http://www. everyculture. com/Sa-Th/South-Africa. html#b Banks, J. A. & Banks, C. A. M. (2012). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. (8th Ed. ). Danville, MA: John Wiley & Sons, In.

Acceptance of Local Product

Acceptance of Local Product Malaysia, with a population of around 27 million, is one of the most developed nations in Southeast Asia. About 61% of its population falls into the middle to upper income group of consumers with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita income of over US$6,000. The introduction of economic reforms through New Economic Policy (NEP) has produced some notable achievements such as the emergence of several successful domestic products with international competitiveness. Local brands such as Air Asia, PETRONAS, MAS and Selangor Pewter have reflected some successful stories of local entrepreneurs competing in the global markets. In the view of food product, the Malaysian food and beverage market is becoming more and more sophisticated and is supplied by both local and imported products. The strong economic growth in the late 80’s and early 90’s contributed to major changes in consumer purchases and consumption patterns. Malaysians living in urban areas are relatively brand con scious, and they prefer to shop in stores, which offer them convenience and good product selections. Malaysia has a large and growing food retail market that is supplied by local and imported products. Due to rising prosperity and higher education level, Malaysian consumers have become more difficult and demand higher quality for the goods that they purchased. Supermarkets and hypermarkets are mainly located in the major urban centers and are continuing to grow in numbers. Foreign-owned retailers operating locally include Tesco and Carrefour, Makro, Dairy Farms International (owns Giant), and Jaya Jusco. These retail stores provide good venues for imported products and access to the middle and high-income sophisticated consumers. Pressure is mounting for local retailers such as The Store to maintain competitive prices and carry a good variety of products in order to keep up with the international players. Malaysian government has tried to solve this problem that consumers should buy local product to stimulate the nation’s economy. Malaysian’s consumer have to change our attitude in believing that imported things are superior to local goods. We have locally-made goods which are of similar value and quality. Actually a significant number of goods sold overseas, items such as TV, radio, air-conditioner, VCR, shirt, shoe and automobile are made in Malaysia. We should build up a culture where we do not automatically think that imported goods are of superior goods over local goods. Many goods marketed under famous brand names such as Christian Dior, Piere Cardin, Levis, etc are actually made in Malaysia under OEM manufacturing. (Norman Rajen Abdullah, 2009) Malaysian appears to be more confident of local products, judging from their rising sales at Mydin stores nationwide. Demand for these products, ranging from food to handicrafts and textiles made by small businesses, has grown steadily since 2006. Sales of products made by small and medium enterpris es (SMEs) have more than tripled to RM55 million in 2009 from 2006 This is projected to grow by another 18 per cent to RM65 million this year and hit RM80 million in 2011. He said it was important for local entrepreneurs to build a strong foundation for their businesses in the local market before going international market.

Must write an individual report of 1500 words. This report must be Essay

Must write an individual report of 1500 words. This report must be based on the consumer focussed web site you are due to presen - Essay Example Thus, website development is highly crucial and it should be mainly designed using a customer centric approach so that it can steal the show among their existent competitors in the market (Chaffey and Dave, 2008, p. 152). I am a member of a website development team who is developing a website which deals with laundry products and apparels. The paper will focus on my justifications regarding the Internet market techniques along with other crisp business strategies which will be highly useful in making our website stand well in the competitive front. Promotion of Brand Awareness The promotion of brand awareness is one of the crucial parts to highlight the website and is one of the benevolent strategies of the e-commerce industry. The brand awareness must be executed in such a manner that the customers receive detailed and rational information regarding the firm and its offerings. This technique can be used as a signal to the current and prospective customers, which will state that the customer is on the cutting edge. I will develop a model with product differentiation strategies along with an image rich message with a tag line which should be in line with the actual performance of the products of delivery. Another stylized technique which I will apply to promote the website is AdWords which are an established mechanism of targeting the potential customers and establishing brand awareness at a reasonable price. I would also be posting some testimonials from our pleased customers along with a few photographs of our ways of functioning to support the services offered in my website. Target Audience Another major decision is the selection of target customers. The market has to be segregated into subparts of customers and sections should be set in the order of priority. Since our website focuses on the marriage laundry, domestic and hotel laundry, the market will be divided into subparts and focus on the micro analysis. People think of marketing management as finding a s many customers as possible and increasing demand. But it is not the right policy and it is not possible for the marketing manager to serve all the customers coming in their way. Trying to serve all the customers, it would not be possible to serve any of the customers properly. So in our area of target, our top priority will be on the marriage sector as well as the hotel sector. For example, Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen stores profitably target affluent professionals; Dollarama stores profitably target families with more modest means. The advertisement budget will also have to be considered and will be concentrated on key areas. The main things which will be taken into consideration are targeting, demographics, key words and the budget. Keeping a close watch on this, our target customers can be attracted (Website Promotion, 2012). Creating Value Proposition The value proposition of the company

Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Governance - Essay Example The right role requires board member engagement. The traditional model has a passive board that requires minimal participation from the board whose main job was to approve management decision. The CEO has the discretion and the board has limited accountability. The certifying board model focuses on credibility to shareholders ensuring that the business is managed properly and CEO meets requirements. The engaged board is likened to a CEO’s partner that constantly provides insight, advice, and support on key decisions and actively defines role and boundaries. The intervening board asserts its presence and deeply involved in key decisions through intense meetings. The operating board decides what the management implements and usually characterized by start-ups where executives still need more management experience. The right work requires the boards to potentially participate in dozens of distinct areas although focus may be on legal areas such as counseling senior management, ev aluating CEO, and ensuring effective audit, among others. Ideally, the working board must also be able to provide support to directors who need help, whom to retain for the next term as well as those to release. Committees may also help them stay in focus and concentrate on specific issues. The right people in the board require competence as a group and as individuals, but in reality, capabilities mismatch expectations. The right agenda requires the need for the board to discuss then thoroughly through annual off-site meetings beyond the regular ones where they mingle with the management and employees to gain insight as well as get fruitful results. Right information should not be too much or too little but enough to provide exact and necessary information that they need to know and discuss. The right culture engages the board with candor and willingness to challenge as it reflects the social and work dynamics of a performing team (Nadler, 2004). The Principles of Good Governance an d The Seven Practices Lawrence and Weber (year) prescribed five principles of good governance for the board through selection of outside directors to fill majority of positions, conduct open elections for members of the board, appoint independent lead director or chairman of the board and hold regular meetings without the CEO present, align director compensation with corporate performance, and evaluate the board's own performance on a regular basis. The overlap between the lists of Nadler and Lawrence and Weber is that Lawrence and Weber’s list is encompassed on Nadler’s right mind-set. Nadler’s is more encompassing, extensive, and specific while Lawrence and Weber’s were traditional at most. Executive Pay and the Principles of Board Practices Through the right people method, Nadler’s practices may eliminate those which are performing questionably, thus maintaining performers that may be threatened with competition. In addition, transparency and eq uity is also promoted in order to determine that it is not only senior management or executives that monopolize compensation but must be distributed equally to all members of the organization as one component should be determined as important as the others. This will help distribute compensation from the executives down to the rank and file (Martinelli, 2011). Board Performance and Application to Disney One of the bigger problems of the Walt

Financial Trends Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Financial Trends Paper - Essay Example Also if we were to analyze the debt/equity ratios the decreasing leverage of the company has correspondingly increased not only its profitability but also increasing return on assets and increase in the net profit margin (money central, ten year summary). The article I am summarizing was published in Economist "The ones that get away: Accounts are increasingly more art than science". The author introduces the argument that although net profits of Amazon, online retailer, had fallen substantially while that of Sprint, telecom, had increased significantly share prices rose for both companies (Economist, 00130613). Author quotes Enron and WorldCom and stresses that people have become shy of profitability figures as these figures tend to be "malleable" (Economist, 00130613). There is a further argument that these errors start to creep in because companies are increasingly making use of estimates in their financial statements. The accrual method of accounting where expenses and revenues are entered into accounts when "incurred" (Economist, 00130613) have made the issue difficult and to compound it fair value accounting practices have introduced their own difficulties.

Cause and Effect essay on The MIsfit in A good Man is Hard To FInd

Cause and Effect on The MIsfit in A good Man is Hard To FInd - Essay Example The views expressed by The Misfit are not simple, though, and there are many factors in his life that have lead him to become the person that he is. To begin examining The Misfits views, we should start with the remote causes of the Misfits agnosticism. Growing up in the South, he would have grown up with a strong religious background. He even states that his parents were good people: â€Å"God never made a finer woman than my mother and my daddy’s heart was pure gold† (456). While it may be possible that The Misfit is being sarcastic or overly-patronizing, his brutal honesty throughout would seem to contradict this. At one point he states that he â€Å"was a gospel singer for a while† (457), furthering to depict The Misfit as a man with a strong religious background. Without a religious background in which The Misfit would have learned the religious views of Christianity, he wouldn’t have seen any contradictions inherent and would have no reason to be agnostic. As far as remote causes expressed, the first time that The Misfit makes a statement showing his less than believing nature can also be viewed as a remote cause. When the grandmother asks why he doesn’t pray, the Misfit replies â€Å"I don’t need no hep†¦I’m doing all right by myself† (458). If The Misfit has no need for God, then there isn’t any need for him to try to make himself believe in something that he sees as contradictory, and this serves as an additional reason as to why The Misfit is agnostic. To move closer to the causes and effects of The Misfits agnosticism, we will need to discuss the contributory causes. These can be summed up by saying that The Misfit feels as though he has been wronged and life in general doesn’t seem to be fair or have a sense of justice. To illustrate this, The Misfit states that he â€Å"never was a bad boy that I remember of†¦but somewhere along the line I done something wrong and got sent to the penitentiary. I was buried alive† (457).