Advertising is not bad for children’s health

Majority of the children are still healthy – there is no clear proof that Australian children are becoming less healthy – survey of 5000 children aged 4-16 in schools across NSW, conducted by NSW government, concluded that only 5% increase of overweight population since 1997 to around 25% – children are exercising more frequently more than they were in 1997 2. Children’s good health may be attributed to food chains – Ryan, 9, plays organized sports, intelligent and has a healthy weight and eats McDonald’s burger and fries and fastfood pizza– McDonald’s encourages children to be involved in sports through sponsoring competitions 3. Advertising detractors just want to make the fastfood chains business difficult – most of them are not interested in children’s eating habits at all 4. Advertisement for food aimed at children do not really make them eat more than they otherwise would – companies advertise not with the aim of making children eat more but of the market share 5. Advertising is the only way for producers to share information with the community about their products – it would be disservice to the company and to the community they serve– children, like consumers, need access to information to allow them to be educated C: Advertising is not bad for children’s health Evaluation: This article was written by the author in response to the imperative demand of groups lobbying for banning advertisements of fastfood chains as it harms the children’s health. These groups have claimed that the ill-health and obesity among children are caused by these advertisements and that banning these advertisements is vital to the health of the children. The author uses informal language in the counter arguments.It attempted to produce scientific claims as rebuttal. There are five major premises in this article. One scientific data was included to support the first claim and no other researches were used as evidence in the succeeding arguments. The first argument suggests that according to a survey conducted by NSW government, the children in Australia are still healthy compared to only 5% increase in the overweight population. This statement gives the impression that the rest of the 70% of the population do not suffer from overweight problems or are normal.The survey should have furthered on how many in the population are underweight because unhealthy weight of children come in both directions. Also, the article lacked information as to when the survey was conducted to compare it with the results in 1997. A more exact time frame conducted might produce a stronger comparison as to the health of the children in terms of their weight. The second support statement saying that children exercise more frequently than they were in 1997 could have been made more substantive if detailed in the survey.This might give the readers the impression that selective read ing might have been done to support the claim. Variables in the survey should specify the frequency of exercise that makes the children healthier. The second premise is an argument based on example. In logic, this is a big fallacy. One can not claim to have his own experience applicable to the entire community or to a group of people. What is true to one may not be true to another. A specific example of Ryan can not suffice as evidence. Logically it is applying a conclusion out of a single example which may be illicit generalization.The statement about Ryan saying that his favorite food are from the fastfood chains do not necessarily mean that eating them would make him healthy. Making these foods as his favorite does not also mean that he eats these foods exclusively everyday. For all we know, Ryan may be taking vitamin supplements to make him healthy and maintain optimum function. Secondly, Mc Donald’s sport competitions may not necessarily mean that they are concerned abou t the children’s health. This article has mentioned already that the interest of the company is to produce market share, to therefore produce good profit.If McDonald’s chooses to be visible in children activities, it does not necessarily make them nutritious and healthy as a fastfood chain. Supporting events do not necessarily exempt McDonald’s from any allegation the pro-health lobbyist groups have indicted them. The third argument attacks on the main motivation of detractors. The article suggests that the qualms of these advertising antagonists is that they are mainly concerned about destroying the reputation of fastfood chains and not really caring of children’s health.The single subpremise provided by this argument can not be sufficient in supporting this argument. This argument, let alone, does not have enough bearing to stand on its own because it did not clearly illustrate the real world scenario as it has claimed. The undertone of this argument im plies that there is a bigger competition in the food business against the fastfood chains. This may at least be true thinking that it eats up the market share of other cuisines in terms of children.However, the claim should have included statistics to point into figures the alleged claim of the madness among detractors. The fourth argument, saying that the aim of advertisements is not really to have the children eat more but to have a bigger market share may prove to be a realistic argument. This is the only argument that does not rely on health statistics right at the onset. It may not be obvious in the advertisement upon its theme and delivery, however, the clear picture among the businessmen running the company is to have a bigger share in the market to produce more profit.It does not have control as to how much food the children are going to eat in their foodchains, their main concern is the number of sales they get at the end of the day. Health may not be a selling ground in th is argument, however, it is the only sensible and truthful among the other arguments posted in the article. The last argument saying that advertising is the only way for producers to share information to their community may not necessarily be true. The trend of having models wear a specific product for example or incorporating in movies the product of McDonald’s may not be blatantly advertising but it gives out the same information.The last argument is generalizing that the only outlet for information dissemination among companies is through paid advertisements in televisions when in fact people can always have testimonies, researches, tabloids and other media sources. The subpremise saying that it may be a form of disservice to the community if the company may not be able to advertise may partially be true. If the company has perks that are available for the community in a specified time frame, this argument may be acceptable. Otherwise, the company may exist without the ben efits of advertisement.The second subpremise in this argument is that children need information, too. Just like people who are in quest for knowledge of a certain product or are just slack and waiting for information, children need adventurous or interesting ways of product presentation and information. Most likely, the creative way to producing such is through advertisements. There is greater product recall and product orientation in the way the product is presented in advertisements rather than reading it in tabloids or in journals.Advertisement seem to capture interest and in its emotional appeal rather than the rationalization in broadsheets, and the like. Like all people, children need information. As a whole, the entire article in its specificity and clarity is not persuasive enough to claim that advertising is not bad for children’s health. Perhaps, the biggest loophole in this article is the failure to provide a causal link between the two terms: advertising and child ren’s health. It has also failed to define the nature of advertising and the nature of children’s health, although, obesity was implied as the main illness in the argument.Objectively, right at the outset, these terms would have been defined and given background as to the qualms of the detractors to make the entire tone of the article more substantive. There must be a direct link as to advertising directly affecting a group of children, making them really unhealthy and must cause a wave of urgency to have this stopped. The article is highly opinionated and may need evidences to support its claims. A better article should contain statistics relating to specific arguments as a number of 6th grade students are reported obese after eating at mcdonald’s once a day for the entire 2 months.Further researches and surveys should be made to support claims and to make the entire article more persuasive. Claims could have been furthermore substantiated to make the article m ore convincing. The survey conducted by NSW would have been more convincing if it included complete information as to the date of the conduction of the survey to have a better comparison to the status of the health of children today. This should have at least mentioned as to the frequency of the subjects going to fastfood in a week or any information in that line.If complete information was released in this survey, it would have been more convincing and more substantive. This is the only survey produced in this article and the only form of science that can be investigated further to support the claim of this article. However, it still poses questions in the readers’ thoughts therefore compromising its validity and accuracy. In general, I should say that the author was not clear and satisfactory in its counter argument in his claim that Advertising is not bad for children’s health.

