Tissot Watch Company Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tissot Watch Company Analysis - Essay Example The first and foremost is brand recognition. Tissot relies heavily on different strategies that require lots of investment in advertising to create product value. As Tissot involved well known personalities to promote their products, this acted in their favour create brand recognition in the industry. The consumer base of the company has been strong enough which enabled the organisation to take steps into new products which in turn will attract new customers and cement the consumer base. Marketing and communication sets Tissot stand differently from its competitors. The design of the watches is built in such a way so that it attracts every level of consumers if not income wise but choice wise. Tissot took the step in distributing their products in different markets which not only raised their sells but penetrate other markets and drive out their competitors. The Swiss watch manufacturer has large and highly skilled pool of labor. They are trained for the specific purposes and latest innovations and techniques are injected into the products which affects the sales of the company. The price of the products is set at such a level which attracts targeted customers. The prices are competitive with other competitors in the industry and technological advancement is the factor which differentiates its products from other competitors. A huge product base is also offered for the customers with different price ranges. Luxury watches are defined as those watches which have a factory gate price of over CHF 500, and corresponds to more or less to sale price of over CHF 1500. A Harvard Business School Professor stated a ‘five forces model’ to make an analysis of the watch industry. There is the threat of new entrants which may be able to attract the consumer bases of the already existing players. There is rivalry among the players in terms of pricing, branding and advertisements. The only difference the watch industry has from all other industries is that it is n ot possible to deliver substitutable products. That is why the other aspects of business are foremost in this industry [Gautschi, 2005, pp. 7-8]. (Gold, Godsey, Cernusca, 2003, p. 9) The key to sustain in the Swiss watch industry is in fulfilling the strategic and operational goals of an organisation. Tissot has been able to capture a consumer base but in order to sustain in the industry the need of the time is inject new technologies and pricing strategies. Injection of new technologies will involve investments and the current needs of the market need to be identified. Once the needs are identified, new products are injected into the market using appropriate process strategies. Tissot should also have adequate back up plans for sudden entry of new competitors into the market. These unexpected moves are required to be handled efficiently. Research and development is one of the key areas which cannot be eliminated from any company in order to sustain in an industry (Adler and Shenhar , 1989, p. 10). Time should be spent on new product innovation and marketing of the products around the globe. Elasticity: One of the important concepts that can influence the pricing strategy is price elasticity of demand which shows the change in the quantity demanded of a certain product due to change in the price of the same product. Tissot will have to

Public policy making Essay Example for Free

Public policy making Essay This section sets the context for testing the hypotheses. Historically, church-state relationships have been a recurring and significant source of political controversy in European states. The outcomes of these controversies may be viewed in terms of the following taxonomy: the Erastian model, in which the state has assumed responsibility for the direction of the church; the liberal model, in which the state is secular and neutral in its relationships with the church(es) found in its society; the theocratic model, in which the church has achieved supremacy in religious and secular affairs; the spheres model, in which the church prevails in some spheres and the state in other spheres of society; and the anti-church model, in which the state stands in opposition to the church and seeks to curtail or eliminate religion. The Erastian model. On this model, the state seeks to organize the church as a department of the state. This model is commonly associated with the Protestant German states of the Reformation. The Erastian model confronts the problem of internal religious change, perhaps expressed in controversies over liturgy or doctrinal controversies. From the regulatory perspective, two broad responses to internal change may be taken by the Erastian state. First, the state may simply tolerate a good deal of doctrinal variation within the church viewed as a common religious house. Second, the state may seek to play the role of arbiter or imprimatur in determining the correctness of certain positions in theological disputes. Both positions run the risk of reduced credibility for both the church and the state. The liberal model. The liberal model argues for neutrality of the state in the affairs of churches. It conceives the state as one in which there is no privileged relationship between the state and any particular church. Although the liberal model has its origins in European thought, it may be argued that it has rarely been found in European countries. Few European regimes have adopted neutrality as the basis for church-state regulation. The United States is often judged to be a better example than European nations of the application of the liberal tradition to church-state relations. [14] The United States also is a nation with one of the highest rates of church attendance on either side of the North Atlantic. Does the fact that the American state constructs church-state relations as a wall of separation contribute to the apparently greater American public willingness to attend church and to attach importance to religion? Roger Finke has argued that the deregulation of churches in the United States has promoted religious individualism; that is, for an American church to survive it must attract communicants in the open market by responding to the individuals understanding of religion as one of personal conversion. [15] The theocratic model. Here the church assumes or is given a sphere of influence that embraces both religious and secular spheres. As with the state in the Erastian model, the church is supreme and so the question of the states defining boundaries does not arise. The churchs autonomy in determining public policy is not confined to its membership but embraces the broader community in which the church is located. This model may exist in regions within a state but certainly is not characteristic of nations in Europe today. The best example of a European theocracy in the last century was the Papal states in what is now modern Italy. The spheres model. This model can best be described by saying what it is not. It is not the liberal tradition or the Erastian or the theocratic. Rather, it may be described as the situation in which the society is understood as made up of competing or perhaps complementary spheres. Conflicts between the Holy Roman Emperors and religious hierarchies often reflected this battle over spheres of autonomy. Variations of this model are found in a remarkably wide range of European nations today. These range from nations that profess to be of a certain church, to others that are critical of a specific church. Samuel Krislov argues that the determination of boundaries between church and state is enormously difficult in any system that seeks to recognize separate spheres of responsibility between a church and a state. [16] It is probably useful to conceptualize the spheres model as a continuum. At one end are the Roman Catholic Churches in Ireland and in todays Poland, where the sphere of church influence is quite large and embraces many areas of public policy making. At the other end of the continuum are Scandinavian churches which have narrowly-defined spheres of influence in public policy making. The anti-church model. This final model is one in which the state is deeply critical if not in outright opposition to the church. The former regimes of Eastern Europe reflected an oppositional tradition as historically did the nineteenth and early twentieth century regimes in Mexico and in France which often sought to disestablish or to curtail church life severely. Examples of opposition include expulsion of religious orders, seizure of church resources, and prohibition of many church-sponsored activities.

