Strategic Management (report) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategic Management (report) - Essay Example Zara makes a third of all its sales in Spain. However, recently it has intensified its business in other European markets such as France, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Established in the year 1975, the business unit has now 1608 stores across the world, offering products for men, women and kids. This report analyses the Inditex group and its business unit ‘Zara’ in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of its strategies in the market. The report starts with the analysis of the industry followed by the company and its business unit. In the end, a conclusion has been inferred from the entire analysis. ‘Porter’s five forces’ model is a useful framework to analyse the industry’s attractive towards any business (Hill & Jones, â€Å"Porter’s Five Forces Model†). The following is the analysis of the specific business unit ‘Zara’. Porter has identified four factors which are capable of influencing the level of competition and profitability in the industry. The buyers’ power in this fashion industry is moderate. Zara offers its customers the look-alike premium products at a lower price. So, the switching cost for the buyer is a bit higher. On the other hand, Zara keeps all trendy and fashionable merchandises according to the customer requirements at a reasonable price. Zara is a flagship business unit of a leading fashion group. So the bargaining power of the suppliers is a bit low in this industry. The company requires its suppliers to be aligned with certain requirements of working practice, ethical activities, safety, quality and environmental standards. The low bargaining power of the suppliers reflects from the fact that the company has ceased 175 suppliers in the year 2008 and 145 suppliers in the next year because of their non compliance with the required standards. Zara has been one of the significant business units of the leading business group. Definitely the

237 word Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

237 word - Essay Example It gives one the solitude that one requires from time to time. A get away from the busy lives, a chance to just relax and think. There is no rush, no getting impatient over the traffic on the road, no worries about the amount of gas being used and how much it would cost to get a refill. There is just peace and quiet, no one begging for attention, a hideaway from all responsibilities, a chance to ponder over life. Of course, there is also much to be said about saving the natural resources, which are most definitely finite and being used up so quickly. Other than saving up on fuel, one also helps in making the environment better as walking does not release any harmful gases which pollute the air whereas driving most definitely does. Since childhood, one has been told all these fairy tales that one’s parents read to one at night before bedtime. Be they the happy endings written by one Christian Hans Andersen or the brutal Grimm brothers’ versions that one comes across as one turns older, shocking one as one reads them. But what both of these have in common is the theme of magic. Magic is always thought to be something supernatural, a part of the fantasy world, something which is not real. Despite that there have been many books, movies, television shows - you name it - that have been released. There is a lot of variety over these and yet they have all been really popular. What is also pleasantly surprising is that anything magical appeals to people of all age groups. It may seem to be something which may only be preferred by children but certain books such as the Harry Potter series have proved it to be otherwise. There is a certain charm in these fictional worlds like J K Rowling’s Hogwarts or C S Lewis’ Narnia or J R R Tolkien’s Middle Earth. In reading about worlds that are fantasy but hoping inside one’s hearts that someday, somewhere, sometime, one could discover that these places do

Two Patterns Of Customer Loyalty And Brand Performance Marketing Essay

Two Patterns Of Customer Loyalty And Brand Performance Marketing Essay Abstract This essay would discuss the two patterns of customer loyalty and brand performance. There are Double Jeopardy (DJ) and Duplication of purchase law (DoPL). In DJ, it will be discussed about loyalty and penetration which also connected with market share and purchase frequency. The graphs are given to show the differences in measuring DJ in loyalty and penetration by looking at the market share and purchase frequency of big brands and small brands. On the other hand, in DoPL, it will be discussed about how brand compete each other by sharing their customers. The graph is given to show how big brands share their customers to small brands, vice versa. Furthermore, there is deviation of Double Jeopardy in brand growth where niche markets are applied by big companies. Therefore, marketers should not expect an attitudinal loyalty of buyers in their brand. Necessarily, they should expect buyers to purchase from other competing brands. Other is deviation of purchase law which called partition . In which, there are segmentation made by brands to fulfill customers needs. The reason is for the marketers to design the market structure to compete wider to other brands without specifically compete only with brands in the same line of brand size. Introduction of Double Jeopardy (DJ) and duplication of purchase law (DoPL) In general, as mentioned by McDowell and Dick (2005, p. 1), Double Jeopardy effect is where brands earning small market shares attract fewer customers but also experience less customer loyalty than more popular brands. From this definition, we can say that leading brand have a good chance in the market because they have high purchase frequency rate as well as a large number of buyers. It means that big brand will have low loyal rate compared to small brand due to rare of heavy buyers in the market. However, light buyers are the highest or majority proportion of market that buy leading brands product and it could be linked to heavy-half principle. Therefore, small brands suffer in two ways that low number of consumers and low purchase frequency rate. Another pattern is the duplication of purchase law (DoPL) where it is about brands who share their customers to other brands. It is supported by Lomax, Hammond, East Clamente (1996, p. 4) that buyers behaviour of purchase is random. It m eans there are many brands in buyers purchase frequency with the same line of category for a period of time. Furthermore, the law is big brand share more customers to bigger brands and share less customer to smaller brands. Nevertheless, there is deviation for duplication of purchase law that refers to partitioning which the law is contrast to DoPL. Double Jeopardy (DJ) Loyalty and Penetration Before many potential managers are growing in the world, there are only few brands in the market. It means loyalty towards a brand is high compared to nowadays. Currently, people are sharing their loyalty to another brand although there are some brands that having high loyalty from heavy buyers. Brand Loyalty is generally entails a strong commitment to a particular brand on the part of the consumer (Bandyopadhyay, Gupta Dube 2005, p.415).It means how consumers are loyal with a brand in the market. Penetration is proportion of users in the time period (Wright 2002, p.313). Another author said that penetration is the percentage of available shoppers who purchase your brand at least once in a given period of observation (Habel Rungie 2005, p.1). It means as managers, they could know how many buyers buy their products for a period of time. There are two categories of buyers in the market, such as light buyers and heavy buyers, that will be stipulated the sales of products. Therefore it comes out a heavy-half principle says that 50% of sales for a brands come from 20% of heavy buyers and another 50% of sales come from 80% of light users. By using this principle, brand managers would know which type of buyers that has a high influence for their majority sales of their brand. Therefore, brand growth would have got to do with the increasing in penetration and sales rather than the increasing in the consumers loyalty. Table III(1 and 2) shows the database of an instant coffee in USA that is could be linked with the double jeopardy theory in this case. It means the table also prove that small brand suffer in two ways as in few people who bought the products and small purchase frequency. As we can look at the table, we could see Brim as a small brand has low market share, consumers and purchase frequency rate compare to Maxwell House and it is below than average. From this table, it is shown that the average purchase frequency is 9.5 and although Maxwell House as the biggest brand in the market, their purchase frequency rate is only 3.6. this means that the average purchaser of the leading brand purchases other brands almost twice as often as they purchase the leading brand itself during the year (Wright, Sharp Sharp 1998, p. 468). However, if we compare Maxim brand as the smallest brand and compare with High Point as the one of leading brand based on purchase frequency, High Point has smaller purc hase frequency rate compare to Maxim. It means although Maxim is a small brand in the market but the purchase frequency of sole buyers is higher than average and some leading brands. By looking at the table, there is no 100 percent loyal of consumer towards any brand and over a year the highest loyalty rate is 20% for a leading brand. Leading brand has high sole buyers because of the attractiveness of the brand compared to small brand. Wright, Sharp Sharp (1998, p. 470) said in their journal that sole buyers are also relatively light buyers. It means the double jeopardy pattern occur in terms of the type of buyers- heavy buyer and light buyer. In this case, big brands will have more light buyers because loyalty is not as important as penetration for them. However, for small brands, most of their buyers are heavy buyers due to low market share (example is Brim and Maxim brands). According to table III (3), there are high correlation among market share, loyalty and penetration. This table is showing the difference changes for penetration and loyalty toward change in market share. By comparing penetration and loyalty, the changes in penetration with market share is higher than the changes in loyalty with market share. It means penetration could give an influence for market share of a brand rather than loyalty. In the other hands, when we look at the correlation of change in penetration with change in share for all type of brands, there is a small difference between them, where for high-share brands are 0.87, for mid-share brands are 0.80 and for low-share brands are 0.87.Nevertheless, when we look at the correlation of changes in loyalty with changes in share for all type of brands, there is a large gap or difference from high-share brands to low-share brands. The last but not least the correlation between changes in penetration and change in loyalty is 0.44 m eans penetration is higher than loyalty that could impact to the brand growth. In conclusion, penetration is more important than loyalty due to the low of heavy buyers in the market. Most of buyers are light buyers that could grow a brand become big that could be seen from the table. According to Baldinger , Blair Echambadi (2002, p. 14), they said that for managers who wish to grow market share over time, the first imperative is to increase penetration, regardless of whether the brand is big or small, but an almost equal imperative is to build customer loyalty. Duplication of Purchase Law (DoPL) brand performance By looking at the definition of purchase law above, it can be seen that brands would always compete each other through sharing their customers. This is happened because there are very rare of 100% loyal customers for a brand which is fall into the category of heavy buyers, whereas customers who are always switching brands in the same category would fall into the category of light buyer. It means, there are many brands lists in their mind in the same category which will make them switch brands more often and it is called repertoire market (Dawes 2008, p. 203). Generally, marketers are believed that most of the customers mind set would be influenced by the marketing strategy like advertising, price and loyalty program. Supported by Hoeffler Keller (2003 cited In McDowell and Dick, 2005) A motivator for brand purchase is brand awareness, saliency in their marketing and advertising. Therefore, most of the marketers always try to advertise more, give promotion and discount and increase loyalty programs to gain loyal customers and to make them purchase the brand. However, as it is mentioned above that there are no solely loyal customers; in fact, brands in the same category gain their revenue from customers who are also purchase other brands. It means, marketers should not think about how to gain loyal customers, yet how to gain high salience to reinforce the brand in their mind. The reason for this is to decrease their expenses in their loyalty program as it is costly and the fact that there is very rare of attitudinal loyalty. For example, a brand who gives their customers points that can be accumulated to rewards is not going to take for a long period of time. The reason is that customers would only go for that brand because of the accumulated points and not because of the brand name and loyal behaviour. As it is suggested by Kivetz (2005 cited in Liu 2007, p. 21) that this type of program may elicit reactance from consumers and reduce their intrinsic motivation to engage in the original purchase activities. To gain high salience in customers point of view, marketers should do more penetration to gain high market share and customers from other competitors. As supported by Sharp and Sharp (1977, p. 477) that penetration and market share is the main effect on duplication of purchase. According to table IV(1) duplication of purchase law can be seen where there is a declining number of brand size from right to left. In which, West End is leading this market with the highest brand duplication and penetration, whereas, Crown gain the least customer share because it is the smallest brand. Also, to prove the duplication of purchase, it can be seen that bigger brands share their customers more to the big brands and share less customers to small brand. Furthermore, penetration also takes place where big brand like West End acquire more customers and because of that, it can gain higher market share. Conversely, small brands would always gain lower than the big brands. As it is supported by Ehrenberg, Unclesan Goodhardt (2004, p.1310) that brands penetration is comparative with the level of switching. From the explanation and prove of the table of duplication of purchase law, it can be concluded that marketers should have to do more penetration rather than increase purchase frequency by loyalty program. As it is mentioned above that loyalty program is not really useful as it is costly that can only be applied in particular category and also not for a long period of time. Therefore, marketers should increase brand salience where customers would reinforce the brand and put it into the purchase set in mind. As the result of duplication of purchase law, brands are battling each other and share customers where bigger brands will gain high market share and small brands would have to struggle more in the market. Deviation of Double Jeopardy Double Jeopardy phenomenon is small brands suffer twice; fewer people support them, and those that do both like them less and are less loyal (McPhee 1963 cited Wright, Sharp A Sharp B 1998, p. 465). This theory is useful to differentiate the consumers preference between big and small brands. Nowadays, people are more believed towards big brands, which would give them good quality products that represent in the price. Although the price of big brands products may be more expensive than small brands products but they would not mind it as long as they satisfy with the brands (Baltas 1997 cited Gbadamosi 2009, p.1080). Actually, brands is growing because after consumers feel satisfy with the products, they will recommend all people that they know. It means the impact of word-of-mouth is huge for a successful brand. Word-of-mouth is getting opinion leaders to spread good words about the company in the marketplace-needs to be extended (Haywood 1989, p. 56). Most of people could not be loyal to a brand because of the spread of information, which are issued by people in the market, makes them to purchase the product (Procter Richards 2002, p.8). It means buyers have habitual behavior that makes them to share their loyalty to other competitors brands. The buyers who have that behavior could be said that they are a repertoire market. Repertoire market is these [market] have few solely loyal buyers as most buyers allocate their category requirements across several brands in a steady fashion (Sharp, Malcolm Goodhardt 2002). In fact, these buyers are light buyers that have high proportion in the market towards a brand. In reality, big brands could earn high profit because the strategy that they use based on the price or quality of the product and more light buyers purchase their products. However, most of small brands are using niche marketing strategy to compete with big brands. It is because the managers think that if they could satisfy the needs of niche market, their brand could grow up. Niche market is defined as a small market that is not served by competing products (Dalgic Leeuw 1994, p. 40). For example last time Body Shop is one of company who is a niche brand (Dowling Uncles 1997, p.8). To make it is clear, niche marketing strategy is the splitting of traditional markets into smaller segments and then devising separate marketing programs for each of these smaller segments, or niches (Parrish, Cassill Oxenham 2006, p.697). In the other hand, there are some big and successful brands in the market that are using niche marketing strategy to grow their brand. For example Fords Jaguar which creates a sport car for high class consumers that need good quality performance (Bandyopadhyay, Gupta Dube 2005, p.420). Although there are no 100% loyal consumers in the market (references) that only buy one brand for all of his or her products but there are some unique consumers that need a brand to satisfy their needs. Therefore, we cannot judge the brands based on the quantity of consumers who like the products but we could see that without large quantity of consumers, a brand could grow in the market. Deviation of Purchase Law Necessarily, partitioning should not be applied to prove duplication of purchase law. However, sometimes, because of the differences in customers needs and wants, there is deviation. This deviation of purchase law is namely as partitioning which occurred when several brands share customers to a greater or lesser extent than what would be expected given the market share of the brands (Dawes and Romaniuk 2005, p. 57). The reason that partition is formed is because of the major functional