Consumer Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Consumer Behaviour - Assignment Example This paper will be focused on the marketing practices of the Lloyd’s TSB bank in its endeavours to retain its customers. Lloyd’s TSB is a retail bank that is based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyd’s bank and the TSB group. Lloyd’s bank was originally founded in Birmingham in 1765 while the TSB group, a rival bank, was formed in 1810. The marketing mix of Lloyd’s TSB has seen it realise admirable profits through the years. The marketing mix elements, also known as the 4p’s, are price, place, product and promotion. In simple terms, a product includes all features as well as goods and related services that a business offers to its clients. The product is the most crucial component in the marketing mix. This is because products are the market expression of the manufacturer’s productive capabilities. Products determine a producer’s capacity to link with customers. A product policy or strategy is of enormous significance to a corporation; product decisions dictate the scope and direction of industry activity (Singh, 2011). Additionally, market indicators such as profits, sales, image and market share are also dependent on products. The products of companies also influence other components of the marketing mix. Therefore, without proper product policy, a corporation cannot pursue further elements of the marketing mix. With the rapid advancement of technology, a banking company has no choice but to advance as well in order to satisfy the desires of its clients and remain competitive. The Lloyd’s TSB group boasts a diverse array of services and products that cater for a large clientele. The banking options available to its customers include the phone bank as well as internet banking. Customers can also text financial information from a mobile phone and make use of cash point

Financial Planning and Forecasting Essay Example for Free

Financial Planning and Forecasting Essay We have also provided comprehensive documentation on the templates so that you do not need to guess or figure out how we implemented the models. All our template models are only in black and white color. We believe this is how a professional financial template should look like and also that this is the easiest way for you to understand and use the templates. All the input fields are marked with the ‘*’ symbol for you to identify them easily. Whether you are a financial analyst, investment banker or accounting personnel. Or whether you are a student aspiring to join the finance world or an entrepreneur needing to understand finance, we hope that you will find this package useful as we have spent our best effort and a lot of time in developing them. ConnectCode Pg iii Financial Planning and Forecasting Version 1. 0 1. 1. 1 Financial Planning and Forecasting Pro Forma Financial Statements Financial statements projections and forecasting are very common in corporate financial analysis. The reason is that it is very useful and important to forecast how much financing a company will require in future years. The projections are achieved by using historical sales, accounting data and assumptions on future sales and costs. These financial statements projections are known financial modeling as Pro Forma financial statements. 1. 2 Financial Statements Modeling This spreadsheet provides a template for financial statements forecasting. It requires simple financial statements inputs from the past 5 years and will automatically generate all the necessary Pro Forma Financial Statements projections outputs. The following diagram illustrates the process of using this template for financial statements forecasting.

Influences on Self-Concepts and the Impact

Influences on Self-Concepts and the Impact I have been asked to reassess a case study on Isaac Barlow and Zac Barlow. In my assessment I shall include aspects that influenced the brothers self concept. Also, I shall include an outline how these factors can influence the growth of their self esteem. Finally, I shall include an explanation on how these factors can influence the development of their self concept. (P3) State factors that influence an individuals self-concept and give a clear and full account of the factors that might have influenced the brothers self-concept. I shall state the factors that influence an individuals self-concept and I will give a clear and full account of the factors that might have influenced the brothers self-concept. Factors that can influence an individuals self-concept are education, media, appearance, culture, abuse, relationships, gender, income and age. Education: Education can influence an individuals self-concept by having supportive teaching staff who continues to encourage a student to keep up the good work. Also, another factor that can influence an individuals self-concept is the lack of employment due to having a poor education. Education can impact on a persons self-esteem if they cannot get into employment and the person will get a negative self-image and low self-esteem. Media: Media can influence an individuals self-concept through provision of educational sources such as, promoting enrolment on academic courses and information on current situation happening in our