Reasons For Strategic Decision At Thai Airways

Reasons For Strategic Decision At Thai Airways An inspired and carefully considered business strategy can be used to guide a company to achieve greater profitability and success, as it is known that strategy can be viewed as plan, ploy, pattern, position and perspective (Kourdi 2009, p3). To those companies that rely on low price to attract customers, such as budget airlines, business strategy plays a significant role in their business. However, business strategy should be based on the understandings about competition and threats in the industry, micro and macro environment factors that affect the success of their business, and strengths and competitive advantages of the company. Only can business strategy that is based on these understandings be used to achieve success of business Question 1: Reasons for Launching a Low-cost Airline with Thai Airways Tiger Airways is going to launch a low-cost airline with Thai Airways, which will target domestic and international destinations within five hours flying times distance on the basis of Bangkok (Creedy 2001). There are many reasons that Tiger Airway launched this airline jointly with Thai Airways, and the following five reasons are the most important ones: To compete effectively. It can be seen from the case that, by joint venture, it is easier for Tiger Airways to grow its business in Thailand, and will compete effectively in this region with Jetstar and AirAsia (Creedy 2001). Additional network advantages. By joint venture, it will build better network relationship with Thai Airways and may have advantages to deal with future spread risk and competition, as Thai Airways becomes a partner rather than a competitor (Creedy 2001). Additional cost advantage. By possessing 49% of the joint venture, and other 51% owned by Thai Airways, Tiger Airlways has chance to use the advantage of Thai Airways to maintain and even strength its low cost advantage (Creedy 2001). To reduce risk. By additional network and cost advantages brought from this deal, Tiger Airways is capable to face further spread risk. Pan-regional strategy. This joint venture is an important step forward in Tigers pan-regional strategy. It is noted by CEO of Tiger Airways, Tony Davis, that Bangkok is one key South East Asian gateway within striking distance of both India and China (Creedy 2001). By additional network advantage from joint venture with Thai Airways, it becomes easier for Tiger Airways to implement this strategy. Reasons for Strategic Decision Tiger Airways decision of launching a new airline jointly with Thai Airways can be considered as a strategic decision. Reasons are stated as follows: This decision affected the long-term direction of Tiger Airways. As mentioned above, this decision was an important step forward for its pan-regional strategy (Creedy 2001). This decision helped achieve advantage for Tiger Airways. Additional network advantage with Thai Airways and cost advantages were achieved by this joint venture decision. This decision expanded the activities scope of Tiger Airways to low-cost flight to Bangkok/ Thailand, and might expand to India and China as well This decision had major resource implication. It is mentioned in the case that by 2015, 68 flights would be allocated to this low-cost airline (Creedy 2001). This decision created new opportunity for Tiger Airways. By this decision, Tiger Airways became more competitive with Jetstar and AirAsia, which created new opportunity for the growth of Tiger Airways (Creedy 2001). This decision affected operational decisions of Tiger Airways. Investment in this new airline needs to be taken into consideration by Tiger Airways. Obviously, this decision can be viewed as a plan, a ploy, a pattern, a position, a perspective. Therefore, it is a strategic decision. Macro Environment Analysis PESTEL model is a good technique that can be utilized to analyze macro environment factors that affect the industries, as well as low-cost airline industry. It contains six factors which are Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors (Robinson 2009, p75). Political: Government instability is a major factor to the low-cost airline industry. For example, the affairs of Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra and his Red-Shirt, led to a fatal drop in tourism industry, which may decrease the customer amount of low-cost airline industry (BBC 2010). Economical: Economy recession and financial crisis affected the profitability of low-cost airline industry players. A survey carried by Airline Business indicated that although revenue didnt show decline, profitability was affected by the financial crisis. Many players encountered a loss in 2008 compared to 2007 (Dunn 2009). Social: The attitude of income distribution and balancing work and leisure are factors that cant be neglected. People who are willing to distribute their money on travelling and their free time of leisure will increase the customer amount of the industry. Technological: Technology that makes standing seats for airlines available influence this low-cost airline industry seriously. The availability of standing seats for airlines will cut down the cost of industry will make it more attractive (BBC UK, 2010). Legal and Environmental: Employment laws, competition law, threat of natural causes, carbon dioxide emission are other factors of the low-cost airline industry. Question 2: Corporate Strategy, Business Level Strategy and Operational Strategy Corporate Level Strategy According to the definition from Collis and Montgomery (2005, p8), corporate level strategy can be defined as the way that a company uses to create value through configuration and coordination of its multimarket activities. There are three main emphases of this definition, value creation, configuration and multimarket activities. It is indicated in Appendix 1 that the corporate strategy of Tiger Airways is that: To create a portfolio of profitable routes throughout Asia and Australasia by establishing airlines in market where low-fare, low cost business model has exceptional potential for sustainable profitability with ancillary services such as luggage upsize, seat selector and sports equipment check-in. Business Level Strategy One model developed by Bowman called The Strategy Clock can be used to get good understanding about business level strategy, which relates competitive advantage to cost advantage and differentiation advantage. These successful strategies can be illustrated as following levels: Low price/ low added value, Low price, Hybrid, differentiation without price premium and Focused differentiation (Angwin et al 2007, p121) All these different strategy are classified based on two factors, price and value. It can be seen from Appendix 1 that the price of Tiger Airways is low because the company implement cost leadership strategy. Besides, compare to other airlines, the value added by Tiger Airways is limited. Luggage is limited to a certain size; seat selection will be charged. Only is purchased food or drink is allowed compare to free food and drink in SIA. Thus, the activities are low value-added. Therefore, based on these two factors, the business level strategy is Low price/Low added value. Operational Strategy According to the definition of Lowson (2002, p57) that operational strategy can be viewed widely as a value delivery strategy. It is all about decisions which helps create and deliver product/service, value to customers through companies core competencies. Therefore, the main operational strategy of Tiger Airways is to maintain and enhance the core competencies of low fare/ low cost. Many decisions have been made based on this strategy: Joint venture with Thai Airways to launch new airline. Install advanced 3-D weather radar to increase efficiency (Tiger Airways.com 2010) Minimize service that charges customers on customers behalf. Question 3: Porters Five Forces Analysis Porters five forces model is one of the most well-known models in business literature that produce the competitive situation in any industry (Beamish Williams 2008 pp76-77). The five forces and their relations are indentified as follows: Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Intensity of rivalry Source: Caneval Ventures. Models on the dynamics of innovation. http://www.caneval.com/vision/innovation/innovation2.html [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Threat of new entrants The threat of new entrants of the low-cost airline industry is very fierce (4 out of 5). Although the investment of setting up new airline companies is huge to those organizations which are not in the airline industry, it is feasible to other organizations which are already in airline industry to establish new companies which serve the low-cost airline industry. The establishment of Tiger Airways can be an example to support this point. Tiger Airways is partially by SIA, which is the leading airline service provider all over the world. Threat of substitutes Long distance coaches, trains, passenger ships, network and other airline service providers (such as SIA) are the main substitutes of the low-cost airline industry. It can be seen from Appendix 2 that, although the low-cost airline industry is a booming industry with high growth rate, Network airline service providers are still the main provider in the airline industry. And Long distance coaches and trains play much more significant role in transportation in countries such as China because of the poor development of air transport. Therefore, this threat is very high (3 out of 5). Bargaining power of buyers In low-cost airline industry, though customers are easy to find substitutes but these substitutes may cause higher price or take more time to reach their destinations. Therefore, the bargaining power of buyers is not so strong (2 out of 5). For example, it is clearly seen from Appendix 3 that SIA return ticket for travelling between Singapore and Hong Kong is around 100SGD expensive than that of Tiger Airways. Bargaining power of suppliers Obviously, the main supply of low-cost airline industry should be the aircrafts, and Boeing and Air Bus are the two suppliers of aircrafts to low-cost airline industry. It means that these two companies are in the position of monopoly. Therefore, their bargaining power is extraordinary strong (5 out of 5). Intensity of rivalry The intensity of rivalry of low-cost airline industry is not so fierce (2 out of 5). Although the core competency of low-cost airline players is low fare/low cost, they have regional characteristic, which means only few airline players are recognized by customers in a certain areas. For instance, in South East Asia, Tiger Airways and AirAsia are the two recognized players by customers. In conclusion of the analysis of Porters five forces model, the outcome can be summarized as the following picture. Low-cost airline industry is an attractive industry, as buyers dont have strong bargaining power, which means this market is a seller market; low threats of substitutes means low-cost airline is a good choice among the products or services. Besides, although bargaining power of suppliers is extraordinary high, every player in the industry will face this problem, and because of a booming industry with high growth rate, low-cost airline industry is an attractive industry. Question 4: Value Chain Analysis Porters value chain model is a typical value chain model, which state nine kinds of business activities (Wang 2007, p81). And these business activities are classified into assistant and basic activities, which can stated as below: Wang Weijun (2007). Integration and innovation orient to e-society. New York: Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC. p81. However, this model aims at manufacture companies. Tiger Airways is in the industry of low-cost airlines, which is a service industry, therefore, the model needs to be modified based on the assumptions as follows: All the purchases are for infrastructure development purpose. Service is produced once purchase happens. Therefore, it can be seen from the case and other information from website and Tiger Airways 2010 annual reports that the value added activities are presented as follows: In the case, it is said that by 2015, 8 flights would be allocated to the new launched low-cost airline; this is the value-added activity which develops the infrastructure of Tiger Airways (Creedy 2001). In the annual report, it is stated that all new directors to the Board are briefed by Management on the Groups business activities, strategic directions, and will be sent for external training and development programmes. This is the value-added activities on manpower resource management (Annual report 2010). By this, Tiger Airways is able to make out better corporate, business level and operational strategies for the long-term development of the company and sustain the cost advantage as well. According to the media release of Tiger Airways, in 2010, by partnering with Honeywell, the company installed advanced 3-D weather radar enhance safety and passenger comfort. This can be viewed as a value-added activity based on technology development (Tiger Airways.com 2010). The annual reported stated that by renewing contracts with airports, ground services, providers and other suppliers, and purchased two aircrafts from Airbus (own rather than lease), enabled Tiger Airways to further reduce operating cost and in tune increase value to customers (Annual report 2010). According to the website, extra service is provided such as luggage upsize, seat selection and as well as related service, for example, hotels, insurance and car hire to enhance the types of service that customer can enjoy through Tiger Airways. There are many other business activities done by Tiger Airways, which enrich the value of service provided by Tiger Airways and gain wide recognition among customers, this is the exact reason helps Tiger Airways be one of the leaders in South East Asia to provide low-cost airline service. Question 5: Common Cost-cutting Strategies According to many literatures, there are many different kinds of cost-cutting strategies, for instance, rationalization, standardization, central processing of transactions, technology application and cost management strategy (OBrien Datta 1989, p165). Therefore, related to low cost carriers, the common cost-cutting strategies can be presented as follows: Rationalization. To low cost carriers, non-value-added activities are removed and only do those value-added activities remain. For example, there is one rule in Tiger Airways that only is purchased food or drink is allowed. Standardization. Another strategy is to standardize the service of low cost carriers. It can be seen for Appendix 4 that the service of Tiger Airways is standardized, as extra services will be charged by a certain price. Central processing of transactions. Crucial processes are identified by low cost carriers that need to be focus on to provide the basic service to their customers. Technology application. New technology can be applied to reduce operational cost and even reduce the proportion of risk. As mentioned above, the 3-D weather radar is applied by Tiger Airways to increase the accuracy of weather prediction to reduce unnecessary loss by reason of bad weather (Tiger Airways.com 2010). Cost management strategy. This strategy is used by low cost carriers to understanding the factors that affected the cost such as fuel, labour, distribution, inventory management, purchasing, and foreign exchange (IATA Training Portfolio). Take Tiger Airways as an example, the two main business regions are South East Asia and Australia. Therefore, the foreign exchange rate between AUS Dollar and SGD is a factor that cannot be neglected Another evidence stated in Tiger Airways 2010 annual report that by renewing contracts with airports, ground services, providers and other suppliers, and purchased two aircrafts from Airbus (own rather than lease), enabled Tiger Airways to further reduce operating cost. Three Future Strategies The strategies will be given according to Ansoffs product/market matrix. Source: Berger Roland., Kotler Philip., Bickhoff (2010). The Quintessence of Strategic Management. London: Springer Heigelberg. p36. Market Penetration. To Tiger Airways, it should use activities such as advertising, sales promotion to increase seat occupancy rate, which in turn will reduce the operating cost, this is the way to build strong core competencies. Market Development. It is evident in the case that market development is a suitable strategy for Tiger Airways to reduce operating cost and company development (Creedy 2001). By adding new airlines through joint ventures with other airline companies, it will give Tiger Airways have chance to benefit from advantages of other airline companies. Diversification. There are two main types of diversifications, related and unrelated diversification. Thus, To Tiger Airways, the company may use related diversification strategy to expand its business, such as to international express business. Through this strategy, the company can reduce the operating cost. References: Angwin Duncan., Cummings Stephen., Smith Chris (2007). The strategy pathfinder: core concepts and micro-cases. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. pp121-122. Annual report (2010). Chairmans statement. http://www.tigerairways.com/news/Annual_Report_2010.pdf [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] BBC (2010). Thailand red-shirts set out new conditions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8671991.stm [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] BBC UK (2010). Are standing seats a standing joke? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8779388.stm [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Beamish Karen., Williams John (2008). Analysis and Evaluation. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd. pp76-77 Berger Roland., Kotler Philip., Bickhoff (2010). The Quintessence of Strategic Management. London: Springer Heigelberg. p36 Caneval Ventures. Models on the dynamics of innovation. http://www.caneval.com/vision/innovation/innovation2.html [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Collis J. David., Montgomery A. Cynthia (2005). Corporate strategy: a resource-based approach. New York: McGraw-Hill. P8. Creedy, S. (2001), Tiger Airways to start Thai low-cost airline, The Australian, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/tiger-tostart-thai-low-cost-airline/story-e6frg8zx-1225900253006 [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Dunn Graham (2009). Low-cost carriers: Ready for battle. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/04/21/325429/low-cost-carriers-ready-for-battle.html [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] IATA Training Portfolio. Cost Reduction Strategies. http://www.iata.org/training/courses/Pages/talf02.aspx [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Kourdi Jeremy (2009). Business Strategy: A Guide to Taking Your Business Forward. 2nd ed. London: Profile Books Ltd. p3. Lowson H. Robert (2002). Strategic operations management: the new competitive advantage. 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge. p57 OBrien Richard., Datta Tapan (1989). International economics and financial markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p165. Robinson Peter (2009). Operations Management in the Travel Industry. Oxford: CAB International. p75. Tiger Airways.com (2010). Tiger Airways to install advanced 3-D weather radar; first low-cost airline in Asia to use latest technology on A320s. http://www.tigerairways.com/news/20100616.pdf [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Wang Weijun (2007). Integration and innovation orient to e-society. New York: Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC. p57. Appendix 1: http://www.tigerairways.com/sg/en/about_us.php Appendix 2: Figure 1: Airline Market Share by Type of Carrier Note: All others is primarily regional jet carriers but may include a small percentage of scheduled charter carriers. Source: M.R. Dayton, Trends and Demand in Aviation Markets, presentation at the ATCA/FAA/Nav Canada Technical Symposium, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transportation, 2004. Appendix 3: Tiger Airways price: http://booking.tigerairways.com/skylights/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi SIA price: http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/zh_CN/Pricing/FlightCalendar.jsp

