Monday, September 30, 2019

Investment Strategies Order Number Essay

There are many methods an investor can use to determine if a stock is a good buy or not. Three indicators often used to assess the risk of a security are beta, alpha and the Sharpe ratio. One of the most popular measures of risk associated with a security is its beta. Beta is a measure of a stock’s volatility in relation to the market as a whole. The market is given a beta of 1. 0 and individual stocks are ranked according to how much they deviate from the market’s beta. Stocks with a beta of less than 1. 0 are considered less volatile than the market and, therefore, pose less risk. Stocks that have betas higher than 1. 0 are considered more volatile than the market and, therefore, pose more risk. All things being equal, an investor would expect to see higher returns on a stock with a beta higher than the market than one with a beta lower than the market. (1) Beta is also a key component for the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The original CAPM defined risk in terms of volatility, as measured by a stock’s beta coefficient. The formula is: Kc = Rf + beta Km – Rf) where Kc is the risk-adjusted discount rate (also known as the cost of capital) Rf is the rate of a â€Å"risk free† investment, i. e. ten-year treasury bill Km is the return rate of a market benchmark, such as the S&P 500 Kc is the expected rate of return you would require before you would be interested in a particular stock at a particular price. The CAPM expresses the amount of risk a particular stock has and gives an investor an idea of the expected returns he should expect given a certain level of risk. The more risky a stock is the higher the level of returns an investor would expect for that particular stock. (2) A stock’s alpha is a mathematical estimate of the amount of return expected from a stock’s inherent values, such as the rate of growth of in earnings per share, management strengths or other factors, as opposed to general market conditions. Stocks with an alpha greater than 1. 0 can be expected to outperform the market regardless of what happens to the market as a whole. (3) The Sharpe ratio helps investors determine the best possible proportion of securities to use in a portfolio that can also include cash. The formula for the Sharpe ratio is: S(x) = (Rx – Rf) / StdDev(x) where x is some investment Rx is the average annual rate of return of x Rf is the best possible rate of return of a â€Å"risk free† security (i. e. cash) StdDev is the standard deviation of Rx The Sharpe ratio is a direct measure of reward-to-risk. In other words, the Sharpe ratio is used to characterize how well the return of an asset compensates the investor for the risk taken. (4) Although beta, alpha and the Sharpe ratio are useful for an investor to gauge the risk of a security or portfolio of securities there are also other methods an investor can use to determine whether a security is a good investment or not. The two most common methods used to determine the investment potential of a security are fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis is the process of looking at a business from its financial statements. This type of analysis typically looks at various ratios of the business to determine its financial health. The goal of fundamental analysis is determine the current worth of a stock and how the market values the stock. (5) Probably the most two important factors looked at in fundamental analysis are a company’s earnings and revenue growth. Investors like to see earnings and revenue increasing by at least 25% for each of the last three quarters and year-to-date. Return on equity (ROE) is also a major fundamental factor. ROE reveals how much profit a company earned in comparison to the total amount of shareholder equity found on the balance sheet. (6) The higher a company’s ROE compared to its industry the better. Investors typically look for an ROE of at least 17%. Technical analysis is a method of evaluating stocks by relying on the assumption that market data, such as charts of price, volume and open interest can help predict future market trends. (7) Investors using technical analysis typically look for trends in chart data and use a variety of technical indicators, such as moving averages, Bollinger bands, fast and slow stochastics, MACD, and RSI to determine the right buy point for a stock. More sophisticated investors use a combination of fundamental analysis and technical analysis to determine whether a stock is a good buy or not. They use fundamental analysis to make sure a company is healthy from a financial standpoint and is a leader in its industry. Once determining a stock is healthy from a fundamental standpoint, these investors will use technical analysis to determine the correct buy point for a stock. A stock’s chart will show the investor how the stock is actually performing in the market and whether it is rising out of a good base or is overbought based on how far its current price is from its 50 day moving average. If