The Presence Of Parent And Child Communication - 1259 Words

The presence of parent and child communication also matters. It is important for parents to discuss sex, love, and relationships directly with their children. Parents who thoroughly communicate their values and expectations to their children, express their concerns and love at an early age and do it often, and gives sufficient supervision — including their child’s selection of friends and role models — raise children who are more likely to avoid early sexual activity, pregnancy, and parenthood than those parents who do not. (Kim, (2008). This can be harder when there is only one parent. The probability of this communication becomes less and it results in such behavior. Much of the time that parent is working full-time and trying to maintain the home, in addition to everything that comes with parenting a child. Outside factors can lead to less communication especially from a single parent raising a teen alone. Several studies found that more frequent parent-child communication was associated with a decreased risk of sexual initiation, a lower frequency of sexual intercourse and fewer sexual partners, and more consistent contraceptive or condom use. However, some studies found mixed effects or no effects on this measure. (Scott, Berger, (2014). This can vary from ethnic groups. Evidence suggests that Latino parents may be more reluctant to talk about sex and reproductive health with their children than are other parents. Additionally, when Latino families do discuss sexualShow MoreRelatedEssay On Siblings Of Chronicly Ill Children1375 Words   |  6 Pagesand self-attributes. While the psychological impact of a chronic illness is not as measurably significant as the impact on the chronically ill child, it is substantial. Internalization is more often exhibited than externalization. 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Do Violent Video Games Affect Real World Aggression And...

Do violent video games influence real world aggression and violence, among other harmful behaviors, within children and young teens? Yes, they do, without a doubt. Children and teens that extensively play violent games tend to be less stressed, but are also more prone to stealing, over-eating, and acting out in minor rages when playing violent video games for long extensions of time. Though most of the side effects do not damage a young child or teen physically, the effects can result in social problems such as having outbursts in school or being dishonest or disrespectful to others. Some, of course, say that violent games do not play a part in real world violence. That statement is wrong, because these days, in this generation, the youth imitate what they see in the media, read on a wiki page, or what they play in a game. There are a few things that can be done about this such as disabling the youth to play or watch such media until a certain age or perhaps even limiting the amount of violence played or watched would greatly help the issue. With that said, much of the youth are drawn to games such as Call of Duty, God of War, and Battlefield. The patterns with all three of those games is simple: they are based off of major violence. There is no question about it, violent video games do, in fact, influence youthful violence. The evidence to support this claim is everywhere from media to literature. Take the peer-reviewed article titled â€Å"The Effects of Profanity in ViolentShow MoreRelated Video Games Violence Essay1580 Words   |  7 Pagesplayed video games once in their lives. There are various genres and types of video games such as action, first person shooters, adventure, education, role-playing, strategy, and many more. 89% of video games contain some violent content (Slife, 2008). 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Many People Have Different Learning Styles Free Essays

Your role of organizing and delivering training tarts by identifying the learners’ needs. Before the course starts, You need to carry out an initial assessment of all learners, by direct contact or through their training manager / unit manager. Planning Your responsibilities are: 1 . We will write a custom essay sample on Many People Have Different Learning Styles or any similar topic only for you Order Now To ensure that once the syllabus is known, you prepare for the lesson and lesson plans generated 2. To ensure the course structure and timetable are developed 3. To ensure that resources are planned IEEE laptops, projectors etc 4. To ensure accommodation is suitable 5. To get to know our students and their needs 6. To ensure that our knowledge is up to date 7. Organization is number 1 priority in delivering a good lesson 8. To organize the class room layout to suit the group you are teaching. It is necessary to keep up to date with any changes in the training curriculum, especially in SST John Ambulance as things like first aid modifications / principals change frequently to keep up with modern changes in everyday lifestyle and delivering first aid or methods in teaching. Shoots Ambulance offer regular training days / evenings to keep up to date with any changes. Boundaries with Planning There are limitations with planning, in that a Teacher can only plan for what s known and there may be unexpected occurrences that have to be dealt with in the lesson. However, there also has to be an element of â€Å"expect the unexpected† Delivery Your responsibilities are 1. To ensure that delivery is clear and concise 2. That standards are maintained 3. That YOU deliver your lesson to a consistently high standard 4. That YOU deliver a differentiated lesson taking into account different learning styles, and a differentiated lesson to engage learners at different levels. How to cite Many People Have Different Learning Styles, Essays

