The State Board of Nursing Agency Overview

I chose to review the State Board of Nursing for the state of Ohio at, www. nursingohio. gov. The mission of the Ohio Board of Nursing is to actively safeguard the health of the public through effective regulation of nursing care ( www. nursing. oho. gov; June 2013) The agency offers nurses the ability to renew licenses and certifications online, enroll into refresher courses, sign up for state conferences and review laws and rules of the State Board. The agency holds its standards and requirements to its nurses to the up most. While researching information I found that any actions that our field against board members are located on the site as well as any disciplinary actions that may take place. In January of 2013 I located 256 disciplinary actions from indefinite suspensions, to permanently revoked license, to hearing actions. Then 44 monitoring actions from urine drug requirements, lift of narcotic restrictions, and approved to accept employment actions. The agency supports the patients that each member comes in contact with. The State Board requires each member to practice nursing safeguards. Making sure that every nurse is familiar with laws and rules that affect his/or her practice. As well as providing trainings, assessments to keep every member up to date to prevent penalties. The State Board also provides a listing for education purposes for associate degree programs that are offered in many different cities in Ohio from Akron, Ohio to Cincinnati, Ohio. Each school is to meet the Boards requirements and allows a student to see if a college is conditional approved, fully approved or provisional approved by the state board. The site also assists with FAQ for continuing education and scholarship and loan opportunities for nurses in the state of Ohio. The Ohio State Board, is not only is available for nurses to review but also allows t the public to know there rights, as well as file complaints if need be. I think the fact that Board makes it know that they hold each of their members accountable to provided quality care shows that they are committed to make sure nurses maintain its high standards.

