Narcotics in the 3rd World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Narcotics in the 3rd World - Essay Example It is a well known fact that Colombia is the only country in the world where the three main plant based illegal drugs are produced in significant amounts and it is involved in illegal drug production, international smuggling and marketing. In the 1980s Colombia became the largest cocaine producer in the world and in the 90s it also became the largest coca grower nation. Additionally, it is also said to produce and supply the major share of heroin consumed in the USA and exports illegal marijuana. In the past few decades illegal drug production and trafficking in Colombia has signed the country’s history. In fact it can be said that in no other country in the history of the world in this illegal market of drugs has had so dramatic social, political and economic effects. The lack of proper policy system to control this market has been a major drawback in Colombia and has contributed greatly to changes in institutions and values. This market has been used to generate funds for left and right wing armed actors of the indefinite war experienced in the country (Thoumi, 2002). These are some of the major reasons that Colombia drug system is so unstable compared to the other countries. Drug-trafficking capital continues to exercise substantial power and influence in Colombia and internationally. This is mainly because Colombia is able to meet its need for raw materials to be processed into psychoactive substances for which there is a demand in world markets (Vargas, 2000). Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan form the Golden Cescent countries. Golden Triangle countries include Laos, Thailand and Myanmar and these are the regions responsible for the majority of opium, heroin and cocaine production. In fact though these groups financed their needs through drug production and trafficking, they cannot be compared to the Colombia market. Colombia is in the middle of an institutional crisis characterized by

The following is an analysis of the IKEA Essay Example for Free

The following is an analysis of the IKEA Essay The following is an analysis of the IKEA case study found in the Strategic Management Text book. This analyses the strategies used by IKEA to gain competitive advantage in markets outside its original area. The report begins by providing a background into IKEA. It studies International Business Level Strategy and the three international corporate level strategies. The case study goes into informing its target market and pricing strategy, which is already discussed. This case study further says how different people in different parts of the world thinks about IKEA, how elegant their designs are and how affordable for them to purchase IKEA products. Some of IKEA’s main markets are in three of the fastest growing markets such as Russia, US and China. IKEA store bring out products such as furniture to small product like a scented candle. IKEA has over 1300 suppliers in about 53 countries. They further have 12 full time in- house designers with 80 free lancers and other production workers to identify the correct raw materials and produce products ef? ciently and cost effectively. Primarily, IKEA produced standardized products however; this international strategy did not work for one of its vital markets that is, US. Therefore, they had to emphasize on taking corrective actions. The report also analyses the entry methods used by IKEA and its sustainability. IKEA was founded by Ingvar Kamprad a native of Sweden in 1943, when the founder, at the age of 17 was given money by his father in return for doing well in his studies. This money was used to start up his own company, IKEA, which stood for his intials and the ? rst letters of the farm and village in which he grew up. The company initially sold basic items such as pens, picture frames, table runners, wallets, jewellery, nylons stockings and watches, at a low price(History of ikea, 2010). Furniture was ? rst introduced into the IKEA range of products in 1948, and due to a positive response, the product line increased in size. Customers were allowed the ability of viewing and touching the furniture that was previously only viewable through catalogue. IKEA opened a showroom in Sweden to create a competitive advantage, due to a price war with their main competitor, so that customers could determine whether they were getting value for money. Finally IKEA made the decision to design its own furniture due to competitors trying to make suppliers boycott IKEA products. The â€Å"? at-packs and self assembly† concepts arose when an employee disassembled a table in order to prevent damage during transport (History of ikea, 2010). In 1963 the ? rst IKEA store outside of Sweden was established in Norway. From this point on, IKEA began to spread like a wild? re, ? rst to Denmark, then Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Canada, Austria and Netherlands. Many alliances were struck up with different suppliers in order to introduce new products, together with new concepts, which led to costeffectiveness. One example was an innovative, multifunctional seat/recliner, which was made by utilizing a denim, a raw material from another industry, which could be obtained at a low cost. In 1980, together with the new furniture concepts being born at certain intervals, IKEA was looking to expand to further markets, and did so through franchising. To ensure continuation and long term independence of IKEA, the founder created a new ownership structure and organisation. The major portion of IKEA was donated to a foundation, while the right to franchise the IKEA concept worldwide remained with the IKEA group of companies. In the 1990’s, the IKEA market expanded not only geographically, but in terms of target market. The company began to design furniture that catered expressly to children. A website was launched to cater to the many markets that were now open, and the children’s line was enhanced on consultation with experts on with experts to develop play areas, room settings, and baby areas within the stores themselves. Kitchen-ware and kitchen areas were another concept developed in this period. IKEA also began participating in a number of forestry projects to ensure sustainability, by taking responsibility for developing acceptable practices and policies in countries where IKEA works. IKEA Case Study 4 Company Outline IKEA is a world renowned furnishing company reputed for selling Scandinavian-style furniture and other home-based goods. The company has 230 stores, with operations carried out in over 42 countries with well over 70 000 employees. The stores themselves can host 410 million shoppers per year. It is a Swedish based company built on the idea of offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products such low prices, that a majority of people will be able to afford them. The IKEA group is currently solely owned by the INGKA Foundation through a holding company, unlisted on any stock exchange. The vision at IKEA is to â€Å"create a better everyday life for the many people†(Ikea, 2011). The main business of IKEA supports this vision, by the manufacture and selling of a wide range of home furnishing products at an affordable price. Since the ethos of IKEA is to make good quality products at an affordable price, the company has succeeded in development of costeffective and innovative production methods. This has been the company’s focus since its inception, and the company has succeeded in doing so by making the maximum use out of raw materials, and adapting the products to meet people’s needs. 04-02-18 Currently, in addition to the historical additions to the IKEA range, customers can now shop online. Other innovations include 2 the boards with patterns created on them directly, called â€Å"print on board†, in addition to a concept known as â€Å"product !! Expert where returned products are repaired instead of equipment etc where possible. recovery concept†functions such as IT, food services, retailbeing thrown awayoperates under economies of scale and is supportive to the basic operations !! IKEA of Sweden AB is responsible for the range design, purchase from etc The majority of the operations occur within the retail business; while IKEA does developmentexternal suppliers, in addition !! Inter IKEA systems B. V (The Netherlands) owns the IKEA concept and trademark which the company produces its own products through their industrial group known as Swedwood. is bought by the retail operations but is also sold to outside operators on a franchising basis !! The furniture is purchased through purchasing operations (trading service offices) in 33 countries with 1800 suppliers in 55 countries. !! The distribution operations covers 25 regional distribution centres in 14 countries supplying goods to the stores !! The retail operations are geographically organised with a specific organisation for Retail Europe

hamlet metaphor Essay -- essays research papers

Iterative use of vivid and detailed imagery in a piece of literature is often a way of expressing a theme or concept in a literary work. This is the case in William Shakespeare"'"s Hamlet, a revenge tragedy that continually depicts the vibrant metaphors of manifesting corruption and festering disease in order to auger the impending calamities in the state of Denmark. Throughout Shakespeare"'"s play, there are successive images of deterioration, decay and death. These images are skilfully accomplished through the use of metaphors of rotting and dead gardens. Shakespeare wonderfully creates these metaphors that add great dimension to the play of Hamlet. The garden metaphor is all throughout the play of Hamlet. This metaphor can be viewed in many different ways. Firstly it can be seen as the state that Denmark is in under Claudius"'"s rule and how he is the wrong person in power. A garden is dependent upon two things: the rule of nature and the tender care of the gardener. Claudius, being the gardener, does not tend to his garden, Denmark, adequately enough so the garden begins to decay and eventually succumbs to his poor care. Another way of interpreting the garden metaphor is to see it as a reference to the Garden of Eden and more importantly, the eventual fall of man. Denmark was once under a beautiful rule by Hamlet Sr. but then is overcome by the malignant rule of Claudius and his crooked ways. Similarly, Adam and Eve once lived in the beautiful Garden of Eden but then were exiled to the wilderness of the earth because of their crooked ways. While these are only two of many interpretations of the garden metaphor, these are very important in creating the images of sickness, decay and death in William Shakespeare"'"s Hamlet. One of the many instances in Hamlet where gardens are used to project themes of death and decay is in Act 1, Scene 2 where Hamlet says '"'"'"Tis an unweeded garden / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely'"' (135-137). In this short passage, which is also Hamlet"'"s first soliloquy, Shakespeare introduces the thought of a rotting garden. This '"'unweeded garden'"' is Denmark"'"s state before Claudius"'"s rule. It shows that under Claudius"'"s rule Denmark '"'grows to seed'"' from his ... ...d death for Hamlet and Denmark. Another great way Shakespeare references to a garden is through the character of Ophelia. In the beginning of the play, Ophelia is vibrant with life and beauty, just like a growing flower. Ophelia represents the innocence of Elsinore, a vast contrast to the corruption of Claudius. She personifies a flower in the metaphorical garden. Under Claudius"'"s rule, Denmark starts to decay and become overcome with weeds just as a garden would if it was left unattended. Similarly, Ophelia is a growing flower but when Claudius becomes king, we start to see Ophelia fall apart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.need to finish paragraph William Shakespeare"'"s Hamlet, Shakespeare does a brilliant job of creating a metaphor between the doom of Denmark and a garden. His use of these metaphors created a sense of disease and death that gave readers an allusion towards Denmark"'"s unenviable fate under Claudius"'"s malignant rule. These continuous images create a reoccurring theme of death and decay in Hamlet. While there are many other ways Shakespeare insinuates to the theme, the metaphors between the dying garden and the state of Denmark are of the finest.