Consumer Promotion free essay sample

I expect this report to fulfill the requirements of my internship program (BBA 449) at Unilever Bangladesh Limited. I have put in my best efforts to make this report a success. However, I am sure that this report could have been a more superior one, if it had not been my first time to conduct such a relational study. However this has obviously been a great source of learning for me to conduct similar research studies in future. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for your guidance and suggestions in preparing the report. I will be happy to provide any further explanation regarding this research report if necessary. Thanking You. Sincerely yours, Muhammad Mashfiq Huq ID# 0131001 Acknowledgements In preparing this report a considerable amount of thinking and informational inputs from various sources were involved. I express my sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed towards making this research report possible. Major contributions were received from officials at Unilever Bangladesh Limited and Independent University, Bangladesh. First of all I would like to thank the authorities of Unilever Bangladesh Limited to give me the prized opportunity to do my internship at their prestigious organization. The experience and knowledge gained at Unilever Bangladesh Limited helped me immensely to address and understand all the elements related to my report, which I otherwise would not have understood so well. I would like to specially thank my supervisor at Unilever Bangladesh Limited, Mr Rajeeb Bhattacharjee, Product Group Manager for Wheel, for his absolute support, co-operation and encouragement that he extended to me from the very first day. In spite of having a very busy schedule, he made sure in every way that I acquire the best possible exposure and knowledge during my tenure as an intern under him. My sincere gratitude goes to my internship supervisor Mr. Muzahid Akbar, for encouraging me at the very first place, to undertake such a relational study to fulfill my internship requirements. He gave all the time and attention, which I needed to complete my research and compile my report in as much orderly way as possible. Last but not the least I would like to thank the respondents of my survey, for sparing the time to fill out the questionnaires. This research would not have been possible without their valuable inputs. Table of Contents Page Executive Summary 1. 0 Introduction 1. Statement of the Problem 1. 2 Purpose of the Study 1. 3 Research Timeline 1. 4 Limitations 2. 0 Review of Literature 2. 1 Consumer Promotion 2. 2 Price Perceptions 2. 3 Product Quality Perceptions 2. 4 Brand Loyalty 2. 5 Relation between consumer promotion and product quality perception 2. 6 Relationship between price perception and product quality perceptions 2. 7 Relationship between consumer promotion and brand loyalty 2. 8 Relationship between price perception and brand loyalty 2. 9 Relationship between quality perception and brand loyalty 3. 0 Research Questions 4. 0 Hypothesis 5. Development of Conceptual Framework I 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 8 9 9 10 6. 0 Methodology 6. 1 Research design 6. 2 Sampling method 6. 3 Survey instrument 6. 4 Data Collection 6. 5 Data Analysis 7. 0 Results 7. 1 Reliability coefficients and descriptive statistics 7. 2 Correlation analysis 7. 3 Regression analysis 7. 3. 1 Regression analysis for Model 1 7. 3. 2 Regression analysis for Model 2 8. 0 Assessment of Research Hypothesis 9. 0 Recommendation 10. 0 Conslusion References Appendices 11 11 11 12 13 13 13 13 15 16 16 17 18 22 24 25 29 List of Tables Page 1. Reliability coefficients and descriptive statistics 2. Correlation matrix of the study variables 3. Stepwise regression on Product Quality Perceptions 4. Stepwise regression on Brand Loyalty 13 15 16 17 Executive Summary This paper is directed towards exploring the relationship between consumer promotion, price perception, product quality perceptions and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. Through sizeable literature review and discussions it is known that there is considerable correlation that exists among the study variables mentioned above. The data sampling was conducted on the customers of different brands of detergents. A structured questionnaire was used to find out the views of people regarding consumer promotion in detergent brands, price perceptions about the promoted brands of detergent, product quality perceptions about those brands and also to find out about brand loyalty in the detergent markets. A correlation analysis and a stepwise regression analysis were run on the collected data to analytically explore the relations and their extent. It was found that consumer promotion is positively correlated with the product quality perceptions and brand loyalty of those brands. Meaning that if a person views the consumer promotion positively, then his/ her perception of the product quality about a promoting brand will be proportionately high. It also means that the chances of the same person being brand loyal towards that brand would also be high. There is a positive correlation of price perception with perceived quality and brand loyalty. According to this, if the perceived prices of the promoted brands are fair then it would have positive effects on product quality perception and brand loyalty of that brand. It has also been found that product quality perceptions about promoted brands are positively correlated with brand loyalty of those brands. Overall consumer promotions are expected to give positive results with the people who have positive views about consumer promotion and who can be influenced by promotional efforts. So while deciding about consumer promotion it should be thought in advance that who is the consumer promotion activity aimed at. This way wastage of large amounts of money can be avoided by spending on ineffective consumer promotion activity. Every effort should be given to make the consumers think that the prices of the promoted brand are fair, even when there is no promotional activity is undertaken. Though there is a tendency in the detergent market to provide frequent promotional offers, yet the perceived quality should in no way go down because there is a good possibility that the brand loyalty would also go down. Introduction Bangladesh has a detergent market of about 8. 8 billion taka of which Unilever occupies a share of 30% making it the market leader. The major competitor brands in the detergent market for Unilever are Keya, Chaka and Tibet. To fight this steep competition the above mentioned companies constantly run consumer promotion in hope to sell more than the respective competitors. Although this strategy worked well at first but with the passage of time, the intense consumer promotions have done little to prevent Unilever from loosing shares to its competitors. In 2004, Wheel, Unilever’s largest detergent brand ran about nine consumer promotions where as in 2005 it ran no consumer promotions at all. Consumer promotion over all is a very expensive affair. Unilever has the largest brands of detergent and so the cost of providing a consumer promotion offer is also large by the same proportion. Besides the competitor brands are known to involve in some unfair practices. They pay a very low wage rate to their labours so overhead costs are low, they under invoice their imported raw materials so that they can evade import taxes and other duties, so they save a lot of money in the process. They can then utilize this money for consumer promotion and other competitive activities that can earn them a higher share of the market. Therefore it is imperative that consumer promotions and other dependant elements have to be studied, to make sure that if a consumer promotion activity is implemented it is a highly effective one. This way, precious monetary resources have the minimum chances of being wasted. To understand the competition in the detergent market better price perceptions and product quality perceptions about the brands of detergent on promotion are also considered being worth studying. To look at market share issues, the brand loyalty element should also be explored. Statement of the Problem There are many companies that are operating to serve the detergent markets; as a result the competition has heightened. Consumer promotions are being heavily used in the detergent markets to increase sales of each available brand. Consumer promotions, when implemented use up a lot monetary resources. Failure to implement the consumer promotion activity effectively may result in major loss of money. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between consumer promotions, price perceptions with product quality perceptions and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. Research Timeline 2005 2005 2005 2005 2005 October November November 20 November 28 December 6 Research proposal writing and literature rivew Data collection (surveys etc. ) Data analysis and interpretation Draft submission of research report Submission of research report Limitations There are vast amounts of information and write-ups relating to the topics of this research that are present in the internet and various other sources, but it was not possible to gain access to many such information. So missing out some important aspect of the discussed topics can be a possibility. There is a major time constraint in doing the research work and preparing the report, a much larger pool of information could have been dealt with if there was more time to analyze them. A minimal sample size will be used for this research; if a larger sample was taken into consideration the research would have been more accurate. The survey will be conducted in Dhaka city which could be a possible reason for the people’s mind set to be similar and survey results not being very different from each other, the results could be different if people from outside metropolitan cities were brought under consideration. Review of Literature Consumer Promotion Sales promotions as we know is a very important component of marketing promotion. Consumer promotion (e. g. coupons, samples, contests, sweepstakes, and price packs) is a part of sales promotion that is targeted towards the final buyers of consumer products (Kotler and Armstrong, 2002). There can be various types of consumer sales promotion some are incentive based while others are communicative in nature (Kotler et al. , 1999; Tellis, 1998). The incentive based promotions can be price oriented promotion or non price-oriented promotion. According to Britannica (article 21279) advertising presents a reason to buy a product but consumer promotion offers a short-term incentive to purchase. Consumer promotions often attract brand switchers (those who are not loyal to a specific brand) who are looking primarily for low price and good value. Thus, especially in markets where products are highly similar, consumer promotions can cause a short-term increase in sales. Abraham and Lodish (1987) stated that many consumer goods categories sold 90% of their volume on special deals which is a result of consumer promotion. Consumer promotion is thought to be a tool that helps manufacturers and retailers to achieve their objectives of generating sales (Alvarez and Casielles, 2004). They also stated that the influence of sales promotions on the consumer will also depend on the consumer’s characteristics Price Perceptions According to Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) price perception is about how customers see a product’s price, as high, low or fair. They also stated that perception of price unfairness affect consumers’ perceptions of value and ultimately their willingness to buy a product. According to Moore et al. (2003) years of research concerned with price show both positive and negative perceptions serve as marketplace cues. Several studies have also portrayed the role of price perceptions as an attribute to success (Jiang and Rosenbloom, 2004). When the price perceptions are high this is a sign of positive quality, prestige and status (Moore et al. , 2003). The concept of reference price is related to price perceptions. Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) stated that reference price is the price the consumers use as a basis for comparison in judging another price. It is through reference price that the price perception of a brand of product is formed. When the consumer plans to buy a product, he or she will judge prices comparatively with the reference prices in order to determine whether the price is acceptable or not (Alvarez and Casielles, 2004). They also stated that, a result of consumers’ comparison between the prices and the reference price, potential losses and gains emerge. The consumer perceives a gain when the reference price is higher than the observed price. If the observed price is higher than the reference price, the consumer experiences a loss. Product Quality Perceptions Product quality perceptions represent consumer judgment about the superiority of a product, which the user-based approaches think is essential in describing quality (Forker et al. , 1996). Bundles of attributes together represent a certain level of quality, which therefore provide utility to the customer (Snoj et al. , 2004). The benefits are measured through a perceived level of quality (level of working superiority), a bundle of attributes in comparison with the consumer’s expectations. Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) stated consumers often judge the quality of a product on the basis of a variety of informational cues that they associate with the product. They also stated that the cues can either be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic cues are related to the physical characteristics of the product itself, like size, colour, flavour, aroma etc. The extrinsic cues on the other hand are related to elements that are put together with the actual product like packaging, pricing, advertising etc. The perceived quality of products and services is central to the theory that strong brands add value to consumers purchase evaluations (Low and Lamb, 2000). Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty is the ultimate desired outcome of consumer learning (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2004). According to Rawly and Dawes (1999) brand loyalty is the likelihood of positive attitudes and behaviours of consumers towards a particular brand, this could amount to repeat purchase and positive word of mouth. They also stated that a loyal customer base is an asset for a company and it reduces the need for seeking new customers. It is also a known fact that retaining current customers requires less money and effort than getting new ones. The strongest measure of brand value is the loyalty a company produces among customers (Aaker, 1996). According to Quester and Lim (2003) brand loyalty is known to have two components, namely attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. Behavioural loyalty is related to consistent purchase behaviour of a specific brand; it is the consumer’s overt purchase behaviour (Dikempe et al. , 1997) while attitudinal loyalty refers to a highly favourable attitude towards a particular brand. Rowley and Dawes (1999) stated that to understand brand loyalty better the following components of attitude model should be considered: 1. Cognitive component – associated with a â€Å"rational decision making based on informational determinants. 2. Affective component associated with emotions and feelings about the product or service. 3. Conative components – associated with a behavioral disposition. Relation between consumer promotion and product quality perceptions A primary reason for consumer promotion is to give an impression of greater quality and appeal to the potential customers (Alvarez and Casielles, 2004). Sales promotion influence the relative weighting of the utility factors and extends the perceived quality (Groth and Dye, 1999). Sales promotions can offer many benefits, the most obvious being monetary savings, and also motivation to perceive higher quality, convenience, value (Quock and Uncles, 2005). The way a consumer promotion is framed is likely to effect consumers perceptions of price, quality, value, and purchase intentions (Munger and Grewal, 2001). Ong (1997) on the other hand stated that there is a danger of unfavorable consumer perception as a result of consumer promotion activity like bonus packs etc. Consumers tend to think that at the normal price or offering they over pay for a given level of quality, so their quality perception is affected. Relationship between price perception and product quality perceptions The more quality a product possesses the more utility it contains and the more its price should be in the market (Sjolander, 1992). According to Sjolander (1992) it is very much expected that there is a very strong positive relation between perceived price and perceived quality. Perceived quality explains a considerable portion of the variance in the price the consumers are willing to pay for different brands (Low and Lamb, 2000). Unfavorable price perceptions may have a direct effect on customer intention to switch to a different brand, because the consumers might think that the price does not match quality (Jiang and Rosenbloom, 2004). Companies sometimes attempt to appeal to uninformed consumers by using high prices from start as a signal of high quality, with the belief that if they perceive the price of their products to be high then they automatically perceive the product quality to be high as well (Kalita et al. , 2004). Relationship between consumer promotion and brand loyalty According to Alvarez and Casielles (2004) promotions can have, as an effect, the consumer acquiring a brand that he or she would not otherwise try. They also stated that categories of products whose buyers are very loyal, consumer promotion activity like coupons etc that reward the loyalty could have a bigger effect. Srinivasan and Anderson (1998) acknowledged that many times sales promotions are used by new entrants to break consumers’ brand loyalty toward established brands. In the short run, established brands may be able to ignore sales promotions from new brands without serious loss of sales. Over the longer run, however, unless proper defensive and counter-offensive strategies are developed and implemented, established brands can gradually lose their loyal customer base. Dawes (2004) on the other hand stated that repeat buying rates that buying a brand on promotion decreases the likelihood of a subsequent purchase of that brand. Relationship between price perception and brand loyalty Alvarez and Casielles (2004) stated that when the consumer perceives a loss, the utility that the provides (brand) will diminish, and with it the likelihood of purchase will also go down. If, in contrast, the consumer perceives a gain, he or she will be more inclined to purchase the brand. Price perceptions are expected play an increased role in determining both post-purchase satisfaction and brand loyalty (Jiang and Rosenbloom, 2004). According to representative research higher perceived prices leads to expectation of higher perceived quality and value, in turn lead to higher levels of satisfaction of customers, greater levels of customer loyalty and retention and to a greater success of organizations (Snoj et al. , 2004). Relationship between quality perception and brand loyalty According to Ruyter and Wetzels (1997) the perceived quality is often viewed as a pre-requisite for loyalty and that perceived quality contributes positively to increase loyalty. They also stated that the influence of quality on preference loyalty generally varies per industry. Boulding et al. (1993) found positive relationships between quality and repurchase intentions and willingness to recommend to others. Because product quality perceptions influence value, efforts of marketers have focused on improving product quality in order to enhance perceptions of value, and consequently purchase intentions leading to loyalty (Grewal and Munger, 2001). The loyal customers, who gave indication that they would return, will be the internal level for managers to improve their quality in order to increase customer loyalty (Bowen and Chen, 2001). Research Question The following questions have to be addressed for the study: 1. Is there any significant relationship between consumer promotion and product quality perception in the detergent market of Bangladesh? 2. Is there any significant relationship between price perception and product quality perception in the detergent market of Bangladesh? 3. Is there any significant relationship between consumer promotion and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh? 4. Is there any significant relationship between price perception and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh? 5. Is there any significant relationship between product quality perception and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh? Hypothesis The hypothesis that can be derived from the research questions are: 1. There is significant relationship between consumer promotion and product quality perception in the detergent market of Bangladesh. 2. There is significant relationship between price perception and product quality perception in the detergent market of Bangladesh. 3. There is significant relationship between consumer promotion and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. . There is significant relationship between price perception and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. 5. There is significant relationship between product quality perception and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. Development of Conceptual Framework †¢ Consumer Promotion †¢ Price Perception †¢ Product Quality Perception Figure 1 . Model 1: Conceptual F ramework of research variables †¢ Consumer Promotion †¢ Price Perception †¢ Product Quality Perception †¢ Brand Loyalty Figure 2. Model 2: Conceptual Framework of research variables Methodology Research design The illustrations of the conceptual framework model 1 and 2 (Figure 1 and 2) above gives a visual idea of the relationship and structure that exists among the study variables. The main purpose of the research is to assess the existing correlation among the variables. This research is about exploring and understanding the relationship that exists between consumer promotion, price perception with product quality perceptions and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. Here in the first model (figure 1) the independent variables are assigned to be consumer promotions and price perceptions. The dependant variable on the other hand is product quality perception. In the second model (figure 2) the independent variables are consumer promotions, price perceptions and product quality perceptions, in this case the dependant variable is brand loyalty. So the researcher is attempting to find out, if any changes in the independent variable have a changing effect on the dependant ones as well, thereby proving that a relationship exists. The researcher also tried to find out the degree to which a change in the dependant variables has an impact on the independent ones, in other words the degree of relation is also explored here. Therefore the correlation study was chosen for this research. Sampling method The required data for this research was collected from the regular customers of detergents. There was no particular sample frame available for this research so convenience sampling was used, as it is also the cheapest and the easiest methods of sampling. The sample frame for this research consisted of shoppers (mainly house wives) at different shopping centres and stores etc, and also the parents of school children were included. In the shopping centres the researcher surveyed the people who seemed to be the most appropriate respondent for this kind of survey. The parents of kindergarten students, who spend time waiting for their kids outside the schools, were also surveyed, because they usually have a lot of time to spare and can give valuable inputs. Due to time constraints the survey was conducted in Dhaka city only. Over all there were about a 104 people who participated in the survey. Survey instrument A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire consists of different parts to gather information on the different variables under considerations. The questionnaire is the best instrument for the survey in this case because, for a correlation study the sample sizes have to be very large as it is quantitative in nature, so surveying so many people with personal interviews or observations would be next to impossible. With questionnaires, no responses of the respondents can be missed out. It gives more time to the respondents to think and then give the answers. And it is a quicker and cheaper way to conduct the survey. Questionnaires can be conducted in any environment, with minimum influence of the outside environment. Questionnaires also have the advantage of keeping the personal details of the respondents confidential. A sample of the questionnaire has been attached in the appendix 1. The first 6 questions have been set to measure the respondents’ opinions regarding sales promotion.

Impacts of Culture on Formulation of International Marketing Strategies

Forestry essays

Clearcutting/Forestry essays Clearcutting is a harvesting method that removes the entire timber stand in an area. This removes all the trees (or all merchantable trees) on the site. Clearcutting is a recognized and commonly practiced method of harvesting and regenerating many valuable southern forest species. Clearcutting has come under close scrutiny by policymakers and the public because of perceptions that clearcutting unacceptably damages the environment. Unfortunately, the term "clearcutting" is used in two different ways, which complicates understanding and resolution of associated issues. The term is used by the general public to describe deliberate forest exploitation. Clearcutting considers only short-term economic gain not the long-term health of the forest or local community. While professional foresters use the term in the context of prudent forest management, one of several methods prescribed to regenerate a mature forest. Clearcutting considers only short-term economic gain not the long-term health of the forest because it has resulted in the loss of employment and the loss of dignified, meaningful work. Clearcutting ensures cheap resources now, but what about the future. This exposes the soil to erosion, water storage capacity is lost, and valuable habitat for wildlife is destroyed, streams or rivers are loaded with sediment, killing fish populations. The disadvantage to professionally-applied clearcutting include: Forest stands are sometimes visually disturbing following clearcut harvesting, but the affect is temporary as regeneration of a new stand soon follows. Depending upon location, visual disturbance can be mitigated by maintaining buffer zones along roads and trails and designing the size and shape of clearcuts and their boundaries to blend with and fit the natural topography of the landscape. Clearcutting can result in the temporary loss of habitat for some wildlife species that have smal l home ranges or that require residual tree...

IKEA - Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

IKEA - - Essay Example s its distinctive Swedish identity in that all stores are painted in the Swedish national colors of yellow and blue, with small food stores inside where Swedish food can be purchased. Supervised play areas and baby care rooms make it an attractive store for families to visit. IKEA has an economic impact on the economy of every host country in which it opens its stores, because it provides a large number of jobs. It also operates in a socially responsible manner. Its policy towards its suppliers and its focus on the development of low cost products through excellent integration of its design, supplier network, production and customer service has contributed to its economic success, making Kamprad the richest man in the world. IKEA came into being in 1943, when its founder Ingvar Kamprad was 17 years old and received a gift from his father for performing well in his studies. The young Kamprad used this gift to found a business and named it IKEA using his initials, Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd – the names of the farm and the village where he grew up (Solomon, 1991). The business started off by selling matches, because Ingvar discovered that he could buy matches in bulk from Stockholm and sell them individually at a low price to customers while still making a profit. He also sold a variety of miscellaneous items such as pens, watches, jewellery and other products which he was able to procure and sell at a reduced price. He made these sales initially to neighbors by moving around on his bicycle. Later, he advertised in local papers and brought his products to the attention of his customers through a mail order catalog. For distribution of his products throughout the country, he used the county milk van to d eliver the products to the nearby train station.(www.ikea.com). Kamprad introduced furniture into his line of products in 1947. The furniture was manufactured by local manufacturers, using the wood growing close to Kamprad’s home, and the product sold well. Since he

Business Intelligence Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Intelligence - Research Paper Example mpares and contrasts IBM and Tableau business intelligence software while evaluating how large companies handle BI implementation; the role of BI in competitive advantage and organizational strategy; organizational management of change during new information system implementation; and a summary of a case study of a company that implemented BI Solution. Large enterprises using Cognos gain from using elements such as reports, analysis, scorecards, and dashboards for monitoring the performance of their businesses, analyzing trends, and measuring results. This way, businesses have the capability and information needed to make better decisions and approach their services with a service-oriented architecture that has both ease of management and deployment. Other benefits of Cognos business intelligence are mobile BI, collaborative BI, and real time monitoring. In terms of trend analysis and results measurement using Cognos BI, large businesses benefit from the software’s capability to be used with relational and multidimensional data sources from different vendors. For instance, Cognos BI products can integrate with NCR Teradata, Oracle, Microsoft, and SAP, to present web-based service oriented architecture (SOA). Though IBM Cognos is designed for large companies, Cognos Express is meant for mid-sized companies to allow companies to take advantage of features such as budgeting, forecasting, and planning functions. Furthermore, Cognos 10, integrates with Lotus Connect and SPSS predictive analysis, and mobile capability that allows users to access to full version of Cognos from their smartphones and tablets (Lodestar, 2013). However, IBM Cognos is known for very slow performance in preparing active reports with large datasets and one is required to only use small data sets, and apply query filters to return only the values of interest. Secondly, Cognos BI does not drill through functionality when applied in active reports viewed off line. Thirdly, active reports do not

Financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial management - Essay Example Shareholders are interested to know if the risk they took in investing in the company provided returns that increase the wealth not only of the company but also of the shareholders as well. II. Critical evaluation of corporate governance of a selected company   The company that is the subject for evaluation of governance in this paper is Leeds PLC. Leeds PLC is the Group has been mainly engaged in textile processing, specialising in fabric printing and yarn dyeing, and by 1996 had manufacturing operations in UK, Holland and Italy. Leeds Group’s trading operations are conducted by Hemmers-Itex Textil Import Export GmbH. Hemmers is based in Nordhorn, Germany and has a Chinese subsidiary based in Shanghai. Together these companies employ some 120 people and achieved fabric sales of 13.1 million linear metres in the year ended 30 September 2009 (Leeds Group 2012). Inferring from the annual report of Leeds PLC, it can be said that the company is conservative in applying its cost. Conservative in applying cost meant providing generous allowance for expense to have a more accurate and realistic cost of the company. In fact, Leeds PLC may be one of few companies who are â€Å"honest enough† to reflect a s of ?454,000 in the fiscal year 2012 (Leeds Group PLC 2012) that would be seen by its shareholders. It is tough for the company to reflect a loss on annual report because it may not sit well with the shareholders who might withdraw their investments in the company and leave the company broke affecting not only its liquidity but also its financial position. The company recognized its loans and receivables at its fair value and subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest rate less provision for impairment (19). Impairment is the difficulty of the part of counter party or default or significant delay in payment. This is significant to mention because Leeds PLC recognize the risk associated in loans and receivables with the provision of impairment which a typical company may not recognize because this could mean an expense that will deduct income. It also reflect as current liabilities cash and cash equivalents that have maturities of three months or less which a less prudent company may hesitate to reflect it in their current liabilities because it will adversely affect their profitability ratio. The company can also be construed as prudent and perhaps more ethical in its expenditure because it made no contributions to political parties but rather donated to UK charities amounting to ?250,000. It also tests its goodwill whether it has suffered any impairment which is a good business practice because it helps the company to remain a going concern in the future. III. Theory   Corporate governance is the business practice of organizations being more mindful to their responsibilities to future generations as well as stakeholders, government and the general public. Until recently, there is a growing trend that or ganizations success’ are not only measured in financial terms but also in the socially responsible practice of f corporate governance because such practice has also economic value (Kemp 2011). Such ethical corporate governance are also to be incorporated in Company Social Responsibility (CSR) which Moir defined as the ‘‘enlightened self-interest or a moral approach linked to social expectations’’ (2001: 17). IV. Relation between performance and corporate governa

Appraisal Theory The Effects On Skin Psychology Essay

Appraisal Theory The Effects On Skin Psychology Essay This report aims to replicate a classic finding in biopsychology research which proposed, that increases in task difficulty lead to increases in arousal. As well as to present any individual differences that angle off from this, that possibly could be accounted by the appraisal theory. One hundred and two individuals took part in a task called Speedy Pizzas where they had to deliver successfully a vast quantity of pizzas as the level of difficulty increased. The individuals were represented with a total of 5 levels of difficulty, beginning from level 1 (10 pizzas per minute) to level 5 (50 pizzas per minute). This experiment used a repeated measures design where each individual participated at both levels of task difficulty. The outcome showed that there was a significant increase in GSR as task engagement got more challenging. Although, that the overall GSR test showed increase, individual differences might suggest otherwise. Introduction To begin with, this paper will first examine some relevant background on the former literature on a classic biopsychology discoveries based on task performance and its association with increase in skin conductance in an attempt to replicate its findings. Afterwards, it will address some individual variations that might have a crucial role in that correlation. A number of researchers over the years have shown that task attainment of individuals is closely knit together with increase in skin conductance. For instance, Kahneman, Trusky et al. (1969 cited in Pecchinenda and Smith 1996) experiment, showed the relationship between skin resistance levels and mental arithmetic task at three layers of difficulty and encountered that skin resistance decreased as difficulty of each level increased. Nonetheless, this connection between them is often distinct, there are cases that the individuals disengage from the task by resigning which is shown in the form of decreasing responses in the GSR le vels whilst the task engagement becomes particularly difficult. This occurrence can be placed under the theory of the appraisal model proposed by Smith and Lazarus (1993 cited in Pecchinenda and Smith 1996) that suggested that the amount of each individuals focusing resources is established by their appraisal of task-solving coping potential. The above theory has been adapted in various studies, one of them was measuring accomplishment in a demanding mental task. (Pecchinenda and Smith 1996) Pecchinenda and Smiths study wanted to demonstrate the direct association between a cognitive task engagement and the appraisal of each individuals coping potential. Thus, subjects were presented by series of anagrams, that they were called to solve, in various circumstances whilst their GSR was continuously observed. The level of difficulty diverse between each anagram by either having an easy, moderately difficult and extremely difficult anagram as well as the amount of time available that par ticipants had to solve it changed between 30 sec and 120 sec. Results showed that participants coping potential varied between them, since the perception that each subject experienced the situation was different. Paradigm, when an individual appraised their task-solving ability with having a high coping potential approached the task with the attempt to achieve their goal and successfully complete the task. On the contrary, people who appraised the situation as overwhelming and the task as virtually impossible (Pecchinenda and Smith, page 486) had low coping potential and therefore disengaged from the task. Hence, apposite to the skin conductance activity there was a general increase in the GSR levels when the task-solving trials were aligned with the participants engagement in the trials. However, this increase dropped dramatically when the anagrams level of difficulty was extremely demanding as a result of the paltry levels of task engagement. An interesting feature about this stud y that shouldnt be obscured was that the correlation between skin conductance activity and task engagement is not absolute. There are other aspects that might intrude and mislead this association. As in that the correlation between GSR and other components such as stress, perception of the circumstance, negative feelings etc resulted as having an impact on the GSR, Nikula (1991 cited in Pecchinenda and Smith 1996). Another related experiment was conducted by Bohlin (1976). Bohlins study manipulated the levels of arousal by having participants to response after a number of trials whilst they were in physiological habituation state. She divided the subjects into three groups, the first group were told to relax when listening to a tone, the second one were given arithmetic tasks to solve and the third one a threat of shock was added to the task performance. Results showed that the Shock-threat group had the highest mean in conductance level and the Relax group had the lowest mean in GS R. Thus, this produces some evidence showing how  increases in task difficulty result in various increases in physiological arousal. These discoveries led to this current experiment were the aim was to replicate the existent findings; that when task difficulty increases individuals arousal increases as well. In addition, to demonstrate the variance between individual responses, for instance some individuals appraise themselves as having high coping potential, therefore engage in the task and complete it successfully and some of them as having low coping potential and appraise their abilities as insufficient and as a result they disengage from the task. Consequently to the past evidence one research hypothesis emerged from them for the present experiment; that there will be a significant increase in galvanic skin response from stage 1 to 5 and to also examine the individual responses as task difficulty increases. Method Design The design that was used in this experiment was a repeated measures design with one independent variable, task difficulty at two levels (easy(1) vs. difficult(5)) and two dependent variables; the Galvanic skin responses and the number of failures that occurred. Participants in the experiment were allocated in a computer lab and had to do all conditions. Eventhough, that there were 5 stages in total, only the easiest and most difficult level were chosen for this analysis. In this experiment a number of controls were used in order to avoid any confounded variables. First of all, the letter appearing on the pizza box was randomly generated therefore discarded any systematic bias introduced from having a particular order of pizza letters. Hence, people could not predict where the pizzas were going because the letter order was not the same. Secondly, , by asking people to stay relaxed and still at the baseline would make sure that everyone was at the same condition, therefore no one would be stressed out and having GSR increase at the easy state and then at the more challenging state not having much increase at the GSR because it was already at a high level . Lastly, all participants were given the same standardised instructions to prevent any extraneous variables and that the letter that appeared on the box was randomly different for everyone. Participants One hundred and two undergraduate Psychology students were asked to take part in a cognitive task as part of their evaluation in the course. They were chosen from an opportunity sample since it was more convenient and easier to gather data from those who were there to do the experiment at the time. All participants had to do all conditions from stage 1 to stage 5 in order to collect the data needed for the analysis. Apparatus The experiment was run in a computer lab. The task that the participants had to take part in was called The Speedy Pizza, the game was developed by University of Huddersfield psychology technicians  utilising  Adobe Flash, PHP and MySql to run  on  PCs, headphones were also used to avoid any replication between participants. Moreover, the Biopac system that was used to  measure GSR via an electrode attached to their fingers using a gel was called  GEL101 isotonic .Finally, the GSR data was recorded on the Biopac systems software that comes with the Biopac as standard. Procedure Every participant was seated in front of a computer where they were given some further explanation about the experiment. They were first given a handout that was to familiarise them with some relevant background of appraisal theory and its main connection with the study. After that, participants entered the game were full instructions were provided, showing in the appendix section. Next they were attached to the Biopac device and started the practise game which lasted a minute. The second minute was the baseline state where markers were placed, by pressing the Esc on the keyboard, (which also lasted 60 seconds) and then systematically after 60 seconds as the task difficulty increased. There were 5 stages that participants had to attend and excel by delivering successfully as many pizzas as possible, whilst the task got more challenging with each stage. By the time they reached to level 5 the number of pizzas that appeared on the conveyor increased greatly as the speed on the conveyor did, making it incredibly difficult. Results Description The outcomes from the above experiment were the following. In Stage 1 GSR in micro-mhos was lower than Stage 5 GSR (mean for stage 1 GSR = 13.15  µÃƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ (SD=7.37 µÃƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾), mean for stage 5 GSR= 14.13 µÃƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ (SD=8.36 µÃƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾). Also, in Stage 1 the amount of failures was less than the amount of failures in Stage 5 (mean failures in stage 1 =.03 SD=.17), mean failures in stage 5= 31.10 (SD=4.18). Moreover, to analyze the data and show the difference in the means between stage 1 and stage 5 in GSR levels and number of failures a repeated measures t-test (two-tailed) was used, but previously the data were checked for normality distribution. The normality assumption for this experiment can be waived since there was a large sample (N=102) (Field, 2009). The t-test displayed a significance difference from the alpha level (p=0.05) (t=3.779, df =101, p Discussion(513) The aim of the experiment was to replicate a time-honoured biopsychology finding which stated that increase in task difficulty results increase in the arousal. Additionally, to relate Pecchinenda and Smiths study (1996) on the appraisal theory, suggested that there may be some individual variations possibly having an impact on the above correlation. Thus, a research hypothesis was assessed; that there will be a significant increase in skin conductance from stage 1 to 5, along with examining individual responses to increasing task difficulty. Furthermore, the outcome that rose from this experiment was that research hypothesis was accepted and it was at the directed predicted, however there were some deviation due to individual differences. The results that we found can be supported by the following theories. First of all, by looking at the Kahnemn, Tursky et al. Study (1969) the outcome that we found was as expected from this theory; that skin conductance indeed increases concurrently as level of difficulty increases. In the present experiment increase was shown when the amount of pizzas on the conveyor was frequent and the speed of the conveyor increased too. Also, arousal increases muscle tension and bias synchronization, therefore extreme levels of arousal can create discomfort (Thompson, 1930). In the experiment it was calculated that participants when they were between stages 3-4 had high levels of GSR that resulted as discomfort and as a consequence participant gave-up by level 5. Moreover, the increase in skin conductance as the task difficulty got more challenging can be sustained by The Inverted U Theory conducted by Yerkes and Dodson (1908) that proposed performance will increase as arousal increases and a po int will be reached where optimal performance is achieved. Further of that point the performance will deteriorate. This explains the general pattern that was observed; as levels got more difficult participants level of arousal increased greatly particularly between stages 3-4 (optimal performance) but dropped dramatically at stage 5.However, there was some diversion from this, where decrease in GSR levels were spotted in 27 participants which can be possibly explained by the appraisal theory. That suggests that individual differences might alter that general pattern, people who estimate the situation as being overwhelming and incredibly difficult disengaged from the task because they felt their abilities were not strong enough. Although, the current experiment was generally as predicted there was a limitation that should be taken into account for further research. The coping potential was not self-reported and this weakens the experiment because it does not sustain the needed experimental conditions for testing the hypothesis regarding to the GSR in the extremely difficult-short conditions. (Pecchinenda and Smith 1996) Furthermore, our experiment considered ethical issues and therefore all participants were given the same standardised instructions, it was also valid and reliable, since it did what it attempted to do and it produces consistent results each time it is used with some variations. In conclusion, the findings of this experiment showed that although in general GSR increase as task difficulty increase, individual differences have an important role in this correlation and might show otherwise.

Sophies Heart/By Lori Wick :: essays research papers

Sophie's Heart, by Lori Wick, is the story of Sophie, an educated young woman who moves from her homeland, Czechoslovakia, to America where she becomes a housekeeper for a loneyly young widower and his three children. This book takes place mainly in Wisconsin in the 1990's. Sophie moved from Czechoslovakia to American and became employed as a housekeeper for Alec Riley. She grew to love his three children and gradually her love extended to Alec himself, who returned her love with his own. Near the end of this novel, Sophie and Alec get married. Sophie Velikonja, a twenty-year old young woman, moved to America when her name was called on the request list to leave Czechoslovakia. She had not wanted to leaver her beloved grandmother, but her grandmother insisted upon staying behind. Sophie moved to Chicago where she acquired a job as a waitress in a city restaurannt. A devout Christian, Sophie began attending church as soon as she could and met a friendly woman named Janet Ring. Janet's brother, Alec Riley had recently become a widower when his young wife, Venessa, died in a tragic car accident. She suggested to him that he employ a housekeeper. After having met Sophie, Janet recommended the quiet, hard-working young woman to Alec. Alec, after some hesitation and tought, interviewed Sophie and hired her. Sophie lived in a small apartment over Riley's garage and cooked and cleaned for Alec and his three children, Rita (age 17), Craig (age 13), and Tory ( age10). Sophie and the children ended up becoming very close. At first, the children looked down on her with her accent, but when they eventurally learned that Sophie had mastered five other languages and had worked as a translator in her native land, they changed their opinion. Life was not without hardship for Sophie. She desperately missed her beloved grandmother and she also faced problems with Vanessa's mother, who seemed to resent the fact that someone had come to do the same duties her daughter had done. As she and the Riley children grew closer, Sophie began to notice their handsome father, Alec. At first, she didn't admit to herself that she was interested in him, but when Alec began to show an interest in her, Sophie began to seriously look at him. At first, she was concerned that she would be merely a replacement for Vanessa, but as she and Alec grew closer, he made it very clear to her that he loved her for who she was.

Entrepreneur Test

Which of the following is classified as an entrepreneur?A manager in a large corporation A financial manager in a small firm An owner-manager who bought out the founder of a firm A salaried technician in a rapidly-growing high-tech firmAttract more attention and make more headlines in the media. are not as important to the well-being of society. are highly visible. One glaring example of poor ethics practiced by small businesses in general is lack of pollution controls. untruthful labeling of products.  lack of loyalty to employees. fraudulent reporting of income and expenses for income tax purposes.Different types of small business ownership opportunities include all of the following except startups. bailouts. family businesses. franchises. The cost of a franchise may include royalty payments. high executive salaries. a one-time federal franchise tax. higher-than-usual labor costs. In a family business, the interests of the family and the interests of the business are best describ ed as overlapping. conflicting. coinciding. having no relationship with each other. Writing a business plan should be thought of as  the means to an end product. an ongoing process. an absolute essential to the startup of businesses. a mental exercise.A firm's marketing mix consists of _____ activities. pricing, promotion, and distribution product, pricing, and promotion product, promotion, and distribution product, pricing, promotion, and distribution A disadvantage of a sole proprietorship is the complexity of the organization the cost of starting the business. the lack of limits on personal liability. the difficulty of distribution. Which of the following is not an environmental condition affecting selection of a business location?CompetitionWeather and climate Laws and regulations Raw material availability Assets that are relatively liquid are classified as current assets. fixed assets. short-term assets. other assets. Typical venture capitalists invest approximately ____ of t heir investment in later-stage businesses. one-fourth one-half three-fourths nearly all Most customer service problems are identified by personal observation. outside consultants. customer complaints. entries in a suggestion box. In general, products that are consumed in fixed amounts have inelastic demand. constant demand. variable demand. elastic demand.Which of the following does not describe a method of determining promotional expenditures? Matching industry forecasts Spending as much as the competition What can be spared What it will take to do the job Marcia Mendez, who runs a drapery business, has groups of employees who work in production and in installation. If she decides to use work teams as part of her leadership approach, she must increase supervision. compensation. independence. quality. Which of the following is a legal basis for selecting employees? Gender Age Education Disabilities An inspection plan that judges products as acceptable or unacceptable, good or bad, i s known as  a 100 percent inspection plan. an attribute inspection. a variable inspection. an inspection sampling plan.The owner of a small manufacturing plant wants inspectors to check the width and length of a product (within specified tolerances) during the production process. This calls for an attribute inspection. a work sampling inspection. a 100 percent inspection plan. a variable inspection. An analysis of which of the following records facilitates maintenance of adequate stock levels? Accounts payable records Accounts receivable records Cash records Inventory records

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber) and Im Going (Bernard)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber) and Im Going (Bernard) Introduction â€Å"I’m Going† and â€Å"The secret life of Walter Mitty† are two masterpieces that revolve around individuals who hope, but are unable, to fulfill their wishes.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber) and I’m Going (Bernard) specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The authors recount the stories in a rather humorous way by enlisting unrealistic characters. The protagonists of the stories are unable to make decisions; they can only make tales about their lives. The two stories chronicle undecided couples who have dreams, but they cannot, or not willing, to work towards achieving their dreams. Consequently, their dreams remain fantasies and the aspect of escapism creeps in slowly into the lives of these surrealistic couples. However, there is a difference in how the stories have been narrated; for instance, â€Å"I’m Going† revolves around a real life whereby, a couple is unable to reach consensus on almost all life issues and thus keep blaming each other for not making efforts. On the other hand, â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† revolves around a man, who is uncomfortable with his life and thus, keeps on escaping to a world of fantasy. Comparisons The similarities of the two stories lie in the fact that, they revolve around married men with the desire to satisfy their wives’ emotional needs.Advertising Looking for critical writing on comparative literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, they are faced with the challenge of not having the means to achieve their desires due to their economic situations. On top of their need to fulfill their individual needs, they realize that they have responsibilities, especially their wives who need their attention too (Bernard, 1915, p. 16). It becomes quite hard for the m to balance between what they desire to do individually, and at the same time, be the men that their wives want then to be. In â€Å"I’m Going†, Henry engages in humorous conversation with his wife; they seem to have opposing interests in life. In their effort to get something that will interest both of them, they realize that they cannot feel comfortable with each other. There is a desire for both of them to be on their own, just to feel fulfilled, yet they cannot realize the desire because they need each other’s company. In â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty†, Walter desires to have a specified lifestyle for his family, but that desire is beyond his capability (Yates, 1974, p.165). Therefore, he resolves into an imaginary world with the hope that it will help in making him feel respected. There is also a similarity in the outcome of the lives of the two men where they end up not satisfying their desires. The fantasy life of Mitty never happens, as h e never works towards realizing his dreams. He keeps thinking that what he wants and desires will be fulfilled simply by escaping his current situation. In the process of wanting to satisfy his needs and the needs of his wife, he ends up being a nuisance and even hurting her in the process.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber) and I’m Going (Bernard) specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More His wife becomes impatient of his fantasies that are contrary to the life they are living (Clugston, 2010, p. 26). On the other hand, the desire for Henry to satisfy the needs of Jeanne ends up in frustrations. His inability to make up his mind on what he wants disgusts his wife to a point where she contemplates leaving. Even though the couple thinks they will be better if they gave each other space, they realize that they need each other for companionship. The characters in both sto ries are victims of their environment or past experiences. In â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty†, Walter’s fantasies revolve around his environment and his wishes. For instance, before he daydreamed about the navy hydroplane, his wife had complained of him driving so fast. Secondly, just before he daydreamed about being a surgeon, he had just put on surgical gloves and was driving past the hospital. His fantasy about the courtroom drama preceded the shout of a newspaper carrier. The fourth fantasy happens when Mitty, in the process of waiting for his wife, is reading literature with the topic of Germany conquering the world. Finally, his last daydream of the firing-squad scene happened when he was smoking. Consequently, when the reader considers the life of Henry and Jeanne, in â€Å"I’m Going†, their lives are based on their interests and hobbies. Their unwillingness to be together is simply because Henry feels he will enjoy more when he goes for hor se racing alone, rather than when he is with Jeanne.Advertising Looking for critical writing on comparative literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On the other hand, Jeanne confesses that she enjoys going for a walk alone. Such experiences are mainly the basis on which the story revolves, and they are unable to reach a compromise and agree on what both will be pleased. Contrast Despite the similarities, there are numerous differences considering the setting and the plot of the two stories. â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† is more of a monologue where the couples are not active in the entire scenario. Mrs. Mitty is not aware of what is running through her husband’s life and has remarkably little idea that he is fantasizing. The outcome of life they share makes Mitty escape into a secret life, which the wife cannot participate. On the other hand, â€Å"I’m Going† involves two active participants who are free and sincere about their feelings. They share their fears and anxieties and confess their weaknesses. Compared to Mitty where he would rather hide his wishes from his wife and simply imagine, Henry confesses to Jeanne that he cannot go with her to the races because he will have to pay more, and fail to enjoy himself (Bernard, 1915, p. 20). The suggestion for them to take a walk, instead of going to the races, is also met with a sincere confession from Jeanne that she will not feel comfortable walking with Henry. The story of â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† displays many scenarios that make up the ultimate scene; the author takes the audience through different scenarios with different settings to bring out his point. On the other hand, â€Å"I’m Going† involves a couple in a similar setting. Even though they pick events from different scenes, the plot of their story does not change. It takes place in their house from the beginning to the end. As Tobias (1969) observes, â€Å"The Secret Life of Mitty† is mainly composed of fantasies, which is the striking feature in the entire story (p.23). Apparently, the other scenes are only to build up on the daydreams of Mitty. â€Å"I’m Going† is a real life story that exposes the fears of two sincere individuals. Unlike Mitty who finds it hard to accept his status, Henry has accepted life and tries to make his wife understand his actions (Clugston, 2010, p. 36). The couple realizes that the reason why they may not be together, as they would wish, is their differences that become an obstacle to each other. The two stories revolve around conflict of finances, and the way the couples would like to spend the resources. In â€Å"The Secret Life of Mitty†, it is more about him and the way he would obtain what he wants for him and his family, as opposed to facing the realities of life (Thurber, 2008, p.26-25). On the other hand, â€Å"I’m Going† is all about Jeanne’s concern on how Henry spends his time and money. The conflict that Jeannie is facing is all about having a responsible husband who will make time for her and use his money well. She feels that Henry gambles a lot with his money and time. Moreover, Jeanne feels that the conflict facing their life would be solved if Henry was a little bit sensitive to her needs and grant her the attention she craves for (Felski, 2003, p.65), rather than act selfishly by going to the races alone. Mitty, on the other hand, feels that his conflict would be solved if he had one of the lives that he was fantasizing. His hopes and dreams are all about being in a position to provide for the needs of his family and satisfy his desires. Conclusion In the two stories, even though the narration revolves around a couple, they both seem to have individual lives where they are unable to merge. Mitty is into fantasy while his wife is real with life. Henry likes going to horse races alone while Jeanne prefers going for walks. Despite having a clear understanding of their weaknesses, none of the involved parties is willing to give in, for the sake of the other. The stories thus share similar ities of the same margin as their differences. Reference List Bernard, T. (1915). I’m Going! A Comedy in One Act. (B. H. Clark, Trans.). New York: Samuel French. Clugston, R. (2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Felski, R. (2003). Literature after Feminism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Thurber, J. (2008). The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. (Creative Classic Series). New York: The Creative Company. Tobias, C. (1969). The Art of James Thurber. Ohio: Ohio State University Press. Yates, Norris. (1974). James Thurbers Little Man and Liberal Citizen. In C. Holmes (Ed.), Thurber: A Collection of Critical Essays (pp. 28-36). New York: Prentice-Hall.

