Change Management Essay

New consultants are hired to help Riordan Manufacturing in creating a processing for monitoring client’s information that would involve all workers to utilize the same client’s administration process. In part one of this project the consultants would require evaluation of the organization’s intranet site and verification of information. This process would help them in creating an improved administration plan which would consist of many components. For example, proposal of a plan to help execute changes during the upcoming year and clarification of the evaluation processes while ensuring the modification plan is completed. In the second part of this project, the consultants will make a reference to a communication tactic for the proposed change and the effect that would potentially have on the organization. The consultants are to come up with a change management plan and a communication plan for Riordan Manufacturing. Section I: Change Management Plan Riordan Manufacturing is an organization that operates on a bureaucratic system. Separate divisions have managers who are reporting to higher up management. However, even these upper managers, eventually, would have to report to the president and CEO of the organization, Dr.  Michael Riordan. The bureaucracy has a system in place that is similar to the matrix system. Riordan Manufacturing divisions consist of people who carry out specific jobs and every division has its own informal systems, which are created by building working relations jointly. Riordan Manufacturing inspires workers to report any problem or issue that they might have directly to their superior. This would encourage every worker to openly deal with the administration, work in a great environment where interactions could be apparent and attitudes can be positive. Worker behavior would improve greatly because of the open door policy and open interaction because they would be able to express their concerns. When workers feel encouraged to express themselves at liberty, it increases the commitment to the organization and job satisfaction. Even though Riordan Manufacturing needs to create new client administration process, it should continue to accept the matrix structure that is currently in place. By creating a new client administration method it would enable everyone to assess the information of all clients. Retaining the existing matrix system would allow them to ontinue on improving team efforts to progress in the completion of the work that is expected of every division of the Riordan Manufacturing organization. Riordan Manufacturing is a plastics manufacturer with over 500 employees and it is headquartered San Jose (California), and has locations in Albany (Georgia), Pontiac (Michigan), and Hangzhou (China). Riordan Manufacturing products comprise plastic products, such as drink cans, custom-made components, as well as fan mechanisms. Their major clientele are auto and plane component, bottle, and appliance manufacturers, as well as a Department of Defense. To ensure that Riordan Manufacturing delivers these products to their clients, they must implement outstanding and positive worker behavior. Worker’s behavior affects they work performance and their reaction to their work environment, their managers, and clients. Riordan’s tradition comprises of fairness, self-confidence, commitment, imaginative and team-work oriented atmosphere, job performance evaluations, incentives, academic assistance, benefits, vacations, day care assistance, as well as the employees compensation insurance. Riordan appears to be a manufacturing organization that is trying to become a first choice for their customer as a plastic component provider. However, as many other organizations, Riordan Manufacturing could experience issues that would need to be addressed and modified. These issues could hinder the organization’s progress and improvement especially in today’s economy. For example, some workers are unable to deal with the changes and they could become reluctant to perform their jobs. Some employees are avoiding changes because of insufficient information on the changes that are being implemented, being taken out of their comfort zone, insecurity, personal views, job security, peer pressure, as well as a lack of confidence. Even though the employees could show resistance to the change managers would help them to deal with the situation and assist them during the transition to ensure that the implemented change becomes efficient. Managers could implement the change by relying information clearly, by being open, recognizing employees concerns, and respecting the employees. Managers should provide support by allowing them to have a face to face meeting in regards to the changes and explain the benefits of the changes by providing additional training. Also, managers must place the reluctant employees with others who are familiar with the changes that are being implemented. This would help the reluctant employees see that the changes would be worthwhile and beneficial to the organization and its advantages, as well as a possibility of their own jobs to become easier. With any change in management systems we will be expecting some resistance as discussed earlier in our presentation. Once the initiative to change is underway and in progress we will analyze the employees’ reaction to the interruption in their daily activates to identify areas that the employees may be having trouble integrating for the first 6 weeks. Allowing employees sufficient time to dissect and troubleshoot some of the unfamiliar process will give them the opportunity to challenge themselves for growth opportunities and additionally allowing them to develop noteworthy questions and concerns that will assist us to tailor the program to their individual needs. Most major changes in initiatives used to improve profitability normally fail due to incorrect guidance and project mismanagement expertise, which we intend to improve with our 12 month program that we call â€Å"Rehab†. Following the first six weeks of introduction the unveiling of our 40 hours of seminars will commence, which will be used to inform employees of how the system is more beneficial to them, and how the Data Management, Business intelligence, and Data Warehousing will be significantly more applicable to the end-user, which will increase their productivity that will additionally benefit the organization’s bottom-line. One key consideration that will be discussed with the employees is their drop in productivity during the first year of the Change Management implementation; we are fully aware that organizations don’t change – people change. Using our world renowned process takes time to fully be incorporated in the daily operations; we will be fully engaged onsite with our four member management team, who will be localized and embedded in your organization to assist all employees in-depth with this drop in performance for the duration of our contract. With over 25 years successfully working with companies of various sizes across the business sector, you can trust in our process methods to keep your business moving in a positive direction a while minimizing people risk. Prior to idea of making an improvement to our data management system we would depend on the accuracy of the employees, with the Data management system we will be able to track and monitor everything from Recordkeeping, monitoring, situational monitoring, and performance monitor. The improvements will allow us to do safe guard against violations of right by allowing access to documents externally, use data received to create lessons learned that we can use to train incoming staffers, build a better reputation for our stakeholders by giving them access to necessary information, and last but not least the ability form documents to be tampered will be drastically reduced. We are only looking at a successful change; the idea of failure is not foreseeable. Section II: Communication Plan  The form used to communicate a change to employees is just as important as the change and message in itself. In this case, the appropriate channel of communicating the change to the employees is a meeting with a PowerPoint presentation. The face to face communication will provide an opportunity for the employees to bring up concerns about the change and ask questions. The employees should be encouraged to be comfortable voicing their concerns. The PowerPoint presentation can be presented in order for everyone to see the goals, plans, and details of the change. These channels of communication will provide the employees with the information about the change while the person presenting it can offer reassurance and answers to questions. The group will have a visual to receive the message and the person who is presenting will be able to give face to face discussions regarding concerns and assurances. Potential barriers to communicating this change include the possibility of misinterpretation of some of the information presented, different point of view and expectations among the employees, and assumptions made by employees and presenter. Strategies for overcoming these barriers include the presenter encouraging people to ask questions, clarifying information, anticipating possible questions and asking those questions. The group needs to be comfortable asking questions and should be encouraged to do so. Any misinterpretations need to be clarified. And the person presenting can come up with questions that people will likely ask and bring them up in the discussion to encourage others to be involved in communication.

Walt Disney and Paramount Pictures

The Dragonslayer is a Walt Disney and Paramount Pictures film that was shown on 1981. The story was basically about a dragon that was called as Vermitrax Pejorative which was destroying the kingdom of Urland with its fiery breath. In order to please this dragon, the king ordered a group of warriors to have an expedition to find someone who has the capacity to destroy this creature. The expedition was led by Valerian and their objective is to find a wizard in the name of Ulrich of Cragonmoor.However, Ulrich died upon an accidental mishap that happened because he wants to prove his power to Tyrian, a knight of the kingdom. Upon his death, his â€Å"inexperienced apprentice† has assumed to take his place. This apprentice was Galen Bradwarden who was an orphan which has magical powers sealed inside of him by Ulrich himself in able to protect him when he was still young. The story revolves on the adventures and misadventures of this young apprentice in order to save not only the wh ole kingdom but his pride as well.It also expresses a bit of dramatic and romantic unfolding and discovery of Galen’s personal strengths and abilities. As a hero he tried to rescue the whole kingdom all by himself without thinking about the circumstances that it may bring, however the story have shown how he have grown into becoming a man that thinks about the future and not merely of how to impress the people around him. The portrayal of this can be seen in the part wherein he tried his best to rescue the princess but failed to do so.Also, he grows with enough patience and dedication to accomplish his mission or his objective with a distinct trust to his guts and personal will. The perspective of the storyteller affects this story with regards to how the emotions and clarification of scenes would be relayed. As for the way that the characters would speak and how their intentions would reveal in the story would depend upon how the story teller have perceived or have understoo d the story as a whole.The storyteller is the one who is responsible in shaping the imagination of the listeners of the story as to what the characters looks like and how they act and react in the scenes in the story. The storyteller as a whole acts merely as guide in understanding the theme and the supposedly response and kind of thinking of the characters in the story. The storyteller is also the one who is responsible in unveiling the different facts and settings that should be incorporated in the minds of the receiver in order to fully appreciate the whole story.At the end of the story, there was an implication that everything that had happened was all planned by the great sorcerer Ulrich in able to reveal or at least help Galen discover his potentials. It also shows that the great sorcerer have used Galen in order to destroy the Dragon because it is a mission that he cannot deal with by his self. It was an irony because all along the receiver would think that it was all Galenâ €™s enthusiasm and yet at the end, everything was planned in the start. References: Robbins, Mathew. 1981. Dragonslayer. Walt Disney and Paramount Pictures.

