The Diversity Of Multicultural Team Management - 1190 Words

Multicultural team management Summary: Since inevitable change of diversification is taking place in the workforce due to the globalization, therefore, understanding of culture and diversity is of great importance for manager to manage a multicultural team where people has different values, beliefs and conventions. To find out how important culture and diversity are to team management in international business, this article emphasized on the important effects of culture and diversity to multicultural team and the solutions to deal with cultural barriers for manager when effectively managing a team. By comparing different types of cultural issues, results suggested that understanding culture and diversity can enhance effective-decision†¦show more content†¦Managing a multicultural team therefore is a challenge for managers who will meet a worst situation unless realizing the importance of culture and diversity and taking actions to deal with them. False-consensus effect The problem we face when working with people of different cultures is that the false-consensus effect confuses us. The false-consensus effect is a tendency for people to assume that the way we see the world is the same as that of others than they actually do (Rose, Greene, and House 1977). For example, when Maggie was walking along a path on a college campus with her group members, an attractive male came alone to ask for their phone numbers. Meggie refused him immediately and proceeded to say that it would be not appropriate giving phone numbers to strangers since they all have boyfriends. However, Linda, a member in the group, disagreed with Maggie and gave her number to the stranger even though she was not single. When Maggie asking others’ opinions, she was shocked that only one girl agreed with her. What Maggie has just experienced is called false consensus effect. False-consensus effect is more obvious in cultural diverse environment and it will create confusions, misinterpretations, poor decisions and ineffectiveness which are bad for team management. The

Tourism in East Africa - 681 Words

East Africa comprises of five neighbouring member states: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. These countries are bound as a community through a political treaty that came into effect on the 7th of July 2000 which ratified the establishment of the East African Community (Eac.int, 2014). Tourism receipts in developing countries can amount to more than 20 percent of the total value of exports which makes it a very significant pillar for these economies (Ondicho,2000,pp-49-70). Like all developing countries, the East African Community (EAC) member nations are dependent on the export of primary commodities whose prices are prone to uncertainty and erratic fluctuations. As a result, tourism remains one of the few alternative industries available to these countries in diversifying their sources of foreign exchange (Ondicho, 2000, pp-49-70). According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism’s contribution to Sub-Saharan Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2012 was USD 36.0 Billion (2.8% of GDP) and was forecast to rise by 4.2% to USD 37.5 Billion in 2013 with growth expected to average 5.1% per annum to USD 61.9 Billion by 2023(Turner, 2013, p.3) . Tourism has the potential to propel economic development whilst addressing social ills such as poverty and rampant unemployment given the failure of the traditional sectors such as agriculture to bring about meaningful socio-economic transformation (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2011).Show MoreRelatedTourism : The Largest And Fastest Growing Economic Sector900 Words   |  4 PagesThe largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world, (#2) is tourism. Tourism has created jobs through the economic growth as well as gained export revenues and helped the development of under pillaged countries, this growth has been unstoppable. The market share of emerging economies increased from 30% in 1980 to 45% in 2014 and is expected to reach 57% by 2030, equivalent to over 1 billion international tourist arrivals. (#2) Tourist are traveling more frequently for leisure, businessRead MoreEbola Virus Disease ( Evd )820 Words   |  4 Pages1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks. One in which is now Nzara, South of Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. It occurred in a village near the Ebola River, this is where the disease got its name. The current outbreak in West Africa was notified in March 2014, and this is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak there was since it was discovered in 1976. 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The United Arab Emirates has opened itself to the tourism industry offeringRead MoreThe Impact Of Event Tourism On The Development Of The World1370 Words   |  6 PagesEvents are an important motivator in tourism that can significantly impact either negatively or positively the development of the world. Events are unique celebrations that are arranged and organized in a spot by distinctive open institutions or private associations and may contain various exercises. Event tourism is a type of tourism that offers the opportunity of the event in which multiple factors such as the people, place, and agenda of the event which connects with the particular assets andRead MoreThe Travel And Tourism Competiti veness984 Words   |  4 PagesTravel and Tourism Competitiveness, Report 2017† was written by World Economic Forum. The World Economic Forum wrote it for its concern to improve Travel and Tourism in the world in order to â€Å"Pave way for a more sustainable and inclusive future.† The main purpose of the report was to ensure that the tourism industry remains one of the main sectors that cannot be ignored in any country. Understanding the principles of sustainable tourism will be crucial for all countries. As the tourism industry globalRead MoreThe Impact Of Tourism On The Tourism Industry Worldwide1270 Words   |  6 PagesResponsible tourism/travel is about making better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit. It also means that you travel lightly, with a small carbon footprint, respecting people and places, while making a positive contribution where possible. Ecotourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry worldw ide. It has spawned voluntourism, wildlife tourism and geotourism (tourism to areas of geological interest.) There’s also a growing interest in ‘sustainableRead MoreA Report On The Tunisian Government1194 Words   |  5 PagesHistorically, the Tunisian economy was based on traditional services such as trade, tourism, transport and manufacturing outsourcing like Textile, Clothing and automotive components. But the growth rate was not enough to improve the living standards and the resorption of unemployment. The perfect Solution at that time was a Readjustment Program which requires guidance of the economy for activities with high technology and intensive skills: ICTs. The Tunisian government has positioned these technologies

Kurt Vonnegut A Canary In A Coal Mine Essay Example For Students

Kurt Vonnegut: A Canary In A Coal Mine Essay Kurt Vonnegut Served as a sensitive cell in the organism of American Society during the 1960s. His work alerted the public about the absurdity of modern warfare and an increasingly mechanized and impersonal society in which humans were essentially worthless and degenerated. The satirical tone and sardonic humor allowed people to read his works and laugh at their own misfortune. Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, where he was reared. His father was an architect, as his grandfather had been. Though the familys fortune was eroded during the Depression-his father went without an architectural commission from 1929 to 1940-they were well-to-do. Kurt attended Shortridge High School, where he was the editor of the nations oldest daily high school paper, the Echo. (((high school quote)))Vonnegut was expected to become a scientist, and when he went to Cornell in 1940, he chose, at the urging of his father, to major in chemistry. (((college quote))) Chemistry was everything then, he said. It was a magic word in the thirties. The Germans, of course, had chemistry, and they were going to take apart the universe and put it together again. At Cornell, he was the managing editor and columnist for its daily paper, the Sun. Among . Among ng and put it together again. At Cornell, he was the managing editor and columnist for its daily paper, the Sun. Among . Among ng and put it together again. At Cornell, he was the managing editor and columnist for its daily paper, the Sun. Among . Among ng and put it together again. At Cornell, he was the managing editor and columnist for its daily paper, the Sun. Among . Among ng and put it together again. At Cornell, he was the managing editor and columnist for its daily paper, the Sun. Among interned as a prisoner of war i!n Dresden, Germany. It was here that he experienced what would later become the basis for one of his best-selling novels, Slaughterhouse-Five. (Dresden) was the first fancy city Id ever seen. Then a siren went off-it was February 13, 1945-and we went down two stories under the pavement into a big meat locker. It was cool there, with (animal) cadavers hanging all around. When we came up the city was gone. This experience, or rather, disaster, was the Allied firebombing of Dresden in which over 130,000 people, mostly citizens, died for no apparent reason. Despite the horror of the incident, he maintains that the experience did not change his way of thinking, but rather gave him another viewpoint from which to observe the absurdity and cruelty of the human race. The importance of Dresden in my life has been considerably exaggerated because my book about it became a best seller. (p. 94 CWV) Vonnegut returned to the United States determined tp be a writer, and to deal with the experience of Dresden, though it was nearly 25 years before he was able to do so. In May of 1945 he married Jane Marie Cox. His first book, Player Piano, was published in 1952. It is an account of life in the future in a town called Ilium, NY, modeled on Schenectady, where Vonnegut, in his late 20s, worked as a public relations man for General Electric. The world that Player Piano envisions is run by computers, an idea which he came across while working at General Electric. Only those who can compete economically with the computers-those whose IQ qualifies them as managers or whose trades are not yet automated-are in any way free. Vonnegut was extremely opposed to this type of mechanization, which he saw as threatening and degrading to the dignity of the common man, and therefore, the human race as a whole. The novels hero, Paul Proteus, proclaims, I deny that there is any natural or div!ine law requiring that machines, efficiency, and organization should forever increase in scope, power and complexity. .. Doing the book was enough to liberate Vonnegut from his job at G.E. , a job that he truly despised. He quit and moved to Cape Cod in 1950. Player Piano sold just 3,500 copies, so for the next few years he was forced to support himself with short stories and occasional articles sold mostly to what used to be called the slicks, magazines such as the Ladies Home Journal and Colliers.. His short stories were written for a distinctly commercial audience, out of need of money. There was a time when to be a slick writer was a disgusting thing to be, as though it were prostitution I was scorned! 6 (p. 4 CWV) This time in his career made it difficult to later break into the world of well-known authors, for many critics ignored his work entirely. Apparently, they were unwilling to forgive him for having written patently commercial short stories in the beginning of his career. Space travel and runaway computers gave Vonnegut an early reputation as a science fiction writer, but it was never accurate, and Vonneguts books have always been more than just fanciful. James Decartes Essay In games the object is to win, but in life the object is not to winIve never written a story with a villain. (p. 22 CWV)-I think everybodys programmed, and cant help what they do, but I still oppose the rich and powerful: thats the way Ive been programmed. (p. 22 CWV)-Near the beginning of his career, Vonnegut sold his books, one for only $500, to support himself and his family. Publishers always explained very carefully that I wasnt worth any money. They would publish me almost as they did poetry-as a public service. Now that Ive got a lot of money, theres nothing I want. (p. 24 CWV) Hes actually offended by the amount of money he now makes. Its silly, not gratifying. (p. 28 CWV)present publisher: Seymore Lawrence-I want to go into the slums and help the people who are really being screwed by society. You cant comfort the poor with a play or a novel. (p. 27 CWV)-Doing a play is so entertaining, so much fun. All the people! Theres no one else in my study on the Cape (Cod). (p. 24 CWV)-Humanitarian: I beg you to believe in the most ridiculous superstition of all: That humanity is at the center of the universe. (p. 28 CWV)-The great popular comedians of the American 1930s gave Vonnegut the basis for his artistic style, and his central beliefs can be seen as coming from an equally humble source: the lessons of his parents and schoolteachers from the same period. In disagreeing with a Playboy interviewer, who said that Vonnegut was a radical, he claims, Everything I believe I was taught in junior civics during the Great Depression. (p. 11 VIA)-Vonnegut has constructed his own personal mythology for dealing with the world. -Vonnegut is the compassionate satirist who does not have to make us seem worse than we are to make us laugh at ourselves, and who, understanding us, reminds us that the proper study of mankind is still man. (((quote about humanity at the center of the universe))) Vonnegut seems to be there in his fiction with a tolerant and reassuring irony to tell us that it is somehow all right, that humanity remains the most worth caring about. No matter how evil, stupid, or inept we become as a culture or as a people, Vonnegut is there in his fiction reminding us not to give up on the human race. He is forever prompting us to recall that common humanity, a sense of decency, and good manners are the basis of civilized behavior, and civilized behavior is within almost everybodys capabilities. At heart, therefore, to see Vonnegut as a humanist as well as a humorist is to see him in true relation to his times and his culture. -It was only in 1969, after nearly 20 years of writing, that Vonnegut achiever widespread critical recognition. It was Slaughterhouse Five which did it for him. The experience at the center of the novel is the World War II fire-bombing of Dresden, which the young Vonnegut survived as a prisoner of war. Vonneguts persona in the book is Billy Pilgrim, a meek optometrist who in mid-career loses interest in helping people to see physically and begins to try to make them see according to his own light. Pilgrim is a veteran of Dresden, and his mind flashes from recollections of the bombing and its aftermath to the banality of his life in Ilium, N.Y., to his time-warp trips to the imagined planet of Tralfamadore, which he discusses before millions of viewers on an all-night talk show. The devise of the book is to increase the horror of the bombing by its juxtaposition with comedy and fantasy. Throughout the novel, the descriptions of the destroyed city are stark and spare: There we!re hundreds of corpse mines operating by and by. They didnt smell bad at first, were wax museums. But then the bodies rotted and liquefied, and the stink was like roses and mustard gas. So it goes. So it goes, the shrugging expression that follows every mention of death, is the refrain of the book. -In a perfect description of Vonneguts quizzical relationship with critics, Robert Scholes said of Slaughterhouse Five in a front-page review in The New York Times Book Review: Serious critics have shown some reluctance to acknowledge that Vonnegut is among the best writers of his generation. He is, I suspect, both too funny and too intelligent for many, who confuse muddles earnestness with profundity. Vonnegut is not confused. He sees all too clearly. (p. 32 CWV)-The success of Slaughterhouse Five made Vonnegut rich, and changed him. But it was not the money that changed him. It was a therapeutic thing. Im a different sort of person now. I got rid of a lot of crap. Interestingly, I am in a dangerous position now (in 1971). I can sell anything I write. (p. 32 CWV)