society. A further reason that can influence an individuals self-concept is displaying of images of models or celebrities being underweight. For example, pictures of Victoria Beckham and Nicole Richie. Appearance: Appearance can affect an individuals self-concept both constructively and harmfully. For example, appearance constructive influence will be pictures displayed by sports encouraging individuals to keep up a healthy lifestyle. Further to point, appearance can have a negative influence on a persons life through advertising photos of underweight models and this can influence young women to try to seem very thin. Culture: Culture is a belief that you have or self values. This can influence our self concept if we do not endorse other individuals culture. Example req. Also, this can be the way you were brought up by your parents or a guardian. Abuse: There are different types of abuse; they are physical, emotional, neglect and sexual. These or any type of abuse can be detrimental to a person, however, abuse can influence a person if they have been neglected and they will develop a low self esteem. In addition, a person has been neglected may feel socially excluded and may suffer from mental health conditions. Relationships: Relationship can influence an individuals self concept if you do not have a supportive family, peers. This will may lead the individual to have a negative self concept with socialisation. Furthermore, having high expectations can also have a negative self concept of an individual, additionally if the person has been compared to other peer groups or siblings can have a negative influence. Gender: Gender is characterised by being a man or woman. This categorisation can influence a persons self-concept of stereotyping job roles for both genders. For example, men should play football and women should stay at home and cook the meals also take care of the children. Finally, I believe that these factors may influence an individuals self-concept everyone should be treated equally regardless of their gender. Income: Income can influence individual self concept if they do not have enough income they may be despair that they cannot afford to live a normal life. For example, with insufficient low income a person cannot maintain their lifestyle factors, such as paying their rent, afford heating facilities within their home plus have a balance diet. Age: It can be said that self-concept can fluctuate throughout different life stages, for example. Also, age can influence a persons self concept during childhood and adolescent development. Through comprehending his ideal self receiving peer pressure. Self concept is the way an individual visualise them self. For example, self concept can be very influential in the way we see our self; by receiving critical comments by peers or family member, which can cause low self esteem. Self concept is made up of factors such as self image, ideal self and self esteem. Haworth et al (2010) suggests that there are numerous factors that can affect your self- concept. They are age, education, media, appearance, culture, abuse, relationships, gender, and income. These factors are also known as socioeconomic factors. (M2) Outline how factors can influence the development of an individuals self-concept, or Outline how the factors that influenced the brothers self-concept. (D1) Describe how the factors influenced the brothers self-concept. Factors that influenced Zac Barlow self-concept Age: During Zacs infancy years he was unable to distinguish what gender he was. During Zacs childhood years he was able to distinguish his family. During he was able to identify that he was a student and what year he was in school and able to identify his likes and dislikes. He was able to tell who is friends were and express his emotions. During adolescent life stage he was able to compare himself with others and express his relationship with peers. Also, he was able to describe his beliefs and acknowledge what is right from what is wrong. During his adulthood life stage he should become more confident within his personal relationship and establish himself within a particular career. Appearance: Zacs appearance seems to have been influence negatively, because he was not interested in sports. This may have impacted on him because within the norms males are expected to do physical activities. Also, this will have an impact on his self esteem, although his self image might be different on what others think about him. He may not feel attracted to form any relationship with the opposite sex at school because of his appearance. Moreover, his self concept may decrease due to how others perceive him. He had a very thin physique which might be an influence from the media. He may be affected by his appearance. His appearance may affect by how he attires or carries himself and called gay; he may feel within his ideal self that he is gay. Also, hearing negative words all the time can make him believe whatever they mimic him and this will lead to negative social interaction with his peers. Media: The media may have an impact on how he feels about himself. Media may impact on his appearance. May has impacted the way he feels about himself or may have an impact on his image which may encourage him to keep his body