Online Presence

Now that we have determined that moving into the online community is viable for us as a company, it is now time to continue the planning. We have discussed previously the strategic marketing tactics we will use and the way that we will use social media to ensure that we are ready to move forward. We will continue our planning and focus on the way that we will provide payment options for our customers. This will Include what tools they will use and how It will keep their information safe.We will also plan for ways to use search engines and how to gain optimization of their use. It will be vital to ensure that our name shows up in the result pages of the search engines. We will create a plan to reach the diverse culture that we live in, making our website accessible in a diverse consumer base. We will finish up by discussing our customer relationship management software that we will use on our website. Once these are finalized and decided on, we will be ready to move forward In the des ign phase of our website.This proposal will discuss and answer all of those questions and prepare us for design. AY . Customer Payments We are creating a website that will allow our customers to be able to accomplish al of the needed functions of obtaining a storage unit or REV parking without having to come on property. By doing this, we will need a payment option for our customers to be able to make payments for deposits or to make monthly payments. Our website Is designed to help our customers have the option of online payments to save them time and effort.Of course we will need an option for payment for our customers to use to order to be fully functional. We have looked at all of the options and have decided that the use if Papal would be the best option for us. We looked at having a shopping cart set up on the website to make payments. The majority of online stores work with a shopping cart and is very effective for their website that sells a larger variety products and servic es. The shopping cart allows the customers to store in their shopping cart those items they have want and to continue shopping for other things.Due to the limited number of items that we will be receiving payments for, an online shopping cart would not be necessary for us to achieve our goals. In making this choice on which payment options to use, we looked closely at ease f use for our customers and keeping their information safe and secure. Papal was chosen because of these considerations and ease of use for our customers. Papal will do all that we need it to do and is easy to use, free to set up, free for our customers. These features of Papal made it an ideal solution.Palsy's name and reputation was also a big consideration. A large amount of our customers have already used Papal, or at least will recognize the name. Having this knowledge of Papal will aide in helping them feel safe to use our online payment system. It will ink to our website and allow our customers to make paym ents without having to go to a different website to do this. The customers will click on that link, allow them to make the monthly payments or the one time deposit to hold their units.The Papal program also allows for the creation of invoices to allow for ease of use for our customers and also for the record keeping and bookkeeping needs. We can create invoices for them, send them out through email and then use Papal to accept their payments to that invoice. It will do all that we need to do in order for us to collect the needed payments. It will be great to have one tool that we can use to accomplish all of this. As far as the customers, the tools that they will use will simply be the website.It will connect them to Papal in order for them to make these payments. This will help us keep it simple for our customers. They will have the options to use their Papal account if they have one, or they can Just use their credit or debit card to make the payments. The will simply Just need to click on the buttons on the website. Papal also allows for the customers to set up reoccurring payments and not have to worry bout coming in each month to make payments. They can pay off of an invoice each month but is it not necessary.Some of the great things that Papal helps us accomplish and the main reasons for choosing this option are summarized below: Papal is the easiest way to set up e-commerce on our website There is no need for any licenses You can specify payment preferences working to keep us safe from fraud charges and have the best control over what kind of payments we accept There is easy encryption and the buttons are free No set up fees Ability to set up recurring payments Use of their invoicing system Ease of use for our customers AY: Search Engine Strategies: Search engine optimization is vital for the website and business.It is a very effective way for you to be able to create more business and more visits to your site. The goal of our website is to provide our customers an easy way of doing business Using search engine optimization will be the way that we will generate this new business. We are going to focus on the following to be able reach our search engine optimization and generate the most business from our website. Key Phrases: The first important strategy that we need to develop is that of our choice of key phrases. Key phrases are the most important and the very way that a customer will find us.As a customer puts key phrases into a search engine, that search engine will return those websites that are closest to those key phrases that have been put into the search engine. Search engines will return pages that have similar words and even account from some commonly misspelled words. This being said, we must be very careful in choosing the key phrases that will lead our customers to our page through these search engines. Eely, Tillie 2009) In working to find these key phrases we will use a free online tool designed to help discover ke ywords.This tool will do two things for us. It will search our website and suggest some key words and phrases for us and will also allow us to enter certain phrases we want and help us to create these key phrases. Once these have been created we can ensure that they are used in our content, which we will discuss later in the paper. We will be able to look at things such as similar words, commonly misspelled words, frequency of key words and how many other sites are targeting hose key words as well.With the nature of what our business is, we will focus on other local sites. Our competition is clearly only other local storage units in the area. Content that contains our keywords: Now that we will have our key words and phrases for the search engine we must make sure that our site contains these phrases. This will be our second strategy in optimizing the finality of our business. Content will be the most important part of our site and we need to ensure that our content contains our key phrases.This content is what provides the information for our customers. This information and content must be easy to read, follow and hold the customers interests. Other than that, it must send back the relevant signals to the search engine. The content is the key to ensure that our website is found in these searches. The key words and phrases are great, but if you do not find them in your content they are of no use. (Eely, Tillie 2009) In looking at the content of the site we need to play close attention to what types of pages we want to have.Placing the key words and phrases into these different pages will be vital to controlling where we place these key words in the site Even Hough the homepage is a very important page and must have a nice look and feel, the informational pages are where we will be placing most of the content and most of the key phrases. These pages will work to educate the consumers about our business and answer questions they may have such as prices and contr acts. Placing the key phrases are these pages will allow for a better search optimization.The use of these key phrases in the content of our social media sites will also be very important. In using these phrases there, our blob and Faceable page will also come up in the search engine results page. Design of the site: The next strategy that we will use to ensure the search optimization for our site is to take a close look at the actual design of the site. We want to have a site that is things but still work to use the design of the site as a way to optimize its search ability. In the design we need to pay close attention to things such as heading elements.The headings should include the key phrases due to the fact that the search engine spider uses these headlines to search the website for relevance. The headlines are also very important for our readers, it helps them to know where to go n the site to get the information they need. We also need to ensure that we look at the titles of our pages as well. The title of the pages is important for us to ensure a good search results ranking and allowing for click-through from the search engine results page. Whatever is contained in our title tags on each page, is what will show up on these search engine results page.We have to strategically choose the tile of these pages, not only for the search engines but also for ease of use for our customers and those who find our page. The more detail that we use in title, the better. It is vital that our key words appear in the first ten words of the title. (Stokes, 2013) Popularity and Linking: In our business, most of our competitor's websites will have the same content as ours. We have seen through our research that there are very little sites locally with as much content as we will have. It will still be important for us to stand out from among those other sites in the search results pages.One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the use of links, showing the popul arity of the site. When two sites have the same content, the search engine looks at the amount of links owing in from other sites to determine how it displays the results. The more incoming links that you have the higher your site will rank in the search engine results page. (Eely, Tillie, 2009) There are many different ways to have incoming links to your site. You can purchase them or you can use link exchanges with other relevant sites.We will be able to create some links to our sites to ensure popularity but doing some of the following: (Stokes, 2013) Commenting on relevant blobs, including the blob we will have and be linked too Submitting articles to other sites on packing and moving pips The use of social networking sites and links from pages Asking or answering questions on Yahoo Answers AY: Diverse Customer Base: When creating a website, one of the big factors that you need to consider is how you will make your site diverse in its approach so that you can reach out to all th ose members in your target audience.Reaching out to an international audience is a vital part of most websites who are selling products. Here at Pea's Rentals, all of the goods and services that we are selling are units and spaces that are fixed here locally and not something that someone can buy and have shipped to them. We will not have a large global presence in what we are selling and promoting. The majority of our customers are local and living in our immediate area. We may have some from out of state, or even out of the country, that are moving here that will need our services but the majority will be local people.That said, we do have a diverse culture that we need to cater to locally. In this discussion we will talk about ways that we can use our site to reach a diverse local group of people. We need to look at the business climate, the local culture and the infrastructure of our site to help us meet a diverse Due to the fact that we are a local company whose product and ser vices are local and really cannot be shipped or taken somewhere else, we are going to focus on how we can reach the diverse culture that we are in.It is vital that when we are planning the site that we ensure that we are reaching out to all of those that live among us. We will have several people that will be using the site to help plan their move to Utah and we need to ensure that we are able to relate our site to them as well. We will look at the content, language and overall culture of the site as we move try move award in our planning. Content is the most important thing that we will have on our website. It makes sense that if your content is bad then your website is bad.As we build the content of our site we must keep in mind not only our target audience but the diverseness of that audience. The content that we build on the site must be one that is simple and easy to use for all members of our target audience. We want to make sure that we are using words that are understood by the majority of people with varying degrees of education, learning and the English language. We must come across as knowledgeable and strong but with a content that is easy to follow and understand.One of the biggest mistakes that people make in our community in their content is assuming that everyone is a member of the Mormon Church. It has a very strong presence here yes, but assuming that and marketing to that is something that we have to be very careful about. Using words and phrases from their culture can be confusing and hard for others to understand. We cannot build our content around that specific local culture, we must build it around the world of meeting the storage needs of all the members of our community.Language is another consideration for us to take a close look at as we try to reach a diverse group of people. There is a very strong Hispanic culture here and we need to consider how we can cater to their needs on the site. We will have some PDF of our contracts and ot her information for our customers to look at and download from the site. These will be very helpful in the making the decision to use us for their storage needs. In order for us to reach this part of the community we will have these forms available for download in both English and Spanish.These downloads will notation a copy of the contracts, a price list of units and rules and regulations of the storage units. Having them in Spanish as well will help to ensure that our customers know and understand what is expected of them and what they can expect from us. It will also allow us to cater to them and make them aware that they are welcome here at Pea's Rentals. Utah is a very unique place and can be a bit overwhelming to new comers and even to those who may be outside of the Mormon culture that is so prevalent here.In doing our research we have seen that a lot of the sites here cater to that culture ND it can be a bit overwhelming. Even though it is a the dominate culture here in Utah County, we must be careful how we build the overall look and feel of the site to be open to all the different cultures and people who live here. We can accomplish this by ensuring that our content, pictures and wording is open to all cultures. This will be especially important for our customers who are coming in from out of state.We plan to use very neutral colors and landscape pictures on the site to give it the purpose, to sell units and make an easy site for our customers to use, it will help us o create a site that is open to all who want to use our services. AY: Customer Relationship Management: Customer relationship management is the key to all that we do. If we do not have our customers to rent our units or space we will not stay in business. They, of course, are our biggest stakeholders. It is vital that we do everything that we can to meet and even exceed their expectations.The internet has forever changed the way that people communicate with each other. It has also change d the way that we communicate with our customer and them with us. For most, it is easier to send an mail than it is to pick up the phone and call someone. Building a customer relationship management system into our site will be vital to ensure our continued growth and meeting expectations of our customers. (Stokes, 2013) We have previously discussed some of the tactics that we are going to use in marketing our product and service. These all fit right into our customer relationship management system.We have discussed the need to be a customer-centric company and use this marketing tactic to gain and keep our customers. Having a good customer relationship management program fits into this approach and helps s to maintain that vital tactic. It will allow our customers to share their thoughts, ask questions and make suggestions so that we know how they feel and what they need. Knowing this is the only way that we will be able to meet their needs and expectations. Some of our tactics and strategies that we have planned will fit in very nicely with our customer relationship management.We are planning to use email as our major way of communicating with our existing and our former customers. Privacy is very important to us and ensuring the privacy of our customers is of the most importance. We will only use email after permission has been given for us to do so. We are not going to sale emails or participate in buying emails. Even though this can be a great way to reach out to a large number of people at once, it can also lead to some negative marketing when potential customers become upset from your emails that we have not received permission to use.As we work to have and keep great relationships with our customers, we will have the chance to use them to spread our work and their experiences with others. They can be our biggest sales force. If we work hard to create a trusting relationship with them, they will feel better about commending us to their friends and famil y. Email is great but it can take some time for our customers to hear back from us. If they are looking for a quick answer to make a choice or have a question that they may need an answer to, we need a way to make that happen.This will be accomplished but the use of an instant messaging option on our website during business hours. This service will allow our customer and potential customers to reach us with their questions and have an instant answer. Our instant messaging system will be a customer initiated approach. If they want to talk to someone using this feature, we ill be there to talk and answer their questions. We will not use it to approach We have chosen to use the company again for our email and instant messaging needs. This software will allow for us to have our email and chat all in one place.We will receive email coming in from the website as well as the ability to chat live with our customers. The choice to use again was also made due to its ability to monitor our cus tomer satisfaction, trends and our social media efforts. With the help of this software we will be able to analyze where our customers are coming from and what resources are being used the most. We can see if email, social media, our newsletter and blobs are effective and how much business is generated by each of them. It will help us to put our efforts and resources into the most effective venue.On top of all of this is will give us the software to conduct our emails and chats and track and record them and where they were generated from. There is a cost of this software but it will more than pay for itself and has a high return on investment for us to be able to be most effective in our online approaches. There is an initial fee to by the product and then a monthly user's fee as well. The use of the software will be vital for us in accomplishing our goals or providing a website for our customer's needs as well as one that allows us to generate business.By the use of this software a nd the tactics and plans that we have we will be able to reach the people that we need to reach, be effective in our approach and add to our business using the right tools to get us to our goals. We are anticipating the return on investment for this software will be strong. It will more than pay for itself in the first six months of use. With all of this planning now in place for the development of our website, we are to ready to move forward and create the site.

