Duopoly Coles vs Woolworths Essay Example for Free

Duopoly Coles vs Woolworths Essay For most of us its just part of everyday life decisions. Where to shop for the week, Coles or Woolworths? Should I drink Pepsi or Coke today? Do I go to MYER or David Jones to buy new make up from? We take in consideration a few prices, how convenient it will be to get there, what would we rather do, and that’s it. But there’s something bigger behind this. What is the impact on such big rivals, for us and the economy? It’s not just about personal choices. Living and studying in Australia for the past 11 months, going to do my grocery shopping at Coles or at Woolworths has become part of my routine. And because it is such an ordinary thing to do, we tend to forget that we make part of a much bigger picture, and are contributing to several factors regarding the Australian economy. However, this race for the best has its advantages and disadvantages, and of course, this is affecting us as well. The Price War One of the advantages of this never ending battle for us customers, are the low prices. Because there is such a big competition for prices, each of the supermarket brands will try to make it as affordable as possible to the consumer, as a reaction to get competitive advantage. One big example of this war is the milk price. Both supermarkets can sell milk for $1. It is very difficult to make any profit if you’re selling products at such a low price, as Rob Murray, the chief executive for the food and beverage group Lion stated. However this issue does not affect us consumers on a day-to-day basis, and the low prices keep us happy and of course, keep us shopping at these big supermarkets. Everyone wins with the Rewards Programs Another good thing for the shoppers at these two big chains is the rewards systems they have. And we win again. Despite the cheaper price war having been leaded by Coles the majority of times, Woolworths seems to have another way of fighting. Their CEO Grant O’Brien came out with a new strategy: the Everyday Rewards. The more the customer shops, the more discount they get. Users of the cards get exclusive offers, discount on fuel and can even earn Qantas flyer points. And not only in Woolworths, they have retail partners like Big W, Dick Smith and Cellarmasters that will also benefit the customer. Coles also has their rewards system, the Flybuys. With this card, apart from the exclusive offers on Coles and affiliated firms products, the customer collects points at every purchase, which can later be changed by different prizes. But this is not only good for the consumers. Its basically the company saying that they will give us prizes, in exchange for our information. A Rewards system allows the firm to collect data about their customers, which they can use in their favour, to create loyalty and promote trust. With the Everyday Rewards, Woolworths has been able to collect a good amount of information, while Flybuys is still in the process of build its strength. Easy and Simple Another very good thing for the customer about these two big brands is the convenience. Everywhere we go, every big shopping center and busy area in a suburb will have at least one of the two, if not both. Coles and Woolworths have very strong analysts that will know where to place their shops, and if there is an area lacking one, it’s probably not because they are still to build one, but because that are would not be so profitable yet. So for us, wherever we want to shop, we can always find one of these, and do not have to travel any long distance to get to one of these stores, as they are located almost everywhere too. Even for the most loyal customer from the small shops, sometimes it’s a lot more convenient to visit one of the big supermarkets, and they will end up buying something from there. Someone might be losing Unfortunately it’s not all flowers. For us to be paying such low prices, someone is losing money somewhere, and it’s not the big supermarkets. Because they are such big brands, suppliers need to have their products in their shelf. Coles and Woolworths claim they have built very strong relationships with their suppliers, and it might be true, but a lot of the smaller suppliers are getting ripped off. They â€Å"bully† the suppliers to sell their products at really low prices, and they know they have this power, otherwise they won’t sell enough. They will also charge more to have the  products placed in good positions on their shelves. A lot of the times the prices suppliers are charging are so small, that they are struggling to survive with these sales, and it generates another whole big problem. Creating Enemies The ones losing with the big duopoly from Coles and Woolworths are the smaller suppliers, and the smaller shops too. But not every customer is just happy in paying small prices, they want to make sure everyone involved is protected. For this reason, there is a big pressure on ACCC from suppliers and the smaller businesses which don’t have a chance to compete. There is a party called Australian Green, and they fight strong against the practices these two supermarkets have againg farmers and small suppliers. Their objective, as they state on the website, is to â€Å"tackle the supermarket duopoly†, and the measures they are willing to take are strong. For example, put a temporary ban on expansion from Coles and Woolworths, or stopping this duopoly to purchase agricultural land, so they can’t control the whole supply chain. The ACCC is also holding an investigation about the bullying of suppliers. While most of us will not care that much about the situation these su ppliers are in, or will not have option to shop somewhere else, there is a big group who does care. These are customers who are willing to pay more, but do their groceries in a small shop so they can help that business, and also do not buy the products from exploited suppliers. No more competition Unfortunately, the group of very unhappy customers mentioned before is not large enough to make sure the small businesses will survive. With such low prices and big chains, the two major supermarkets will not give a chance for a smaller business to survive in the middle of this war. It is just impossible to compete with the two major supermarkets prices and their powerful middlemen, and the small shops start disappearing. Without competition, a lot of the products that do not have space on Coles or Woolworths shelves may also disappear, and this will also have a big impact on the economy as there is unemployment rising. This process will damage Australia food’s industry, and with the lack of new firms it might mean a lack of new products, and the whole market can go stale. Tricking the customers To have products at such low prices, as it was mentioned before, the suppliers will end up losing. But the customers might also lose sometimes. For example, the free range eggs case. Both Coles and Woolworths claim that they want to help customers switch from industrialised to free range eggs, by cutting the prices on the second one. However, the suppliers pay for the price that we are not, as it is impossible to have a free range egg production at such low prices. The customer will end up buying free range eggs thinking they are contributing to improve the animal welfare standards from the supermarkets, however, they do not know that they are still purchasing the â€Å"industrialised† free range eggs, the free range version of these two big supermarkets. Even though it seems there are more disadvantages to small businesses and suppliers than there are advantages for us customers, it is not the number, but the quality of these advantages that count. This battle is far from the end, because it is not likely that the masses will stop shopping at Coles or Woolworths anytime soon. However, the ones that are more conscious about it can only expect that it will make a difference in the future, when the ACCC take strong measures or the political inaction ends, and someone who genuinely cares and is strong enough to change this is put in charge. In the meanwhile, we will keep enjoying the convenience to just walk for 10 minutes and find a shop, or receive rewards and discount on products and even fuel, and keep ignoring all the ones losing from this. In the end, it is a battle and someone will lose. If not the big duopolistic market, a part of the population will pay.