built. Contribute to self concept development; social, academic, emotional physical may impact on his appearance which is his ideal self. Media can also provide positive educational opportunities which can help to develop a persons academic growth. Culture: He believes he was the norm. In the western culture boys meant to be masculine and girls meant to be feminine. His culture can be influenced by his family also by his peers. He did not have a girlfriend at school plus how he was brought up might impact on his self esteem. Gender: He was male. He meant to have masculine physiques. He faces gender stereotype because he was not taking part in sport activity at school. Because of his gender stereotype it decreases his academic performance at school. At a certain age people can identify or chose which group to follow so he hangs out with older boys. Education: He was influenced by his parents to study because he did not have a choice. He was influenced by teachers, peers and parents to study. May start to compare himself with his peers including siblings. Receiving additional support from the school could help to develop his self concept. Being compared to other pupils or siblings can affect his views on himself. Been teased Zac may feel unwanted and be ashamed of who he is as a person and as a part of that he would have a low self esteem which he may possibly continue through to adulthood. This may also affect his relationships and employment prospects. Constant teasing can affect Zac overall mood and that is why he was unsociable. Because of this he may lose interest in sports activities and was able to build a relationship with older boys. He will also develop mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. He may feel reluctant to try and build relationships with his peers. Being teased can also has a significant consequence on his academic performance, reason being, he has been teased and this will make him divert from paying attention on his studies. This will have a result on his academic study by not making it into six forms or college. Also because he has been teased he did not want to take part in certain lessons. There is no indication of how long the teasing took place but there was speculations of Zac being bullied by his peers. Additionally, if he have been bullied this will show signs that his teasing was going on for a while then potentially lead to bullying. Furthermore, this will allow Zac to be in fear and have a negative self-concept about himself or have a negative self-image, self-esteem, self-value and ideal self. These mental scars can affect Zac in both past and present conduct and decrease his chance of academic and psychological hardship throughout school and into adulthood. Income: He was raised in a middle class family. So his parents had enough money to live an above normal lifestyle. Having brought up in a middle class family, would mean that some of his needs were financially. Also, been used to a lot of money during his development he may be used to materialistic things. He may influence to steal because he cannot afford his lifestyle needs which can have a negative self image. Relationship: There are different types of relationships, which are family, mutual, ect. He did not have a good relationship with his peers because they taunted him. He did not have good relationship with school staff as he always gets into trouble at school He may introvert his social behaviour. He did not have a good relationship with his parents as he has been neglected and he would not speak to them. He did not have good social interaction with any of his peers family and staff at school. He develops relationship with older boys as they share similar value this will strengthen his self concept and extrovert his social conduct. Abuse: He was verbally abused by peers which will have an emotional impact on his self esteem. He was neglected by his parents, for example, his emotional needs were neglected. He may be abuse by the older boys which influenced him to smoke because he was vulnerable. He may be stereotyped because of his role of his gender, for instance, males meant to be muscular and females were meant to be gorgeous.

Essay --

We as young adults, deal with many social and emotional issues, which can be seen through depression. Depression, is a state of having low moods and can be described as feeling â€Å"blue†or unhappy. Depressed people may feel so sad at times that they withdraw and lose interest in activities that they once loved to do. In worst cases, some people even commit suicide. Generally, depression does not result from a single event but from a combination of multiple events in life and other personal factors. The number of factors that may cause depression varies from person to person. There could be abuse that happened in the past, conflict from family disputes and personal factors. It could also be from a death or loss and the person cannot get over their grief. Some depression just comes from having an illness. The normal ups and downs in life means that everyone feels sad or "blue" from time to time, but if emptiness and absence of hope have taken place and will not go away, there may be depression in life. When depression is in someone's life they can get very hopeless and not even enjoy thin...