a stock’s price is 30% or more above its 50 day moving average, the risk that it will fall into a correction is greater. References: (1) http://www. investopedia. com/articles/stocks/04/113004. asp Beta: Know the Risk (2) http://www. moneychimp. com/articles/valuation/capm. htm CAPM Calculator (3) http://www. allbusiness. com/glossaries/alpha/4943389-1. html Business Definition for Alpha (4) http://www. moneychimp. com/articles/risk/sharpe_ratio. htm The Sharpe Ratio (5) http://stocks. about. com/od/evaluatingstocks/a/Fundanatools1. htm Tools of Fundamental Analysis (6) http://beginnersinvest. about. com/cs/investinglessons/l/blreturnequity. htm Return on Equity (ROE) (7) http://www. investorwords. com/4925/technical_analysis. html Technical Analysis

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Cavin Kare – History & Future

It is the story of David taking on Goliath. A small company having its base in Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, is now taking on the multinationals of the FMCG world. The Levers of the world now have competition breathing down their necks, from an all too Desi company, CavinKare.Pioneers in the field of sachet revolution, and mass marketing in rural areas, CavinKare has grown from a Rs 15,000 venture to a company making a turnover of Rs 700 crores . Year of Establishment : 1983 Chairman and Managing Director of CavinKare : Mr. C K Ranganathan History of Mr. C K Ranganathan : Ranganathan's journey, which started from a small town of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, has been an amazing one. A business which he started with only with Rs 15,000 is now worth Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion). He learnt the first entrepreneurial lessons from his father, Mr.Chinni Krishnan, who started a small-scale pharmaceutical packaging unit, before moving on to manufacture pharmaceutical products and cosmetics. His father w as his inspiration. His father, Mr. Chinni Krishnan, an agriculturist, was also into pharmaceutical business. As he was poor in academics, his father wanted him to either do to either do agriculture or start a business. His siblings were good in studies — two of them became doctors and another a lawyer. He was the odd one out. While his siblings studied in English medium schools, he was put in a Tamil medium school.He used to suffer from an inferiority complex because of his poor academic record. Studies did not interest him, but rearing pets did. When he was in the fifth standard, he had a lot of pets — more than 500 pigeons, a lot of fish and a large variety of birds. He used to earn his pocket money out of pet business at that time. Perhaps, the entrepreneurial spirit in him showed its first streak. His father died as he entered college. He had come out with the sachet concept a couple of years prior to his demise. He felt liquid can be packed in sachets as well.Whe n talcum powder was sold only in tin containers, he was the one who sold it in 100 gm, 50 gm and 20 gm packs. When Epsom salt came in 100 gm packets, his father brought out salt sachets of as low as 5 gm. Their marketing strategy is to make, what the coolies want and the rickshawpullers want to use. He wants to make his products affordable to them,' he says. Selling things in sachets is his motto and as he says, ‘this is going to be the product of the future. ‘ But his father could not market the concept well. He moved from one innovation to another but never thought of marketing strategies.He was a great innovator, but a poor marketer. Joining the family business after his father's death, his brothers took charge of the family business. In 1982, when he joined them after his studies, they had launched Velvette Shampoo. Within eight to nine months, he left the business because my ideas clashed with theirs. As he was in the manufacturing unit, he did not know anything abo ut marketing or finance. But, his inferiority complex notwithstanding, he was somehow confident of doing business better. He had left his brothers saying that he did not want any stake in the property or business.That was a defining moment for him. He had saved Rs 15,000 from his salary and that was all he had. Yet he was confident of achieving success. He did not feel anything about riding a bicycle after having got used to cars. For a week, he could not make up my mind as to what business to do. He knew only two things; making shampoo and rearing pets. He didn't want to venture into the shampoo business as it would initiate a fight with his brothers. However, he decided to do the same later as he could only make shampoo. He rented a house-cum-office for Rs 250 a month against an advance of Rs 1,000.He took another place for the factory for a rent of Rs 300 a month and against an advance of Rs 1,200. He bought a shampoo-packing machine for Rs 3,000. The company began its journey as Chik India Ltd. How Chik Shampoo was born He named it Chik Shampoo after my father. The product did not succeed immediately; they learnt many things during the process. In the first month, they could sell 20,000 sachets and from the second year, they started making profits. He moved to Chennai in 1989 but their manufacturing unit continued to be in Cuddalore. It took him three years to get the first loan because banks asked for collateral.He did not have any. But one particular bank gave him a loan of Rs 25,000 which we rotated and later upgraded to Rs 400,000, Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1. 