The Lives Of Others Film Studies Essay

The Lives Of Others Film Studies Essay The Lives of Others is set in 1984 East Berlin, five years before Gorbachevs glasnost policies, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The film centers on the East German Ministry for State Security, which is a secret police known as the Stasi, created by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in an attempt to maintain its power and protect the survival of Socialism in East Berlin. The secret police force consisted of 100,000 investigators and over 200,000 informants. The Stasi investigated any and all citizens in Berlin who posed a threat to socialism. The investigations often included wiretapping and tailgating, with every action being meticulously documented. As a result of the Stasi, those who were found guilty were arrested, interrogated, imprisoned, and in many cases, blacklisted. In the film, loyal Stasi officer Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler is assigned to spy on playwright Georg Dreyman. Wiesler wiretaps the apartment, and investigates Dreymans activities, writing a detailed report every ev ening. Fear is a common theme throughout the film. Every citizen fears the GDR and the Stasi, knowing that their lives can be critically altered if they do not oblige to the system placed before them. Early in the film we see Dreyman neighbor watching the surveillance team bug his apartment. Wiesler is aware of the womans observations and provides strict orders for her to keep quiet, and reminds her of the consequences if she does not obey. Later in the film the Dreyman asks the woman to help him with his tie, and the neighbor is uneasy about associating herself with Dreyman because she does not want to be associated with him. That scene conveys a message about how a Stasi investigation can harm not only a persons career but their social lives as well. Dreymans friend and former director Albert Jerska is an example of how the Stasi can damage and destroy an individuals life. Jerska was once a prominent stage director with an optimistic outlook on life, after an investigation Jerska was blac klisted and could never direct again. The effects of his blacklisting affected the way others treated him, as they wished to distance themselves from him in fear of the Stasi. As a result of the Stasi, Jerska lost all hope in life and took his own life in order to escape the restrictions placed on him under the GDR. The power of blacklisting is displayed maliciously in the film, as Dreyman girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland is forced to become an informant for the Stasi in order to preserve her career as an actress. That scene offers the audience and explanation on how the GDR was capable of convincing citizens to report on their friends and family. Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler, the loyal Stasi investigator, is an example of the ideal German citizen in the GDR. He is introduced as an educator, teaching his students how to become Stasi investigators. He never doubts the GDR and shows no mercy in fighting the enemies of socialism. His personal life in the film conveys a message of what life was like for the investigators living the socialist lifestyle in the GDR. Wiesler lives a lonely life in a dull apartment, eating food from a tube, and watching the evening news. His life is dedicated to the GDR and because of that, his life is empty. To suppress his loneliness, Wiesler orders prostitutes to fill the void in his life. Listening to the lives of others makes Wiesler aware of his loneliness, and he compares his life to Dreyman, envying his happiness. After discovering the motives behind the investigation, Wiesler cannot help but feel compassion for the writer he is spying on, and ignores Dreymans anti socialist actions in his nightly re ports. Although Wiesler is a loyal socialist, he becomes dissatisfied with the Minister of the GDR, and questions the ethical reasons behind government monitoring. Within a few months, he went from a proud socialist citizen to an apathetic Stasi employee. In November 1989, the GDR police unexpectedly opened the borders in Berlin, and reunited east and West Germany. Germans began tearing down the Berlin Wall and were making way for reunification. The end of the GDR marked a turning point for capitalism in East Germany. The film Goodbye Lenin! centers on Alex, a young man whos proud socialist mother falls into a coma weeks before the fall of the Berlin wall. Eight months later, she wakes up in the unified Germany, but has no idea that these changes have happened. The doctors explain her fragile condition to Alex, explaining that any excitement could lead to a fatal relapse. Alex and his sister Ariane are placed as caregivers to their mother and are forced to come up with creative ways to keep their mother from discovering the truth that everything she believed in has collapsed. Different from the Lives of Others, this story follows the lives of an ordinary East Berlin family struggling to cope with the changing world. Goodbye Lenin! is set during the fall of the Berlin Wall, which allows the audience to witness the changes in East Germany and how they affect the population. By opening up to the western world, Berlin was introduced to capitalist markets, and easterners wanted to become a part of it. The film displays how the youths in East Germany were more excited about the reunification than the older generation. The young people traveled to the west for the first time, and viewed West Germany as though it was a huge shopping mall. Ariane represents the younger generation, and how the youth was attracted to consumerism due to the division. Ariane changes her style from the old bleak colors of the GDR and adopts the bright colors of the west. She even starts changing things around the house by throwing away all the furniture and piling it outside with the rest. The new open market economy offered a variety of products from different brands allowing citizens to purchase items of higher quality that had not previously been available. There is a scene in the film in which Alex is desperately trying to maintain the illusion that the GDR still exists, while Ariane grows upset with his behavior because she prefers the new products. She makes a statement about the diapers in the scene explaining how the ones from the old GDR are of poor quality and how she prefers to use the new ones that are available. Ariane is eager to adopt change since it is completely new to her, and she makes choices that are not always in her best interest, such as leaving the university to sell hamburgers at Burger King. The actions made by Ariane represent how eager the East Germans were to get rid of socialism but failed to question how the German economy will be affected by the reunification. The former and the new economic system displaced many citizens, especially those who were most comfortable with the GDR. Following the fall of the wall, citizens in the East experienced massive unemployment due to the overcrowded job market. In the film, Alex finds a new job by submitting his name into a job lottery, which he is lucky enough to win. The unemployed characters in the film, mostly the older generation, have a difficult time adapting because everything they believed in was over. Economic change not only effected employment but also the currency of the former GDR. After discovering the location of his mothers money, Alex goes to the bank to convert the old currency into deutschmarks only to learn that the deadline has passed. Alex immediately becomes distressed when he discovers that his mothers life savings had become useless pieces of paper. That scene reminds the audience that although East Germany has been freed from socialist oppression, they now face new economic ch allenges. The cultural wave of capitalism that Germans openly support is the same capitalism that has destroyed the savings of millions. Throughout the film, Alex is desperately trying to maintain the illusion that the GDR still exists for the sake of his mother. He seeks out old food brands, forces everyone to wear the old style of clothing, and creates fictional TV report. His extreme tactic to preserve a world for his mother is not so different from the way she raised him. In the most powerful scene in the film, Alexs mother confesses the truth about his father. She reveals that she had once had a plan to move the family to West Berlin to meet with their father, but changed her mind because she feared the GDR. Her confession challenges everything her children were taught to believe, as she reveals that her loyalty towards the GDR was not genuine, but was instead a product of fear. She never left for Berlin and dedicated her life to socialism to ensure that her children would not be taken away from her. The mothers confession relates to the Lives of Others because it displays the fear that ordinary citizen felt towa rds the Stasi and the GDR. Goodbye Lenin! tells a fun, heartfelt story about an ordinary family during the reunification of Germany. The power of the Stasi and the influence they have on people is depicted very gently in the film. The director shows the forcefulness of the agents and how they would go about investigating a home, but failed to show how and why the Stasi provoked fear, and instead relied on the audiences memories of the horrific past. The film pokes fun at the old system of the east while conveying the hardships that citizens experienced in a pleasant and family-friendly tone. The film did not accurately represent the dark time in the German past. The Lives of Others on the other hand, is a harsh, realistic depiction of the dark side of former East Germany. The film has a darker tone and is shot with low lighting to convey the dreary feeling of what it was like to live in East Germany. The films story included death, drugs, and corruption to accurately portray Germanys past. The most disturbing aspect in the films are the scenes with Stasi officers discussing surveillance operations. Their conversations are casual, and spying on the lives of others is an everyday norm. The Lives of Others and Goodbye Lenin! are two films that allow an audience to relive Germanys gloomy past. The films displayed every aspect of life in East Germany, and the restrictions citizens faced. The clothing available to the Germans were dull and grey, and the single product markets demonstrate how oppressed these people were, and they all knew it. On the other side of the wall capitalism flourished, and citizens were not forced to follow a government they did not support. It is this unbelievable to think that twenty years ago such oppressive governments existed throughout Europe. It is important for films like these to be made to show people around the world the realities of what it was like to live during the GDR.

The Aint-half-bad Tea Cake in Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay examp

The Ain't-half-bad Tea Cake in Their Eyes Were Watching God   Ã‚  Ã‚   Hurston did not design her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God with the intent of creating a protagonist figure in Tea Cake Woods.   Hurston’s characters just naturally fit into the roles and personalities that African American women have been socialized to expect and accept from black men. The good over the bad; turn the other cheek; don't let it get you down. Forever taught that the road ain't gonna be easy and that a ain't-half-bad man is better than no man, African American women have been instilled with the belief that abuse, bitterness, and sadness can be ignored if there is something else to focus that energy on. In Janie's case, we are moved to accept Tea Cake, who is at times abusive, because of the way he makes Janie feel - young and happy. I first read the novel during my Junior year of high school, during which time our main focus was merely to include African American authors in the canon, not to search their writings for their social and political implications. For this reason, I left my first reading of Hurston's novel with glazed-over eyes and a lifelong quest, if not an obsession, for a man like Tea Cake. After another reading Their Eyes Were Watching God, I was shocked to discover just how much I had forgotten. How easily the details of Janie's first two husbands, Logan Killicks and Jody Starks, had escaped me. How willing I was to forget Tea Cake's abusive, indulgent ways in order to leave his reputation intact--in order to still love him when Janie was forced to take his life. After our class discussion, I became more and more disturbed by my ability to forgive and forget the first time around. Heartless slaps become love taps and petty ... ...rn Literary Journal 29.2 (Spring 1997): 45-61. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). : Urbana, Ill.: U of Illinois P, 1937. Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Kayano, Yoshiko. "Burden, Escape, and Nature's Role: A Study of Janie's Development in Their Eyes Were Watching God." Publications of the Mississippi Philological Association (1998): 36-44. (ILL – not yet received) Kubitschek, Missy Dehn. " ‘Tuh de Horizon and Back': The Female Quest in Their Eyes Were Watching God.† Modern Critical Pondrom, Cyrena N. "The Role of Myth in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." American Literature 58.2 (May 1986): 181-202. Williams, Shirley Anne. Forward. Their Eyes Were Watching God. By Zora Neale Hurston. New York: Bantam-Dell, 1937. xv.