A comparison of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers Essay Example for Free

A comparison of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers Essay ? To understand the subject of this essay, I thought it would help to briefly look at the history and background of newspapers, because I believe this gradually influences people’s decisions on buying a paper today. In earlier years, the majority of people buying newspapers were all well educated, middle – class intellectuals. As a result of this many papers actually tended to follow the broadsheet format. Most people that bought a newspaper would have full intention of reading from front to back. Most papers had between four and nine pages with a lot of columns and very small print; there were not many pictures and very little graphics. This was generally because of the lack of technology available to the publishers and their printers. As time progressed, so did the technology that went into the newspapers. With this improvement in technology this enables the publishers to focus on more specific readership. In a newspaper you can find that they can now devote sectors of the newspaper to individual interests, at the same time as having more illustrations and advertisements. We investigated how tabloids and broadsheets have appeared to combine these new ideas, but somehow still have different techniques, writing styles and format. We did this by using interviews and surveys to help us gain the results we wanted. To gain further understanding of the type of people that read tabloid and broadsheet newspapers, the pupils in our class carried out a survey. The principle was to find out if there were any links between our research and the class survey, it helped us gain more knowledge on the time that papers are read during the day and what days they are tended to be read on. When the survey was complete we collected the results to find that there was quite an even spread of readers for both the tabloid paper and the broadsheet paper. Another interesting fact was that mainly broadsheets were read on the weekend rather than the working week. I recognize that this must be because of the size and depth of the broadsheet which becomes a immediate fault of the paper has it makes it very hard for somebody going to work on the train or bus to read a large paper such as ‘The Telegraph’ in such tight compact spaces. Our class also carried interviews with their friends and family to try and find out the reason behind this predilection. In the majority of cases, the time available and the content of the newspaper were concerns. Many people believed that a broadsheet were more detailed and focused on finance and politics, whereas tabloid papers tended to be more light-hearted and entertaining. There were a lot more gossip columnists and many pages devoted to entertainment and celebrities featured in ‘The Sun’. As I expected the size of the newspapers were a big matter into deciding which paper someone would buy. According to the interviewees, broadsheets were understandably an inconvenient size if they were to be read on a coffee brake or a journey as they were just too big. Tabloid papers were popular because of the advantage of there size as they can be read at spare moments during the day and contained a television guide. Personally I tend to read newspapers at the weekend and the members of my family generally make the choice of paper, I enjoy reading a tabloid a lot more than I do a broadsheet because broadsheets cover a large quantity of business and finance and I am not interested in these subjects. I enjoy reading ‘The Sun’ as it contains a lot of sport news and celebrity news. Tabloid papers in my opinion are a lot easier to read as u don’t have to take a lot of time reading each article like you do in the broadsheet newspapers. Before we actually started to examine individual articles, we made some general assertions concerning the papers contents. We all noticed that there were a surprisingly large amount of adverts in the broadsheet newspaper, which included a completely covered double-page spread on just adverts. A â€Å"British Airways† advert, covered a page of the â€Å"Daily Telegraph† the size made it eye-catching and very effective to the reader. For further exploration we compared two articles, which at the time were concerning the situation in Saudi Arabia. The first article was featured in â€Å"The Sun†, entitled, â€Å"Saudi Aid†. The second article was found in â€Å"The Daily Telegraph† entitled, â€Å"Arab states back Bush over Iraq†. My immediate observation was the difference and contrast in headlines. The tabloid headline was much shorter than that of the broadsheet, therefore the information given was. â€Å"Saudi Aid† gave the reader a suggestion of the articles content, but did not make any kind of effort to enhance on the subject. On the other hand â€Å"The Telegraph† was more informative and had a much more detailed headline, â€Å"Arab states back Bush over Iraq†. This headline refers to a specific incident which is very straight forward it also includes one of the most well known names in the world, this is a clever way of using someone’s name involved in the issue to draw in the reader the also tone suggests controversy. â€Å"The Sun† followed its brief headline with a more detailed summary, giving us further amplification on the subject. â€Å"The Telegraph† on the other hand had a sub headline of â€Å"Way cleared for countdown to war†. Again the focus of the piece was narrowed down to ass impact on their first headline. The sub headline included and extremely emotive phrase, â€Å"Countdown to War†. This gives no definite answer to the question most people were asking themselves at the time, it just leaves the possibility that it could happen in the future if the situation deteriorates. â€Å"The Sun† also included a sub headline in its article. â€Å"Saudis to aid attack on Iraq† again this repeats the word ‘aid’ from the headline but this time expanding on the content of the article. The reporter actually uses rhyme, which increases the articles appeal, because it becomes captivating and memorable. In continuing to study the format of the article, I noticed that the front pages of both pieces were very different. â€Å"The Telegraph’s† report was split into four columns, with an enlarged quote dividing the second column. In this article there was clearly more writing, and whilst I could perceive a summary, it was not highlighted in any way, like â€Å"The Sun’s† report, which had a summary in bold type and a sub heading of ‘Weapons’ halfway through the first column, such use of a sub headline created drama and tension. The summary uses colloquial language, and emotive writing such as ‘the Saudis fear they will never be safe while Saddam rules’. With added patriotism, the summary lures the reader to read on through the article, to reach the main point of the piece. Unlike the broadsheet article, there was a picture featured in the tabloid newspaper. The picture was of Jack Straw and by adding a picture the information in the article is authentic and may entice the reader to look more closely at the piece, and maybe value the reporter’s opinion more. Another creative effect is â€Å"The Suns† use of italics. By placing a chosen phrase or paragraph in italics, the reader’s attention is drawn to the chosen area, showing that the specific phrase is important, and so the reader should pay attention to it. The general tone of † the suns† article is informal throughout the piece. The reporter remains biased and doesn’t believe that the possibility of war may be resolved. The piece in â€Å"The Telegraph† takes an objective style and presents both sides of the argument, and continually stating that there is no definite war. The miscellany in reporting styles also includes the use of more formal language with words such as ‘repercussions’. I would presume that the readers of a broadsheet newspaper are more middle-class. This is a generalisation but that the fact that there is more business, finance and culture in the broadsheet newspaper. There is one similarity between the articles it is that they both include the national security adviser â€Å"Conddeezza Rice†. Overall the broadsheet newspaper includes more concept language and is rather informal, whilst the tabloid newspaper has short headlines with a catchy theme to it, instead of a more sophisticated and simple headlines brought to us by the broadsheet newspapers. A comparison of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers. (2017, Aug 04).

My proposal for a new system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My proposal for a new system - Essay Example iece of the proposal is to make health insurance affordable for all Americans so that it serves as an extension of social security in times of distress. At present health insurance coverage of American citizens is covered by their employers, which puts them in danger of losing insurance along with their jobs. With the global economic recession more acute here in the U.S., the country has seen unprecedented numbers of job losses in the last few months. Not since the Great Depression of the 1930s did the nation confront such a disaster. It is true that a comprehensive revamp of the healthcare system at a time of economic turmoil is not practically feasible. But research conducted by the Commonwealth Fund indicates that extending insurance coverage to all American citizens would only cost an additional $104 billion for the federal government. While this may seem a huge sum in isolation, it is significantly smaller compared to the $700 billion rescue plan that the new President got ratified by Congress. In other words, my proposal for a new healthcare system endorses the implementation of the promised â€Å"universal healthcare† plan of Barack Obama. Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman also supports this proposal and adds that â€Å"it is true that the cost of universal health care will be a continuing expense, reaching far into the future. But that has always been true†¦and the temporary expenses of his stimulus plan shouldn’t change that calculation† (Krugman, 2009). This $104 billion proposal for universal health insurance coverage would have the added benefit of stimulating the economy. In other words, the proposed tax-cuts as part of the Obama Administration’s stimulus package could instead be substituted with health insurance provisions for American citizens across the socio-economic spectrum, thereby solving two problems at once – health care and economic crisis. And more importantly, by virtue of being applicable across social, economic

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 7

Human Resource Management - Essay Example Human resource intranets are one of the fastest growing technologies in the market place. This offers a compatible and user friendly solutions which can be customized and offered according to the organizational needs. This helps in connecting various departments and branches of any organization to share information and communicate effectively. The first part of the paper deals with the human resource management. It describes various human resource management functions that are required for any organization. The second part deals with the intranet and its benefits and drawbacks. The last section of the paper describes the HR intranets and the activities it can handle. Challenges faced by the organizations in the research and the various factors of the environment influence development of their operations. The heterogeneity is present in the culture, political legal set up, social set up, availability of investors and funding parties for that particular area, work force, management att itude and perception about the host country. These all factors influence most of the industries and organizations in the strategic decision making process. There are number of activities within any organization that are very important like marketing and sales, human resource management, production and manufacturing, operations, information technologies which functions together for the organizational goal and profitability.