5 million), etc. The bank manager wrote in their loan application ‘This person does not have any collateral to offer but there is something interesting about this SSI unit. Unlike others, this company pays income tax! ‘ His business never looked back because he was very particular about paying income tax. Strategies that made Chik Shampoo No. 1 in South India When Chik entered the market, Velvet te Shampoo was being marketed aggressively by Godrej .But a scheme of theirs became extremely successful — they exchanged five sachets of any shampoo for a Chik Shampoo sachet, free. Later, they altered the scheme — they started giving one free Chik Shampoo sachet in lieu of five Chik Shampoo sachets only. Soon, consumers started asking for Chik sachets only. Their sales went up from Rs 35,000 to Rs 12 lakh (Rs 1. 2 million) a month. When we introduced jasmine and rose fragrances, our sales went up to Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million) per month and with actor Amala as our model, our sales rose to Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) a month! Each idea of ours was rewarded by our customers.There has been no looking back since then. Our market share increased and in 1992, we became the numero uno in South India. It took nine years for him to overtake his brothers' business. How Chik Shampoo conquered the rural market Multinational companies sold products in big bottles and not in sachets and they sold only from fancy stores. They did not look at the small kirana stores, nor did they look at the rural market. They went to the rural areas of South India where people hardly used shampoo. They showed them how to use it. They did live demonstration on a young boy.They asked those assembled to feel and smell his hair. Next they planned Chik Shampoo-sponsored shows of Rajniknath's films. They showed our advertisements in between, followed by live demonstrations. They also distributed free sachets among the audience after these shows. This worked wonders in rural Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. After every show, Their shampoo sales went up three to four times. Today, the Indian rural market is growing at a pace double than that of the urban market. Launching Meera Herbal powder They continued with Chik Shampoo for seven years before venturing into anything else.Meera Herbal powder was actually not their idea. Shaw Wallace already had a herbal product but it was marketed very poorly. They felt there was a demand for herbal products and they made a good product. He felt they should be the leader if theirs was a good product. And guess what? In the third month itself, they topped the market. In six months, they had 95 per cent market share, while Shaw Wallace had only 4-5 per cent. How Beauty Cosmetics became CavinKare As they planned to expand to new products, they thought the name Beauty Cosmetics would be restrictive.In 1998, they ran a contest among our employees for a name and one of them suggested CavinKare ; with C and K spelt in capitals. CK,his father's initials. Cavin in Tamil means beauty and grace. Perfumes for the poor They wanted to cater to those who cannot afford (high priced) perfumes. Good perfumes came at a huge price — they were beyond the means of ordinary people. They decided to come out with a Rs 10 pack Spinz. They were successful in that too. Shampoo market share In the last two to three years, their market share has come d own though they are growing.It is mainly because of the anti-dandruff shampoos in the market. They do not have an anti-dandruff shampoo yet. From 0 per cent, the anti-dandruff shampoos have taken over 25 per cent of the market. Only 75 per cent of the market, therefore, constitutes ordinary shampoos. We hold 20 per cent of the market share. But they are the largest brand in rural Uttar Pradesh , Andhra Pradesh, etc. and they are the number one in many other states as well. On the decision to launch a fairness cream They decided to launch Fairever in 1997 as they saw a huge demand fairness cream.They are the second largest player in the market in this. Research states that when a product is good, consumers do not shift to a new brand. His team told him not to venture into the fairness cream market as the consumers were quite satisfied with the existing products. But they went to launch their product containing saffron — which is traditionally used to get a fair complexion. In six months, their sales galloped. This was followed by Indica hair dye. Two and a half years ago, they launched Ruchi pickles in sachets and they became number one there too.They sell close