differences or similarities between brands (Sharp and Sharp 1997, p. 477). Therefore, as the empirical evidence states that this partition is actually could increase the knowledge and understanding over the market structure in customers point of view, especially in relation to price as an internal aspect which results to a higher expected duplication. It is undeniable that price is the most sensitive case for most of the customers behaviour in purchase situation. Therefore, there is segmentation for price based such as lifestyle, income and need based. This partition in brand competition is called neighborhood price effect which is stated in the empirical evidence by Sethuraman et al. (1999) that brands will compete with each other brands with a similar price set and not far distant in price (cited in Dawes and Romaniuk 2005, p. 58). As it is proved in the exampled by Romaniuk and Dawes (2005) that buyers would likely to purchase different bottle wines at the affordable range of price rather than choose the high level of price in a period of time. It can also be an evaluation of quality in which buyers would purchase outside the range of price due to different occasion. Other example also raised by Haley (1968, p. 31) that heavy coffee drinkers who drink at the chain store, would think that the taste for all coffee are basically t he same. Therefore, purchase a relatively inexpensive brand is their sensibility. On the other hand, heavy coffee drinkers who drink at the premium store would feel that adding for more bucks would satisfy their needs. Thus, it is apparent that price set is knowledge for the marketers to design market structure in partitioning where it is connected to their income, lifestyle and need based. Appendix Table III (1) USA instant coffee (one year) *Where b is the percentage of consumers and w is the purchase frequency rate. (Wright, Sharp Sharp 1998, p. 467) Table III (2) BRAND PENETRATION VS. PURCHASE FREQUENCY FOR COFFEE SALES (Baldinger , Blair Echambadi 2002, p. 10) Table III (3) (Baldinger, Blair Echambadi 2002, p. 11) Table IV (1) (Dawes 2008, p. 205)

Social Classes Of Mid-Victorian England :: European Europe History

Social Classes Of Mid-Victorian England In the Mid-Victorian period in English history there were distinct class differences in its society. There were three classes in England. These were the Aristocracy, the Middle-Class (or Factory owners) and the working class. Each class had specific characteristics that defined its behavior. These characteristics were best seen in four areas of British society. During the time-period known by most historians as the Industrial Revolution, a great change overtook British culture. Aside from the political and economic change which occurred, a profound social alteration transpired. The populace seeking to better their lives, sought employment in newly-formed industries. Many of the workers which included women and children, labored through 12 hour work shifts, with poor nutrition, poor living conditions and completing tedious tasks1. These factors, accompanied by various ideological precepts by Britain's intellectual community, and those concepts imported from France, provoke a crucial social evolution. Though no government was overthrown, a distinct transformation took place causing rebellious behavior to erupt among the working class. This essay will address the questions of how and why this behavior was expressed by the lower order of British society. It will also discuss methods the ruling class used in suppressing and controlling the rebel lious behavior exhibited by the working class. The middle class held to two basic ideologies that served in the exploitation of the lower order of the British society. Richard Atlick identified them as Utilitarianism (or Benthamism) and Evangelicalism. Both served the self-interested inclinations of the middle class. Utilitarianism created the need to fulfill a principle of pleasure while minimalization pain. In the context of the "industrial revolution" this meant that the pleasure extracted from life would be at the working classes' expense. This provided a perfect justification for the middle class to capitalize on. The working class of Britain, throughout the industrial revolution and through the Victorian age, acted in a defiant manner toward both the aristocracy and middle class. This behavior extended from the everyday activities of the workers to radical anarchist movements that categorized the underground. The middle class seemed to be just as familiar with the inverse of Benthamism as they were with its normal application. The pleasure principle was measured in terms of minimalization of pain. If the sum of pain, in a given situation, is less than the sum of pleasure, than it should be deemed pleasurable. The inverse principle applied to the working class was how pain (work) can be inflicted, with the absolute minimum distribution of pleasure (wages), without creating an uprising.

Ethics in Information Technology Essay

Chad White (2009) discussed that by the end of 2008, retailers have been sending a record breaking number of promotional emails. The main question is, is this increase worth the price of all the negative consequences of such campaign? Cassar (2009) said that people had less money to spend in 2008 and that they view the internet as a deal seeking venue but not actually purchase online. There are a lot of costs associated with even simple system messages like, â€Å"You have items left in your cart. † Doubling the sending of these emails over the holiday period can cause some serious irritation, too, as the company can easily be marked as spam because of these emails that are being sent at least twice daily by some. Before actually spending out the money for these promotional mails, it might be better if the companies spend the extra cost in promotion by helping the customers save more, for instance, they can offer a promotional coupon or free shipping. Noguchi (2008) said that email has become too time-consuming for people that instead of aiding to get things accomplished, email has become a distraction from work being done. In another article, Noguchi (2008) said that family can be reasons for email overload as some members of the family love sending pictures, videos and all other stuff they can think of to every email address they have on file. These things can get really distracting especially at work. Suggestions to resolve this dilemma: a person can always limit messages in his mailbox, do not open personal emails at work, mark emails requiring action, use spam blockers, be alert on the proper subject headings (Asiado 2010). The key is being organized (Asiado 2010). Schaper (2009) said that one way to avoid email overload is taking a break from emails even once a week. In fact, his research showed one Chicago based company is implementing this exact same rule. They understand that email is important and necessary to business but it can just be toxic, hence this policy. Glenn (2008) said that there is practically no privacy at work. Everything done by an employee on a work computer can easily be seen by his employer as everything is saved in the company’s hard drive. There is only one suggestion to resolve this: avoid using work computer to do incriminating acts against your own person or another. References: Asiado, T. (2010). Tips How to Reduce Email Overflow at Work. Suite101. Retrieved, 14 July 2010, from http://businessmanagement. suite101. com/article. cfm/tips-to-reduce-email-overflow-at-work Cassar, K. (2009). Little Holiday Cheer Ahead for Online Retail. neilsenwire. Retrieved, 14 July 2010, from http://blog. nielsen. com/nielsenwire/consumer/little-holiday-cheer-ahead-for-online-retail/ Glenn, H. (2008). E-mail at Work: Tips to Keep You out of Trouble. npr. org. Retrieved, 14 July 2010, from http://www. npr. org/templates/story/story. php? storyId=91604666 Noguchi, Y. (2008). Help! Family Spam is Crowding My Inbox! npr. org. Retrieved, 14 July 2010, from http://www. npr. org/templates/story/story. php? storyId=91402876 Noguchi, Y. (2008). Make it Stop! Crushed by Too Many E-Mails. npr. org. Retrieved, 14 July 2010, from http://www. npr. org/templates/story/story. php? storyId=91366853 Schaper, D. (2009). An E-Mail Vacation: Taking Fridays Off. npr. org. Retrieved, 14 July 2010, from http://www. npr. org/templates/story/story. php? storyId=91724075 White, C. (2009). Email Volume Sets New Records During Holidays. mediapost. com. Retrieved, 14 July 2010, from http://www. mediapost. com/publications/? fa=Articles. showArticle&art_aid=98215

The Lost Symbol Chapter 102-106

CHAPTER 102 Robert Langdon had often heard it said that an animal, when cornered, was capable of miraculous feats of strength. Nonetheless, when he threw his full force into the underside of his crate, nothing budged at all. Around him, the liquid continued rising steadily. With no more than six inches of breathing room left, Langdon had lifted his head into the pocket of air that remained. He was now face-to-face with the Plexiglas window, his eyes only inches away from the underside of the stone pyramid whose baffling engraving hovered above him. I have no idea what this means. Concealed for over a century beneath a hardened mixture of wax and stone dust, the Masonic Pyramid's final inscription was now laid bare. The engraving was a perfectly square grid of symbols from every tradition imaginable–alchemical, astrological, heraldic, angelic, magical, numeric, sigilic, Greek, Latin. As a totality, this was symbolic anarchy–a bowl of alphabet soup whose letters came from dozens of different languages, cultures, and time periods. Total chaos. Symbologist Robert Langdon, in his wildest academic interpretations, could not fathom how this grid of symbols could be deciphered to mean anything at all. Order from this chaos? Impossible. The liquid was now creeping over his Adam's apple, and Langdon could feel his level of terror rising along with it. He continued banging on the tank. The pyramid stared back at him tauntingly. In frantic desperation, Langdon focused every bit of his mental energy on the chessboard of symbols. What could they possibly mean? Unfortunately, the assortment seemed so disparate that he could not even imagine where to begin. They're not even from the same eras in history! Outside the tank, her voice muffled but audible, Katherine could be heard tearfully begging for Langdon's release. Despite his failure to see a solution, the prospect of death seemed to motivate every cell in his body to find one. He felt a strange clarity of mind, unlike anything he had ever experienced. Think! He scanned the grid intensely, searching for some clue–a pattern, a hidden word, a special icon, anything at all–but he saw only a grid of unrelated symbols. Chaos. With each passing second, Langdon had begun to feel an eerie numbness overtaking his body. It was as if his very flesh were preparing to shield his mind from the pain of death. The water was now threatening to pour into his ears, and he lifted his head as far as he could, pushing it against the top of the crate. Frightening images began flashing before his eyes. A boy in New England treading water at the bottom of a dark well. A man in Rome trapped beneath a skeleton in an overturned coffin. Katherine's shouts were growing more frantic. From all Langdon could hear, she was trying to reason with a madman–insisting that Langdon could not be expected to decipher the pyramid without going to visit the Almas Temple. â€Å"That building obviously holds the missing piece to this puzzle! How can Robert decipher the pyramid without all the information?!† Langdon appreciated her efforts, and yet he felt certain that â€Å"Eight Franklin Square† was not pointing to the Almas Temple. The time line is all wrong! According to legend, the Masonic Pyramid was created in the mid-1800s, decades before the Shriners even existed. In fact, Langdon realized, it was probably before the square was even called Franklin Square. The capstone could not possibly have been pointing to an unbuilt building at a nonexistent address. Whatever â€Å"Eight Franklin Square† was pointing to . . . it had to exist in 1850. Unfortunately, Langdon was drawing a total blank. He probed his memory banks for anything that could possibly fit the time line. Eight Franklin Square? Something that was in existence in 1850? Langdon came up with nothing. The liquid was trickling into his ears now. Fighting his terror, he stared up at the grid of symbols on the glass. I don't understand the connection! In a petrified frenzy, his mind began spewing all the far-flung parallels it could generate. Eight Franklin Square . . . squares . . . this grid of symbols is a square . . . the square and the compass are Masonic symbols . . . Masonic altars are square . . . squares have ninety-degree angles. The water kept rising, but Langdon blocked it out. Eight Franklin . . . eight . . . this grid is eight-by-eight . . . Franklin has eight letters . . . â€Å"The Order† has eight letters . . . 8 is the rotated symbol for infinity . . . eight is the number of destruction in numerology . . . Langdon had no idea. Outside the tank, Katherine was still pleading, but Langdon's hearing was now intermittent as the water was sloshing around his head. † . . . impossible without knowing . . . capstone's message clearly . . . the secret hides within–â€Å" Then she was gone. Water poured into Langdon's ears, blotting out the last of Katherine's voice. A sudden womblike silence engulfed him, and Langdon realized he truly was going to die. The secret hides within– Katherine's final words echoed through the hush of his tomb. The secret hides within . . . Strangely, Langdon realized he had heard these exact words many times before. The secret hides . . . within. Even now, it seemed, the Ancient Mysteries were taunting him. â€Å"The secret hides within† was the core tenet of the mysteries, urging man kind to seek God not in the heavens above . . . but rather within himself. The secret hides within. It was the message of all the great mystical teachers. The kingdom of God is within you, said Jesus Christ. Know thyself, said Pythagoras. Know ye not that ye are gods, said Hermes Trismegistus. The list went on and on . . . All the mystical teachings of the ages had attempted to convey this one idea. The secret hides within. Even so, mankind continued looking to the heavens for the face of God. This realization, for Langdon, now became an ultimate irony. Right now, with his eyes facing the heavens like all the blind men who preceded him, Robert Langdon suddenly saw the light. It hit him like a bolt from above. The secret hides within The Order Eight Franklin Square In a flash he understood. The message on the capstone was suddenly crystal clear. Its meaning had been staring him in the face all night. The text on the capstone, like the Masonic Pyramid itself, was a symbolon–a code in pieces–a message written in parts. The capstone's meaning was camouflaged in so simple a manner that Langdon could scarcely believe he and Katherine had not spotted it. More astonishing still, Langdon now realized that the message on the capstone did indeed reveal exactly how to decipher the grid of symbols on the base of the pyramid. It was so very simple. Exactly as Peter Solomon had promised, the golden capstone was a potent talisman with the power to bring order from chaos. Langdon began pounding on the lid and shouting, â€Å"I know! I know!† Above him, the stone pyramid lifted off and hovered away. In its place, the tattooed face reappeared, its chilling visage staring down through the small window. â€Å"I solved it!† Langdon shouted. â€Å"Let me out!† When the tattooed man spoke, Langdon's submerged ears heard nothing. His eyes, however, saw the lips speak two words. â€Å"Tell me.† â€Å"I will!† Langdon screamed, the water almost to his eyes. â€Å"Let me out! I'll explain everything!† It's so simple. The man's lips moved again. â€Å"Tell me now . . . or die.† With the water rising through the final inch of air space, Langdon tipped his head back to keep his mouth above the waterline. As he did so, warm liquid poured into his eyes, blurring his vision. Arching his back, he pressed his mouth against the Plexiglas window. Then, with his last few seconds of air, Robert Langdon shared the secret of how to decipher the Masonic Pyramid. As he finished speaking, the liquid rose around his lips. Instinctively, Langdon drew a final breath and clamped his mouth shut. A moment later, the fluid covered him entirely, reaching the top of his tomb and spreading out across the Plexiglas. He did it, Mal'akh realized. Langdon figured out how to solve the pyramid. The answer was so simple. So obvious. Beneath the window, the submerged face of Robert Langdon stared up at him with desperate and beseeching eyes. Mal'akh shook his head at him and slowly mouthed the words: â€Å"Thank you, Professor. Enjoy the afterlife.† CHAPTER 103 As a serious swimmer, Robert Langdon had often wondered what it would feel like to drown. He now knew he was going to learn firsthand. Although he could hold his breath longer than most people, he could already feel his body reacting to the absence of air. Carbon dioxide was accumulating in his blood, bringing with it the instinctual urge to inhale. Do not breathe! The reflex to inhale was increasing in intensity with each passing moment. Langdon knew very soon he would reach what was called the breath-hold breakpoint–that critical moment at which a person could no longer voluntarily hold his breath. Open the lid! Langdon's instinct was to pound and struggle, but he knew better than to waste valuable oxygen. All he could do was stare up through the blur of water above him and hope. The world outside was now only a hazy patch of light above the Plexiglas window. His core muscles had begun burning, and he knew hypoxia was setting in. Suddenly a beautiful and ghostly face appeared, gazing down at him. It was Katherine, her soft features looking almost ethereal through the veil of liquid. Their eyes met through the Plexiglas window, and for an instant, Langdon thought he was saved. Katherine! Then he heard her muted cries of horror and realized she was being held there by their captor. The tattooed monster was forcing her to bear witness to what was about to happen. Katherine, I'm sorry . . . In this strange, dark place, trapped underwater, Langdon strained to comprehend that these would be his final moments of life. Soon he would cease to exist . . . everything he was . . . or had ever been . . . or would ever be . . . was ending. When his brain died, all of the memories held in his gray matter, along with all of the knowledge he had acquired, would simply evaporate in a flood of chemical reactions. In this moment, Robert Langdon realized his true insignificance in the universe. It was as lonely and humbling a feeling as he had ever experienced. Almost thankfully, he could feel the breath-hold breakpoint arriving. The moment was upon him. Langdon's lungs forced out their spent contents, collapsing in eager preparation to inhale. Still he held out an instant longer. His final second. Then, like a man no longer able to hold his hand to a burning stove, he gave himself over to fate. Reflex overruled reason. His lips parted. His lungs expanded. And the liquid came pouring in. The pain that filled his chest was greater than Langdon had ever imagined. The liquid burned as it poured into his lungs. Instantly, the pain shot upward into his skull, and he felt like his head was being crushed in a vise. There was great thundering in his ears, and through it all, Katherine Solomon was screaming. There was a blinding flash of light. And then blackness. Robert Langdon was gone. CHAPTER 104 It's over. Katherine Solomon had stopped screaming. The drowning she had just witnessed had left her catatonic, virtually paralyzed with shock and despair. Beneath the Plexiglas window, Langdon's dead eyes stared past her into empty space. His frozen expression was one of pain and regret. The last tiny air bubbles trickled out of his lifeless mouth, and then, as if consenting to give up his ghost, the Harvard professor slowly began sinking to the bottom of the tank . . . where he disappeared into the shadows. He's gone. Katherine felt numb. The tattooed man reached down, and with pitiless finality, he slid the small viewing window closed, sealing Langdon's corpse inside. Then he smiled at her. â€Å"Shall we?† Before Katherine could respond, he hoisted her grief-stricken body onto his shoulder, turned out the light, and carried her out of the room. With a few powerful strides, he transported her to the end of the hall, into a large space that seemed to be bathed in a reddish-purple light. The room smelled like incense. He carried her to a square table in the center of the room and dropped her hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her. The surface felt rough and cold. Is this stone? Katherine had hardly gotten her bearings before the man had removed the wire from her wrists and ankles. Instinctively, she attempted to fight him off, but her cramped arms and legs barely responded. He now began strapping her to the table with heavy leather bands, cinching one strap across her knees and then buckling a second across her hips, pinning her arms at her sides. Then he placed a final strap across her sternum, just above her breasts. It had all taken only moments, and Katherine was again immobilized. Her wrists and ankles throbbed now as the circulation returned to her limbs. â€Å"Open your mouth,† the man whispered, licking his own tattooed lips. Katherine clenched her teeth in revulsion. The man again reached out with his index finger and ran it slowly around her lips, making her skin crawl. She clenched her teeth tighter. The tattooed man chuckled and, using his other hand, found a pressure point on her neck and squeezed. Katherine's jaw instantly dropped open. She could feel his finger entering her mouth and running along her tongue. She gagged and tried to bite it, but the finger was already gone. Still grinning, he raised his moist fingertip before her eyes. Then he closed his eyes and, once again, rubbed her saliva into the bare circle of flesh on his head. The man sighed and slowly opened his eyes. Then, with an eerie calm, he turned and left the room. In the sudden silence, Katherine could feel her heart pounding. Directly over her, an unusual series of lights seemed to be modulating from purple red to a deep crimson, illuminating the room's low ceiling. When she saw the ceiling, all she could do was stare. Every inch was covered with drawings. The mind-boggling collage above her appeared to depict the celestial sky. Stars, planets, and constellations mingled with astrological symbols, charts, and formulas. There were arrows predicting elliptical orbits, geometric symbols indicating angles of ascension, and zodiacal creatures peering down at her. It looked like a mad scientist had gotten loose in the Sistine Chapel. Turning her head, Katherine looked away, but the wall to her left was no better. A series of candles on medieval floor stands shed a flickering glow on a wall that was completely hidden beneath pages of text, photos, and drawings. Some of the pages looked like papyrus or vellum torn from ancient books; others were obviously from newer texts; mixed in were photographs, drawings, maps, and schematics; all of them appeared to have been glued to the wall with meticulous care. A spiderweb of strings had been thumbtacked across them, interconnecting them in limitless chaotic possibilities. Katherine again looked away, turning her head in the other direction. Unfortunately, this provided the most terrifying view of all. Adjacent to the stone slab on which she was strapped, there stood a small side counter that instantly reminded her of an instrument table from a hospital operating room. On the counter was arranged a series of objects–among them a syringe, a vial of dark liquid . . . and a large knife with a bone handle and a blade hewn of iron burnished to an unusually high shine. My God . . . what is he planning to do to me? CHAPTER 105 When CIA systems security specialist Rick Parrish finally loped into Nola Kaye's office, he was carrying a single sheet of paper. â€Å"What took you so long?!† Nola demanded. I told you to come down immediately! â€Å"Sorry,† he said, pushing up his bottle-bottom glasses on his long nose. â€Å"I was trying to gather more information for you, but–â€Å" â€Å"Just show me what you've got.† Parrish handed her the printout. â€Å"It's a redaction, but you get the gist.† Nola scanned the page in amazement. â€Å"I'm still trying to figure out how a hacker got access,† Parrish said, â€Å"but it looks like a delegator spider hijacked one of our search–â€Å" â€Å"Forget that!† Nola blurted, glancing up from the page. â€Å"What the hell is the CIA doing with a classified file about pyramids, ancient portals, and engraved symbolons?† â€Å"That's what took me so long. I was trying to see what document was being targeted, so I traced the file path.† Parrish paused, clearing his throat. â€Å"This document turns out to be on a partition personally assigned to . . . the CIA director himself.† Nola wheeled, staring in disbelief. Sato's boss has a file about the Masonic Pyramid? She knew that the current director, along with many other top CIA executives, was a high-ranking Mason, but Nola could not imagine any of them keeping Masonic secrets on a CIA computer. Then again, considering what she had witnessed in the last twenty-four hours, anything was possible. Agent Simkins was lying on his stomach, ensconced in the bushes of Franklin Square. His eyes were trained on the columned entry of the Almas Temple. Nothing. No lights had come on inside, and no one had approached the door. He turned his head and checked on Bellamy. The man was pacing alone in the middle of the park, looking cold. Really cold. Simkins could see him shaking and shivering. His phone vibrated. It was Sato. â€Å"How overdue is our target?