My Contraband And Brothers By Alcott Essays - Ned, The Lucy Poems

My Contraband And Brothers By Alcott Of all the atrocities, man has endured; none has caused more misery and destruction to the soul than human bondage, also identified as slavery. It is illustrated in Louisa May Alcott's story: "My Contraband," originally published "The Brothers." The Civil War was fought over slavery. It pitted brother against brother, but this did not kill these brothers, it was the deep and festering hatred they had for each other that sent them to their early graves. The story these individuals create is complex and depressing; the main character, Robert is a contraband (a slave who has come to the North to seek freedom). Instead of finding freedom, he finds his half brother Ned and his wife Lucy. After the death of his master, Robert arrives from the South to freedom in the North to work in a hospital caring for wounded men of the war. His assignment is to help Miss Dane, a nurse, tend to a dying Rebel. Miss Dane appears to be the narrator in the story She is aware of Robert's troubled existence and observes despair from the moment their encounter. Upon their first meeting, she sensed sadness from deep within him she remarked, "I had seen colored people in what they call "the black sulks" when, for days, they neither smiled nor spoke, and scarcely ate. But, this was something more than that" (528). Miss Dane appears to be a compassionate person; nursing comes easy to her and she lacks intolerance regarding Robert's color. She had wanted"to know and comfort him; and following the impulse of the moment I went in and touched him on the shoulder"(529). This is an example of her compassionate view of the contraband. She believed that "black boys are far more faithful and handy than some of the white scamps" (528). Robert is content to stay with the rebel even though he has typhoid. When Miss Dane informs Robert that since he himself has never contracted this disease, he may become infected with it, he states, "It don't matter, Missis. I'd rather be up here with the fever than down with those niggers; and there isn't no other place for me." (530). For seven days, Miss Dane nursed the Rebel and for these seven days, he did regain consciousness. At times his presence could not be felt, until in his feverish state he begins to ramble on. At times his rambling would be incoherent other times she would be able to understand what he was saying. On this night the Doctor is skeptical about his survival he instructs her to "Give him water as long as he can drink, and if he drops into a natural sleep, it may save him...Nothing but sleep or a miracle will keep him now..." (531). At that moment the Rebel called out for "Lucy" (531). Miss Dane felt "some new terror seemed to have gifted him with momentary strength" (531). She went to his side exclaiming, "Yes, here's Lucy" (531) this agitated the Rebel even further. It was evident when "His dull eye fixed upon me, dilating with a bewildered look he broke out fiercely That's a lie she's dead, and so's Bob, damn him" (531). Miss Dane dozed off, she awoke with a shock as she sprang up she felt "A strong hand put me back into my seat and held me there" (532). It was Robert, he stood there his "eyes full of sombre fire;" (532). Miss Dane was confused and stunned by these events. Robert was calm and told her "Sit still, Missus; I won' hurt yer...but you waked up to soon (533). She "saw murder in his eyes" (533) and began to plead with Robert. She questioned him "Why do you hate him? He is not your master" (533). Robert's reply, "He's my brother" (533), astonished her. Even though she was trying to grasp this information, her mind was attempting to derive a plan to hang on to her life and the Rebels. Again, she pleaded with Robert only this time not for an explanation. She feared for her life and for the Rebels but seeing Roberts mind was full of revenge and hatred, she needed to know why. She pressed Robert further until he agreed; he had been waiting to kill the Rebel until he found out about Lucy. Miss Dane questioned, "Who's Lucy" (534), his reply "My wife- he took her" (534) only incited her curiosity further. She persuaded him to tell her his life. Ned is his half-brother

Anne Sexton essays

Anne Sexton essays Anne Sexton became one of the best known of the often-controversial Confessional poets. Anne Sexton wrote openly about menstruation, incest, adultery, and drug addiction at a time when these topics were forbidden in poetry. Theres possibly no other American in our time that has cried aloud publicly so many private details. In additional to focusing upon her emotional life, Sextons later work includes frequent allusions to mythology, fairy tales, and Christian motifs, and explores such topics as romantic love, motherhood, and relationships between the sexes. So, Anne Sexton uses twisted metaphors and similes, symbolic images, and vivid colors to tell about her transformed poems. By using twisted metaphors and similes as a technique in her writing, Sexton transforms her poems to be anything but the ordinary. Using metaphors in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs contribute to the breezy contemporary sound. In addition, nearly every line of this quote uses simile or metaphors to develop them and tone: No matter what life you lead/ the virgin is a lovely number:/ cheeks as fragile as cigarette paper, arms and legs made of Limoges, lips like Vin Du Rhone, rolling her china-blue doll eyes/ open and shut.(Sexton Trans. Pg3) This other twisted metaphor depicts theme and tone for the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Her stepmother, a beauty in her own right, though eaten of course, by age, would hear of no beauty surpassing her own. Beauty is a simple passion. (Sexton Trans. Pg3) In In Celebration of My Uterus as one of the few poems in which a woman has come to the fact as a symbol, the center after many years of silence and taboo that is delineation of female ness so fanatical that it makes one wonder. Everyone in one is a bird. I am beating all my wings. They wanted to cut you out/ but they will not. They said you were immeasurably empty/ but you are not/...

Theres A Style Guide for That

Theres A Style Guide for That There’s A Style Guide for That There’s A Style Guide for That By Maeve Maddox Authors who specialize in one field of knowledge are sometimes unaware of style guides used in other areas. In writing for DWT, I mostly rely on these three style guides: The Chicago Manual of Style The AP Stylebook Penguin Writer’s Manual Chicago is directed at a broad audience that includes both scholars and entrepreneurs. AP is targeted specifically to journalists. CMOS and AP recommendations don’t often differ, but when they do, the differences sometimes reflect an interesting divide between scholarly and popular usage. I trust the Penguin reference guides to point me to differences between American and British usage. When wearing my academic hat, I regard the MLA Handbook (published by the Modern Language Association) as my style bible. These are my preferred guides because I write chiefly about standard usage and literature. Not all disciplines process and present information in exactly the same way. Authors who write about other subjects–sociology, science, and mathematics, for example–look to other guides. Here’s a sampling of instructions in authors’ guidelines for just four specialized journals, each recommending different guides: Journal of Aging and Physical Activity Manuscripts that do not conform to APA guidelinesmay be rejected without review. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation References must conform to the format printed in the journal and must include titles. The article should conform to the usual ACS format. Sociological Theory In general, please refer to the ASA Style Guide (4th edition) for style and formatting guidelines. Manuscripts that do not conform to the desired format will be returned to the author for rectification. Amyloid: Journal of Protein Folding Disorders [This journal] conforms to the CSE style guidelines, using the NLM style for references. What the initials mean: APA: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association APA format  is the official style of the American Psychological Association and is generally used for writing about research in psychology, education, and social sciences. ACS: The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information Published by the American Chemical Society, ACS style is followed by writers and reviewers of scientific manuscripts. ASA: American Sociological Association Style Guide Similar to APA, ASA is also used by writers about sociology and related fields. CSE: Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers Developed by the Council of Science Editors (CSE), this guide is used by writers in all areas of the sciences. NLM: Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers This guide is published by the National Library of Medicine to provide instructions and examples for formatting citations of published and unpublished material, both printed and digital. Other guides for other areas of specialization also exist. Of the guides mentioned here, MLA and APA are probably the best known because high school students and college undergraduates are most likely to be required to use one of them for their research papers. I’ll discuss the differences between them in another post. Related: 5 Online Style Guides Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Definitely use "the" or "a"Rules for Capitalization in TitlesPlurals of Proper Names

Reading reflection 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reading reflection 3 - Essay Example I agree with the author of the essay â€Å"Images of Women† in the sense that there truly are a number of reasons as to why these traditional roles for women continue to be perpetuated and exist today. Our culture and traditions as a people, which are documented in various ways such as the bible, have created and promoted the weaker sex version of women for as long as time has existed. For the strong willed and independent woman of today who sometimes have to deal with old school beliefs and traditionalists in the workplace, that has become a real challenge to overcome. I believe that the images of women as we see it today, can be directly connected to the modern feminist movement. Women as a gender have had decades of female empowerment stances to refer to and be influence by in their efforts to have themselves recognized as an equal to that of the male gender. The modern feminist keeps her femininity ate the forefront of her battle while also showing men that it is possible for a woman to have it all. The family, the career, the individual identity, and self-respect, are all elements that the previous promoters of the feminist movement have success fully managed to hand down to their counterparts from generation to generation, and generations to come. The agenda of woman's rights would not have been able to flourish without the support of the media, Bailey got that right. We all admit to and recognize the influence that various media have in our lives and point of view. Since the media has helped counter the effects of decades of female misconception by promoting them as equal to men in both ability and skill, men have come to learn to accept and respect women more as their equals rather than just being a gender in existence to serve their man, family, and society as members of a submissive gender. Struggling for the rights of a woman is directly related to the image that a woman carries of herself. But that image is oftentimes dictated by how society views them and their contributions on a larger scale. These days, women are at the forefront of most things related to our culture and traditions, so the mindset has changed in a significant way thus allowing for the emergence of a new image for women in the 21st century and beyond. Reflection on Kimmel's â€Å"Masculinity as Homophobia† When one hears the term â€Å"masculinity†, images of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Sylvester Stallone, the like come to mind. They are the images of masculinity is today's world. These are the men who are emulated and admired by their fellow men because of who they are and what they have become. With those images in mind, it becomes easier to understand why the term â€Å"homophobia† cannot be used in the same sentence as masculinity. Yet Kimmel effectively does so in his essay. Just like Kimmel, I too have a personal belief that homophobia came to exist because of the way society viewed women as the weaker sex during significant eras of our history as a people. Men are looked upon unkindly when they prove to be weak at a certain gender based undertaking, or if they fail to accomplish a task that their counterparts could have completed as well. Homophobia is not a word that should only be used to define fear of a man who is attracted to the same gender. After reading the essay of Kimmel, I have come to understand that