How the legalization of marijuana would affect the economy Research Paper

How the legalization of marijuana would affect the economy - Research Paper Example These positive results mostly have a direct relation to the increased income that the local government regulation of Marijuana sales have had upon their economy. In fact, if one were to keep an open mind about the issue of Marijuana legalization and its possible positive effects on a state or national economy, one will see that the pros in this instance will definitely outweigh the cons. This paper will concentrate on highlighting the positive effects that Marijuana legalization and regulation by a local state can have on its economy. The results of which will definitely astound you and make you question why the government continues to oppose the legalization of Marijuana on a national level. Our country is struggling against consistently growing unemployment rates and is buckling under the pressure of having to balance our national budget. The recent government shutdown resulted in thousands of people being furloughed without any idea as to how and when their income will resume. The se are the true struggles of the average American struggling to make a living in what was once the most powerful and economically stable country in the world. But in Obama's America, inflation is something that nobody, not even the president himself, seems to have the power to overcome. While we spend billions of taxpayer dollars every year in efforts to shut down Marijuana clinics across the nation, we kill an industry that can very well provide jobs to our countrymen and provide the national government with billions in income that can be generated from regulated sales of the plant. Consider the following information regarding the way the government treats what is considered to be a petty drug crime: â€Å"incarcerations for what are basically petty drug crimes continue to rise: â€Å"$200 transaction can cost society $100,000 for a three-year sentence. â€Å" (Erb, Kelly Phillips â€Å"Stirring the Pot: Could Legalizing Marijuana Save the Economy?†). With every state spe nding that kind of serious money on every Marijuana related arrest, it stands to reason that the country as a whole is overspending on the upkeep of each Marijuana grower / dealer in the country when that money can very well be allocated to more serious costs such as housing, healthcare, etc. While Washington remains oblivious to these facts, there have already been 16 states within the union that has come to see the potential benefits that the legalization of Marijuana can have on their local economy. Taking a page out of the prohibition era when alcohol was banned thus creating an underground economy that boomed without the government getting its fair share in terms of taxes. However, legalizing the use of Marijuana for medical and recreational purposes has its economic benefits as the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have come to realize. Follow ing in their footsteps, twelve more have similar legislation pending: Alabama, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania (Erb, Kelly Phillips â€Å"Stirring the Pot: Could Legalizing Marijuana Save the Economy?†). These are the states that have woken up to the fact that there is money to be made from government regulation of Marijuana. States

Change, School Reform And Curriculum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Change, School Reform And Curriculum - Essay Example I realized that everyone can â€Å"[get] an 'A'† and â€Å"a week later [not] even remember what the course is about† (Chomsky, 2002). And when students who appear to be failing or struggling get bad grades, the question always is: Would they have failed no matter what (in which case, they were in the wrong class or expectations were unrealistic), or did they fail because the material failed to be interesting? Approaches to curriculum design and reform must always take into account students' real, lived experiences and their networks of actual interests and beliefs to be effective. Education has to make itself relevant for students. This is especially true for curriculum reform for special education students in the field of language arts in middle school: Techniques have to be calibrated to their realistic ability levels and actual interests. A philosophy I adopt as a rubric or general organizing principle, culled from the Deweyan literature, is essentially, â€Å"You don't know if you try†. When any student arrives in any classroom, it is almost impossible to predict, even with all the knowledge about their educational background and relevant family and personal background (which is never available to teachers in toto anyways), how they might do and what they might like about the class. Institutions can either choose to err on the side of optimism, knowing in advance they will waste some resources on students not ready for, not interested in or not capable of handling the material; or they can err on the side of pessimism, knowing in advance that they will waste opportunity and potential. The cost of the latter is too high to imagine. Limited curricula that underestimate the abilities of some students, then, should be rejected. One of the most major questions for educational advocates as regards middle school Special Education students is whether and how much they are included in regular class. It is virtually impossible to tell if this po licy should be adopted in general: â€Å"Current legislation supports the concept of including students with disabilities in the general education classroom but leaves many wondering, 'Is this approach working?' Determining the effectiveness of this practice is a task not easily accomplished. The term...is not found in any law and is used inconsistently..Inclusive programs differ greatly from district to district... [A]mount and nature of support provided to the regular classroom teacher differ dramatically from district to district† (Hines, 2001). In general, the primary justification for this reform approach is one of justice. Disability students should be in classes with their able-bodied peers: It's a form of de jure segregation based on ability status if they're not. Legislators have embraced this reform influence whole-heartedly, which is a positive change from prior, less progressive views of students in general and Special Education students in particular. While this is a wonderful principle, and erring on the side of more inclusion and more optimism that they can participate meaningfully in the process given a chance is always good, the fact is that the analogy between racism and disability status is a poor one. Students with learning, mental, physical or educational disabilities have innate, not just social, roadblocks to academic success. Treating them exactly like their able-bodied peers is just as inappropriate as treating black or Latina/o students identically to white students with no

Whoole Foods in South Korea Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Whoole Foods in South Korea - Research Paper Example Based on the research, five dimensions universal to all cultures around the world were established. These include: Power-Distance; collectivism-individualism; femininity vs. masculinity; and uncertainty avoidance and long-term vs. short-term orientation (Yoo, Donthu and Lenartowicz 194). Collectivism vs. individualism: South Korea and the United States exhibit these two extreme cultural dimensions. While the U.S. culture is more of individualism, South Korea is more of collectivism. South Koreans are more contented with groups. This demonstrates that the country is a collectivist society unlike the U.S, which is highly individualistic. Being a collectivist society, South Korea can be referred to as a high-context culture according to the framework of Edward T. Hall (Rubio-Sanchez 14). Power distance: South Korea is a high power distance society. It is a hierarchical society in which the society is stratified into hierarchical order with everyone has his or her position in the organiz ation or the society. Subordinate staff in organizations usually relies on their bosses for instructions on what to do. Masculinity / Femininity: South Korea tends to be a feminine society in which the main focus is on working in order to survive. South Koreans value equality in the workplace and managers embrace consensus. Solutions to conflicts are usually arrived at through compromise and negotiation. In South Korea, a successful manager is one who is supportive and includes his or her subordinates in decision-making. Focus is usually on people’s welfare rather than status. Incentives like free time and flexibility are highly appreciated in feminine cultures. Uncertainty Avoidance: This cultural dimension concerns predictions about the future. Countries with high uncertainty avoidance tend to have rigid perception about other behaviors and ideas that are opposed to their own. South Korea has a high uncertainty avoidance culture. The society is characterized with low risk t aking ability. The society is characterized by emotional needs for rules and people have innate drive to work hard and keep busy. Punctuality and precision form fundamental norms of organizations. Individuals are highly motivated by some sense of job security. Long-term vs. Short-term orientation: South Korea has one of the highest scores in long-term orientation of the society. Long-term orientation is connected with the teachings of Confucius, which focuses of a virtuous society that focuses on the future rather than the short-term benefits (Yim 38). South Koreans are directed by good moral codes and virtues. Organizations in south Korea focus on constant growth of their share of the market and have higher proportion of own capital unlike companies from the United States and other short-term oriented societies, which focus on short-term gains or profit. South Koreans prefer to engage in business with people whom they have connections with. The U.S has been present in the country f or a long time and this might help in establishing the Whole food business. Cultural and language barrier is one of the things that would hinder successful establishment of the company in South Korea. In order to overcome this, it is appropriate to use managers and local employees with knowledge on both English and Korean language. Successful business negotiation will demand the knowledge about the country’s business etiquettes. Developing business contacts and bringing cards printed in both English and Korean language will ensure successful negotiation. Observing business etiquettes remain crucial for winning a deal and one must observe that South Koreans negotiate on a collective

How a bill becomes a law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How a bill becomes a law - Assignment Example Injuries exhibited by schoolchildren leave all stakeholders dumb folded and this is of utmost concern even to me who is a nurse. Consequently, there is a need to develop a protection mechanism for the children, which will involve proposition an idea that focus on enacting a bill into a law to ensure safety of the children in school buses. The idea that entails proposition of the bill may come from representatives or from the citizens. From this case, the idea to provide safety measures to children driving on schools bus comes from me as an ordinary citizen and a nurse. From my observation, there is an increase in the number of accidents causing injuries to children driving on front row of the school bus (Black, 2012). The number of children brought to the emergency room with fractures and other injuries is alarming thereby, this call for the need to provide protection mechanism to the children (Mehta& Lou, 2013). Children sitting at the front row are vulnerable to injuries when the bus makes a sudden braking as the bus lacks safety belts on the front rows (Macias, 2011). After proposition of the idea, the cit izen can then discuss it with their representative. After that, the representative seeks support from the fellow colleagues by discussing the bill further with them as well. As a nurse, I had an encounter with children rushed into the hospital, emergency room section, with sustained injuries because of a car having made a wrong turn in front of the bus, whereby the bus driver braked suddenly. This breaking was the cause of the many injuries like broken limbs and head lacerations that children sustained. There have been similar bills before that proposed the need to have seatbelts in school buses. For instance, the year 2007 saw the enactment of a legislation advocating for children to have seat belts in school buses. This was following a tragic occurrence whereby

Manager's Hot Seat #2-Listening Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Manager's Hot Seat #2-Listening Skills - Essay Example Since the issue at hand is critical and affects the business relationship with its customers, Pilar should restate the problem in a forceful manner. Given the lightness Miguel takes the case, the manager should enforce the message repeatedly in an attempt to justify the wrongness of Miguel’s action and ensure the practice does not surface in the future. Another alternative is firing the employee for the lack of competence and ignorance. It is evident that Miguel failed to communicate the budget overuse to the client because she believes that $11,000 is a drop in the ocean. In business dealing, this is suicidal and reflects incompetence and exploitation for customers with financial stability. In the second scenario, the communication between the two improves once Miguel pays attention to the seriousness of the matter. As a result of Pilar’s anger, Miguel becomes fearful and attentive resulting in a better communication. Miguel is afraid that he might lose a potential customer due to ignorance. At this stage, the manager should reaffirm his trust in the worker by showing concern and affirming that the issue would be solved professionally without potential risk to the employee. However, he should also a stern warning against going beyond the set budget without proper communication and agreement with the manager and the client. In the modern dynamic and competitive business world, communication takes a central role in the success of a company. For this reason, manager, workers, and customers need to have adequate listening and speaking skills to facilitate an efficient

Grace and Love in 'The Courtier' by Baldassare Castiglione Essay

Grace and Love in 'The Courtier' by Baldassare Castiglione - Essay Example In a sense, Castiglione wants to present them as ideal types, as the "onorati esempi di virt" ( IV, 2, 448: "honored models of worthiness"[287]) as can be read from his prologues. "When lord Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, passed from this life, I together with several other knights who had served him remained in the service of duke Francesco Maria della Rovere, heir and successor to Guidobaldo's state; and as in my mind there remained fresh the odor of duke Guido's virtues and the satisfaction which I in those years had felt from the loving company of such excellent persons, as then frequented the court of Urbino". Castiglione's goal in his work was to set his statements of praise for Urbino and its inhabitants in general and conventional terms. He did not cite the military exploits or civic triumphs of a character he praises, instead, he celebrates all of them for their virt, (virtue) their ingegno, (ingenuity) their ottime qualit (high dignity). Castiliogne pursues the elevation of Urbino's image to an exemplary moral excellence and its value for posterity. In his first two prologues, Castiglione highlights the superiority of Urbino's inhabitants. In the prologue to Book III, Castiglione states that if Urbino's pastimes convince him of its excellence, he should be able to imagine easily how much greater the courtiers' virtuous actions were (III, 1, 336). In the last prologue, Castiglione praises the courtiers directly as "omini per virt singulari" ( IV, 2, 446: "men singular in worth"[286]). He viewed the court as a paragon of moral exempla ( IV, 2, 448: "chiari ed onorati esempi di virt"). The court is presented as an ethical model not only to other existing courts at that time but also to the succeeding generations to come. Moreover, Castiglione confesses in the third prologue that he wrote his text carefully to "faria vivere negli animi dei posteri" (III, 1, 336: "make it live in the mind of posterity"[202]). Finally, as his culture upholds classical antiquity, he projects that the young and upcoming generation will envy his time because of the exemplary Urbino court. (III, 1, 336: "forse per l'avvenire non mancher chi per questo ancor porti invidia al secol nostro").Similarly, the virtues of grace and love which are present in Castiliogne's work are also present in Christian morals and manners. Christian morals are a function of moral discernment and moral reasoning. For instance, James Gustafson stated that moral discernment refer to basic dispositions that are shaped in part by the faith and trust Christians have as they offer themselves up to God. Moreover, James Gustafson stated that the concept of moral discernment was related to moral reasoning. Gustafson explained that moral reasoning pertains to a character, or personal moral ability, which covers dispositions, traits, and actions of the moral agent. (Selnick, 1992). Castiliogne stated that the courtier is expected to serve and increase in favour with her Lady. He should instruct her in virtue