Essay --

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz commented, "The most dangerous thing for a brand is low interest." (Gschwandtner) Red Bull is currently available in over 165 countries, resulting in over 35 billion cans sold. (Red Bull) While many companies try to push their products on consumers, Mateschitz decided to take a more personal approach towards attracting consumers and influencing them to make his product stand out and become their first choice. Red Bull's owner states that most of its success came from bringing consumers to the product rather than the other way around. (Gschwandtner) With events in the industries of sport, music, art, technology and adventure, there is little the company does that is not interesting to just about everyone. Red Bull hosts or actively sponsors contests and showcases for athletes in surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, bike riding, and free style motorcycle riding events. These events take place all over the world and can attract as many as 30 to 50 thousand spectators during the event. (Gschwandtner). This "pull" strategy (Lamb, Hair, McDaniel) makes customers attracted to the event, and the actual drink plays a more secondary role. Using different host cities allow the company to incorporate the local culture and natural resources to its benefits. In Germany, a downhill mountain bike even used an abandoned potash mine to serve as its course because of the different elements provided throughout the 2,100-foot track. (Gschwandtner) Brazil, as a second example, was the host for a B.A.S.E. jumping event that had spectators watching jumpers perform back-flips and other aerial acrobatics off of their famous "Christ the Redeemer" statue with a parachute, of course. (Gschwandtner) O the... ... conclusion, sponsoring or acting as the main host of these international events, Red Bull uses reminder advertising to keep the product fresh in the customers mind. (Lamb, Hair, McDaniel) Placing the product in any market they want to and providing slogans like "It Gives You Wings" differentiates its product from other competitors with a message of "revitalizing" your mind in addition to getting an energy jolt. Having well known athletes in events is beneficial to attracting consumers to the events, where they are given free samples. By pushing the status quo of sporting events and breaking world records, Red Bull has a message of increasing human capability while also honoring the environment. With its high market share in local and international markets, and its increasing growth, the company should keep investing in events and sponsorships to continue expanding.

People who make decisions based on emotion and justify those decisions with logic afterwards are poor decision makers Essay

The debate of whether to follow emotions or logic is a complex one. As the given statement seems too strong in suggesting that all those who make decisions based on emotion are poor decision-makers, it may be warranted to discuss both the positive and negative role emotions and logic play in our decision making process. In certain cases, decisions based on emotion can result in undesirable consequences. There exist several examples of impulsive shoppers who get consumed by the emotion to acquire and buy something, and consequently, end up with a purchase they later realize wasn’t required at all. Advertisers and sales personnel, aware of this tendency, often play with this emotion to their advantage. A more severe example could be of substance abusers and addicts, who, in a moment of high emotion and drama, triggered by an adrenaline rush, make decisions they might need to regret later. Gamblers, guided (or, misguided, rather) by the emotion of avarice and the â€Å"high† of winning could end up impoverishing themselves and their dependents. One also comes across people who make the wrong dietary choices, to satiate their taste buds, thereby posing a danger to long-term health. The examples discussed above present the seamier side of decisions based on emotion; however, it should be recognized that certain situations require that decisions be guided not by logic, but by impulse. The adage â€Å"sieze the day† suggests that one should let the heart rule over the head, and grab an opportunity with both hands. In other words, instinct and intuition can aid in better decision-making sometimes, rather than mere dependence on logic. There are several examples of business honchos who claim to have taken risks, guided by their hearts, and reaped benefits of such decisions. In contrast, there are others who lament the loss of opportunity because they â€Å"thought too much† and were hesitant to follow their heart. In short, decisions based on emotion may not always lead to wrong choices. Just as the brain and the heart work in tandem to keep the body functioning smoothly, one may assert that both emotion and logic are complements to each other, and facilitate the decision making process. Decisions made on the basis of logic alone may not work out always, while choices guided by emotion and instinct could very often work wonders, and hence shouldnt be disregarded all the time.

After whetting Michael Collins

After whetting Michael Collins and knowing a little more about the things he did and the way he did things it really opened my eyes to the situation in Ireland. I had seen the movie before but after I wrote my policy paper on the IRA and then saw it again I really understood the problems in Ireland. Before I watched the movie for the second time I really saw what Collins was after. I thought that he was some radical terrorist who was 100 percent on the side of the IRA no matter what the sercumstances were. After I saw it again and knew more about him and the IRA he was one of the members of the IRA who was willing to take what the British was offering and work from there. I dont see him as a man who was willing to be in a constant war to receive independence. He was involved in attacks and battles, but I dont think that is what he wanted for the rest of his life and thats why he took the partial independence. What he believed in cost him his life and started a civil war between the IRA and the New Free Irish State. What Collins did was create something positive in a country with no hope or future. He gave his country hope for the future in exchange for his friends and a constant fear for his life. What he did has not stopped what the IRA does or hopes to do but he did! give them something to build on and hopefully to negotiate with the British on something to resolve this never ending battle. I always knew what the IRA was to some extent, but now I think I have the right perspective on what they are. I always thought that they were a group of raging lunatics running around bombing towns and killing people. Now I know they did bomb towns and fight battles for years, but it was for the right to be called an independent country.

Research Essay on a Sub Culture essays

Research Essay on a Sub Culture essays Imagine a group consisted mostly of males within the ages of eighteen to forty-five sitting in rows and columns, having no more than three feet of personal space in a room illuminated by computer screens as an attractive girl runs through the room wearing a bikini made for a fourteen-year-old which was in no doubt filled in quite nicely. This was a scene out of JobieLan, 2002. JobieLan was attended by ninety-four people from as far as London, England for an exhausting weekend during June 14 to 16 of 2002. JobieLan was sponsored by six major businesses, and a pawn shop. JobieLan was so successful that there are now plans of JobieLan 2003. JobieLan has become a phenomenon. What is JobieLan? JobieLan is part of a new growing culture: LAN parties. To a computer savvy person, this term is not new. The culture is growing, and fast. Random House Websters College Dictionary simply says a LAN is a, Local Area Network, but it is much more than that. A LAN is a way of connecting multiple computers together in an arrangement which allows the computers to communicate freely with one another. With the dawn of multiplayer computer games, LANs have become increasingly popular as a way to play head-to-head with others without suffering with the effect known as "lag". The term lag originally means, to fail to maintain a desired speed, (Lag). When someone has lag they have a high latency, or a greater amount of time for one computer to send a message to another computer (Xavier). Exactly when LAN parties started, no one knows exactly. One of the very first games to support games over a LAN would be id Softwares DOOM which was released in December of 1993 (3DGamers). LAN parties did not start off as popular as it is now; Im sure that if I were my age today back then, I would have thought that the idea of staying in to play video games would be too geekish and go elsewhe ...

Reaction Paper Divergent Essay Example

Reaction Paper Divergent Essay Example Reaction Paper Divergent Paper Reaction Paper Divergent Paper Divergent is an interesting movie, a typical science fiction action film that is totally entertaining. The movie starts with the narration of the main character Beatrice Prior, and from her narration I already have a conclusion that it will be a good film. In her narration, she discusses the kind of society they have which is divided into five factions. I was fascinated with the idea of having these five factions, each with its own unique characteristic portrayed in the film. The factions are presented through their different functions in the society, the lifestyle they have especially their manner of dressing, the beliefs that they hold on to, and the different culture that they have which we give emphasis on our paper. However, somehow contradict the statement of Beatrice saying that she does not belong in any Of the five faction for she is a Divergent- has more than one faction. For me, Beatrice is lucky to be a Divergent for it proves that she has more than one ability than becoming factionists. But she did make a choice to be part of one of the faction which is the Dauntless, the protector. I like the determination that she shows in order arrive the training and keep being a part of the Dauntless group. All in all, the movie was great. The characters are good as well as the graphics especially the battle part. The film also left some lessons which I think is very useful to many of the teenagers who are also confused in their state of life. One of which is Fear does not weaken you, it awakes you. After watching the movie, I began thinking of what faction do I want to belong with, and its the Amity group, Ive always wanted to be the scholar ones and because like color blue, and with these thinking realized how influential the movie is.

A History of the Townsend Act Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

A History of the Townsend Act - Term Paper Example in Burnett 41). The year 1767 brought a different series of measures that stimulated and recreated the conflict. Considering the discontent over increased tax, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend introduced a new fiscal program (Clack and Alonzo 40).Partially influenced by Benjamin Franklin’s arguments in Parliament, Townshend wrongly assumed that contrary to the Stamp Act, colonists would accept the tax on imported goods (Mintz).The basis purpose was to reduce British taxes by means of increased and efficient collection of duties imposed on American trade. Therefore, he readjusted custom administration and enacted duties on goods that colonies imported from Britain, such as, lead, paper, tea, glass. The â€Å"Townshend Acts† were based on the assumption that taxed on imported goods from colonies was legal whereas internally imposed taxes, such as, Stamp Act were illegal (Clack and Alonzo 40). ... Colonists were outraged, they not only objected the implementation of new duties but also they way collected money would be spent and new administration (Mintz). Reacting to the whole situation, John Dickinson, a Philadelphia layer, argued in Letters 1of a Pennsylvania Farmer that despite the fact that Parliament can control imperial commerce, it is unlawful to tax the colonies, whether the taxes are imposed externally or internally (Clack and Alonzo 40). Townshend appointed a new board of customs commissioners who were supposed to be more efficient in setting and maintain customs system. On the other hand, American merchants considered new bureaucracy was an effort to setting up the system of official corruption in colonies (Mintz). Learning from their past lessons, success of the boycott, and successful rejection of the Stamp Act, colonists united again in order to achieve their goal(Burnett 41).Boston merchants acquires a non-importation agreement in 1768 in which they preferred n ot to import certain goods over paying taxes. By 1769, merchants from all over America joined hands with Bostonians and they gave a serious jerk to British exports (Mintz). Their boycott dropped British exports to over 40%, due to bleak financial conditions; British merchants pressurized Parliament to abolish the Act (Burnett 41).American women contributed actively in the protests against Townshend Acts. â€Å"Daughters of Liberty† successfully campaigned against imported tea and clothing (Mintz). At the same time, ministry closed some western forts and deployed British troops in coastal areas again. According to 1765’s Quartering Act, colonists were responsible to not only provide food but also housing for the troops. But New York’s refusal to provide for

Cameron Mackintosh's contribution to the development of the Essay

Cameron Mackintosh's contribution to the development of the megamusical - Essay Example This paper further highlights the legacy of Mackintosh’s transformation of musical theatre through the increasing importance attached to the marketing of megamusicals; which in turn has fuelled debate as to the repercussions of the megamusical for the musical as an art form as opposed to a corporate controlled money spinner. In considering Mackintosh’s contribution to the megamusical, it is imperative to consider the contemporary framework for the business of theatre production in London’s West End and Broadway. For example, if we contextually consider the theatre market in the West End, recent hit shows from the Sound of Music to Joseph have driven the reversal in fortune of West End theatres, which had suffered a trend in declining ticket revenue and profits in the last decade. In January 2008, the Society of London Theatre announced a record breaking year in 2007 with more than 13.6 million theatregoers generating total tickets sales of almost  £470 million, passing the  £400 million mark for the first time. Furthermore, the Society’s Chief executive Richard Pulford cited the revenue statistics as an â€Å"annus mirabilis† for London theatre, stating that â€Å"these figures are a wonderful start to our centenary year but we’re under no illusions that we’re going to have to work very hard to maintain this success† (Maev Kennedy., 2008).

Standards Save Public Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Standards Save Public Education - Essay Example Standards are then made available and accessible to the public and the stakeholders in the education system eg teachers, parents and the textbook writers and publishers. Standards are inspired by the need to have a literate and economically competitive human resource in the country and therefore outline the important things that the students should know and understand and be able to execute perfectly. They are formulated in a way that they are appropriate in growth and development as well as relevant to future education and employment needs (McInerney, Etten, & Dowson, 2007). Standards are set in a manner that all students are able to attain them with ease and the excellent students exceed them ensuring that no student is left behind. Though students, both fast and slow learners can learn new things in their own ways the instructions that help an individual student attain the set standards is emphasized. Standardisation ensures that both excellence and equity are upheld where systemi c bias, discrimination and tyranny of low expectation are greatly reduced. Standardization also empowers the teachers to make decisions that ensure effective learning while highly discouraging social promotion of students as opposed to promotion based on their academic achievement. Reasons for standards in education Education standards ensure that teachers and schools are held accountable of teaching students what they should know in school. Teachers and the school therefore have a social responsibility to ensure that all students gain what they are supposed to gain in school and pass the standardised examination. Poor performance leads to disciplinary actions against the teachers and schools which may involve salary deductions or loss of job. If a school repeatedly exhibits poor results, it is taken over by the government or it can even be closed down. This ensures that no student is left behind or drops out of school due to low motivation or absolute loss of hope in education. Edu cation standards in the united state provide an avenue where students from different schools, districts or even states are compared which would otherwise be impossible without standardisation. Students from the same state e.g. California are expected to do the same standardised exam which allow comparison of students’ performance. Education standards are very important because people do move around nowadays and without standard education curriculum, it would be very challenging for students moving from one school to another. Many students would probably end up dropping out of school due to discontinuation or interruptions after transfers from one school to another. Education standards provide teachers with a standard framework of instructions which guide them on what and when to teach thus creating some uniformity and organisation in schools (National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment et al, 1995). Without the standard instruction framework for schools, maybe a teacher in fourth grade and a teacher in fifth grade would be teaching the same thing which would create confusion in the education sector. This also ensures that students who change school from other districts don’t have difficulties adapting to teaching in their new schools. Standardized tests are usually objective in nature in that the scores are awarded by computers or by individuals.

Fish Oil-Fed Mice Have Impaired Resistance to Inuenza Infection Article

Fish Oil-Fed Mice Have Impaired Resistance to Inuenza Infection - Article Example The critique and analysis focuses on feeding animal trials which include in vivo problems of the host with a live agent of infection. Pathogen clearance and host survival are the typical end points analyzed in the studies. Data shows that (n-3) PUFA can both impair and improve the resistance of host to a certain pathogens number. Nevertheless, the information is still limited in depth and breadth. For the pathogens with existing data, published studies numbers generally do not surpass three or two. Emphasis is on defining crucial immunological and microbiological difference s in pathogen-host interactions that assist to explain the published findings incongruity. Researchers believe that straight examination of (n-3) PUFA on the infectious disease of human’s resistance is warranted. From the oils of fish, Omega-3 fatty acids are considered inflammation modulators. This is the action mode for their efficiency and effectiveness against illness of modernity. The diseases include arthritis and rheumatoid. However, there is a downside, because inflammation is a section of response by the immune system, fish oil decreases immunity. The other side of inflammation decrease. For instance, mice fed with oil of fish, have impaired opposition to the infection of influenza. In regard to theietary long-chain PUFA derived from fish oil have been shown to have beneficial effects on chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disorders (1,2) and long-chain PUFA such as eicosapentaenoic acid appear to be most beneficial . A number of studies report that the immunosuppressive effects of PUFA are a result of decreased cytokine production and from reductions in T cell proliferation, activation, and signaling Studies of rodents fed fish oil-enriched diets have shown a reduction in natural killer (NK)4 cell activity (8), decreased lymphocyte proliferation (9,10), and decreased antigen presentation functions. In addition, decreases in ex vivo production of

Cross cultural communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cross cultural communication - Essay Example She advises that when you visit another country; forget about popular notions about the people. When doing business with Spanish and Swiss for instance, do not expect that the latter arrives on time and is more organized because that is how we have been socialized to believe. It is imperative to appreciate that such characteristics are dependent on the individual. We had punctual Spanish people and disorganized Swiss. Therefore do not assume that every Spanish person you meet will be late and that the Swiss are always punctual, you might end up very surprised. In other words, cross-cultural stereotypes might negatively influence our ability to perceive things properly. Currently, there are very helpful courses that help those who want to work or live abroad cultivate cross-cultural awareness, which is very essential in developing global competence and in building international teams. Such courses help individuals identify and then can deal with such cross-cultural differences ultimately improving their overall capacity in developing and most of all maintaining efficacious cros s-cultural relations. Sometimes stereotypes lead us into misunderstanding and judging other individuals in accordance to much unfounded generalizations, which sometimes may be very detrimental since we miss the point of meeting new people and knowing them as individuals, not as a population. Communicaid is a cross-cultural awareness-training center that helps you understand your counterpart’s behavior without relying on any stereotypes. Remember that such beliefs about other individual’s habits and behavior can greatly influence our expectations and attitudes when communicating with cultures different from our own. Nevertheless, this does not imply that no stereotypes are important. They help us in some situations where we are dealing with strangers since culture is responsible for shaping our perceptions and thoughts, we can be able to

Job Satisfaction Perceived Efficacy Correlation Dissertation

Job Satisfaction Perceived Efficacy Correlation - Dissertation Example Population and Sample The population for this study included all 139 South Dakota public school special education administrators, including full-time, part-time, and mixed responsibility special education administrators. The information used in the study was gathered from the South Dakota Department of Education 2010-2011 Educational Directory. Data Collection Data collection included the use of three separate surveys. Paul Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey was used to collect job satisfaction data. Chen, Gully, and Eden’s New General Self-Efficacy Scale was used to collect perceived self-efficacy data. Finally, a researcher-developed demographic survey was utilized to collect demographic data. The survey was posted electronically and all 139 public school special education administrators in the state of South Dakota were invited to participate via email. Names and email addresses of special education administrators were gathered from the South Dakota Department of Educ ation 2010-2011 Educational Directory. A cover letter (see Appendix G) with instructions on how to access the electronic survey was sentto all public school special education administrators in the state of South Dakota, via email. ... The invitees completed 35 useable surveys, accounting for a study response rate of 25.2 percent. Demographics Selected demographic characteristics of the study respondents are presented in Table 4.1. The two largest groups of respondents were aged 36-50 and 50 and over, with each category making up 40 percent of the respondents, while those aged 35 or younger represented 20 percent of the respondents. The majority of respondents were female, representing 71.4 percent. It is important to note that all demographics were computed using the responses provided by respondents. Not all respondents completed all questions. Masters Degrees represented the highest level of education for 40 percent of respondents, which was the largest group. Those holding a Bachelors Degree accounted for 22.9 percent of the respondents. Both the Education Specialist and Doctorate degree each represented 20 percent of the respondents. The current certification question allowed respondents to check all that appl ied so that some respondents selected multiple current certifications. The largest number of respondents, 57.6 percent, responded that their current certification was Special Education Director. Pre-K-8 Principals accounted for 11.4, while 7-12 Secondary Principals comprised 6 percent of respondents. Similarly superintendents also accounted for 6 percent of respondents. One respondent selected Superintendent and Special Education Director, one respondent chose PK-12 Principal, Superintendent, and Special Education Director as his or her current level of certification, one respondent chose PK-8 Principal and Superintendent as his or her current level of certification, and one respondent selected PK-8 Principal, Superintendent and

Fish Oil-Fed Mice Have Impaired Resistance to Inuenza Infection Article

Fish Oil-Fed Mice Have Impaired Resistance to Inuenza Infection - Article Example The critique and analysis focuses on feeding animal trials which include in vivo problems of the host with a live agent of infection. Pathogen clearance and host survival are the typical end points analyzed in the studies. Data shows that (n-3) PUFA can both impair and improve the resistance of host to a certain pathogens number. Nevertheless, the information is still limited in depth and breadth. For the pathogens with existing data, published studies numbers generally do not surpass three or two. Emphasis is on defining crucial immunological and microbiological difference s in pathogen-host interactions that assist to explain the published findings incongruity. Researchers believe that straight examination of (n-3) PUFA on the infectious disease of human’s resistance is warranted. From the oils of fish, Omega-3 fatty acids are considered inflammation modulators. This is the action mode for their efficiency and effectiveness against illness of modernity. The diseases include arthritis and rheumatoid. However, there is a downside, because inflammation is a section of response by the immune system, fish oil decreases immunity. The other side of inflammation decrease. For instance, mice fed with oil of fish, have impaired opposition to the infection of influenza. In regard to theietary long-chain PUFA derived from fish oil have been shown to have beneficial effects on chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disorders (1,2) and long-chain PUFA such as eicosapentaenoic acid appear to be most beneficial . A number of studies report that the immunosuppressive effects of PUFA are a result of decreased cytokine production and from reductions in T cell proliferation, activation, and signaling Studies of rodents fed fish oil-enriched diets have shown a reduction in natural killer (NK)4 cell activity (8), decreased lymphocyte proliferation (9,10), and decreased antigen presentation functions. In addition, decreases in ex vivo production of

Job Satisfaction Perceived Efficacy Correlation Dissertation

Job Satisfaction Perceived Efficacy Correlation - Dissertation Example Population and Sample The population for this study included all 139 South Dakota public school special education administrators, including full-time, part-time, and mixed responsibility special education administrators. The information used in the study was gathered from the South Dakota Department of Education 2010-2011 Educational Directory. Data Collection Data collection included the use of three separate surveys. Paul Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey was used to collect job satisfaction data. Chen, Gully, and Eden’s New General Self-Efficacy Scale was used to collect perceived self-efficacy data. Finally, a researcher-developed demographic survey was utilized to collect demographic data. The survey was posted electronically and all 139 public school special education administrators in the state of South Dakota were invited to participate via email. Names and email addresses of special education administrators were gathered from the South Dakota Department of Educ ation 2010-2011 Educational Directory. A cover letter (see Appendix G) with instructions on how to access the electronic survey was sentto all public school special education administrators in the state of South Dakota, via email. ... The invitees completed 35 useable surveys, accounting for a study response rate of 25.2 percent. Demographics Selected demographic characteristics of the study respondents are presented in Table 4.1. The two largest groups of respondents were aged 36-50 and 50 and over, with each category making up 40 percent of the respondents, while those aged 35 or younger represented 20 percent of the respondents. The majority of respondents were female, representing 71.4 percent. It is important to note that all demographics were computed using the responses provided by respondents. Not all respondents completed all questions. Masters Degrees represented the highest level of education for 40 percent of respondents, which was the largest group. Those holding a Bachelors Degree accounted for 22.9 percent of the respondents. Both the Education Specialist and Doctorate degree each represented 20 percent of the respondents. The current certification question allowed respondents to check all that appl ied so that some respondents selected multiple current certifications. The largest number of respondents, 57.6 percent, responded that their current certification was Special Education Director. Pre-K-8 Principals accounted for 11.4, while 7-12 Secondary Principals comprised 6 percent of respondents. Similarly superintendents also accounted for 6 percent of respondents. One respondent selected Superintendent and Special Education Director, one respondent chose PK-12 Principal, Superintendent, and Special Education Director as his or her current level of certification, one respondent chose PK-8 Principal and Superintendent as his or her current level of certification, and one respondent selected PK-8 Principal, Superintendent and