to 5,000 tonne of pickles per annum. They hope to double this in two to three years. Food is a huge market and they have understood that. Their target is to be a Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) company in another three years. CSR activities 1)CavinKare Ability Foundation awards for physically disabled achievers. He stayed as a tenant at Mrs. Jayashree Ravindran's place (the woman who started the Ability Foundation). Once, she said she wanted to start a magazine for the disabled. Though she did not ask for sponsorship, he gave her a cheque of Rs 25,000.He also became one of the Foundation's founder members. Once they came to know about the disabled who have climbed the ladder of success, they — Ability Foundation and CavinKare — decided to institute an award for them. 2) CK School of Practical Knowledge. It is in the process of strengthening , rebuilding and reorienting the existing system of education by introducing Life Oriented Practical Education with academics. Students are reoriented to lay emphasis on humanity, problem solving capabilities, leadership, entrepreneurship, team work and experimentation instead of the convention of learning.Acheivements ; Persona : C K Ranganathan was conferred the prestigious â€Å"Entrepreneur of the year award† by â€Å"The Economic times† in 2004. CKR’s personal philosophy is his trust in people and passion for creating a seamless organization. He always leads from the front. He is very quick in giving his views and decisions. He likes to raise the bars of performance after his colleagues accomplish milestones. This in turn has a cascading effect transforming the whole organization to be nimble footed and agile. Group Companies : Trends in vogue : Trends In Vogue Pvt. Ltd. a group Company of CavinKare came into being in July 2002 with a clear-cut focus on providing personal styling and beauty solutions to everyone in the family. The Company has pioneered the concept of ‘Family Salons' in India with its specialist brands – LimeLite, and Green Trends. With a team of professionals, highly qualified cosmetologists and hair care specialists from its in-house institution, Trends Academy and with the skill base of the CavinKare R;D team, Trends In Vogue offers a range of Cosmetic treatments including those made from â€Å"natural† ingredients.Realising that there was a need gap in the grooming industry, the Company has two separate chains, catering to assorted wallet sizes. Green Trends has a range of men's and women's Salons aimed at the middle class. Limelite is the premium brand of Salons targeting upper crust men, women and kids to ensure that it offers ‘an international standard beauty care' to its customers. They use various products from different brand s at these Salons, including those that do not belong to them. The objective is to give the consumer a service suitable for them.Trends Academy Trends Academy is the first of its kind Beauty training institution in South India. It has brought professionalism and credited recognition to people who wished to make beauty a profession. Creating careers in the field of beauty and styling, Trends Academy has ushered in a comprehensive approach with in-depth focus on theory and techniques. The emphasis of the academy is to train their students to acquire soft skills and etiquette as well as the technical skills related to beauty and styling.Excellent facilities, latest equipment, spacious classrooms and practice areas offer â€Å"hands-on† experience to each student. Other facilities include Video demonstration, practice labs and practical exposure in our Parlors. The academy has tie ups with City ; Guilds from UK and Wella, one of the leading international beauty suppliers from Ger many, to train the students in beauty treatment with international standard. The academy admits students based on a personal screening and interview. Once the students successfully complete the specified course, and the best get offered a job at our Salons Green Trends and Limelite.Two Major Brands under Trends In Vogue †¢Limelite †¢Green Trends Limelite In an age where a premium is placed on looking and feeling good, and the desire to be attractive is on the rise in India, Limelite,a Lifestyle Salon, which offers you a complete grooming experience you would never forget. Limelite has a spacious and an inviting ambience, talented and trained aestheticians, who are committed to deliver outstanding service with personalised attention. So when you walk out, you have the satisfaction of having been treated by the best.An Upmarket Unisex Salon with Spa facilities, Limelite is the only such combo experience to suit your lifestyle. Limelite offers a wide range of new-age hair dos , facials, body massage and hair styling and colouring services. The Salon also offers oxygen therapy, aromatherapy, expert counselling, skin care, make-up, hair and foot spa, colouring and an extensive array of body treatments. In addition Limelite has exotic unique services such as Pina Colada Manicures and Pedicures, Choco dip Pedicures, