Smart Goals Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Smart Goals - Assignment Example Smart Goal: I would like to increase my skills and experience in sales and being a sales person. Measurable: I want to gain the required expertise and expertise by working in a sales agency. Attainable: I will work for other established sales agency to acquire necessary skills and expertise. Realistic: I will work for part time basis and later for permanent terms in already successful sales agencies Timely: I will begin at the end of my semester during school break. Smart goal: I would like to acquire the require skills in being a sales agent and team leader Measurable: I want to have the best effective skills in sales and team management Attainable: I will seek attachment in a sales oriented institution in order to acquire required management skills. Realistic: I will work in the company for a full time basis in the attachment period, but then seek alternative employment in a related company for a full employment basis. Timely: I will begin at the beginning of my final semester in s chool

Personal statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal Statement Example E-commerce and internet marketing has always allured me because of its wide coverage and implications in different sectors. These two terms have changed the landscape of traditional business model and the way buyers and sellers interact with each other. With my bachelors in Management Information Systems and Masters in E-Commerce, I already possess the fundamentals which further inspire me to take on this course as my future study objective. According to me, use of information systems and electronic means in trading are going to take on the world by storm. In this realm, I feel I can contribute a lot to this revolution through my learning and qualities of team work, perseverance, dedication and incessant thirst for knowledge. My scholarship from Ministry of Higher education in Saudi Arabia provides the testimony of my hard work and devotion towards the attainment of my objectives. I also feel my prior experience of working with teams on group projects and frequent presentations has s harpened my interpersonal and communication skills in addition to technical and managerial skills. That is why I chose XX University as it boasts of the best breed of students across the world. These qualities and abilities which I have gained till now in my academic life will help me compete with the brightest of students and extract the maximum output of me in terms of creativity and innovation.

The Unilever market analysis and overview

The Unilever market analysis and overview To add vitality to life is Unilevers everlasting corporate mission, and it works to create a better future every day. Ever since Unilever was established in 1884 by the founder William Hesketh Lever, It has grown to one of worlds leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods. Winning in the market place is one of the core secrets of its success (Unilever Global, 2010). In 1996, Unilevers market share of powder category in Brazil reached as high as 81 per cent with three brands: Omo, Minerva and Campeiro. Despite its brand name and company goodwill Unilever was unable to penetrate the detergent market in the North East (NE) of Brazil. The North East of Brazil constitutes twenty eight percent of Brazils total population with close to forty eight million low income consumers (Chandon Pacheco 2007).This report therefore aims at providing recommendations on the marketing strategy that Unilever should employ to target the low-income consumer segment. The report is structured into three parts namely consumer behaviour, brand identity, and the marketing mix followed by our recommendations. First we shall identify the consumer behaviour differences among laundry products customers in Brazil. Second we shall discuss whether Unilever should bring out a new brand, reposition its existing brand or go ahead with a brand extension to target the North Eastern Brazilian market. We will then briefly touch upon the positioning of the brand and discuss in detail the marketing mix. Theories and empirical data shall be applied where necessary. CONSUMER DIFFERENCES In order to make an effective marketing strategy, we should first analyse the consumer behaviour differences between the SE and NE segments of the laundry product market in Brazil. A deep understanding of the target consumer group is the first step in promoting a successful product to a new market (Chandon Pacheco 2007). The following table clearly shows the consumer behaviour differences between the two market segments. NORTH EAST SOUTH EAST 53% of the population live on less than two minimum wages. 21% of the population live on less than two minimum wages. Only 28% of households own a washing machine. Washing machines are a necessity with 67% of the population possessing a machine. Women scrub clothes using bars. Then they add bleach to remove stains little detergent powder at the end to make clothes smell good. Women mix powder detergent and softener in a washing machine and use laundry soap and bleach only to remove the toughest stains. North-easterners use a lot more soap (20kg) South Easterners use a lot less soap than the NE (7kg) Women often do their washing in a public place Most women wash clothes alone at home People attach the symbolic value to cleanliness; women see it as the dedication towards her family. Cleanliness has much lower relevance for self-esteem and social status It is essential to analyse the buyer role framework to understand the shopping habits of low income consumer. This in turn will help the firm in its marketing mix. Table 2 below analyses the buyer role framework for the laundry products in the NE segment: INITIATOR Women of the house INFLUENCER Friends, neighbours or relatives that the women meet at the public laundry area DECIDER Husband or in the case of the unmarried woman the financial head of the family sometimes even themselves. BUYER Husband and Wife or either one of them USER The Whole Family/Household Table 2: NE BUYER ROLE FRAMEWORK SOURCE- OWN COMPILATION Why are there such varied differences between the two consumer segments? The reasons can be attributed to some factors which influence their choices. All these factors can be divided into four aspects: cultural, social, personal and psychological. The first factor that should be taken into consideration is motivation which belongs to the psychological aspect; because the motives drive consumers to buy. We all know Maslows hierarchy of needs theory. According to his theory, motives can be divided into five categories: the physiological needs, the safety needs, the love needs, the esteem needs and the need for self-actualization. Among these categories, the physiological is the basic need, which means the fundamentals of survival (Maslow 1943, 370-396). Only if the lower needs are well gratified, can new set of higher needs emerge (Maslow 1943). As stated in the case, women in the NE of Brazil, who have very low incomes and poor living conditions, are just fulfilling the most basic need and hence will prefer a product that offers value for money. Another factor related to psychological aspect is beliefs and attitudes. Women in NE of Brazil attach symbolic value to the cleanliness of the clothes. They regard it as the dedication of the mother to her family. Due to this they would probably buy a laundry product with ability to remove stains. Lifestyle is also an important factor that influences behaviour under personal aspect. Lifestyle refers to the pattern of living as expressed in a persons activities, interests and opinions. Lifestyle analysis, categorizes consumers according to their beliefs, activities, values, and demographic characteristics such as education and income (Jobber, D. 2007). Women in the NE of Brazil, viewing washing clothes as one of the pleasurable routine activities of their week. The forth factor which influences their consumer behaviour is the social class. It is a sub factor of cultural aspect. People in NE of Brazil are the working class and those at lowest level of subsistence. Their social class is at the bottom of the pyramid. Their income can only sustain their daily basic needs, and these factors greatly affect their buying attitudes towards the laundry products. This is one reason for their extensive laundry soap usage. One factor of classifying households is based on their geographic location. This analysis is called geo demographics and is based on population census data. (Jobber, D. 2007). The households different economic conditions determine whether they will buy the kind of laundry product which may be less effective but with a more reasonable price or the best product without considering its price. The geographic location differences can enlighten the company to make the marketing strategies accordingly. BRAND IDENTITY Marketing managers aim at developing their products into brands to help them create a unique position in the minds of their customers (Jobber, 2007, p. 326). It is therefore essential to understand the difference between a product and a brand. A product can be anything that has the capacity to satisfy customer need. Branding is the process by which companies distinguish their product offering from the competition. (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 133). Branding enables customers to build relationship in terms of prestige, status, economy and eases the purchase decision (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 134). After analyzing the needs of the target market we as a strategic marketing team propose that Unilever should employ the brand extension strategy. 3.1 BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension refers to the use of an established brand name on a new brand within the same broad market (Jobber Fahy, 2006). As mentioned earlier, Unilever has three brands namely Omo, Minerva and Campeiro. Their prices are coherent with the order in which they are listed. Omo has been positioned as an expensive product with the ability to remove stains with low quantity when used in washing machines, thus reducing the need for soap or bleach. Minerva, the only brand having penetrated the laundry soap market and the detergent market has positioned itself has having an emotional appeal where as Campeiro stands out as the price brand (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 132). After closely examining the performance, characteristics, consumer preference and market penetration (in both the categories of laundry products) of the three brands we propose that Unilever should apply the brand extension strategy to Minerva. This will provide a good opportunity for Minerva as a brand to increase its mar ket share in the laundry soap market, which is currently being dominated by other local or international products. Also the strong brand identity of Minerva can be sustained into the future through this extension (Jobber, 2007, p. 370). Minerva proves to be the right choice for brand extension because it is correctly priced and positioned unlike its sister brands which are either too low (Campeiro) giving the idea of low quality, or either too high (Omo) making it out of reach to our target market. Our target market being the women in the North East of Brazil and considering their washing traits (Table 1) we propose that Minervas extension be a laundry soap that will try to cater to all of the needs of the North Eastern women or household. Also the North East market for laundry soap is very fragmented because laundry soap is much easier to produce than powdered detergent. Laundry soap is also seen as multi-use product that has many home and personal care uses. The brand will be called Minerva Brilhar- Sabà £o Multi Purpose (Multi Purpose Soap). Under the brand flagship we propose to launch three products namely Minerva Brilhar Alfazema, Minerva Brilhar Cà ­trico and Minerva Brilhar Coco.The reason for choosing three variants is to reduce the risk of the product not being acknowledged by the mass. A detailed explanation of all the three variants will be discussed under the marketing mix. 3.1.1 JUSTIFICATION FOR CHOOSING BRAND EXTENSION A strong brand provides a strong foundation for leveraging positive perceptions and goodwill from the core brand to brand extensions. The new brand benefits from the added value that the brand equity of the core brand bestows on the extension (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 136). Minerva as a brand has a considerable share in both the laundry soap and detergent market. Though not the largest in terms of sales or market share, its positioning makes it the most popular or sought after brand. The use of brand extension is an important marketing tool. The two main advantages of brand extension in launching new products are that: Reduces risk Less costly than alternative launch strategies (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 142). Both distributors and consumers may perceive less risk if the new brand comes or is part of an already established brand name (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 142). The North Eastern side of Brazil has very few malls and supermarkets. Small retailers with small-to- midsized shops are very dominant. Due to their restricted clientele and their spending power shopkeepers would generally be skeptical in shelving a new brand, until and unless they were being paid for shelving the particular product. Consumers generally seem to attribute the quality associations they have of the original brand to the new one (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 142).Launch costs may also be reduced by using brand extension. Since the established brand name is already well known the task of building awareness of the new brand is not required. Consequently advertising, sales and promotional costs are reduced (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 142). Furthermore, there is the likelihood that the company may be able to bank upon advertising economies of scale since advertisements for the original brand and its extension reinforce each other (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 142). Looking at the other side of the coin, there is also the danger that the marketing management will underfund the launch of the product, beleiving that the spin off effects of the original brand name will compensate. This can lead to low awareness. Another effect is cannibalization, which refers to a situation where the new brand gains sales at the expense of the existing brand. There is also the danger that bad publicity for one brand can affect the reputation of the other brands under the same umbrella. Also if a brand name is extended too far there can be a loss of credibility and this is something that the management needs to guard itself against (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 142). Brand extensions are likely to be successful if they make sense to the consumer. If the values and aspirations of the new target segement (s) match those of the original segement, and the qualities of the brand name are likewise highly prized then success is likely (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 143). 4. MARKETING STRATEGIES: 4.1Market segmentation Targeting: Market segmentation is the technique used by marketers to gain an understanding about a diverse nature of markets. Market segmentation may be defined as the identification of individuals or organisations with similar characteristics that have significant implications for the determination of marketing strategy (Jobber, 2007, p. 275) Market segmentation provides the basis for the selection of target markets. The company decides the target market that it wants to serve. As customers in the target market segment are homogenous, a single marketing mix strategy can be developed to match those requirements (Jobber, 2007). The consumer segmentation criteria can be classified into three broad groups: Behavioural, psychological and profile variables (Jobber, 2007).In reference to the case at hand, Unilever is focussing on marketing its laundry products to the low income consumers in North East part of Brazil. Since the consumers in this region are homogenous a single marketing mix strategy can be developed. The launch of Minerva Brilhar aims at targeting the market with the following factors taken into consideration: Buyers: Household women from NE part of Brazil Benefits Sought: Fragrance, Multi-use product. Purchase occasion: Self Buy Lifestyle: Conservatives with traditional values. Gender: Female Social Class: Lower income. Income: 53% of population live on less than two minimum wages. Geographic: North East VS South East part of Brazil. 5. Marketing Mix Marketing Mix is the planned management of the customer relationship including product, price, place and promotion (Jobber, 2007, p. 1001). In what follows, each of the aforementioned elements of marketing mix is discussed in further detail. 5.1 Product Strategies: For some time now it has been conventional for marketers to think in terms of different product levels (Jobber Fahy, 2006).Managing products from a marketing perspective can be explained using the three product levels namely core product, actual product and augmented product as seen in Figure 3. Figure 3: PRODUCT FROM A MARKETING PERSPECTIVE SOURCE ADAPTED: (Jobber Fahy, 2006) The three product levels that are depicted in the figure above can be applied to the case of Minerva Brilhar as shown in Table 3. Core product Convenience, Familiarity, Reassurance and Fragrance Actual Product Plastic pack, Images with text, Modern look to the laundry bar with a ready to use image Augmented Product Satisfaction, Guarantee, Ease of use. Table 3: PRODUCT LEVEL ANALYSIS OF MINERVA BRILHAR SOURCE: OWN COMPILATION USING TEXT FROM (Jobber Fahy, 2006). The characteristics of Minerva Brilhar are discussed below across various criterions: Key product drivers: Various fragrances to choose from, ability to remove stains, better grip, multi-use product (can be used for other home and personal care uses), value for money and longer life of the product. Packaging: Plastic pack of 250 gms x 4 bars with images and text. Each flavour will be packed in individually. Flavour and Ingredients: Three flavours namely Lavender (Alfazema), Citrus (Citrico) and Coconut (Coco). The patented formulae and technology developed by Hindustan Unilever in India for its brand Rin Supreme (sister company) will also be used to develop the above mentioned products. The technology used by HUL is called Pure Clean. The supposed technology would keep clothes looking new for longer unlike other detergent bars which contains 40% mined ingredients (Exchange4media, 2002) Product positioning: Our products tag line would be Keeps your family spotless for longer. The images of the product Minerva Brilhar are seen below. Minerva Brilhar- Sabà £o Multi Purpose SOURCE:OWN COMPILATION SOURCE:OWN COMPILATION 5.2 Price Strategy: Price from a marketing perspective can be defined as the sacrifice a consumer is prepared to make in exchange for the benefits of having a product or service, in order to achieve good value. The value is determined as a function of price, functional benefits and emotional benefits (Jobber Fahy, 2006).Therefore in reference to Minerva Brilhar; we provide improved value to customers by using the differentiation approach strategy wherein the product benefits are enhanced by maintaining the price. Minerva Brilhar is reasonably priced as compared to the other Unilever detergent brands. The product provides enhanced value in terms of functional benefits such as ease of use with a better grip and is a multipurpose product. It also caters to the emotional benefits of the NE Brazilian customers such as cleanliness and provides a range of pleasant fragrances. 5.21: FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PRICING DECISIONS OF MINERVA BRILHAR: The pricing decision of products is influenced by internal and external factors. While deciding the price for Minerva Brilhar the following factors were taken into consideration. Marketing strategy: The differentiation strategy of pricing is suggested since the product has enhanced value and is priced at a nominally higher price than the existing Unilever products. Marketing Mix: The quality of the product was enhanced in terms of better grip and more variety of fragrances for multipurpose use. Length of the distribution channel: The length of the distribution channel is long in the NE Brazilian market therefore the distributor mark up price is increased slightly. 5.22: KEY BASES FOR PRICE SETTING: There are three key methods used by managers to set prices namely cost based pricing, competition pricing and marketing pricing. The figure below briefly explains the three pricing methods. Figure 4: KEY BASES FOR SETTING PRICE SOURCE ADAPTED FROM: (Jobber Fahy, 2006) The pricing method adopted in the case of Minerva Brilhar is the marketing/customer based pricing wherein the price of the product is designed based on attaching appropriate price to reflect the benefits offered to the customers (Dr.Angela Tregear, 2010). The market orientation approach was used to decide the prices. Minerva Brilhar will be priced at 1.71$/kg. Table 4 will outline the cost break up of Minerva Brilhar The cost break up constitutes of formulation cost of 1.05$/kg due to added features in the product such as three variants in flavour and better grip with a pure clean formula. The packaging cost will be 0.15$/kg as it is a plastic pack with four bars. The promotional cost is slightly higher at 0.32 $/kg as heavy promotion is needed to build awareness for the brand extension. The major challenge faced by Unilever in pricing their products was to divert its funds from its premium brands to invest in a lower margin market. Therefore, pricing Minerva Brilhar at a price that is affordable by the mass can allow Unilever to penetrate the market better. 5.3 Promotion strategies: Promotional activities can be broad and are aimed at the market as a whole. The overall range of techniques available to the marketer is usually known as the promotional mix and comprises seven main elements which are represented in Figure 4 (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 217). Figure 5: SEVEN MAIN ELEMENTS OF PROMOTIONAL MIX SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM (Jobber Fahy, 2006) The promotion of Minerva Brilhar will be done through advertising, sales promotion and sponsorship. A key point to note here is that almost all Brazilians irrespective of their incomes are avid television watchers (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 133). Despite of this fact, Unilever has responded by reducing the amount of advertising it places on television and instead switching to outdoor and internet advertising (Jobber Fahy, 2006).Therefore retaining the existing Unilever marketing strategy of outdoor and internet advertising the product will be advertised will the help of posters on small stores. Radio will also be used as an alternative to television for delivering the message across to a wide number of audiences. The other means of promotion that we propose for the new brand is through sales promotions. Consumer promotion techniques such as free samples can be introduced to encourage trial as this can be effective for brand extension (Jobber Fahy, 2006). In the case of Minerva Brilhar we will sell 20g of free sample with the purchase of each pack of any flavour. The final step of promotion for our brand will be through sponsorship. Considering the popularity of football in Brazil we propose that the sponsorship be in the form of a football match played by four teams namely Minerva, Minerva Brilhar Alfazema, Minerva Brilhar Cà ­trico and Minerva Brilhar Coco. We will encourage the North Eastern locals to participate in the match.This will indeed create an awareness among the minds of the consumers.There will also be wet demos of the product at the end of the match for consumers to visualise the features of the product.Radio shall also be used inorder to promote the event. 5.4 Distribution strategy: The final part of the jigsaw is the distribution,the place element of the marketing mix.Products must be available in adequate quantities, in convienent locations and at times when customers want to buy them.According to Jobber and Fahy,distribution channel is the means by which products are moved from producer to end consumer (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 285).Choosing the most effective marketing channel is as crucial aspect of a marketing strategy. 5.41 COMPONENTS OF DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY: All products require a channel for distribution. There are various channels of distributions. The most difficult decision is to decide which channel of distribution to choose. The distribution strategy comprises of three components namely channel selection, distribution intensity and channel integration. Channel selection: The main challenge for Unilever was that they lacked a strong distribution network in NE part of Brazil (Jobber Fahy, 2006, p. 134).This makes it indeed difficult for a product that is new to the market to position itself well. Keeping the practicality of the situation in mind, to establish a strong distribution channel for Minerva Brilhar would be to get access to as many specialised distributors as possible for the product to be recognised in the market. By keeping the channel length short, we will be able to cater to the mark up price of distributors. Distribution intensity: The distribution intensity for Minerva Brilhar will be intensive as it essential for the product to reach the 75,000 small outlets spread over the North East. The product should be easily accessible or else the purpose of creating a brand extension is defeated. 6. CONCLUSION: Prahalad Hart (2002) in an article state an interesting statement that low income markets present a prodigious opportunity for the worlds wealthiest companies-to seek their fortunes and bring prosperity to the aspiring poor (Prahalad Hart, 2002). Unilevers own analysis of Nirma and HLLs competition in the detergent business reveals more about the profit potential of the marketplace at the bottom of the pyramid (Prahalad Hart, 2002).This theory is widely known as the bottom of the pyramid theory. It is essential for an organisation to bear in mind that they must focus on low income consumer segments as value-demanding customers (Rajghatta, 2010). In relevance to the case at hand, Unilever can adopt the bottom of pyramid theory and develop products exclusively for the lower income segments wherein producing only cheap and low quality products must not be an ultimate goal. The company can earn immense profits if it rightly creates a good quality product with the value for money. The brand extension strategy as proposed should be the right decision for Unilever as it can provide a wide range of products with value for money to the customers. If Unilever adopts the bottom of the pyramid theory in the right fashion it surely will move towards the road of success.

Homo Erectus Essay -- Science Ancestry Science Essays

Homo Erectus In the quest to explain human origins it is necessary to find a species that bridges modern man (Homo sapiens) with the apes. To fill this gap evolutionists have set forth Homo erectus, who lived approximately 400,000 to 1.6 million years ago (Johanson and Shreeve1989). Although the distinctions are somewhat vague, below the neck, Homo sapiens and Homo erectus are practically Identical and Homo erectus was responsible for pioneering the use of standard tools (such as the hand axe), big-game hunting, and the use of fire (Johanson and Shreeve1989). You may know Homo erectus as "Java man" or "Peking man"( Johanson and Shreeve 1989). Erectus was low of brow, thick of bone, endowed with a brain larger than that of its ancestors but decidedly more simian than its descendants' (Washburn, McCown 1972). "Emerging in East Africa about a million and a half years ago, Homo erectus lived in the time Frame of 500,000 - 100,000 B.C. The geographical range in which Homo erectus lived in was Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania" (Johanson and Shreeve 1989). Homo erectus's brain, twice as large as that of Australopithecus, provided this new species with even more intelligence (Johanson and Shreeve1989). The climate during this time period varied greatly, with alternating periods of warm and cold and glaciers appearing during the cold eras(Johanson and Shreeve1989). The intelligence of erectus was helpful in survival, and Homo erectus had specific strategies for more efficient hunting. PHYSICAL FEATURES The most prominent difference between Homo erectus and previous species of hominids is the increase in cranial capacity (Washburn, McCown 1972). Over the course of Homo erectus' existence, the cranial capacity increased fr... ...mber 14, 1998 1998 Website: www.cruzio.com/~cscp/econ.htm, accessed November 14, 1998 1998 Website: www.emporium.turnpike.net/C/cs/emhe.htm, accessed November 12, 1998 1998 Website: www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/a_erectus.html, accessed November 11, 1998 Johanson and Shreeve. 1989 Lucy's Child. Morrow. p. 221 Lieberman,-Leonard; Jackson,-Fatimah-Linda-C 1995 Race and Three Models of Human Origin p.231-242 Parker,-Sue-Taylor 1985 A Social-Technological Model for the Evolution of Language;Current-Anthropology. p 269 Washburn,-S.-L.; McCown,-E.-R. 1972Evolution of Human Behavior, p163-170. Feder,-Kenneth-L. 1990Piltdown, Paradigms, and the Paranormal, p 397-402 Zihlman,-Adrienne-L. 1978Women in Evolution, Part II; Subsistence and Social Organization among Early Hominids p 4-20.