Managing Innovation and Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Managing Innovation and Change - Essay Example According to the article â€Å"Employee Environmental innovation in the firms: organizational and Managerial† propagates ethical competence where collective organizational efforts are required to instill values of different employees. Formidable decisions and their outcomes are positive and reflect in the organizational behavior that ignites and maintains the firm’s standards for creativity and quality innovations. Businesspersons require being visionary people who are both original and goal oriented. According to â€Å"Managing Innovation and Change† by David Mayle, Encapsulates Competency in communication where capabilities to incorporate viable methodologies in transmitting new ideological proposals are upheld to the uttermost. This relies heavily on individual communication skills, pinpointing relevant information and ideas and the ability to give direct examples of behavioral causes and their effects. Therefore, modern technology revolutionizes communication and the management of the business. According to â€Å"Organizational Behavior† by Don Hellriegel and John W. Slocum, Expounds on competency in diversity whereby a firm should recognize the importance of its employees as well as identifying organizational strengths and weak points.There should be unity among firm employees regardless of their backgrounds and traits. Strategic positioning of employees in different geographical areas is also important in order to develop quality ideas and products. Based on the â€Å"Organizational Innovation: studies of program change in community Agencies† emphasis is put on the usefulness of excellent and reliable communication channels and skills among employees working in a firm’s production line. Efficiency and effectiveness of the firm are dependent on formidable communication skills. â€Å"Organizational Behavior: from Theory to Practice† defines organizational behavior as the studying of people, processes, and pra ctices that affect individual and organizational operations. Trait differences should not compromise employees’ unity working in the firm. According to the article â€Å"Organizational Behavior: Integrating Individuals, Groups, and Organization† embracing information technology connects a firm to its suppliers, employees, clients, and the world in general. Advertising of products is objective plus the organizational and employees’ interests are all catered for excellently.

The Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment

The Contemporary Hospitality Industry - Assignment Example As illustrated by Table 1, the industry is comprised of a widely assorted variety of sectors, each with its own business model and obligation for service delivery. The hospitality industry is very competitive, with many new market entrants entering worldwide and domestic markets regularly, which provide risks to maintaining a positive image with very diverse consumer segments. The only significant competitive advantage that a hospitality business maintains in the face of rising competition is developing a unique differentiation that can be sustainable. Competitors in this industry can often replicate existing service and product delivery models, therefore a business requires having a solid and differentiated brand in order to gain consumer loyalty and sustain competitive advantage. Marketers agree that building a differentiated brand image is of high strategic importance in this industry as it makes competing companies less vulnerable to recurring marketing competitiveness which is s o dominant in this industry structure (Gounaris and Vlasis 2004). To successfully compete in an environment where switching costs for consumers, according to Michael Porter (1998) is a competitive risk, it is necessary for organisations operating in this industry to outperform rivals with innovative service delivery models and technologies. Businesses operating competitively in this industry must also be considerate of pricing structures, as some environments and sectors work regularly with price-sensitive consumers. For example, conducting strategic-level environmental analyses of other businesses in the region (such as restaurants and hotels) is necessary to establish competitive pricing structures. With the aforementioned ability of companies to replicate existing food offerings, hotel amenities, and other service-related models, pricing might be one of the most competitive strategies facing businesses with high levels of competition. Price is often the most priority method by which consumers judge the quality of service and is one of the most prevalent methods by which companies promote their businesses (Dawes 2004).

Chemical Reactions Essay Example for Free

Chemical Reactions Essay Introduction In this paper you learn about the reactions that occur between backing soda and lemon juice. We will also describe what is occurring with the molecules on a molecular level. Lastly we will explain what chemical bonds are formed and or broken when lemon juice and backing soda. Observations of the Reactants When most people hear baking soda they think of the bright orange box sitting in their pantry or refrigerator soaking up the foul odors that have come about from the onions or fish. Some may think of pancakes or baking a cake. Baking powder is a fine white substance with the consistency of powdered sugar. Baking soda is a chemical base. Another substance most people do not recognize as a chemical in their household is Lemon Juice. This is a liquid mixture of water and citric acid. Its color is mildly foggy and a pale yellow. Lemon juice is a chemical acid and when mixed with a base like baking soda creates a reaction. Reactions that occur Mixing lemon juice with baking soda gives you a chemical reaction. The lemon juice contains citric acid. The citric acid from the lemon juice will donate a hydrogen ion (H+) to the bicarbonate or baking soda (NaHCO3). When the bicarbonate is mixed into solution, the bicarbonate acts as a base and takes the H+ ion from the citric acid to form carbonic acid (H2CO3) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Whenever a chemical reaction produces gas, it will be highly favored due to its large increase in entropy associated with the gas formation. In this reaction, you will notice the solution bubbling and foaming due to the CO2 production. The reaction of lemon juice and baking soda is as follows: C6H8O7 + 3NaHCO3 Na3C6H5O7 + 3H2CO Essentially, one molecule of citric acid will react with three molecules of sodium bicarbonate. This will form one molecule of sodium citrate and three molecules of carbonic acid. It is a very exothermic chemical reaction. Molecular Level Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate is a salt while lemon juice is a citric acid. When combined, on a molecular basis, the acid in the lemon juice is able to lose a hydrogen (H+) ion while the sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) of the baking soda is able to gain an ion. Mixed in a solution, the NaHCO3 dissociates into a sodium (Na+) and bicarbonate (HCO3-) ion. The HCO3- then takes the H+ ion to form H2CO3 (carbonic acid). Bonds that formed and broken The bonds that are forming between the lemon juices and backing soda are polar covalent bonds. The bonds have an uneven electron share which is known as a dipole moment that makes them insoluble. Each the backing soda and the lemon juice have bonds that are broken. The bonds that are broken in the citric acid are when the H+ ions are taken away to form the H2CO3 and CO2. While this is happening the two molecules are sharing there atoms which is making then fight one another. So in return the baking soda does not naturalize the lemon juice like most acids and bases do. This is the violent bubbling reaction you see occur when the two are mixed. Conclusion Backing soda and lemon juice are two very few reactants that react the way they do. Normally a base and an acid turn neutral. This is not the case between these two chemicals. The molecules fight on another casing them to react violently resulting in the bubbling situation that is observer. As you have learned these two chemicals react in a way to form a gas called carbon dioxide. The color changed mildly to form a fogy white color. When it is compared on a pH level it is stronger than stomach acid. This experience has showed us that different reactants react in many different ways and that is why it is important to observe them many different items before make an assumption. Reference Swindells, J. (n.d.). What does lemon juice and baking soda do?. Retrieved from http://www.blurtit.com/q7839108.html Tro, N. J. (2009). Introductory chemistry. (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. What is the chemical equation for lemon juice and baking soda. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_chemial_equation_for_lemon_juice_and_baking_soda

South African 1948 General Election

South African 1948 General Election The 1948 election in South Africa changed the country for 40 years. It caused apartheid to take effect in South Africa. It was between the United Party and the Reunited National Party. The United Party was led by Jan Smuts at the time, and the Reunited National Party was led by D.F.Malan(Rogers 47). These parties had different views. South Africans were looking for something new, which they found in the winner of this election, The Reunited National Party. The outcome of the 1948 general election in South Africa was affected by the two major parties in the election which were the Reunited National Party and the United Party. The United Party was opposing Reunited National Party in the election. It was created in 1933 and was South Africas leading political party from 1934 to 1948. In its creation Prime Minister Barry Hertzogs National Party, an Smuts South African Party, and what was left of the Unionist Party joined together. They had support from many groups including English, Afrikaners, and colored people (Alvarez-Rivera). Hertzog led until 1939 when he opposed helping Great Britain against Germany in World War 2. Jan Smuts took over the Party afterwards. The United Party sided with the Labour Party which was formed 1910. It was democratic socialist and represented the white working class. It had seats in South African House of Assembly from 1910 to 1958. It was always a minority, so it would usually support a majority party. In which in 1948 they supported the United Party. From 1910 to 1929 it was led by Colonel F.H.P. Creswell. After World War 1 a strike led to them siding with the United Party (P rice). The National Party was formed in 1915. It was created by Afrikaner Nationalists after the Union of South Africa was created. It was created from disagreements with Hertzog. It led South Africa from 1948-1994. Its policies were Apartheid, Republic, and promoting Afrikaner culture. It was originally called the National Party and was led by Hertzog until 1934 when he took it to form the United Party. He had made it where the coloreds votes were undermined. He did this by letting women vote, which made more whites be able to vote. When Hertzog planned on leaving Daniel Francois Malan and some Afrikaner Nationalists refused to merge and formed the Purified National party. They got support by opposing South Africa in World War 2. This reunified them with Purified Nationalists to form the Reunited National Party. Another name for the Reunited National Party is Herenigde Nasionale Party. In 1948 it sided with the Afrikaner Party. It was created back in 1948. It was a minority in joining with the Herenigde National Party ( Rogers 48-56, 94-102). In voting in 1948 the National Party removed colored voters from voting similar to black voters. In 1936 Representation of Natives Act was passed by Hertzog. This removed black voters from common voters rolls and were put on native voters rolls. Blacks couldnt vote in normal elections for Cape Provincial Council or House of Assembly. Now they voted separately for 2 members of the Cape Provincial Council and 3 members of House of Assembly. Four Senators would be elected by local councils, chiefs, or tribal councils for the native areas (Price). White men and women over 21 were able to vote in these elections also. The House of Assembly was what voters were voting for it was the lower part of parliament. The members were elected by first past the post voting which is where the election is won by the person with more votes than the other(s). It is used a lot but not everywhere. It used in mostly democratic governments with districts being single membered, and between 2 parties (Rogers 124-126). The House of Assembly was made up mostly of white men, but a woman was able to be in it also, and was made up of 153 seats at time of 1948 election. In the results of the election the Reunited National Party won 70 seats. The United Party won 65 seats. The Reunited National Partys alignment partner, Afrikaner party, won 9 votes to bring them and the Reunited National party to 79 seats. The United Partys alignment partner, Labour Party, won 6 seats to bring up a total 74 votes. There were also 3 independent votes which made it equal up to 153 seats. Even though the Reunited National Party won more seats than the United Party, the United Party had more votes. The United Party received 524, 230 votes in the election while the Reunited National Party received only 401, 834 votes, but still won more seats in the House of Assembly (Alvarez-Rivera). One of the issues in the country at the time was race. There are many reasons the Reunited National Party won the election. They realizes a lot of whites were feeling threatened by black people wanting to be part of government so they said that they would put strict racial segregation everywhere in the country and everywhere in peoples lives if they won. They would encourage blacks to stay in country areas and not move to cities. The United Party liked unclear movements of integrating South Africas different ethnicity groups. They thought that integration would happen anyways and so they should stop policies trying to stop blacks moving to city areas. They wanted to eventually let blacks take place in government. Other problems for the United Party were whites being unhappy with the economy and domestic things after World War 2. The Reunited National party used gerrymandering and organization as an advantage to win the election (Price). Another reason was the different sectors of the country. The farmers used inexpensive labor from blacks to raise profit. Also the white workers from urban areas were scared of blacks moving to cities and competing with their jobs. The United Party never realized the mood of these people. The Reunited National Party picked up these moods and easily made them join them and create more support. They put more fear into people by saying if United Party won then eventually Blacks would be part of government. The Reunited National Party used United Partys leader Smuts good relationship with Stalin to show how he favored communism (Rogers 178-181). The United Partys immigration program allowed British people to move to South Africa and were thought to take white South Africans homes and jobs. The 70 seats won by the Reunited National Party were mostly from country areas, and the 65 wins by the United Party were mostly from city areas. At this time there were more rural constituencies, electoral district, than urban ones which gave them more seats but less votes. Smuts and the United Party were blamed for the hard times of World War 2. They blamed them for rationing petroleum and wheat. Even after the war they still sent supplies to Great Britain and the Netherlands. This caused a local shortage for bread and meat. They also loaned 4 million ounces of gold to Great Britain (Alvarez-Rivera). At the time the Reunited National Party seemed energetic and prepared unlike the United Party who appeared lackadaisical. This causes people to be inspired and want change for better for a country going through a rough time as South Africa was during at this time after Word War 2. This caused a great deal of emotion and the result of the Reunited National Party reaching people scared of integration and losing jobs and homes. Instead they called for apartheid which separated the country from 1948 until 1994. This held the country back from it s full potential of being a leader of the world. The two parties in this election showed different attitudes and opinions, and this caused the Reunited National Party to beat the United Party in the South African 1948 general election.

Rankin And Richard Avedon Comparison

Rankin And Richard Avedon Comparison Richard Avedon and John Rankin Waddell (more commonly known as Rankin) have many similarities in their work and have also done many of the same things during their careers; this is not to say that there are no differences though. During this essay I am going to try to compare and contrast both the photographic work and the careers of two photographers. To do this I have researched both photographers, I have researched their lives and careers and also their images. I have looked at similarities and differences in the photographers work, in style, composition, elements and equipment. For my research I have used a mixture of books and the internet (using websites, online interviews, biographies and news articles) which are all secondary sources of information. A brief background of the chosen photographers Avedon was born in New York City, America in 1923. In 1942 after a short time at University Avedon dropped out to join the U.S Merchant Marine to study photography, he left in 1944 and began working as a professional photographer in a department store. Within a year Avedon had been spotted by an art director and was working as a staff photographer for Harper ¿Ã‚ ½s bazaar magazine. This was the start of a very busy and fulfilled photography career for Avedon which went on until his death in 2004 at the age of 81. Rankin was born in 1966 in Paisley, Scotland but was brought up in Hertfordshire, England. After being expelled from school Rankin tried studying Accountancy for a short while, realising this is not what he wanted to do he went on to study photography at London College of Printing. In 1991 he left college to go on and form Dazed Confused magazine with his friend Jefferson Hack. This was the beginning of Rankins career. Fashion Avedon always had an interest in Fashion and this was no surprise given that his Father owned a department store in Manhattan and he regularly had magazines such as Harpers Bazaar, Vogue and Vanity Fair delivered to their family home. Reading through magazines such as these gave Avedon the desire to try to recreate these images which were taken by photographers such as Steichen, Man Ray and Munkasci. Avedon started producing his own photos by the use of a Kodak Box Brownie camera and using his younger sister as a model. When Avedon became a professional fashion photographer, fashion models were not public celebrities, their work had no prestige, and their names were not generally known (Avedon and Hollander: 2005 : p238) This is a big difference between Avedon and Rankin. When shooting fashion it has always been common for Rankin to use famous models, this is not only due to choice but also due to a change in times. Fashion photography in the 1940s, when Avedon started out his photography career was different in many more ways than the fame or popularity of the models. Avedon created a name for himself within the industry by injecting life and colour into fashion photography that hadnt really been done before. His portraits contained smiles, laughter and action which completely went against the norm in photography for this period. This is something that obviously influenced Rankin and can still be seen in his work today. Images by both are usually very minimalist and clean looking. The first image is by Avedon and was used by Vogue for the front cover and the second is by Rankin. Portraits Avedon had always had an interest in portraiture and also a unique way of doing it. When taking portraits of people Avedon used to talk about uncomfortable subjects and asked them very probing questions. This caused reactions that gave Avedon a raw view of people that wasn ¿Ã‚ ½t very often caught by others. His style was very detectable from the subject posing in front of a plain white background and looking directly into the camera. All the pictures were very minimalistic and almost clinical looking. In 1985 he held an exhibition called American West; the exhibition consisted of 125 photos that he had taken between 1979 and 1984, he had photographed drifters, miners, cowboys and many other from the western United States. Avedon was attracted to working people and teenagers growing up in the west. This went on to be published as a book and even though it was criticised at the time from people saying it was giving a bad impression of America it is still seen today as a hugely important hallmark of 20th Century portrait photography. Most of Rankins portraits are done with the same look of plain white background and the subject looking squarely into the camera. Rankin also has a way of bring something very personal to his portraits and has a skill of really reflecting the models personality in the image but done in a different way to which Avedon did, usually by applying a quirky prop or pose. Examples of their portraits are below; the first is by Avedon and the second by Rankin. Documentary Avedons portraits from the American West exhibition are of a documentary style, the pictures are documenting the west of the United States the years of 1979 and 1981. Avedon was interested in showing the real people of this area and time, he chose to photograph workers such as oil field workers and miners in their dirty work gear. He also photographed unemployed travellers and teenagers that were growing up here. In 2008 Rankin, with Oxfam, did his own documentary photography exhibition entitled Cheka Kidogo. For this exhibition, travelling to the Democratic Republic of Congo in June 2008, Rankin took photos of people that were now living in refugee camps due to fleeing conflict in area. The exhibition was to show the reality and draw attention back to the forgotten conflict of the country. Rankin then donated all of the profits from his Rankin Live exhibition to Oxfam. Even though there arent many visual similarities between the two sets of photos, there is a big likeness in the reason behind both and what the photographers wanted to show with them. The main reason for both exhibitions is to show the reality of living in a certain place and time and then the life that this then creates for people. Both tried to capture and show the lives of their subjects through the people in their portraits. Erotica Both Avedon and Rankin have shot an Erotica collection. Even though Rankins seems to be a lot more extensive, you can still the similarities and influences from Avedons work. In the pictures below you can see that the similarities are that of composition, colour, contrast and style. On the below image you can see that Rankin has also added his own style to the picture with the way he has lit the shot and the addition of the snake. Avedons image is also very flat compared to Rankins image. The first is by Avedon, 1992, and the second by Rankin, 2007 A large amount of Rankins recent work falls into the Erotica category. He has published a book that is predominantly of this nature featuring Tuuli Shipster, who was previously his muse but is now his wife. The book is a collection of erotic images of her that he has entitled A Photographic Love Letter. Rankin has also published other books that contain more of his erotic images, probably his most famous one being called Cheeky, in 2002 he has released a book called Sofa Sexy which is slightly more adventurous and daring than his other erotica work . Colour Due to the time a lot of Avedons photos are black and white but even as time went on and colour photography became much more desirable and available, Avedon still shot much of his personal work in black and white. This doesnt mean that he never used colour though, quite the opposite, when shooting for fashion magazines during the 60s and 70s Avedon experimented a lot with colour photography. Avedons long relationship with fashion magazine Harpers Bazaar allowed him to try out color as much as or more than any experimental photographer of the period. His palette derived from trendy colors of the time, including hot pink, which helped spread the colours through the clothing and cosmetics industry.(Marien : 2006: p354) Rankin does occasionally produce black and white pictures but as a whole most of his work tends to be in quite vivid colour. Both photographers produced a lot of portraits on white backgrounds. Even though one uses mainly colour photography and the other black and white both generally produce very high contrast, high key pictures. Rankin 7 photographs that changed fashion For a BBC documentary Rankin tried to recreate what he thought were the  ¿Ã‚ ½7 photographs that changed fashion ¿Ã‚ ½. The photos were originally taken by photographers that had influenced and inspired him such as, Herb Ritts, Cecil Beaton, Guy Bourdin, David Bailey, Erwin Blumenfeld, Helmut Newton and Richard Avedon. During the program Rankin ¿Ã‚ ½s goal is to  ¿Ã‚ ½expose the ways in which fashion photography uses fantasy and beauty to communicate something about reality. ¿Ã‚ ½ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gq75c) For one of the seven photographs Rankin recreated Avedon ¿Ã‚ ½s 1955  ¿Ã‚ ½Dovima With Elephants ¿Ã‚ ½ for this he used model Erin O ¿Ã‚ ½Connor. He said he chose her for her  ¿Ã‚ ½tall frame and demeanour ¿Ã‚ ½; this obviously matched that of model Dovima that Avedon had used for his image. Rankin produced the image in colour unlike Avedon ¿Ã‚ ½s original that was black and white. Even though Rankin produced a very good image I don ¿Ã‚ ½t think he managed to capture the atmosphere that Avedon did in his image. During the BBC documentary Rankin said about Avedon, Classic styling with energy and creative spirit. Daring, stylish and ambitious, his pictures reflected the optimism of 50s America and turned him into the first celebrity fashion photographer. ¿Ã‚ ½ (BBC : 2009 : The seven Photographs That Changed Fashion) Avedon 1955 Rankin 2008 Books and Magazines Both photographers have produced many books of their photography and many of Avedon ¿Ã‚ ½s have been produced after his death: Avedon:  ¿Ã‚ ½ Nothing Personal. Photographs by Richard Avedon and text by James Baldwin 1964  ¿Ã‚ ½ An Autobiography: The Photographs of Richard Avedon 1993  ¿Ã‚ ½ Evidence: 1944-1994 1994  ¿Ã‚ ½ In the American West: Richard Avedon Photographs 1979 1984 1996  ¿Ã‚ ½ The Sixties 1999  ¿Ã‚ ½ Richard Avedon Portraits 2002  ¿Ã‚ ½ Woman in the Mirror: 1945-2004 2005  ¿Ã‚ ½ Richard Avedon: Photographs 1946-2004 2007  ¿Ã‚ ½ Richard Avedon: The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family 2007  ¿Ã‚ ½ Performance 2008  ¿Ã‚ ½ Avedon Fashion 1944-2000 2009 Rankin  ¿Ã‚ ½ Snog 2000  ¿Ã‚ ½ Celebration 2000  ¿Ã‚ ½ Rankinworks 2000  ¿Ã‚ ½ Rankin Male Nudes 2001  ¿Ã‚ ½ Sofasexy turning a cheap sofa into an object of desire 2002  ¿Ã‚ ½ Breeding: a study of sexual ambiguity 2004  ¿Ã‚ ½ Visually Hungry 2007  ¿Ã‚ ½ Beautyfull 2007  ¿Ã‚ ½ Tuulitastic A Photographic Love Letter 2007  ¿Ã‚ ½ Heidilicious 2009  ¿Ã‚ ½ Alex Box 2009  ¿Ã‚ ½ Cheeky 2009 Both photographers were heavily involved in magazines during their careers and both predominantly about fashion, whether it be working for one or publishing their own. At the very beginning of his career Rankin, in 1991, with his friend Jefferson Hack started magazine  ¿Ã‚ ½Dazed and Confused ¿Ã‚ ½ this is still very popular and widely sold throughout the world. This was only the start for Rankin and he has gone on to produce magazines such as,  ¿Ã‚ ½RANK ¿Ã‚ ½,  ¿Ã‚ ½Another Magazine ¿Ã‚ ½ and  ¿Ã‚ ½Another Man ¿Ã‚ ½. Avedon was Art Director for  ¿Ã‚ ½Harper ¿Ã‚ ½s Bazaar ¿Ã‚ ½ at the beginning of his career and also worked for Vogue, Egoiste, The New Yorker and LIFE magazine.

Navigating Interstitial Spaces Essays -- Democracy American Tocquevill

Navigating Interstitial Spaces â€Å"[T]he law permits the Americans to do what they please.† Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America The protection of virtue, I submit, requires an understanding of interstitial spaces—spaces where formalist adherence to rules and laws does not suffice to adequately promote virtue. Recognition of these spaces spawned agent morality and Aristotle’s practical wisdom. Fascination with these spaces fueled Alexis de Tocqueville’s inquiry into American religious, familial and political mores in Democracy in America. Though America’s formal, codified laws of the 1830s granted â€Å"dangerous freedom† to the individual, Americans managed to navigate interstitial spaces with assiduous virtue. This discussion will briefly connect threads from Aristotle’s Ethics, Plato’s Republic, and Pericles’ funeral oration to preface a more extensive examination of Tocqueville’s careful study of the institutions which reinforced virtue within America’s interstitial spaces. The conclusion will examine and evaluate the doctrine of †Å"self-interest rightly understood† as the sole guarantor of virtue in the United States. Aristotle, one of the forefathers of agent morality, understood that universal and formalist rules alone could not sustain virtue. Practical wisdom, â€Å"a truth-attaining intellectual quality concerned with doing and with the things that are good for human beings† allows the moral agent to operate virtuously in a context-specific way. â€Å"[I]t is not possible,† Aristotle writes, â€Å"without practical wisdom to be really good morally.† Obedience to fixed rules cannot govern action â€Å"to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, for the right reason, and in the right way.† In order to cultiv... ...ticipation correlate directly with the correct practice of â€Å"self-interest rightly understood† and we accept both Michael Sandel’s thesis about the rise of the â€Å"voluntarist self† and Robert Putnam’s thesis describing the decline of American social and political capital—then a gloomy picture emerges about the sustainability of virtue in the hands of enlightened self-interest alone. Without guidance in a wide expanse of interstitial space, it is easy to slip through the cracks. Words Cited Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Mitchell, Joshua. The Fragility of Freedom. Plato. The Republic. Putnam. Bowling Alone. Sandel, Michael. Democracy’s Discontents. Thucydides. The History of thte Peloponnesian War. â€Å"Pericles’ Funeral Oration.† Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America.

Colonialism, Imperialism, and Greed in Conrads Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness essays

Colonization and Greed in Heart of Darkness The book Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad is a masterpiece in literature. Conrad obtained many of his perspectives for his work from `hands on experience' and also from his harsh background and childhood. When Conrad was still a child his father was exiled to Siberia because of suspicions on plotting against the Russian government. After his mother died, Conrad's father sent him to his mother's brother in Krakow for education purposes. This was the last time Conrad ever saw his father. After Conrad had turned seventeen, he traveled to Marseilles and spent the next twenty years on an English ship, (eight years later he became a British subject). Conrad began writing his first novel Almayer's Folly in 1889, and began to actively search for a way to fulfill his dream of traveling to the Congo. In 1890 Conrad took command of a steamship in the Belgian Congo. Conrad's experiences in the Congo paved the way and the outline for his brilliant novel Heart of Darkness. Du ring his time in the Congo, Conrad's health took a devastating blow so he returned to England to recover. Returning to sea twice before finishing Almayer's Folly in 1894 Conrad wrote several other books including one about Marlow which was called Youth (a narrative before beginning Heart of Darkness in 1898). Conrad wrote most of his other major works Lord Jim (which features Marlow), Nostramo and The Secret Agent as well as several collaborations with Ford Madox during the following two decades. Conrad died in 1924 but will always have and hold a place in the hearts of many readers. In his book Heart of Darkness Conrad gives the reader an understanding of how the Africans were mistreated during colonization. The book also pinpoints many cases that show the greed and selfishness of imperialism. The evilness of how the Africans were treated is critiqued well in a quote "the men who work for the company describe what they do as `trade' and their treatment of native Africans is part of a benevolent project of civilization" (http://www.sparknotes.com; Heart of Darkness). This is a very true statement which shows that the way the colonizers treated the African was more like slaves rather than people. Colonialism, Imperialism, and Greed in Conrad's Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness essays Colonization and Greed in Heart of Darkness The book Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad is a masterpiece in literature. Conrad obtained many of his perspectives for his work from `hands on experience' and also from his harsh background and childhood. When Conrad was still a child his father was exiled to Siberia because of suspicions on plotting against the Russian government. After his mother died, Conrad's father sent him to his mother's brother in Krakow for education purposes. This was the last time Conrad ever saw his father. After Conrad had turned seventeen, he traveled to Marseilles and spent the next twenty years on an English ship, (eight years later he became a British subject). Conrad began writing his first novel Almayer's Folly in 1889, and began to actively search for a way to fulfill his dream of traveling to the Congo. In 1890 Conrad took command of a steamship in the Belgian Congo. Conrad's experiences in the Congo paved the way and the outline for his brilliant novel Heart of Darkness. Du ring his time in the Congo, Conrad's health took a devastating blow so he returned to England to recover. Returning to sea twice before finishing Almayer's Folly in 1894 Conrad wrote several other books including one about Marlow which was called Youth (a narrative before beginning Heart of Darkness in 1898). Conrad wrote most of his other major works Lord Jim (which features Marlow), Nostramo and The Secret Agent as well as several collaborations with Ford Madox during the following two decades. Conrad died in 1924 but will always have and hold a place in the hearts of many readers. In his book Heart of Darkness Conrad gives the reader an understanding of how the Africans were mistreated during colonization. The book also pinpoints many cases that show the greed and selfishness of imperialism. The evilness of how the Africans were treated is critiqued well in a quote "the men who work for the company describe what they do as `trade' and their treatment of native Africans is part of a benevolent project of civilization" (http://www.sparknotes.com; Heart of Darkness). This is a very true statement which shows that the way the colonizers treated the African was more like slaves rather than people.

The Motivation for the Crucifixion of Jesus :: essays research papers

The Motivation for the Crucifixion of Jesus Why was Jesus executed? In answering this question in historical terms, we must first look at the events leading up to his arrest and ultimately, his execution. We know that Jesus performed that symbolic gesture of 'cleansing'; the temple, by overturning the money changers tables, and most believe that this act was symbolic of destruction, not purification. Paula Fredrickson, author of From Jesus to Christ writes: 'Through this disruptive gesture, Jesus symbolically enacted the enpending apocalyptic destruction of the Temple…that God's kingdom was at hand.'; So basically, his gesture, as Fredrickson states: 'would have been readily understood by any Jew watching, as a statement that the Temple was about to be destroyed by God, and accordingly that the present order was about to cede to the Kingdom of God.';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  So in doing this, Jesus obviously made a lot of people mad. Most obviously were the chief priests in the temple because he did it during Passover (one of the holiest holidays), knowing Pontius Pilate was around for crowd control, and to announce so liberally that the freedom of their people was at hand, would incite a threat to the Roman stronghold. It is known that Pontius Pilate was not a nice guy to begin with, and he was not happy to be in Jerusalem during its most crowded time of the year. Passover is a holiday celebrating the Jews freedom from slavery, so he was there as crowd control. Paula Fredrickson states in an interview: 'He had a reputation for crucifying untried prisoners…Pilate was legally responsible to be in Jerusalem when it was most crowded. He was in a bad mood already when he got into town…hearing that someone was a trouble maker would be enough.'; So all he needed to do was find someone to take his frustrations out on. Enter Jesus . The priests basically handed him over to Pilate. In the gospel of Luke, the priests call Jesus a blasphemer. Was he turned over to Pilate because of their desire to keep the peace, or was it out of jealousy that maybe Jesus knew something they didn't, or was it merely out of ignorance? There is no evidence that he committed some blasphemy, so he was handed over to Pilate for what? He was a threat to the priests' stronghold over the temple, if Jesus was right, then there would be no need for them.

Describe How Past Ways Of Working May Affect Present Services

Unit 22†¦ Understanding the Context of Supporting Individuals with Learning Disabilities. 1. 1 Identify Legislation and policies that are designed to promote the human rights, inclusion, equal life chances and citizenship of individuals with learning disabilities. Human Rights Stereotyping labelling Discrimination Anti Discrimination Oppression Anti Oppression Valuing people Mental Capacity Act Human Rights Act 2000. No Secrets – Guidance published by the Department of Health, builds upon the governments respects for human rights and highlights the need to protect vulnerable adults through effective multi-agency work.National Care Standards Commission, now the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). In Safe Hands: Implementing adult procedures in Wales The Human Rights Act 1998 became law in Briton in 2000 and its articles and protocols, give all people constitutional rights that were intended to prevent discrimination and unfair treatment, echoing and the idea of a dvocacy: Being able to say what I like as long as I respect others. Making choices about my life. Expecting people to listen to me.Having information about my rights. Having my rights respected. Being safe at home and having time to myself. Speaking out and complaining if something is wrong. Choosing the people I see and who my friends are. Getting married and having children. Living with people that I get on with. Deciding what I spend my money on and getting paid for what I do. 1. 2 Explain how this legislation and policies influence the day to day experiences of individuals with learning disabilities and their families.There is less ignorance in the community as more people with learning disabilities have been able to have better access in the community and the public are getting use to adapting to them. Also due to training at work the public are getting training at work and this is also making them aware about disabled people and they are being taught about disabled people. Als o due to legislations, disability act's, SOVA and Mental health acts, disabled people are being employed for work and are not being discriminated against and every one suitable for the job regardless of the disability are being adapted to and employed.Also †back in the day† (still in the 20th century) there were a vast amount of institutions and now there are no institutions due to the legislations that have been put in place and the human rights that there are as it is inhumane to institutionalise anyone. Families are also getting more help form the government and are receiving benefits to help them care for their loved ones. They families are also receiving support from the local councils and carers are coming to the home and taking disabled people out in the community. The day centre's also adheres to the day to day legislation, policies and equal opportunities. 2. Explain what is meant by learning disabilities. A significantly reduced ability to understand new or com plex information, to learn new skills with: A reduced ability to cope independently, which started before adulthood with a lasting effect on development. Degrees of Learning Disabilities MILD: Obvious difficulties in learning, especially educational skill, but can acquire skills of everyday living. MODERSTE: Considerable difficulties in learning, will probably need help mastering everyday skills. SEVERE: Substantial difficulties, language abilities will be limited. Will need support with many daily living activities.PROFOUND: Extreme difficulties in all learning. Limited communication and may possibly have physical needs. Will be dependant on others for personal care and other daily living activities. 2. 2 Give examples of causes of learning disabilities. Causes of learning disabilities can occur at various stages of development either before birth or after birth. The disabilities which occur before birth or (pre-natally) are know as congenital causes such as chromosomes, Fragile X Syndrome. In other cases, harmful substances in the womb may affect a foetus, this could include alcoholism or drug abuse during pregnancy. After birth or (post-natally) causes can occur because of illness, injury or environmental conditions, for example: Meningitis†¦.. Brain injury†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Malnutrition. 2. 3 Describe the medical and social models of disabilities. The medical model of disability views disabilities as a problem that belongs to the disabled person. It is not seen as a problem that needs the concern of anyone else apart from the disabled individual affected, for example if a wheelchair user is unable to get into a building because there are steps then, the wheelchair is seen as the problem not the steps, according to the medical model.The social model suggests that it is the steps that are the issue not the wheelchair, as it is the steps which are disabling the person access, which is seen as a barrier. This model suggests that it is society disabling people through designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of people, who are not disabled. The social model believe that there is a gre at deal that society can do to reduce and ultimately remove, some of the barriers.This task is the responsibility of society rather then the person, as far as is reasonably practical – which by if it is a big organisation and it is financially possible and financially beneficial, then it would make sense to adapt and make provisions for disabled people to have access for example, wider doors, disabled toilets, a ramp, lifts if it is not a ground level building, although if it is only a small company then it may not benefit them financially to adapt there building. As if they are not getting the business then there may not be a need to adapt for the one in a million disabled person, as it may not be practical. . 4 State the approximate proportion of individuals with a learning disability for whom the cause in not known. In adults with a mild learning disabilities, 50% of cases have no cause of identification. In adults with severe or profound learning disabilities, chromosomal abnormalities cause around 40% of cases. Prenatal and perinatal problems cause around 10% of learning disability, and post natal issues a further 10% of cases and unknown cause's are at around 25%. 2. 5 Describe the possible impact on a family of having a member with a learning disability.The impacts will depend on the type of condition and severity, as well as the physical, emotional, and financial wherewithal of the family and the resources that are available. Having a family member with a learning disability can be reacted upon in many different ways, for example – A family may see this family member no differently from their other children. They will support the child at home and continue to live ‘normally'. They would get help from the local authorities and from social services and get their family member sent to a special school specific to their needs.They would monitor the progress and aim to teach them personal care, social skills and everyday living skills to make their life as normal as possible. There is possibility that the family member may be challenging but the monitoring that was put in place previously would know what triggers the behaviour, and how to calm them down. The main carer may possibly have to leave work and the family member would have to be their main focus. This may put a struggle on the rest of the family financially and mentally as the rest of the family could feel unappreciated and start having bad behaviour to try and get attention, and to get by.On the other hand a family may feel like they do not have the ability to cope and may put the family member in either foster care or permanent care. Dependant on the severity of the disabled person is dependant on the affect which it could have and dependant on the disability and the severity of the ability. You may have to fight for help from the professionals and be persistent to get the help and support you need and not give up and tat may be hard as at times you may feel let down by the service your being offered or like you are getting nowhere and this could make you feel like giving up.It can broaden horizons, increase family members' awareness of their inner strength, enhance family cohesion, and encourage connections to community groups or religious institutions. On the negative side, the time and financial costs, physical and emotional demands, and logistical complexities associated with raising a disabled person can have far-reaching effects. 3. 1 Explain the types of services that have been provided for individuals with learning disabilities over time. Collages have provided sessions and lessons specifically designed for disabled people to meet their needs.Day centres have been provided for a wide variety of disabled people for stimulation and person centred needs. Charities, volunteers and church run groups are available. Advocacy groups – talk-back. Health care, specialist nurses and education. Ategi. People with learning disab ilities have been assessed in great depth to assess whether they have the capacity to have direct payments and personal budgets. People are getting supported living and outsource day opportunities. 3. 2 Describe how past ways of working may affect present services.Incidents that were happening such as abuse within institutions is one of the main reasons that we now have introduced safeguarding, and also as people were being hidden from the truth of the ongoings in the institutions. Inspections from the likes of C. Q. C are in the pipe line for day services. Safeguarding training has been pushed harder for all employees to get a place on a course for greater understanding and so that the disabled adults are safe. Identify some of the key changes in the following areas of the lives of individuals who have learning disabilities: A) Where People live.Huge changes have been made in society and disabled people now have access to supported living, shared life, Ategi, Respite services and R esidential home services. This provides disabled people who have the ability to live on their own have their mental capacity assessed to decide what the clients needs are based on person centred individual care. B) Daytime activities Charities and volunteers have organised church run groups in late afternoon early/evening's for adults with learning disabilities and the day centres provide stimulating outings for all the clients weekly whether its going for a ride in the bus or going swimming.The government also arranges social worker's to go to their homes and take clients out. C)Employment Each client with a learning disability will have a back to base assessment and this will assess whether a client has the capacity and ability to be able to work in paid employment. Also there are anti discrimination acts in place where if you do have a learning disability, then you are not able to be discriminated against and you have a fair right to employed. D)Sexual relationships and parenthoo d For an adult to have a sexual relationship and consider entering parenthood then the individual(s) will need to have a capacity assessment.With the assessment this determines whether the individual is able to understand and fully consent to the sexual relationship. If it is deemed that the client doesn't have the capacity to have a sexual relationship then the client will not be able to be involved and the client will have to have a best interest assessment in place. If it was deemed appropriate then the social services will become more involved to make sure that any of the individuals involved wasn't being abused in any way under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. If needed you would receive extra support from midwives and social services would monitor you throughout the pregnancy.You could even have extra help during and after for example you may get help for cooking and cleaning and the council would pay for this. If the sexual relationship progressed into something further for inst ance pregnancy, then again the social services would get involved and a capacity assessment would be done to assess whether you are fit to be a parent, and if you were then what help and support you would need if any. Also there would be a best interest assessment whether you are aloud to continue with the pregnancy and whether your aloud to keep the baby or put the baby up for adoption.If you did have the baby and keep the baby then you would be regularly assessed by the social services to make sure that you are coping and if you needed any help and the help and services they could offer you for full support. E) The provision of healthcare Each client has a medical health passport which follows them around whenever they need to go to the doctors or hospital then the medical professionals have the information they need to help medicate you or assess what is wrong to enable the professionals to give you the correct care you need.Each client has there own nurse, who have been trained in learning disabilities so that if you need help or advice then they are there for you and know your history. Also client have transport passports which enables them to travel safely. 4. 1 Explain the meaning of the term ‘social inclusion. Inclusion is based upon the idea of allowing everyone equal access to a service regardless of gender, disability, religion etc. There are many ways to ensure that your setting adheres to its inclusion policy. Here are a few examples.In a learning disability environment you could make access for disabled people possible by providing disabled toilets, ramps and wide doors. You could disabled people and families who have English as a second language resources to help with communication such as books and diagrams of words ; their meanings. Also staff could learn other means of communicate for example makaton and British sigh language as with disabled people with a hearing impairment you could train staff up on sign language to help with communi cation.For people with learning difficulties you could ensure that you gain support from outside agencies such as speech therapists, health visitors, specialist nurses etc. 4. 2 Explain the meaning of the term advocacy. Advocacy is: Protecting your rights when you are vulnerable. Listening to you Ensuring that you are listened to. Providing you with information so that you can make informed choices and decisions. Helping you to express yourself and take part in decisions which affect you. Respecting your right to make your own choices.Being there for you without conflict of interest. Advocacy must: Be Accessible to all who require it. Be Accountable to those who use it and fund it. Put those who use it first. Be as free as possible from conflicts of interest. Describe different types of advocacy. Self advocacy – This refers to the civil rights movement for people with developmental disabilities also called cognitive or intellectual disabilities, and other disabilities. The se lf-advocacy movement is (in basic terms) about people with disabilities speaking up for themselves.Self-Advocacy or Speaking up for yourself is to speak up for oneself, either as a member of a group or as an individual and contains an element of developing the confidence, skills and knowledge to do this. Self-advocacy groups are the same as self-help groups but will often involve the use of a facilitator or supporter where additional skills are required that members of the group do not already have. Peer advocacy – Peer Advocacy refers to â€Å"experts by experience†, and is used to describe advocacy relationships where both the advocate and the advocacy partner share similar experiences, difficulties or discrimination.This can include looked after children, with experience of children’s homes, those with mental ill health, the elderly or people with a learning disability. Peer advocacy is often spontaneous in such settings as day centres. Paid independent advoc acy – In paid advocacy – sometimes called independent advocacy – the advocate receives a salary or a fee per client. Citizen advocacy – ‘Citizen Advocacy organisations' (Citizen Advocacy programs/programmes) seek to cause benefit by reconnecting people who have become isolated from the ordinary community.Statutory advocacy – Statutory Advocacy is a term used to describe advocacy roles that are established in legislation. Statutory advocates will have certain legal rights, and where certain criteria are met, a person may have a right to this form of advocacy. There are two forms of statutory advocacy; Independent Mental Health Advocates (IMHA’s) and Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCA’s). All advocacy types are of equal value. What advocacy is used, and when, should depend on what is best suited to the person who seeks it. A single person may ask for different types of advocacy support at different times in their life.Wha t is common to all types of advocacy is that the person who it is for (in this instance the person with a learning disability) is always at the centre of the advocacy process. It is all about what that person wants, and finding the best way of getting that across to the people who need to know. Advocacy can be like tools in a tool box, the different types can be used together or separately depending on the job that needs to be done. People with learning disabilities say that being part of a self advocacy group or getting support from an advocate is a really important part of being able to take control of their lives. . 4 Describe the ways to build empowerment and active participation into everyday support with individuals with learning disabilities. The way that we build empowerment and active participation in the day services is by giving each client as much control and choice as possible. By knowing and assessing the capacity of the individual and then giving that individual the c hoice and control of their life doing the best we can to help them. 5. 1 Explain how attitudes are changing in relation to individuals with learning disabilities.People with learning disabilities are given their voice and people are now excepting them as individuals and therefore the individual is getting the care and attention they do or don't need, this is making their lives better and more comfortable and so they are happier. Disabled people are now in the public more working and mixing with ‘normal' people and so the ‘normal' people are learning more about the individual and the wideness of people with learning disabilities and how to work with them in and work place and just on a day to day basis.This is giving people in the public a wider knowledge and understanding so they are beginning to accept and learn to work with the disabled. 5. 2 Give examples of positive and negative aspects of being labelled as have a learning disability. Positive: Those who are not exte nsively trained about learning disabilities may think they understand their problems, when they really don't, and have unrealistic expectations or make assumptions that they cant do something that they can actually do. Choosing to allow a person to be abelled as learning disabled can provide the person with many advantages and specific adaptations can be made at their school/workplace. They may also receive special understanding from their teacher/colleges and others. If they realize that a learning disability is something that simply affects how another person learns, they may come to respect that persons abilities rather than focus on their areas of weakness. Negative: Being labelled as having a learning disability. Labels are for life, and many people fear that having a label attached them will cause people to treat them in a negative way.Most people do not understand what it means to have a learning disability, and may discriminate against someone who is labelled as having a lea rning disability. 5. 3 Describe steps that can be taken to promote positive attitudes towards individuals with learning disabilities and their family/carers. Care in the community and action toward greater integration amongst mainstream society. To provide assistance and education for learning disabled people to gather the skills to live a less marginalised and more independent life within society.As well as modernising day services to help encourage independent living and social skills for forming meaningful relationships with a different groups of people. The local authority must evaluate the person's needs and make provisions where possible. 5. 4 Explain the roles of external agencies and others in changing attitudes, policies and practice. Agencies and care providers have a role to play in changing the situation. People with learning disabilities should be supported to be all they can be, and to achieve their fundamental human rights, including the right to make an informed choi ce about whether or not to form relationships.They are also working to improve conditions of the individuals that they work for. Some of the external agencies whom would be involved: Care Quality Commission, General Social Care Council, Skills for Care (includes Common Induction Standards) Health & Safety Executive, Social Care Institute for Excellence,the organisation you work for, yourself, advocates, citizens' advice bureau, charities, organisations, (Action on Hearing Loss, Scope, RNIB, Sense, Dementia UK, Alzheimer's Society, Parkinsons UK.The roles of external agencies are: Having to keep updated with legislation and training on all the staff. This is agencies with whom the day centre uses: Doctors/Nurses, carers/parents, care managers and physiotherapists. Carers and families attitudes with regards to policy and practice is to have continued communication with all professionals. 6. 1 Identify ways of adapting each of the following when communicating with individuals who have learning difficulties.Verbal communication:To learn the language that the client uses and the facial expression that the client uses as this can help you to understand how the client feels, also to listen to the client and not to finish the sentence for the client as this can lead to misunderstandings and confusions. You need to use simpler terms and never must use slang or jargon. Non Verbal communication:To watch facial expressions and body language that the client uses. Braille and sensory equipment will also help with communication and the clients needs.Using bright colours, picture cards and makaton/sigh language. 6. 2 Explain why it is important, to use language that is both ‘age appropriate' and ability appropriate' when communicating with individuals with learning disabilities. Its important to use age appropriate language as the client may have the ability to understand and respond to you when spoken to correctly, also you don't want the client to loose the ability to communicate, don't use big, long fancy words or talk fast.Every one has different abilities some individuals can walk and talk and some are highly dependable on the help of others, some people can interact with others but some may not have the mental ability to. All clients have different abilities for instance one client will be able to communicate with you to tell you what they would like to eat, some may be able to show you through pointing or eye contact and others may only be able to show you through trial and error e. g. if they eat the food or spit it out.You should use shorter sentences and give them time to take in what you are saying and be patient, give the client enough time to take in what you have said not rushing them. If you speak to the client like a child then this may upset of distress the client and make him/her feel inadequate, which could lead to further issues. When communicating you need to always communicate clearly and use basic English unless stated other wise otherwise this could lead to misunderstandings. 6. 3 Describe ways of checking whether an individual has understood communications, and how to address any misunderstandings.By knowing how the client communicates, you can read the facial expressions for example – blinking, head movements, sounds or body movements. If a client has misunderstood what you have said then the client may either not answer or act differently or answer even though they are not aware what they are saying. If the client is struggling to understand you or you think the client has misunderstood you then you need to rephrase the question or use visual aids, as this could help you to explain it in another way.