Why NOT to Vote for Mitt Romney Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Why NOT to Vote for Mitt Romney - Research Paper Example Earlier on during his career, he abstained to take any political positions, but with time as he indulged himself into politics, and it was in 1994 Senate race that he aligned himself with the Republican Party. He is also believed to have changed his position on issues like abortion and stem cell research, also his stance on gay rights etc to a more conservative shift, more so to align himself with the Party line. Considering his views on foreign policy, he is an advocate for the American Exceptionalism and is found to have Mormon beliefs in this regard, i.e. God has chosen him to carry the task, however, his political beliefs more so reflect the secular ideals of Mormon belief system. Considering his past record and performance in government as well as in business, there are many reasons why not to vote for Mitt Romney. His track record as a businessman reflects his take on the economy as a whole which may turn out to be disastrous for the U.S, also his fraudulent track records alone are proofs enough speaking for his character and charisma. More so, even the conservatives generally in favor of the Republicans are wary of Romney as their Presidential Candidacy for his inexperience and paradoxical track record as Governor. For instance, the health care plan posed by his as Governor is similar to the Obamacare one, also the conservatives doubt him for his credibility as he has been found shifting positions on issues like abortion, gun rights, his position over TARP etc. Moreover, on the political front too, his position doesn’t seem to be any stronger as he had already done bad in the primaries in South, also the Mormon factor might as well take him down. Thus, the paper aims at exploring all these perspectives in detail, shedding light on the issue of why not to vote for Romney. Firstly, the most crucial issue for America at this point of time is the economy of the state, and any prospective candidate for Presidency should have a strong vision in this reg ard to deal with the crises. However, Romney is a very weak candidate in this context, as he is known for his success rate for running Staples and Dominos, which were running on a huge loan and a low turn-out rate, with an even lower wage rate (Romney and Tomothy pp 43). America needs a visionary to steer the economy at the right pace, rather than someone who has the capability to deliver pizzas and that too, not having an exceptional turnout. Secondly, during his career as a businessman he often has had fraudulent records which he has been managing to deal with using unethical and illegal tactics, thus posing a question mark on his character as a representative for the people of America. Romney`s company Bian Capital has had charges of fraud, and though he was Vice President of the company, still he didn’t buy any shares for the company as he was already aware of the financial risks, thus he is a man who doesn’t even own what he does, owing a country however is even a riskier business. Moreover, he managed to escape the Olympics scandal by paying off huge cheques as donations to various parties involves in the process, thus being another evidence for his bad track record. Moreover, various reports when indicated that he also has a residence in Utah, he never denied the charges though pretended to be ignorant of the fact which clearly implies of his intentions to run office from here as well, which he had managed to do illegally as wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Also, he is too inexperienced for holding office as a President; as he has often seen making controversial statements and treating government as a

Gender role Essay Example for Free

Gender role Essay â€Å"Bros before hos, The guy code, is a piece by Michael Kimmel, published on the Anthology portable legacies on 2009; On this piece Kimmel explains what The guy code is and how these code defines guys masculinity in todays society and how society expects guys to behave. Kimmel also explains that young boys are taught these rules by a male figure in their lives at a very young age and they grow up with the pressure of having to follow these rules no matter what. The guy code is a collection of rules, traits and values that make a man. â€Å"What is a man?† was the question asked to teenagers in their late teens and early 20s. Where their answers were things like: â€Å"Boys don’t cry†, â€Å"Don’t get mad – Get even†, â€Å"Take it like a man†, and many more. Kimmel then proceeds and gives the four rules that have been summarized by Robert Brannon, a social psychologist of the 1970s. Some of these rules are: â€Å"No sissy stuff!†, â€Å"Be a Big Wheel†, â€Å"Be a Sturdy Oak†, â€Å"Give em Hell†. (655) These rules supposedly define masculinity and that one a man disobeys those rules, the risk is being bullied with words like â€Å"fagot† and â€Å"gay† that are used as an insult to describe a mans weakness. The guy code also creates competition between most men, from playing the best sports, better jobs, pretties girl, nicer cars, etc. and it has been like this from a long time ago due to men wanting the power, respect, and that image of being better than the other man. Creating the image that all men are supposed to be unemotional, powerful and successful beings. Kimmel also claims that in the future, the guy code causes social and psychological problems for boys and young men. Renteria 2 Men have been taught this guy code ever since they were young boys; their uncles, grandpas, dad, coaches, peers or any male figure in a mans life are the ones that start tell little boys to â€Å"man up† or â€Å"dont cry† and is no longer able to cry or show emotion, leading to their behavior in the future. The little kids learn to always hold in their emotion and to never show weakness. Kimmel then gives an example of how boys are introduced to the guy code: A three year old boy that was crying at the barbershop because he was burnt by hot chemicals. The barber said to the boys dad, he was a wimp for crying and he needed to stay away from his mom and the boys dad decided after that, his child was spending more time with him and less time with his mother because he was scared of his son  being a mamas boy. (659) As a child grows up and parents push them to be strong and tough by keeping them away from their mothers nurturing. Kimmel also talks about the Gender Police that is basically other guys around them who watch and judge how they act , what they wear and say even how they walk because with a little natural swing on their hips they could be called a fag making homosexuality seems as a weakness. The gender police makes them feel like they are ust waiting for someone else to screw up, for someone to wear something pink or acting a little bit feminine. and just putting standards for each other, forcing themselves and guys around them to create a fake cover where they act rough and manly around each other. This judgments make man feel like they are being watched because of the fear of being ridiculed and humiliated by their peers. Kimmel said that men are more about what other men think about them; however the judgment from girls because as a girl the social media taught us to be attracted to tough guys,for example in any Disney movie where the superhero is the dependable, rich, handsome, muscular guy wh o takes care and provides everything for the girl, creating an idea that masculinity is success, wealth and power. Renteria 3 Peers are another big influence and problem of this guy code. Another example from the article is about Don,a former Lehigh College football player, who discuses the effects of always having to put up a front and act tough in front of his teammates and his coaches. He says that his coach would always make fun of or humiliate any one of his players for showing any sign of weakness or fatigue. Don says Im sure he thought he was building up our strength and ability to play, but it wore me out trying to pretend all the time, to suck it up and just take it.(656) If a guy doesnt follow the rules in the guy code he will be criticized by other man, often times bullied, and lose friends which leads to low self-stem. Men are scared of what other men will say or think about them regardless of the situation. While the Guy Code may have been meant to make men stronger it causes more harm than good turning out more self destructive in the end It causes them to grow up thinking that showing emotion is never an option, which leads them to depression, and emotion issues, aggression towards themselves and the ones around them. Kimmels article is really good, since it talks about a topic that need to be discussed more; it gives examples and  even talks about of where the problem begins; but it still seems quite limited to me since as Kimmel explains what the guy code is, it still does not apply to all man, for the reasons that for some guys, the guy code is just a challenge or a phase where they learn how to express their emotions, also the question that were being asked only cover white middle class man that live in a certain area, In America theres a great variety of immigrants coming from places all around the world, also if Kimmel had questioned people from a less homophobic part of the c ountry, then there would be a better chance of getting a more gender equal survey. Work cited Kimmel, Michael. â€Å"Bros before hos, The guy code.† Anthology Portable Legacies 2nd edition. Ed. Jan Zlotnik Schmidt and Lynne Crockett. Boston, MA, 2009. 654 – 669. Print.

Electronic Commerce :: social issues

Electronic Commerce Initially, the Internet was designed to be used by government and academic users, but now it is rapidly becoming commercialized. It has on-line "shops", even electronic "shopping malls". Customers, browsing at their computers, can view products, read descriptions, and sometimes even try samples. What they lack is the means to buy from their keyboard, on impulse. They could pay by credit card, transmitting the necessary data by modem; but intercepting messages on the Internet is trivially easy for a smart hacker, so sending a credit-card number in an unscrambled message is inviting trouble. It would be relatively safe to send a credit card number encrypted with a hard-to-break code. That would require either a general adoption across the internet of standard encoding protocols, or the making of prior arrangements between buyers and sellers. Both consumers and merchants could see a windfall if these problems are solved. For merchants, a secure and easily divisible supply of electronic money will motivate more Internet surfers to become on-line shoppers. Electronic money will also make it easier for smaller businesses to achieve a level of automation already enjoyed by many large corporations whose Electronic Data Interchange heritage means streams of electronic bits now flow instead of cash in back-end financial processes. We need to resolve four key technology issues before consumers and merchants anoint electric money with the same real and perceived values as our tangible bills and coins. These four key areas are: Security, Authentication, Anonymity, and Divisibility. Commercial R&D departments and university labs are developing measures to address security for both Internet and private-network transactions. The venerable answer to securing sensitive information, like credit-card numbers, is to encrypt the data before you send it out. MIT's Kerberos, which is named after the three-headed watchdog of Greek mythology, is one of the best-known- private-key encryption technologies. It creates an encrypted data packet, called a ticket, which securely identifies the user. To make a purchase, you generate the ticket during a series of coded messages you exchange with a Kerberos server, which sits between your computer system and the one you are communicating with. These latter two systems share a secret key with the Kerberos server to protect information from prying eyes and to assure that your data has not been altered during the transmission. But this technology has a potentially weak link: Breach the server, and the watchdog rolls over and plays dead.