The Necessity Of Bilingual Education In Our Society Essay -- Language

The Necessity Of Bilingual Education In Our Society Bilingual Education has been a controversial subject within the educational system since its inception in 1974. It is of great importance to define the term "Bilingual" which is " The ability to speak and understand two languages". Included in this definition is the implied ability to transfer knowledge , skills and concepts from the first language to the second language148. It is important because it is upon the ability of the student to transfer knowledge to the second language that is the key to the success of Bilingual Education. The implementation of bilingual education surfaced as a consequence of the Lau vs. Nichols decision, which stated that schools must provided some kind of special help to those children who do not speak English . The Lau decision held that those students that do not speak English were denied equal treatment under the Civil Right Act of 1964, if they were to be taught in the same manner as the English speaking children. In 1976, following the Lau decision, California adopted the Chacon-Moscone Bilingual Bicultural Education Act A.B.507 which established specific bilingual program requirements for identification, instruction, staffing assignments, classroom composition, reclassification and parent involvement. In 1980 this act was amended , adding to the above that its primary goal was to move pupils into English as the language of instruction as " effective and efficiently as possible." This amendment changed the above original Act to a more complex set of requirements that included Language Arts and Math in the students native language , English Language Development (ESL), Social Science, Music, Art and P.E . This curriculum utilizes Spec... ... of home and community". (95) Let us not forget that this country began as the chosen land of immigrants. Works Cited Joh, Jason, 147Cultural Diversity and Education148, Education in American Society School of Education, CSUN -1994 (2-8) Krashen, Steven & Biber, Douglass, On Course: Bilingual Education 145s Success in California . California Association for Bilingual Education, Sacramento, California. 1988 (27) Crawford , James, Bilingual Education : History , Politics , Theory and Practice Crane Publishing Company, New Jersey, 1989 (39) Hardy, Terri, Daily News 147Bilingual grads surpass native peers on test148 June 22, 1998 (front page) Hooks, Bell - Lunsford, Andrea/Ruszkiewicz, John The Presence of Others: Voices that Call for Response, 147Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education148, St. Martin146s Press, Inc. New York, NY. (2nd. ed.) (95)

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls Essay -- essays research pape

Where the Red Fern grows   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A novel by Wilson Rawls named Where the Red Fern Grows is the story of a boy, his two hounds (which he named Old Dan and Little Ann), and all of the adventures they shared together. A loving threesome, they ranged the dark hills and river bottoms of the Cherokee country. Old Dan had the brawn, Little Ann had the brains, and Billy had the will to train them to be the finest hunting team in the valley. Glory and victory awaited them, but sadness waited too. Close by was the strange and wonderful power that is only found Where the Red Fern Grows. An exciting tale of love and adventure one will never forget. Some themes that will be encountered in this novel are the passage from youth to maturity, the rewards of hard work and diligence, and working together to achieve common goals. All of these themes and more can be found in the novel Where the Red Fern Grows.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One theme illustrated in this novel was the passage from youth to maturity. An example of this is when Billy stopped asking for two hounds and saved up enough money to get them himself. He sold items to fisherman at very low prices but he was determined and would also take any offer they would give him. Another example shown is when Billy bought everyone something from Tahlequah with his own money. A normal child would but himself lots of candy and seldom share it but Billy didn’t. He bought his mom cloth, his dad overalls, and his sister’s candy. This example greatly showed the passage from youth to maturity. Another example depicted was when Billy made a promise to his dogs that the first coon they treed he would skin so when his hounds put a coon up the biggest tree in the forest, Billy didn’t walk away from the fact that it was very tall and started chopping the tree down and didn’t give up until the coon was skinned unlike a child who would have no patience and be careless. One last example is when Billy took the death of his dogs like a man and buried them in the nicest spot in the Ozark Mountain Ranges. He cared very much about his hounds and wanted them to have a very comfortable and happy afterlife unlike many others which would have just thrown the hounds off a cliff or do something unpleasan... ...f it wasn’t when Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann worked together, someone could have been brutally ripped apart or even maybe everyone could have died at that very moment in the dark and lonely mountain ranges of the Ozark Mountains. So even though good happenings were on there way to Billy, hardships were right behind and if it wasn’t for working together , none of the happiness, joy, and/or jubilance would have occurred.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls was a jubilant yet at the same time melancholy tale about a boys adventures with two hounds. When Billy received his hounds, his whole life changed. He had he best two dogs in the Ozarks and he proved it at the coon-hunting tournament. Nothing mattered anymore. Old Dan and Little Ann opened the door to Billy and Billy walked through it with no fear. Then, suddenly, when everything was going fine, something tragic occurred and all of Billy’s dreams were thrown away at an instant. All of this and more could be found in the loving tale of Where the Red Fern Grows.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Management and Siemens Continuing Business