Chile Case Analysis Essay

Introduction The Multi-Product Chile case showed all the characteristics of a decision case. At the end of the case, Mr. Thompson, the new manager, had to face with a decision whether or not continuing with the changes started by the company. Therefore, we approached at the case with a decisive standpoint. 1. What are the specific problems & issues facing the company? Managers organization structure chart shows that the work distribution could not be done well. There are too many managers and this might lead to a very high individual competition. The working structure of the company does not promote teamwork, each division is working individually and the staff is not working as a team and this decreases the effectiveness of the compensation system, which has also been held as an individual activity. Another major issue is the lack of trust on each other, caused mainly by cultural aspects that lead the employees to be more individual: everyone is only interested in themselves, not in the area they work in. Sales representatives are only interested on the product they are specifically selling and that causes differences with what the clients are looking for. Therefore, the company struggles to accept changes happening right now. 2. How do you evaluate the approach the firm has taken so far? Multi-Products Chile has tried to keep up with the new trends in the market by meeting the new and constantly evolving customer’s needs. Before Thompson’s arrival, the Key Accounts review and Integrated Solutions program were already been launched. The new identification of company’s Key Accounts as a strategic relationship with the customers was aimed to create a long-term competitive advantage for the firm and creating new benefits for the clients. Integrated Solutions meant a completely different approach in the relationship with the customers: the sales representatives focused their efforts from one product and many clients to one client and a different set of products. The role of the sales representative had to evolve becoming a â€Å"consultant† for the customer. The issue of Chilean cultural barriers to overcome, in order change their sales policy, was not an easy one. They are a closed culture and the mentioned lack of trust that emerged between the co-workers represented an issue in the team working approach required by the transition to an integrated sales model. In our view the firm has moved in the right direction. Even though the sales were doing well with no sign of a crisis, the profit margin was decreasing. The customers were asking for a different kind of service and, in order to be competitive in the future and coherent with the innovative spirit of the firm, a step forward was necessary. Meet the customer needs is the key to success and now the big challenge is trying to align the approach with the Chilean culture. Moving from a traditional selling model to an integrated also represented an opportunity to align their strategy with all the other Multi-Products branches all over the world. 3. What actions should the firm take going forward? From an integrated solutions model standpoint, every single employee should be on the same page in terms of team motivation, company coherence, and content on the multi-products structure. This innovative model from the traditional business model has a lack of adaptability in the Chilean culture because the company’s implementation isn’t in its full effect. Therefore, a change in a more streamlined and lean management structure that coincides with the integrated sales model, which could be tweaked according to the Chilean culture, could be the way forward, especially when the profit margin  is decreasing where the times of culture adaptability change are needed. The fact that the Chileans are â€Å"workaholics,† and they are dedicated, in turning their dedication to a team oriented strategy could suffice for the â€Å"one voice, one face, one company,† as part of their integrated solutions model. The incentive structure could be tweaked as well for sales representatives, where a higher commission and bonus model for higher sales in effect could boost the company’s performance. If this is streamlined, this could be the factor increase in the company’s market share from a low profit margin. Due to the fact that Chileans are naturally competitive work oriented people, an innovative competition structure that is internal and fun could be established whereby, workers motivate themselves to beat each other, which could overall beat the benchmark targets for the sales and marketing segment in the integrated solutions model. In going forward, merging the integrated solutions model, key accounts and the Chilean culture norms, mores and values of their work standards, where the team as whole could leverage their core strengths in competition, hard work with their sales representatives, could be their main factor advantage in the market. 4. What are the key supply chain(s) links in this case? How might the supply/value chain be used as an analytical framework for understanding the organizational and managerial challenges facing the company? This case shows different key actors of the supply chain. Starting with the initial inventory with its way of procurement. Then, they explain the way they deliver their products, which is via truck shipment mostly. The new sale solution they are implementing affects the way they will manage their orders. Adding more services in the process, as customer will need advices. Its overall way of retail is challenged in this case, aside from facing an overhaul in the sales division; its supply chain has to be adapted to answer the new needs. The company will need to pivot from a push production to a pull production. Hence, most of the supply chain is affected. This is the main organizational challenge, because every aspect of their current supply chain will have to change. They want to reach the next level, going from a simple offering of products to a retailer of solutions, as mentioned earlier. For the supply chain, that means, more reactivity and flexibility. Several layer tools needs to be implemented. They should apply a just in time production, meaning that they will have, at least, to