Decade of Corporate Greed Essay Example for Free

Decade of Corporate Greed Essay Ascended in the 1980’s he reinvented Republican policies that favored deregulation and the growth of business in America. These Ideas markedly opposed the views of the governmental interventionist policies of the 1960’s and 70’s with these ideas Reagan hoped to decrease government Involvement and heavy taxes. With these tax cuts Reagan’s thinking was that many new businesses would spawn and that it would have a trickledown effect by not only empowering businesses to grow and hire more people which in the end would benefit all from those on top in the corporate world all the way down to the lowest person in the company in which everyone benefits. This was welcome news not only to the Republicans but also the â€Å"lunch bucket democrats† who were working class democrats who predecessor Jimmy Carter of whom they thought they were ignored by. As a result of this many government services were slashed and created ideas of the government being the problem. With this many republicans encouraged individuals to do good for themselves for the government would not do this for them. With this encouragement of business growth and economic prosperity for as many people as possible individualism became a way of life in the 1980’s. The acquisition of wealth and indicators of it really helped to drive this decade in the 1980’s where it seemed most important to acquire as much â€Å"material† goods as possible. These ideas were also shown in the pop culture world as the artist Madonna made a hit song in the 80’s called â€Å"material girl† a song of the times basically about greed and gaining as material things as you possibly could with no shame of this greed. Also Gordon Gekko the fictional business tycoon in the film â€Å"Wall Street† stands up at board meeting to stress and states â€Å"Greed is good†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Greed will not only fix this malfunctioning corporation called Teldar paper, but also the other malfunctioning corporation called the U. S. of A. † There were even excesses being taken in sports, as Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds had greed of singles, doubles and stolen bases, also greed in gambling cost him his spot in Major League Baseball. It was also in this decade baseball experienced â€Å"free agency† destroying loyalties and players selling themselves to the highest bidder as player contracts doubled from just the decade before. Once these Republican policies had trickled down to popular culture it almost seemed to validate this style of politics, it seemed as if the Republicans ascendance to power had spawned this culture and decade of greed that was so actively embraced by the American public. With this these politicians simply stated that they were just acting in accordance to what the public’s wishes were. With this success that Reagan had in the 80’s America had once again began to reassert itself on the world stage after a challenging decade of struggling in the 1970’s. Reagan is thought to be responsible also for the victory in the cold war that had lasted for decades before his term. The new thinking in the 80’s was not that this was greed but more of what the Republicans called prosperity and success. Some of the negatives of these changes were Reagan deregulated everything which in effect destroyed competition and this created oligopolies. Some examples of these are in the airline industry he deregulated the industry causing every airline in the country, except 2 to become bankrupt, as the deregulation in the broadcast industry resulted in just a few major players like Disney and Clear Channel dominating the playing field. As for under the Reagan administration money in politics became more strong then ever and that still holds true today in the world of politics for it seems like we no longer have elections, we more like have auctions for where it seems the candidate who has the most money to spend on getting their name out is usually the one who wins in these political battles, especially for the Presidency. What this does now and back then in the 80’s where it started is a corporation who might want certain laws or tax breaks passed to better help their needs funds that candidate to get elected and then in turn expects them favors to be returned when that candidate is elected. This new concentration of wealth created a whole new class of millionaires, however on the downside for every millionaire there were several hundred homeless people. With this came more negativity that came with the corporate greed of the 80’s. For these people who became homeless and poor due to these millionaires greed were blamed for dragging down the economy by Republican politicians and their mouthpieces in the media, while the truth we found out later is that indeed it was these rich people who were ripping us off and actually were responsible for dragging down the economy. Going as far to blaming the poor the city of Los Angeles installed a fingerprint system to guard against welfare fraud that cost the city and hardworking tax payers 30 million dollars, and for all of this it caught one cheater. While at the same time â€Å"White collar† crime was rising and costing us more than street crime cost, also doing more damage and arguably causing more deaths. Reagan also had a deregulation of the savings and loans industry which was a total debacle and ended up costing Americans 500 billion dollars which is part of the still current banking problem that is going on today. Unfortunately Reagan also began the practice of sending American manufacturing jobs overseas, another move that made the rich even more rich and greedy and made the poor have even less than they did before. Despite all these negatives it can be argued that Ronald Reagan was the most important and influential President of the last 60 years, loved by the Republicans and loathed by the liberals. Reagan turned half a century of political and economic orthodoxy and turned it on its head. It can be argued that he turned those who were Roosevelt democrats. So whether you loved or hated Reagan there is no doubt that administration and the greed of 80’s is still alive today. My though would be if your rich, you like the corporate greed and excessiveness that took place in the 80’s, however if you are poor you are wondering why this turned out like it did.