Foreign Direct Investment Essays

Foreign Direct Investment Essays Foreign Direct Investment Essay Foreign Direct Investment Essay Foreign Direct Investment Name: Course: Instructor: : Institution: Date: Foreign Direct Investment Foreign direct investments are the investments made by a company situated in one country to another company situated in another county. The company investing may make its investments by forming a subsidiary or an associate company in the country it is making investments. For example, a European company may take a majority stake in a company in Japan. The foreign direct investments cause an increase in growth, in the developing countries. It does this by accumulating capital in the developing country. FDI promotes the use of new inputs and foreign technology in the production process. It acts as a complement to the developing countries. It enables technological advancements in the developing countries. These technologies enable economic growth since they are efficient. In addition, these are the same technologies used by the multinational firms. This enables production good quality products enabling the developing countries to gain competitive advantage in the market. Technological ad vancement enables long-term economic growth in the developing countries (Cohen Oxford University Press, 2007). The foreign exchange rate policy also affects the developing countries economic growth. The foreign direct investments enable the developing countries to practice the key exchange rate reforms. This enables it to eradicate the real exchange rate misalignments. In turn, this enables the developing countries to experience a growth in their GDP. In addition, the foreign exchange rate policy enables trade liberalization. This enables the developing countries to experience an improvement in their international trade. They are able to trade with more countries by maintaining a constant high trade pattern, than before. By trading with more countries, they enjoy greater exports as compared to the imports. This prevents them from experiencing a deficit in their balance of trade. In turn, the developing countries gain access to the foreign currency that comes from the trade. This improves the developing country’s economic growth. The countries are also able to improve their terms of tra de. It can do this by raising their export prices permanently. This, in turn, increases the countries national income causing a growth in GDP. FDI enables the provision of capital to the developing countries. The multinational companies enable the transfer of capital in order to support the domestic savings. This leads to an increase in the domestic capital for the developing countries. This, in turn, increases the domestic investment. In addition, FDI increases the growth of the developing countries through promoting the returns in production. This is aided by its externalities and the spill over effects. FDI provides a knowledge channel for the developing countries. It provides knowledge to the countries engaging themselves in FDI. Example, FDI increases the flow of knowledge to the Japanese firms engaging in FDI. It also enables the provision of employment, which in turn raises the living standards of people. A new stock measure of the FDI centered on the employment enables access to a long-term effect of FDI in the states involved. This, in turn, increases growth in the developing countries, which finally increases the GDP. FDI helps in reducing the inflation rate and the government consumption, which in turn raises the GDP in the developing countries. Inflation control is a great macroeconomic stabilization policy. It is important for inflation to be controlled in order for the developing countries’ GDP to increase. On the other and, increasing the government spending reduces economic growth in the developing countries. Therefore, FDI helps in the reduction of inflation and government spending, a great barrier in the developing countries. With the achievement of this, the developing countries enjoy an increase in their GDP (Cohen Oxford University Press, 2007). References Cohen, S. D., Oxford University Press. (2007). Multinational corporations and foreign direct investment: Avoiding simplicity, embracing complexity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Case study 4 -BUDGETING STATEMENTS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case study 4 -BUDGETING STATEMENTS - Essay Example Hence for 4000 patients visited during the month, the number of hours expected to be spent by the nurses is (4000 * 0.5) 2000 hours. But the actual time spent by the nurses on the patients is 2080 hours. This indicates that an additional 80 hours, i.e, (80 * 12)  £ 960 was spent on the patients. It is essential to investigate the reasons for this variance as the effect of this variance is adverse. As this measure is directly related to the efficiency of the nurses working at the hospital, one of the reasons for this variance might be that some of the nurses might be inefficient (Drury, 2005). The other possible reason could be that, some of the patients might have required additional care and attention which could have resulted in additional hours spent by the nurses. Appropriate action can be taken to improve the efficiency of the nurses can control this variance to a great extent (Blocker, 1951). The cost incurred in terms of the payment made to the nurses amounts to  £ 33,180. However the estimated pay based on the average pay per hour ( £ 12) is computed as (2080 * 12)  £ 24,960. This additional  £ 8,220 also has an adverse effect on the budget. Hence it is essential to understand the reasons for this variance in order to adjust the budgeting accordingly for the future periods. It is known that the pay for the nurses vary from  £ 7 to  £ 28, whereas the average is  £ 12. In the budget prepared, this average was only taken into account. However, the reason for the variance might be that more number of nurses with payment more than  £ 12 were on duty during the month. This variance can be controlled by noting the nurses who will be on duty for the following month and estimating the pay based on their pay scales, instead of using the average pay value. The quantity of supplies and variable heads are associated with the nursing hours as per the statistical studies. According to the standard, an average of  £ 10 worth of supplies and variable overheads are

Vaccinating cattle against E.coli could cut human cases of infections Article

Vaccinating cattle against E.coli could cut human cases of infections by 85 percent - Article Example When the excretion from the cattle contain high percentage of the bacteria, the infection becomes significant. Nevertheless, there are vaccines, which reduce super-shedding in cattle. The findings of the study were that the vaccination of the cattle is likely to reduce human cases by approximately 85 percent. This is a strong figure supporting the adoption of the vaccine by livestock industries. Various countries like Scotland have engaged in research to establish an economic program for similar vaccination programmes. The aim of these countries is to develop more effective vaccines, which will reduce the impact of the bacterium on human life. Treating the cattle to cut down the number of human infection is justifiable, but there is need to put more effort in implementing the program and meeting the costs of the program. Public health has to be taken seriously to achieve this perspective. The hypothesis of the article was supported because nations across the world are responding positively to the implementation of the program. For instance, Scotland tackles an average of 235 culture positive cases of infections resulting from E.coli. This application continues to be extended to various nations for adoption. For example, the vaccine has been taken up in US. A version in US is not fully licensed yet the authority insists that veterinary medicines must indicate the improvement of human health. Louis, Matthews, Reeve, George, Gally, David L. Low, C. Woolhouse, Mark, McAteer, S. P. Locking, M. E. Chase-Topping, Margo, Haydon, Daniel, Allison, L. J. Hanson, G. Gunn, Joshua, and Reid, S. â€Å"Predicting the public health benefit of vaccinating cattle against Escherichia coli O157†. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI:

Network administration capstone project Case Study

Network administration capstone project - Case Study Example There was also the need to analyze the components and features of the software in relation to the demands of the department. Result of the component and system analysis is what has been presented in this capstone project. Like all other forms of major institutional projects, the usage of the present project, which was the internalization of software, was taken through a number of development levels. There were three major development levels identified and these are the search level, implementation level and evaluation level. At the search level, developers were tasked and at the same time offered the opportunity to undertake comprehensive research and feasibility study about the intended project. This was done with the aims and objectives of the project in mind as data and information were searched on how to ensure that the usage of the present software would meet the standards on the estimating software market, and if possible become a new model that will also set a new and higher s tandard for the market. This was followed by the implementation level, which was an action driven point of the actual development whereby all the paper works were put into action. This involved all software and hardware managers operating from their different areas of expertise to ensure that the construction of the software was done according to the stipulated standards that were set ahead of the implementation stage. To ensure that the finished work matched up the planned purpose of the project, a comprehensive evaluation level was instituted. The evaluation of the task was made up of a comprehensive critic and appraisal of the finished work to ensure that there were no areas or aspects of it that produced sub-standardization. What is more, it was to ensure that the system specifications were working as planned. Project Description The present project involves the process of internalizing purchased software to solve the everyday estimation tasks that is undertaken by the company. By this, reference is being made to the fact that, because the system was not internally created by the department, it is important that is will be adjusted to fit the requirements and needs of the department. Therefore, two major roles are involved in describing the project. The first is in giving a vivid identity to how the creator of the software designed it to work and how it is currently being re-created to take up quotes for the customers who would presently be using it for their own estimations most importantly however, it is worth emphasizing that due to the fact that the purchased product was designed purposely for the task of estimation, it did not take much work to be done by the company in getting new features fixed to make the software ideal for the department. All in all, in describing the project, an overall identity that can be given to it a SQL based software that has come to compliment and replace the old DOS and Excel estimating system that is currently used by th e sales department of the company. The project, and for that matter the software has some specifications that distinguishes it from other estimation software and the old DOS and Excel estimating system. One of such is the fact that the present project guarantees more detailed, professional and accurate estimation tasks that were otherwise seen as weaknesses of the old estimation system. These detailed, profes

Nursing Indicators Essay Example for Free

Nursing Indicators Essay Nursing indicators are measurable tools used in nursing. The indicators focus on the structure, process of nursing, and the overall patient outcomes of the care received by nurses. The structure of nursing care is based on the education and certifications as well as the skill level the nursing staff has. Process indicators are a way to measure nursing care through assessment, intervention, and reassessment. The overall patient outcomes that are based on nursing indicators are nursing driven. Examples are preventing falls, preventing pressure ulcers with rotating patient in bed, and changing IV’s to prevent intravenous infiltration (Nursing World, 2014). It is imperative to have an understanding of nursing indicators and be used on a daily basis. The nursing indicators could have been helpful in the case of Mr. J. If the Nurse and the CNA had known the importance of repositioning, and preventing pressure ulcers, then Mr. J wouldn’t of had the initiation of the reddened area on his back. Even if the CNA had not had the proper education to recognize the beginning stages of a pressure ulcer. It should have been communicated to the RN and a proper skin inspection/assessment could have been performed. As well as the patient repositioned frequently. A patient should only be in restraints if they are a harm to themselves or others. Frequent toileting, nourishments, repositioning, as well as removal of the restraints are all nursing assessment and reassessment indicators. If the patient is at a fall risk, generally restraints aren’t used. A big nursing sensitive indicator that is apparent is the satisfaction of the patient as well as the patient’s family. The nurse dismissed the concerns and religious beliefs regarding the patient’s Jewish beliefs. Just because the patient is confused, doesn’t mean its ‘okay’ to dismiss the importance of the specific diet ordered. Nursing sensitive quality indicators are an important part of establishing evidence-based practice guidelines.

Analysis of the Paint Industry

Analysis of the Paint Industry Color has captivated everyone throughout the history, be it myriad cultures, age-groups, occasions, etc. Color has become a significant part of every family. Every age and every region has produced dyes and pigments based on the availability of the resources. The history proves the existence of colors from past thousands of years, discovered in the caves of Southern Europe. Paint is defined as the group of emulsions, consisting of pigments suspended in a liquid medium, for use as decorative or protective coatings. Today, contemporary paints and coating consist of countless of hundreds of thousands to fulfill the varied requirements of hundreds of thousands of applications.†Paint† ranges from the broad group of environmentally sound latex paints that many consumers use to decorate and protect their homes and the translucent coating that line the interior of food homes and the translucent coating that line the interior of food containers, to the chemically complex, multi-component finishes that automobile manufacturers apply on the assembly line. Paint made its earliest appearance about 30,000 years ago .Cave dwellers used crude paints to leave behind the graphic representations of their lives that even today decorate the walls of their ancient rock dwellings. The utility of paints has evolved from a decorative use to a surface protection use. Also, know as surface coatings, paints can be classified on the basis of end use, solvent system and solid content. Paint is comprised of three separate things working together. A pigment is used for the color. A binder is used to hold the pigment to the wall. And lastly, a carrier is used to apply the pigment and binder to whatever. There are many types of paint but they all have these components. For white latex paint, the carrier is de-ionized water, the pigment is very finely ground Titanium dioxide, and the binder is a synthetic polymer that resembles liquid rubber. The pigment and binder are put together with force (grinding) and then the two are slowly dispersed into the water. Titanium dioxide is the single largest input used in the manufacture of paints. It is a pigment (non-petro-based) that accounts for about 30% of material costs. Phthalic anhydride (PAN) and pentaerythritol (Penta) are the other two important petro-based inputs used in the manufacture of resins. Organic pigments, solvents, oils and a range of chemical additives are also used in the manufacture of paints. INDIAN PAINT INDUSTRY The Indian paint industry has come a long way from the days when paints were considered a luxury item. Today the awareness level on preventing corrosion through paints is relatively high, a development that should be a huge boost to the paint industry. The Indian paints industry offers lucrative scope for stable revenue streams to manufacturers of both decorative and industrial paints. The Indian Paints sector is valued at Rs 66 bn in value terms and is very fragmented. The current demand is estimated to be around 650,000 tonnes per annum and is seasonal in nature. The per capita consumption of paints in India stands at 0.5-kg p.a. as compared to 1.6 kg in China and 22 kg in the developed economies. Indias share in the world paint market is just 0.6%. The typical characteristics of the Indian paints industry include raw material intensiveness, working capital intensiveness, seasonality of demand, price elasticity of demand and low entry barriers with respect to technology and funds. Crucial parameters that make India a favorable proposition include the low per capita consumption of paints (1.0 kilogram), growth in construction sector (it is being offered industry status) and growth in the auto/white goods market respectively spurring demand for decorative and industrial paints. The industry has also witnessed increased activity in the industrial variety of paints with the entry of MNCs in auto, consumer durables etc, which has been gaining steadily over decorative paints in the last one decade. Indian paint industry is century old and the can be retraced by the history of Shalimar paints which was set up in the year1902 in Kolkata. Till the 2nd World war, industry consisted of small paint producers and 2 foreign companies. Post World War 2, imports were restricted which led to the birth of many domestic manufacturing facilities producing paint. Nevertheless, foreign companied ruled the market. Initially, British paints such as Goodlass Walls (currently famous as Kansai Nerolac), ICI, British Paints (now known as Berger Paints), Jenson Nicholson and Blundell Eomite dominated the market. The Indian paint industry has evolved a lot in recent times, both in terms of industry structure and product portfolio. Not long ago, paints were largely considered to be a luxury item. Such a mind†set has changed significantly of late due to the growing awareness on preventing corrosion through paints, by providing a massive fillip to the paint industry. Indian paints industry is Rs.15, 000 crore market Growth drivers for Indian paint industry Per capita consumption at 1.5kg is currently very low as compared to the developed countries (20kg/annum). Usage of lime extracts (chuna) in rural and semi†urban markets as well as lesser awareness of the protective attributes of paints can be one of the reasons for lower consumption levels. With growing income levels, both in urban as well as rural India on the back of various government initiatives like NREGS, Farm loan waivers, pay commission led salary hikes etc, the per capita consumption will improve in the medium as well as long term. Rising income levels: According to McKinsey, proportion of low income groups was expected to decline from 24% in FY05 to 10% in FY10e, and it has. This has acted as a significant catalyst for demand growth in decorative paints. Increasing media exposure: With better awareness levels, a gradual shift from unbranded to branded segment as well as improvement in product mix for various players like Kansai Nerolac, Asian Paints as demand for emulsions continues to outpace enamels and distempers. Rising urbanisation: This has led to creation of new homes, in†turn, fuelling incremental demand. Currently, only 28% of Indian population is urban. Urban Share of total population Increase in nuclear families: This is a consequence of younger demographics (60% of Indias population is below 30 years of age), with proportion of working population expected to increase from 40% in FY05 to 48% in FY15e. % of population in 15†64 age group Healthy growth in consumption levels expected for both, urban and rural India Growth in Auto Sector With production of passenger cars expected to grow, demand for automotive paints will continue to remain healthy as sales are expected to grow in double†digits. And with realty majors launching new projects, construction activity is expected to gain momentum and generate demand for decorative paints. Globally, the industrial paints segment accounts for a major share, indicating that this segment offers many opportunities for paint manufacturers. Growth in Auto Segments (FY06†10) The emerging trends in the decorative industry are: Consumers are increasingly involved in making purchase decisions. Consumers expect better and more relevant functional benefits from paints. Emulsion paints are outgrowing the industry growth rate. Trend of dark shades complementing light shades continues. Tinting systems at store level are the order of the day. Companies are getting more consumer†centric and a lot of value†added services are being offered, like application support, colour consultancy etc. Strong growth in the Indian powder coatings segment, as new applications and their advantages are discovered Greater interest in water-based coatings technology while awareness of VOCs and legislation increases. 3. INDUSTRY SEGMENTATION The paint industry can be segmented as follows: End Usage classification: Paints are grouped in either decorative or industrial paints Decorative paints are used for household and construction purposes while latter can be used for industrial products. Decorative Paints consists of myriad types like enamels, acrylic emulsions, distempers and exterior paints. Industrial ones include the marine, anti corrosive metal coatings, etc. Solvent Based classification: Paints which use petro products or water as main solvents. These days water based paints are becoming popular on environment friendliness. Solid Content: Classified based on type i.e. liquid or solid. Powder coatings find application mainly in white goods industry. The Indian paint industry has surprisingly only private manufacturing units. This can be reasoned by the fact that in the past, government perceived paints as luxury product and hence taxed heavily, thus regulating the industry to a non-core business. Sector wise Division Classification of paint industry can be done either product-wise or sector-wise. Sector-wise implies organised and unorganized sectors. The pie chart indicates the same. Organized Sector is dominated by 6 large players and the unorganized sectors owned by about 2500 units manufacturing various categories of paints. Though the organized sector controls 65% of paint market, unorganized sector with 35% of market share is still a force to reckon with. Organized sector can itself be divided into 2 distinct segments (Product wise): Industrial segment which is growing at 15% approximately and decorative segment which is growing at 8% approximately. As shown in the graph, most of sales are accounted for primarily by decorative segment. Decorative segment enjoys almost 77% and industrial segment owns 23% of the market. Organised Market Segment Division Decorative Segment It caters to the housing sector. The following falls under decorative segment. Acrylic Emulsions: Premium decorative paints are acrylic emulsions used mostly in the metros. Enamels: The medium range consists of enamels, popular in smaller cities and towns. Used on substrates like steel, wood, concrete, etc. Cement paints: Used for exterior purposes Distempers are economy products demanded in the suburban and rural markets. Nearly 20 per cent of all decorative paints sold in India are distempers. Industrial Segment Industrial Paints include powder coatings, high performance coatings and automotive and marine paints Two-thirds of the industrial paints produced in the country are automotive paints. Structure of Paint Industry 4. MARKET PROFILE The leaders in the organized paint industry are Asian Paints (India) Ltd. (APIL), Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd. (GNPL), Berger Paints, Jenson Nicholson Ltd. (JN) and ICI (India) Ltd. â€Å"Asian paints† is the industry leader with an overall market share of 33 per cent in the organized paint market. It has the largest distribution network among the players and its aggressive marketing has earned it strong brand equity. The Berger Group and ICI share the second slot in the industry with market shares of 17 per cent each. GNPL has a market share of 15 percent in the organized sector. APIL dominates the decorative segment with a 38 per cent market share. The company has more than 15,000 retail outlets and its brandsTractor,Apcolite,Utsav,ApexandAceare entrenched in the market. GNPL, the number-two in the decorative segment, with a 14 per cent market share too, has now increased its distribution network to 11,000 outlets to compete with APIL effectively. Berger and ICI have 9 per cent and 8 per cent shares respectively in this segment followed by JN and Shalimar with 1 and 6 per cent shares. GNPL dominates the industrial paints segment with 41 per cent market share. It has a lions share of 70 per cent in the OEM passenger car segment, 40 per cent share of two wheeler OEM market and 20 per cent of commercial vehicle OEM market. The company is also venturing into new areas like painting of plastic, coil coatings and cans. APIL, the leader in decorative paints, ranks a poor second after Goodlass Nerolac in the industrial segment with a 15 per cent market share. Berger and ICI are the other players in the sector with 10 per cent and 9 per cent shares respectively. Shalimar too, has an 8 per cent share. Asian Paints enjoys leadership position in the Indian Paints industry, with nearly 55% share of the organized segment. Major Market Player 5. COMPANY PROFILE Incorporated in 1920, Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited (KNPL) is the second-largest coating company in India. It is a subsidiary of Kansai Paints, a Japanese company, which holds approximately 69.3% stake. KNPL operates in the decorative as well as the industrial paints segments, and is the market leader in automotive and powder coating segments. It manufactures decorative paints, automotive coatings, general industrial coatings, high performance coatings, powder coatings and speciality coatings. Its manufacturing plants are located at Ratnagiri (Maharashtra), Kanpur Dehat (Uttar Pradesh), Perungudi and Hosur (Tamil Nadu) and Bawal (Haryana). Its employee strength is approximately 2,000. The company has a strong distribution network of ~12,000 distributors, 5,000 colour tinting machines and 69 sales locations, as of FY10. The installed capacity for various products as of FY10 is: Paints, varnishes, enamels and powder coatings 2.08 million tonnes (MT), Synthetic resins 79,380 tonnes and pre-treatment chemicals 2,400 tonnes. Exports contributed less than 1% of FY10 revenues. The proximity of the companys plants to the customers plant locations offers KNPL a strong logistical advantage. Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd.is a cognized leader in chosen fields. The company has won many prestigious awards such as National Energy Conservation Award from the Ministry of Power, Government of India for its Jainpur plant, the Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance in 2005, the Business Innovator of the year award in 2006 from the CTO Forum Magazine and Best Managed Company award from Business Today in 2004. History It is the second largest coating company in India and market leader in Industrial Coatings. Its Industrial Coatings has a wide range of products in the Automotive, Powder, General Industrial and High performance Coatings space. Nerolac paints, as it is popularly known, are an established brand in decorative paints. Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd is a subsidiary of Japan based Kansai Paint Company Limited, which is one of the top ten coating companies in the world. The technological edge of Kansai helps us constantly innovate and come up with products that meet consumer need gaps. Kansai Nerolac has always believed that the key to its business is: Technology Research Development Innovations Quality Year 1920, a paint company was born as Gahagan Paints and Varnish Co. Ltd. in Mumbai. The journey is marked by moving from strength to strength in every sphere of business be it product introductions through innovation, value engineering and superior technology. 1920: A company named as Gahagan Paints and Varnish Co. Ltd at Lower Parel in Mumbai, was born. 1957: Goodlass Wall Pvt. Ltd grew popular as Goodlass Nerolac Paints (Pvt) Ltd. Also, it went public in the same year and established itself as Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd. 1976: Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd. became a part of the Tata Forbes Group on acquisition of a part of the foreign shareholdings by Forbes Gokak. 1983: Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd. Strengthened itself by entering in technical collaboration agreements with Kansai Paint Co. Ltd, Japan and Nihon Tokushu Tokyo Co. Ltd, Japan. 1999: Kansai Paint Co. Ltd, Japan took over the entire stake of Tata Forbes group and thus GNP became wholly owned subsidiary of Kansai Paint Company Ltd. 2006: On the 11th of July, Goodlass Paints Ltd. name was changed to Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. KEY HIGHLIGHTS Capacity expansion n plans KNPLs most recent capacity addition was a new plant at Hosur, which commenced operations in the last quarter of FY10 with a capacity of ~15,000 tonnes. The company plans to spend another ~Rs 2.5 billion (bn) to expand manufacturing capacity at Hosur to 0.28 million (mn) tonnes per annum. A further Rs 1.5 bn will be spent on increasing production capacity in other plants, taking total cost to Rs 4 bn Strategic Alliances Nerolac has developed strong relationships with automakers, such as Maruti, which facilitates it in maintaining its market leadership position in the industrial paint segment. Nerolacs parent company Kansai is a global supplier of paints to Suzuki Marutis parent company which further strengthens the relationship. Nerolac has also taken initiatives to strengthen its existing relationship with automakers, which include placing technical teams at automakers paint shops to provide them with services. Such initiatives have proved to be fruitful, and Nerolac has 9 out of 11 automakers as its customers. The other major a well-established client base from the automotive industry includes Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra Mahindra, etc Targeting Rural Market Nerolac has stepped up its efforts to increase its presence in the rural market. The company has introduced some products, such as Beauty Emulsions in the range of 80-100 rupees per litre, which cater to the price-sensitive market. It has also formed an alliance with ITC on its E-Chaupal initiative to improve its presence in the rural market. The company is also making efforts to strengthen its dealer network to improve sales. 6. KANSAI NEROLAC MARKETING PROFILE Marketing Strategies Marketing defines the fact that â€Å"Customer is King† and always every management strives to identify, anticipate and satisfy their Kings Kansai Nerolac is the organization which works on this aspect and its been one of the pillars behind building a successful organization. Nerolac believes that the key strength lies in understanding the consumers and communicating with them in a language they understand and relate to the best. Over the years, Nerolac has undertaken many initiatives, which have met with unprecedented success and really made people sit up and take notice of the same. 6.1. Brand -Nerolac Nerolac commercials have been well -loved over the years and its jingle Jab ghar ki raunaq badhaani ho is now a familiar tune in every Indian household. Many set the same jingle as their caller-tunes. Beginning with the introduction of the new Brush stroke logo, this stands for the ‘process of painting, depicts motion, dynamism and progress through change. The signal red color, which is the color of Nerolac, is a symbol of eternal joy and hope. It has now become an integral part of Nerolacs brand identity and now appears as a sign-off on any kind of communication. The Slogan of Brand Nerolac: â€Å"Kuch Change Kare Chalo Paint Kare† Brand Ambassadors: Presently, Shah Rukh Khan, internationally famed Bollywood hero endorses Kansai Nerolac and has proved to give the brand a touch of glamour and the hope that a famous face will provide added appeal and name recognition in a crowded market. The famous Bollywood celebrity being the co-owner of IPL -Kolkata Knight Riders team is indeed a popular ambassador to the recall value of the brand. Previously Mr. Amitabh Bachhan and Mr. Mohanlal were the brand Ambassadors. Amitabh had embodied Nerolac and had showed â€Å"how it touches the lives and dreams of peopleno matter whom they are and where they come from†. The essence of this thought was captured in the new baseline ‘Yeh Rang hain jo har kisi ko chhoota hain. 6.2. Product Range (Decorative segment) Paints Interior Range Exterior Range Enamels Primer (Impressions) Marble Finish Ever last Impressions High Performance Metallic Finish Excel Total Disney Excel AntiPeel 24 Carat Impressions Eco-clean : Ultra luxury Emulsion(odorless) Low VOC Popular Beauty Emulsion Flexi Suraksha Advanced, and Plus Satin Enamel Premium Silver Synthetic Enamel Smooth finish Beauty Distemper Acrylic Superior Protection Pearl Luster Finish Oil Bound Premium Acrylic Wood coatings include: Wonder wood 2k PU, Wonder wood melamine crystal Clear, Wonder wood melamine and Wonder wood 1 KPU. 6.3.Segmentation Market segmentation represents an effort to increase a companys targeting precision. All businesses operate in â€Å"markets† .A market is the set of all actual and potential buyers of a product or service. This definition suggests that a market is the total value and/or volume of products that satisfy the same customer need. In defining a market, it is important not to focus only on products/services that currently meet the customer need. Thinking about customer needs first and then identifying the products that meet those needs is the best way to define a market. However, it is also important not to define a market too broadly. For example, it is not particularly helpful for a marketing manager to define his or her market as the â€Å"food market† or the â€Å"transport market†. The purpose of market definition is to provide a meaningful framework for analysis and decision-making. Bases of segmentation It is widely thought in marketing that than segmentation is an art, not a science. The key task is to find the variable, or variables that split the market into actionable segments. There are two types of segmentation variables: Needs Profilers The basic criteria for segmenting a market are customer needs. To find the needs of customers in a market, it is necessary to undertake market research. Profilers are the descriptive, measurable customer characteristics (such as location, age, nationality, gender, income) that can be used to inform a segmentation exercise. The most common profilers used in customer segmentation include the following: Geographic Region of the country Urban or rural Demographic Age, sex, family size Income, occupation, education Religion, race, nationality Psychographic Social class: Premium,Middle Upper Class and also Lower Class Lifestyle type Personality type Behavioural Product usage e.g. light, medium ,heavy users Brand loyalty: none, medium, high Type of user (e.g. with meals, special occasions) Demographic segmentation Demographic segmentation consists of dividing the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender family size, income, occupation, education, religion, race and nationality. Customer wants are closely linked to variables such as income and age. Company Kansai Nerolac Paints has manufactured paints as per customers requirements and the products are described above. The main demographic segmentation variables used in this are summarized below: Income Kansai Nerolac has targeted affluent customers with luxury products like the impressions. Various convenience services as previously mentioned are introduced for the ease of customers. Economy range products are being developed by the company and would be introduced soon in the market. Premium class impression products for children based of their interests on sports, cartoons are produced and company extends in paintings services with its well equipped painters. Social class Many Marketers believe that a consumers perceived social class influences their preferences for cars, clothes, home furnishings, leisure activities and other products services. There is a clear link here with income-based segmentation. Age Lifestyle The cultural dominance in India is targeted and paints based on Vastu are carried on to pull in prosperities with paints.Kansai Nerolac provides this with established vastu veterans and help the customers. It also works on splendid work as per the ambience with various methods like 30-60-90. Marketers are increasingly interested in the effect of consumer lifestyles on demand. There are many different lifestyle categorisation systems, many of them designed by advertising and marketing agencies as a way of winning new marketing clients and campaigns! Behavioral segmentation Behavioural segmentation divides customers into groups based on the way they respond to, use or know of a product. Behavioural segments can group consumers in terms of: Occasions When a product is consumed or purchased. Neroalc Paints launches new products near the festive seasons and promotions during those times relate to the festivals giving a slice of life touch.Plus offer varied schemes based on different occasions namely Valentine day offers,F1 fever,IPL dhamaka,etc. Usage Some markets can be segmented into light, medium and heavy user groups. Loyalty Loyal consumers those who buy one brand all or most of the time are valuable customers. Many companies try to segment their markets into those where loyal customers can be found and retained compared with segments where customers rarely display any product loyalty. Importance of Segmentation: There are several important reasons why businesses should attempt to segment their markets carefully. These are summarised below Better matching of customer needs Customer needs differ. Creating separate offers for each segment makes sense and provides customers with a better solution Enhanced profits for business Customers have different disposable income. They are, therefore, different in how sensitive they are to price. By segmenting markets, businesses can raise average prices and subsequently enhance profits. Product segmentation of Nerolac Paints has enabled each segment of the society to relate to a product within the income range. Better opportunities for growth Market segmentation can build sales. For example, customers can be encouraged to trade-up after being introduced to a particular product with an introductory, lower-priced product. Retain more customers Customer circumstances change, for example they grow older, form families, change jobs or get promoted, change their buying patterns. By marketing products that appeal to customers at different stages of their life (life-cycle), a business can retain customers who might otherwise switch to competing products and brands. Target marketing communications Businesses need to deliver their marketing message to a relevant customer audience. If the target market is too broad, there is a strong risk that (1) the key customers are missed and (2) the cost of communicating to customers becomes too high / unprofitable. By segmenting markets, the target customer can be reached more often and at lower cost. Advertisements relating to different paints of Nerolac Paints are on air each signifying a different target market, a different aspect of life. Gain share of the market segment Nerolac Paints is the market leader in the industrial market and gains due to economies of scale. Through careful segmentation and targeting, businesses can often achieve competitive production and marketing costs and become the preferred choice of customers and distributors. 6.4 Promotional Activities. a) Advertising: Kansai Nerolac made a beeline to cricket fever by advertising and booking ad spots on Set Max, the sub continental broadcaster for the IPL matches this summer, for IPL 4. The company has launched ‘Healthy Home Range of Paints that are safer lead free, odour free, low VOC (VolatileOrganic Compound) and eco-friendly. The brand ambassador endorses a wide range of advancedeco-friendlyproducts in the TV, print and outdoor commercials. The same ads have been telecasted in Chennai (Sun Network) in the regional language Tamil in order to remind and recall the brand value of Kansai Nerolac. Television campaign with Irfan Khan and Konkana Sen for Nerolac Impressions was done on popular channels of West Bengal. The campaign was redone to help build the brand saliency during this period. There were various other campaigns endorsed by Amitabh Bachhan which proved to be runaway success to name one -â€Å"Har Din Diwali â€Å"a promotional campaign aimed at the customer. b) Public Relations Kansai Nerolac has always been in the fore front for Public Relations, be it marketing or corporate relations. Kansai Nerolac was the first to initiate the dealers meet and painters meet. It comes up with new product launch activity also. Corporate relations include the famous Mumbai Marathon (17th Jan 2010) which carried an anti smoking message, with a logo on their T-shirts. As part of corporate social responsibility, Nerolac has been conducting health camps for needy people every year. c) Sales Promotions This includes the dealers meet and painters meet which help regularly to build up a good rapport with the dealers and painters. Promotional offers and schemes with gifts acts as the major sales promotional methods followed by Kansai Nerolac. Incentives to painters include the token exchanges. Foreign trips are also provided for the dealers who qualify in the promotional scheme parameters. Distribution of T-shirts and caps to the paints are also done. d) Other Services â€Å"Nerolac Assured Paint Service†: Designed to bring the Nerolac experience right to the consumers doorstep, is the service launched by Nerolac. Currently available in Mumbai, consumers can now relax while the Nerolac team takes over the entire paint job right from sourcing to execution. On consumer friendliness platter, the shade cards have been redesigned. The new look shade cards are not only eye catching and consistent in appearance but also try to make the process of shade selection for the consumer lot more interesting and convenient. Nerolac Home Stylers provides profession