Coffee and Starbucks Essay

?Introduction Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee company and coffee house chain headquartered in Seattle, Washingston. Starbucks was founded in 1971, when three academicians, began a specialty coffee store called Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spice in Seattle (Starbucks Corporation, 2009). In 1996, Starbucks operated its first international store expansion in Tokyo, Japan. With current approximately 19,500 stores in 58 countries (Location xcelerated, 2012), Starbucks is quickly becoming one of the best known brands and the largest specialty coffeehouse company in the world. The Market Demand of Coffee. The demand of coffee in the United States has rose 2 percent in 2011(Perez, 2011). Americans drank 77. 4 billion cups of coffee during a year (Perez, 2011). A statistics showed that â€Å"the average consumption among coffee drinkers in the United States is 3. 1 cups of coffee per day† (E-Imports, 2012). With gathering the information and statistics, it has proved the demand of coffee market in the US is extremely high. Also, the coffee market is the potential market for rivals entering into. Hence, Starbucks has to attain strong competitive advantages and market demand with its resources and capabilities. Starbucks’s Resources and Capabilities An organization has the ability to identifying and determining the competitive power of their resources and capabilities to create competitive advantage. Business resources are the productive input or competitive asset that is owned or controlled by the organization (Thompson, 2012). In the case of Starbucks, the resources and capabilities are coffee bean, store ambience, employee culture, and brands and reputations. Coffee Beans Coffee beans are the natural resources of Starbucks. They are one of the most valuable resources for coffee industry. Starbucks was a purveyor of specialty coffee – it has seemed top-notch coffee beans to produce high quality of coffee. High quality of coffee beans was usually sourced directly from coffee-producing countries, for instance Kenya, Guatemala and Indonesia. Starbucks was usually acquired the coffee bean at a premium price for suppliers who suited the Starbucks’ standards, socially and environmentally responsible farming. Starbucks has committed the long term contracts with the supplier in order to protect both party with the price and quality of coffee beans. The Starbucks’s coffee beans provided a sustainable competitive advantage in the face of active competition. It is due to the high quality and premium coffee beans sourced from other country were uncommon and costly to imitate for competitors. Store Design and Ambience Starbucks was positioned as a â€Å"third place† between beyond home and work with the store design and relaxing ambience. The design of store is provided a comfort and relaxing environment for its costumer. Each detail of likes the style of fixtures, the edges of countertops and the texture of slate floors was examined to enhance the unique ambience and mood of the Starbucks store. With blended the colorful banners and artworks, the merchandise displays, the music and the aromas, Starbucks has created an attractive, consistent and stimulating environment that provided comfort of a home for customer, excellent customer service and quality products as the concept of â€Å"third place theme† (Moon & Queich, 2003) cited by (Harveywallbanger, 2012). These elements made the Starbucks experience key in retaining its customers with the competitive advantage and capture new markets. The store design is valuable by providing a third place theme, a relaxing and conform atmosphere. Besides, it was rare design in United States as Starbucks is the first mover to replicate the Italian style coffee store. Competitors are difficult and costly to imitate as the Starbucks has an exclusive In-House architects and designers to ensure the right image and character for each store. Employee Culture A vital dynamic in Starbucks’s growth was the human resources, its employee. Starbucks has provided a great work environment around its employees, one of its most important resources and sources of sustainable competitive advantage (Gates et al. , 2011). Schultz believed that a plentiful employee benefits package was a key competitive advantage. Starbucks was the first company to offer all employees, even part-timer, were qualified to get healthcare benefits, participate in the Bean Stock program for stock option grants. Besides that, Starbucks has offered an extensive training program to each employee that includes a commitment to customer service experience and the knowledge of products (Balaban et al. , n. d). All employees of Starbucks were trained to have good customer experiences for retaining customers. For example, they were trained â€Å"just say yes† to customer requests. Starbucks’ approach towards employees benefited to company has maintained the turnover rate at 60-65 percent, while the other national industry turnover is about 150-400 percent a year. The plentiful employee benefit package provides a sustainable competitive advantage to Starbucks. It is added value to Starbucks because employees will have the better job performance due to the motivation and courage. It was rare as the Starbucks was the first company provided healthcare benefits and stock option plan. And also, it is costly to imitate for Starbucks’s competitors. Brand and Reputation Brand recognition and reputational are essential resources and capabilities to Starbucks’s competition advantage. According to Starbucks Strategy Fortune, â€Å"Starbucks store traffic has risen between 6 percent and 8 percent a year even in a down economy†. Starbucks reputation was growing mostly by word of mouth rather than spending on advertising. Schultz believed that opening numerous stores helped to build the brand to Starbucks by increasing awareness of the brand. On the other hand, Starbucks also strengthened its brand and reputation with Fair Trade Certified coffee and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The company collaborated with CARE and Conservation International to encourage environment responsible methods of growing coffee. These activities would be created the attention and attraction of its customers on the brand of Starbucks. Due with the strength of brand and reputation, Starbucks was achieved sustainable competitive advantages in the specialty coffee segment. Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model. One of the powerful and widely assessment tools of an organizations industry’s competitive forces is the five forces model, created by Michael Porter. This model embraces that the competitive forces affecting industry success go beyond rivalry among competing sellers and include four coexisting sources (Thompson, 2012). The Michael Porter’s five forces are the threat of entry, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of supply and rivalry among competing sellers. I will identify the competitive environment of Starbucks in coffee industry by using Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model. 1) Industry Rivalry The industry competition among the existing firms is positioned at the center of Porter five forces model. Rivalry is gradually growing against Starbucks each year as the growing of industry. The growth of industry rivalry has increased due to introduce the new products into the market and differentiate products based on quality, service and selection (Gamble & Thompson, Jr. , 2011) cited by (Brown, 2011). With this point, Starbucks has introduced a new way of having premium coffee and new product of Frappuccino, was greatly differentiated from the competitors. Starbucks also served coffee with the highest freshness standards with FlavorLock bags. Starbucks compete to against two strong orgationation in the fast food industry who have operated coffee beverages and stepped into coffee market, McDonalds and Dunkin’ Donuts. The competitive threat distributed by McDonald’s to Starbucks was referring to the Consumer Reports magazine in 2008 , which rated that the McDonald’s the quality of coffee is better and the price is cheaper as compared to Starbucks. The industry’s growing has slowed down while the industry competition is increasing among existing firms. In short, the force of industry rivalry formed by the competition among coffees industry is characterized very strong. 2) The Threat of New Entrance The second competitive force of Porter’s model has significant differenced in the late of 80s and the recent competitive environment of Starbucks, is no barriers to entry. According to Porter (2008), barriers of entry are low in the specialty coffee industry. The coffee houses in the United States were about 585 in 1987 and 25000 in 2007. It showed that the new entrants of specialty coffee market was increasing speedily in 20 years. Besides that, the specialty coffee market had grown from $11. 5billion (2005) to $12. 27 billion (2006) in the United States. Due to the market demand growing rapidly, it was attracted a number of fast-food retailers, such company as McDonald and Dunkin’ Donuts. In addition, the product differentiation (included coffee selection, roasting and brewing) is considered weak. With these elements, it can be established that the threat of new entrants in coffee industry is moderate. However, Starbucks has a strong competitive advantage with a well-known brand and image, the quality service and diversity products, and a strong market in the segmentation. 3) The Threat of Substitutes Another competitive force of Porter’s model is the threat of substitutes. The force of substitutes is significant decreased in the coffee market. This is because, there are only little of substitutes product, such substitute as soft drinks, energy drinks and fruit juices. The principal substitution of products has posed a slight threat to coffee industry were carbonated soft drinks which introduced by the Pepsi and Coca-Cola company. In the past few years, studies have done that coffee has increasingly obtained the preference of consumer more than carbonated soft drinks. This is probably concentrated the healthy related with carbonated soft drinks, and evidenced that coffee is a relatively healthy preference. (Harding, 2000) cited by (Larson. , 2008) Based on the information and evidence, the threat of competitive substitute products is considered to be weak for Starbucks Corporation. 4) The Bargaining Power of Suppliers The bargaining power of supplier has changed in several ways through the widely growing in the coffee industry. Starbucks was purchased it premium coffee beans from the farmers that were numerous, small and unconnected during the late 1980s. In the recently years, coffee beans suppliers were joint by Fair Trade Certified coffee and acted like a large entity. Specialty coffee companies were making the coffee beans suppliers gradually important by seeking greater quality of coffee to compete the competitors in the market. The coffee beans suppliers today are more power, with increased joint and increased importance upon high quality coffee beans. Starbucks has work out with the coffee beans suppliers into continuing fixed-price commitments in order to ensure an adequate supply, which decreased the supplier bargaining power. (Larson, 2008) 5) The Bargaining Power of buyers. The last element of five forces model is the bargaining power of buyers. The force of the buyer’s bargaining power is defined to the buyer’s capability to force down prices, and seek for higher-quality products and services (Porter, 1998, p. 24) cited by (Larson, 2008). The bargaining power of buyer in specialty coffee segment is considered high, since two strong competitor of Starbucks, McDonalds and Dunkin’s Donuts have offered the lower prices. However, Starbucks has introduced the several new products and high quality of coffee, highly differentiated to maintain consumers satisfied and away from competitors in the coffee market. Thus, the buyer bargaining power has offset and became moderate. The Summary of Michael Porter’s Five Factor In summary, the coffee market faces very strong forces from the industry rivals but it obtains weak forces from the threat of substitutes. Besides, the other three forces are considered as moderate. Generally, the impact of the five forces is moderate in the specialty coffee industry. Therefore, Starbucks is able to obtain the ideal revenues in the coffee market with operated effectively and efficiently. Starbucks’ Generic Strategy. There are three successful generic competitive strategies that organizations can apply to achieve their competitive strategies, included overall cost leadership, differentiation and focus, defined by Michael Porter. Overall cost leadership strategy implies an organization to apply lower overall costs to attract consumers. The differentiation generic strategy contains the creation of service and product as being valuable and unique for the industry. Focus is the last generic strategy, which aims a certain market of a product line (Porter, 1998, p. 38) cited by (Larson, 2008). However, Starbucks are suitable the broad differentiation strategy of the five generic competitive strategies nowadays. This strategy allows Starbucks to serve a broader customer base with the differentiation of product and service (Grant, 2009) cited by (Brown, 2011). This approaches to retain and attract as many consumer with the generally product mix. Starbucks had the unique skills, products and services reputation with the distribution segment of specialty coffee industry. For instance, Starbucks was developed an icy-blend of dark-roasted coffee and milk, named Frappuccino. This drink was a hit with $54 million sales in the first year on the national market. In addition, the high-quality standards and strong employee culture of Starbucks were known well in the specialty coffee industry. The high-quality coffee beans are purchased from Fair Trade Certified, considered a differentiation product to other competitors. The employees of Starbucks were also trained to have strong customer experience. In the differentiation strategies, Starbucks have strengthened the brand and reputation for quality and creative flair. Starbucks’ Strategy Options. Starbucks is able to create three strategic options for sustaining competitive advantage and further growing the business by having evaluated its forces. The three strategic options for Starbucks are that diversification, expansion and merger. 1) Diversification The diversification of a business is that introducing new products and offering new services to the industry. There are two way of diversification for business, be related or unrelated. Starbucks is suited to attempt related diversification, reflecting more association with the specialty coffee industry. Schultz believed that the company has lacked on blockbuster products, only the variations of products. Starbucks has a successful product diversification in the history with launched coffee and tea beverages, brewing and serving equipment, roasted coffee beans, music and gifts. The introduction of savory products such as cake, donut and muffin is a successful diversification as it can be combined with the existing product and core product, coffee. The diversification strategy is a good option for enhancing Starbucks’ growth and competitive advantage. 2) Expansion. The expansion of an organization can be within a country and into an overseas market. Starbucks should reduce their expansion efforts in the United States and focus to expand its business into new countries to further internationalize it. The Economist stated, â€Å"While Starbucks has expanded so have its rivals. The firm’s home market seems to have reached saturation point. † With the rapid expansion, Starbucks is oversaturated in the United States. Therefore, this strategy option is suitable for Starbucks as the United States coffee market is reaching saturation point. If Starbucks has to go further growing and expanding, the international expansion is one of the best strategies for Starbucks. 3) Merger and Acquisition According to Investopedia, it defined as â€Å"a merger is an alliance of two organizations while an acquisition is the attaining of one organization by another. † The strategy of merger and acquisition sets out to accomplish the same goal, by increased broad customer base, market share and corporate strength of business. In the history, Starbucks has merged with Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream to develop super premium ice cream and acquired a premium tea company, Tazo LLC. In the case study of Starbucks, there states that there were about 25000 coffee houses in the United States in 2007. The merger and acquisition of small specialty coffee retailers will enhances the market position, market share and competitive advantage of Starbucks. This is a strategy that will exploit opportunities whilst avoiding threats to further growing and expansion of Starbucks. Recommendations The first and most important process which Starbucks should take is to diminish the efforts expansion in the United States. According to Starbucks’ strategy Fortune, a new store will often cannibalize about 30% of the sales of a nearby Starbucks. The continuing aggressive of expansion in the United States by opening as many new stores of the same area is an act to cannibalize store sales. The reason why Starbucks should diminish their expansion plan is the coffee market has reached the saturation in the US. The overcapacity of expansion plans in a location will be met with failure to an organization. On the basis of all the evaluation and evidence referred for the strategy options, the recommendation is to further expand internationally. Starbucks can convey the remained investment into international development plans by reducing the expansion plans in United States. The expansion of international market offers a supreme target with three fundamental objectives. The first reason is the lack of awareness of coffee market in many countries which represent the prospective market share. For instance, Starbucks currently opens approximately 20,000 stores with 13,000 in the US and 7000 in foreign countries. The total coffee consumption per person in the US has lowered much than many countries, such country as Finland and Italy. With gathering the information, this proves that expand internationally, there is a massive coffee drinking population and potential market share to be selected. (Starbucks Corporation, 2008) cited by (Larson, 2008). Another reason that international expansion offers an ideal prospect is that the expansion of product innovation. For example, Starbucks has announced their Tazo tea brand into the Japanese market. And, Tazo was brought into the United States market as it was a successful trial in Japan. Tazo green tea has brought a success to Starbucks as it was a national drinks and showed that the power of brand in North America. Starbucks could have to evade the risk of brand reputation as more innovative products should run a trial in international markets. Since the markets have yet visible to Starbucks for a period time, it is possible to avoid a great risk with affecting the brand reputation. Therefore, Starbucks has great competitive advantage in the markets with expand intentionally. The last reason of international expansion is to increase the brand reputation. Building brand image is key factor to an organization as the brand will affects an organization’s sales and position in the market. For example, in case of Starbucks, the company has increased revenue from $7. 8 billion in 2006 to $9. 4 in 2007, along with an increase in brand value. In order to recover the exclusivity of Starbucks brand, Schultz would focus the expansion of international countries and slow down the expansion of the United States. Therefore, the international aggressive expansion will help to strengthen its brand image and regain a strong competitive advantage for Starbucks. In a nut shell, I am highly recommended a strategy decision to Starbucks is that expanding into international markets. International countries have represented the ideal potential market shares with the high demand of specialty coffee. By applying this strategy, Starbucks will continue to be the leader in the specialty coffee industry and further regain and strengthen its competitive advantage. Furthermore, it also gains the customer satisfaction in the international markets. International expansion is the way to move forward. Reference Balaban, S. et al. (n. d) â€Å"Management 600† Starbucks Coffee Company. http://cobweb2. louisville. edu/faculty/regbruce/bruce/cases/starbucks/starbucks. htm [Accessed on 7 April 2012]. Brown, H. (2011) â€Å"External Environmental Analysis of Starbucks and the Coffee Industry† Strategic Management MGMT 4340 http://www2. uhv. edu/chapao/MGMT4340/Samples/Project%20Sample%203. pdf [Accessed on 9 April 2012] E-Imports (2012) â€Å"Coffee Statistics† Espresso Business Solutions. http://www. e-importz. com/Support/specialty_coffee. htm [Accessed on 5 April 2012]. Gates, R. et al. (2011) â€Å"Strategy Analysis MGMT 562† http://freedownload. is/pdf/strategy-analysis-mgmt-562-2925711. html [Accessed on 6 April 2012]. Harveywallbanger. (2012) â€Å"Starbucks’ Customer Retention Strategies 89† HubPages.http://harveywallbanger. hubpages. com/hub/Starbucks-Customer-Retention-Strategies [Accessed on 6 April 2012]. Heavey, J. (2012) â€Å"Starbucks a Strategic Report†Scribd. http://www. scribd. com/doc/27614539/Starbucks-a-Strategic-Report-by-James-Heavey [Accessed on 8 April 2012]. Larson, R. (2008) â€Å"Starbucks a Strategic Analysis† Past Decisions and Future Options http://coe. brown. edu/documents/StarbucksaStrategicAnalysis_R. Larson_honors_2008. pdf [Accessed on 8 April 2012]. Location Excelerated (2012) â€Å"How many Starbucks are they? † Location Excelerated. http://loxcel. com/sbux-faq. html.

Disability Does Not Mean Inability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Disability Does Not Mean Inability - Essay Example e, disabled people may need more commitment and determination to pursue goals since they may lack certain physical or mental characteristics to perform well in this or that sphere (Wasserman & Asch, 2013). Nonetheless, they have courage and strength to go beyond any possible limits. Paralympics can be regarded as one of the brightest examples of this determination and people’s desire to prove that disability is not inability. For me, the phrase â€Å"Disability is not inability† is associated with unprecedented but inherent quality of a human being. Humans can adjust to any environment and any condition. More so, they may benefit from any condition. Disability often touches only one or a few spheres of the human life. If a person cannot hear, it does not mean that he/she cannot write beautiful stories, paint marvelous pictures, build houses, save people’s lives (being a scientist) and so on. People have a variety of opportunities to make a difference. Hence, disability puts certain limits to certain spheres only. It is also important to remember that the development of technology opens up new horizons. Thus, people whose limbs were amputated participate in sport competitions and show remarkable results. Surgeons often perform outstanding surgeries and people start hearing or seeing again. Healthcare has improved the quality of people’s lives significantly. Personally, I do not have any impairments and I can only imagine what it feels like to be different. However, I know some people who have to live with it. Notably, these people are also examples of determination and capability. Thus, Alex does not walk and is confined to a wheelchair. Nonetheless, he has never complained or drawn people’s attention to his impairment. He works for a multinational as a translator and he is highly valued in his organization. He is punctual and hard-working. What impresses me most is that Alex does sports and has a hobby. He is a great photographer and he is thinking of

Mix design report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mix design report - Essay Example The education at the high school level is a strength that can translate to economic boost since there is about 90% of the populations aged 25years and above with this basic education. This is a true since when majority of natives have basic education they are keen and understands the work they do hence quality services Another strength that the city of London enjoys is that few people (8%) leave below poverty index. There is promise that this figure could go down due to the presence of royal opera house which creates job to many young people. The figure is also smaller nationally. The poverty index used here was an index of 1.5. Another weakness is seen in marginalization and gender disparity. Although the ratio between women to men is almost 1:1, women are restricted in owning farms and occupying leadership positions. The data under London county was suppressed implying that there were confidentially with the data for public access which is a weakness The increase in population is a weakness to the government .This is because the government should put up measures to curb the ever rising rate of population. The more the population the more burdensome and budgetary constraints to the government. The priority for the government is to create more resources for development and infrastructural alignment. Comparatively, the population keeps rising from 2000 upto 2003 projection. The manufacturer’s shipment stands at about $300Million. This although still below the expected level of industrialization, it offers the opportunity for more shipments and revenue generation for the states. This is also seen as a pointer towards creation of jobs for the young people. It is also seen as an opportunity to increase the bilateral trades and ties with the regional and counterparts countries The number of retail sales also offers the opportunity for business and trade. It can be seen that the number of retails sales significantly

Nazi Deception and the Demoralization and Dehumanization of Eliezer Essay

Nazi Deception and the Demoralization and Dehumanization of Eliezer and his Fellow Prisoners - Essay Example When Elie Wiesel first reached the concentration camp in Auschwitz a sign caught his attention that said "Arbeit macht frei" which translated into â€Å"work makes you free† (Wiesel 40). There was a great deal of irony within that phrase. Like in all other concentration camps, in Auschwitz, Jews were persecuted and forced to work for the Nazi forces. The working conditions of these concentration camps were inhumane, and the death of these workers due to starvation and exhaustion were a common sight. Hard work in these concentration camps never paid off in terms of freedom. In fact, Jews in these camps were even deprived of basic needs such as food water and in some cases even shelter. The Nazis used the sign as a mode of deception, and they were well aware of the fact that providing freedom to Jews was never an option. The sign was put up to provide a fake incentive to the Jews to work harder for them. The concentration camp located in Auschwitz was well famous for the amount of work that was forced upon the Jews and the torture that was brought upon them as well. Different works were assigned to the prisoners at the concentration camp. Some were forced to dig huge craters and few of the prisoners Elie saw carrying bags of sands â€Å"Prisoners were at work. ... According to the author the idea of deception was to confuse the prisoners into ensuring that then they would not be able to trust anyone. In the book the Nazis provided the prisoners with false hope regarding their freedom. They realized that the Nazis were not planning to keep their promise about ensuring their freedom prisoner’s trust in other individuals was also shattered. This led to the prisoners losing value in relationships with friends and family and anyone close to them. Eventually, these prisoners would fall into a state where they would act in a completely non-human manner. Once in a non-human state these prisoners started attacking everyone and anyone that they felt was a threat to them or they felt possessed something that might be of value to the attacker â€Å"Dozens of inmates were there to receive us, sticks in hand, striking anywhere, anyone without reason† (Wiesel 35). In short Nazi’s deception had such a powerful affect on the prisoners that it primarily dehumanized their fundamental nature and forced them to act as animals. Night and has been compared with the likes of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, and If This is a Man by Primo Levi (Franklin). There has been a great deal of controversy regarding the content. A number of scholars believe that Wiesel’s book night may not be completely a memoir and that parts of the books may be fiction (Franklin). Nevertheless Night has been one of the best books to have been written recounting the holocaust. The book gave an account of how concentration camps did not just inflict physical torment on the Jews there but were also subjected to mental torture as well. Nazis gave prisoners within the concentration camps a false hope of freedom and gave them an incentive to work harder at these

Annexation, Land Use Change, and Landscape Impact Dissertation

Annexation, Land Use Change, and Landscape Impact - Dissertation Example Thus the main aim of the paper is study the use of land policies for the betterment of the society. The global change has serious consequences on different landscapes. With increasingly changing environment and urgent global concerns every nation and community stands at the juncture of growing and evolving, keeping in pace with the environmental change which is critical. The competing visions of the future create the dilemma in many different ways. The type of places people of a community try to inhabit and the environment they leave behind for their future generations bring forth this dilemma. The landscapes and the nature are the factors that sustain the living of the human generation and also the life cycle of other species on the planet. The ideal future for the planet will be one in which the consumption and the use of land are done sparingly and where people cherish the landscapes. The future of the towns and the cities are expected to be vibrant as well as compact along with being green. The economic bases of the society are also expected to be restorative both environmenta lly and socially along with being viable. The ultimate vision of these theories is to result in the creation of an environment by the human community containing enduring values. People should ultimately be proud of the landscape and the environment they are about to leave for the next generations (Beatley & Manning, 1997, pp. 1-2). Carl Sauer, a born geographer was considered to be the grandfather of the theories of landscapes. He was the profounder of what can be called the ethics of land. According to the profounder it is the responsibility of human community to focus on the sustainability of the world environment and the earth for the well being of both the present as well as that of the future generations. An aesthetic rationale for the environmental progress has been given by Carl Sauer.

Online Dating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Online Dating - Essay Example Some people have found themselves involved in online dating, regardless of the seriousness of their involvement. Recent research has shown that more men are involved in online dating than women and various reasons have been found to be the cause. To begin with, men are naturally attracted to the physical appearance of the person who they are involved with. As a result, they may find themselves in a relationship without having thought of the consequences of their actions. This increases the possibility of someone being involved in multiple relationships without any serious inclination to the people involved (Barlow 2009, p. 61). To a woman including me, dating is perceived to be something that is very sensitive and doing it online is perceived to be a sign of desperation. I think that dating online is a show of how desperate someone is, and as a result, ladies keep off the online dating even if they are desperate in reality. This limits the number of women involved in online dating. As compared to other places such as a bar, I find it to be a more convenient way of finding a boyfriend so long as both parties share similar objectives and interests. On the other hand, research carried out by Cornell University has shown that most women believe that those who date online do that only for fun. I personally find online dating impossible and perceive it as a lie and do not believe that anyone can really find true love through the internet. Ladies have difficulty in trusting someone they have never met due to the distance and the fact that most of the information about the person is usually read on a profile. According to the research, it is perceived that meeting someone physically makes it much easier to create a bond and now the person than communicating through a text and email. It is also believed that most of the men met online are extraordinarily evil or immoral and thus may be

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Try to apply keneth waltz's three images to the orgins of the Article

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Mitt Romney Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mitt Romney - Essay Example Abortion and gay marriage are two of the most important moral issues in the American society which makes Mitt Romney controversial. It should be noted that his positions on aforementioned issues has been constantly challenged and has remained unstable up to this date. Romney has always advocated equality and non-discrimination thereby protecting the rights of homosexuals in the society. During the 1994 campaign, he won the support of Log Cabin Club which supports the benefits for gay couples. However, Romney takes a conservative view by strongly opposing same-sex marriage. He stresses that, "Like me, the great majority of Americans wish both to preserve the traditional definition of marriage and to oppose bias and intolerance directed toward gays and lesbians" (Gallagher 5). In his statements, his main reason for this opposition is the fact that marriage is not for adult benefits but for the nurturing and development of children. He argues that a home with a male father and a female mother is the best setting to raise a family. Though he generally communicates his disfavor for same-sex marriage, there are also times when he softens his tone on the issue recognizing the need to respect the modern families that come in many forms (Greenberger 1). Currently, Mitt Romney refers to himself as a p

Assess the view that factors and processes within the school Essay Example for Free

Assess the view that factors and processes within the school Essay Many sociologists argue that â€Å"factors and processes within school are the main cause of difference† These factors include gender, class and ethnicity. All of these things can lead to certain stereotypes and labels being forced upon pupils. The idea that Teachers have certain expectations of different social and ethnic groups means that self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to pupils living out positive and negative labels. The role of gender in educational achievement is that in past times it has been that boys have achieved less than girls in school, this could be that boys have a history of ‘laddish’ behaviour and have had a negative attitude to learning. This had also led to teachers expectations of ‘lads’ to be low which has caused negative stereotypes and labels. All of these things have in turn caused many anti-school subcultures. Jackson did a study about how this ‘laddish’ behaviour is now being seen in some girls which could in fact mean that it is not only boys that have these negative labels but also girls. Another factor that may influence the achievement of girls is that girls now have a lot of higher role models and more opportunities in the future; this can lead to them working harder because they can see themselves being successful in the future. Another In-school factor would be ethnicity, different ethnic groups achieve better than others in education, for example the highest achieving ethnic group is British Chinese and the lowest would be black African Caribbean boys. The reasons for these differences in achievement could be linked to family morals and attitudes to school. Teachers also have expectations of different ethnic groups which again, like gender can lead to positive and negative labels and stereotypes. The curriculum in schools could also lead to this due to it being ethnocentric. Differences in class an play a crucial role in the achievement between different classes, for example working class children do not have as much cultural capital as middle class children and this can play a vital part in how they achieve at school, due to teachers expectations of how they behave and achieve. The idea of the hidden curriculum means that schools are preparing students for middle class jobs with middle class ideas. Also the idea that middle class teachers get on better with idle class students also reinforces the idea of teacher’s expectations which can lead to self-fulfilling prophecy and students either over or under achieving. One more in-school factor would be pupil subcultures and how streaming and setting can lead to both anti and pro school subcultures, This again links to the idea of self-fulfilling prophecy and that students may either reject their labels or follow them. The organisation of the school can also be closely linked to class and how students may be put into lower streams or sets due to their social background and how teachers perceive them. Home backgrounds of students also contribute to a large part of their achievement. The differences in class can lead to many home disadvantages such as material deprivation which means that students do not have enough money for resources such as private tutors, laptops, trips or uniforms; this will give them a disadvantage compared to middle class students. Working class students may also have other responsibilities to attend to such as looking after siblings or even disabled parents; this means that they do not have as much time to spend on studying. Parent’s attitudes towards school and education can also prove to be an impact, if a parent has a negative attitude to school and learning then the child will not have as much pressure or ambition to do as well. This idea of parent expectations links closely with ethnicity and how different ethnic groups view educarion. In conclusion there are many in school processes that can influence the achievement of children such as gender and how girls and boys are perceived and what teachers expect of them. Another would be Class and how working and middle class students achieve differently due to aspects of school life like the hidden curriculum. Also ethnicity and the expectations and ideas about certain groups like the British Chinese. There are also a lot of out of school factors such as home background, material deprivation and parents’ expectations. Overall I believe that the both in school factors and out of school factors contribute to the differences in educational achievement of different social groups.