Business Plan For Fashion Designer Company Best Looks Marketing Essay

Business Plan For Fashion Designer Company Best Looks Marketing Essay This business plan will feature a fashion designer company by the name Best Looks. The paper examines some of the strategies that the company does to ensure the success of the business. Company description Our company has realized the need to come up with a sound business plan which will guide the operations of our organization towards realizing high levels of economic growth and development. Our company will be manufacturing ladies casual wear ranging from blouses and trousers. This is an area which we are fully prepared to tap in the large market based on the fact that the world has become very sensitive when it comes to fashion. Apparently, this is one of the sectors which are witnessing a lot of growth in terms of moving large volume of sales due to the fact that people are spending more on clothing especially in the developed countries. Our target market for our clothing line will be young ladies between the age of 18 and 35. This is because this is the age which is very adventurous when it comes to fashion and highly treasures fashion designs. The mechanism that our company will put in place will be to ensure that the needs of our customers are fully met and thus we will shift our previous approach to production to give more attention to production of fancy ladies wear. This will be a very new venture for our organization because previously we have been dealing with manufacturing of official wears for both men and women of all age brackets. Therefore the location of our previous company did not matter a lot as long as it is in a strategic place in terms of total population. However, for the case of our new clothing line, a number of factors will have to be considered before settling on the best location. One of such factors is proximity to the target population which in this case is the fashion conscious youth. Therefore, this rules out any possibility of situating our business in the rural areas. Another factor that we have to consider is the spending capacity of the people in the location of our business. One thing to take note of is the fact of our products will be relatively expensive due to involvement of expertise in the production process and that the materials used for production are relatively expensive. This therefore means that the consumer will have to bear the extra cost by paying high costs for the garments. Therefore taking on these factors, we have settled on Texas City as the best place to situate our business. This is an area which is characterized by a lot of young working class populations not to mention the fact that there are many colleges and universities there which still form a ready market for our products. After such various deliberations we have settled on forming Best Looks as a start-up manufacturer of a clothing line targeted for females between 18 and 35. The role of Best Looks ranges from developing the clothing line to supporting it with promotions and advertisement to command a big market share in a highly competitive market set up. In the bid to ensure that, the company plans to strengthen its partnership with the retailers who are very important to the business development through a process of developing brand awareness. Best Looks therefore intends to market its new line as an alternative to the existing ones through differentiating itself from the others. This will be achieved through among other things applying the appropriate marketing strategies, high brand awareness and exclusiveness. The key message that is carried by the Best Looks includes upscale, classy, expensive and versatile. As a result, the promotional plan of the company will be very diverse and will include quite a big range of marketing communication. Vision One of the visions of Best Looks is to become the leading fashion designer company in United States and the rest of the world. The company also intends to see itself controlling about 95% of the total market share of United States and finally venture fully to other regions of the world. Mission The main mission of the company is to bring a new revolution to the world of fashion industry but moving in line with the changing trends in tastes and preferences of the people. Therefore the company will invest heavily in the research and development of new designs which match with the needs and demand. Objectives of the company The company has the following objectives To be the leading clothing line in America in terms of production of quality products. To open the market for upcoming similar markets in terms of sensitizing the public on various fashions and dress codes. To meet the existing demands for fashion and create new markets within and outside America. To create employment opportunities in the company in the country and outside. To establish a sound networks between the company and its clients through the use of appropriate marketing strategies. To be a leading exporter of ladies designer clothes to the rest of the world. The companys development will be effected in terms of stages. We recognize the fact that all the processes cannot take place overnight and therefore there is a need to implement the development of the company in stages. The first stage will involve production of the garments such as blouses and trousers. After ensuring that those products are already in the market, we will come up with Best Look perfumes to complement our design clothing line. Again the whole process of initiating production process will take effect on a moderate pace to avoid scenarios where business ends up with compromised qualities of products as a result of not taking time in proper product development. Things such as research and development come in handy in this area. This company intends to trade its shares in the stock exchange market. This move among other things will help in building a very strong capital base through getting the public resources from sale of shares. Other than that, the company will gain popularity by virtue of trading its shares in the stock exchange market. This means that in future, advertisements and other sales promotional strategies will be directed to a population which is already aware of the company and what it does. It therefore becomes very easy for such population to be convinced into buying and this will definitely translate into very high volume of sales for the company. One of the achievements of the company is that it has managed to collect a lot of information concerning the target market and their tastes and preferences. This is of great significance as far as understanding how to approach the whole process of manufacturing, the material to use as well as design. Product plan As earlier stated, the products being offered by our company will range from ladies fancy blouses and trousers for young ladies aged between 18 and 35. By considering that the garments are for young ladies, the trousers will be designed to be very fitting, which is one of the tastes of the young people. Other than that the designs of the trousers will range from high waist to low waist to cater for specific tastes of the clients. The materials will also range from silk to linen. When it comes it comes to the designing the blouses, most of them will be low-necked as it is preferred by many young people. The blouses in particular will come in wide variety of colors since the young people seem to be extremely adventures when it comes to the use of colors. Our products have unique characteristics which make them stand out from the rest of competitors products. One of such unique characteristics emanates from the fact that the material which makes the garments is easy to manage considering the fact that it does not crease easily. This attribute makes our garments preferable for those people do lot like spending time ironing out their cloths. It is important to patent our products to block our competitors from using anything exclusive to our brand for their own competitive advantage. The name Best Looks will be patented so that there will be no other clothing line which will be legally allowed to use the name. This name will serve as our brand name and thus every piece of clothing will bear the name. For us to operate within the country smoothly, it will be imperative for our company to ensure that it fully complies with the government requirement as far as registration of the company and other basic operation requirement is concerned. Registration of the company will come first. Due to the bureaucratic nature of the process, it will be important for our company to embark on this process early enough to avoid any unnecessary delays on the stipulated day of commencement of our business operations. Our product is very relevant to the state of art in the sense that it is features in some of the most recent designs as far as fashion is concerned. However, our products may be rendered obsolete by the fact that the dressing tastes of people seem to be changing day in day out and the worst fear will be for the ladies fashion taste to shift from trousers to something like dresses. This will mean that there will be minimal sales generated by the external factors. However, this is just but an isolated market scenario. Some of the liabilities that may be involved in the rung of the company will be the bad debts. In some cases, it is very normal for businesses to supply products at an agreement for future payment. This normally works on the basis of mutual trust which in some cases can prove to be inadequate. Under such circumstances, the person or the business being supplied with the products can default to make the payment as stipulated and upon numerous fruitless follow-ups; this finally ends up being counted as a bad debt. Under such circumstances, the company will be forced to bear this liability and devise a means of compensating such losses so as not to compromise with the normal running of the business. One of the things which make our company very unique is that is goes far beyond the provision of products to establish a personal relationship with the customers. For instance having an elaborate customer care is one of the qualities that Best Looks will borrow from its affiliate company. This attribute has been reported to work for the organization in maintaining the customer loyalty. It is through customer care services that the firm has been able to establish various issues and concerns of the customers and hence design appropriate ways of addressing them for the good of both the customer and the organization. Another aspect which makes the organization unique is that it puts issues such as social responsibility in the forefront as opposed to many other organizations within the industry. The products of the company are also very unique compared to that of the competitors in terms of versatility of designs, color and the material used. This makes the customer to base her decision on of buying on a very wide variety of products. Marketing plan Understanding the target market and its dynamics is very crucial in any business development. As earlier stated, our target market includes the young people who account for the greatest percentage in the total population of the country. However, the market is segmented into two units. To start with, there is that population consisting of college students mostly aged between 18 and 25. Other than that, the market is segmented into the age group between 25 and 35 years who majority fall in the working class category. These different segments of the population have varying spending power and so do their tastes of fashion vary to some extend. With such knowledge in mind, it becomes very easy for the company to adjust towards meeting the needs of each market segment because it matters a lot to see that the customers needs are well taken care of. The profile of our target customer includes classy, elegant, and expensive outfit. As it is the case with many people who are fashion-conscious, these are attributes which add glamour to their wardrobes and this is exactly what our company will take care of. Our company expects to take command of at least 75% of the market at its initial stages and move towards about 95% as it advanced to high levels of growth and development. With such a market share, it means that the total profitability of the company is well taken care of. Competition One factor worth noting is that the level of competition in the fashion industry has been growing daily. People have recognized the potential that this industry has and every one is trying every means possible to remain highly competitive. In Texas City where our business will be located, there are quite a number of similar businesses, some which have been in operation for an extended period of time. However, locating our business there will be an advantage in the sense that customers are already aware of the fact that they can get high quality designs in Texas. Therefore, the tasks that will lie a head o f us is to make our products as distinguished as possible from that of our competitors and hence make them stand out. One of the ways through which we will be able to ensure that our products are highly distinguished is by making sure that quality remains uncompromised for all our products. For any rational consumer especially aged between 18 and 35, quality comes first. In order to ensure quality production, our company will not take chances when it comes to high qualified personnel in both production and management. On top of that, job training will be given a lot of priority to ensure that workers are equipped with the necessary skills and expertise to enable to them perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Apart from that, out company will make use a pricing strategy which will put out prices relatively lower that that of our competitors. Price in any market scenario plays a very critical role in influencing peoples decision to purchase. Again, holding the quality constant, a rational consumer will go for a product which saves him or her an extra coin opposed to the reverse. This is one of those strategies which need to be approached with a lot of care because over-effecting it can compromise with the overall profitability of the company hence render our business unable to sustain itself. Therefore one of the ways through which the company will ensure that the companys products are priced lower that those of the competitors is to utilize economies of scale. This simply means mass producing the products and hence sourcing for raw material in large quantities. By so doing, the overall production cost will reduce by a significant margin and therefore it will be safe for the company to price its products low while still operating profitably. Other that enjoying the economies of scale, our company plans to cut down on the costs of production by minimizing the costs of labor. Most of production will be capital intensive as opposed to labor intensive. Our market research that we contacted in the area revealed that most of our competitors rely on walk in customers. This means that they do not make use of various sales awareness and promotional strategies to recruit more clients. Our company will take advantage of this and make proper use of the sales promotional tools to our advantage. One of our strongest competitors includes some Chinese manufacturing industries in Texas which have been in the business for the last ten years. They are a threat to our business because for one, for them to have stayed in the market for such a long time, they must be fully equipped with the necessary information concerning the market and that can be to our disadvantage. Other than that, it may take time for our products to penetrate due to the market dominance of these companies hence compromise with our overall success. However, our competition will not be based on how long a company has been in the market but will rather be a question of how well we can meet the needs of the customers while at the same time saving them an extra coin. Those are some of the attributes which will make our company stand out from the competitors. With the effecting of such approaches, I see the competitors loosing out in two to three years to come since our market share will be too high to allow the thriving of any other business within the region. Distribution channels matter a lot in any business because it determines how well or otherwise the products are availed to the consumer. Our customers are our biggest treasures and thus we will make use of distribution channels which ensure fast delivery of the products to their proximity. Marketing strategy Our marketing plan will include a process creating awareness whole at the same time persuading customers to purchase our products. With more and more people using the internet, this will be a perfect place for us to carry out our marketing. Social networks such as face book and the twitter will be in on the frontline to tap in the market there since statistics have that the highest population there is the young people who are our target group. Using internet as one of our marketing tool will render the whole process less costly as compared to other channels of advertisement wile reaching a very large volume of customers in every part of the globe (Ford, 2007). Other than internet, our company will make use of the social media such as television. The timing in which the advertisements appear in the television is very critical and our company fully takes note of that. For instance, when the advertisement is aired in between the news broadcasting, it is likely that a very large number of people will be watching and thus meaning that it will reach a very large number of people. Therefore, it will matter a lot for us to settle on the best time to place our adverts on the television. The marketing of our products will use the most appealing photos as possible. It is important to note that the kind of material used in any advertisements plays a big role in creating the image of the product in the eyes of the consumer. Therefore our company will not take chances with this fact when designing the adverts. Our company will own many outlets throughout the Texas City and other major cities in the country. Those outlets will be fully stocked with the products. Distribution of the outlets in all major cities will save the customers the time and resources they could use in terms of traveling costs involved when the product is accessed from a centralized place. Proper display of those products in the outlets will matter a lot and is something which will be given a lot of priority in our marketing plan to ensure that the customers are presented with a good view of the products stocked in those outlets. Our marketing strategies will stretch further in the world of beauty pageants where we will be sponsoring various modeling events. Among the things which we will do is to let the beauty pageants model various clothes from our clothing line. This will not only be a perfect opportunity for us to popularize our various designs but will also be a good opportunity for our customers to sample each individual design based on how it comes out when worn by the models. The many institutions of learning around Texas City form a very good avenue for marketing our products through the beauty pageants since such activities are quite prevalent there. Being Part of the social responsibility is an avenue for marketing our products. Social responsibility simply means taking part in the community activities that directly touch on the life of people. For instance, sponsoring a walk to raise money to aid some people who are starving in some countries in the world is just but an example of being a part and parcel of social responsibility. Through being part of the social responsibility, our company will get in touch with the customers at the grassroots not to mention the fact that it will build its image and brand personality. The social responsibility on our organization will be not be limited only to taking part in the events that touch on our target population but will be rather focus on all social realms and focus on circumstances faced by the society at large. Our marketing plan will work beyond geographic boundaries to serve customers in almost every part of the world. According to a research that we previously conducted, it is quite evident that there is a ready market for our products in other parts of the globe which is untapped. It is one of our objectives to go international and expand our client base. So far our company has identified a market in some African countries such as South Africa and Kenya. It therefore means that the supplies of our products will extent further to meet the international demand. In order to ensure that we remain profitable, we will be exporting in bulk and use cheapest options of transport such as ships. This will cut down our operating costs significantly hence make our products fairly affordable to the consumer. When it comes to selling, special skills will be needed. First and foremost, it would be important to equip those who are dealing directly with the customers with crucial knowledge on how best to handle them. This will include listening to their concerns and assisting them where possible in the move towards building a good relationship with them which is very crucial in our business success. Our company fully appreciates the input of our sales force since they are the back bone of our business. It is for this reason that our company will come up with sound remuneration scales as a way of motivating them towards realization of the goals and objectives of the organization. The significance of motivating employees in any institution cannot be overemphasized since its direct relationship with job performance is very evident. Apart from the remuneration package, our company will provide a supporting environment to nurture and grow the potential each individual employee in which capacity he or she serves. Therefore, it will be duty of the people in the top management positions to help effect this aspect. As I had earlier stated, our business just as many other in various industries cannot avoid advancing credit facilities to its clients from time to time. However, this should be done in a lot of moderation and skepticism as well. Our company will first and foremost carry out a thorough evaluation of credit worthiness of our clients to avoid landing our self in bad bets. The financial position in case of corporate client will also be of great significance in settling on the decision on where to advance credit facilities or not. This information can be obtained from analyzing the accounting records of the client. On top of that, our company will ensure that it avoids long term debts since most of them end up being bad ones (Thomas, 2001). Too many debts can pull down our company and that is why it would be imperative for the business to take this issue seriously and make rational decisions. To follow up our debts, we will engage debt collectors to do it on our behalf. This will help in protecting our relationship with customers since the debt collectors will literally do everything as far as ensuring that our debtors pay. Dealing with the customers directly in this case would make our relationship to be compromised and it can in turn affect our business. Today, almost every organization appreciates the importance of employing marketing strategies in the effort to boost sales. This is a factor that my competitors are taking seriously. This is therefore a shared approach to business between our company and our competitors. However, what varies is the application of varying marketing strategies. It is the nature of many businesses to experience seasonal peaks. This is the time when the business is highly booming and its during that time an organization can maximize on its profits. Therefore, the business should strategize itself into tapping in the increased business and translating it into high profit margins. For the case of our business, seasonal peaks are experienced during the summer. At this period, people can feel free to adventure with fashions w since the weather conditions permit so. Considering the material making our clothes, it is obvious that such clothing is only suitable for a relatively warm weather conditions. Management Plan The management team will be mandated to run the organization. It is this team that has greatest role to play in the success of the business. In the organization, team work will be highly emphasized because this will result into working towards realizing a common goal. The hierarchy of management consists of the managing director to unit managers. It will be the duty and responsibility of each manager to ensure that the people working under him or her embrace the policies of hard work towards the organizational devolvement. The manager will also be responsible for motivating the workers from time to time to boost their productivity. Therefore one of the basic qualities of the managers will be their ability to exhibit high levels of leadership skills Other than that, education background will matter since a lot of emphasis will be placed on people with adequate training in management related courses because we believe that such people will be well equipped with the necessary knowledge to enable them to take up the roles of managers within the company. At the moment there are quite a number of vacant positions which need to be filled as soon as possible for the business operations to kick start. Below is a table showing the vacant position and the respective annual packages Vacant position Annual package in USD Operations manager 120,000 Branch manager 170,000 Production manager 120,000 Marketing manager 140,000 Quality control manager 160,000 Though the supervisors may not fall under managers, their roles cannot be overlooked. Our company will recruit about five supervisors to help oversee various processes within the organization. Their annual package will range from 50000 to 70,000 US depending on their scope of duties. Employee motivation will be one of our key values to embrace. This will be done through carrying out performance appraisals to rank each individual employee accordingly depending on how they perform their duties. The employees ranked highest will be rewarded as a way of motivating them. This will also be a challenge for others to emulate the ones who are awarded hence bringing competition within the organization. This will work to the advantage of the company since every employee will be striving towards improved performance. The personnel will not be left out either when it comes to motivation. It is obvious that personnel who are not motivated cannot afford to motivate his or her subordinates. They should therefore be motivated from time to time to enable them perform their duties well. Training of employees remains very central in any organization. Our company values employee training a lot and as a result, the company has allocated a considerable portion of its budge towards trai ning the employees. Through this, the employees will be equipped with the necessary knowledge as pertaing to their duties within the organization. The Company will outsource training managers from some of the most highly reputable organizations in the country to impart the appropriate knowledge to the employees. The issue of employee training will be made from time to time; that is, there should be at least a training session once after every two weeks. The management team will be responsible for organizing these training. It is the duty of the human resource manager in collaboration with the other relevant managers to assess the performance f the employees for the purposes of appraisal. For instance, a marketing manager will be better placed to rank a person in the sales team. Subcontracting will help our organization save on the costs of recruiting and training personnel to fill in various positions. Our company will therefore make use of this in various production activities. For instance during the peak season when the business is booming, we will sub-contract people to form our workforce. This will supply the extra labor required to cater for the production towards meeting the extra demand. It will be the duty of the quality control manager to ensure that substandard products do not find their way not the market since this would compromise with the standard we want to set in the market. Operating Plan As we have earlier stated, we will make use of subcontracting in the production process. This will cut down on operating costs by some margin and also ensure high production since we will see to subcontract people with a good record of performance. The production process will require the use of various machines and equipment. It means that the company will have to invest a lot in the state of the art equipment to guarantee better quality. Some of the equipment will be source from abroad. It will therefore call for specialized people to operate these equipments and this is where the significance of training comes out clearly. Inventory control is very important because a situation where the rate at which the products are made is far much higher than the rate at which they are distributed can result into pilling a lot of stock for such a long time, something which can compromise with the quality with time. The environment in which our business is situated has both positive and negative impacts. First, most people in the area are every fashion conscious and therefore it will not take much time for people to start appreciating our new fancy designs. Another advantage is that people have very high purchasing power and this translates into moving high volume of sales. As for the disadvantages, the weather conditions here get so chilly sometimes thus discouraging people from wearing our designs (Berry, 2008). Financial Plan In our financial projections, we will assume that all factors will work in favor of our business and that we will be able to operate profitably. The projected revenues for the first three months will be estimated at 5000,000 dollars per month. However, we plan to keep our expenses at minimal levels as possible to be in a position to maximize out profits , for instance this is a breakdown of some of the consist that we will incur in the first month of production. Cost of raw materials 500,000 Wages and salaries 1,000,000 Cost of marketing 500,000 Fuel costs 500,000 Total 2,500,000 Therefore the profits fro the first month will stand at 2,500,000 dollars. i.e. profit = total revenue -total cost =5,000, 000-2,500,000 = 2, 500,000 dollars Our business will try as much as possible to stay away from funding its operations from debts. This is because debts come with a very high cost in terms of interest rates. Therefore most of the operations will be funded from equity. Legal Plan The business will operate like a limited company. This will mean that the liabilities of the company will be limited. This form of business has a number of advantages. With limited companies, we can decide to list our shares in the stock market to boost our equity. Other than that, each shareholder is entitled to particular shares of the organization depending on his or her contribution. Our company works in collabora