Gough Whitlam Policies

GOUGH WHITLAM POLICIES Social Justice and equality is the meaning of all humans in society have the same and equal rights regardless of their gender, race or religion etc. it works on the universal principles that support people through the advantages and disadvantages within the society. The commitment of the Gough Whitlam government was based on social justice and equality and supported areas in the society such as, education, migrants and health reforms. Whitlam and the government changed these laws and others with debates, conventions and policies.PARAGRAPH 2: EDUCATION REFORM- Before the Education reform there was increased University fees, that was unaffordable for most Australians. Until the Whitlam Labour Government abolished the Uni fees and introduced tertiary education assist to help support students with fee costs which then lead to increase educational opportunities for all Australians. PARAGRAPH 3: MIGRANT REFORM- Policies related to migration went from Assimilation to Integration and now to multiculturalism.The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 banned all forms of discrimination on the basis of colour, race or ethnic origin. The Discrimination Act aided to the development of multiculturalism and tried to prevent division within society. The Whitlam government policy tries to promote the benefits of multicultural Australia and encourage people from non-English speaking backgrounds to become part of the community. PARAGRAPH 4: HEALTH REFORM- In 1973 a compulsory national health insurance scheme was introduced by the Whitlam Labour Government called Medibank.The purpose of Medibank was to help provide many benefits to Australians and their families regardless of wealth. It gradually involved to a free medical service, which means providing health insurance coverage for all Australians leading to increased spending on health. CONCLUSION: The Gough Whitlam Labour Government reforms, education, health, migrant and etc have received a number of good and ba d outcomes leading towards created policies for all Australians in society to have the same and equal rights.

Assess the Sociological Explanation That Childhood Is a Social Construction

Assess the sociological explanation that childhood is a social construction. Childhood is the time of a person’s life when they are a child. Childhood is said to be socially constructed, meaning that it has not been influenced by nature but has been shaped by the quality of family life and the culture within society. The social construction of childhood points out that childhood is dependent on a number of social factors rather than a biological stage. Sociologists argue about what the term ‘childhood’ actually means. They claim that childhood is a social construction, rather than biological or natural. In this essay I will assess the sociological explaination that childhood is a social construction by showing experience of childhood today. Some sociologists argue that childhood is socially constructed because people of what people define as childhood. What we consider as childhood today is different from the past and what different cultures/societies consider as childhood varies. Societies are individual in the way they have different social construction, childhood is an important feature in some societies but doesn’t really exist in others. Philippe Aries (1962) explored the fact that childhood was a social construction. He used history to explain this also his paintings. Aries claimed that childhood experience in pre-industrial society, children were viewed as ‘tiny adults’ and that there were no real differences between children and adults. They joined in similar leisure activities to adults, toys and games especially did not exist. Children worked from a young age and were regarded as an economic asset which meant bringing in money and supporting their families. Those who did not help with domestic production usually left home to become servants or apprentices. Aries ‘march of progress’ view argues that today’s children are more valued, better cared for, protected and educated, enjoy better health and have more rights than children of previous generations. Schools specialised in educating of the young, influence of the church which saw children as fragile and in the need of discipline. Separate clothing for adults and children separated childhood and adulthood. Childhood was extended in 19th century because there were concerns over juvenile delinquency, beggars and child prostitution which led to wanting to get children off the streets that show that childhood is a social construction. Aries argued that childhood is socially constructed, however, some sociologists like Pollock (1983) have criticized Aries by saying that it is more correct to say the pre-industrial society just had a different idea of childhood rather than turning a blind eye to it. Pollock argued that Aries work is outdated and his reliance on paintings makes work invalid. Paintings are just interpretations and not necessarily what reality is. The people who paid for his paintings were wealthy, so only represent the society of wealth so it did not reflect on middle-class people. Although Pollock disagrees with Aries, Cunningham (2006) argues that the 19th century saw the social construction of childhood by adults. Childhood was seen to have three major characteristics. One, it was the opposite of adulthood, where children were seen to be in need of protection, to have a right not to work and to be dependent on adults. Two, the world of the adult and the world of the child were to be kept separate. The home and the school were known to be the ideal places to children and were often banned from adult places such as a pub or workplace. Three, the children were seen to have the right to ‘happiness’ Nevertheless, there is considerable evidence that children continued to be badly treated during this period of time, also child prostitution and child abuse were occurring in most cities. This continued until the turn of the 20th century where the age of sexual consent was raised to 16 years old. However, many Functionalists and New Right thinkers believe that children have been given too many rights in recent years and that it is wrong that parents are increasingly criticised and even punished because of their ways in discipline, e. . smacking children. New Right thinkers believe that childhood is under threat because the period of innocent childhood has been shortened and also because children have been exposed too soon to the adult world. They see children in need of protection from ‘threats’ such as homosexuality and media violence, this links to Postman’s view (1982) of childhood. Nei l Postman sees childhood is ‘disappearing at a dazzling speed’. He says that the cause of the appearance and disappearance of childhood is because of the growth of television which means that there are no more secrets from children. This gives them unlimited access to the adult world, being exposed to sex, disaster, death and suffering. Social blurring has occurred showing that there is little distinction between adults and children. Children’s games are less childlike today, taking part in adult activities like smoking and drinking and are committing adult crimes such as murder. They speak, dress and behave like adults, this has meant that children are being given the same rights as adults. Society is pushing children to behave in a manner that encourages them to take part in activities that are unsuitable for their age group. Nearly all the traditional features that mark the transition to childhood, (e. g. getting a job, leaving home, getting married) no longer apply. Therefore childhood is not a social construction and it is children disappearing rather than childhood. Sue Palmer agrees with this view and claims that parents are benefiting enormously from living in a wealthy society in which technology has enriched their lives. Palmer argues that rapid technological and cultural changes over the recent years have damaged children’s physical, emotional and intellectual development. The cultural changes range from electronic games, junk food and television, these are negative influences and are often used as a substitute for parents spending quality time interacting with children. Children are therefore deprived of traditional childhood and family life. This is a problem in today’s society because every year, children become more distractible and self-obsessed- less able to learn and enjoy life. This shows childhood in a child-centred society rather than dependent on society’s cultures and believes conforming to social construction. Some sociologists believe that childhood is dependent on society’s cultures, beliefs and laws, meaning socially constructed. Stephen Wagg (1992) said that Childhood is what members of particular societies at particular times and places say it is. He argues that although humans go through the same stages of physical development like puberty, different cultures construct or define them differently which means childhood is not the same in all societies. Wagg believes that there no single universal childhood experienced by all because it isn’t natural nor defined by mere biological immaturity. Melanie Phillips differs to Wagg’s view, she argues about the negative impact of the media and consumer culture. Phillips believes that the media and peer groups have become more influential than parents and sees the media in the form of magazines aimed at young girls, pop music videos and television as a particular problem, because they encourage young girls to see themselves as sexual from a younger age. These trends are to show that the period of childhood has been shortened, it is no longer a sacred and innocent period lasting up to 13 or 14 years. Phillips argues that children don’t have emotional maturity to cope with the rights and choices that they have today. The result of these processes, she believes are an increase in social problems such as suicide, eating disorders, self-harm, depression and drug/alcohol abuse. This view shows that childhood is not socially constructed and that the media and the peer group have more influences on childhood rather than the parents. The conventional approaches to childhood that I have outlined have been criticized by sociologists who have focused on researching how children see and interpret the world around them. They say that the Functionalist and New Right view ignores the fact that children have their own unique interpretation of family life and that they tend to generalize about children and childhood. Morrow (1998) found that children did not want to make decisions for themselves, but they did want a say in what happened to them. Historical period, locality, culture, social class, gender and ethnicity all have an influence on the character and quality of childhood which shows childhood as a social construction. In conclusion, there are a range of critical, contrasting views that I have assessed to show that childhood is socially constructed. Aries and Cunningham both claim that childhood as we know it today did not exist and they were known as ‘little adults’, childhood was considered to have three major characteristics which gives evidence of the social construction by adults in the 19th century. However there still remains a debate how childhood is now disappearing as its cultural changes have had a negative influence on childhood also how childhood is under threat because the media and peer groups have become more influential than parents.

Free Essays on Weed

Marijuana must be made legal at least on a medicinal level. Ronald Reagan once said, â€Å"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.† The question of whether or not illegal drugs should be legalized in the United States has had more publicity in recent years. Proponents of legalization argue that large amounts of money have and are currently being wasted in a failing effort to stop drug use and abuse. They also say that legalization would allow users to have more availability to better treatment programs. Opponents say that legalizing marijuana will only make drug use increase and will eventually cost billions of dollars in health-care costs. They also say that legalizing marijuana could destroy many families. Polls show that the majority of the United States population supports medical marijuana laws. Marijuana also has medicinal properties for ailments such as chronic pain, intrao cular (within the eye) pressure, nausea, glaucoma, and more. Furthermore, this is an issue that many people do not know that much about. Hopefully this paper will give knowledge to the common man about the legalization of marijuana. Marijuana was made illegal as a way to control the immigrant Mexican workers in El Paso, Texas. The El Paso Ordinance of 1914 was passed to ban marijuana use. At this time, immigrant Mexican workers were effectively the only people who used marijuana in the United States. Given this fact, the El Paso Ordinance quickly became a way to control the Mexicans. It is sad to think that our â€Å"democratic† government would keep this law in effect after the way it was created and used. Also, the people of El Paso, Texas feared that marijuana gave the Mexicans super-human strength, thus making them dangerous. It is such a ridiculous notion to think that the Texans did not even test the drug to see what effect it had. They were simply afraid of... Free Essays on Weed Free Essays on Weed Marijuana must be made legal at least on a medicinal level. Ronald Reagan once said, â€Å"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.† The question of whether or not illegal drugs should be legalized in the United States has had more publicity in recent years. Proponents of legalization argue that large amounts of money have and are currently being wasted in a failing effort to stop drug use and abuse. They also say that legalization would allow users to have more availability to better treatment programs. Opponents say that legalizing marijuana will only make drug use increase and will eventually cost billions of dollars in health-care costs. They also say that legalizing marijuana could destroy many families. Polls show that the majority of the United States population supports medical marijuana laws. Marijuana also has medicinal properties for ailments such as chronic pain, intrao cular (within the eye) pressure, nausea, glaucoma, and more. Furthermore, this is an issue that many people do not know that much about. Hopefully this paper will give knowledge to the common man about the legalization of marijuana. Marijuana was made illegal as a way to control the immigrant Mexican workers in El Paso, Texas. The El Paso Ordinance of 1914 was passed to ban marijuana use. At this time, immigrant Mexican workers were effectively the only people who used marijuana in the United States. Given this fact, the El Paso Ordinance quickly became a way to control the Mexicans. It is sad to think that our â€Å"democratic† government would keep this law in effect after the way it was created and used. Also, the people of El Paso, Texas feared that marijuana gave the Mexicans super-human strength, thus making them dangerous. It is such a ridiculous notion to think that the Texans did not even test the drug to see what effect it had. They were simply afraid of...