use the lean manufacturing to eliminate the wastes in their production. They will work with smaller trucks to sale more often. A reduction of their waste in the manufacturing process, and the pace they can change their production should be as low as it can. Its sales people need to learn how to work together, but the top management needs to be on the same page regarding this project, everything will start with their support. And it’s a real mistake that they still have people openly doubting the overall at this point of the process. The challenge would be to rally those executives. Then create an atmosphere where collaboration is valued and useful. The entire success of this overall relies on the way people can adapt to it. And it won’t be easy regarding the social value that Chile people developed. The organizational side is important, but should not be the main focus, as it is motioned in the case that they are still delivering in time their products. But keeping these changes in mind is important for the long term, which is also a switch in the company’s culture. 5. How have STEEPLE factors impacted the company? The social aspect of Chile has a direct impact on our company, as people in Chile are workaholics where they are more focused on individual goals than the company’s goal. The use of incentives to individual sale representatives will help increase the sales but this will again drive them towards their own individual goals. Technological innovation helps us in deriving 30 percent of sales. There is potential in the market but the economy is increasing slowly as compared to other Latin American countries. Being political stable since last 10 years, there are legal issues regarding regulation and standards while dealing with other countries. Conclusion To conclude, the wisest option for Thompson is to continue the overhaul of the company’s management and organizational systems. Because Multi-product Chile is at a critical point where it has to adapt in order to stay  competitive. Even if the project faces difficulties, it has to be achieved. The main factor for success, aside from the technical parts, would be to rally the employee towards this project. Starting with the executive, this is inconceivable that they are still facing trust issue from the managers at this point of the project. Regarding the technical part, in order to be able to deliver according to the new standards, they will have to switch their production from a push production to a pull production. We would recommend starting with the basic tools of the lean manufacturing.

How to Make and Keep an Appointment in German

How to Make and Keep an Appointment in German No matter if you are arranging a first date or a dentist appointment, the etiquette of punctuality is famous in Germany. This article will teach you more about how to make appointments in Germany and express suitable arrangements in German. Calendar Dates and Clock Times in German Lets start with fixing a date. Dates of the month are described with a system called ordinal numbers. If you need a refresher, you can review vocabulary for months, days, and seasons. In Spoken German For numbers up to 19, add the suffix -te  to the number. After 20, the suffix is -ste. The trickiest part of getting your suffix right is to notice that it will change depending on the case and gender of your sentence. For example, look at these two sentences: Example: Ich mà ¶chte am vierten Januar in Urlaub fahren. - I would like to go on holiday on the 4th January.Der vierte Februar ist noch frei. - The fourth of February is still free. The ending changes are in line with how an adjectives endings change as its used in a sentence. In Written German Expressing ordinal numbers in written German is a lot easier since there is no need to adjust the suffix to case and gender. For dates in the calendar, simply add a dot after the number. Note that the German calendar format is dd.mm.yyyy. Treffen wir uns am 31.10.? - Are we meeting on 10/31?*Leider kann ich nicht am 31. Wie wre es mit dem 3.11.? - Unfortunately I cant make it on the 31st. How about 11/3? How to Set a Time The second part of making your appointment is setting a suitable time. If you want to leave the suggestion up to your conversation partner, you can ask: Um wieviel Uhr passt es Ihnen am Besten? - What time is best for you? For a firmer suggestion, the following phrases will be useful:   Wie sieht es um 14 Uhr aus? - How does 2 pm look?Kà ¶nnen Sie/Kannst du um 11:30? - Can you make it at 11:30?Wie wre es um 3 Uhr nachmittags? - How about 3 pm? Germans are early risers, by the way. The standard working day runs from 8 am to 4 pm, with an hour of lunch break allowed. School days also start at 8 am. In formal environments and written language, Germans will speak in terms of the 24-hour clock, but colloquially its also common to hear times of the day described in the 12-hour format. If you would like to suggest a meeting at 2 pm, 14 Uhr  or 2 Uhr nachmittags  or 2 Uhr  can all be considered appropriate. Its best to take the cue from your conversation partner. Punctuality Equals Politeness According to the stereotype, Germans are particularly offended by tardiness. The oft-quoted saying Pà ¼nktlichkeit ist die Hà ¶flichkeit der Kà ¶nige  (punctuality is the politeness of kings) sums up what your German friends or colleagues may think. So how late is too late? According to the etiquette guide, Knigge arriving just on time is what you should aim for, and zu frà ¼h is auch unpà ¼nktlich. Too early is unpunctual, too. So in other words, ensure that you calculate travel times correctly and dont be late. Of course, a one-off will be forgiven and calling ahead if it looks as though you wont manage to arrive on time is highly recommended. In fact, the matter goes even deeper than a simple time delay. In the German-speaking world, appointments are considered as firm promises. No matter if you are committing to dinner at a friends house or a business meeting, backing out at the last minute will be taken as a gesture of disrespect. In short, the best tip for making a good impression in Germany is always to turn up on time and be well prepared for any meeting. And by on time, they mean not early and not late.