Efficient Markets Hypothesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Efficient Markets Hypothesis - Essay Example The essence of the efficient markets hypothesis evolved from an earlier capital assetpricing model or CAPM based on investors’ unobservable beliefs about future returns. The CAPM predicts a linear relationship between the expected rate of return on an asset and that asset’s systematic risk, often termed â€Å"beta.† The CAPM model in turn led to the arbitrage pricing theory which is more general than the CAPM by including a set of unspecified factors which influence capital valuations. The CAPM in turn has been expanded into a broader format including such factors as the size of the company and the ratio of book value to market value; this version has gained wider support over the past ten years (Negakis, page 3). The efficient market hypothesis, as defined by Fama going back to 1970, â€Å"defines an Efficient Market as the one in which ‘security prices fully reflect all available information’†. Fama, in 1970, identified three forms of Market Efficiency. In the weak form, no investor can expect to gain from analyzing historical data as that data would already be reflected in capital asset prices. In the semi-strong form, no investor can expect to gain from analyzing publicly available information for the same reason. In the strong form, no investor can expect to gain from analyzing information from any source (Negakis, page 3). The efficient market hypothesis requires the existence of a highly-competitive market. with a large number of very-well-informed traders and in which transactions are costless. It would then not matter how many shares or other capital assets a trader sells - the price would remain unaffected by his actions as the market would already have taken them into account. The market would already reflect all available information, which would be included automatically in the price of the shares or other assets under consideration. The advent of portfolio theory has strengthened the efficient market hypothesis by focusing 3 on the valuation of an entire portfolio of many securities rather than on each one's value. In a fully-diversified portfolio, the trader or investor need not be as concerned over each security or capital asset but rather on the risk and return of the total range of those assets. According to Fama, the strong version of the efficient mar

Contrast education (History of Education) Research Paper

Contrast education (History of Education) - Research Paper Example Massachusetts was the first state which implemented compulsory attendance laws in the educational sector. In 2004 their public expenditure for students per head was fifth in the country. They secured highest grade in the National Assessment of students as a mark of their progressive attitude towards education. As far as Middle East colonies in United States are concerned the education was the responsibility of church as well as the family to which the students belong. During that time the aim of education was to bring up children as god fearing individuals. The implementations of all educational schemes were focusing towards the religious matters. Education was only a tool to uplift the religion and its wild customs. It was from these educational institutions that the lifestyle of the people of Middle East states were got molded. As time passed the religion developed least interest on education and the system of public schooling has completely vanished from American colonies. Nowadays the government has proper control over all educational institutions in the states. Thus the history of education in old Massachusetts and Middle and Southern states have got some remarkable differences.

Health Care Delivery Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Health Care Delivery Model - Essay Example This essay declares that United States of America have numerous key health care models which are based on organization, social life, economy and public health care. Both individuals and the organizations have developed quite a number of perceptions regarding the perspective of issues like health access, the quality itself, availability of health services, and its efficiency too, effectiveness and finally the quality of health services. The health care delivery model is composed of a composition of if various informal systems which are interchangeable separated into various segments and at the same time, not coordinated at all. This model also focuses on the resources of the four components of health care. This paper makes a conclusion that the computerized clinical support systems have generally improved decision making process among physicians and doctors themselves for proper patient care. It also provides physicians with patients’ information and recommendations through analysis of specific patients’information. Therefore characteristic of individuals patients are matched to computerized knowledge base and software algorithms will generate patients’ specific recommendations.These recommendations can be delivered through electronic medical records for retrieval of patient characteristics. The success of implementing electronic decision making technology, however, depends on a greater deal on whether clinicians have a role to play in designing such solutions.

Mafia Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mafia - Assignment Example The mafia is involved in various criminal activities. These include prostitution rings in various cities and towns around the world. These organizations have brothels and operate night clubs to cover up their criminal activities. Most of the women in the prostitution rings are not willing participants but rather victims of human trafficking sold into the sex trade (Artemis 2004). The mafia is also involved in drug trade supplying large quantities of cocaine, amphetamines and other addictive drugs, besides selling to their customers, they also keep their sex workers hooked on these drugs so they have more control over them. Other mafia activities include loan sharking. They use their economic resources to give loans to needy people, most likely gamblers who have been caught up in gambling debts in the illegal gambling dens owned by the mafia. From such people, the mafia will extort large amounts of money to be used in other activities. The mafia is also involved in labor racketeering, smuggling of goods and at times bank robberies. All these activities are used to grow the organizations’ economic resources putting them in a better position to expand the scope of their illegal activities. Where the mafia is involved, slavery is still an issue. The most serious issue is when it comes to the prostitution rings. The mafia will sell young girls and women into sex slavery since most are unwilling to participate knowingly. In rare cases, the mafia will sell people into forced labor.

Chilean Copper Mine Collapse and Rescue Essay Example for Free

Chilean Copper Mine Collapse and Rescue Essay The tragedy with the happy ending all started August 5, 2010, when the mine collapses 33 workers are trapped at the Chilean copper mine 300 meters below the ground level. Safety codes require ladders for mines, and the miners attempted escape through the ventilation shaft system, but the ladders were missing. The mining operation soon became known as â€Å"Camp Hope,† for the next 69 days the dry, dusty, work site would be where rescue workers, officials, authorities, media, friends, and family of the trapped miners would call home. A small copper operation in northern Chile, owned by Minera San Esteban Primera, is in what many call the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert. Some years earlier, the mine was shut down because of several accidents, including one death in March 2007. Later, in 2007 the mine reopened and the mine workers went back to mining the copper. In August 2010 when the accident occurred there were two groups of workers in the mine; the first group were near the entrance could escape, but the second group were so deep in the mine escape though the normal entrance was not an option. The workers quickly went to the ventilation shaft system only to find the ladders were not in place as requested in the orders written by the federation of Chilean mining workers and the confederation of copper works when the mine reopened. By the time rescue teams could respond these shafts were not accessible because of ground movement cause by the cave-in. â€Å"The Chilean government took over the rescue effort on the first day and poured enormous resources into the operation† (Kofman). By day two, rescuers had started drilling â€Å"boreholes† in the attempt to locate the miners and allowing listening devices to be sent down in efforts to hear if any of the miners had survived. A second collapse causes access to the lower shafts to be blocked and shut down operations. The trapped worker’s knew that rescue operations were in play because the 33 men could the noises below the ground. With limited food, water, and oxygen supplies officials are not sure if the trapped miners can survive four days in their current conditions. By day 17, eight holes had been bore using equipment that had been brought in because on site there was not ample equipment for a rescue of this magnitude. As one of the drill bits (normally used for oil drilling) returned to surface with a note attached, stating â€Å"Estamos bien en el refugio, los 33 (English: We are well in the shelter, the 33) (Wikipedia, 2010). Receiving this message was the first bit of given hope to the families that the collapse mine victims’ were all alive and well. This is when all involved began to change the facility once known as â€Å"San Josà ©Ã¢â‚¬  to Camp Hope. To this point in the rescue operations little talk of survival is the conversation, and this is to prevent false hope or any media mishaps. The authorities had given special thought and considerations to all persons involved in the tragedy. Many times is area’s such as Copiapo, Chile, the miners, the company’s administrative workers, and rescue personal are either friends or family, so by keeping this in mind the communications had to project that efforts to rescue would not cease until all hope is lost. Preparations fo r the rescue of the survivors were in operations, and the workers and the family members of the trapped miners needed refuge. Tents and shelters were set-up and become home as authorities announced the rescue could take several months. During the first 17 days, three plans have been put into place, in the rescue operations. All three of the plans worked in grand scheme of the rescue, in order for the trapped miners to survive this long a plan of survival had to come to play. A trapped shift-supervisor took on the role as survival leader, and gathered the men in a secure room, organizing their supplies with the intent that the few resources they had must last if they were to survive the rescue. Luis Urzula in a position of authority, and the men’s trust Urzula he explains ratios and organizes skilled men to go out into the mine shafts to assess the situation. Finally, workers’ from above can secure two holes, only six inches in diameter, but with the help of what is known as paloma, everything needed by the men below could be sent. Clothing, food, water, medicine, and sleeping supplies could be sent to the men. The items meant more than just survival, the items helped to establish trust that survival was possible. In the days to follow a small fiber optic video line is snaked down to the men. Each family is given the chance to see and speak to their loved ones; the ability to send and receive messages they receive encouragement. As the end of the month of August grows near, Plan A and Plan B toward rescue are in full operations. The trapped workers now have electricity, running water, fresh air, and the fiber optic video cable that allows the men to watch live soccer through their tiny TV, reported ABC News. Each of the men was allowed five minutes per day to communicate with their families and open-communications with the rescues. The once completely hopeless situation for all the company’s employees and the rescue worker, whether this is the professionals or the friends and families, they now feel the cohesion of the rescue efforts. In all of the communications questions were allowed and encouraged to ensure operations below and above ground were in complete collaborations for the efforts of the success in the rescue and to rejoin these families. September passed and October arrives, the rescue mission continues, in the time that has passed the assembly of people gave considerable care, and thought to each member of the rescue operation. Over the past 60 days, by establishing, a record level of compassion is felt, and a bond grew to encourage hope. Finally, on October 12, 2010 the first of the 33 miners was brought up in a rescue capsule, and almost 24 hours later the last trapped miner was brought to safety. The entire group of rescued miners underwent medical and psychological evaluations; within seven days of the rescue all 33 were home with their families. REFERENCES Sherwell, Philip. (2010). 2010 Copiapà ³ mining accident. Retrieved on April 21, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Copiap%C3%B3_mining_accident Weik, J. (2010, August 6). Over 30 workers trapped after Chilean copper mine collapse. Metal Bulletin Daily, (224), 65. Kofman, Jeffery. (2010). Trapped: Inside the Chilean Mine Collapse. Retrieved on April 19, 2010. http://abcnews.go.com/International/inside-chilean-mine-33-trapped-men/story?id=11622729page1