Women on Death Row

Women on Death Row It is indeed rare for a woman to be given the death sentence in the United States. Of the 3,146  persons on death row in the U.S. as of February 2013, only 61 of them, or 1.9 percent, were women. Of the 61 women who were on death row in 2013, 13  of them were convicted of killing their their husbands and/or boyfriends,  12 were convicted of killing their children and two killed both their husbands and their children, according to Victor L. Streibs research in Death Penalty For Female Offenders, January 1, 1973 through February 20, 2013.   Few Women on Death Row There are approximately 50,000 women in prisons in the United States, only 0.1 percent of them are on death row. In comparison to men, death sentencing rates remain very low, with only 566 total executions carried out against women since the first recorded execution in 1632 or less than 3 percent of the total executions. Very few women enter the capital murder system, and fewer still are ever actually executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center: Women account for only 1 in 10 murder arrests.Women account for only 1 in 47 death sentences imposed at the trial level.Women account for only 1 in 51 persons presently on death row.Women account for only 1 in 110 persons actually executed in the modern era (since 1976). 14 Female Executions List of Women Executed in the United States Since 1976 Number Date Name Ageat Execution Ageat Offense Race State Method 1 November 2, 1984 Velma Margie Barfield 52 45 White North Carolina Lethal injection 2 February 3, 1998 Karla Faye Tucker 38 23 White Texas Lethal injection 3 March 30, 1998 Judias V. Buenoano 54 28 White Florida Electrocution 4 February 24, 2000 Betty Lou Beets 62 46 White Texas Lethal injection 5 May 2, 2000 Christina Marie Riggs 28 26 White Arkansas Lethal injection 6 January 11, 2001 Wanda Jean Allen 41 29 Black Oklahoma Lethal injection 7 May 1, 2001 Marilyn Kay Plantz 40 27 White Oklahoma Lethal injection 8 December 4, 2001 Lois Nadean Smith 61 41 White Oklahoma Lethal injection 9 May 10, 2002 Lynda Lyon Block 54 45 White Alabama Electrocution 10 October 9, 2002 Aileen Carol Wuornos 46 33 White Florida Lethal injection 11 September 14, 2005 Frances Elaine Newton 40 21 Black Texas Lethal injection 12 September 23, 2010 Teresa Wilson Bean Lewis 41 33 White Virginia Lethal injection 13 June 26, 2013 Kimberly LaGayle McCarthy 52 36 Black Texas Lethal injection 14 February 5, 2014 Suzanne Margaret Basso 59 44 White Texas Lethal injection Source: Death Penalty Information Center

The 11 Best SAT Snacks to Help You Get Through the Test

The 11 Best SAT Snacks to Help You Get Through the Test SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Snacks are one of the most overlooked yet most necessary parts of your SAT planning. Snacks can be an energy fueler, helping you to power through the SAT. However, the wrong snacks can be energy drainers, making you crash during the marathon that is the SAT. In this guide, I’ll talk about the importance of snacks, what makes a good snack and provide 11 SAT snack options. I’ll also let you know what snacks to avoid. The Importance of SAT Snacks The last thing you want is to be part way through a section when you feel your stomach start to grumble.The SAT is stressful enough without this type of additional distraction.You don’t want your concentration to be disturbed by a need for food. You need a snack that will keep your stomach satisfied, help fuel your brain, and won’t leave you craving more or crashing.The right snacks can set you up for SAT success, but the wrong snacks can lead to a worsened SAT performance. I’d recommend you bring three good snacks (or one snack that you have three portions of) so that you have one snack per break (since there are three breaks during the SAT). What Makes Good SAT Snacks While sugar and simple carbs will provide you with a quick energy boost, they will also provide you with a steep crash.The crash can bring with it a lack of focus and sleepiness, which you don’t want.Also, empty carbs can cause cravings and make you feel more hungry than you were to begin with.Avoid snacks that are entirely made up of simple carbs and/or sugar andcorn syrup. A good snack will be packed with healthy fats (Omega-3s) and/or protein.Healthy fats make you feel satiated, so it’ll be unlikely you’ll have any stomach grumbling.Additionally, both healthy fats and protein boost brain function, putting you in the best mindset to ace the SAT. A good snack should also be easy to transport. Below I’ve created a list of the 11 best SAT snacks. Snack #1: Nuts Nuts are great snacks because they’re high in protein and healthy fat, low in carb.They are very satisfying and will help boost brain function.Choose any nut you like: almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamia nuts, etc. I'd recommend you try to stick to just plain nuts or nuts and dried fruit trail mixesrather than trail mixes that add in chocolate or candies.The candies and sugar could cause that unwanted crash and lead to fatigue. Go nuts for nuts! Snack #2: Jerky Jerky is a super easy to transport snack that's packed with protein to fuel you. Any type of jerky will do: beef, pork, turkey, salmon, etc. Pick whatever type you like best! Snack #3: Carrots or Celery Sticks and Nut Butter Veggies and nut butter can be a more enjoyable way to eat nuts (for the picky eaters of the world like me!).While I hate raw nuts, I love nut butters.Nut butters have the same great healthy fats and proteins to boost that brain function and keep you satiated. Anut butter that is natural (just nuts and maybe salt)is preferable to one with added sugar and/or corn syrup, but if you can only find the latter, that's fine. Snack #4: VeggieChips/Corn Chips and Guacamole Guacamole is a great source of omega 3s.You can buy single serving packs of guacamole by Sabra or Wholly Guacamole at your local Target, Walmart, or another grocery store. I'd recommend eating it with corn or veggie chips over potato chips for a slightly healthier option, but potato chips are okay. This is a good snack for those with allergies since you can avoid nuts, dairy, and eggs with this tasty and healthy snack. Guac for days. Snack #5: Cheese This is a great choice for picky eaters; seriously, who doesn't like cheese? I'd recommend an easy to eat/transport option such as string cheese and/or Babybel. Cheese is packed with fat and protein tosatisfy your food cravings and give you brain power to ace the test. Snack #6: Carrots or Celery Sticks and Hummus This is another good choice for those with allergies because you can avoid dairy, eggs, wheat, and nuts.It’s a really tasty and filling snack.It’s more protein than fat, which is fine. However, I’d probably recommend you only eat this for one of your three snacks as it’s not as filling as some of the other snacks listed on this list.Choose a higher fat packed snack such as the veggiechips and guac as your other snack to keep a good balance of proteins and fat. Snack #7: Dried Fruit Dried fruits are packed with nutrients to give you a boost during the SAT. Try topickdried fruit with no added sugar.If you can only find dried fruit with added sugar, I'd recommend mixing them with nuts to create a trail mix that offsets that sugar with healthy fat and protein. If you don't mix the dried fruit with nuts,I’d probably recommend you only eat dried fruit for one of your three snacks;it’s not as satiating as some of the other snacks listed on this list.Choose a fat and proteinpacked snack such as the veggie sticks and nut butteras your other snack. Colorful dried fruit rainbow. Snack #8: Apple or Banana and Nut Butter This snack is another great way to eat nuts if you’re a picky eater.Just as I said in the veggie and nut butter section, try to opt for a naturalnut butter over the processed ones with sugar and/or corn syrup. Snack #9:Fruit and Nut Bars I love these kinds of bars, and as a very picky eater, I can be hard to impress. I'd recommend KIND or Larabars because these bars contain very few ingredients and only natural ingredients.They’re made primarily with dried fruit and nuts, so they’re packed with healthy fats and nutrients. I’d recommend choosing one of the bars without chocolatesince you don’t need any added sugar. I’d also suggest you only use this for one of your snacks since the dried fruit add some sugar (albeit natural sugar).Offset it with other snacks that are protein and/or fat packed such as stringcheese. Snack #10: Seeds Seeds are packed with fats to keep you focused during your test. Any seeds will work: pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas), flax seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.You can also mix seeds with nuts to make a yummy and healthy trail mix.This is an easy to make and easy to transport snack that’ll keep you full and focused. Snack #11: Water While water may not be exactly a snack, I felt it was crucial to have on this list.If you get dehydrated on test day, you can lose focus and potentially end up with a worse score.Bring one bottle of water in addition to your three snacks. While your test center may have a water fountain, you don’t want to rely on that, and you also don’t want to be waiting in line throughout your whole break to use the water fountain. However, avoid drinking too much water because you don’t want to get the urge to pee in the middle of your test.I’d recommend splitting the one bottle of water into three portions (you don’t literally have to split it, but imagine it).Consume at most one portion each break. Water: the cool kid's drink. SAT Snacks To Avoid While you don’t necessarily have to eat one of the snacks on this list, you at least need to avoid sugar-filled or corn syrup filled snacks such as candy.You should also avoid simple carbs such as potato chips.These kinds of snacks are not filling and not nutritious. You'll just end up craving more food after eating these types of snacks. Also, avoid coffee.If you’ve never had coffee before, don’t try it on the day of your SAT.If you’re a regular coffee drinker, limit yourself to one cup.Too much coffee will make you jittery and then will cause a steep crash.If you feel the need for more caffeine, opt for green tea! Tips for Test Day Success To ensure you walk into your test center feeling calm and ready, you want to follow our three steps for test day success. Step #1: Pack all of your belongings the night before so that you're not scrambling the morning of the test. Pack your SAT admissions ticket, picture ID, calculator, extra batteries, pencils, eraser, pencil sharpener, watch, snacks (if non-perishable) and water bottle. Step #2: Go to bed early.Make sure you get eight hours of sleep so that you feel well rested. Wake up at least an hour before you need to leave for your test center. This way you'll feel awake by the time you get to the test center. Step #3: Eat a goodbreakfast in the morning.Eggs, greek yogurt, and oatmeal are all great options for breakfast. While eating breakfast, read the newspaper to get your brain going. Follow these steps, and you'll be well prepared to take the SAT. What’s Next? Preparing to take the SAT? Learn how you should spend the night before the SAT. Also, check out the rules and regulations for the test, so you don’t make a mistake. Do you know what your dream college is? Find out what SAT score you need to get in! Learn about what is important to colleges. Not sure where you want to go to college? We will help you find your target schooland help you figure out what your SAT target score should be. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today!