Lucy Essay Essay

We all realize that us humans have some sort of relation to apes and chimpanzees, but what evolved us from them to becoming bipedal hominids? In this essay I will be inculcating you about the evolution of humans, the captivating discovery of Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis, and how her uncovering of a new species is so important to our advancement. Lucy is our oldest, most complete human ancestor and it lead to a controversial change in our view of human origins. Lucy is a 3. 15 million year old female hominid, of the genus Australopithecus, whose skeleton was uncovered on November 24, 1974 by Donald C. Johanson and Tom Gray in the Hadar region of Ethiopia. Donald Johanson’s first discovery consisted of a few pieces of a knee bone. He sent the bones to Owen Lovejoy, who was an anatomist and part-time forensic expert. He then examined the bone fragments and concluded that they appeared human, that the joint could â€Å"lock†, which meant the animal could walk upright. This was an important discovery showing an ancient bipedal creature. They named their discovery, â€Å"Lucy† in reference to the well-known Beatles song â€Å"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds†, which played over and over as they celebrated their findings. While only 40% of the skeleton was found, this uncovering of Lucy was very fascinating and answered many questions to our human evolution because it was the missing link between apes and the upbringing of hominids. The discoverers called Lucy, Australopithecus afarensis which stands for â€Å"southern ape of the Afar region†. This genus was one of the earliest species of hominids; the family of bipedal primates also includes homo hablis and homo erectus. While Australopithecus and Homo species vary in many ways, both hominids share common characteristics that define them as a group. The most distinct of these traits is bipedal locomotion, which means they could walk upright instead on being on all fours like apes. The particular and revolutionary characteristics of Lucy is that she had a small skull, a bipedal knee structure, molars, and front teeth of human form and size. Lucy’s skeleton proves that her kind was bipedal by the shape of her pelvis and the angle the femur takes from the hip socket to the knee joint. From her waist down she was hominid, and from her waist up she was still ape, as her skull was still the size of a chimpanzee. Her brain size varies in range from 365 to 385 cubic centimeters and had hand and motor cortex. Her species has a prolonged mouth, strong brow line, and a small forehead. She stood about three and a half feet high and weighed 60-65 pounds. The males were about twice the females size ranging from four to four and a half feet tall. This species also had about 100-120 different calls, hand gestures and signals. This suggests a intricate social and mating system. Evidence shows that she was probably young but fully mature when she died of natural causes. Her corpse is likely known to have sunk into a lake and over millions of years, the lake dried up, buried, and harden her bones which eventually fossilized them and preserved them for us to discover. The following year, again at the famous site of Hadar, Ethiopia, Donald Johanson’s team made the ground breaking discovery of the fossilized remains of some 13 individuals, known as the â€Å"First Family†. They believed that at that time, there was a mud slide that buried and killed tons of these creatures, in all age range, from babies to adults, both male and females. This was believed to be the oldest evidence of human ancestors living in groups. It had also provided us with much more understanding of their lifestyle and habitat. Lucy lived at a time when the Hadar region was not a desert environment like it is today. Instead, it was thought to be more like a woodlands and savannah domain. A. farensis, was not totally ape and yet not quite human, is thought to have probably lived in a variety of habitats. Having evolved into being bipedal as an adaptation to living in the open areas, like grasslands with few trees. They were thought to feed for seeds, berries, fruit, tubers, nuts and termites. The benefit of being able to walk upright gave them the advantage of free hands to grab food or carry their young, looking over high grassland, and developing a bigger brain. Unfortunately for them, they had long dry seasons with no rain which made the food source scarce. Without bipedalism we wouldn’t be able to develop into the hominids that we have become. The Hardy Weinberg’s equation is important for the concept of population genetics. In order for Hardy-Weinberg’s equilibrium of no evolution occurring to work, the following seven conditions must be met: no mutations must occur so that new alleles do not enter, no gene flow can occur, random mating must occur, everyone produces the same number of offspring, the population must be large so that there is no genetic drift, natural selection is not occurring, and all members are breeding in the population. This equation does not work with humans because we do not randomly mate. Usually individuals choose a spouse who has positive attributes that they like, which can include personality, taste, attractive, good with children, intelligence, sometimes race/color, height, humor, etc. In Lucy terms they would want someone who is a good hunter, provider, and smart but they wouldn’t get that option of being picky because they couldn’t travel very far to selection their peculiar mate. Also, natural selection happens all the time as well as mutations but most are not harmful. So if you were to apply this to the A. afarensis, the majority would disprove this equation. A. afarensis were also good at tool making. They used horns and bones as tools but not as weapons, as many people though they did. Also, they would use some stone tools that were known to be the breaking dawn to human technology. Their main predators were â€Å"big cats† such as lions and leopards. They had little to no protection which made them easy prey. Leopards were excellent climbers but they could not climb as well as apes which made it hard to escape. Also the lions are very patient creatures, so they would wait under the tree until they would could down and then they would eat them. Eventually, the robust A. afarensis, a. boisei, a. robustus and a. aeithiopicus would go extinct but the gracile Homo Habilis, which was discovered 2. 6 million years ago by Lewis Leaky, would go on to become our ancestors. In Africa, some of the animals that relied on forest died out because it was too dry. For example, during this period Lucy had disappeared because this species cant survive in that situation. But other species evolved by exploring different dietary sources that were available in that time. For example, many evolved physical adaptations to graze on the new species of plant life called grass that colonized the deforested terrain. The same seems to have happened to our ancestors, who had previously relied on forest foods such as soft fruit. We just kept evolving as the millions of years went by and adapting to new environments. In this essay, as you can see, Lucy was an astonishing discovery and was the missing link to our upbringing. This species was bipedal and hominid from the waste down, ape like from the waist up. They were also smarter than chimps with their different hand and motor cortex, their tool use, and brain size. Without the constant concept and knowledge of evolution occurring, our species would have never of came about but we are very fortunate for this discovery and to be who we are in this world today.

Beer Advertising Values Essay

Stephan Dahl Cultural Values in Beer Advertising in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany Presented at the Research Day, Intercultural Discourse Group, University of Luton , UK– July 2000 Available Online: http://dahl. at/ Introduction Is it possible to persuade consumers in different markets with the same advertising message? Will they respond favourably? Or should the advertising message be customised to reflect local culture? This question is one of the most fundamental decisions when planning an advertising campaign in different cultural areas, and, not surprisingly, one of the most frequently discussed issues in advertising today. One fraction in this debate emphasises that the world is growing ever closer, and that the world can be treated as one large market, with only superficial differences in values (Levitt, 1983). In their view, advertising and marketing can be standardised across cultures, and the same values can be used to persuade customers to buy or consume the product. Another fraction is content with the fact that the basic needs may well be the same around the world, however the way in which these needs are met and satisfied differs from culture to culture. Any marketing (and advertising) campaign should, in their view, reflect the local habits, lifestyles and economical conditions in order to be effective. In 1985, Woods et al. concluded in a study of consumer purpose in purchase in the US, Quebec and Korea, that â€Å"important differences are found in the reasons why they [the consumers] purchase products familiar to all three countries†. Central to this debate, are two issues: The product position and usage within the culture of the market, and the decoding of the advertising message. Both are, obviously, linked to some extend. An advertising message encoded in one culture has to be decoded in another culture in the case of standardised marketing. This process may be subject to severe distortions, as the receiver will decode the message in his/her own cultural context. A standardised approach could hence run into the danger, that the message will be unconvincing, as it does not meet the psychological â€Å"triggers† required to evoke a purchase decision with the consumer. Given Woods et al. research , this appears to be a problem that marketers should be clearly aware of. In order to understand the decoding process in the target market, it will be essential to study the product perceptions and reasons for purchase, as well as the product’s place in the target culture. An example of this would include wine, perceived as a relative â€Å"special occasion† drink in most northern European countries, however understood as an every day drink in most Southern European countries, where it is seen similar to the beer’s perception in Northern Europe. To market a table wine as † add a touch of luxury to every day† (German advertising) would undoubtedly appear strange and possibly confusing to Southern European consumers. Conversly, when advertising washing powder, consumers in both northern as well as southern European markets may expect information on the effectiveness of the product to dominate the commercial. As an increasing number of researchers has pointed out (Caillat & Mueller, 1996), that it is important not only to study advertising in general, but to concentrate on differences in product categories in order to find prevailing differences in advertising style and values. Caillat & Mueller (1996) themselves published a comparison for beer advertising in the UK and the US, concluding that the â€Å"differences between British and American advertising were significant, indicating that consumers of the two countries are currently exposed to distinct styles of commercial messages based on different cultural values†. Equally, Cheng & Schweitzer (1996), after examining Chinese and US television commercials, concluded: â€Å"We also found that cultural values depicted in Chinese television commercials have much to do with product categories†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This paper focuses, like the Caillat & Mueller study, on the values portrayed in beer advertising. The countries studied are the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, all of which posses a long tradition in brewing and the consumption of beer. Equally, in all three countries, beer is similar in market positioning, i. e. it is viewed as an every-day drink, consumed dominantly by males. No assumptions were made which values were to be expected in any one country to be dominantly displayed in beer commercials, but all commercials were studied a priori empirically to identify dominant themes. Additionally, the use of humour and the occasion for product usage were recorded in all three countries. The Market for Beer Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink in all three countries, and the per capita consumption is higher than the European average of around 70 l /p. a. p. c.. In 1998, the per capita beer consumption was the highest in Germany, with 127. 4 l, followed by the UK, with 99. 4 l and the Netherlands, with 84. 2 l (World Drink Trends, 1999). The beer consumption in all three countries has declined steadily over the last years. This development has put additional pressure for effective marketing communications on the breweries. Table 1: Evolution of beer consumption per capita in selected countries Rank Country 1995 1996 1997 1998 1 Czech Republic 156. 9 157. 3 161. 4 161. 8 2 Republic of Ireland 138. 6 145. 4 152. 0 150. 5 3 Germany 135. 9 131. 9 131. 2 127. 4 7 United Kingdom 100. 9 101. 9 103. 6 99. 4 12 Netherlands 85. 8 85. 5 86. 3 84. 2 13 US 83. 6 83. 5 83. 2 82. 0 39 Italy 25. 4 24. 0 25. 4 26. 9 Litres p. c. / Source: World Drink Trends, 1999 Advertising regulation Advertising for alcoholic beverages is heavily regulated in all three markets. In the UK, advertising of alcoholic beverages is regulated by a self-imposed code of conduct of the Advertising Association, as well as the regulations of the Independent Television Commission (for television). In Germany, the Zentralverband der deutschen Werbewirstchaft and the Deutscher Werberat have published similar rules governing the advertising on television. In the Netherlands, the Stichting Stuurgroep Reclame and the Vereniging van Communicatieadviesbureaus has also published appropriate guidelines. An overview of the legal environment, and the restrictions imposed by these guidelines, is given in the table below. Methodology The primary objective of this study is to determine weather or not the same advertising themes and appeals are used in all three countries to persuade customers to buy (or consume) beer, and to identify the dominant appeals used. In order to achieve that objective, television commercials for beer have been collected in all three countries. In order to minimise distortion, only advertising for beers originating from the country have been selected. The commercials were recorded during March/April 2000 from the following television channels: 2 Table 3: Channels used for collection of television commercials Country UK Netherlands Germany Channels ITV-Carlton Channel 4 Channel 5 Sky One Granada Plus Nederland 1/2/3 RTL 4 RTL 5 Veronica SBS 6 Net 5 ARD ZDF RTL Plus Sat 1 Pro 7 Kabel 1 During this time, a total of 25 unique television commercials were recorded: 9 for the UK, 6 for the Netherlands and 10 for Germany. Although the population in this study is fairly small, it is hoped that the results are sufficient to establish an exploratory overview of advertising appeals used. The commercials were then qualitatively content analysed to establish the dominant appeal used in each commercial. In order to be as open minded as possible, no list of expected appeals or themes were identified prior to the analysis. Once the dominant appeal used in each commercial had been identified, these appeals were combined to form five categories of dominant appeals: friendship, sex, sport, tradition and relaxation. The category friendship included all commercials that focused around drinking beer in a group of friends, or with a friend, where the consumption of beer was depicted overwhelmingly as a social activity, or implied as such. A commercial was judged to use â€Å"sex appeal†, if it depicted members of the opposite sex making advances towards the main character, if they spoke seductively or were dressed in a manner that may be interpreted as erotic. Sport includes all commercials that make a clear reference to sports of all forms, show main characters involved in sporting activities or after sports. Commercials focusing on the tradition of the brewery or the product, showed historic buildings or images or were set in a historical background were judged to have â€Å"tradition† as the dominant appeal. Finally, commercials showing the main character in a clearly relaxing situation, where the main character consumed beer primarily as a way to unwind and relax ( mostly alone), were judged to use â€Å"relaxation† as the dominant appeal. Mueller (1996) reported a large number of British commercials used humour to advertise beer. In order to see if this was equally true for Dutch and German commercials the use of humour was equally coded as present or not present. Alcohol commercials, particularly in Britain, have often been criticised that they imply that the consumption of alcoholic beverages may enhance sexual attractiveness. In order to establish if this appeal is used, special attention was given to the role of characters of the opposite sex to the main character(s) in the commercials. This appeal is especially 3 complicated to establish, particularly as the UK-code of conduct rules this appeal out, and an open display of this appeal would lead to the suspension of the commercial. However, as anecdotal evidence of this theme was evident, it was included in the study. If these characters appeared to display any form of erotic symbol or gesture to the main character after or during consumption of beer, or if their dress was found to be explicitly erotic in nature, the appeal was judged to be present. This was particularly upheld if these characters were shown full screen. If they appeared merely as present, alongside other secondary characters, this appeal was judged not to be present. The occasion for product usage was also recorded. As Mueller (1996) described a significant difference between the usage of beer in US- and British commercials, the product usage was coded using Mueller’s coding procedure. This involved to scan the commercials for either regular (or every-day type) usage, special occasion usage or usage not shown in the commercial. Each commercial was analysed by a resident native of the country, and by the researcher, who is fluent in all three languages. Each coder coded the respective commercials independently, and later conferred with the researcher. All differences in coding were discussed, and finally resolved. Results Humour Humour was analysed by trying to identify a joke or some funny twist in the commercials, and was classified as either present, or absent. Typical examples of humorous advertising include where the commercial tells a funny story, uses irony or makes fun of typical situations. Humour dominated British commercials, whereas it was more sparingly used in German or Dutch commercials. Table 4: The use of humour UK NL D Used 88% 33% 10% Not Used 12% 66% 90% Occasion for Product Usage The occasion for drinking beer was analysed by either being an everyday event, a special occasion or not shown/inconclusive. An everyday-event included drinking beer in a pub, in a bar, while being with friends or while watching television. A special occasion included drinking as a special reward or celebration. A commercial was coded as â€Å"Not shown/inconclusive† if none of the characters consumed (or was about to consume) beer, or no characters were shown at all. Everyday-usage dominated the British commercials to a large extend, and also was dominant in Dutch advertising, whereas it was relatively infrequently used in German advertising. Table 5: Occasion for product usage UK NL D Everyday 77% 50% 20% Special Event 11% 33% 40% Not shown 11% 16% 40% Dominant Themes Each commercial was coded for one dominant theme, and those themes were then grouped into a list of 5possible themes: friendship, sex, sport, tradition and relaxation. Friendship and affiliation were the most dominant themes in both German and Dutch beer commercials. Whereas 55% of British commercials were found to have some sexual appeal, none of the Dutch or German commercials were found to use this appeal for the promotion of beer. 4 The link between sport and beer was highlighted only in the Netherlands and in the UK, it was however not used in any German commercial. A trend of advertising beer using the history and tradition of the beer or brewery was observed exclusively in Germany, whereas beer was presented as a drink for relaxation in both the UK and the Netherlands. Table 6: Dominant Themes UK NL D Friendship – 50% 60% Sex 55% – Sport 22% 16% Tradition – – 40% Relaxation 22% 33% Discussion The results clearly support the argument, that different values are used to promote the same product in the three markets, and that different associations and techniques are used to convey the advertising message. In the UK, the use of humour in advertising is a long standing tradition, and is also dominant in beer advertising, with 88% using this feature. This result supports Mueller’s claim, that the majority of British beer advertising uses humour to sell its product. In Germany, beer is not directly associated with humorous advertising, and only 10% of the sample used humour. In the Netherlands humour was more frequent, however it was less dominant (33%). Equally in support of Mueller’s study is the result for the occasion for product usage. The every-day drink, as beer is portrayed in British advertising, is clearly dominant, however it is less frequent in the Netherlands (50%), and even in the minority in Germany. Although the portrayed product usage has little in common with the real-life product usage, it demonstrates a desire to position the product differently in the various markets. In the German market, beer consumption is depicted as a social phenomena. It goes hand in hand with meeting friends, going out for the day or having a picnic, a day at the sea etc. , where the reunification of the friends is celebrated with a beer. Alternatively, beer is positioned to be a high quality product with a long tradition. This appeal is unique to the German market, and can not be found in either Dutch or British advertising. There may, however, be some explanation in the abolition of the Reinheitsgebot, an antique law ensuring the purity of the beer, by the EU in the late 1980s. Although this is certainly not the only possible explanation for the use of this particular appeal, consumers will understand, that the beer in question is brewed in line with the regulation of the Reinheitsgebot. This theory is supported by the fact that 3 out of the 4 commercials using this type of appeal state that they brew according to the Reinheitsgebot. In the Netherlands, the friendship appeal equally dominates the beer advertising. Beer is consumed with friends – however much more in an everyday situation than in Germany. Equally, beer can be consumed at home, even alone to relax – a depiction that is not at all used in German advertising. Another link found in the Netherlands, and not used in Germany, is the link between beer and sport events, where beer is consumed accompanying the activity of watching a game of football. This appeal is however somewhat different from the sports-appeal used in the UK, where beer is positively connected with either achievement in sports or as a â€Å"creator† of sport. Another appeal used in both the UK and the Netherlands is display of beer consumption as a relaxing activity. However most dominant in the UK is the use of female characters in beer commercials. A majority of beer commercials has at least one female â€Å"main supporting character† (i. e. not actually the main, beer consuming, character – however someone with a key role). Whereas there are virtually no female characters to be found in Dutch or German beer advertising, or if so, they are depicted as just another person with no major impact on the 5 advertising as a whole, the female characters play a relatively dominant role in a majority of British commercials. Nearly all female characters are lightly dressed or are depicted wearing tight dresses, and a majority of them seems to be(come) attracted to the main character. The results of this study have very clear limitations, particularly as the amount of data is extremely small. Equally, only one dominant appeal per commercial was coded – whereas many commercials display a number of appeals. Although some more clarification of the appeals is given above, the variety and different flavour of certain appeals used should not be underestimated. However, the results suggest, that anecdotal difference in advertising strategies is not merely a myth, and clearly demonstrates that different values are used to promote the same product in three geographically close countries. Clearly, such a clear difference may not be observed in all commercials for all product categories, as beer is a culture bound product. However, differences in persuasion techniques and advertising appeals are to be expected in a variety of product categories, whereas in others, there may be little or no variation in appeals used. Further research is required to identify these categories, and more clearly establish the appeals used. References: Albers-Miller, N. D. (1996). â€Å"Designing cross-cultural advertising research: a closer look at paired comparisons. † International Marketing Review 13(5): 59-75. Alden, D. L. , W. D. Hoyer, et al. (1993). â€Å"Identifying Global and Culture-Specific Dimensions in Humor in Advertising: A Multinational Analysis. † Journal of Marketing 57(2): 64-75. Caillat, Z. and B. Mueller (1996). â€Å"The Influence of Culture on American and British Advertising. † Journal of Advertising Reserach(May/June): 79-88. Levitt, T. (1983). â€Å"The Globalization of Markets. † Harvard Business Review 61(May/June): 92-102.

The Structure of the Marketing Environment Essay Example

The Structure of the Marketing Environment Essay Example The Structure of the Marketing Environment Paper The Structure of the Marketing Environment Paper   The consumer occupies the core/central position of all business activities and hence occupies the Centre of the marketing environment. The organization with its resources and having a policy and structure surrounds the consumer with its particular market offering as do its competitors, suppliers and other intermediaries. This micromanagement of marketing is again affected by the macro environment, which consists of the government, technical, political, social, economic factors. This is graphically represented by below 1 . The major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organizations decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These factors include the economic factors; demographics; legal, political, and social conditions; technological changes; and natural forces. 2. Specific examples of macro environment influences include competitors, changes in interest rates, changes in cultural tastes, disastrous weather, or government regulations. PESTLE Macro Environmental Analysis PESTLE The PESTLE Analysis is a framework used to scan the organizations external macro environment. The letters stand for Political, Economic Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental. Some approaches will add in extra factors, such as International, or remove some to reduce it to PEST. However, these are all merely variations on a theme. The important principle is identifying the key factors from the wider, uncontrollable external environment that might affect the organization. The PESTLE Factors We start with the Political forces. First of all, political factors refer to the stability of the political environment and the attitudes of political parties or movements. This may manifest in government influence on tax policies, or government involvement in trading agreements. Political factors are inevitably entwined with Legal factors such as national employment laws, international trade regulations and restrictions, monopolies and mergers rules, and consumer protection. The difference between Political and Legal factors is that Political refers to attitudes and approaches, whereas gal factors are those which have become law and regulations. Legal needs to be complied with whereas Political may represent influences, restrictions or opportunities, but they are not mandatory. Economic factors represent the wider economy so may include economic growth rates, levels of employment ND unemployment, costs of raw materials such as energy, petrol and steel, interest rates and monetary policies, exchange rates and inflation rates. These may also vary from one country to another. Socio-cultural factors represent the culture of the society that an organization operates within. They may include demographics, age distribution, population growth rates, level of education, distribution of wealth and social classes, living conditions and lifestyle. Technological factors refer to the rate of new inventions and development, changes in information and mobile technology, changes in internet and e-commerce or even mobile commerce, and government spending on research. There is often a tendency to focus Technological developments on digital and internet-related areas, but it should also include materials development and new methods Of manufacture, distribution and logistics. Environmental impacts can include issues such as limited natural resources, waste disposal and recycling procedures. Additional Considerations A newer force which is gaining in importance is ethics. These can be defined by the set of moral principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group. Ethics and morals serve as guidelines on how to act rightly and justly when individuals are faced with moral dilemmas. This force could include corporate social responsibility, fair trade, affiliation between corporations and charities. A particular problem may exist with how ethical factors relates to legal forces as they may be at different stages in development. Something may be ethical but not protected by law, whereas other activities may not be ethical, but are legal. A PESTLE analysis should feed into a SOOT analysis as it helps to determine the threats and opportunities represented by macro-environment forces that he organization usually cannot control. On an international basis, it is best to perform the analysis on a country-by-country basis because factors can differ greatly between countries (or even regions). Marketing Environment Micro The micro marketing environment consists of certain forces that are part of an organizations marketing process, but remain external to the organization. This micro marketing environment that surrounds organizations can be complex by nature; however the company has an element of control over how it operates within this environment. Marketing helps you to manage and aka sense of this complexity. The illustration above summarizes the order of the immediate external marketing environment that businesses operate in. Current and Potential Customers Your customers are vital to the growth and sustainability of your company. In order to grow you must locate customers, understand their needs and then satisfy those needs both efficiently and profitably. Competitors Your competitors however have the same remit as you when it comes to sourcing and satisfying the needs of the customer. They will make it difficult to liaise with customer groups, as by definition they are largely pursuing the name sets of customers as you. As a marketer, you must therefore not only monitor what competitors are doing in the external marketing environment today, but to also anticipate their likely response to your campaigns and to predict what they will do tomorrow. Intermediaries (Distributors/Wholesalers/ Retailers) Your business may require a network of wholesalers, distributors and/or retailer. These intermediaries provide an invaluable service in getting your products to the customer. You must therefore think carefully about how best to distribute your goods and build relationships. This area can be fierce in intention as not everyone can get access to the channels of distribution that they want. Suppliers One other important area to consider in the external marketing environment is your suppliers. A key supplier can be an important part of your business and may even attribute to your competitive advantage. Losing important suppliers can interrupt production flow or your competitive edge and prevent you from getting your product to your customers. Choice of suppliers, negotiation of terms and relationship building all become important tasks of the marketer. The wider marketing environment, discussed in a separate knowledge sheet, covers all other influences that might provide opportunities or threats to the organization. These include technological development, legal constraints, the economic environment and coloratura changes. This brief overview of the world in which companies operate in demonstrates that there are many relationships that matter. These need to be managed if the company is to conduct its business successfully. The main responsibility for managing these relationships lies within the marketing department. Using a SOOT SOOT is an important tool in auditing the external and internal environment f the organization. A SOOT Analysis should be more than a basic listing of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Most organizations have the same, common-sense type of threats, such as competitors, technological changes, regulation and deregulation, or weaknesses such as high price, but these are all very general, hard to control elements meaning the utility can be quite limited. As Cornfields Professor Malcolm McDonald puts it, real SHOTS should be more concise and specific.

Academic Service for All Students Who Want to Improve Writing Skills

Academic Service for All Students Who Want to Improve Writing Skills Scholarship essays vary depending on the subject in question. In most cases, you are required to recount for personal experiences to write a compelling paper. So, in this part, you will be able to know useful tips that can help you write a good paper, as well as choose good scholarship essay topics. When writing, you need to know the subject matter explicitly. Therefore, you need to devote substantial time, that is around one to two weeks while brainstorming ideas. Here below are some points worth consideration when brainstorming. First, you need to be aware of your accomplishments and be able to determine you consider them to be so. Of noteworthy is that you need not limit yourself to the things that you have accomplished, but also consider the stale ones while placing them in the context of your life. Second, think about qualities that may be of a distinguishing factor, and be able to explain it vividly. Meanwhile, you can as well write about the favorite books, and movies that you think have a great impact on your life. Also, your audience will be thrilled to know some sorts of moments that have proved tough in your life. Think of struggling moments, and be able to explain whether you succeeded or not. I this context, be able to explain whether you managed. Third, a trait is one of the most sought after feature when it comes to these types of essays. Be able to explain your philosophies while explaining why you believe in them. Also, explaining how your friends characterize you based on these attributes will be a plus. To get quality assistance, and even be able to attain better topics for scholarship essay, you should join us today. We assist students in writing their essays at the most affordable rate. Furthermore, our team of writers are well-versed with different niches. Thus, they are capable of tailoring an essay to fit the requirements needed. 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Lesson on Proverbs for English Learners

Lesson on Proverbs for English Learners Using proverbs as the starting point for a lesson can help open up many avenues for learners to express their own beliefs as well as discover cultural differences and similarities with their classmates. There are a few ways to go about using proverbs during a lesson. This article provides a number of suggestions for how you can use proverbs in class as well as how to integrate them into other lessons. There is also a list of 10 proverbs for each level to help get you started. Monolingual Class - Translation If you teach a monolingual class, ask students to translate the proverbs you have chosen into their own mother tongue. Does the proverb translate? You can also use Google translate to help. Students will quickly discover that proverbs usually do not translate word for word, but the meanings can be expressed with completely different expressions. Choose a few of these and have a discussion concerning the cultural differences that go into proverbs that get at the same meaning but that have very different translations. Whats the Lesson? Ask students to write a short story, much like Aesops fables, for a proverb they have chosen. The activity can start off as a class discussion of the meaning of a few level-appropriate proverbs. Once its clear students understand, ask students to pair up and create a story that will illustrate a proverb. Consequences This activity works especially well for advanced-level classes. Choose your proverbs and then lead a class discussion to check proverb understanding. Next, ask students to pair up or work in small groups (3-4 learners). The task is to think of logical consequences that might / could / must / cant happen if a person follows the advice the proverb provides. This is a great way to help students explore modal verbs of probability. For example, If a fool and his money are soon parted is true, then a fool must lose a lot of his / her earnings. Fools might have difficulty understanding real opportunities from those which are false. etc. Finding an Example in Class English learners that have been together for a longer period of time might enjoy pointing the finger at other students. Each student should choose a proverb they feel especially applies to someone else in class. Students should then explain, with plenty of examples, why they feel that particular proverb is so fitting. For classes in which students arent as familiar with their classmates, ask students to come up with an example from their own group of friends or family. To begin with, here are ten selected proverbs grouped into appropriate levels. These ten proverbs or sayings have been chosen for easy vocabulary and clear meaning. Its best not to introduce proverbs that take too much interpretation. Beginner Tomorrow is another day.Boys will be boys.Easy come, easy go.Live and learn.Never too old to learn.Slow but sure.One step at a time.Time is money.Eat to live, not live to eat.Theres no place like home. Intermediate Intermediate-level proverbs begin to challenge students with vocabulary that is less common. Students will need to interpret these sayings, but the allegories used are less culturally based, which can impede understanding. Any port in a storm.Blood is thicker than water.Dont count your chickens before they hatch.The early bird catches the worm.History repeats itself.A miss is as good as a mile.The more you get, the more you want.Many are called, but few are chosen.Still waters run deep.The tree is known by its fruit. Advanced Advanced-level sayings can explore the full gamut of archaic terms and meanings which demand detailed discussions of cultural understanding and shading. It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.The company makes the feast.Discretion is the better part of valor.A fool and his money are soon parted.All that glitters is not gold.He who pays the piper calls the tune.From the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step.The opera isnt over till the fat lady sings.United we stand, divided we fall.Dont throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Dementia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Dementia - Essay Example Dementia In the case of dementia, the effects have been widely noted and accepted (although the quantity of descriptors may vary from one authority to another): often cited are such symptoms as memory loss, particularly in short-term loadings, confusion, and disorientation in time and place, and personality alterations. Unfortunately, such effects may result from a variety of causes, some of which are treatable and others that are not. Depression is a good example of the former; Alzheimer's of the latter. The prevalence of dementia we see currently is merely the tip of the iceberg at that. There are now some 32 million individuals in this country age 65 and older. That figure is expected to grow to 39 million in less than 20 years. Though there are now an estimated 5 million victims of dementia, the number may increase to more than 17 million in the same time period. . If true, within 20 years, over 40 percent of the elderly will suffer some form of dementia compared to less than 15 percent at the present time. These are staggering figures, and they are only estimates because no statistics are kept by any agency of the exact number of persons diagnosed by physicians as suffering from dementia. In fact, doctors resist any imposition of record keeping that would lead to actual numbers and realistic data.Recent analyses of people with dementia have suggested that a loss of self or a process of "unbecoming" are ascribed to this illness by many clinicians. However, many studies fail to con sider and assess the wide variation in levels of self-awareness across both persons and areas of functioning. That is, there may be extensive individual differences not only in overall level of self-awareness but also in the specific patterns of unawareness across functional areas as well as different types of awareness (Danner & Friesen, 1996). To the degree that those with dementia retain awareness of their deficits across a range of functions, their ability to report on their emotional reactions to their deficits might be preserved. Neglect of the patient perspective in dementia may also reflect the failure to consider premorbid expressive styles when drawing conclusions about a person's internal experience (Cotrell & Schulz, 1993). An understanding of premorbid expressive style can help to bring order and meaning to the apparently random expressions of the demented patient. What appears to be indiscriminate, meaningless emotional behavior might instead represent a distorted attempt to communicate one's feelings and needs to caregivers. The new wave in attempting to understand the subjectivity of dementing illness asserts that the person with dementia clearly has feelings but lacks the ability to express them in some of the usual ways. Informed by the knowledge that the demented person has a longstanding tendency to react strongly and negatively to

The Success of Rio Tintos Moves to India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Success of Rio Tintos Moves to India - Essay Example Tinto’s machines include Bulldozer, compact excavation machines, shredders, and grinders2. The mine raw materials from the mines are treated using fans. After treatment stage, decomposition and purification process follows immediately. The result of the two phases is a semi-solid product. This product is concentrated to a finished final product. The report summarizes the results of feasibility study in India. Rio Tinto proposes to use India as a distribution centre for its copper products. This company has taken this decision because of limited copper ores in India. Their plans are to extract and smelt copper using the sophisticated machinery from their company in Australia. They will then export copper products to enormous market in India. In this way, Rio Tinto will tap the untapped Indian market. They intend to take advantage of the large populace population in India. Rio is confident that India will not import copper product anymore from other countries. It expects a fair marketplace in India. Expansion of market to any region of this world is a challenge3. This is a guiding principle at the heart of the Rio Tinto management. Rio Tinto seeks important details on India’s technology level, the available workforce, and the type of infrastructure. Since India will serve as a distribution point, the company does not require a manufacturing plant. Rio Tinto is aware of possible market risk in the foreign nations. Technology is a very critical in the expansion of Rio Tinto’s. This is the reason why it has to do an in-depth research on market prospects in India. The report seeks to address many issues, which are central to the success of Rio Tinto’s moves to India. To start with, it will evaluate political environment in terms of India’s government stability. Next, it will discuss the legal framework with key interest in business law, labor laws, and taxation law. This is very crucial because the laws stipulate the procedures of e xport and import trade. The report will investigate both economic and socio-cultural environment. It will endeavor to assess tax policies, currency exchange rates, and inflation rates in India. Later it will survey the technological aspect of business environment and analyze external and internal factors, which affect Rio Tinto. This is the SWOT analysis. Finally, the report will give its recommendations to the Rio Tinto’s management on the feasibility of India as their market target4. 2.0 Political Environment 2.1. Government stability The India’s current government under Pratibha Patil has sound policies to promote direct foreign investments. The government embraces global trade links. They have a stable political system whereby they hold elections after every five years. Their rich democratic system receives acknowledgement globally. 2.2 Government and contribution Health investment policies attract a large pool of both domestic and foreign investors. The Foreign in vestment policy came into effect back in 1991. This policy has undergone through major reforms to suit the interest of investors. Currently the policy allows automatic and government-administered ways of investment5. The foreign investment policy is friendly enough to permits investor from outside to collaborate with either local or their foreign counterparts. 2.3 Analysis Indian government shows political will.

WORKING cAPITAL Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

WORKING cAPITAL - Case Study Example m, so it not only shows a poor condition of accounts receivable turnover but is also effecting the overall profitability of the firm, that’s why it is a matter of concern to the board of directors. Yes they are very much justified in their demand for tighter credit policy, because current loose credit policy is affecting overall profitability of the firm, so in order to meet overall strategic goals of the firm tighter credit policy is now necessary for the firm. Calculate the cost of foregoing the 2% cash discount offered under the 2/10 net 30 and 2/10 and net 60 terms respectively. Given that most retailers could take short term loans from banks at a rate of 16% or less, evaluate the attractiveness of each policy. It means that cost of foregoing cash discount is 37.24% which is much more than the cost of borrowing funds from bank i.e. 16% so it is much attractive for the customers to avail cash discount under 2/10 and net 30 policy. To speed up collections and reduce receivables, company can use collection specialists; accounts receivable management software and can adopt the policy of imposing penalties and charging interest for late payment. This slow buildup in accounts receivable have occurred due to extremely liberal credit policy that has been in place. As all of the customers were allowed a 60 days credit term without any proper credit evaluation and proper terms. Moreover, neither any penalty was imposed for late payment nor any discount was offered for timely payment. Develop the pro forma financial statements for the company under the two credit policy alternatives, i. e. 2/ 10, net 60; and 2/ 10 net 30 using the assumptions given. What would be the impact on the firms return on sales, return on investment, and return on

Half Nude Woman with Coin Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Half Nude Woman with Coin - Research Paper Example The particular 17th century Dutch art under focus caught the attention of the eye relates to a variety of factors. The first reason behind the art attracting the eye relates to the fact that even for less keen observers, one must realize that something seems unrelenting about the art. Other than capturing the other common presentations with most of the paintings in that period, the work by Baker presents something different. The interesting thing about the painting is that it seeks to explore a moral issue within the society and a portrayal that morality existed even in the time of its painting. The painting sends a message of an existing connection between women nudity and money. That serves as the driving factor behind the need to share the piece of art since it holds a deeper meaning based on the prostitute’s image, holding a gold coin, yet her breasts are exposed as she gives a half smile to the viewer. The artwork proves of significant importance because it captures the t heme of prostitution and how it involves money. Description of the art work first focuses about the author of the art work and the respective name and origin of the author if such is given. Jacob Baker a painter in the 17th century and one of the artists regarded as the 17th century Dutch Golden Class is the author of the painting. Records attribute the painting to be from around 1636 with the painting measuring 64.5 centimeters by 56.7 centimeters. With oil and canvas serving as the common materials used in paintings across Europe.

Smoking among college students Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Smoking among college students - Research Paper Example It is important to know the actual motives behind smoking before taking any kind of preventive action. Most of the people start smoking during their teenage due to peer pressure or need for approval by their friends. Some youngsters also believe that smoking actually helps them keep in shape and have self-control, while others say it makes them look cool. According to the statistical data, the rate of smoking has increased by 30 % during 1993-1997 amongst the college students. Studies show that the measures which can be taken by the colleges authorities in order to reduce the level of smoking amongst the young students. Experts believe that taking preventive measures is better than abrupt prohibition from smoking which can cause the opposite effect on the students. The high rate of smoking among college students can be explained by aggressive advertising and promotional activities aimed to increase the size of the market. The glamorous ads casting handsome and beautiful models, actually tempts the youngsters to smoke. Tobacco industry focuses on sales promotion more than any other industry in the world. Companies spend a huge amount of investment to reach adolescents. Adolescents, of 18-24 years, become the main target market for the tobacco industry. The companies distribute free cigarettes outside the concerts and college clubs in order to attract more and more people towards their brands. The industry has also involved the youngster in the promotional activities. These kinds of aggressive promotion activities have drawn a huge number of younger lots to smoking. Promotional activities in bars and night clubs were started during 1980s. The level of tobacco consumption among students was indistinct, but the some field researches show that nearly every college student was involved in those promotional activities during 1990s. It has been predicted that the college students will become main consumers of tobacco in the next few years. The tobacco companies launch their promotional campaign mostly in the urban localities, trying to trap the young consumers through various advertising medium and techniques. Even the students who don't have enough exposure to the bars and night clubs can be influenced by the heavy advertising by different brands. For instance, Asian American students have become the main target for many promotional campaigns aiming to find new customers. University Health Centers can help to prevent and reduce smoking rate by educating the students about the diseases caused by smoking. Smoking should also be strictly prohibited within the college premises. Psychologists have deduced the various ways to control smoking habits within the younger students by providing different psychological treatments for quitting smoking. They have also worked upon finding the relation between smoking and media exposure of the individuals. Further in their research works psychologists have also tried to analyze the factors which can contribute to motivate or de-motivate individuals from smoking. The previous studies have classified smokers by their age, gender and race and have provided the statistical data accordingly. The main theme of the paper is to examine the relation which exists between smoking and factors such as the peer pressure, stress and depression. METHODOLOGY

Half Nude Woman with Coin Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Half Nude Woman with Coin - Research Paper Example The particular 17th century Dutch art under focus caught the attention of the eye relates to a variety of factors. The first reason behind the art attracting the eye relates to the fact that even for less keen observers, one must realize that something seems unrelenting about the art. Other than capturing the other common presentations with most of the paintings in that period, the work by Baker presents something different. The interesting thing about the painting is that it seeks to explore a moral issue within the society and a portrayal that morality existed even in the time of its painting. The painting sends a message of an existing connection between women nudity and money. That serves as the driving factor behind the need to share the piece of art since it holds a deeper meaning based on the prostitute’s image, holding a gold coin, yet her breasts are exposed as she gives a half smile to the viewer. The artwork proves of significant importance because it captures the t heme of prostitution and how it involves money. Description of the art work first focuses about the author of the art work and the respective name and origin of the author if such is given. Jacob Baker a painter in the 17th century and one of the artists regarded as the 17th century Dutch Golden Class is the author of the painting. Records attribute the painting to be from around 1636 with the painting measuring 64.5 centimeters by 56.7 centimeters. With oil and canvas serving as the common materials used in paintings across Europe.

Generals Revolt on Rumsfeld Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Generals Revolt on Rumsfeld - Essay Example This perception is based on shared perceptions and values followed by the organization and its members. The task and duty of a military leader is to create positive and supportive culture and climate based on principles, rituals and values of the military organization1. The Revolt of the Generals is a vivid example of how climate and culture caused a breach in the civil-military relations. The Revolt of the Generals is a vivid example of assault on military culture. Secretary Rumsfeld was accused in "willfully ignoring military advice and initiating the war in Iraq with a force that was too small"2. The generals state that his leadership led to low level of morale and poor climate, poor performance and personal relationships. Following Hustings (2006) culture and climate are important in the Army because connected with team spirit and commitment soldiers. It is possible to say that the Army structure is based on strong military culture supported and reinforced by soldiers and the officers3. The case of Rumsfeld portrays that a leader's behavior sets the course others follow and determine the values and other measures used to account for group actions. The responsibilities of strategic leaders include identification of a task and the quality of its fulfillment.

Genocide in Bosnia Essay Example for Free

Genocide in Bosnia Essay The Bosnian genocide is often referred to as the hidden genocide, yet it had catastrophic effects on humanity. Over 100,000 people were killed and it displaced millions of people. The genocide occurred between 1992 and 1995. The Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was made up of six nations under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. Once Tito passed away in 1990, there was a power vacuum, and politicians began a nationalistic campaign pitting Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks against each other. Hence, the beginning of an â€Å"ethnic cleansing† war (Campbell, 2003 p. 511). Once Milosevic was the President of Republic of Serbia, he encouraged formation of violent uprisings by Serb nationals. Milosevic was interested in creating an ethnically pure Serb nation. Milosevic’s ambition worried the nations in the federal government; hence Croatia and Slovenia declared themselves independent from the republic. However, Croatia was not allowed to leave because it had 12% of the Serbian population. Hence Croatia became a battlefield between 1991- 1996. Bosnia-Herzegovina watched the horrors in Croatia as they worried about themselves being the next victim. Bosnia-Herzegovina held a referendum in 1992 and declared itself free from the republic. The Serbs in Bosnia were not happy about it, and they began fighting with the support of the Yugoslavian National Army. Bosnia and Croatia lacked weapons to defend themselves because the UN had enacted an embargo, thus they were victims of an endless cycle of violence, displacement and death (Schott, 2011 p.19). Serbian plan of attack entailed the following steps; concentration, decapitation, separation, evacuation ad liquidation. During concentration stage, Serbian soldiers would warn Serbians to leave the town they were about to attack and surround the city with artillery fire. The second stage involved execution of the town’s leaders, military and intelligence. On the third stage, Serbian soldiers would separate women, children and old people from â€Å"fighting group†. Women, children and old people would be taken to concentration camps, while the young people were executed. This brings me to the subject of this essay. Women were targeted in specific ways when compa red to men. Unlike, the young male soldiers who were executed, women lived longer to and experience  untold suffering under the Serb soldiers. Women were interchangeably used by soldiers as sexual trophies (Lentin, 1997). This essay analyses the genocide on a gendered frame, so as to shine light on the awful atrocities women faced in the hands of Serbian militia. From a gender frame, sexual violence in war cannot be reduced to psychological attributes of the perpetrators. Genocidal rape has to be analyzed in terms of social structures. Rape in Bosnia was systematic, since it was planned. Bosnian genocide is the only genocide that women bodies were used as a battlefield. This genocide trampled upon all women rights. The Serbian militants lacked respect and sympathy for women. The Yugoslav army, Bosnian Serb forces and Chetniks came up with a sexual violence campaign against Croats and Muslim women. They killed, imprisoned, terrorized and raped women in the hope that they would leave and never come back. The attack on women was not an accident. It was premeditated as a lot of soldiers took part in sexual violence campaign. Th eir commanders were aware of what was going on, and they turned a blind eye. The attackers used the Ram Brana plan of attack (1991). The plan said that successful attacks should be the one carried out on the enemy’s weakest point. The weakest point during wars is usually women and children. By attacking the weakest point, they were able to spread panic and fear in the population hence Croats and Bosnians could only run away for safety (Abreu, 2005 p.5). Since this was an â€Å"ethnic cleansing war†, the Serbian armed forces believed that sexual violence against women was an act of tainting the bloods of the Croats and Bosnians (Allen, 1996 p. 23). Culture and religion played a big part in this war; hence the attackers believed that they were annihilating their culture through sexual violence. The Serbians waged a psychological warfare on their enemies, such that they believed that by raping women, impregnating them and forcefully aborting their fetuses they were cleansing them. The Serbian armed forces also carried out sexual assaults against m en. Serbia, Bosnia and almost all Balkan nations are lawfully heterosexual nations. Hence by raping men, they were degrading them or feminizing them and making them powerless. By raping their victims, the victims were gendered as feminine or attached with feminine qualities of vulnerability. Apart from the psychological effects of sexual violence on women, women faced a lot of physical suffering in the â€Å"rape camps†. The Serbian forces had created rape camps as a substitute for  concentration camps, so that they would use them to sexually violate women. In fact the Serbian forces had a modus operandi for sexually assaulting women (Abreu, 2005 p.11). The modus operandi was characterized by three patterns; public rape of children and women in their villages, sporadic rape of women and children in concentration camps and lastly rape in death/ rape camps. During the three stages women were subjected to all kinds of violence. Women went through gang rapes, sexual mutilations, forced impregnation and childbirth, sexual abuse with foreign objects and family me mbers were forced to rape their women. The extreme sexual violence was meant to defile, destroy the community and to make them leave. It is obvious that the war was motivated by nationalistic intentions, but the way the war was carried out, misogyny is another probable cause of the war. Most atrocities that took place in Bosnia genocide have been termed as â€Å"femicidal† (Turpin 1998 p. 67). Bosnians and Croats have traditional cultures. Women are supposed to be pure, and when they are not pure they are ostracized from the society. After the genocide, women who were victim of sexual violence were avoided. The tainted women were no longer acceptable by their friends and families, and this was the goal of the Serbian perpetrators. This justifies the fact that misogyny could have been another reason for the war. In a gendered frame analysis, it is clear that there was feminization of the genocide (MacKinnon, 2006 p.18). In genocide, women are usually seen as universal victims. Sexual violence against women is seen as a mortal sin against motherhood. The notion of ‘combat’ and battlefields are constructs of masculinity. The Serbian armed forces believed that through sexual violence campaign, they would turn their victims powerless (Femininity) analysis of war is often carried out from a masculine point of view. However, Bosnia genocide is gendered, as it represents women as victims, sexual objects, symbolic of their nation and repositories of their families. The Serbs militia believed that by defiling the women, they would be defiling the nations (Bosnia and Croatia) Collins (1996) attempts to explain genocidal rape from a feminist perspective, he says that women are the ones who hold families and the community. Their physical and emotional destruction through rape is a symbol of destruction of the social and cultural stability of a nation. The sexual violence involved heightened sadism, for instance forceful rape with family members. The sexual violence  aimed at destroying the victims emotionally, destroying the community and imposing restrictions on women so as to control births. The sexual genocide did not only target the individual victim, but it targeted the group too. Rape as a genocide strategy destroys women’s role as mothers and caregivers, hence the pivotal source of the life to the community is destroyed. According to Mc Kinnon (2006, 187), sexual campaign was used by the Serbian military as a tool for political campaign, soldiers were to rape under orders. The sexual violence campaign was characterized by forced rape and forced impregnation. After the Croatian and muslim women were sexually abuse, they were denied abortions so that they would give birth to â€Å"Serb† babies. Forced impregnation was seen as a way of destroying the maternal community as they gave birth to the child of the enemy ( Allen, 1996 p.76). The rapists violated the rights of women through forceful procreation, which is a deliberate and a sadist act. The children of the rapists often stigmatized or abandoned as they brought negative memories to their mothers. The forced pregnancies on rape victims were seen as a way of preventing births among the Croats and Muslims. The perpetrators of rape believed that they were producing â€Å"Little Chetniks†. From a feminist perspective, the act of forced imp regnation is like imposing a social death on the victims. The women were tortured, and they did not want those children. It turned Croatian and Muslim women as gestating beings for the enemy. Stories from the war show a lot of women who recounted how they were raped repeatedly until they were pregnant, and the women wanted nothing to do with the children. Another explanation of forced rape is the fact that rape was used as a tool of biological warfare. Forced rape and impregnation meets the requirement of biological warfare according to international law (Seifet, 1996 p.42). MacKinnon also analyzes Bosnian rape by comparing it with pornography. In the 1990s, pornography was very common in Yugoslavia. When porn is common in a society, the whole population learns to dehumanize women and inflict sexual assault. Pornographic materials provided the need motivation and materials for Serbian forces. In the rape camps, women were ordered to perform for men; in fact some rapes were filmed and sold as pornographic products since they could not be differentiated from actual pornography. The films were even released in the media so as to amass popularity for Bosnian war. The dialogue s in the pornography were used to  implicate Croatian soldiers. According to MacKinnon (2006), sexual violence was used so consciously and cynically in a way that destroyed people. Once pornography was released, more Serbian forces were encouraged to continually assault women. Genocidal rape in Bosnia was seen as an ethno marker. Ethnic markers are things such as dressing, lifestyle and language. The Serbians, Croats and Bosnians had almost similar ethnic markers. Since they were a part of Yugoslavia republic, the ethnic lines had been blurred. Rape was used by the Serbs to act as a moral ethno marker, as it separated them from the Croats and Muslims. They felt that it created cultural superiority of the Serbians. In fact Serbian law was amended to include ethnic rape, and they believed that the differences in ethnicity aggravated the crime. The mass rapes occurred in places where Serbs were a minority when compared to the size of Croats and Muslims (Allen, 1996 p.19). This was a way of asserting their superiority in the region. Sexual violence was also used to socialize new military recruits. Rape isolated the new recruits from the community and prepared them for battlefield. In Bosnia, sexual violence perpetrated by new recruits occurred in front of other soldiers and the victims even know their perpetrators. The Bosnian war was used by the Serbs to renegotiate their relationship with the other Balkan nations. Rape was seen as a way of establishing new boundaries, as they felt that they were the superior ethnic group. From a gender based analysis it is evident that the legal framework did not address the sexual violence against women in Bosnia well (MacKinnon, 2006 p.89). The law blamed the genocide on ethnicity, and disregarded the fact that it was sex based. The Serb military attack on women was premeditated and executed in three stages. The creation of rape camps shows that the intent was sexually based, in as much as it was ethnically motivated. Failure by the law to acknowledge this is a huge set back on women rights. The law perpetuates patriarchy in legal constructs in violation of women rights. Failure to acknowledge it also prevents the law from addressing the genocidal rape adequately. The law is ignoring the existence and horrifying effects of genocidal sexual terrorism to women (Abreu, 2005 p. 16). This is quite cowardly as the law uses ethnicity to cover the severe harm that women suffered in the hands of Serbian militants. The law enables the perpetrators to hide under ethnic crimes, yet they committed more inhumane atrocities. The law usually acknowledges sexual  crimes, but sexual crimes during genocides were only termed as other inhumane acts. This is blatant sex discrimination propagated by the law. In conclusion, analyzing genocide on a gender framed perspective gives various explanations and perspectives on the violence against women in Bosnia. The sexual violence against women in Bosnia genocide is distinct. Many women can recount the horror they went through in the hands of the Serbian perpetrators. The violence against women was planned as a war strategy. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) should recognize genocidal sex terrorism, rather than hiding it under ethnic-based persecutions (Campbell, 2003 p.509). Serbian militants reduced women as a means of achieving their goals for the genocide. Addressing this problem will help the victim feel like they have achieved some semblance of justice, though nothing can compare to what they went through. Genocide sexual terrorism should be acknowledged by the law, and the legal elements regarding it should be outlined. Using a gender frame to analyze genocide helps us learn about the psychological and soc ial reasons for rape during genocides, rather than just saying that they were raped because they belonged to the enemy’s side. References Abreu, Veronica. (2005) Women’s Bodies as Battlefields In The Former Yugoslavia: An Argument For The Prosecution Of Sexual Terrorism As Genocide And For The Recognition of Genocidal Sexual Terrorism As A Violation Of Jusc Cogens Under International Law. The Georgetown Journal of Gender and Law, Vol. V1:1 Allen, B (1996) Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Campbell, K., 2003, â€Å"Rape as a ‘Crime Against Humanity’: Trauma, Law and Justice in the ICTY†, Journal of Human Rights, 2(4): 507–515. Caringella, S., (2008) Addressing Rape Reform in Law and Practice, New York: Columbia University Press. Jones, Adam (2006) Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. New York City: Routledge, 2006. MacKinnon, C., (2006) Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Ringelheim, J.M. (1997) Genocide and gender: a split memory in R. Lentin (editor ) Gender and Catastrophe. London: Zed Books. Schott, R. (2011), â€Å"War Rape, Natality and Genocide†, Journal of Genocide Research, 13(1/2): 5-21. Seifert, R., (1996), â€Å"The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars†, Womens Studies International Forum, 19(1/2): 35–43. Turpin, J. (1998) Many faces: women confronting war in L.A. Lorentzen and J. Turpin (editors) The Women and War Reader. New York: New York University Press.

Evaluation of Digital and Online Marketing Technology

Evaluation of Digital and Online Marketing Technology Part A Question 1 I believe online marketing tools are part of the marketing mix as channels that can be made use of. There may be diverted focus in regards to digital marketing if it is just used for advertising or promoting a product/service online. Digital marketing can be used in multiple ways whilst we consider facilitating it in an organisations marketing communication mix, rather than focus on 1 form of the marketing communication mix. As technologies are on a rise and the attention span of users is declining, I would suggest investigating marketing tools to help advertising via online content behaviour, understanding ways to inform consumers about the product if for example they were to search a certain product. If we look at the amount of data mining, consumer purchase behaviour and so on via the internet. The organisation can use such data to tap into relevant information that would help accelerate their sales or avail specific products whilst understanding the demand exists. If we look at A mazon and Google, these two organisations tend to have a lot of digital marketing working very well for them, as they have put it into practice in collecting information and monitoring what they purchase and how they purchase it. With such tools an organisation can tailor advertisements towards the users, we can see it more like an On-Demand Advert which would then grab the attention of users who are looking for specific items. There exists many accelerated ways of marketing on the web, with the level of innovation we have adopted, web marketing made it simpler to facilitate the following: Public Relations Investor Relations Customer Service Prospect Qualifications Product Sales Customer Interaction and Feedback Internal Communications With that all being said, the digital world has opened up more opportunities for marketers as to understanding Buyer behaviour, Communicating frequently to the customer, Public relations and so much more. Marketers tend to consider digital marketing to be more time-efficient and is used by the masses, hence it makes it easier to capture a wider reach, whereas the ways they market or allow themselves to be seen by the consumer may need to change as to avoid the click-through behaviour of the customer. I agree that digital marketing will become critical tools in brand building and other forms of communicating to the consumer, mainly Customer Relationships. Marketers can evade ad-blocks and such, if they just spend a bit of time trying to learn a bit about the online content behaviour and yet look out for technologies out there such as Geo-tagging, proximity marketing and so on. Question 2 As a marketing manager, there are 5 steps to evaluating digital technologies: Step 1: I would evaluate the goals of the organisations digital marketing campaigns by understanding the number of social shares our posts are receiving, size of our fan base on social networks, the amount of times Nike is being mentioned on social media, look up the number of positive reviews found online via consumers, check the amount of online traffic we are getting on our webpage as well as how many times links are being diverted to our webpage from other social media outlets. If all these things were done by the previous marketing team, I would look at whether or not the targets are being met, if not I would then revise our goals as to accommodate our objectives. Step 2: I would re-assess the target market, if it is changed I will have to facilitate an information search as to have an idea of the demographics, interests and online activities that the consumers may have, this will allow me to achieve consumer profiling as to marketing reasonable content to them. Step 3: I would have to look at our online digital presence, this means I will have to see how well Nike is doing in the social online environment, are they active or passive when it comes to public relations and customer relationships. Are they utilizing everything the online world has to offer from technologies that can be feasible to adopt? Step 4: I would evaluate the types of messages Nike is communicating to the consumers in digital form. Are they sending the right message to the right consumer? Is the consumer understanding the message and acting upon it, positively or negatively? Step 5: I would evaluate the performance of Nikes digital marketing campaigns. How is Nike benefiting from such channels? Are we making a profit while keeping costs low? Is our rate of investment on digital marketing visible to us, and is it positive? Question 3 I would utilize almost all online marketing tools to allow the visibility of the new product. The common marketing communication tools will be put into effect, such as advertising, promoting the concept in various trade shows, speaking opportunities as to describe the product, joint marketing, co-branding and many more traditional ways that can be broadcasted online via online content ads, which are simple adverts that will pop up due to their relevance whilst consumers maybe be browsing for a new phone for example. Search Engine Optimization. Get the word out there, be noticeable via social outlets. Email marketing is one way to inform the consumers about the product. Google AdWords to help online advertising. Bloggers or social media influencers, by offering the phone for testing by wide reach blogger or youtubers as to mention your product or talk in more detail about it. Online retail stores, you can be selective as to who you wish to sell the new phone and when they can sell it, such as your own website, amazon and the likes of amazon. The strategy would start differing as adoption rates either increase or decrease, if they increase then the organisation will need to be and stay proactive whilst dealing with public relations, enhance customer services and promote customer satisfaction, if they decrease I would then suggest revisiting the product and re-examining the whole process of the marketing communication. Part B Question 1 I would particularly evaluate why should McDonalds introduce a vegetable burger to their store? I will need to define the problem and understand where the information search should start, before developing the needed research, once that is arranged then I would identify the research method. It will either be Primary or Secondary, or both. For this particular scenario, I will explore the secondary data at first since it is cheaper, faster and available whereas this may be biased. For example, in certain region McDonalds can idealise a target market for such a product, such as in place where there exists a great population of vegetarians in compared to non-vegetarians, and see if the product gains popularity, if so they can proceed in furthering the choices of products in different places as to cater to the groups of people who are vegetarian per se. Therefore, I would select Descriptive and Causal research rather than Explanatory research. Once I have found the relevant, impartial, accurate and current data I require, we can advise for testing of the product as to not waste much time in looking for primary data, when such data can be availed to us by promoting the product on trial basis and see how well it does.

Future of Our Galaxy Galactic Millenium :: Essays Papers

Future of Our Galaxy Galactic Millenium What Does the Future Hold? (adopted from an article by Greg Laughlin and Fred Adams, "Celebrating the Galactic Millennium", Astronomy November 2001) Not too long ago, we were looking forward to the New Millennium. To many of us, this was an important event of our lives. On a larger scale, however, the New Millennium looks insignificant. "If we adopt an astronomical perspective, however, a much larger and more distant celebration remains on the schedule-the Galactic Millennium," write Greg Laughlin and Fred Adam in their article Celebrating the Galactic Millennium. Laughlin and Adam speculate about the proposed changes to the Universe in the future and the coming of the Galactic Millennium. Present Day Galaxy According to the authors, the present day galaxy is relentlessly empty and spans a tremendous scope. In a scale model of the galaxy where stars are the size of sand grains, the nearest stellar system (Alpha and Proxima Centauris) is six miles away. Our Galaxy contains approximately 100 Billion stars. In this model, the stars move through their orbits at a pace of only a few feet per terrestrial year. The sun takes nearly 100 million terrestrial years to make a full circuit of the galaxy. The last time the sun passed through our current galactic longitude was in the middle of the Cretaceous period, when the giant continent Gondwanaland was beginning to break up into African and South America and the giant Carnotaurus enjoyed its place at the top of the food chain (before the reign of T.Rex). What Does the Future Hold? The authors' prospected views on the future of our galaxy are rather harsh. The authors argue that a billion terrestrial years from now-in 10 galactic years-the galaxy will look much like it does now. Certain details, however, will be different. As the sun executes its next ten circuits around our galaxy's central hub, our today-familiar constellations will be scrambled one hundred times over. Many of the night stars in the sky will no longer exist. Deneb and Rigel, for example, will explode as supernovae. Sirious will swell into a red giant and puff out a planetary nebula. Alpha Centauri, currently the sun's closest neighbor, will recede from the sun, and its apparent brightness will fade below the threshold of naked-eye visibility. As the next billion years unfold, Earth will face pressing problems because of sun's activity.

Discuss the relationship between accountability, risk management and user-centered care

For the purpose of this TMA, I intend to look at how the use of risk management may assist and hinder practitioners accountability within the community mental health team I work in, to explore how risk management assists and hinders the relationship between social workers, employers and service users. Within the CMHT risk management is based upon guidance in Clinical Governance which states â€Å"Anticipate and prevent potential problems to learn from critical incidents and complaints and to provide systems to help clinical staff to reflect and develop their practice.† (RCN, 1998 Book 1, Chapter 9, p.3). Risk assessments within the team are seen as positive tools that enable good communication between the social worker and patient. The assessment provides a basis from which a plan can be formulated to protect the patient from risk but also to extend the barriers of risk in a planned way, enabling the patient to explore and develop new coping strategies empowering them to cope with their mental illness. In these situations there is a balance to be drawn between patient's safety and autonomy. There is however another side to the risk management processes in that practitioner's feel â€Å"You've got to watch your step and cover your back! Document everything! Make sure you follow the guidelines and you keep the patient's safe! That's the bottom line – you've got to be safe. (L.Finlay, personal communication, 12 March 1999 Book 1, Chapter 9, p.187). It is this fear of punitive action that dissuades practitioners from exposing service users to avoidable risks, and risk assessments are viewed as documents providing good evidence of assessments to be accessed if ever there were questions about the care of the patient. The British Association of Social Workers gives guidelines for social workers accountability. For the purpose of this TMA accountability can be defined as â€Å"to be in a position to give an explanation for one's actions – with reasons and justifications.†