Unit 2 – the Developing Child

Unit 2 – The Developing Child D1) The main aspects of social development for Children aged 4 years are; * They like playing and socialising with other children as this helps progress things more like speech, confidence and social skills. * Take turns and share (most of the time); may still be rather bossy. * Seek out adult approval. So if they were to hurt themselves they would still go to an adult or when they are tired they would still go to an adult for comfort. * Understand and obeys simple rules (most of the time). Capable of feeling jealous, for example if you were to show another child more attention than another child, this child would become jealous and may show anger. * Begin to understand things more like, danger, feelings and reasons toward things. * Have more of an imagination, for example they may have imaginary friends and can make up stories. Children with learning disabilities might not reach these mile stones like children without disabilities. Childcare work ers need to plan for these children so that they can meet their individual needs.According to Tassoni, page 41, â€Å"For children, this area of development is important too, as they will want to play with other children and have to learn to share and be with others in group situations, such as in school. D2) The main aspects of social development for children aged 5 years are; * Now choose their friends, for example, they have certain friends they like to play with. * Takes turns, shares (sometimes) for example, when drawing and sharing pencil crayons. * Enjoys co-operative activities and also group play. * Says please and thank you when offered something to eat or drink. Shows kindness to other children, inviting them to play and being helpful. * Resolves conflicts before seeking adult help. * Carries on with conversation with adults and children. D3) One suitable method of observing the social development of children aged 5 years could be to carry out a time sample observation. This is used to record the time, interaction, who their socialising with, so I would write down the initials of the child they were socialising with, the activity like drawing or painting, and the comments that I would write about the whole observation.I could record this by taking photos and then storing them into the child’s personal records and development file so I could use this as evidence towards their development and social skills with other kids. I would carry this out for 5 minutes every half hour, during the course of the morning. D4) One advantage of this observation method would be that you are able to observe the child to find whether they are struggling with anything like a subject, and we are able to see if they’re not socialising very well or whether they are withdrawn.One disadvantage of this method is that the child maybe camera shy and may stop socialising and interacting once I start to take photos of the development that is taking place. This woul d affect the whole observation as there will be no progress being made so I would not be able to record anything. D5) A child’s social development may be affected by the transitions in their lives such as a family member, they may have bonded with, could have died and this would affect the child a lot.Such as, the child may start showing aggressive behaviour towards people and may get frustrated easier when they find a task difficult. This would make the child regress. A positive transition could be that if the parent or parents take their child to places such as play areas, the child would be able to socialise with other children and they will see their parent socialising with other parents. This would make the child to be more confident and help make friends easier. This would positively influence the child to socialise and interact with other children.D6) Snack and Meal times help support a child’s social development. It helps because the children are more likely to sit next to their friends. While they are eating they lunch, it is common that most children will tell each other what they have to eat and drink and if they have animal shaped biscuits they may play a little game like zoos, and this helps their imagination and social development. This is called associative play. D7) Inclusive practice means that everyone should be included into activities, no matter what their nationality is, or their sex or whether hey have disabilities. It is important to include everyone in activities because if someone was left out, it may make them feel unwanted, lonely, may make their confidence drop, they may show anger and it will also cause unwanted behaviour. Everyone should be included in activities as it helps make new friends, boost self-confidence and help them socialise better. All activities should meet the need of all children especially if there are any disabilities. C) If a child was in a nursery and a parent was to give birth to a baby, this ma y affect the child which is in nursery.It may affect them because the new born baby will be receiving a lot of attention so this may make the child in the nursery, feel left out as the child is used to being the only child and all the attention being on them. This will cause anger and the child may stop sharing things with other children and become selfish and the child may regress in everything they have accomplished, such as they could wet themselves, behaviour will become bad and they may also stop talking about issues.B1) When a child is moving house a practitioner can support the child in this transition by making it a fun process and a fun thing to be doing. The practitioner could ask what colours their bedroom is going to be, what they are going to have in it and where they want everything to be placed. Practitioners can even make their time at their setting as fun as it can be so it takes the situation of the child’s mind or they could even read them a story about mov ing house to help the child understand it is not always a bad process.B2) Observations can be used to identify individual needs. Observations are important to be carried out because it identifies if a child is struggling in a certain area for example, they may have problems with numbers like counting, spelling simple words, participating in group activities or trouble socialising. Once the problem is identified then the person observing can the deal with the problem and help the child where they are struggling. This is why it is important to observe each child separately and carefully.A*) It is important that practitioners understand, the pattern of development of children, from birth to 16 years because; at each age and stage there are different mile stones for them to reach. These are like goals that are set to be accomplished. The practitioners need to know this so they can help the child progress in what the child is capable of achieving. If the practitioner did not know the mil estones for each stage then the practitioner could be holding the child back or aiming to high for what they want the child to do.Also at each stage the child will show different behaviours and the practitioners need to know what they are, otherwise the practitioners might think it’s inappropriate. They might tell them of when the child is actually showing behaviours that are expected in a child of that age. The behaviour may be caused by learning disabilities, so the practitioner would need to know how to handle the situation appropriately, or even call in a professional to help the need of that child and help the child progress.A*) Routines are important for young children because it adds structure to their day. This helps because they like to know what is coming next so they don’t get confused. The main parts of the routine, e. g meal times, coming in in the mornings and home time, in a setting should be kept the same daily this could include, children coming in in the morning and hanging their coats and bags up straight away, then sitting down for circle time and share news with their friends for 15- 30 minutes, then they will have free time to do messy things or play what they want to play to socialise.Free time gives the children the opportunity to develop their physical skills and social skills. After free time they will be called for snack time. During snack time it is important for children to get the right nutrients for the energy they need and use. Then they will have free play again for about an hour and a half then it will be lunch time, then story time, then they would be told to go and get their coats and bags to go home. Then the children will be called out one by one when their parents can be seen.When I was in placement at a nursery I saw they had a set routine that met the needs of every child, this worked because the children were aware of what is going on and what is happening next. I saw that this also helped their behaviour because they knew what they were doing as soon as they came in. Therefor in the future when I work with children I will know that keeping to a set routine, helps get through the day easier, without any confusions or uncertainty and everyone including staff knows what their role is for the day. Penny Tassoni Childcare and Education Cache Level 2 Published by Heinemann 2007

Whitney Houston

The Greatest of All Times General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about Whitney Houston. Introduction Attention Getter: I have often been told I have a beautiful voice; most people compare me to Whitney Houston†¦. maybe even better. Credibility: Whitney Houston has always been of my favorite artists. Topic Reveal: Today I am going to tell you a little about the life of Whitney Houston. Preview Statement: After discussing my three main points, you will understand why she is one of my favorite artists.My three main points are her early years and being discovered, her fame, and the end of her career. Body I. Whitney Houston had the mentality of becoming a singer since birth. A. Whitney was born August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. 1. Everyone she was brought up around had some kind of musical talent. 2. Her mother was the choir minister, which is where Whitney started. 3. Her cousin Dionne Warwick and her godmother Aretha Franklin were both in the music industry also. B. Whitney was working on her own record deal at the age of 15. 1.While working on her record deal she was also being discovered by a photographer. 2. She later became a teenage model. 3. Becoming the first African American women to appear on the cover of Seventeen Magazine. C. By the time she reached age 19, Whitney was discovered by Clive Davis. 1. He took her from the gospel stage to the pop life. 2. In 1983, Whitney was appearing on TV shows and performing. (Transition: Now that we know a little about Whitney’s early years and how she was discovered, let us talk about her fame. ) II. It was then all about the money and fame. A.It did not take much before Whitney became a big sensation. 1. In 1985, she released her debut album Whitney Houston. 2. A year later the fame and the Grammy’s started rolling in. 3. She released her second album Whitney that went platinum and won Grammy’s. B. Everything that glitters isn’t gold. 1. Whitney then t hought she was on top of the world. 2. She then married Bobby Brown of New Edition. 3. She struggled with drugs and health problems. Her career hit a big downfall. (Transition: Finally Yet Importantly we are going to talk about the end of Whitney’s career.III. There is always room for improvement. A. Whitney felt the need for a comeback. 1. She worked on the remake of the musical film Sparkle. 2. She had been said to join The X Factor as a judge. B. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it to see those days. 1. Whitney died on February 11, 2012 in Los Angeles. 2. That was a sad day in the music industry. Conclusion Today we have looked at the good and bad in Whitney Houston’s life. From the money and fame to the heartaches and pain. We now know the life of the legendary Whitney Houston.

Future of Money essays

Future of Money essays Money was originally any physical substance that was desired by others, such as gold, silver, or even cattle. Today when someone mentions money you think of bills or coins, but in reality you should be thinking e-money or electronic money, the future of all commerce. With the digital age approaching perhaps bills and coins will become obsolete. If and when we do change over, e-money will make a significant impact on society. Through the many advancements in technology and the giant strides the internet has taken, we are now able to buy and sell goods over a computer network known as the world wide web. The more we learn about the internet and its capabilities, the easier it will get. The internet will be a much more convienent way of shopping, with everything at your disposal, there will be no more worries about getting a parking spot at your local mall when you can just park your self right in front of the computer. And in a few easy steps the item you are looking for will be ready for delivery. And through the use of a credit card or smart chip you will be able to purchase what you need. Increasingly, they include digital products such as news, audio and video, database, software and all types of knowledge based products. It appears that electronic commerce is similar to catalog shopping or home shopping on cable TV. The internet isnt the only way to go though. You will still be able to purchase prod ucts right out of the store site through use of your smart chip. Digital signatures will make e-money possible in stores. Your purchase will be sent directly to your bank where it is confirmed. Right now the internet, in most cases, is just another way to advertise your product to the world, while in only a few short years the internet will be dealing with main stream commerce. The internet wont make things any easier on the companies though. As demand goes up, supply will have to go up as well and many companies wo...

Superfeet Insoles Ergonomic Product Review

Superfeet Insoles Ergonomic Product Review The Superfeet are premium footbed replacements, or insoles, for your shoes. Most shoes, even the really good ones, do not have a good, ergonomic footbed. It is usually just a shaped piece of padding that covers the construction of the sole. Superfeet changes that. The Superfeet Insoles are designed to replace the insole that comes with your shoe, and at the same time improve it. It provides positive support for your feet. And your feet then pass the benefit up the body easing the strain on the legs, h0ips, and back. Why is it Different? Superfeet is different from most insoles because they are firm, not soft and cushy. And that makes a world of difference. A pillow is nice to lay on when you are relaxing. It is not that nice to walk on. So why would you put a pillow inside your shoe? Instead, the Superfeet provide firm arch support and a deep heel cup. The arch support helps keep the stress on the foot even over the entire foot and transition that force up through the body. The heel cup (and other support formations on the insole) help correct your heel strike when you walk. A good heel strike improves your balance and eases the stress on your legs, hips, and back. Does it Deliver? Looking at them you might not think the Superfeet are anything special, but they deliver in spades. The support they provide makes everything feel better, whether you are hiking on rocks or standing on concrete all day. It took me a few weeks to get used to them. In fact, my feet hurt worse for a while. Particularly the insides of the joint for my big toes. The insoles corrected my stride, part of which was how I pushed off with the balls of my feet. I was unaccustomed to pushing off like that and it hurt for a little while. But at the same time, the pain in my lower back and calves went away. Issues like that are bound to happen while adjusting to a new foot strike. That is one of the reasons why Superfeet comes with a 60-day return policy. They helped me so much that I got some for my dad who has similar problems to me. They stopped him from shuffling and his stride is a good eight inches longer with the Superfeet insoles. Beneficiaries If you wear shoes you can benefit from the Superfeet. If you have foot, leg, hip or back problems you can probably benefit from the Superfeet Insoles. Superfeet offers a number of styles customized to various activities to increase the benefit they provide. Some groups that will benefit from these tools are: Walkers/HikersStation/Assembly WorkersCyclistsSkatersBipedal Mammals Summary Superfeet insoles are one of the best insoles on the market. If you wear shoes then these are must have ergonomic accessories. Try them for 60 days and you will not walk without them.

The Role of Cultural Development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Essay

The Role of Cultural Development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum - Essay Example Education for citizenship has been one of the major goals of education, and for a child to be developed as a responsible and socially committed citizen the curriculum at the EYFS need to be designed so carefully with far fetched visions. Such a curriculum should both be short and long term goal oriented and should have its foundations in strong cultural and moral values. There should be provisions in the EYFS curriculum to accommodate all the sorts of SMSC development, and schools and teachers need to pay special attention in bringing about desirable changes in the lives of learners through the effective implementation of the set policies and strategies with regard to EYFS education. The early education stage is the most productive formative stage in the educational life of each learner and therefore this paper analyses the EYFS curriculum of the nation with special reference to the provision for SMSC development in it. One needs to have a thorough understanding of the four underlying principles based on which the EYFS curriculum are framed. They are: â€Å"Every child is a competent learner from birth, who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured†, â€Å"children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person†; â€Å"the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning† and â€Å"children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and inter-connected† (The EYFS principles: a breakdown). Practitioners and teachers who serve at the early foundation stage of learners should be aware of these underlying principles and in designing class room activities and learning experiences for the children all these key aspects of EYFS need to be given priority. The professional competency and knowledge

Identify, from the point of an entrepreneur, the steps and strategies Essay

Identify, from the point of an entrepreneur, the steps and strategies necessary to satisfy clinical need with a medical device, and deliver successful buisiness - Essay Example Everybody wants to be the first in the market. But this is never easy. The rough road lies ahead since investors have to start mostly from scratch. Lots of researches are needed in preparation for the establishment of a main base. Resources must be in high supply to support the growing demand. Management must participate actively in various affairs of the company especially in the operational processes. Hardships will test the mettle of business pioneers. Only by believing in what their ideas can do will they earn success in the entrepreneur circle. World development is not merely about evolution. Yes, it is a given that mankind yearns for a better life and dreams for a better future. But the events and situations that occur are pictures of selfless efforts made by extraordinary people who made a difference in the lives of many. Although companies and corporations are earning huge money from products and projects launched to answer social and global concerns, still, the main reason business leaders plunge into action is because to answer a tremendous need. Humanitarian causes are blessed with financial gains, possibly, to increase its capability ten folds in addressing future problems. In spite of the progress in the field of medicine, many issues continue to linger unattended. Confusion still surrounds numerous medical concerns. People remain doubtful about health solutions. Advanced studies are made to find treatments. Medical research still tops the priority list of business ventures. In fact, continuous development is becoming another business field. Humanitarian concerns are closely identified with the healthcare issues of the world. CAUSE AND EFFECT War is itself an atrocity. Every battle happens for a reason. But it shouldn't happen in the first place. To neutralize the aggressor is the objective of all wars. But neutralizing also means killing and inflicting damage to the other side. Peace is often abused for it is almost always associated with war. As Sun Tzu always said, peace can only be achieved through war. It is considered an understatement to tell that the wars of the world claimed a billion lives. It is so because those wars sacrificed more than what the records showed. Statistics cannot tell everything but it can be the basis for something else. In business, figures count. Analysts wait and see. Observers assess the situation and act on it. Most of the notable victims of war are the amputees. Many war veterans lost at least a limb during their tour of duty in Vietnam. But because amputation cases are not common, the medical world is unprepared for this kind of situation. The jungle warfare in Vietnam and neighboring countries like Cambodia and Laos only increased the use of landmines and booby traps. The number of amputees continues to rise even after the war as those war materials lie hidden and unrecovered. Years after, the former battlefield is still dangerous. Individuals who lost a limb in either war are not an isolated case. Congenital disorders add up to the list of amputees. Disease-related amputations like those with gas gangrene are also contributing to the growing number of cases. While legless and armless individuals are becoming more visible today, medical research is on the rise in order to address the situation. Although amputees are as normal as a regular guy can be, the situation has a tremendous psychological strain for many of them. They become dependent for a large part of their lives. Loosing a

Research paper on nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Research paper on nursing - Essay Example Nursing profession contributes in promotion of well being of a person by prevention of illness, helping doctors in treatment procedures, and taking patients care of ill, disabled and dying people. According to International College of Nursing (ICN), nursing also aids in various other aspects of health care setting including promotion of a safe environment, research and development, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and preparation of educational materials. This profession is regarded as the backbone of our healthcare system. As the global environment is changing at fast pace, the types of disorders, and the paths of disease transmission are also varying and therefore, offering more diverse challenges. The nurses ensure promising future to all the people who are victims of bad health. Cohesive efforts and collaborative knowledge of nurse and physician brings clinical success in terms of patient’s positive outcome. The nursing profession has undergone many transformations over human history with different stages of development. Nursing in ancient times was restricted to mother caring for their off springs and relatives. It was believed that sickness and disorders arise due to evil spirits and only magical treatments were given. Nursing activities were taken care of by females in the early Christian era in the Churches and homes without formal education. Over the time these nurses learnt the skills with the use of herbal medicines and drugs. Some nurses even got treatment like physicians. However, this was followed by dark period of nursing where illiterate and ignorant women were delivering crude and unsatisfactory nursing services to sick and needy people. In this period, St. Vincent de Paul, religious leader motivated ladies for nurse training without actual clinical education. Then the developmental era in nursing began from 1846 with Florence

General Characteristics Of Construction Project Manager Construction Essay

General Characteristics Of Construction Project Manager Construction Essay This report comprehensively discusses about involvement of a Construction Project Manager; describing how to manage a proposed housing Development Complex project through proper construction management techniques. This proposed high rise building complex comprised with twenty storied; luxury housing apartments and six basements to accommodate as car parking area, Multipurpose room, Swimming Pool, Supermarket and required utility services such as storage water tank from main supply, water distribution system and Sewerage System. This Housing Development project will be constructed at Colombo-07 adjoining Park Road. Project investor is a wealthy Sri-Lankan Businessman. Presently, I am appointed in this project as a Construction Project Manger. Clients has emphasized me his objectives, to obtain a maximum turnover of the project, implementing Proper Construction Management System. My responsibility is doing so; to archive the project goals in terms of time, Quality, Cost, Safety and Environmental Sustainability as I have conveyed all the way through this report. I have identified significant project management key measures, to use through overall project, such as construction planning and choice of construction technology and Construction methods influence the selected planning, as well as programming and control methods, schedules and progress control using relative software packages available, and also identified key risk elements in this construction project. MAIN BODY Definition about construction project manager The construction project manager is a responsible person to handle overall construction of projects from start to finish. And his duty will be act as the representative of the employer as well as additional consultation to the overall project for the successful initiation, planning, execution and closure of a project. General characteristics of Construction Project Manager Construction project managers engage with particular management activities for mange construction projects in proper way, hence they have the specialize knowledge for project planning, directing, coordinating and budgeting process. As examples for construction project; Commercial building, Industrial building, Roads bridges, Water treatment plants, Schools hospitals, also particular civil engineering works etc. Further common features can be described as; Supervise and coordinate entire project activities or some part of the project until end of the project. Programming; Scheduling and coordinate all design and construction process. When required specialize trade contractors, select and hire them according to the requirements of the project. Project designs, specifications, contact documents and agreement, Construction Project Manger should supervise them very clearly. Always keep well coordination with project owner, architect, engineers, and with other stakeholders directly who are involved in project. Educational Background Generally they are degree holders or relevant reputed qualifications in field of civil engineering, construction management or construction science, also with adequate experience, some of them are appointed obtaining from supervisor level with particular experiences and they have improved their knowledge studying some specific associates degree program such as, project control and development, site planning, design, construction methods/ construction materials, value analysis etc. Most of universities offer master degree programs for upgrade their knowledge as well. As other qualifications, ability of flexible and clear decision for mange and resolve problems, also good understand about engineering drawings and very familiar to operate computer softwares, as well as talent, good communication skill, leadership skill, good relationship with relevant parties, Construction Project Manager Responsibilities: Significant responsibilities and duties are; Observe construction land and study feasibility studies to get understand what type of land required for the project. Prepare master program to the overall project and agree with the employer. Execute a key role in project planning, budgeting, and identification of resources required. Form the teams, developing the objectives, goals of each and allocate individual responsibilities. Managing budget, team expenses and minimizing exposure and risk in the project Manage/ monitor the construction activities progress according to schedule. Keep well communicate with the contractors and Co-ordinate with all parties which involved in the project Financial advice to the employer and cost control. Monitor strictly budgetary guidelines, quality and safety standards. Periodic inspection of construction sites. Manage the progress meeting and kick off meeting as required Obtaining all necessary permits and licenses Preparations for handover process in respect of agreed master program. There are some specific qualitative attributes in project management roles such as capability to plan and organize a team effort, well client management and kindness building ability, ability to motivate, guide and increase morale of the teams, successful time management and logical decision-making skill, ability to handle work force, physical and mental fitness, physically powerful focus on quality. Specific Duties of a Construction Manager As specific duties, CPMs handle multitude tasks, determining and review that what are the necessary to give prior for finish at the beginning. In a large scale project, generally divide several activities segments such as site preparation, including clearing and excavation of the land, installing sewage systems, and landscaping and road construction; building construction, including laying foundations and erecting the structural framework, floors, walls, and roofs; and building systems, including protecting against fire and installing electrical, plumbing, air-conditioning, and heating systems. Construction managers may be in charge of one or several of these activities. Construction managers must also inspect and review the construction project on a periodic basis to ensure compliance with safety code and building code regulations. What is a Construction Project? A Construction project is a temporary endeavor to create an inimitable product or service. Construction Projects generally include constraints and risks concerning cost, schedule or performance outcome. Every project has a start and an end. The end of a project is defined by the successful complete of the product or service. There are specific traits that all projects have in common. The most distinguishing feature is a specific time frame. Projects must have a clear, definitive objective and activities tasks. Those are planning, organizing, Control and closure tasks and the resources and execution that is the focus of project management. Key Characteristics of Projects: Unique solution. Project boundaries. One-time effort, usually requiring specified resources. Specified start and end dates. Understand of reached the end of the project. What is the Construction Project Management Process? According to the PM4DEV Project Management for Development Organizations, noted in it, Project management is a process of leading a team of capable people in planning and implementing a series of related activities that need to be accomplished on a specific date with a limited budget. Because of its nature, coordinating all these activities requires a process approach. This management process specially consists of some specific functions such as, Project initiation, Planning, organizing, controlling and managing resources to complete a construction project successfully within on time, cost and quality. The construction project management process need the direct individual, the project manager, to oversee the construction schedule, the allocation of personnel and equipment and the projects budget. General functions of construction project management usually include the following Project objectives and plans; (including definition of scope, scheduling, budgeting, setting performance requirements) Maximizing resource efficiency through procurement of labor, materials and equipment. Implementing various operations through proper coordination and control of planning, design, estimating, contracting and construction in the entire process. Developing effective communications and mechanisms for resolving conflicts The Project manger is the overall responsible person to direct the construction project management process. Also Project manager is the specific professional in the field of project management. Hence project manager has the ultimate responsibility such as, planning, execution and successful completion of the project. A significant component of the construction project management process is maintenance the project on schedule and within the estimated budget as well, to achieve these goals, Further concerning Project management process can be described as follows; Project management is the art of directing and coordinating human and material resources throughout the life of a project by using modern management techniques to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, cost, time, and quality and participation satisfaction. (Refer to Figure 2-1) Figure 2-1:Â   Basic Ingredients in Project Management Specific Benefits of Construction Project Management Process There are few specific benefits of Construction Project Management process, these benefits are very essential for the project success. Preferable efficiency in delivering services Improved/increased/enhanced customer satisfaction Enhanced effectiveness in delivering services Improved growth and development within your team Greater standing and competitive edge Opportunities to expand your services Better Flexibility Increased risk assessment Increase in Quality Increase in Quantity When execute the essential project management strategies, Construction Project Manager Intention will focus to reach the desired goals within specific time and cost, Quality. The Top 10 Benefits of Project Management Essential Factors of Project Management Process Generally Construction projects have specific factors for contribute of project success or project fail. Each factors directly effect with other factors in order for a project to be successful. Those are as follows; Project Team and Team Motivation Project Manager Project Planning Avoiding Scope Creep: Risk Management: Project Closure: Read more: Factors for Project Success | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_7495173_factors-project-success.html#ixzz26WXLGm8N Eight Key Factors to Ensuring Project Success Author: Duncan Haughey, Version 1.0, project smart.com .UK http://www.pmhut.com/project-management-role-and-responsibilities Project Management Roles and Responsibilities Particularly strong project management skills are very essential to deliver the project successful of project goal. Hence project management process has combined a set of skills and techniques committed under following tasks. Integrate planning and conduct modify control Define and manage the scope of the project Prepare a budget and manage costs Prepare and track schedules Ensure that the right resources are allocated to the project Manage contracts and vendors and procure project resources Facilitate team and external communications Facilitate the risk management process Also document and monitor the teams quality management process makes the final decision on the issue by transitioning into the role of decision leader to enable the project to continue. Hence above roles and responsibilities should be covered within the project management process as well. Project Management Process According to the PM4DEV, Project Management for Development Organizations, as noted in it, There are nine significant management processes under Construction Project Management to be implemented within role of the project manager. The nine project management processes are: Scope Management Schedule Management Budget Management Quality Management Team Management Stakeholder Management Information Management Risk management Contract Management Above management process have divided into two groups: Enabling processes Facilitating processes This management process phases are interrelated with entire project life cycle. Below given graphic chat will shows management process interrelationship with project lifecycle. Enabling Process Project Life Cycle Facilitating processes Figure 4.1 Project Management Processes and Phases Enabling Processes In the construction management process enabling process include with project scope, schedule, budget and quality. Hence these are should enable to direct some specific objectives of the project and for project success within on time, cost, quality. Scope Management In Construction project management process; Scope management is very critical for project success. Also project scope is the way to illustrate the boundaries of the project. Hence project manager should awareness concerning the scope of the project. Therefore project manager be able to co-ordinate with designers to get update and control the project scope and also acknowledge of project team, as well as the contractors about scope of the work accordingly and should monitor and control work executions too. Further about scope management by below given graphic chart will explain briefly; Schedule Management Schedule management is the development of a project schedule that includes all project activities, hence project manager has to stick on starting and completion dates of each trade packages as programmed, and management team also has to monitor progress of construction and forecast the completion date accordingly. If completion date is not matching the master program, control process is required. As example; assumed some work element unable to complete as programmed due to less progressing or late in starting. If so, it will affect to other work sections too and will delay accordingly. Therefore project manager should advice to allocate additional resources to accelerate the delayed work section to complete it as pre programmed. Budget Management Budget management process is required to ensure the project is completed within the estimated budget. Hence this is the vital responsibility of the Construction Project Manager to handle and complete the project within allocated budget of the project. As well as monitor and control the cost of project at both pre post contract stages are also important part of this management process. Cost Controlling Cost controlling system is critical process of the cost management process, to run the project without commercial backlog. (Refer to Chat 1.02) Chart 1.02 Cost controlling and cost management system Pre contract cost management Generally preliminary budget estimate is prepared based on the clients intended budget and also concerning separate trade packages. As well as Cost plan (elemental analysis), Cost check, Tender reconciliation process also important activities for the cost controlling under pre contract stage. Post contract cost management BCIS slandered form is followed (Elemental Standard Form of Cost Analysis Principles, Instructions, Elements and Definitions 4th Edition) to prepare elementary cost analysis method and gaudiness. Further detail herein for cost control, using S- curve methods; (Refer to Chart 1.03) Chart 1.03 Cost control S-Curve (Programmed) Referring to the above diagram; it shows expenditure and income occurred. This is being monitored regularly, to avoid the cost overrun. . Quality Management Quality management is the process to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs of the beneficiaries. Hence project manager has to monitor and control the quality of work and devlpolp the quality paln. also he has to allocate experienced project coordinator to advice force the contractor to maintain the quality of work. Each work element should be approved by a qualified quality controller or an Engineer prior to handover. Also he has to check the quality of materials and should be strict to the contractor to use standard materials for construction as specified in drawings and specification to maintain the quality of work. Hence all materials should be approved by a quality controlling team prior to use for construction. Some of the most important quality tools are; Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle, Fishbone Diagram, Pareto Chart, Scatter Diagram, Decision Matrix, Flowchart, Stratification, Control Chart, Histogram, Brainstorming, Tree Diagram etc. http://theconstructor.org/constrution/project-quality-management-in-construction/292/ Facilitating processes This process includes with some specific function such as, Team, stakeholder, information, risk, and contract management, these are facilitating for assist and make possible for the project to achieve its objectives. Team Management Team management is a techniques, processes and tools for organizing and coordinating a group of individuals working towards a common goal, there are few critical factors for success of the team management process, identify the roles responsibilities, reporting relationships and getting the people that will be allocate to the project, develop the team. As well as team evaluation is very important part to identify the staff performance and their skill level and required improvement. Stakeholder Management Stakeholder management include stakeholder identify, analysis, planning and communication. Project stakeholders are very important people for the project success, hence project manager has to mange them in proper way, because of all of them interest to the project success. As example donors, beneficiaries, local government organizations, partners or organizations are the stakeholders of construction project. As well as managing them keeping good relationship between stakeholders and project. Information Management Risk Management Identification of possible risks in advance is important and major responsibility of the Construction manager. The project management team will be able to take necessary actions to avoid or minimize the risks by identifying them early. Safety of work, Economic matters, Weather conditions, political matters etc also includes in risk management. Hence it is important to take insurances for the construction, material on site, employees; third party etc. Contract Management Safety of Work Safety of work is very important at the site to avoid delays in construction. Hence all employees should educate about safety matters and should provide safety equipments, safety wears etc to employees. Required safety instructions should be display on public notice boards. Fire fighting equipments such as fire extinguishers, water, sand, hose real etc should install at site and well trained fire preventing team also should be there. First AID boxes, clinics, Ambulance etc also should available at the site. Problem Solving Identify problems arise from trade contractors is essential to take necessary actions as required to avoid unnecessary delays. As example; Suspended ceiling contractor has to coordinate with MEP contractors to identify his requirements such as voids at ceiling to fix diffusers at the ceiling. Also design problems, practical problems should solve immediately as soon as those arise by using communicating, coordinating and negotiating techniques with related parties Closing and Handover the Project Final inspection should carry out by the Construction Project Manager after completion of constructions of the project. He must re-check all approval for quality of work, testing and commissioning reports, scope verification etc. Then the project is ready to hand over to the client. All related claims, cost proposals and Final payment application etc should be finalized on time.

Proctor versus Dimmesdale in Millers The Crucible :: Essay on The Crucible

Proctor vs Dimmesdale In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the characters John Proctor and Arthur Dimmesdale are victims of the puritan ethics of Moderation and Unvarying Faith. These ethics are reflected in the way that they are forced to act like everyone else, resulting in a feeling of being trapped, as well as internal and physical torture, which led to their eventual demise. Hawthorne’s character Arthur Dimmesdale is the epitome of what a puritan should be. He is a minister—a man of God— yet despite his position, this perfect man has one dark secret: he is an adulterer and the father of an illegitimate child. This one sin is more than he can bear, for although he has many times repented, he feels he is not entirely forgiven. His sin is such that if it were to be found, his reputation would be torn apart. After many years of hiding his secret and being burdened by it he can no longer hold it inside. This is the reason he goes to the scaffold one night: in hopes to alleviate his guilt by â€Å"publicly† showing that he has committed a crime. His remorse is so deep and constant, that it has actually changed him. At nights he whips himself, hoping to gain salvation again, but in his mind he gains nothing. â€Å"Crime is for the iron-nerved, who have their choice their choice either to endure it, or, if it press too hard, to exert their fierce and savage strength for a good purpose, and fling it off at once! This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither, yet continually did one thing or another which intertwined, in the same inextricable knot, the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance.† (Hawthorne, 134.) And although it seems his remorse cannot go deeper than it already is, Dimmesdale begins to realize how his parishioners must see him. He is supposed to be an honest man, but in hiding his sin, he begins to see himself as a hypocrite. â€Å"What can a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redemption of other souls?—or a polluted soul towards their purification? And as for the peoples reverence, would that it were turned to scorn and hatred!† (Hawthorne, 172.) Clearly Dimmesdale is worried about the reaction of the congregation if they were to discover his sin. This is a perfect example of Moderation, everyone has to act holy, without sins and mistakes, otherwise be condemned to the scaffold and public humiliation†¦or worse.

International Marketing Essay

1. Introduction 1. History Lever Brothers was founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever. The company initially started its operations by manufacturing soap. In 1917, the company began to diversify into foods, acquiring fish, ice cream and canned foods businesses in order to apply synergies caused by commonalities in the raw materials required to produce and distribute these products. In 1930, the Dutch company Margarine Unie merged with a British company, Lever Brothers, to form the multinational Unilever. Unilever has two parent companies: Both companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. 2. Marketing Management Philosophy Marketing management process undertakes the stages of strategy formulation, implementation and control. Therefore, it is imperative to first identify the adopted marketing management philosophy by the organization. Organisational purpose of Unilever clearly states that organisation’s focal attention is centered towards anticipation and satisfaction of customer needs and wants. Kotler (2000) mentions that marketing concept holds that the key to achieving its organizational goals consists of the company being more effective than competitors in creating, delivering and communicating customer value to its chosen target markets. Deep insight into organizational purpose reveals that goals and objectives of Unilever depend on determining the needs and wants of target markets and to satisfy the customers efficiently than competitors. The company also considers its role as socially responsible entity by ethical business practices and ongoing welfare projects in many of the South Asian markets. Such adopted marketing management philosophy as a central element of corporate purpose will definitely influence the international/Global strategy of Unilever. Hence, it can be concluded that whole of the business philosophy of Unilever is embedded into marketing oriented organization with the purpose to keep in consideration the expectations of all stake holder groups. 2. Organisational structure of Unilever Organisational structure of Unilever follows a de-centralized setup, where corporate level strategies are formed by board members and executive committee. Unilever operates in two separate global divisions for food and home & personal care business. Table 1: Regional groups Source: http://www.uniliver.com The directors of these global divisions are company’s executive committee. Business level strategies and formulated by Presidents of each of the separate regional groups made for food and health & personal care business. These business presidents are responsible for delivering business results in their respective regions and reports to Directors of Food and Home & Personal care division. At functional level, host country managers are responsible to implement strategies and to make functional level strategies in accordance with the changes in sub-localities. The core building block in Unilever is the local operating company. These companies are organized into eleven regional groups. At regional levels, Unilever has deployed host country managers. 3. Global or international strategy of Unilever At present, it is difficult to suggest any of the orientation stage for Unilever. When it comes to global marketing, market segmentation decisions are no longer focused on national borders. Cateora and Graham (2000) explain that at global marketing stage, companies treat the world including their home market, as one market. Market segmentation decisions are no longer focused on national borders. However, critical review of Unilever’s operations state that the marketing strategies of the company are both internationally and globally oriented. While, developing market segments, Unilever takes into accounts the incomes levels, usage patterns and other factors that span countries and regions. The global brands of Unilever in Food and Personal care business are examples of it. However, the company also laid a minute focus on various regional markets by developing distinct regional market segments in light of the tastes, preferences, income and other factors of these markets. The broad category of local brands is an example of it. Therefore, in order to determine elements of Global/International marketing strategy of Unilever, it is imperative to analyze the stages of international marketing involvement and strategic orientation of the company. The deep insight into these dimensions reveals the stature of organization as international or global company. 1. Stages of marketing involvement Initially, the focus of the company was limited to few product categories, targeted segments and market. However, with the passage of time, the company was gone through the transition process from one stage to another. The learning curve and experience of Unilever along with analysis of market potential and company capabilities enable the organization to extend its product portfolio and to step into different markets. By keeping in view the involvement factors of company towards strategic marketing orientation, it is difficult to suggest any one stage of orientation. Unilever is truly international in a sense that it sells diversified range of products around world which comes up from planned production. However, the concept of global marketing states that market segmentation decisions are no longer focused on national borders. In practice, critical review of Unilever’s operations reveal that the marketing strategies of company are both internationally and globally oriented. Development of market segments at Unilever takes into account the taste and consumption preferences and other segment variables that span countries and regions. The global brands of Unilever in food and personal care business highlight this approach. At the same time, Unilever focuses on regional and country markets by developing distinct regional market segments by considering tastes, preferences, income and other natures of these regional markets. The broad category of local brands made to tailor the regional market needs exhibit this approach. Hence, it can be concluded that Unilever is catering to the needs and wants of mass market segments around the world by making a blend of international and global orientation. 2. Strategic orientation 1. Strategic Brand Management International strategy of Unilever is focused to build its business by creating, developing and delivering value brands. Unilever has a diversified product category and each product line has much depth and width in it. Evaluation of Unilever’s marketing strategies reveals that the organization is more centered towards buildings and positioning brands, Branding is known to be the spinal cord function at Unilever which basically stick together all functions of marketing like marketing research, product development, pricing, advertising etc. Thus, Marketing functions and activities at Unilever are combined together to focus the process of branding. As first step, marketing research function facilitates the brand managers and business level managers with the comprehensive profiles of various regional markets around the world. Then, strong brands are developed as a solution to customer needs. Unilever has core focus towards effective brand management in order to develop both global and local brands. As a part of future growth strategy of company, Unilever implied law of contraction to refine and retune its diversified brand categories by focusing only on potential brands. Consequently, organization resources will be allocated on the brands, which have growth potential and growth levels and will be pursued to enhance profitability. Jean and Kapferer (2000) states that the brand is a focal point for all the positive and negative impressions created by the buyer over time as they comes into contact with brand’s product, distribution channel, personnel and communication. Accordingly, brand managers and research experts at Unilever classify the customer groups in term of their demographic, geographic, economic and personal profiles. Along with, they identify the changing consumer preferences in terms of their needs, wants, satisfaction, tastes and expectations. All these considerations are then tailored to manipulate the marketing mix elements to develop a successful and value delivering brand. One of the prominent examples of Unilever brands which shows the company’s insight into consumer health requirements is Annapurna Salt. Continuous marketing research function and collaboration with health organisations let Unilever to identify that majority of people living in Africa and south Asian region inherently have deficiency of iodine component in their bodies. As a result, Unilever introduced iodised salt for the consumer segments in this market with the brand name, Annapurna. The particular example shows that understanding of consumer needs enables Unilever to build in health benefit into their product. 2. Social Responsibility This dimension of international marketing strategy clearly defines the characteristics of organizational cultural paradigm and purpose of the company to position itself in minds of customers. Kotler (2000) defines that societal marketing concept holds tha the organisation’s task in to determine the needs, wants and interests of target marketes and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhance the conusmer’s and the society’s well-being. In realistic and factual terms, in today’s business environment, social responsibility is a good marketing strategy to effectively position the corporate and brand names in targeted markets. Companies have international and global orientation operates in variety of international regional markets. Although, the principle of marketing always remain the same regardless of the market environments, however, at the corporate level, the strategists also take into consideration the role and overall contribution of company with in each market and region. Contemporary marketing philosophies do consider the role of an organization as socially responsible entity by ethical business practices. The degree to which an organization will be socially responsible to its macro market environments is determined at the stage of formulation of corporate level strategy. Incase, of a multinational company like Unilever, international marketing strategies take into account the role of company in various environments. Organization does incur some costs to emerge as socially responsible organization and do seek some benefits out of it in form of consumer’s affiliation and overall perception of organization in their minds. Unilever claims: As a multi-local multinational we aim to play our part in addressing global environmental and social concerns through local actions and in partnership with local governments and organisations. Now it is quite obvious that at broader scale the international marketing philosophy of Unilever is to stand as socially responsible organization. However, the action-oriented approach towards implication of social responsibilities entirely depends upon individual nature of market and environmental conditions. As a decentralized approach of strategy, the corporate level management at local operating companies defines the paradigm of social responsibility in regional and country markets and business level managers pursue the objectives by developing and implementing action-oriented strategies. Unilever Pakistan is the largest consumer goods company in Pakistan. In Pakistan, it is registered as a separate local operating company. In order to pursue international marketing strategy contents in relevance to social responsibility, Unilever Pakistan, in context to the local market environment analyzed and assessed nature of market environmental. The through analyses of environmental and natural resources reveal that the country faces shortage of water resources which are crucial to be used as household, agricultural and industrial requirements. In result, Business level managers worked out to enhance the performance and efficiency of its production and manufacturing processes by cutting shirt the overall requirement of water resources to be used in processes. With in five year time, Unilever reduced its total water consumption by 40% and proved its role as a socially responsible organization in the sector. 3. Identification of Major Competitor: Jobber (2004) defines that the most important part of conducting competitor’s analysis is identification of competitors, following product form, product substitution, generic strategies and competition arena. In FMCG sectors, there are some names which have made significant progress in the industry. Namely, few of them are Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever. The examination of Unilever’s business segments and product categories reveal that Nestle and Proctor & Gamble are chief competitors of Unilever in international market. Precisely, Nestle is the chief competitor to Unilever due to parallel level of competition among these two companies in respect to homogeneity among their international marketing strategy. The emphasis of both of the companies towards building global and local brands simultaneously, shows that the adopted business slogan is â€Å"Think Global-Act local†. As a result Nestle and Unilever stand shoulder to shoulder in many of the regional markets with diversified line of their local product brands. Annual turnover of Unilever for the year 2003 shows that its Food division contributed 57% share to total sales turnover and 43% share is contributed by Home & Personal Care division. The percentages clearly exhibit that Unilever has comparative strength in its food division over home & personal care division. In light of the analysis, it can be concluded that Nestle is the chief competitor of Unilever in the business segments of Food as Nestle is recognized as world largest manufacture of food related items. On the other hand, Proctor & Gamble is Unilever’s leading competitors in business segments of Home & Personal care as P&G has relative strength in this sector. In food sector, Nestle is far ahead then Unilever due to width and depth of its product lines. In comparison to Unilever, The product categories of Nestle includes; Baby food, dairy products, Break fast cereals, Ice cream, Chocolate & confectionary, prepared food, Beverages, Bottled water and Pet care nutrition. In Home and Personal care, P&G enjoys leadership position in Beauty and Fabric care as the company attains strong global brands in these categories like Ariel and Pantene. 2. Percentage Contribution of geographical markets to total organizational Turnover Annual Sales figures of Nestle, for the year 2003 shows that European and American markets are its major business markets, as both of the markets contributes 32% and 31% respectively to total organizational turnover. Similarly, in case of P&G, North American and Western Europe are the chief markets with 50% and 24% share to turnover respectively. For Unilever, major business markets are Europe and North America which percentage share of 43% and 23% respectively to total sales turnover. The figures clearly state that all of the organizations have a cut-throat competition in North American and European markets and each of the organization has relative strengths in these markets. However, the Asian Pacific markets which have a huge business potential due to huge house hold size and populated economies, there still exists significant margin of improvement. For P&G, Northeast Asian market contributes 21% share to total turnover for year 2004. For Nestle, Asian and African markets contribute to 16% of annual turnover. And in case of Unilever, Asia and Pacific contributes 17% to total organizational turnover. 