Free Essays - The Fools of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead :: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Essays

At first glance, one might believe that the only things Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead has in common with William Shakespeare's Hamlet are Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and the segments of Hamlet Stoppard pasted in his play. Looking more closely, however, one would observe that the most extreme absurdities of Stoppard's play are derived from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Particulars of Stoppard's play that might at first be considered simply ridiculous improbabilities (such as the fact that they cannot remember their own names, and the acceptance which with they view their own deaths) later surface as mockery of disturbing details in Hamlet. The most notable derivation from Shakespeare's Hamlet that Stoppard imparts to his play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, is the lack of identity both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern share. In Hamlet, these characters are identified solely as Hamlet's childhood friends, are interchangeable with respect to characterization, and it is left unclear as to whether they were aware of the fact that they were sending Hamlet to his death. In Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz introduces himself and his friend by saying, "My name is Guildenstern, and this is Rosencrantz." The lack of definition between the characters continues to such an extent that the reader has difficulty differentiating between the two. Stoppard's emphasis upon this lack of characterization seems to state that these deaths, meaningless to Hamlet, should have been allowed to signify something to the audience (in regard to Hamlet's character). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern might at least have been more clearly delineated in thei r intent, whether it was malicious or simply ignorant of the truth. Another detail of Shakespeare's Hamlet that Stoppard capitalizes on in his play is the unquestioning manner in which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern accept directives from the king. In Hamlet, these two are summoned; they come. They are asked to delve into the life of a childhood friend with whom they have had no contact hor some time; they try. Free Essays - The Fools of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead :: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Essays At first glance, one might believe that the only things Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead has in common with William Shakespeare's Hamlet are Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and the segments of Hamlet Stoppard pasted in his play. Looking more closely, however, one would observe that the most extreme absurdities of Stoppard's play are derived from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Particulars of Stoppard's play that might at first be considered simply ridiculous improbabilities (such as the fact that they cannot remember their own names, and the acceptance which with they view their own deaths) later surface as mockery of disturbing details in Hamlet. The most notable derivation from Shakespeare's Hamlet that Stoppard imparts to his play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, is the lack of identity both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern share. In Hamlet, these characters are identified solely as Hamlet's childhood friends, are interchangeable with respect to characterization, and it is left unclear as to whether they were aware of the fact that they were sending Hamlet to his death. In Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz introduces himself and his friend by saying, "My name is Guildenstern, and this is Rosencrantz." The lack of definition between the characters continues to such an extent that the reader has difficulty differentiating between the two. Stoppard's emphasis upon this lack of characterization seems to state that these deaths, meaningless to Hamlet, should have been allowed to signify something to the audience (in regard to Hamlet's character). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern might at least have been more clearly delineated in thei r intent, whether it was malicious or simply ignorant of the truth. Another detail of Shakespeare's Hamlet that Stoppard capitalizes on in his play is the unquestioning manner in which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern accept directives from the king. In Hamlet, these two are summoned; they come. They are asked to delve into the life of a childhood friend with whom they have had no contact hor some time; they try.