Top 5 Supreme Court Scandals

Top 5 Supreme Court Scandals If your knowledge of Supreme Court scandals begins and ends with the tumultuous Senate confirmation process of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in October 2018, you will either be relieved or horrified to learn that he was by no means the first jurist with a less-than-pristine reputation. From the judge who refused to listen to cases argued by women, to a former KKK member, bad behavior on the nations highest court is not that uncommon. Here are a few of the juiciest scandals.   Supreme Court Fast Facts The Supreme Court is the highest court in the federal judicial system of the United States.The Supreme Court is composed of nine judges, including eight Associate Justices and the Chief Justice of the United States. Supreme Court justices are nominated by the President of the United States with the approval of the United States Senate. The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction (right to consider) over all federal and state court decisions dealing with questions of constitutional or statutory law, as well as original jurisdiction over lawsuits between the states.The Court also has the power of judicial review, the authority to overturn laws that violate the Constitution or unlawful acts of the executive branch. Wishing Washington Dead, Justice Rutledge Gets the Boot Appointed by President George Washington in 1789, John Rutledge was one of the Supreme Court’s first justices. He was also the first and so-far only justice to be kicked off the court. In June 1795, Washington issued a â€Å"recess appointment† temporarily making Rutledge Chief Justice. But when the Senate reconvened in December 1795, it rejected Rutledge’s nomination because of what John Adams called his â€Å"Disorder of the Mind.† Still not recovered from the unexpected death of his wife in 1792, Rutledge gave a rant-filled speech on July 16, 1795, in which he reportedly suggested that it would be best if Washington died rather than sign the Jay Treaty with England. In Justice Rutledge’s case, that was where the Senate drew the line. Justice McReynolds, the Equal-Opportunity Bigot Justice James Clark McReynolds served on the court from 1914 to 1941. After he died in 1946, not a single other living current or former justice attended his funeral. Reason being, they had all come to hate his guts. Justice McReynolds, it seems, had established himself as an unabashed bigot and all-around hater. A vocal anti-Semite, his other favorite targets included African Americans, Germans, and women. Whenever Jewish Justice Louis Brandeis spoke, McReynolds would leave the room. Of Jews, he once declared, â€Å"For 4,000 years the Lord tried to make something out of Hebrews, then gave it up as impossible and turned them out to prey on mankind in general- like fleas on the dog.† He would often refer to African Americans as â€Å"ignorant,† possessing â€Å"but a small capacity for radical improvement.† And in the rare (in those days) event a woman attorney appeared to argue a case before the court, McReynolds would exclaim, â€Å"I see the female is here ag ain,† before grandly gathering his robe and leaving the bench. Justice Hugo Black, Ku Klux Klan Leader Though widely recognized as a staunch supporter of civil liberties during his 34 years on the bench, Justice Hugo Black was once an organizing member of the Ku Klux Klan, even recruiting and swearing in new members. Though he had left the organization by the time President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to the Supreme Court in August 1937, public knowledge of Black’s KKK history resulted in a political firestorm. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. Getty Images Archive On October 1, 1937, less than two months after taking his seat on the court, Justice Black was forced to give an unprecedented nationwide radio address to explain himself. In a speech heard by an estimated 50 million Americans, he said in part, â€Å"I did join the Klan. I later resigned. I never rejoined,† adding, â€Å"Before becoming a Senator I dropped the Klan. I have had nothing to do with it since that time. I abandoned it. I completely discontinued any association with the organization. I have never resumed it and never expect to do so.† Hoping to reassure African Americans, Black said, â€Å"I number among my friends many members of the colored race. Certainly, they are entitled to the full measure of protection accorded by our Constitution and our laws.