4. Nature of markets and methods of entry 1. Nature of Markets The business operations of Unilever are expanded over almost 110 countries world wide. Each of the regional and country market has different nature in terms of economies of scale, market segmentation, level of competition, political and social factors. In order to have a deep in-sight to explore and identify the marketing strategies of Unilever in relation to market nature, we will give you a highlight of company’s operations in Asian region with particular emphasis on Pakistani and Chinese market. 1. Nature of market in Pakistani 1. Economic & Demographic Profiles Pakistani market constitutes total population of almost 150 million people. In Pakistan, the affluent and rich class is no more than 6% of the total population. Almost 32% of population is living a life under poverty line. The major segment of the society belongs to middle class consumers which are actually target market for FMCG Company like Unilever. The product portfolio of Unilever constitutes almost 135 brands for Pakistani market. Majority of these brands are part of consumer basket index in South Asian society. Prominent examples are the items like cooking oil, laundry detergent and tea, as these product categories are used with in every Asian household. 2. Level of Competition FMCG companies like Unilever owns a diversified range of products which are different in their nature and most of the product categories are not even interrelated such as laundry detergent and tea. These differential products in a way are recognizable as different strategic business units. Unilever markets almost 135 brands in Pakistan and have not to confront too many players in FMCG industry. The structure of industry in Pakistani market has been shaped in form of Oligopoly, as there are only few leading players as Nestle and Proctor and Gamble. However, each product category defines different level of competition when it comes to analyze the potential of different competing brands both in global and local context. For example, while comparing to huge industry giant like Uniliver, P&G offers limited range of product categories in Pakistani market. On the other sinde, leading detergent brand, Ariel, owned by P&G gives tough time to brands which are included in Unilever’s product category of laundry detergents. Similarly, there are some local companies who manufacture and market a single brand. Tapal is one of the leading tea brands in Pakistani market which stand in cut throat competition against Unilever’s global brands, Lipton and Supreme. The third important factor which determins level of competition for Unilever in Pakistani is the huge market of unbranded products. The unbranded products are low priced and inferior in quality and they are marketed in within regional boundaries. In order to combat these unbranded products, Unilever extended its distribution network to remote areas to capture market share. 3. Blend of Local & Global Brands Unilever clearly understand the cultural and social differences in Pakistani society which have a significant impact over people’s preferences, tastes and life style. By following the nature of market with heavy regional segregation, Unilever decided to offer both Global brands and developing local brands in the market. Lipton is the leading brand of Unilever in the product category of tea. It is marketed in over 100 countries and it shows the global presence of the brand. However, Unilever Pakistan owns several regional brands in product category of tea which are low priced. These tea brands like; Tazza, A1 and Top star are distributed and circulated in regional markets. Similarly, the advertising and media focuses regional languages to promote these brands. 2. Nature of target market in China China cosmetic market has been expanding rapidly over the past 20 years. In 1982, the total sale was only about RMB200 million. By 2001, this figure went up to about RMB40 billion, a growth of 200 times from 1982. China’s annual sale of cosmetics are forecasted to reach RMB60 billion by 2006 and RMB80 billion by 2010. Despite significant growth over the last two decades, there are still have a number of opportunities in Chinese cosmetic market and the country is expected to remain a dynamic market. This is based on some factors: firstly, with a population of billion and 480 million urban residents, China has the largest number of potential cosmetic customers in the world. Secondly, as a result of China’s 7-8% high rate of economic growth, living conditions will continue to improve, which enable an increasing number of people to join the cosmetic consumption force. Finally, China has opened its market according to WTO rules will further stimulate its cosmetic market with more international and domestic players. 2. Method of Market Entry 1. Market Entry Methods in Pakistani Environment As far as market entry mechanism is concerned, Unilever follows two approaches. First, Unilever sets up a local operating company in a country of choice by following the business regulations & company act status in host country. The second approach of market entry followed by Unilever is acquisition. In some of the market settings, Unilever prefers to acquire a prominent brand in spite of establishing totally new setup of production and distribution. Such approach of diversification and market entry strengthen its grip in local markets around the world. By having an investment to acquire a local brand will enable the company to use the pre-running production facilities and marketing networks & distribution channel. This mode of entrance into a market doesn’t swallow precious time resources to build brand awareness. 1. FDI FMCG sector primarily requires a blend of capital intensive and labour intensive resources. Therefore, it was a best option for Unilever to establish its manufacturing and production facilities in local area to reach economies of scale by using cheap skilled and un-skilled labour. For example, in Pakistan, Unilever is operating as locally registered company and it fulfills all the legal requirements of Company Act 1981 and regulations of security and exchange commission. Moreover, Unilever is a public listed company and follows the legal requirements of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. The Chief Executive of Unilever Pakistan Ltd. reports to Unilever’s top management, based in team leader country of the regional group. Under such form of market entry, Unilever has to made foreign direct investment in selected country markets. By foreign direct investment, Unilever establishes manufacturing & production facilities along with development of integrated marketing and distribution channels. Unilever established a local operating company in Pakistan with the name, Unilever Pakistan Private Limited. 2. Acquisition The strategy of Unilever in regional country markets like Pakistan is to dominate the market by acquiring the leading local brands offered by other manufacturers. Hence, the benefits result into diversification and enhanced market share. The leading example in this regard is of Polka, which was leading ice cream brand in Pakistan. Unilever launched it global ice cream brand Walls in Pakistan in year 1998-99. Initially, Walls faced severe competition from Polka, as the national brand attained a strong image and equity in the market. As a result, Unilever Pakistan, decided to extend the brand lines by acquiring Polka. The acquisition of Polka enables Unilever to use production and distribution facilities to promote Walls. The targeted markets of Unilever are divided into Regional & sub-regional markets. In each of the country, there exists a local operating company. All these local operating companies are organized into eleven regional groups. 2. Methods of Market Entry in China When the Unilever firstly entered the Chinese market, they usually chosen a Chinese company to cooperate or conduct joint venture, because they were not familiar with Chinese market and did not has distribution and sale channel. However, when they had developed their sale force and built sale channel, Unilever has bought the share from the Chinese company and built new plants in other cities, which is direct investment. 5. Extent of standardization or adaptation of marketing strategy Unilever claims to be the one of the biggest consumer goods manufacturing company in the world. It claims that everyday, almost 150 million people in over 150 countries choose our products. So for a multi national company of that stature, an emerging question for marketing directors will definitely be to examine standardization or adaptation approach in order to develop international/global marketing strategies. An expert’s opinion in this regard is that, â€Å"Forward looking, proactive firms have the ability and willingness to accomplish tasks, standardization and localization. Global markets continue to homogenize and diversify simultaneously. The in-depth study of the product categories and length, depth, and width of product lines reveals that the management of Unilever has a dual focus on homogeneity of needs of consumer around world and towards global customization. In addition, some of the marketing analysts state that a successful company should focus on both of the aspects such as standardization and adaptation at the time of deciding target market segments, the measures of determining these segments and targeting strategy. Unilever states: â€Å"Our deep roots in local cultures and markets around the world are our unparalleled inheritance and the foundation for our future growth. We will bring our wealth of knowledge and international expertise to the service of local consumers- a truly multi local multinational† The argument can be justified by Unilever’s motto: â€Å"A Multi-local Multinational†. In-light of the above created discussion, we conclude that Unilever is conscious of the features of global and international markets. For instance, the product category of Unilever constitutes the global as well as local brands, which implies that Unilever manipulates the marketing mix elements by having a favourable blend of both standardization and adaptation. 1. Product When the Unilever wanted to enter the Chinese market, they use product adaptation strategy, which means, â€Å"adapting a product to meet local conditions or wants in foreign markets (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, Wong 2001, p.175)†. They did not just bring the products sold in UK to launch in Chinese market, but has done a number of researches about Chinese women’ skin and found that Chinese people’ skin is quite different from European’s. Therefore, they have changed the formula of the pond’s products, which can be perfectly suitable for Chinese women. As can be seen, Unilever has adopted adaptation strategy, which is highly cost, but has increased the market share. 2. Branding and promotion Unilever has implemented plans to make greater use of its corporate brand in support of its companies and products around the world. By 2005 subsidiary companies will adopt the name. Also, over the coming years the Unilever name will appear on all product packaging. Consumers and stakeholders will find it easier to see who Unilever is and what it does. Its goal is to strengthen Unilever’s business and reputation, so that both Unilever and its brands are better understood and trusted throughout the world. The trend shows the enhanced recognition of branding as supreme function of marketing. Al Ries and Laura Ries (1998) explain that marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect. If you can build a powerful brand, you will have a powerful marketing program. Although, Unilever announced corporate brand, they still use the adaptation strategy in some of the products. For example, the Unilever has changed their brand name from English form into Chinese manner, which is easier for Chinese young women to identify and remember. In addition, food division of Unilever claims Knorr as one of its supreme global brand with almost 2.3 billion euro annual sales in over 100 countries. The product range of knorr includes soups, sauces, noodles and complete meals. Similarly, in personal care market, Unilever owns prominent brands as Axe, Dove, Lux, Ponds, Rexona and Sunsilk. However, in frozen food category, Unilever has supreme local brands. i.e. Findus (for Italian market), Bird’s eye for UK and Iglo for other European countries. Moreover, in category of margarine & spreads, Becel is a prominent brand for Dutch market. Flora is the brand in UK and Take control is in American market. In olive oil category, the most important brand, Bertolli is appealing to consumer taste for Mediterranean food. Unilever clearly at the same time recognizes the homogeneity of consumers by developing global brands and also make itself adaptive to the cultural, political and social environment of different regional markets by developing local brands and keeping in view the distinct needs of the consumers. Unilever normally design different advertisement for different countries. For example, when Unilever shoot an advertising film in Asian marketing, it is keen to adopt Asian actresses. 3. Pricing Terpstra and Sarathy (2000) state that incomes, culture, and consumers’ preferences differ from country to country, thus, for the same price in different countries, the demand will be different. Therefore, Unilever has institute dissimilar prices according to the nature of markets in different countries. For example, the level of income in china is relatively low. Therefore, the price of pond’s products in china is lower than Europe. Another reason for low price strategy is that Unilever produce Pond’s in china. The cost is low. However, if Unilever just export its products from one country to another country, the cost will be high considering the tariff, insurance and transport fees need to be added into the cost. Therefore, Unilever would adopt the standardization within the operation to balance the difference. 4. Distribution It is not easy to build distribution channels in foreign countries. When Unilever enters in a new marketplace, it is more likely to find some partners. For example, Unilever has cooperated with several big Chinese companies. Therefore, it can use the existing sales distribution network. However, Unilever not just satisfy to employ this network. It has work with big supermarket in china, which can deliver and sell mass products in china, to build their own distribution channels. However, Unilever do not use joint venture in Holland. They directly work with whole sellers, department stores, and supermarkets to distribute their products. As can be seen, Unilever use different distribution strategy in different countries. In this way, Unilever use the adaptation marketing strategy. In Pakistan, Unilever established its unique distribution system by setting up business partnership with various distributors and traders. Various geographical areas have been distributed into business regions. With in each business region, Unilever selects trading companies by assessing their financial worth and experience. These distributors act on behalf of Unilever as they are responsible to Unilever items directly to the chain of retailers. 6. Conclusion Reference – Kotler P., Armstrong G., Saunders J., Wong V., 2001, Principles of Marketing. London: Pearson Education. – Terpstra V., Sarathy R., 2000, International marketing. London: The Dryden Press – Kotler. 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