Conflict with Curleys Wife

nfl 1. First appearance When Curleys’ wife first appears in the book Lennie was fascinated by her looks and thinks that she is very pretty. You know this because he looks at her from top to bottom. These facts are true because in the book it says â€Å"Lennie’s eyes moved down her body. † To show that Lennie was fascinated by her looks it says â€Å"Lennie watched her, fascinated†. Another way that we know that Lennie thought that she was pretty is that after she leaves the bunk house Lennie then says â€Å"she was purty. These three quotes show that Lennie was very interested in Curleys’ wife’s appearance and thought that she was pretty indeed. But by Lennie thinking that she was pretty it then caused conflict between Lennie and George. George gets angry with Lennie so her grabs him by the ear and shakes him. Then he says to him â€Å"Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I se en ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be. † Lennie then says that he wants to leave because the place isn’t good for them.George also agrees but they have to stay in order to get the money they needed for their dream house. 2. In the barn Curleys’ wife gets in an argument with crooks, candy and Lennie. This is because she calls them all rude names. She says â€Å"What am I doin’? standin’ here with a bunch of bindle stiffs-a nigger an’ a dum—dum and a lousy ol’ sheep-an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else. Lennie doesn’t really do much after her saying this but his mouth drops. Crooks could not be bothered to defend for himself because he has done it so many times but Candy stands up and shouts back.He says â€Å"I had enough, you ain’t wanted here. We told you you ain’t. an’ I tell ya, you got floozy idears about what us guys amounts to. You ain’t got sense enough in that chicken head to even see that we ain’t stiffs. S’pose you get us canned. S’pose you do. You think we’ll hit the highway an’ look for another lousy two-bit job like this. You don’t know that we got our own ranch to go to, an’ our own house. We ain’t got to stay here. We gotta house and chickens an’ fruit trees an’ a place a hundred time prettier than this. An’ we got frien’s, that’s what we got.Maybe there was a time when we was scared of getting’ canned, but we ain’t no more. We got our own lan’, and it’s ours, an’ we c’n go to it. † But Curleys’ wife just laughs with disbelief and makes Candy look bad but Candy then turns it back around by not caring what she says and tells her to scatter along. But Curley’s wife would have none of it so Crooks then steps in but aga in Curley’s wife makes Crooks feel bad about himself and steps back down again so Curley’s wife leaves having won there argument and feeling powerful. 3. Curley’s wife’s deathMeanwhile Lennie was hurting Curley’s wife she was yelling so he said to her â€Å"Don’t you go yellin’† he repeatedly says this. After Lennie had killed Curley’s wife it then caused conflict between many people. For example Curley was very angry with Lennie for killing her. Lennie was also angry with Curley’s wife because if it wasn’t for her screaming then he would not have dreamed of killing her. It was also a problem for George because he has to kill Lennie for murdering Curley’s wife. Because Lennie had killed her it meant that he must die. This was the most biggest conflict in the book.