1. What explains the high level of corruption at Siemens? How did managers engaged in corruption rationalize it? The corruption was brought on by Siemens continuing business practices that were legal at one time but they continued to the activity for financial gain. They rationalized the corruption by believing they were saving their business and the jobs of its employees. 2.What do you think would have happened to a manager at Siemens if he or she had taken a stand against corrupt practices? Knowing the level of corruption, I think it safe to assume that anyone opposing the corruption would be fired or worse. Siemens probably had strong influence on politicians that could have brought false legal actions, through trumped up charges, against anyone who spoke out against the corruption. 3. How does the kind of corruption Siemens engaged in distort competition?These practices did not allow any real competition since competing businesses had no chance of winning contracts with these gov ernments. It gave Siemens an unfair advantage. 4. What is the impact of corrupt behavior by Siemens on the countries where it does business? It has a negative impact on those countries. The countries, where Siemens bribed officials, would lose the trust of their people and the corruption would show a negative impact on their political system.Business Management Study GuideIt could also lead to those countries not receiving the best goods or services they could have gotten and might not have been for the best price available since the competition was kept out. 5. If you were a manager at Siemens, and you became aware of these activities, what would you have done? It would be a hard decision but I would have exposed the corruption. I would have to be prepared for the consequences but I couldn’t be a part of a company that had those types of business dealings.

Environment, Geographical Location, and its Affects on The Early River-Valley Essay

Food, shelter, fertile land, and trade were essential for early river-valley civilizations. Without food, shelter, fertile land, and trade early river-valleys where doomed for any future success in the land. Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley are examples of some early river-valley civilizations that relied heavily on its geographies and Mother Nature. For early river-valley civilizations in Egypt the Nile River played a crucial role. Without the Nile, Egypt would be a bleak and hospitable desert filled with mountains, and rocks. The Nile provided water for the people of Egypt. With the Nile being really the only source of water for all of Egypt, I would imagine that these civilizations cherished the Nile heavily. The Nile also, helped the farming in Egypt improve. Every September, the Nile, overflowed its banks, spreading water out into the bordering depressed basins. When the waters receded, they left behind a fertile layer of mineral-rich silt, and the farmers could easily plant their crops in the moist soil. The early river-valley civilizations of Mesopotamia relied greatly on the Tigris, and the Euphrates Rivers. Mesopotamia means, â€Å"Land between the rivers.† Mesopotamian civilization developed in the plain alongside and between the Tigris and Euphrates, which originate in the mountains of eastern Anatolia and empty into the Persian Gulf. Without the rivers, the civilizations would have struggled greatly to survive. Reed plants, which grew on the riverbanks and in the marshy southern delta, could easily be woven into mats, baskets, huts, and boats. Also, fish from the rivers and marshes were an important part of the people’s diet [http://search.targetwords.com/u.search?x=5977%7C1%7C%7C%7C%7Cdiet%7CAA1VDw]. Another benefit that the rivers gave to the early civilizations was that, herds of sheep, and goat which grazed on the fallow land provided wool, and milk. Finally, the early river-valley civilizations in the Indus Valley relied significantly on the Indus River. Twice a year the river overflows its banks and spreads for as much as 10 miles. In March and April melting snow would melt and feed the rivers. Then, in August, the great monsoon would blow off the ocean to bring rains that swell streams flowing into the Indus. As a result, farmers in this region of little rainfall were able to plant and harvest two crops a year. With a bad environment and a bad geographical location an early river-valley civilization didn’t have much of a chance surviving. Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley were some of the lucky locations where their environment and geographical location benefited them greatly. Egypt would have had barely any water, Mesopotamia wouldn’t have been able to trade, and the Indus Valley would have had been deserted without each locations geographical gift.