Corporate financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corporate financial management - Essay Example Investors are attracted to invest in a stock depending on the company’s dividend policy, which is defined as â€Å"the proportion of after tax earnings paid out in cash to the shareholders by a company† (lecture notes). Several theories have been formulated that seek to explain how investors are affected by dividends and the value of their equity holdings. From the point of view of the investor, unnecessary risk may be averted if it became possible to forecast the future price directions of stocks. This is the rationale behind dividend theory, that supposedly dividends have informative content that convey to investors the value of the company, and would tend to influence investor attitude towards the stock. The traditional view stated that use of debt lowers the cost of capital. With a lower cost of capital as discount rate, assuming the cash flows unchanged, then the value of the firm becomes higher. However, the problem with the traditional view is that it ignores the increased risk of gearing to equity holders, thereby increasing cost of equity (lecture notes). According to Modigliani and Miller’s trade-off theory, firms should favour the use of debt. M&M theory showed that the higher the debt capital used by the firm, the higher the value of the firm, even to the point of maximizing value at 100% debt. M&M, however, states that capital structure or gearing (the amount of debt) does not affect the weighted average cost of capital, and therefore the value of the firm. The M&M theory assumes, however, very restrictive and unrealistic assumptions, ignoring entirely the cost of debt default and bankruptcy. Allowing for cost of bankruptcy, a point is reached where the benefit of the tax deductibility of interest on the debt is offset by increase in the costs of debt and of equity as a result of the risk due to high leverage (USF, 2010). Miller and Modigliani (1961) theorized that in a perfect market, a firm’s investors

Generation Z Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Generation Z - Essay Example Concurrently, most of my peers, including me, exemplify the principle of social security through adeptness and acumen on technological gadgets and applications. It is in this particular generation that most of the technological gadgets pertaining to telecommunications abound. When computers were large, bulky and immovable during the times of generation X; personal computers, laptops, and other technology gadgets seem to be produced in portable smaller versions to be pocketed and brought anywhere and everywhere. Peers and friends are seen to exchange and share information on their latest smartphones, iPads (tablets), portable media players (iPods), Kindle, and other digital media gadgets. The members of the previous generation could be oblivious of discerning one version from the other of one particular gadget (smartphones, for instance); yet, to this generation z, recognition of the feature, specifications, and applications of all updated digital media gadgets is natural to us. Thus, possessing one or more of these technological gadgets affirm the principle of social belongingness through proving that their capabilities enable immediate access to our whereabouts, if ever and whenever, needed. Finally, another proof that this generation longs to be part of a social group is the innate desire to become affiliated with peers of similar age groups through sharing similarities in sports activities and entertainment: music, films, and physical fitness programs, on a more global sphere.

Dividend Tax Cut Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dividend Tax Cut - Essay Example It was believed that in doing this, the overall U.S. economy would profit because investors would be encouraged and more open to invest in companies. "The tax-cut package enacted in 2003 reduced to 15 percent the top tax rate on long-term capital gains and corporate dividends" (Mintz 108). While this is a significant decrease, many citizens were led astray as to who would actually be benefiting from the package because the Bush administration pointed out that almost half of all American households held some form of stock. "What this statistic ignores, however, is that nearly two-fifths of this stock is held in retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs. This distinction is crucial, because capital gains and dividend income accruing inside these retirement accounts is not subject to taxation, and thus would not receive a tax benefit from the reduction in the tax rates on capital gains and dividend income" (Amromin 38). Therefore, the actual amount of citizens benefiting from this plan is significantly lower than what the American public was led to believe. Only the wealthiest of stock holders benefit from dividend income. Accor ding to the Tax Policy Center fifty four percent of all dividend income goes to households who make over one million dollars per year and the remaining goes to households that make over two hundred thousand. When looking at the big picture, these households only make up three percent of the country's population. "In contrast, only 11 percent of capital gains and dividend income goes to the 86 percent of households with incomes of less than $100,000. Only 4 percent of this income flows to the 64 percent of households that have income of less than $50,000" (Amromin 39). While this information proves that the wealthy are benefiting from the dividend tax cuts, the remaining majority if the population continues to pay a tax on their dividends. Another negative side affect to the passing of this tax cut package are the affects it will have on different private bond companies and charity organizations. "The stock dividend exclusion will hurt municipal and state bonds, it will reduce the attractiveness of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit amounting to 40,000 affordable housing units lost, and it will harm the marketability of the Historic Preservation Tax Credit, the New Markets Tax Credit and mortgage revenue bonds" (Cohen). In financially strapped cities throughout the country, many are turning to philanthropic foundations to substitute for the loss of government funds. "Many charities believe that the plan for the stock dividend exclusion is bad public policy in terms of equity and fairness in our tax system, and bad for charity and philanthropy" (Cohen). As for the corporations themselves, economic studies have shown that a decrease in taxes does not ultimately play any kind of role in whether corporations decide to pay out higher dividends. Many citizens are concerned that instead of issuing dividends to their shareholders, corporations will substitute "dividend payments for share repurchases, an alternative method of payout that boosts the price of the company's stock for shareholders" (Friedman). Like these "share repurchases", many companies who say they have undertaken the dividend policies have morphed them into one time offers, or special dividends

Short Response to event Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Short Response to event - Assignment Example For business communication seeking partners and collaboration in order to achieve some goal is priority. Audience was allowed to communicate in a dialog to members of software companies only before presentation speeches. I talked to some of them, asking questions, gathering information and trying to make contacts, but real interest and good questions logically appear after you’ve heard a presentation speech and understood the subject. But it was jury only allowed to ask speaker questions, so to another part of the audience the main part of the event was a monolog and we were listeners. I suppose that means audience wasn’t considered like a business partner on this event, so jury and App software companies were only interested in each other, and it makes sense according to the kind of event. But I think audience should be allowed to ask questions, because in business you need to think wider. A company can not win the prize pool, but there are potential partners in the au dience, maybe. As a rule audience in such kind of events is professional orientated and someone could be interested in your project, or your company may hear an interesting question and find a partner itself. So I think taking audience into account is important, so I will in my future career. The entire event was pretty much verbal: speakers from App software companies proclaimed speeches 10 minutes long and then answered jury’s questions, audience were listening and we all were wearing tag sticks on our chest with information we had put there etc. I was involved in nonverbal communication nodding as a response on verbal communication, shaking hands with members of software companies I talked before presentation, I was slapping hands etc. About the same did the rest of the audience and jury. Speakers used gestures, voice intonations and posed themselves differently to look confident and professional etc. But mostly I was interested in short videos that were shown as a part of

Role of Allied Professional Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Role of Allied Professional - Essay Example However, the pharmacist may refuse to honor such prescription, if in his or her own judgment as a professional pharmacist find that, honoring such prescription may result to total violation of the law. Secondly, the pharmacist may refuse to honor Doctor’s prescription if the drugs prescribed may jeopardize the life of a patient by creating an addiction. In addition, the pharmacist may refuse to honor such prescription if it violates the interest of a patient. Further, the pharmacist has a professional duty of exercising professional duty in ensuring the best interest of patient’s health. Pharmacist also a responsibility of providing counseling guidance to patients on the risk associated with the drug if it is not properly utilized (Buerki & Vottero, 2002). Based on this case it can be observed that the pharmacist observed some of those responsibilities as required by the law. For example, when the Plaintiff/ patient (Patrick McLaughlin) delivered the prescription from Doctor Edwards, the pharmacist (Kathy ODell and Craig Merrick) honored the prescription as ordered by the Doctor. However, he failed to exercise his responsibility by supplying more drugs to McLaughlin despite the fact that the records indicated that McLaughlin had consumed more propoxyphene drugs than required. Further, he failed to caution the patient of the health risk that could result if he consumes an overdose (Legal Inc, 2013). I agree with the court findings in favor of Hooks because, Hooks was not a direct causation of the injuries sustained by Patrick McLaughlin. In addition, Hooks was not attributed to McLaughlin attempts to commit suicide. Secondly, the pharmacists were within their line of professional duty by observing the prescription recommended by the Doctor. In addition, the case was decided based on the principle of Stare decisis. Whereby, the same precedent used in the previous cases was followed. For example, the ruling for this case made based

Women and the Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Women and the Law - Essay Example Furthermore, Section 2 of the Street Offences Act 1959 provides that where a woman is cautioned by a constable, in respect of her conduct in a street or public place, that if she persists in such conduct it may result in her being charged with an offence under section one of the Act, the woman, within fourteen clear days afterwards, must apply to a magistrates' court for an order directing that there is to be no entry made in respect of that caution in any record maintained by the police of those so cautioned and that any such entry already made is to be expunged. The court will make the order unless satisfied that on the occasion when she was cautioned she was loitering or soliciting in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution. Such application made by a woman shall be by way of complaint against the chief officer of police for the area in which the woman is cautioned or against such officer of police as he may designate for the purpose in relation to that area or an y part of it. On the hearing of such complaint, the procedure shall be the same as if it were a complaint by the police officer against the woman. But unless the woman desires that the proceedings shall be conducted in public, an application will be heard and determined in camera. In the case of DPP v Bull,1 the trial court ruled that a male prostitute cannot be a common prostitute within the meaning of the Street Offences Act 1959 s. 1(1). Defendant was charged with being a common prostitute under the Street Offences Act 1959 s. 1(1). The magistrates' court dismissed the information against him on the ground that there was no case to answer since the section applied only to female prostitutes. The matter was appealed by way of case stated, contending that the language of the statute was not gender specific. On appeal, it was held that a male prostitute cannot be a common prostitute within the meaning of s. 1(1) which makes it an offence for a common prostitute to loiter or solicit in a street or public place for the purposes of prostitution since that section applies only to female prostitutes: R. v De Munck (Augusta) [1918] 1 K.B. 635 CCA. Thus, Topaz' conduct in operating as a prostitute on the corner of Boulsdon Street may expose her to a possible charge of soliciting or loitering for purposes of prostitution. It is noteworthy that landlady Rose may be prosecuted for brothel keeping and exploitation of prostitution. Under sections 33 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and 33A (as inserted by the Sexual Offences Act 2003) it is an offence to keep a brothel. "Keeping" includes managing or assisting in the management of the brothel. Also, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 makes it an offence for anyone to cause or incite a person to become a prostitute in any part of the world (section 52). Further, it is an offence

Role of Allied Professional Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Role of Allied Professional - Essay Example However, the pharmacist may refuse to honor such prescription, if in his or her own judgment as a professional pharmacist find that, honoring such prescription may result to total violation of the law. Secondly, the pharmacist may refuse to honor Doctor’s prescription if the drugs prescribed may jeopardize the life of a patient by creating an addiction. In addition, the pharmacist may refuse to honor such prescription if it violates the interest of a patient. Further, the pharmacist has a professional duty of exercising professional duty in ensuring the best interest of patient’s health. Pharmacist also a responsibility of providing counseling guidance to patients on the risk associated with the drug if it is not properly utilized (Buerki & Vottero, 2002). Based on this case it can be observed that the pharmacist observed some of those responsibilities as required by the law. For example, when the Plaintiff/ patient (Patrick McLaughlin) delivered the prescription from Doctor Edwards, the pharmacist (Kathy ODell and Craig Merrick) honored the prescription as ordered by the Doctor. However, he failed to exercise his responsibility by supplying more drugs to McLaughlin despite the fact that the records indicated that McLaughlin had consumed more propoxyphene drugs than required. Further, he failed to caution the patient of the health risk that could result if he consumes an overdose (Legal Inc, 2013). I agree with the court findings in favor of Hooks because, Hooks was not a direct causation of the injuries sustained by Patrick McLaughlin. In addition, Hooks was not attributed to McLaughlin attempts to commit suicide. Secondly, the pharmacists were within their line of professional duty by observing the prescription recommended by the Doctor. In addition, the case was decided based on the principle of Stare decisis. Whereby, the same precedent used in the previous cases was followed. For example, the ruling for this case made based