LEGO: Porters Five Forces and PEST

LEGO: Porters Five Forces and PEST LEGO is one of the most popular toy brands due to the companys distinctive brand image, high-quality products and creative business climate. However, the present successful performance of the company went through a period of significant transformation. In the beginning of the 21st century the company experienced drastic net loss which was resulted by internal inefficiency and over-ambitious expansion targets. The transformation path of the company has not always been smooth and flawless as LEGO faced some substantial threats over the lengthy period of operation. In the beginning of the 21st century the company experienced significant tremors which were resulted by profitability deficit of 1.4 billion DKK. At present LEGO has introduced a number of innovative strategies to enhance its consumer insight, reinforce its creative dynamics and produce more market-relevant products. The company has been involved in a number of operations which include the work of external professionals and enthusiasts to attract greater creativity influx to the production of new products. Although LEGO has gone through a period of highly positive transformations, the company is still facing a number of environmental threats and operational risk. The introduction of the Mindstorms NXT product line made the company penetrate in a highly competitive market where innovative and experienced brands as SONY failed. On the other hand, the company is working with a number of external parties which implies a continuous risk and pressure on the companys intellectual property. Moreover, the coordination of external professionals is hard to be sustained in the long-term and also hard for the company to fit these professionals within the corporate culture. In this context, the present report is focused on analysing the strategic capabilities which LEGO possesses, exploring the external environment and identifying business opportunities and threats. The purpose of the report is to outline some strategic issues which the company needs to avoid or exploit and thus introduce recommendations to promote LEGOs profit sustainability in the long-term. The Environment The environment in which LEGO operates can be characterised as highly dynamic. The companys products have been played by some 300 million children and adults on annual basis. LEGO manufacturers more than 1 400 000 components every hour to fulfill sales of some 100 million products worldwide every year (The Voice of the Customer, 2001). Deriving from these findings, it can be suggested that LEGO manages a highly diverse and complex environment where efficient resource allocation is of paramount importance for profit sustainability. The internal complexity of the organisation can be recognised as one of the main source for the past net profit loss as the company could not realise its resource potential, many new concepts were never released to market and the focus on continuous expansion incurred substantial costs. This is the reason why, LEGOs EBIT margins were falling in period when the company achieved high sales growth (Figure 1) (Robertson and Crawford, 2008). LEGOs Revenue and EBIT comparison Figure 1 Apart from the complex internal climate, LEGO has been also operating in a challenging external environment which can be identified from the presented PEST analysis (Figure 2). Political Environmental LEGO needs to consider international emerging markets, such as China. However, the company would need to be knowledgeable and flexible with respect to responding to the specific political characteristics of the Chinese market, such as penetrating through state-owned enterprises and government equity within the venture. Moreover, the company needs to produce products which continuously comply with health and safety regulations and, therefore LEGO is constantly exposed to risk and regulatory pressure (The Voice of the Customer, 2001). The company is operating in a business climate where the global environmental sustainability is continuously growing in importance. This is the reason why, producing plastic products as a core product line is of substantial challenge for the companys corporate citizenship and responsiveness to environmental degradation (Tracey et al., 2005). Social Technological The company has been continuously challenged by the need to keep up with new emerging social trends and lifestyles of their consumers. New toy themes have been continuously released on the market, therefore continuous research and product development would be one of the most expensive operations of the organisation (Robinson and Crawford, 2008). LEGO has penetrated a highly competitive market with its Mindstorms NXT product range. The company is facing competitors, such as the popular robotic brand of WowWee. Moreover, this market requires significant product development costs and thus is likely to challenge the companys profitability. For example, brands as SONY, which has significantly more experience than LEGO in electronic products failed to realise its robotic ambitions (Allonrobots, 2009). LEGOs PEST analysis Figure 2 Strategic Capability The strategic capabilities of LEGO are explored and analysed through the use of the resource-based view theory. The resource-based view theory describes the strategic capability of organisations are based on their internal resources. In this respect, in order for a company to have high degree of strategic capability it needs to possess resources which are valuable, rare, in-imitable and non-substitutable (Colbert, 2004). In this respect, the following table adopts the resource-based view theory to evaluate the strategic capability of LEGO (Figure 3). Resource Characteristics LEGOs Strengths LEGOs Weaknesses Valuable One of the most valuable resources of LEGO is knowledge. The company has a well-developed team of engineers and designers and is also employing external professionals to enhance the industry knowledge and creativity of the team. LEGO is producing an extensive amount of new design and prototypes and only few ever reach the market. In this respect, the company may generate some valuable know-how and intellectual property but at the end appears to be wasted and not successfully utilised. Rare The resource which can be identified as rare is the brand image of LEGO. The company have distinctive brand image and product ranges. This is proved by the case study analysis which revealed that LEGOs reduction of product components ignited dissatisfaction among customers. Although LEGO possesses some rare resources and capabilities the company is facing some significant competition from other toy segments. Moreover, LEGOs Mindstorms NXT product line is competing with WowWee which have greater experience and know-how in this particular segment of the market. In-imitable LEGO is continuously producing new concepts and product lines and therefore it is hard for competitors to imitate them. Moreover, the company has been recently paying extensive attention to community responses to their product prototypes which has been enhancing the companys continuously enhanced insight on segment needs. On the other hand, LEGOs products can be easily imitated by competitors with respect to toy themes and components. However, as already recognised the company has distinctive brand image which differentiates the brand from possible copy cats. Non-substitutable LEGO possesses non-substitutable resources such as intellectual property, designing capabilities, know-how and industrial insight. The company is competing with a great number of toy brands which provide consumers with substitutions for LEGOs products. Moreover, the highly innovative Mindstorms NXT brand has product substitutions from competitors such as WowWee. LEGOs Resource-Based View Figure 3 In order for the author to further analyse the strategic capabilities of the company a Porters Five Forces model is implemented. It will reveal how the internal strategic capabilities of the company relate to the market context (Figure 4) (Porter, 1990). Risk of entry by Competitors Power of Suppliers Competitive Rivalry Power of Buyers Threat of Substitutes Porters Five Forces Figure 4 Deriving from Porters Five Forces model it can be concluded that LEGO is facing a number of strategic challenges. For example, the power of buyers is significantly high as the company needs to tailor product lines to specifically fit consumer segments needs and preferences. Although LEGO has greater power of external suppliers, the company still needs to develop solid collaboration with external partners within the supply-chain in order to increase operational efficiency and innovation (Robertson and Crawford, 2008; Afuah, 2003). In the context of new competitors penetrating the market, it can be suggested that the risk is comparatively higher than other industries. The toy industry does have any high barriers to entry as it does not require substantial investment and know-how to operate. This is the reason why, LEGO faces a number of substitution products form popular brands, such as: Playmobil; BRIO; ELC; Meccano Toys; Geomag; Hasbro; and Logiblocs (ToyShop UK, 2009). All these brands provide construction toys which use similar principles of build-to-play entertainment. However, it should be outlined that the company is facing other substitute toy products which are own-branded from popular names as Hamleys, ToysRUs and Disney (Doyoo, 2009). However, with respect to LEGOs new range of Mindstorms NXT product line the situation is different. There are very few competitors which can provide substitutes, such as WowWee (WowWee, 2009). This product line requires greater investment by companies to penetrate and is likely to increase production costs. This is the reason why. LEGO can develop and sustain advantage in the production of robotic products which are building by hardware and software. Moreover, the greatest competitor WowWee does not have such a diversified range of robotic products as LEGO but still WowWee provide robotic toys and technologies with greater functionality (WowWee, 2009). Business Opportunities and Challenges Based on the presented analysis, it can be concluded that LEGO can exploit a number of promising business opportunities. However, it should be also underlined that these opportunities hide substantial threat to the EBIT profitability of the organisation. In this context, one of the greatest business opportunities of LEGO is the companys focus on external professionals and enthusiasts in the product designing and engineering (Robertson and Crawford, 2008; Lego, 2009). On the one hand this results in influx of fresh idea and creativity due to the diverse range of participants but on the other hand it can result in a number of risks, such as: intellectual rights; outflow of knowledge; inability to fit external professionals to the organisational climate, etc. Another significant business opportunity which can be recognised is LEGOs development of the Mindstorms NXT product range through the use of external specialists and by involving consumers in a virtual collaborative platform (Robertson and Crawford, 2009). On the one hand, this is an emerging innovative market which has strong growth potential as it targets both young and adult segments. However, on the other hand, penetrating this market involves high amounts of investment and operational costs which may push profit margins down. Moreover, the greatest competitor of LEGO in the Mindstorms NXT range is WowWee which can be recognised to outperform LEGOs product by functionality, whereas LEGO is more focused on robotic entertainment (WowWee, 2009). This is the reason why, it can be suggested that WowWee is more likely to attract adult consumer segments and thus generate greater margins sales as adult consumers would be more willing to pay higher price for more functional products. Another challenge for LEGO, which can be directly produced by the product diversification of the company, is the negative impact this may have on LEGOs brand identity. As identified, the company has recognisable brand image and any drastic diversification may have negative impact on consumers perceptions (Robertson and Crawford, 2008). Moreover, LEGO is managing a wide range of product lines and there is not any identified synergetic relationship between them. This is not only challenging to LEGOs ability to optimise costs and enhance efficiency but has substantial impact on what actually the LEGO brands stand for. On the other hand, the numerous opportunities for new product development which LEGO can utilise can be proposed to increase supply-chain complexity. For example, the build-it-by-yourself service which LEGO provides to consumers to construct their own Mindstorms NXT robot may result in pressure within supply-chain operations and specifically inventory management. This virtual platform needs to be integrated with a highly sensitive back-end supply-chain system to indicate any changes in inventory levels. And this is a complex process that may predispose to errors and inefficiencies (Harrison and van Hoek, 2008). Finally, LEGO has the opportunity to continuously develop complementary products to increase profitability. The present case study identified the companys inability to successfully integrate complementary merchandise with the sale of its product lines and toy themes (Robertson and Crawford, 2008). This can be proposed to be a significant drawback as other market competitors provides diversified range of merchandise and other complementary accessories to enhance consumers experience and entertainment. Recommendations Based on the analysis of the external environment and strategic capabilities of LEGO, there are four strategic recommendations which can be made with respect to the companys segmentation strategy; supply-chain efficiency; financial profitability; and brand identity. 5.1 Segmentation LEGO needs to target new segments not only through demographic characteristics but also by identification of new consumer needs. For example, the company may focus on the adult segment by developing LEGO lines, such as LEGO Hobby (e.g. selling construction sets with innovative elements to be used for hobby purposes, such as: small models building of airplanes; ships; automobiles, etc). Moreover, the company may target professional segments such as architects to which components for models can be sold. In this respect, the present Lego Club can be diversified to fit the needs of adult consumers. An interesting theme in the Lego Club may be how parents can communicate with their children through Lego games. In other words, Lego can produce games to enhance parents-children communication and sharing of experience. Moreover, this is an opportunity for Lego to penetrate other family games markets and segments, and produce Lego games to compete with Monopoly, Scrabble, Pictionary, Cards, etc. Lego can also enhance customers loyalty through providing discounts existing customers who wish to return old Lego toys and purchase new ones. First, this would be an effective recycling strategy which Lego can adopt. Second, parents would have the incentive to return old toys but still continue purchasing new ones through discounting vouchers. Third, children would have the opportunity to play with all new Lego models throguh this discounting scheme, which will constantly promote their interest in the Lego brand. 5.2 Supply-chain efficiency The company has developed a Mindstorms NXT range which is a highly innovative and promising product line. However, LEGO should consider competitors threats seriously and thus develop supply-chain partnerships with organisations which have extensive experience in building electronic products. 5.3 Financial profitability Lego needs to focus on developing its merchandise range and complementary products to both enhance the entertainment experience and use additional source of profit. 5.4 Brand identity Lego should consider how the companys brand identity is changes with the introduction of new products. The company may focus on enhancing its corporate social responsibility by introducing product ranges with environmentally friendly components. This would not only have positive impact on the brand image of the company but is likely to target new segments (e.g. environmentally conscious consumers). In this respect, the company could focus on Green Marketing by donating some small amount of every purchase to environmental projects. Another interesting strategy for promoting the brand identity of the company may be also focused on socially responsible projects, such as donating a small amount of every purchase to the construction of hospitals, homes, schools and other public and private sector buildings in developing countries. In this context, the company can promote a campaign slogan, such as: Lego A Real World Constructor.