† she demanded. Simkins checked his chronograph. â€Å"Target said twenty minutes. It's been almost forty. Something's wrong.† â€Å"He's not coming,† Sato said. â€Å"It's over.† Simkins knew she was right. â€Å"Any word from Hartmann?† â€Å"No, he never checked in from Kalorama Heights. I can't reach him.† Simkins stiffened. If this was true, then something was definitely wrong. â€Å"I just called field support,† Sato said, â€Å"and they can't find him either.† Holy shit. â€Å"Do they have a GPS location on the Escalade?† â€Å"Yeah. A residential address in Kalorama Heights,† Sato said. â€Å"Gather your men. We're pulling out.† Sato clicked off her phone and gazed out at the majestic skyline of her nation's capital. An icy wind whipped through her light jacket, and she wrapped her arms around herself to stay warm. Director Inoue Sato was not a woman who often felt cold . . . or fear. At the moment, however, she was feeling both. CHAPTER 106 Mal'akh wore only his silk loincloth as he dashed up the ramp, through the steel door, and out through the painting into his living room. I need to prepare quickly. He glanced over at the dead CIA agent in the foyer. This home is no longer safe. Carrying the stone pyramid in one hand, Mal'akh strode directly to his first-floor study and sat down at his laptop computer. As he logged in, he pictured Langdon downstairs and wondered how many days or even weeks would pass before the submerged corpse was discovered in the secret basement. It made no difference. Mal'akh would be long gone by then. Langdon has served his role . . . brilliantly. Not only had Langdon reunited the pieces of the Masonic Pyramid, he had figured out how to solve the arcane grid of symbols on the base. At first glance, the symbols seemed indecipherable . . . and yet the answer was simple . . . staring them in the face. Mal'akh's laptop sprang to life, the screen displaying the same e-mail he had received earlier–a photograph of a glowing capstone, partially blocked by Warren Bellamy's finger. The secret hides within The Order. Franklin Square. Eight . . . Franklin Square, Katherine had told Mal'akh. She had also admitted that CIA agents were staking out Franklin Square, hoping to capture Mal'akh and also figure out what order was being referenced by the capstone. The Masons? The Shriners? The Rosicrucians? None of these, Mal'akh now knew. Langdon saw the truth. Ten minutes earlier, with liquid rising around his face, the Harvard professor had figured out the key to solving the pyramid. â€Å"The Order Eight Franklin Square!† he had shouted, terror in his eyes. â€Å"The secret hides within The Order Eight Franklin Square!† At first, Mal'akh failed to understand his meaning. â€Å"It's not an address!† Langdon yelled, his mouth pressed to the Plexiglas window. â€Å"The Order Eight Franklin Square! It's a magic square!† Then he said something about Albrecht Durer . . . and how the pyramid's first code was a clue to breaking this final one. Mal'akh was familiar with magic squares–kameas, as the early mystics called them. The ancient text De Occulta Philosophia described in detail the mystical power of magic squares and the methods for designing powerful sigils based on magical grids of numbers. Now Langdon was telling him that a magic square held the key to deciphering the base of the pyramid? â€Å"You need an eight-by-eight magic square!† the professor had been yelling, his lips the only part of his body above the liquid. â€Å"Magic squares are categorized in orders! A three-by-three square is an `order three'! A four-by-four square is an `order four'! You need an `order eight'!† The liquid had been about to engulf Langdon entirely, and the professor drew one last desperate breath and shouted out something about a famous Mason . . . an American forefather . . . a scientist, mystic, mathematician, inventor . . . as well as the creator of the mystical kamea that bore his name to this day. Franklin. In a flash, Mal'akh knew Langdon was right. Now, breathless with anticipation, Mal'akh sat upstairs at his laptop. He ran a quick Web search, received dozens of hits, chose one, and began reading. THE ORDER EIGHT FRANKLIN SQUARE One of history's best-known magic squares is the order-eight square published in 1769 by American scientist Benjamin Franklin, and which became famous for its inclusion of never- before-seen â€Å"bent diagonal summations.† Franklin's obsession with this mystical art form most likely stemmed from his personal associations with the prominent alchemists and mystics of his day, as well as his own belief in astrology, which were the underpinnings for the predictions made in his Poor Richard's Almanack. Mal'akh studied Franklin's famous creation–a unique arrangement of the numbers 1 through 64–in which every row, column, and diagonal added up to the same magical constant. The secret hides within The Order Eight Franklin Square. Mal'akh smiled. Trembling with excitement, he grabbed the stone pyramid and flipped it over, examining the base. These sixty-four symbols needed to be reorganized and arranged in a different order, their sequence defined by the numbers in Franklin's magic square. Although Mal'akh could not imagine how this chaotic grid of symbols would suddenly make sense in a different order, he had faith in the ancient promise. Ordo ab chao. Heart racing, he took out a sheet of paper and quickly drew an empty eight-by-eight grid. Then he began inserting the symbols, one by one, in their newly defined positions. Almost immediately, to his astonishment, the grid began making sense. Order from chaos! He completed the entire decryption and stared in disbelief at the solution before him. A stark image had taken shape. The jumbled grid had been transformed . . . reorganized . . . and although Mal'akh could not grasp the meaning of the entire message, he understood enough . . . enough to know exactly where he was now headed. The pyramid points the way. The grid pointed to one of the world's great mystical locations. Incredibly, it was the same location at which Mal'akh had always fantasized he would complete his journey. Destiny.