Theoretical Approaches Essay Example for Free

Theoretical Approaches Essay It is of necessity that the female gender creates fundamental aspects in the interaction with the others and the general social structures of the society. Feminism is perhaps a contagious portfolio which recoups an attractive association with the other members of the society. Been a female is viewed a critical endeavor in the strength and formation of the family which therefore creates the basic environment for the contemporary strength of the society. Females are viewed as important in the procreation process and are theoretically deemed as performing a more persuasive role in the formation of the family than the men. Feminism is associated with vibrant models of specialty that are based on concerns of virtues and good morals. At one level, females are viewed as sources of unity, love, lovers of harmony, weak in sexual motivations and generally compounded by the articulating variables that cushion them towards been dependable persons within the society. As of importance, females are also viewed as risk in terms of emergencies, critical incidences, disadvantaged and therefore relating to various weak aspects than the males. Therefore, the feminism aspects create modalities of association between the woman and the others within the society by the decree of their characteristic variables (Mark, 2005, 33.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conceptually, the gender variable is not the only factor that creates the basics of understanding ones position. Various standpoints have stood as important components which shape the position and interaction of women within our cultural dispensations. Education, professionalism, social-cultural foundations, political provisions and legal pronouncements are important concerns in shaping the modalities of the female functionality as dictated by the societal structures. The codes, ethics and regulations of the society are perhaps important components that have also helped to shape this position. Women are therefore influenced by the scopes of these aspects in the manner they interact with the other people and the contemporary social structures of the society. (Mark, 2005, 57) Work Cited Mark Jackson. Women and the Society: Theories and Models of their Functions and Roles. London, Routledge, 2005, pp.33, 57

Tescos strategy to attract customers

Tescos strategy to attract customers Introduction:- There are many rivals of Tesco early 1990s Tesco rivals gave very tough time to Tesco, so on that time Tesco needed a good and newly trading strategy. Tesco old trading strategy was very good. But on that time Tesco was not attracting the customers due to bad customer services. In 1997 Terry Leahy Joined Tesco as a Chief Executive. Terry Leahy thought that why Tesco is not attracting the customers as compare to its rivals like Sainsburys, Asda etc. So from that time Tesco started additional services to attract the customers. These services are given below. Online Shopping services Tesco internet Tesco Club Card Excluding the above mentioned services Tesco recently introduced new additional services to attract the customers. These services includes Tesco Banks offer the credit cards, mortgages, loans, Tesco Insurance, savings and travel. (cn.tesco.com) Tesco Corporate Strategy might be very valuable research and study as well as very broad. This strategy attracts the customer and gives very hard competition to its rivals especially Marks and Spencer, Sainsburys, ASDA, Morrison etc. Sometimes some Tesco rivals beat Tesco in some fields, therefore corporate strategy of Tesco continuously introduce additional customer services to attract the customers against its rivals. According to Jamier L. Scott Corporate strategy is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation (2002), In the retail business or any company the customers are very important, almost every company try to attract the customers. This could be in different ways like in order to sold items, damage item may be exchange or refund with in specific time period with the receipt which is given to the customers at the time of the selling items. Many companies do this process on the customer services desk as well as some companies do this process on the normal desk like Tesco. But now days customers are expecting more than such kind of services. In other words customers desire is up to date customer service or upgraded customer services. According to Berman B. Evans upgraded products and services create connections. Additional customer service is the extra elements that enhance a retail strategy mix (2010) Upgraded services are good service like store atmosphere, store location, pricing, promotional methods and offers. Many large organizations like ASDA, Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Sainsburys use its corporate strategy to up to date its products and service, which is very helpful to make a good relation with the customers. A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. The word strategy has military connotation, because it derives from the Greek word for general (Oxford Dictionary 2nd Edition) Every company formulate strategies to enhance its business profit and customers as well as to innovate some products or services which can be attract to their customers. Aims and Objectives:- My Dissertation Topic is: How Tesco use its corporate strategy to attract the customers against its rivals? My area of study: Explanation of Tesco corporate strategy which is used to create up to date customer services. To understand the Tesco corporate strategy which is using to create additional customer services? Explanation of how Tesco corporate strategy attracts the customer by using ancillary customer services. To understand the Tesco offers, goods, services and innovation how these are attracting to the customers. Comparison of Tesco strategies with its rivals strategies that how to attract the customers. Conclusion. Organization Overview:- Tesco is the world largest 3rd retail organization which is based in UK. Tesco have more than 440,000 employees all over the world and almost 3700 stores in UK as well as 13 in other countries. In recent time Tesco opened its stores in the AMERICA, which is known as Fresh Easy as compare to its international rival Wall Mart as well as Tesco have many stores in Europe and Asia like Poland, Slovakia, Hungry, Turkey, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. MR Jack Cohen was the founder of Tesco. He started his business in 1917 as a small stall. Tesco opened its first store in 1929 in Edgware. After that Tesco unbelievably has developed its business in UK and worldwide. Tesco introduced many innovations to attract the customers. Day by day Tesco is increasing its products and services to keep the customer loyal, this gives though time to its rivals. Tesco is first company which introduced self check outs to provide good customer services. Tesco is offering many services to its customer from tesco.com like home delivery services and online ordering/shopping and give return to the customer in the shape of Tesco club card. Tesco use its corporate strategy in different ways to attract the customer. A Tesco 2009/2010 interim result is showing that sale boosted from 11.4% to 14% and profit increase 8.6% from its original profit Tesco dividend growth rate is 9% and Earnings per share growth is 9.1% which shows very strong position of Tesco in international and national market. Literature Review:- In an organization corporate strategy is the base of all strategies. Corporate strategy expose and determines the purposes, objectives, goals and also produce, polices, plans and principal for achieving goals. It does also contribute to make the employees, stakeholder, communities and customers; usually corporate strategy applies to the entire organization. (Nicolai J. Foss) Corporate strategy is very useful to achieve the goals in a challenging environment to meet the stakeholder and market expectation, whereas corporate strategy involves making business level strategies like marketing strategies those strategies are very helpful to attract the customers. (Richard Whittington, Kevan Scholes) Marketing strategy is the most important strategy which organization makes from the corporate strategy to attract the customer. This strategy keeps the customer loyal and understands the behaviour of the customer, for an example a customer go to an electronic show room to buy some electronic things, and customer gets extra care and good service from the retailer then definitely the strategy of the retailer is to attract the customer. There is no doubt customer will come again and again and also to tell the other friends about that retailer. (TheTimes100.co.uk) The research shows that many organization like Parcel force, Cadburys, Argos, Tesco, Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer giving high level of customer satisfaction to attract the customers. These organizations attract the customer by using their corporate strategy to do market research. (TheTimes100.co.uk) The limits between corporate strategy and marketing strategy are unclear. The main purpose of corporate strategy is to attract and retain the customers. (Mintzberg, 1994) Marketing strategy management as well as corporate strategy are very important tool for an organization to attract the customers and keep the customer loyal against the competitors organization; both strategies take the organization into accounts externally and internally to provide extra care of the customers. (J. Rea, Harold Kerzner) Corporate strategy of any firm describes business according to the customer services. (Levitt, 1975) All over the world every size of organization use innovative corporate strategy to motivate the customers. (John Toschohl) The performance management externally and internally is very important to attract and retain the customers. Performance management sets the objective, responsibilities and goals for a manager. This gives permission to the organization team to do best for the satisfaction of the customer. Performance management takes very important key action like rewards, progress and training to improve the performance, such kinds of things are very essential to help, retain and attract the customer which is very beneficial for achieving the organization goals. The core purpose of performance management in an organization is to provide quality of customer service and satisfaction as well as manage the customer desire and give rewards. Its effectively attract the customers by managing the staff. The supervision of team and accountability may help to an organization to gain its objective and goals; with the help of this an organization may measure the entire performance, attainment can be rewarded and identified by using performance management. (Cook, S) Organization can maximize the attraction of customer and keep the customer loyal by using innovative customer services, (Danon) Corporate strategy for any organization plays very authentic role to attract and retain the customer without customer an organization cannot run the business in the market. Therefore companies innovate, provide good customer service and products guide and help the customer, provide different types of gifts and incentive these are the different strategies which company make to attract and keep the customer loyal. So that customers are the survival for any firm. (John A. Goodman) There are two focus of strategy which was integrated in to one focus. Many people are still debating that how two focus of strategy are different, differentiation strategy focus on different services and products which firm are offering to a small group of customers. Mostly this strategy adapts the small firms and new entrants. rather than large one. It provides products and services according to the small group of customer. (Philip A. Wickham) Marks and Spencer (MS) is a retailing company which is actually based in UK. MS conduct its business review to check its falling profit and trading environment. MS amended its corporate strategy to satisfy the customer as well as gain the competitive advantage. MS Corporate strategy:- To expand business internationally. To speed up for multi channel development. Changing the all operation execution as well as increasing the pace. MS again will refocus on brand communication MS is working and launched a new program to implement above strategies under the 2020 slogan. (Lan Dyson) MS has declared a plan to close its some unprofitable store for achieving its objective and goals. MS corporate strategy is describing that MS is expanding its business chain internationally to gain the customer satisfaction and keep the customer loyal. The move of MS in the international ramp is giving the tough time to its rivals in all kinds of product and service. MS is also looking formats for its food and non food products for expanding its business. (Ms-corporate-strategy/8601465.article) Sainsburys Corporate and Business Strategy:- Sainsburys is a well retail leading company in health and food. Sainsburys goals is attracting the customer by giving the quality of products at reason prices and their aim is to motivate the customer to eat good and reasonable healthy diet food by promoting the energetic lifestyle. Sainsburys does not compromise on quality, taste and services. The main objective of Sainsburys is to make the healthy and low fat food to keep the customer loyal. Sainsburys purpose includes providing best food for health which keeps their customer life style healthier. The main belief of Sainsburys while selling its products to their customer that customer have full and clear information about our products, quality and price. Sainsburys corporate and business strategy also includes that provide good customer services with its healthier food to retain and attract the customers. Tesco Corporate strategy:- Tesco is the third largest retail organization. The commitment of Tesco is to develop the shareholder values by via innovative customer focus strategy. To provide quality of products at lower price to customers. Customers are unique and we are leading to deliver the first class services to the customers. To keep the customer loyal we reward the customer by using club card. To provide the high range of products with the high quality. To expand business globally to compete the rivals. To provide the flexible and clean environment to customers. (Tescoplc.com) The main objective and elements of Tesco strategy is given below:- To become strong in food and non food. To get better in retailing services like Telecoms, Tescodirect.com, Tesco personal finance and Tesco.com To boost up the core UK business. We lay society/community at the spirit of what we do. Tesco wants to be a victorious international retailer. (Tescoplc.com/Plc) Chief executive of Tesco Terry Leahy said to Sunday Times that Tesco will be the largest online world grocery retailers as well as our aim to achieve the UK no.1 online business. (1999, Lorenz) Terry Leahy chief executive of Tesco stated that we are retaining and attracting customers by giving extra care, products and services to customers as compare to rivals, additional customer services and care is giving though time to Tesco rivals. Tesco is giving wide range of its products and services online according to the customer desire to attract the customers and keep the customer loyal. (Tescoplc2000) Research Methodology:- The research involves redefining and defining problems, creating hypothesis, collecting, suggesting, and organizing analysing the data reaching on conclusion, at the end list down the conclusion to decide whether creating hypothesis is fit. (Clifford Woddy) Research standardized the effort to get new knowledge. (Redman and Mary) Careful inquiry to find out some new facts and knowledge is called research. (Advance learner Dictionary of Current English) To determine and discover knowledge which is hidden at the heart of research. (Lee) The main purpose of the research is to determine and discover the answer of the question as well as try to find out the hidden truth which still have not been determine and discover. (Rajendar Kumar) The main purpose of while doing research is to find out relation between theory and practice. In particular whether the research is directed by the research (Inductive approach) or the research is directed by theory (deductive approach). Both approaches will provide very good understanding of my research. To the better understanding of topic the thesis will complete on the investigation of quantitative research as well as qualitative research. (Rowley) Data Collection Resource:- For my research we shall be gather secondary data form authentic articles, books, magazines, newspapers, news, and websites as well as published journals. The purpose of collection of secondary data is too explicit and very useful to use. The collection of secondary data may be very helpful and useful as this data is already collected. Definitely for my research we shall use primary data. This data we shall collect from interviews, surveys, managers and staff face to face meeting. Meetings and interviews will be conduct in the form of prearranged questionnaires. Conclusion:- The main objective of my research is to understand the logic behind the effectiveness of corporate strategy in an organization and how Tesco use this strategy to attract the customers as compare to its rivals like Marks and Spencer, ASDA, Morrisons and Sainsburys. The parameters which we considered are quality of products and services, innovations, time taken in processing the request, reputation and pricing.

Nature Vs Nurture Mario Puzo - Peter Cary :: essays research papers

Nature Vs. Nurture Mario Puzo’s, Omerta, reflects the theory of Thomas Hobbes In the state of nature, where the theory states, that in the state of natureâ€Å"†¦no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.†(The Modern Age: Ideas In Western Civilization, Page 37-30) In Peter Cary’s, True History of the Kelly Gang, which conveys the theory of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, â€Å"Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they. How did this change come about? I do not know. What can make it legitimate? That question I think I can answer†¦human beings were good in the state of nature and that in civilization there is the basis of corruption.† (The Modern Age: Ideas In Western Civilization, Page 35- 38) Mario Puzo’s, Omerta, suggests the theory of Hobbes, that the state of human society is based on human nature and genetics, whereas Peter Carey suggests the theory of Rousseau in his novel, True History of the Kelly Gang, nurture is the main influence, and that geography and human government control future human development, where every subject is or can be subject to change. In Omerta, Don Raymond Aprile adopted Astorre, who had the genetics of a great Mafia Don. In the novel True History of the Kelly Gang, Ned Kelly loses his father at the age of 12 and is left to be raised by his mother and small extended family. In Omerta, Astorre has two brothers and one sister who have little influence on his decisions, whereas in True History of the Kelly Gang, Ned also has siblings but they play a far more significant role in his upbringing, mainly because they can not care for themselves and need his help to survive. In Omerta, Astorre grows up around violence and illegal activities a nd has a natural talent for being a leader. Ned Kelly, on the opposite end of the spectrum, has grown up in a remote area with a corrupt judicial system, and he commits his crimes because of the constant changes in his life. Omerta begins with the assassination of a retired mob boss, Don Raymond Aprile. The novel then flashes back into the history of Raymond Aprile.

The Holocaust Essay -- Nazi Germany Papers

The Holocaust All throughout history, Jews have been persecuted. The Jews were blamed for killing Jesus and the idea of anti- Semitism has been around centuries before Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Adolf Hitler led the Nazis to power in 1933 promising to make Germany powerful and respected by the rest of the world. He promised to fight Communism, to find jobs for the six million unemployed workers in Germany, to restore law and order, and to get rid of the â€Å"Jewish influence† in Germany. Hitler’s speeches were full of hatred for the Jews and this encouraged his followers to attack Jewish people. The Nazis controlled the police. The Nazis controlled the law courts, and Jews soon discovered that they would have no protection against Nazi attacks. In April 1933 Nazis called for Jewish shops to be boycotted. Storm-Troopers stood outside shops and stopped Germans from going in. Slogans were painted on shop windows. These boycotts were not very effective so the Nazis needed more effective methods. Joseph Goebbles, who controlled propaganda, produced many anti Semitic books and In 1933 Jews were also banned from some professions such as: doctors and the civil servants. Hitler wanted a racially pure Germany this is why the Jews were banned from these professions because they didn’t want their influence to spread. Source A is an extract from the Nuremberg laws; in September 1935 it starts by saying, â€Å"A Jew may not be citizen of the Reich†. This Shows that the Jews where stateless and they had nowhere to go. After it says, ‘Jews have no vote; they may not fill any public office’. Thi... ... face. The killing centres were, isolated areas, moderately well hidden from public view. They were located near major railroad lines, allowing trains to transport hundreds of thousands of people to the killing sites easily. The deportations required the help of many people and all parts of the German government. The victims in Poland were already imprisoned in ghettos and totally under German control. The deportation of Jews from other parts of Europe, however, was a far more complex problem. The German foreign minister was successful in persuade German occupied nation to assist in the deportations. The introduction of the Auschwitz extermination camp meant that the Jews could be killed efficiently. Unlike other death camps which were build solely to kill Jews, the Auscwitz death camp had a work camp attached.