Free Essays - Desire and Reason in Macbeth :: Macbeth essays

Desire and Reason in Macbeth In the play Macbeth the word desire occurs 7 times and the word reason occurs 5 times. These words have an important correlation and are a main theme in the play. Although the meaning of these words does not vary much at all in this play, their impact on the play is in the words surrounding them, and their place in the development of the plot. The first time desire shows up in the play is when Lady Macbeth is speaking in her first soliloquy and says, "I burned in desire to question them further". In which she was referring to the prophecy of which was revealed to her, and triggers the plot against Duncan, and her "reason" for her early lust to power. The second time she mentions desire she says, "Where our Desire is got without content". With the surrounding text she is saying that if your desires are obtained without happiness then all is lost. In two of the times Lady Macbeth uses desire it is in referral to Macbeth being king. The other time she uses it is persuading h im to kill Duncan, when she questions his desire and strength to obtain them. Macduff uses desire much less passionately than Lady Macbeth mostly he uses it to describe and emotion of wanting something, it is very much completely is context without literary impact of the word itself. The most significant time he uses it is before Duncan was discovered to be dead he says, "it provokes the desire, but takes away the performance". He was speaking about alcohol and provoking the desire for sex but taking away the ability to have it. This is not different from Macbeth envisioning the dagger that seems just out of reach. Later too he nearly backs out of the plot against Duncan, which is when Lady Macbeth says that she would bash her child's brains in if she had said she would; confronting Macbeth about his passive approach to desire. In the same speech in which she is convincing Macbeth to follow through with the murder reason is used in an extremely clever part of the play.

Common Man Tragedy in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Essay

The idea of dramatic tragedy is a classical one, discussed in Aristotle's Poetics. Before it can be established as to whether Miller really has written a tragedy or not, the very concept of tragedy must be investigated. Aristotle asserted, 'Tragedy is a representation, an imitation, of an action.1? He went on to outline the common features tragic drama must have. Tragedy has six elements, which, in order of importance, are: plot, character, thought, music, language, and spectacle. The plot requires peripeteia, anagnorisis, and cathartic effect. It must take place in one day, in one setting, with a unity of plot (i.e. all tragic, no comic subplot). The character must be ?good? (there is some debate as to the vague nature of this word), be 'true to type', be consistent in behaviour, be a great man (that is, to be representative of a whole society), and have one single tragic flaw. Thought is exactly that; the ideas that the speakers express in language. Music is also self-explanat ory. As for language and spectacle, the development of these is the perpetual instinct of drama to struggle closer and closer to real life. Willy Loman's character does adhere to the tragic hero guidelines to a certain extent. Rather than being a man who is a representative of a society, he represents society. His allegorical name of 'Loman' or 'Low-man' allowed Miller to twist the formula somewhat. He is true to type in that he dreams the American Dream, and subscribes to the desire for money and material possessions in capitalist society. Whether Willy is a 'good' man is debatable; his affair would indicate that he is not, his wife dotes on him, and Biff is crushed by the discovery of the mistress, so much so that he loses all faith in his fa... ...illy is a victim of the society in which he lives, or a victim of his own poor judgement. ?Willy is not simply a victim of that success-mongering culture. Miller wishes us to see that Willy accepts the success value all too easily and completely. The play suggests that, along with our pity for Willy, we take a critical attitude.8? Bibliography: BROWN, J. R. and HARRIS, B. (1974) American Theatre ARNOLD DOWNER, A. S. (1975) American Drama and Its Critics CHICAGO KERNAN, A. B. (1967) The Modern American Theater SPECTRUM KRUTCH, J. W. (1967) American Drama since 1918 BRAZILLER LUCAS, F. L. (1972) Tragedy ? Serious drama in relation to Aristotle?s Poetics CHATTO & WINDUS PORTER, T. E. (1969) Myth and Modern American Drama WAYNE SCANLAN, T. (1978) Family, Drama, and American Dreams GREENWOOD WILLIAMS, R. (1969) Modern Tragedy CHATTO & WINDUS

The Tragic Downfall of Shakespeares Macbeth :: Macbeth essays

The Tragic Downfall of Macbeth Macbeth, at the beginning of the play, seems to be a very loyal and honorable person. However, his character is changed by the influences of several factors. These factors have an influence on Macbeth, but he is responsible for his own destiny. The influences of the witches' prophecies, the influence of Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth's ambitions, are they key factors that lead to his tragic downfall. The witches (or "weird sisters" as they are often called) are responsible for putting the idea that Macbeth would become king of Scotland in his head, but in the end, it's Macbeth's decision to fall for and make this idea happen. As a result of this idea, Macbeth's curiosity of how he could become king of Scotland comes into play. "One can wonder if Macbeth ever had a chance of doing what was right after he met with the witches." (courseworkhelp) As the play progresses, Macbeth slowly relies more on the witches prophesies. They are clearly evil and deceiving and they slowly lead to the corruption of his character. Macbeth creates his own misery when he is driven by this own sense of guilt. This causes him to become insecure as to the reasons for his actions, which cause him to commit more murders. He would never have thought seriously about killing King Duncan without the witches influence. However it's more realistic to believe that Lady Macbeth, Macbeth's ambitions, and his own responsibilities lead to his downfall, not just the witches. They really never had the power to affect the future of the play. Lady Macbeth is shown early as an ambitious woman who can manipulate Macbeth easily. It is shown in the line "That I may pour my spirits in thine ear" (1.5.26). She manipulates his self-esteem by playing with his manliness and his bravery. When Macbeth is thinking of not following through on his plan to kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth scorns him when she hears of his change of plans. She becomes successful in altering his ambition and appears to be the dominating individual in the relationship. Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to be a great and powerful man she loves him and her only ambition is to help him gain the throne.

Causes of communication problems Essay

It exhibits itself when team members always want to protect and defend own interests. There is no openness and communication is always argumentative with team members trying to outdo each other as regards explaining why they are right and their colleagues wrong (Peter, 1988). Different expectations: Divergent views on individual roles and responsibilities and authority structure results in tension and communication breakdown. Confusion: Chaos over roles, processes and responsibilities resulting from inadequate or inaccurate information can lead to loss of productivity and communication breakdown. Loss of momentum: Results when team members aren’t all working toward project success leading to a lag in project progress. Frustration ensues when some teammates feel they are being pulled back. The once smooth communication turns into one of finger pointing further aggravating the loss of momentum. Dissatisfaction: A project is headed towards doom when teammates find it is no fun going to work. Such a project is likely to be behind schedule and out of budget. Communication among project team is strained. Lack of commitment: Poor communication could result when team members are not fully committed to the project success (Peter, 1988). Unconscious incompetence: An inexperienced person in the team who doesn’t understand their limitations focuses mainly on the documentation aspect instead of dwelling on problem solving. This is because the team member should quickly learn to solve problems as they occur. Avoiding miscommunication Being receptive to mentoring: New job entrants should understand that they can benefit from learning from those who are older in the job. Managers should also avoid instructing new job entrants to do the difficult tasks as this is not conducive for one who needs to learn. Stress management: Close monitoring and periodic management of stress levels among project team will do justice to the overall performance of the project. A Stress-free team exhibits good communication (Peter, 1988). Stimulate fun: Monitoring the level of fun in the team and working towards stimulating the same is of importance to the success of the project goals. Proper communication is more likely to result. Quickly resolve issues: This ensures timely restoration of diminished project momentum to allow for project progress. Mechanisms for resolution of disputes should be known and utilized by all (Ferdinand, 1978). Make oneself a trusted leader: A leader who has 100% voluntary followers will initiate proper communication. The leader will offer a clear direction, decision making and problem solving if needed. Open communication: Holding a sober session to discuss decision making procedures, roles of team members and authority hierarchy among other pertinent issues will clear any doubts among team mates. Misunderstandings will be ironed out as well as trying to make expectations of team members alike. Build trust among members: This comes about when members honor their promises and perform their roles towards the project (Ferdinand, 1978).

Practices in Project Management Essay

Abstract The St. Dismas Medical Center (SDMC) Assisted Living Facility (ALF) Project was authorized to create a new service line to counteract a decline of inpatient activity. The project objectives are to build 100 light- and heavy-assist units in a standalone residential facility with a sheltered connection to SDMC by late-July 2001 and within an $11 million budget. The particular deliverables, constraints, assumptions, exclusions, and work breakdown structure are outlined in the Project Scope Statement. Brainstorming and scenario analysis will be used in the risk strategy, while cost-benefit analysis will be the primary tool in project quality management. A project work list and milestone schedule illustrates the critical path for the 102-week construction phase. And, the $10 million budget is detailed by activity and quarter to reconcile the multiple cost perspectives of team members. Project monitoring will primarily use earned value metrics along with the Gantt chart and budget. Data will be analyzed and reported weekly to the team, and significant deviations from the plan are subject to the control strategy; milestone status reporting and meeting with the Board of Trustees and submission of change requests to get the plan back on track. The plan will conduct a formal closeout process to include an audit, closeout meetings, a final report, closeout meetings, and record archival. Project Purpose and Justification Over the past few months, there has been a steady decline of the inpatient population at St. Dismas Medical Center (SDMC) due to the increased usage of seatbelts and bicycle/motorcycle helmets. A planning retreat was held to  identify business opportunities and a solution was proposed to build an assisted living facility on the St. Dismas campus. The purpose of the project is to plan and implement Assisted Living Facility (ALF) as authorized by the Board of Trustees in May 1999. The project is being completed in order to create a new service line to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the shortage of medically-focused and highly specialized facilities available throughout the country and a growing geriatric population. We project that the ALF, the for-profit subsidiary of SDMC, will bring in a net income between $9,000 and $12,000 per unit and a net cash flow of about $1,500,000 annually. Both outpatient referrals and inpatient population are expected to increase. Furthermore, we hope that the project will have an added benefit of strengthening the organizational focus on reimbursable preventive and wellness programs for healthier aging community. Project Requirements The ALF Project Steering Committee has identified several actions and processes that need to be met, including: facility design and construction; operational needs for food services, housekeeping, and staffing; development of operational policy and procedures; creation of an operating budget; creation of payroll and accounting systems; characterization and set up of telecommunications and information system needs; preliminary marketing plans, with community and staff communications plans; development of medical assessment tools for incoming residents; designation of clinical services offerings; development of an organizational structure; identification of government regulations and industry standards. Primary Project Objectives The primary project objectives of the ALF Project are as follows: The cost objective is to fall in between $8.5 to $11 million for the construction of the facility. The time objective was to complete construction and open by July 2000, but was later revised to a duration of two years, with completion by late July 2001. The scope objectives are to build a standalone residential facility with a sheltered connection to SDMC that can access the  cafeteria and hospital services, containing 100 units that accommodate up to 150 single and couple residents with 15 to 30 â€Å"heavy-assisted† units and the remaining units â€Å"light-assisted†. Assumptions and Constraints The following is assumed: Project funds will be released in a timely manner. Project team members and resources will be available as needed. Contractors will have the skills and experience needed to complete the project. The constraints are as follows: The construction cannot begin until after the November 1999 city elections. The facility needs to open by late July 2001. Operational and administrative policies, procedures, and systems need to be created and regulations and standards need identification. High-Level Risks As with all projects, there is a risk of running over budget, over schedule, and/or falling short on scope. There are several high-level risks for the ALF project. One particular area of concern was the short seven-month time period for the complex construction project, but that has been extended about another year. Further, the organizational complexity is high with the number of people involved across many functions and the decision-making body being the Board of Trustees. This complexity may lead to delays in decision-making. The project is also much larger than SDMC has handled in the past with only one team member having construction experience. The operational and administrative regulations and standards for construction and healthcare industries will be complex and have not yet been identified. Construction projects have a strong potential to impact the local ecology which will add a risk factor to the project. Further, weather poses a high-level risk to the project and may negatively impact the schedule by delaying supply deliveries and construction work. Major Project Milestones Major project milestones include: 1. Facility design and construction 2. Identification of operational needs 3. Project and operating budget development 4. Creation of payroll and accounting systems 5. Define telecommunications needs and system setup 6. Define information systems and system setup 7. Creation of a preliminary marketing plan and communications package 8. Organize major ground breaking event 9. Clinical Services 10. Design of assessment tool for incoming residents 11. Identification of demands for clinical services 12. Development of facility’s management structure 13. Identification of governmental regulations and industry standards Preliminary Budget Estimate The preliminary budget estimate for the completed project is between $8.5 and $11 million, which includes the land purchase, facility construction, facility furnishings, and construction of the sheltered connection from the assisted living facility to the Medical Center. Key Stakeholders Illustrated below is the key stakeholder analysis matrix, which demonstrates the key stakeholders, their levels of power and interest, and an engagement plan. The matrix is followed by a communications chart that outlines stakeholders, their responsibilities, and their communication needs. The project scope is to build a standalone residential facility for the purpose of providing assisted living services to up to 150 single and couple residents. The product will also include a sheltered connective structure that provides access to St. Dismas Medical Center’s cafeteria and hospital services. The facility will contain 100 residential units with 15 – 30of those units that accommodate residents that need heavy assistance and the remaining units categorized as â€Å"light-assisted†. The cost to construct the facility should fall within $8.5 to $11 million range. Acceptance of the project requires that construction may not begin until after city elections in November 1999 and the facility must open to the public by late July 2001. Project Constraints The construction cannot begin until after the November 1999 city elections. The facility needs to open by late July 2001. Operational and administrative policies, procedures, and systems need to be created and regulations and standards need identification. The budget cap is $11 million. Project Assumptions There are several assumptions that may also impact the implementation of the project if they prove to be false (Project Management Institute, 2013): Project funds will be released in a timely manner. Project team members and resources will be available as needed. Contractors will have the skills and experience needed to complete the project. Project Deliverables facility design and construction; operational needs for food services, housekeeping, and staffing; development of operational policy and procedures; creation of an operating budget; creation of payroll and accounting systems; characterization and set up of telecommunications and information system needs; preliminary marketing plans, with community and staff communications plans; development of medical assessment tools for incoming residents; designation of clinical services offerings; development of an organizational structure; identification of government regulations and industry standards. Project Exclusions Items that are not included in the scope include: design and construction of a parking lot or garage design, construction, and furnishings of patient entertainment and activity areas design, construction, and furnishings of exercise and fitness areas design and development of landscaping, walking paths, and gardening areas design, construction, and furnishings of private visiting areas design, construction, and furnishings of salon and barber services area design, construction, and furnishings of dining area Project Risk and Quality Management Strategy Project Risk Strategy The project team has held a brainstorming session with a group of consultants in several relevant areas of expertise to identify an exhaustive list of risks by questioning what could go wrong with tasks. The scenario analysis method has also been utilized to identify, analyze, and prioritize risks from high-to-low impact. This method entails utilizing critical thinking skills to realize events that may likely impact the project (Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, & Sutton, 2011). Additionally, the work breakdown structure (WBS) and project profile were scrutinized to further identify highly probable risks as suggested by Mantel et al. (2011). The following highly probable risks have been identified: Bad weather Inadequate staffing Inadequate budget Project management team inexperience Regulatory and industry requirements Cost estimation errors Complex organizational structure and decision-making process Broad set of stakeholders that have yet to weigh in on the project Environmental impact from construction Project communication and coordination issues Inadequate deliverables (e.g. parking garage) Inadequate time schedule The strategy for handling risks is to develop a risk response plan as advised by Mantel et al. (2011). The risk response plan will include contingency plans to handle events that do happen, with more than one contingency plan and supporting logic charts developed for high-impact risk. Furthermore, risk identification and response planning will be ongoing through the project duration. Project Quality Management Strategy The ALF project quality management strategy is to follow the Project Management Institute (PMI) (2013) guidelines: identify quality requirements, document compliance levels of quality requirements, perform quality assurance auditing, and control quality by taking action to address poor quality measurements. Inevitably changes will have to be made to manage events or unsatisfactory quality results. The ALF Project change management strategy is to include provisions in the original contract to accommodate change as suggested by Mantel et al. (2011). An integrated change control process will be created and implemented, as advised by PMI (2013) to reduce project risks through holistic analysis of proposed changes. This process will outline how change requests will be reviewed, approved or denied, and how those changes will impact other aspects of the project (policies, documents, plans, etc.) (Project Management Institute, 2013). Two tools that will be used to manage quality are: cost-benefit analysis, which compares the cost of the proposed change to the expected benefit. cause-and-effect diagrams which utilizes the question  Ã¢â‚¬Å"why† to discover the root cause of a problem in order to correct it. Cost-benefit analysis will be useful in presenting problems and their possible changes to the decision-making body in order for them to fully assess their options and identify the solution that best suits their requirements. The cause-and-effect diagram will be beneficial in recognizing the true problem that needs to be addressed. Finding a solution for the root cause will help the team avoid unnecessary costs, time, efforts, and rework in addressing the wrong issues. Construction Phase Milestone Schedule Below is the work list and milestone schedule for the construction phase of the St. Dismas Assisted Living Facility project. The critical path (B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-K-L-O-P-S-T) is illustrated in green on the milestone schedule. The project is scheduled to be completed in 102 weeks, just shy of two years. The assumptions for this schedule are the following: The milestone schedule will be approved by the Board of Trustees. The project will begin in August 1999 after action plans are submitted. Project funds will be released in a timely manner. Project team members and resources will be available as needed. Contractors will have the skills and experience needed to complete the project. Project Budget Below are the summary-level budget and detailed budget for the St. Dismas ALF Project. The assumption from examining the provided cost information chart is that the Chief Operating Officer and the Construction Project Manager provided the estimates for the facility design and construction activities of the ALF project, and upper management dictated the administrative and contingency budgets, and both did so honestly. Bottom-up budgeting utilizes the work breakdown structure in a way that cost estimates of each activity are completed by the team members responsible for carrying out those tasks, while top-down budgeting produces estimates based on the judgments and experiences of top managers (Mantel et al., 2011). The combination use in this project of top-down and bottom-up budgeting is ideal, according to Mantel et al. (2011). The advantage of top-down budgeting is that it generally has a high degree of accuracy, although it can include considerable miscalculations for low-level act ivities; bottom-up budgeting is opposite in that it provides accuracy for low-level activities and the possibility of considerable miscalculations for high-cost activities (Mantel et al., 2011). The detailed budget is also divided by task and expected quarter of expenditure to address the multiple perspectives of cost between the project manager (PM), the accountant, and the controller. Mantel et al. (2011) point out that the PM is concerned with commitments made against the budget, accountants track costs as they are incurred, and controllers are responsible for the organization’s cash flow. Dividing costs by activity and quarter allow all three parties to understand their relationship to the project. In this budget, the bulk of the detail outlines only one deliverable from the project’s scope statement and work breakdown structure—facility design and construction. The other deliverables are clumped into the central and direct administrative costs categories. Although the budget may sufficiently cover the costs of the labor that needs to go into the other deliverables (identifying needs and regulations, and developing plans, systems, and budgets), it may insufficiently cover the costs for other aspects of some of the deliverables, such as setting up  telecommunications and information systems, and organizing a major ground-breaking event. Furthermore, consideration should be given to the fact that project exclusions from the Project Scope Statement, such as design and construction of a parking area and activity and entertainment areas, are not factored into this budget. The current budget totals $10,000,000, which is still $1,000,000 under the original estimated budget and leaves some room to add deliverables if necessary. Project Summary Budget Project Monitor and Control Strategy The ALF Project monitor and control strategy is as follows. The project team will continuously monitor schedule progress via the Gantt chart and monitor budget progress via the detailed budget. Monitoring these will give the team a comparison of the time period against the actual plan. However, the team will utilize earned value (EV) metrics to not only compare the current situation with the plan, but also consider the actual progress at the point of evaluation (Mantel at al., 2011). The data from these control tools will be collected and analyzed weekly and reported to the team on a weekly basis as stated in the communication chart. The project management team will assess if any deviations from the plan are significant enough to employ control measures. If the project management team feels that intervention is  necessary, data (including the project milestone status report), assessments, and suggestions will be communicated with the Board of Trustees, and change requests will be s ubmitted with the aim to reduce the differences between the plan and the actual circumstances. Earned value metrics is the ALF Project preferred monitoring tool for the purposes of monitoring and controlling. Earned value metrics allow the team to compare the plan with the actual progress at any given point in the project, to see how efficiently our schedule and costs are being maintained, and providing an estimate of cost if the project is continued at the current rate (Mantel et al., 2011). Utilizing a go/no-go control, such as the milestone status report, allows us to compare the project output (using milestones as checkpoints) to the existing standard, assess what are needs are in terms of physical assets, human resources, and/or finances for particular tasks, and employ the necessary steps to meet those needs in order to get the project schedule, budget, and/or scope aligned with the plan (Mantel et al., 2011). Project Closeout The ALF Project will conduct a formal project closeout primarily to â€Å"help the organization improve its project management skills on future project† (Mantel et al., 2011, p. 273). The formal project closeout will allow SDMC to understand project mistakes, accomplishments, performance, and project team and management efficiencies and deficiencies, and document these in the organizational knowledge base. Furthermore, a formal close out deals with all those involved in the project in a way that has positive impact on morale and trust. The organization and the project managers show they are reliable when they finish what they start, communicate to each department that it is time to finalize their project activities, and deal with project staff and their reassignments in a tactful manner. The project closeout will follow the suggestion of Mantel et al. (2011). After the project manager ensures that all project work is complete, the project must go through the project acceptance phase. Acceptance needs to be gained from the Board of Trustees, and project management team, and officially recorded. A detailed audit will be performed to assess the progress and performance of the project’s plan through examination of â€Å"its methodology and procedures, its records, properties, inventories, budgets, expenditures, progress, and so  on† (Mantel et al., 2011, p. 275). Audit findings as well as the complete project history will be written in a final report. The final report will include the project failures, successes, and lessons learned. The final report will also document the project activities and management techniques, the location of the organization’s assets, and recommendations for improvement. The final report will be distributed to stakeholders upon completion. Closeout meetings with contractors and department heads (financial, legal, purchasing, organizational, facility, etc.) will be head to notify them of project termination, provide direction to clear the project activities in which they are responsible, and address final issues. A closeout meeting with project personnel will be conducted to address reassignments and stress, and provide closure. Finally, the project books will be closed, organizational assets will be updated, and records will be archived. References Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., & Sutton, M. (2011). Project Management in Practice (4th ed). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Project Management Institute. (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ® guide) (5th ed). Newtown Square: PMI Publications.