The Knot Essay Example for Free

The Knot Essay According to Sahlman, the success of entrepreneurial ventures, such as The Knot, is dependent on four critical success factors, namely the people, the opportunity, the deal and the context. Each of these factors is dynamic and the entrepreneur must constantly reevaluate and adjust the four factors to create value. People The category people include the key players of the entrepreneurial venture. Within this category, the strengths and weaknesses and the experience of the people involved is critical. The entrepreneur has to determine if something is missing in the team, thus if people should be added or replaced. The Knot’s management team consists of four ex New York University’s Film School students. All of them are experienced entrepreneurs. First, Liu and Roney are co-founders of the CD-ROM development company RunTime Inc. Pervious, Liu was an experienced manager and Roney spent six years as creative director and editor. Second, Wolfson and Fassino are founders of the Digital Media Division for Margeotes Fertitta + Partners. Before, Wolfson was founder of a creative production company and Fassino has experience in the advertising industry. The two different companies successfully collaborated at the Sotheby’s project. The four partners emphasize the potential of their collective experience and know-how, including management, advertising, the creative industry and production. They found Element Studios in 1995 to capitalize their abilities. After the acquisition of Bridal Search, Russ and Becky Casenhiser were added to the management team. Both of them were successful entrepreneurs as well. Russ developed the industry’s largest, searchable database and Becky procured and maintained relationships with all the manufacturers. Especially their experience in retail was valuable when the business model developed further. After all, the team of The Knot consists of capable people with experience in multiple disciplines who complement each other. However, when entering the gift registry business, in which inventory management and delivery arrangements would be crucial, there is a need for people with experience in logistics. Experienced people could be recruited as employees or entrepreneurs in this industry could be added to the management team. The opportunity The characteristics of the opportunity are critical for the success of the venture as well as for the way the entrepreneur should respond to a certain opportunity. Characteristics of the opportunity include the nature and the possibility to replicate by competitors. The task of the entrepreneur is to determine if the opportunity should be exploited immediately and to set eventually milestones to assess the success of the project. Element was founded with the aim to realize a successful media business, however, there was no focus on a certain opportunity before the company was founded. The management team started looking for an opportunity and was attracted by the high advertising revenue in the wedding industry. They found an opportunity in the lack of a fresh competitor and the possibility to differentiate by building an online business foundation. Besides the possibility to differentiate, the online business foundation required a lower investment. Thus, the initial business model consisted of creating an online medium that attracts visitors and generates advertising revenue. The Knot’s team formulated their initial goals as ‘becoming a full-service online wedding resource and a recognizable brand in the industry’. The initial investment is relatively low compared to the potential revenue with an advertising market of $168 million and a limited number of competitors. Since the idea is easy to copy by potential competitors, it was important to exploit the idea immediately to gain first mover advantage. The initial business model was complemented in stages. With the launch of The Knot’s own web site in May 1997, they entered the retail market via The Knot Gift Shop. Their first venture in retail started with the sale of cameras, but other products were quickly added. In June 2007, after the acquisition of Bridal Search, The Knot could offer the only comprehensive online database of wedding dresses to its customers. As a result, advertising revenue increased. After successful development of The Knot’s current business activities, Liu focused on the bridal registry business. This business has enormous potential since it represents half of all wedding-related revenue. The process of the development of a comprehensive list of gifts by soon-to-be-weds that had to be purchased by wedding guests was ready for an online solution. Moreover, characteristics of the registry business encompassed the opportunity to efficiently organize delivery arrangements with manufacturers. In turn, this would allow The Knot to maintain more control over its brand, pricing and merchandising. Since the listing of products and services did not require inventory to be held, this would enable effective management of The Knot’s balance sheet. Although the model for gift registry is already in a later stage of development, it is important to exploit immediately since competitors have had capital investments already. Deals The opportunity has to be structured by different deals. These deals include considerations such as incentives and contingencies and the choice between financing instruments and financers. The entrepreneur should aim to motivate all players according to their input and create stakeholders that increase the probability of success. By joining the Greenhouse program of American Online (AOL), The Knot aimed to garner a substantial proportion of the online wedding consumer market. Besides initial investments, AOL could be seen as a strategic partner with a developing online consumer base. AOL invested in return for warrants up to 45% of The Knot’s equity, 20% of the revenue from advertising on the AOL property and a percentage of advertising revenue from The Knot’s own web site. In addition, Bridal Search was acquired for 10. 000 shares of common stock, while they had the opportunity to earn up to an additional 32. 857 shares. This potential bonus could be referred to as an extra motivation to perform. The context Contextual issues can change the nature of the opportunity. Issues include current and potential competitors, the government and economic conditions and trends. The entrepreneur should attempt to forecast contextual movements and benefit from these changes. The competitive context of The Knot before the exploitation of the opportunity was characterized by three magazines, with an average of 40 years of experience in the industry and strong relationships with advertiser. There was a change that the deeply entrenched magazines would renounce moving to the internet since they feared cannibalization of their existing businesses. This changed the nature of the opportunity in a way that it was an extra motivation to launch an online business. The Knot’s performance To reach their goals, The Knot put effort to optimize their services and build brand awareness. First, the provision of value-added services to users, such as information about travelling, wedding planning and fashion, resulted in development of a strong user community. Further, from the early beginning, The Knot targeted potential partners to build awareness of the brand, resulting in The Knot’s Registry Partner Program with nationwide key players. The first offline brand building effort was implemented in August 2007 by signing a three-book deal with Bantam Doubleday. In addition, they agreed to co-produce a television program entitled Wedding for the Real World to promote online services and books. The usefulness of performance metrics significantly differs for startups in comparison with established companies. Although startups are diverse, they share some common characteristics that affect the use of financial metrics. To illustrate, revenues are small or non-existing and the establishment of a business generally result in significant operating losses. Therefore, financial metrics such as the income statement, balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows provide little usable information. However, the information in these financial metrics regarding predicted years could be used to calculated performance measures, such as return on investment (ROI) and return on assets (ROA). Instead, to gauge the performance of a startup company like The Knot’s, other financial and non-financial metrics are used. First, it is important to measure the ability of the company to generate revenue at an early stage. The Knot managed to generate significant revenue at an early stage. After their initial appearance on AOL, The Knot generated over $ 25. 000 of advertising revenue. Later, after the acquisition of Bridal Search, three deals representing $ 750. 000 in advertising revenue were signed. Second, the period that a company can survive without raising additional capital is an useful measure for startups. The ‘burn rate’ is referred to as the money spend by a company each month. The number of months that a company has to raise additional capital is calculated by dividing the amount of cash reserves by the burn rate. Since The Knot only has enough money to coffer its operation for three months by November 1997, the need to raise capital is very urgent. This can be explained by their initial focus on gaining market share instead of becoming profitable. This strategy is particularly common for ‘dot-com’ companies. Besides financial metrics, non-financial metrics are important to measure the performance of startups. Non-financial metrics for e-commerce companies include for instance retained customers. However, for the wedding industry, this metrics are not applicable since customers are not expected to return after their first number of product and service purchases. Other measures that are applicable to The Knot are web metrics such as total page views and total unique visitors. Concerning this measures, The Knot performed above expectance with an increase in unique visitors of their AOL page from 65. 000 to 260. 000 in seven months. In addition, after launching their own Web site, they realized 2. 7 million page views. To conclude, The Knot has managed to gain attention at an early stage from potential customers, this resulted in advertising income. The company has a relatively high burn rate as compared with their current liabilities; this leads to an urgent need for additional capital investors since they can coffer their operating expenses for just three months. The need for additional funding As predicted by the life-cycle of a VC fund, which predicts focus on investment in the first four to five years, The Knot needs further funding in their current phase. First, there is a need for cash to invest in the development of The Knot brand and build out the technological infrastructure to capitalize Knot’s current momentum in the race for scale economies. On a more practical level, capital is needed to fund the payroll and pay for day-to-day operating expenses. Second, The Knot needs funding to develop the gift registry business. The need for quick funding rose due to developments on the competitive front. The Knot’s current business activities were targeted by competition form online businesses that had recently launched web sites. Furthermore, Internet Gift Registries, which would be a competitor of The Knot after entering the gift registry business, had recently received funding from a private investor. Financial advisors agreed that The Knot is an attractive investment and recommended The Knot’s management team to raise as much capital as possible. After all, the management team and its financial advisors agreed that The Knot would seek $10 million in exchange for Series B Convertible Preferred Stock. This proceeds will be used to develop its registry service and to accelerate marketing and promotion of its online services. Valuation of the company In order to give a fair estimate of the value of The Knot, a combination of both the NPV method and the Market approach method is used. The use of the NPV method is possible because this is not a completely new company and it has a track record to evaluate. Also, in the business plan The Knot presented, they give extensive predictions for future performance and cash flows. The NPV method alone would not be enough since these numbers are still only a prediction. Even though these predictions were made by an external company, helping to make them more reliable and independent than when The Knot had made them, they are still not hard numbers. Combining the results of the NPV with a comprehensive Market analysis, in which both market potential will be measured and comparable companies, the multiples, will be analyzed, will give an accurate estimate of the value of The Knot. Using only the market approach would also not suffice since the relatively new nature of the business (registry online) makes it hard to find other companies to effectively compare with The Knot. The asset valuation approach is not used because, given the nature of internet companies, there would be little tangible assets to value. Since intangible assets are a lot harder to value this would not give an accurate value for The Knot (2). The multiplication method is not used because The Knot is currently still not at break-even, which makes it near impossible to calculate. Also, since the prediction show a very sharp estimated increase in revenues after the capital injection, the multiplication method could be very far off the true value of the firm and ergo not be a reliable method to determine the value (2). To conclude, the average between the NPV method and the market approach will give the most reliable value estimate for The Knot. Potential investors The Knot is looking for an investment of $10 million to develop brand image and develop their registry business. However, the urgent need for investment due to the forecasted ‘fume’ in January 1998 needs to be taken into account. This leads to disqualification of the strategic partnership option because The Knot would be in a very week place at the negotiation table because of time pressure. Besides this, a partner for a new business venture would probably not be hard to find, but finding a partner who is willing to pay for the operational cost for the other activities of The Knot as well, would seem much more unlikely. Finally, forming partnership takes time and time is something The Knot does not have. Choosing between angel investors and VC’s comes down to the nature of these investment entities. Angel investors are usually less risk averse but they tend to focus on invest in new start-ups and their investments are relatively lower compared to a VC (1). A VC usually invests in a later point of the start up and invests larger sums of money (1). Looking at these characteristics of both these entities, it seems clear that going for a VC would be the best option. If the valuation of The Knot comes out favorably, it would cover the more risk averse nature of the VC and justify a sizable investment of 10 million. There are drawbacks of using a VC, namely they most likely will want to exercise a lot of control over The Knot’s business, more so than angel investors. However, engagement of the VC can have a positive affect on the development of capabilities as well. Looking at the time constraints and the amount of needed cash this seems unavoidable. Therefore, capital investment by a VC would be the best option to meet the needs on The Knot.

The Definition And Explanation Of Branding Marketing Essay

The Definition And Explanation Of Branding Marketing Essay This essay is about how graphics is able to change the consumers perception about a brands identity. This document summarises how the graphics of the brand is able to create an identity for the brand. The shift from simple products to brands has not been sudden or inevitable. You could argue that it grew out of the standardisation of quality products for consumers in the middle of the 20th century, which required companies to find new ways to differentiate themselves from the competitors. This type of standardisation forced companies to find new ways of distinguishing themselves. Brands such as Chanel have built a contract between the company and the consumer; in fact, the consumer has now become the judge. If the consumer feels that the brand is not for them, they will immediately chose to end the contract with the brand. 1.2 Aim To understand how brands use graphics to entice the consumer. What graphical elements are used to bring in the consumer to the brand? The brands graphics is more than just a logo, or the price of a product, service or organisation, it is also the packaging, the promotions and the advertising, all of which is guided by precisely worded positioning. In advertising, reason informs, but emotion persuades (2011). 1.3 Objectives To identify what branding is perceived as To research the different perspectives of designers, artists and writers in branding To research and understand the graphics in Chanel and Primark To reflect on Primark and Chanel graphics branding and the consumers perceptions 2. Introduction This Chapter was based on the initial research about branding in order to understand what branding does, how it is perceived and understood, thus helping to better understand the basic need of branding and how this is then incorporated into the graphical element of branding. 2.1 The definition and explanation of branding A brand is a persons gut feeling about a product, service or organization. Riston (2004:21) suggested that a brand is not just a logo, an identity or a service. The product is not of existence until the consumer gives it a place in their world of products around him or her. A brands success counts on the individual, not on companies, markets or the public. When the word success is used, it refers to how much the brand is valued by its consumers. What is a gut feeling? Because people are emotional beings, to understand an emotion a person has to feel the emotion, therefore the emotion dictates the gut feeling. In a positive case, a person will feel an emotional bond in their mind. Kotler and Keller (2006:275) assert the importance of understanding how we consumers perceive the brand and what impact a brand identity has on consumer perceptions. One could argue that these ideas relate to brand image, which refer to a brands subjective or perceived attributes. A consumers perception of a brand is vital on how the brand is generally perceived. The image of the brand however is not judged by the product, service or organisation. An experience is the meaning the brand has. Think of the brand as the core meaning of the modern corporation, and of the advertisement as one vehicle used to convey that meaning to the world. (Klein: 2010:5) Naomi Klein refers to the theory of branding as a meaning she says that a brand is a meaning. Klein (2010:6) states that ads where put in place to manipulate the buyer/user to thinking that their lives will be incomplete without their product, service or organization. She says we buy brands, not products. For example, mobiles instead of mail, television instead of the radio, light bulbs instead of oil lamps and so on. Being innovative is not enough; you need a strong advertising method to accomplish a successful brand. Advertisements need to be strong enough to create a bond with the public. Advertising becomes the bridge between the public and the product. Advertising plays a very big part in how the consumer visualises the brand. 2.2 The graphics in branding Why isnt a brand just product? Because a product is made in the factory and a brand is a meaning, made in the mind of a human being, this is why when we combine the product and the brand we are able visualise a sense of emotion but communicate the idea through the media of graphic design (Gavin Ambrose: 5:2006) Ken smith, Sandra Moriarty, Gretchen Barbatsis and Keith Kenney attempt to identify and describe the field of visual communication (2005:10). One of the most important pieces of the visual communication puzzle is aesthetics. The nature and beauty of aesthetics are a language in itself, they question how it is so meaningful to the human eye is mystery. It is suggested that, because of the nonverbal nature of aesthetics, what can be written is only speculation about the nature of visual aesthetics and cannot therefore be of visual aesthetics itself. Malcolm Barnard also questions whether this type of communication can classed as nonverbal (2002:29). Barnard states that the importance of the transmission process, if the messenger does not receive the message that it was trying to portray, then a part of the communication process may have failed in either its medium, or delivery method. The aesthetics of graphics maybe seen as a voice of its own, graphics plays an important role in a bra nds identity. Kevin Budelmann, Yang Kim, Curt Wozniak (2010:7) discuss how a brand is made up of different elements. It is just not the logo the makes the brand. The brand is built from the colour of the envelope the companies distribute to the song that plays whilst customers wait on the telephone. Gavin Ambrose, Paul Harris (2010:10) has raised- you need to get someone to check the grammar and spelling awareness of how the packaging of a brand is important. For many brands the first interaction a consumer has with a brand is the package. Paul Harris (2010: 10) talks about how the feel of the brand gives to the consumer is a secondary interaction. The primary interaction is visual interaction and is the first connection a consumer has with the brand. What does this mean and who said it? Does it need a reference? One may argue that packaging is not only a part of the brand but it is a part of the overall graphic communication. The brain recognises shapes first then colour which helps trigger emotion. Although its easily said, the requirement of the right colour is necessary. Why? Because being selective helps build awareness and expresses individuality. Line, colour, tone, text and layout are what visual communication is all about. We need this method to distinguish a personality of style. Without it we are black and white. Colours represent a mood. In 1923 Kandinsky proposed that there was a universal relationship between three basic shapes and the three primary colours (shown below in figure 1). He believed that the colour yellow and the shape of the triangle to be the most dynamic and active through to the passive cold blue circle. (Gavin Ambrose: 2006:15) Even though the human has not discovered all the colours possible we are able to relate a colour to an emotion, brand or company. Just as a country has a flag to represent its self, we are only able to understand which country it belongs to by the colour or the logo. Red and white is common them present in many of the top brands around the world. When the grocer first went on sale in January 1862 (2012), there was no Coca-Cola. There was no Cadbury, no Heinz, and No Hovis. Many of the brands we know today, love or hate them, use them daily without thought or pointedly avoid, were not. Coca-Cola is one of the biggest world providers. They have the most successful branded value in the global branding industry. Consider for instance a can of coke-a-cola: means are to hold the liquid. Whereas coca cola (brand) holds a set of values related to the product. If separate, the brand from the package you are left with a mental container, a set of fonts, colour and graphics. These together crea te a brand thus giving the brand value. (Gavin Ambrose, Paul Harris: 2010:14) Advertisers Chris Creative Legacy Agency (CLA) believes the core essences for branding is the brand recognition. Without in-depth branding, your company gets no direction, what matters is how you get the customer engage. He believes that the brand needs to build a curiosity and an experience. Connecting the consumer with an experience is what builds the brands recognition. Brand does not have a real definition. The importance of having a brand is delivering the core message. Using different market material and communication and the way you present yourself will help bring the foundation of a structured brand. people are also rational beings why dont you mention branding as a rational solution to a problem? branding as a solution to the problem of how we give meaning to products and companies? (EXPAND) 2.3 Brand identity Rita Clifton (2009: 34) peruses the ideology of brand measurement by power. Brand valuation is an attempt to attribute part of the total value of a firm brand. Nevertheless, brand equity- Especially for brands like Microsoft or Google as opposed to a product, such as Chanel or Primark is like a reputation (it cannot be brought or sold). A brand identity builds and creates awareness for a business. When an individual has trust in a brand they help the buyer to create strong loyalties, dedication and meaningful relations. A brands value is dependent on reliability and delightfulness the brand is able to deliver. This sort of status cannot be sold, where as a trademark can be sold. The importance of economic value is also a perspective that some may argue has an impact of how a brand is perceived by the consumer. Rita Clifton (2009:17) talks how there are far more interest in the brands recognition than there was ten years ago. But there is still an ignorance and misunderstanding of ma ny of the issues. Without the value the brand will not be successful. Jan Lindeman in chapter three of the book brands in branding, talks about how the market value has quadrupled from less than twenty-per cent in 1975 to eighty per cent in 2005. Marty (2006:8) agrees that our society has moved from mass production to an economy of mass customization. Our purchasing choice has multiplied. Another example is Cadburys chocolate, without its branding logo, colour it is just a chocolate bar. The foiled packaging alone would keep the chocolate bar fresh but would result in half of the branded value that Cadburys chocolate has with its packaging Similarly Marty explains how on one side of the business you have your analytic, linear, logical thinking. On the other side the creative thinkers who like to see things emotionally that are intuitive. Marty (2006:20) puts his view on how the best brands are created when a strategic side and supported by the creative. When people start to believe there is no substitute for a brand that is when you know the brand is desirable. On the other had when you compare a product, service or organisation to another you understand that the product, organisation or service you have brought into, can be substituted by another brand. Charismatic brands such as Chanel have successfully created trust and social statuses within peoples minds. The meaning is constructed and communicated by the designer and communicated through the clothing to then conduct the message to the consumers. Likewise another brand which has also created a meaning in their consumers beliefs is the brand Primark. Apple has been able to use the power of fashion and trend to their advantage. Bill Halal (2011) explains how Steve Jobs is a genius at minimalist designs that integrate technology breakthroughs to fill a newly emerging need with unusual style. He thinks success requires listening to the technology in order to discover the potential products waiting to be invented. Any brand can be charismatic but you have to be different to the rest of the competition out there. Otherwise your brain will just filter though, and your brand will become just another brand. In an article written by Mathew Jones (2007) the scientific researcher, writes about explains that all behavioural episodes occur in a distinct spatial context: where we are, has a profound effect on what we do, particularly if we associate the place with a specific event or stimulus. Our brains function so we can spot the difference but also spot the obvious. Through the lifespans of humans, we have gone to many stages of discovering , featuring, experiencing and now identifying what is different. 3. The market Perry Marashal (2006:1) Google can bring thousands of visitors to your website twenty-four hours a day, 7 days a week, or the entire year. Whether eating breakfast, on the go, taking a phone call or daydreaming. The market is now all about creating tribes. People join different tribes for different activities; this helps them to be accepted in a particular social group. These particular groups have been created to separate personalities. A person who likes to read may always turn to amazon. A person who buys electronics may always turn to apple. To be different you have to be focused and create a vivid image aimed at your target audience. The questions a brand must ask of it are: who or what it is and why it is the way it is. So Chanel we all know is a fashion brand that is a successful brand because of the unique user experience it provides. It has become loyal to customers through time. A brand is more successful when it is able to think long term and retain its focus in the brand not the amount of profit. Listening to the brand is important not to the market. Short term profit is not what creates a brands value. The value grows when long term focus is in place. A basic brand model either is the company selling many items, or a company selling to companies to max publicity. A brand is like architecture. It requires logic and beauty to be the best of the best. Nor can a brand be valued if it does not have networks!?!!!?!?!?!?!?! (WHAT DOES THAT MEAN)(reference) Creativity is what gives a brand its power in the market (reference). Companies find it difficult to manage both the strategy and the creativity. You need a balance of both tools to build a strong brand. The reason why companies like Selfridges are valued is that they did not do what every other company does. They created a unique customer experience. Remember the customer is always right! Kotler and Keller (2006:275) say that although competitors may easily duplicate the manufacturing processes and product defines, they cannot match creativity and innovation. Innovation is key to omnipresent the point of view that is dynamic and fantastic. We need innovation in creating the identity of a brand. Without innovation we are like a car with no petrol. We do not move forward and people become bored of the repetitiveness of the usual cycle. Just like in life we need a change day to day otherwise our emotions are tied to being drain and depressed. You have to treat a brand like a human, you need to nurture it until is able to stand up on its two feet. The initial beginning of creating a brands identity is by its logo giving the brand name. The name requires being memorable, protective and likeable. Not forgetting the spelling and pronunciation to be easy. In the market industry, the phrase brand equity is to describe the value of having a well-known brand name. The idea is based on that the owner of a well-established brand name can generate more profit from products with their brand name than from products from a less well-known name. You may also call brand equity as brand value or brand recognition. (Aker: 1991). A great name deserves great graphics. A clear understanding of the key terms used in graphic design will help to articulate and formalise your ideas and ensure accuracy in the transfer of those ideas to others. (Paul Harris, Gavin Ambrose: 2006:7). Graphic design is a discipline that continues to evolve. Ambrose shows how technology has affected communications in the past and how it continues to do so. (Paul Harris, Gavin Ambrose: 2006:274) Coupled with this is the ever-changing taste and preference of society. Which in the 20th century, gives arise to how information should be presented. In many schools and universities across the board, this has become a disciplinary act. So what comes next? Behind shape and colour, the brain takes time to process language. You need a strategy to survive in the big wide world of brands. A logo is able to work across many languages and cultures. It is socially powerful enough to stand alone. We now use the gender to process the message and communicate it but then to pass it on to the gender again, before we would use the gender to pass on the message for other people to receive it We as people need to able to communicate ideas effectively and this is where many businesses fail to be valued. This tends to happen because they manipulate the public into something they are not. It is like receiving your goods and the service or product does not reach its expectations and is obvious. It isnt a sin to manipulate the public but if it isnt done using the right method it will become unsuccessful. We need to be able utilise a successful strategically method to become successful. Packaging is the last chance to build your brand. Make it fun! Why do we use packaging in so many different and odd ways? Many of the companies these days use a varied range of eco-friendly materials and methods to show that they are re-cycling back into the community. They use this as a unique selling point, which also helps the companys costs, sales and advertising. Although this method has been rinsed out we have now created the idea of customer involvement. The Niche market is now able to take the lime light from the big brands to use it as a unique selling point for maximising brand value not profit. Brands that use this strategy will benefit from sales and emotional bonds resulting in a higher value which would mean a more successful, trusted brand. According to Alina weeler (2012), we continue to invest in our core strengths. First, we dont skim on understanding the consumer. Second is innovationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ And third is brandingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Were delivering more messages to our consumers WHAT A POOR PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alina Wheeler (2012:6) http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zFc7Vs9QyC4/TzUsU2Z6XjI/AAAAAAAAaUE/B62UEI-wKFI/s320/coco-chanel1.jpg 4. IntroductionConceptCHANELChanel spring/summer 2013Karl Lagerfeld V Magazine, 2002 Chanel and Primark are two strong brands on opposite sides of the economic market trade. Primark is Cheap and cheerful as one would say whereas Chanel is luxurious and expensive. The aim of this research is to understand how the graphics adds to the brands identity. This chapter studies Chanels history and current brand identity. The reason why this chapter will investigate the historical and current brands identity is to understand why Chanels possible reasons of brand value and its consumers perceptions. 4.1 Chanel Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. (Coco Chanel: 2010). Chanel has a strong influence on its target audience. Chanel did not design well for women because she was a woman. She invented how modern women should dress because she epitomised the independent rule breaking women. Caroline Rennolds Milbank (2005:27) suggests that Coco Chanels clothing range was basic. These inspirational quotes give Chanels brand an identity and meaning. According to Ritson (2004:21), a perception is subjective, supported by the individual consumers values, needs, beliefs or experiences. Laforet S (2010:213) views the role of brands in building corporate reputation, over time through advertising and communication. Gabrielle Coco Bonheur Chanel (August 19, 1883 January 10, 1971) was a French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand. She was the only fashion designer to appear on Time magazines list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Chanel had a desire to rise above her common origins. Her talent and dedication unveiled her to a successful business and social prominence. Her professional life gave her a platform for the social class society. (2011:45) According to Forbes, the house of Chanel is partly in ownership with Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer (grandsons of the early partner Pieerre Wertheimer (Forbes: 2011) reference) Chanel designs S.A.S designs, manufactures and retail fashion. (reference) 4.2 Target audience Chanel has always specialised in items such as simple suits, dresses, womens pants and costume jewellery too. Coco Chanels designs and creations are timeless. (Publication march 4/2011). Chanel represents women who want to be stylish, simple and elegant. Teo jia En views Chanels brand as a very strong brand (2010:7) 4.3 Micro analysis Strength Strong brand image: The story of Coco Chanel, who famously said fashion passes, style remains: Conveys a very strong message of Chanels timeless elegance. Cult Designer Karl Lagerfeld he has known to change nothing but everything for Chanel Beauty is in the detail Chanel is famous for its tweed material, detailed chain, and embroidery 4.4 Macro analysis Technology Macala Wright explains that all luxury brands have challenges with creating a connected consumer experience, especially in the automotive sector. Imhoff advises that, in addition to a companys main web presence on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, they must also participate in forums where consumers have built communities celebrating their passion for the companys products. We always participate in an authentic and transparent manner building a solid connection between our consumers and our brand shared Imhoff. (2012) Social The consumer believes the value of the one who is wearing Chanel bag has a higher value than the one who is not wearing such a brand. The consumer feels the brand equity increases their social value Political Piracy of this bag has decreased the amount of sales Chanel could potentially have. The New York times makes a point that fake bags can function as free advertising for the real thing. I believe that people who buy fake designer handbags may decide to buy the real thing when their income increases. 4.5 Market position Chanels financial expert estimates that Chanel had a third of of Frances fashion and luxury goods sector in 2008 with an estimated value of $10.3 billion. The luxury leader Karl Lagerfeld is an inspirational creative director for Chanel. He himself has created a very strong brand image for Chanel. At the 2010 International Herald Tribune Luxury conference in London (2010), Imran Amed interviews Karl Largerfield. Karl Lagerfeld says Chanels market reputation is judged by the consumers perception not by the market. To him market value does not matter. He is a true believer of consumers perceptions as top priority, you need to be connected to be informed. Kotler and Keller (2006:174) explain that successful brand identity strategies require that organisation fully connect with their consumers. In relation to that Belch and Belch (2004:113) expand on the point of how consumers use information from other sources can be just as important in creating a brand identity strategy. 4.6 Chanels competitors/analysis Louis Vuitton established sine 1854 is one of the main fashion brands of 2012, alongside Gucci who manges over 425 stores over the whole world are strong competitors for Chanel. According to Brandz valuation 2010 Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes have managed to take place of the top three brands, Chanel coming in fourth. These top three brands specialise in leather, whereas Chanel does not. Chanel dropped sales by 13 percent, whilst the other top three leading enjoyed the lime light. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BRANDING?! IS IT RELEVANT? http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/image-library/land/500/p/primark-logo.jpg 5. Introduction http://www.primark.co.uk/multimedia/homepage/home-page-spring-2013/spring2013_webpage_jpegs_uk8.jpg?w=492http://www.catwalkqueen.tv/assets_c/2009/01/Primark%20Spring%20Summer%202009%201-thumb-480748-127835.jpg This chapter looks at how Primark use graphics to enhance their brands identity and the historical origins of Primark. This will add an additional and alternative perspective to what the consumers perceive to be a brands identity. 5.1 Primark Primark is an Irish clothing retailer, operating in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Primark is part of Associated British Foods (ABF), a diversified International food WHAT IS THIS!? Primark sells clothes at the budget end of the market. The company sources cheaply, using simple designs and fabrics in the most popular sizes and buys stock in bulk. All of the companys merchandise is made specifically for the company and as such Primark has its own brand names. Within both menswear and ladies wear there is one main brand name that supplies most of the fashion labels, which are added to by other suppliers. Primark Stores Ltd, an Irish upstart and subsidiary of Associated British Foods, is second largest clothing retailer in terms of sales and revenue with its existence mainly in Ireland, UK, Spain and expanding further in the Europe. It is believable that soon it will become leading clothing retailer. As this budget, chain grows further out into other parts of the world. It is performing just as well here in Europe. The Manchester Evening News (2012) states that Primark has continued to resist Europes economic woes after an exceptional year in which it racked up  £3.5bn in sales and created 10,000 new jobs. 5.2 Strategic marketing analysis Using different analysis tools reveal that Primark is expanding globally and increasing its presence in the global market; Primark has adopted an approach of Think globally, Act locally as stated by Armstrong, (2006). Primark are expanding globally, but cater needs of the local consumers as well as the current fashion trends in their particular westernized local culture. Primark supports UKs global role by showcasing the best of British fashion to a global customers as well as it reflects how it builds social cohesion and business ethics between customers and its suppliers. Considering Primark has spent next to nothing on their advertising, this statement also maybe support Van den Heever (2000:11), He believes that a brand is not a name, logo, sign, symbol, advertisement or spokesperson. A brand is everything that an organisation wants people, obviously its target market being one of the main aspects, to understand, communicate a meaning about its product and services. 5.3 Target audience Primark have clear understanding demands of their customers. Primarks market segment is the fashion conscious people under-35s with the slogan Look good, pay less. Primark has chosen cost leadership strategy; it means that Primark has a cost privilege over competitors. 5.4 Micro Analysis Cheap price clothing, Primark is known for its cheap prices, The independent News( 2012), states that Primarks retail gross margins rose by 300 basis points. Total retail sales rose by 46 per cent to  £146.5m. Nick Robertson (2012), chief executive, said: It is challenged in the UK. But fortunately we sell to 20-somethings all over the world. Primark can choose competitive prices and produce quality clothing. So right price for the right product will increase the customers satisfaction Primark is on a larger scale than a lot of retailers, and employ over 20,000 employees they have become a part of a lot of peoples lives, they create a connection with their consumers by mass employment 5.6 Macro Analysis Political factors Primarks business polices are subject to government in order to sustain the smooth running of its business Economical, the company has established itself by providing its target consumers with affordable products. The pestle anaylsis (2012) says that Primark have analysed the price of the products of its competitors and then have taken advantage of their price during recession. Their exporting, importing and manufacturing prices are so low, they are able to make profit regardless of the economical downfall Social analysis Social analysis is focused on the demographic changes that might influence the product in the new buying perceptions of the market. The taste and buying target consumer population is the business priority. When other brands launches a new marketed product, Primark surely finds a cheaper alternative for their consumers Technology An article on Marketing Plan, refers the idea of how technology does effect a business how a social or economic factor would. With innovation, technology is able to create a smoother process of maybe a product transaction or improve the quality of the products. Primark could improve the transaction process, as their ques are miles long. If this is improved with the help of technology, the economical profits will be maximised, and social value will increase, as it will be seen worn on more people It can also lessen the unethical working behaviour such as shoplifting which is very commonly occurred in Primark stores. 5.6 Market position Primark offers innovative, fashionable clothes at value-for-money prices. Like many retail fashion businesses, Primark does not manufacture goods itself: it works with its suppliers to produce goods to Primarks specification. Primark relies on low costs, economies of scale and efficient distribution to maintain its competitive market position. 5.7 Primarks Competitors/analysis Like any other business, Primark is also facing tough competition from George at ASDA, Tesco, Marks Spencer, TK Max, Costco, Next, Zara, New Look, Peacock and Matalan. Analysis for each major competitor determines that Primark has better business strength and high market share. It has good financial strengths and high profitability but relatively poor quality of management and low standards of technology position. Primark is paying least attention to its marketing strategies. Marketing represents boundary between marketplace and company, and knowledge of current and emerging happenings in marketplace is extremely important in strategic planning exercise. WHY HAVE YOU ANALYSED IT LIKE A BUSINESS? WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS? WHY IS THIS RELEVANT? 6. Advertising According to Jon Steel (1988:5), the most effective advertising involves consumers in two different but critical ways. Number one, it needs to involve them in the process of developing the communication, their feelings, habits, motivations, and desires all have to be explored and understood both how the product fits into their lives and how they might respond to different advertising messages. Jon (1988:8) follows on explaining the

Financial Aid in Education Essay -- Persuasive Argumentative Essays

Financial Aid in Education A guy in $50,000 of debt has got to be irresponsible with his money right? Actually, it is more likely that he is a college student. Hundreds of thousands of college students around the country are in a financial predicament because of the government?s impersonal financial aid policies. The federal government?s current system has too many quirks which end up hurting the people that financial aid is supposed to help. The federal government should change its financial aid policies to take several more factors, such as the percentage of educational expenses paid by the student, into account. Under the present system, all students applying for federal aid file a form called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This form is meant to figure out the amount of money a family is able to shell out for an education, or the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Assuming the student does not qualify for independent status, both the expected contributions from the student and the parents are included in the EFC. In order for a student to get independent status you have to be married or over the age of twenty-four. After filing the FAFSA, the student will receive back a Student Aid Report (SAR) which includes the Expected Family Contribution. The way most schools determine the amount of aid you will receive is to subtract the Expected Family Contribution from the total costs of the university. Total costs include such things as tuition, room and board, insurance, and other miscellaneous expenses. The student receives the difference in loans and grants. A loan is finan cial aid that will have to be paid back, normally after the student graduates. A grant does not have to be paid back. A scholarship... ...y the government. There are several small ways that the government could improve their financial aid policies to make them more responsive to the student. I believe that all of the changes I have suggested are feasible. They might take some tinkering, but in the end they would be a change for the better. These changes would make it possible for the FAFSA to more fairly represent the needs of the student. It would never hurt to have the government put more money into education, but even if they do not, they need to do a better job of distributing the aid they give. Sources Cited: Kantrowitz, Mark. "Financial Aid Estimation Calculator." FinAid. 1999. http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml (13 Nov 00) DAV. "Student Guide 2000-2001." U.S. Department of Education. 2000. http://www.ed.gov/prog_info/SFA/StudentGuide/2000-1/index.html (13 Nov 00)

Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic assessment Essay -- essays resear

Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic Assessment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This I’ll admit was a very interesting book that looked at what could have really caused the Iraq war and whether we really had to go to war. The book talks about the flaws with the reasons that Bush proposed for going to war with Iraq and why we haven’t had a fuller victory yet. The book basically goes into details about the four observations that arise from examining certain aspects of the war and afterwards. In the next few pages I’ll be summarizing the book then stating my analysis and opinions about ideas presented in the book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Veteran defense analyst and AEI resident fellow Thomas Donnelly wants to know the answers to the questions behind Operation: Iraqi Freedom. He states that â€Å"More than a year after President George W. Bush declared ‘mission accomplished’ in the invasion of Iraq, a fuller victory is yet to be won. This is in part, because a fuller understanding of the war itself remains elusive.† This elusiveness is the biggest mystery of the war and because of it four key observations have emerged. Also these observations emerge after an examination of the conventional invasion of Iraq, the resulting counterinsurgency campaign and their broader significance for the global war on terrorism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It’s pretty much impossible to know America’s decision about Saddam Hussein, if you don’t understand American policy in the Middle East-- from supporting him in power after the Islamist revolution in Iran, leaving him in power after the Gulf War, to removing him from power after the September 11 attacks, and, most crucially, replacing him in power with an experiment in Arab democracy. Militant Islam has been at war with the U.S. for twenty five years, it wasn’t until after Al Qaeda hit America’s heart, that the U.S. decided to wake up and take action. Therefore one of the main reasons for the war on Iraq was to strike terrorism and all involved at the roots. Bush’s initial strategy of invading and a change of regime essentially became a complete removal of regime. According to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld getting rid of Saddam Hussein and his henchmen was comparatively easy taking into account that now they have to install a democratic and pluralistic form of Government after the people ... ...p;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I agree with the author’s statement that the Pentagon did not fight a decisive war. It was done very rapidly, but I don’t think that they took into account how long we’d stay in Iraq after the war. We’ve had more casualties in time after the war than we had in the war. The Pentagon didn’t seem to realize just how hard it would be to restore order in Iraq after the war. The war itself was well planned out, but the hunt for Saddam Hussein and the restoration process was quite sloppy. The fact that we’re still in Iraq today and everyday soldiers are dying, just goes to show that we’re not going anywhere for a while.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author also stated that we would soon be out of Iraq if we kept going along the lines we’re going, I completely disagree with this statement, because Iraq is in a state of disorder. I think the actions we are taking right now will escalate into a bigger war which will not just include Iraq. After all Nostradamus who â€Å"predicted† the 2 World Wars also predicted a third World War that would take place in the Middle East. I don’t believe in that stuff, but I do believe that this will escalate into something bigger. Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic assessment Essay -- essays resear Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic Assessment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This I’ll admit was a very interesting book that looked at what could have really caused the Iraq war and whether we really had to go to war. The book talks about the flaws with the reasons that Bush proposed for going to war with Iraq and why we haven’t had a fuller victory yet. The book basically goes into details about the four observations that arise from examining certain aspects of the war and afterwards. In the next few pages I’ll be summarizing the book then stating my analysis and opinions about ideas presented in the book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Veteran defense analyst and AEI resident fellow Thomas Donnelly wants to know the answers to the questions behind Operation: Iraqi Freedom. He states that â€Å"More than a year after President George W. Bush declared ‘mission accomplished’ in the invasion of Iraq, a fuller victory is yet to be won. This is in part, because a fuller understanding of the war itself remains elusive.† This elusiveness is the biggest mystery of the war and because of it four key observations have emerged. Also these observations emerge after an examination of the conventional invasion of Iraq, the resulting counterinsurgency campaign and their broader significance for the global war on terrorism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It’s pretty much impossible to know America’s decision about Saddam Hussein, if you don’t understand American policy in the Middle East-- from supporting him in power after the Islamist revolution in Iran, leaving him in power after the Gulf War, to removing him from power after the September 11 attacks, and, most crucially, replacing him in power with an experiment in Arab democracy. Militant Islam has been at war with the U.S. for twenty five years, it wasn’t until after Al Qaeda hit America’s heart, that the U.S. decided to wake up and take action. Therefore one of the main reasons for the war on Iraq was to strike terrorism and all involved at the roots. Bush’s initial strategy of invading and a change of regime essentially became a complete removal of regime. According to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld getting rid of Saddam Hussein and his henchmen was comparatively easy taking into account that now they have to install a democratic and pluralistic form of Government after the people ... ...p;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I agree with the author’s statement that the Pentagon did not fight a decisive war. It was done very rapidly, but I don’t think that they took into account how long we’d stay in Iraq after the war. We’ve had more casualties in time after the war than we had in the war. The Pentagon didn’t seem to realize just how hard it would be to restore order in Iraq after the war. The war itself was well planned out, but the hunt for Saddam Hussein and the restoration process was quite sloppy. The fact that we’re still in Iraq today and everyday soldiers are dying, just goes to show that we’re not going anywhere for a while.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author also stated that we would soon be out of Iraq if we kept going along the lines we’re going, I completely disagree with this statement, because Iraq is in a state of disorder. I think the actions we are taking right now will escalate into a bigger war which will not just include Iraq. After all Nostradamus who â€Å"predicted† the 2 World Wars also predicted a third World War that would take place in the Middle East. I don’t believe in that stuff, but I do believe that this will escalate into something bigger.