Proctor and Gamble – Strategic Management Case Study

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Proctor and Gamble (P&G) over its journey of about 175 years has become one of the world’s largest consumer goods Company with sales of nearly $80 billion and a net profit of about $10 billion. P&G has a presence in more than 180 countries with brands that accumulate to in excess of $25 billion. The company has achieved success by creating high quality brand recognized products that are sold on multinational level.It enjoys one of the largest brand names in household products like Pampers, Gillette, Tide, Ariel, Downy, Pantene, Head  &  Shoulders, Olay, Oral-B, Crest, Dawn, Fairy and Always and segments like household care, beauty, grooming, and personal health care. Although, P&G has world renowned brands, P&G needs to adopt strategies that enable it to maintain its competitive advantage over its rival. Consumer Goods industry where P&G operates has matured reaching the consolidation stage and competition amongst rivals is intense.P&G has many strategic options create competitive advantage over its rivals such as further market penetrations by rebranding its current line of products and selling them at a lower price. Another option for P&G is to expand in the emerging markets by collaboration or alliances with local businesses in various geographical regions. Lastly, P&G can specialize in skin care/beauty segment of consumer industry. P&G can provide consumers with products that are made with natural ingredients as trend in health and wellness is growing along with providing specialized products for men.INTRODUCTION P&G is a part of a competitive industry, and as such faces very stiff and fierce competition from its rivals. The competition faced by the company is virtually on every front like, market share, product line up, innovation of new products, R&D for new and existing products. It has witnessed a drop in market share and revenue from the developed market and but sustained appreciable performance in the developing markets.Th is report provides a thorough internal as well as external analysis of P&G, identifies its mandate, along with certain strategies that would help it increase its profitability, profit growth and sustain its competitive advantage in both developed and developing markets. The limitations of this report are due to the fact that it primarily relies on the information and facts as presented in Case 27, Proctor & Gamble: The Beauty/Feminine Care Segment of the Consumer Goods Industry.External references were also used and information was sought from the Proctor & Gamble Company 2012 Annual Report and the Proctor & Gamble website. COMPANY OVERVIEW Procter & Gamble was founded in 1837, by William Procter and James Gamble, who laid the foundation of P&G by initially making and selling soap and candles. By 1879, founders of P&G developed Ivory soap and established their own laboratory, and by 1935 the company established another factory in the Philippines after its acquisition of the British soap manufacturer, Thomas Hedley & Sons.In January 2005, P&G announced an acquisition of Gillette, forming the largest consumer goods company and placing Unilever into second place. At present, Procter & Gamble sells more than 300 leading brands, such as Pampers, Tide, Pringles, Ariel, Downy, Pantene, Head  &  Shoulders, Olay, Cover Girl, Pantene, Crest, Duracell, Secret, Folgers, Hugo Boss, Mr. Clean, Oral-B, Old Spice, Clairol and Zest. The company markets its products through mass merchandisers, grocery stores, membership club stores, drug stores, high-frequency stores, department stores, perfumeries, pharmacies, salons, and e-commerce.It markets its products to over 160 countries, and operates a total of 115 plants in more than 80 countries all over the world. Procter & Gamble’s headquarters are located in Cincinnati, Ohio and it employs more than 98,000 employees worldwide. Off late, the company’s performance has dwindled as the company has been shuffling its strategy and has not been able to keep competitors at bay (Chung, 2012). Recently the company’s Board has unanimously accepted CEO McDonald, who had joined in July 2009, as the one who would plan and head the company’s turnaround of performance (Chung, Jul 2012).As such the company has adopted a multi-fold strategy to cut costs by a big chunk and bring up new and innovative products to shore up sales and profits. Example being the fact that â€Å"the company will launch at least nine new products in the next four months, many of them priced at a premium to generate higher profit margins† (Monk, 2012). MANDATE The mission of the company is to â€Å"provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers, now and for generations to come†.And this would automatically generate value for all its stakeholders in form of higher sales and returns. The vision of the company is to be recognized as à ¢â‚¬Å"the best consumer products and services company in the world†. P&G has kept is vision powerful and yet pretty clear. This vision of the company is simple enough be easily comprehended by all its stakeholders. The core values of the company rotate around the consumers, its brands and its employees. These values are leadership, ownership, integrity, passion for winning and trust.The company, through all its core values, has tried to address the fact that they seek to work and deliver a trust to their consumers with the help of their employees, who are expected to work with leadership and ownership and must have a passion for winning so that they can together work to strive to achieve the vision of the company. Just like the vision of the company, the core values also are very clear and straight forward that define the reason for the existence of the company. P&G’s stakeholders are its customers, shareholders, employees, uppliers and communities in which it operates. P&G’s customers are the ones who ultimately use the products and given the fact that the industry is highly customer oriented and demand driven. The shareholders invest in P&G’s shares providing the company with capital and the company rewards them by consistently creating and increasing the shareholder value. Proctor and gamble employees worldwide are considered its most important asset who are the back bone of this giant corporation, they expect ethical treatment along with fair wages and good working conditions.Another important stakeholder of P&G is its suppliers whose organizations heavily rely on the business agreements with P&G, and the businesses who sell and distribute P&G products. Also, different communities all over the world from Cincinnati, Ohio to the many communities around the world who are provided with jobs, employee education, stability and who pay taxes because of Procter & Gamble. EXTERNAL ANALYSIS 1. Competitive Rivalry: The industry that P&G op erates in is highly competitive and it has emerged as one of the leaders in the industry.This industry has five major competitors and has reached the stage of consolidation. Due to industry consolidation, changes made by one company forces other competitors to react and follow suit. This increases rivalry and might lead to price wars. The demand for beauty and personal hygiene products is on the rise due to many factors such as; the growth in the economies of developing world has improved the standard of living of people in those regions; men are becoming more interested in beauty and skin care; and also due to the growing demand for products made with natural ingredients and raw materials.This increase in demand and potential for growth has provided stability in the industry. 2. Threat of New Entrants: Five major competitors in this industry have captured most of the market share through economies of scale and brand loyalty. The wide range of products in major competitor’s p ortfolio makes it extremely difficult for the new entrants to compete and gain any significant market share. Potential entrant would require an enormous amount of capital for manufacturing alongside a huge budget for marketing activities, R&D, supply/sales channel in order to compete at the same level as major competitors.This creates a very high barrier to entry in the industry that makes the threat of new entrants, very low for the industry. The patents held by the company on various products also act as barriers to entry. 3. Bargaining Power of the Buyers: Businesses in this industry rely heavily on its buyers to generate a considerable portion of revenue. Buyers of this industry are mainly distributors like Walmart, Macy’s, Target etc. These distributors buy in large quantities which increases their buying power allowing them to bargain lower prices.As a result, over exposure of sales to any single buyer could pose a serious threat to this industry if competitors do not h ave their own customized distribution network. 4. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: There are almost no substitutes for raw materials being used in products manufactured by this industry which is a cause of concern. Suppliers seem to enjoy high bargaining power but the sheer size and quantities purchased by major competitors in this industry tends to scale back the supplier power as competitors can move towards vertical integration.Hence, the buying power of suppliers is medium. 5. Threat of Substitutes: There are no known substitutes for this industry which places the threat of substitutes at a very low level. Macro Environment The raw materials used to manufacture products in various segments of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry are regulated by governments in many countries. There is a risk that currently used raw materials may be considered potentially dangerous and therefore restricted in their use due to the increase in health consciousness especially in western markets. Product testing can take months even years before getting an approval for consumption and during this time regulations can change preventing a product from ever being introduced to the market resulting in large R&D expenses which may never be recovered. Social forces can have an effect on this industry such as the desire for organic products as consumers become concerned that chemicals currently being used can cause long-term health ailments like cancer and skin diseases.Men are also fast becoming more interested in beauty and hygiene products and populations in developing countries are also turning towards beauty and personal hygiene products as their living standards improve. The future for this industry is bright with potential for growth but for some companies this can be a threat if they fail at product innovation and strategizing their business as per the changing trends. Technological changes such as exponential growth in internet and ecommerce provides a great platform to th is industry to market its products directly to target demographics and also to raise awareness of personal hygiene.On the internet, there is a massive potential to target consumers based on their web searches, previous online purchases, etc. Advancement in technology can also help this industry’s distribution systems such as emergence of real-time inventory systems allows inventory levels to be replenished on time and prevent excessive inventory on-hand in factories or warehouses. The reduced barriers to international trade give companies in the industry the opportunity to expand into various regions of the world. Many regions like China, India, and South America are opening up to the world providing an excellent opportunity for expansion.However, the reduced barriers to international trade can also be considered a threat if international companies expand into home bases such as Europe and North America which will in turn give rise to the local competition. INTERNAL ANALYSIS P&G is the industry leader because of its ability to maintain a competitive advantage over its rivals resulting in higher than average profitability. P&G has many resources that contribute towards gaining and maintaining competitive advantage over the rival. One ofP&G’s main strength is its strong financial position which allows it to acquire other companies. P&G has acquired Gillette boosting its competitive advantage over its rivals as Gillette mainly caters to Men which is growing market. Strong financial position also allows P&G to incur high R&D costs i. e. in excess of 2. 2 billion dollars. P&G is constantly investing in product innovation and improving its current line of products. The company over the past many years has successfully launched and managed new products.As such, P&G has the ability to push for innovation and ensure faster commercialization than any of its competitor in the industry. This investment in improving brands and innovation also promotes brand l oyalty. P&G operates in various segments of FMCG industry such as Personal hygiene, Household care, and Beauty. This variety of products offerings from P&G caters to almost all demographics; throughout different ages, genders, countries and cultures. P&G operates in various regions across the globe and has successfully managed to establish itself as a leader in these markets across many segments.This diverse range of product offerings along with its operation in various geographic regions allows P&G to reel through the recessions in the economy and maintain its profitability. Any slowdown in the economy of anyone region or segment is countered by growing economy and segments in other regions. Also, type of products offered by P&G are considered to be recession proof as they considered to necessity such as soaps, shampoos, personal health products etc. P&G derives its strengths from its various capabilities. First of all is that P&G has the marketing of its products in the industry.T his enables P&G to convince its consumers to buy products and also keeps them up to date with new products as well as about any improvements in the current line of products. P&G also has an efficient distribution system which allows it to distribute its products in various region of the globe at a lower cost than its competitors. P&G also collaborates with distributors like Wal-Mart, Target etc. to keep supply chain functioning efficiently. This allows restocking of shelves at distributors much easier as it provides real time data to P&G as stock levels deplete.This allows P&G to save costs associated with huge inventories and warehouses. Also, P&G owns and operates almost 115 manufacturing facilities across 80 countries around the globe. This is a great asset of the company which provides it with the capability of saving on cost of shipping products from one region to another. All these sets of co-related resources and capabilities allow P&G to save on costs and provide high qualit y products at a reasonable people which in turn has generated above average profits in the industry making P&G the industry leader.Along with strengths, P&G also has certain weaknesses and threats that can offset its competitive advantage and affect its profitability. In the current global down turn commodity prices across the globe are increasing due to transportation costs associated with higher oil prices. This will force P&G to raise prices on many of their products which might affect market share because some consumers may switch to cheaper low quality products. This is further exacerbated by the fact that switching costs for consumer are quite low between the competitors in many segments of this industry.While P&G has great collaboration with Wal-Mart, which allows it to maintain an efficient supply chain management but this is also one of the weaknesses of P&G as Wal-Mart is its number one buyer as considerable amount of P&G sales are accounted to Wal-Mart and followed by oth er major retailers like Target, Zellers, etc. This provides buyers with immense buying power and any decrease of sales at any of the top customers can affect P&G effecting its revenues and subsequent profitability.P&G is also exposed heavily towards the matured markets of Europe and North America. STRATEGIC OPTIONS Further Market Penetration – In this strategy, P&G should increase market penetration its current skin care and personal hygiene segments. P&G should look towards in its customer base and specifically targeting low income consumers in mature markets. P&G can achieve economies of scale in its current product mix by rebranding such as packaging or size/volume of the product. This way P&G will be altering its existing products at a low fixed cost.By harbouring this strategy, P&G will be able sell its products at a cheaper price and increase its revenue and subsequent profits. This is low risk strategy because P&G has managed to achieve strong brand recognition and cus tomer loyalty so P&G does not have to incur huge marketing costs in order to introduce its products to the market. P&G already and effective supply chain management and it has good relationship with mega distributors like Wal-Mart, Target etc. so it will be much easier for P&G to introduce these rebranded products to consumers.Furthermore, P&G has a strong financial position which is essential in case the strategy fails to garner expected results. Further Market Penetration| Arena| All markets where P&G currently has a presence| Differentiator| Price, Quality| Vehicles| Rebranding, marketing| Staging| Rebrand products in different packaging with less volume quantities| Economic Model| Sell rebranded products at lower price to the low income consumers| Pros| Enhances existing capabilities and resources Low Risk| Cons| Short to medium term solutionBrand loyalty is scarce in consumers looking for lower priced products| Table 1There are some drawbacks in this strategy which must be cons idered such as the lack brand loyalty in low income consumers. Low income consumers tend to prefer products that are competitively priced so if another competitor implements the same strategy they can take away P&G’s market share. Hence, this strategy is only viable from short to medium term. Global Expansion in Emerging Markets – P&G derive most of its revenues from matured market of North America and Europe where market has reached the saturation point and revenue growth is stagnant.Unlike the mature markets, emerging or growth markets have a lot of potential for growth and there is a lot of market share up for grabs. As P&G looks to gain greater share in the developing countries, it needs to adjust its planning according to the demographics of such country i. e. ethnic groups with different skins, hair types etc. As P&G already has a strong set of products, it must be relatively easier for P&G to penetrate into emerging markets especially in terms of brand recogniti on, mass market presence, and brand loyalty.P&G can avail this opportunity by introducing quality products based on the specific needs of the local population or by acquisition of businesses who produce such products. This strategy would help P&G in the long run as it would allow P&G in keep its revenues up during the economic downturns in mature markets as sales in emerging markets will offset the recessions in the mature markets. Rules and regulations vary country to country so some countries can have stringent rules for Multi-national Corporation to protect its local businesses.Global Strategic Alliance or collaborations with local businesses will enable P&G to expand in to the local market in areas such as China, India or South America. The extensive knowledge of consumers, market trends, laws and regulations that Partner Company brings to the table can be considered an excellent distinctive competency. Global Expansion in to emerging Markets| Arena| Emerging Markets| Differenti ator| Price, Quality| Vehicles| Collaborations (Global strategic alliances), Acquisitions,| Staging| Collaboration with local businesses and then move towards acquisition of the same. Economic Model| Provide quality product at reasonable price to consumers in the emerging markets| Pros| Great long term potentialDiversification through operations in various regions which provides an opportunity to keep revenues up during recession in one region| Cons| High risk involved in collaboration/acquisitions along with the instability of economic growth in emerging marketsCompany can lag behind in innovation| Table 2 P&G should select it partner carefully in emerging markets keeping in mind the risks associated such as rules, regulations etc.P&G must form a structure where the share, responsibilities of each party is clearly defined along with contingency plans to mitigate various risks involved. P&G should protect its trade secrets and product formulas so manufacturing facilities must have s eparate units, and PG should also get all its patents recognized in the region where it will operate. Some of the cons of this strategy are embedded with the collaborations with local businesses and the instability in the emerging markets.Also, P&G will essentially be rebranding most of the products it sells in mature markets along with selling some products of its partners which means there will be less spending on R&D and company might lag behind in innovation of new revolutionary products. Differentiation in Beauty/Skin Care Segment – In this strategy, P&G will offer unique and innovative products that address special needs of various market segments and demographics such as products with natural/organic ingredients, products for certain demographics such as men, ethnic groups etc.Beauty/skin care segment of consumer goods industry is growing as consumers are more interested in grooming themselves with better products and growing trends in health/wellness. P&G can create a competetive advantage by specializing in products made for men and products made with natural/organic ingredients. This strategy will require acquisition of products or spending in R&D to innovate such products in house. This will also require aggressive marketing and branding of such products to introduce them to the consumer.These products must be priced at a premium price based on the advertising costs, acquisitions and R&D spending. Many features of the products along with quality will offset and justify the higher price for such products. With continuous R&D spending over time, advancement in technologies and increasing competition, prices will eventually reduce. If P&G is able to acquire or create new line of specialized products which caters to certain market segments or demographics, it will be a competitive advantage for P&G over its rivals.Differentiation in Beauty/Skin Care Segment| Arena| Mature Markets first and move into growth/emerging markets| Differentiator| Select ion, Quality| Vehicles| Acquisitions, Signalling| Staging| Acquisitions of major business involved in organic and men beauty/personal hygiene segments| Economic Model| Sell specialized products targeting certain customers with premium prices i. e. organic products| Pros| Leverages existing resources and capabilitiesLong Term potential| Cons| High Risk with acquisitionsHigh costs associated with R&D spending| Table 3This strategy has some disadvantages as well such as it requires a lot of capital investment either for acquisition or R&D to create new products. REFERENCES Mockler, R. J. (2007). â€Å"Procter & Gamble: The Beauty/Feminine Care Segment of the Consumer Goods Industry† In C. W. L. Hill & G. R. Jones, Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach, 6th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Chung, J. (2012). â€Å"P&G's Board ‘Unanimously Supports' CEO McDonald† Retrieved from http://online. wsj. com/article/SB10000872396390444464304577534930564069566. tm l Mo nk, D. ( 2012) â€Å"Procter ; Gamble planning nine new product launches† Retrieved from http://www. bizjournals. com/cincinnati/blog/2012/09/procter-gamble-planning-nine-new. html Annual Report (2012) Retrieved from http://annualreport. pg. com/annualreport2012/files/PG_2012_AnnualReport. pdf P;G History (2012) Retrieved from http://www. pg. com/translations/history_pdf/english_history. pdf P;G Purpose, Vision and Principles. (2012) Retrieved from http://www. pg. com/translations/pvp_pdf/english_PVP. pdf