Canadian Blood Services

Company Environment The company Customers Competitors Regulatory Situation Global Environment Major developments and general industry Trends Opportunities and threats Marketing Strategies Mission and Corporate Values Objectives Strategies Marketing Functions Product Price Promotion Place Analysis and Suggestions M analysis G analysis Conclusion Bibliography Appendix Global Environment Major Developments General Industry Trends According to a survey conducted by the Pet Products Manufacturer Association, more than 71. 1 million or 63% of U. S. ouseholds have a pet. (Gundersen, 2008) The pet food market has proven to be a very attractive market, according to the 2009-2010 American Pet Products Association, it is estimated that US$47. 7 billion was spent on pets in the US in 2010, with US$18. 28 billion being spent on pet food alone. The strong spending comes amid price increases in nearly every pet food category, the result of rising costs of fuel, ingredients and transportation for ma nufacturers. (Taylor, 2010) Opportunities: One of the biggest advantages NPP has is that it is a subsidiary of Nestle.What this means is that NPP can rely on the substantial and large funds of its parent company in order to expand its line of products, do some more aggressive marketing and pricing and have a cushion to fall back on in case of having sales decrease. The second great opportunity for NPP is the fact that pet owners are seeking for more luxurious products for their pets and they’re getting greater interest in what they feed their pets with. What this means is that the pet food market is expanding rapidly, especially in North America. According to a survey conducted by the Pet Products Manufacturer Association showed that in the U.S. more than half of the households have at least one pet in their houselod. (Gundersen, 2008) Threats: As in any business, one of the biggest threats is having numerous competitors; this is a big concern to NPP considering that they are not the leading company in the pet food industry. Not only NPP has to compete against the already established big pet care companies but there is a trend that all major pet care retailers are starting their own line of products. Having all these product lines and competitors only mean lower sales as more consumers decide to switch brands.Although North America is a well-established and growing market for pet care products, there are some other markets where customers are not well educated about the products and this may be an obstacle. An example provided by the Datamonitor report about NPP gives an example of owners believing home meals are more nutritious for their pets than commercially prepared food for pets. This is a common misbelief in emerging markets. Company environment The Company: The company we decided to research is Nestle. Nestle is currently the largest food and beverage company in the world.This company has a wide range of products such as milk based products, ice creams, prepared dishes and pharmaceutical products as of beverages. Its top brands or the ones that contribute the most to the company are Nestle, Nespresso, Maggi, KitKat, Purina and Friskies among others. Nestle is a Switzerland based company that was surged back in 1866, when the first European condensed milk factory was opened in Cham, Switzerland, by the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. One year later, Henri Nestle, a trained pharmacist, launched one of the world’s first prepared infant cereals ‘Farine lactee’ in Vevey, Switzerland.The two companies merged in 1905 to become the Nestle  you know today, with  headquarters  still  based in the  Swiss town of Vevey. The company is currently employing over 328 000 employees worldwide and has factories or operations in almost every country in the world. For the purpose of the marketing review, we decided to talk specifically of one of the many brands that Nestle owns, being this â€Å"Nestle Purina PetCare Company† or NPP. This subsidiary is one of the most influential brands of Nestle and its main focus and line of products rely on the manufacturing of pet food products.The headquarters for this branch of Nestle are located in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States of America. Customers: Nestle Purina PetCare Company operates in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Central America and South Africa, what this means is that NPP is able to reach several different markets around the world and a great deal of possible consumers. Competitors: Considering Nestle Purina PetCare operates on a global market, it also has several competitors. Some of its strongest competitors are Mars Inc, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Procter & Gamble Co. Their main competitor is Mars Inc. hich is the only company that has been able to surpass Nestle in pet food sales; having sold approximately US$13. 3 Billion compared Nestle’s US$12. 9 Billion. Regulatory Situation: The pet food industry is heavily regulated by agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) in the case of the United States. However, all Purina’s North America facilities have on-site quality assurance laboratories and staff. One of the means by which Purina try to maintain its quality standards is by having 99% of the roducts sold in North America manufactured at Purina-owned U. S. manufacturing facilities. Also, Purina ingredient sourcing and processing meets or exceeds all the regulations implemented by the agencies mentioned above. Distribution/Sales Channels Nestle Purina Petcare uses a multichannel distribution approach in order to make it easier for consumers to get their product. One example and, for some the most convenient, is purchasing their products through Purina’s website. Customers avoid any sort of middleman and they get the product delivered directly to their front door.This is an example of direct distribution, which is having the manufacturer dealing directly with the consumer. On the other hand, NPP also uses an indirect distribution approach which consists in having one or more intermediaries work with manufacturers to provide goods and services to consumers. This is the most common way by which people purchase products as it is the case when consumers go to retailers to buy a product that the retailer bought from the manufacturer. In other words, when a consumer goes to their local grocery shop and they buy Purina products, they are purchasing through indirect distribution. Grewal, 2012) General Strategy Business Mission: Nestle's mission is to satisfy each customer needs by offering and selling high quality food, worrying about nutrition and health of their customers to provide good food for good life. â€Å"At Nestle, we believe that research can help us make better food so that people live a better life. Good Food is the p rimary source of Good Health throughout life. † (Nestle, 2012) â€Å"Nestle’s objectives are to be recognized as the world leader in Nutrition, Health and Wellness, trusted by all its stakeholders, and to be the reference for financial performance in its industry. † (Nestle, 2012) Corporate valueNestle is focused on certain values within the company that make them unique in the global market. They are focused on health, wellness and nutrition of each customer through every product but it is also important the security and safety of each product has high quality. Moreover, it is also important to note that in Nestle is always looking to have open communication with clients and they respect the privacy of them. (Nestle, 2012) In organization is important to respect human rights within and outside the organization but Nestle is not only worry to respect human rights but also the environment in which employees are in this company.It also is important to prevent acci dents, injuries and illnesses within the company, which Nestle has a document that explains each of the regulations of health and safety policies. (Nestle, 2012) The relationships between the company and suppliers are very important which is why Nestle has a code of suppliers which explain how have to the relationships, always demonstrating honesty and respect between them. (Nestle, 2012) Nestle will help rural communities and farmers to obtain a production system that cares about the environment.It is also important use products that are friendly to the environment, as well as the conscious use of water that is necessary and vital to every human being. (Nestle, 2012) Objectives (short and long term) * â€Å"Be recognised as the world leader in Nutrition, Health and Wellness, trusted by all its stakeholders, and to be the reference for financial performance in its industry†. (Nestle, 2012) * Provide a safe environment and social responsibility. * Understand local and global n eed. â€Å"Achieve leadership and earn that trust by satisfying the expectations of consumers† (Nestle, 2012) and create close and long relationship between their brand and customer. * â€Å"We are investing for the future to ensure the financial and environmental sustainability of our actions and operations: in capacity, in technologies, in capabilities, in people, in brands, in R;D. † (Nestle, 2012) * Make sure that they can satisfy future generation and ensure that they will have â€Å"profitable growth year after year†. (Nestle, 2012) Marketing strategies * Competitive advantages:In order to gain a competitive advantage is important to have product or brands that can differentiate from others, also be in everywhere so that people feel identified with the product. For Nestle, culture, values and attitudes of individuals are important to determining what their needs are; they try to offer unique products in each geographic point where customer are. (Netle, 20 12) * Growth drivers: Today people are more conscious about having good food and nutrition, plus a healthy life. Nestle is focused on these areas which make them to have a large market. [Everything] we do is driven by our Nutrition, Health and Wellness agenda, Good Food, Good Life, which seeks to offer consumers products with the best nutritional profile in their categories† (Nestle, 2012) * Operational pillars: Innovation is always important in any business; people are always looking for change and find better products. Nestle is always looking to innovate and renew each of their products in order to engage their customers and stay in the market; offering products that are unique and makes them different than the competition.It is also important make the process most efficient from the product development to delivery of the consumer (Nestle, 2012) Marketing functions: Product and services Nestle Purina Petcare has a wide line of different pet food products. They have speciali zed food and treats for both dogs and for cats. Among the products designed for dogs they have a wide variety of products, which classified as of Purnia’s website are: Adult Dogs, Puppy Food, Senior Food, Targeted Dog Nutrition, Dog Treat and Dog Litter and Training Pads.Among all these categories they offer 28 different products that are sold under different labels. On the other hand, their cat oriented products are classified as: Adult Cat Food, Kitten Food, Senior Cat Food, Targeted Cat Nutrition, Cat Treats and Cat Litter. On their cat food line of products, they offer 24 different products and all of these are sold under different labels. Purina offers over 50 different products for both dogs and cats and these are sold under 20 different labels.This is one of the reasons why Purina has been able to dominate in this market, as it has been able to give an option for almost every single kind of need that customers may have due to their wide variety of products. Pricing Con sidering the pet food industry is a very competitive market, NPP has been forced to change its pricing strategies to adapt to the market. Currently, NPP uses a competitor based pricing method that an approach that attempts to reflect how the firm wants consumers to interpret its products relative to the competitors’ offerings. text book citation) The biggest problem with keeping up with competitive prices is that it prevents companies to increase prices and its revenue is also decreased as they have to make greater investments in advertising which increase costs and therefore decrease revenue as well. Distribution activities Nestle Purina Petcare uses a multichannel distribution approach in order to make it easier for consumers to get their product. One example and, for some the most convenient, is purchasing their products through Purina’s website.Customers avoid any sort of middleman and they get the product delivered directly to their front door. This is an example of direct distribution, which is having the manufacturer dealing directly with the consumer. On the other hand, NPP also uses an indirect distribution approach which consists in having one or more intermediaries work with manufacturers to provide goods and services to consumers. This is the most common way by which people purchase products as it is the case when consumers go to retailers to buy a product that the retailer bought from the manufacturer.In other words, when a consumer goes to their local grocery shop and they buy Purina products, they are purchasing through indirect distribution. (Grewal, 2012) Promotion activities Coupons are largely used by NPP and its competitors in order to increase sales. Coupons provide a stated discount to consumers on the final selling price of a specific item; the retailer handles the discounts. (Grewal, 2012) Your Analysis and Suggestions Appendix: Example of the company’s promotion Research Material References: http://www. petfoodindu stry. com/6371. html Taylor 2010 http://www. estlepurina. com/History. aspx PURINA HISTORY http://www. purina. com/coupons-and-offers/couponsandoffers. aspx COUPONS AND ETC http://www. purina. com/commitment-to-quality/commitmenttoquality. aspx REGULATIONS http://www. linkedin. com/company/nestle-purina LINKEDIN PROFILE Gundersen, R. (2008). A Growing Trend: Pet Owners Who Include Animals in Their Estate Planning. Journal Of Financial Service Professionals, 62(4), 70-76. http://saveonfoods. gsnrecipes. com/Shop/WeeklyAd. aspx promotion Nestle. (2012). Nestle good food, good life. Retrieved from http://www. nestle. com/AboutUs