† However, in 1968, Black argued in favor of limiting the scope of the Civil Rights Act as it applied to the protection of the rights of activists and protesters, writing â€Å"unfortunately there are so me who think that Negroes should have special privileges under the law.† Justice Fortas Denies Taking Bribes but Still Quits Justice Abe Fortas suffered a fatal flaw for judges. He liked to take bribes. Appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, Fortas had already faced serious allegations of improperly promoting LBJ’s political career while serving on the highest court in the land. Things got a lot worse for Justice Fortas in 1969, when it was revealed that he had accepted a secret legal retainer from his former friend and client, infamous Wall Street financier Louis Wolfson. Under their agreement, Wolfson was to pay Fortas $20,000 a year for life in return for special help and â€Å"consultation† during his pending trial on charges of securities fraud. Whatever Fortas did to help Wolfson failed. He ended up in federal prison and Fortas saw the handwriting on the wall. Though he always denied taking Wolfson’s money, Abe Fortas became the first and so far only Supreme Court justice to resign under threat of impeachment on May 15, 1969. Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and the NAACP The two most-watched TV events of 1991 were probably the First Gulf War and the Clarence Thomas vs. Anita Hill Supreme Court Senate confirmation hearings. Spanning 36 days, the bitterly fought hearings centered on accusations that Thomas had sexually harassed attorney Anita Hill when she had worked for him at the Department of Education and the EEOC. In her testimony, Hill vividly described a series of instances in which she claimed Thomas made sexual and romantic advances toward her, despite her repeated demands that he stop. Thomas and his Republican backers contended Hill and her supporters had made the whole thing up to prevent President Ronald Reagan from placing a conservative African American judge, who might vote to weaken civil rights laws, on the Supreme Court. Justice Clarence Thomas During Senate Hearings. Corbis Historical / Getty Images In his testimony, Thomas vehemently denied the allegations, stating, â€Å"This is not an opportunity to talk about difficult matters privately or in a closed environment. This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace.† He went on to liken the hearings to â€Å"a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate rather than hung from a tree.† On October 15, 1991, the Senate confirmed Thomas by a vote of 52–48. Justice Brett Kavanaugh Overcomes Sexual Assault Claims People who remembered Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill probably got feelings of dà ©j vu watching the Senate confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in October 2018. Soon after the hearings began, the Judiciary Committee was told that research psychologist Dr. Christine Blasey Ford had formally accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a fraternity party in 1982 when she was in high school. In her testimony, Ford claimed that a visibly drunken Kavanaugh had forced her into a bedroom where he pinned her on a bed while attempting to remove her clothes. Expressing her fear that Kavanaugh was going to rape her, Ford added, â€Å"I thought he might inadvertently kill me.† Brett Kavanaugh Sworn In As 114th Supreme Court Justice. Getty Images News In his rebuttal testimony, Kavanaugh angrily denied Ford’s allegations while accusing Democrats in general- and the Clintons specifically- of attempting â€Å"a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election.† After a controversial supplemental FBI investigation found no evidence proving Ford’s claim, the Senate voted 50-48 to confirm Kavanaugh’s nomination on October 6, 2018. Sources and Further Reference Flanders, Henry. The Life of John Rutledge. J.B. Lippincott Co.Glass, Andrew. Abe Fortas resigns from Supreme Court May 15, 1969. Politico (May 15, 2008)James C. McReynolds. Oyez Project Official Supreme Court media. Chicago Kent College of Law.The Thomas Nomination; Excerpts From Senates Hearings on the Thomas Nomination. The New York Times (1991)Pramuk, Jacob. Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh categorically denies sexual misconduct accusation detailed in New Yorker report. CNBC (September 14, 2018)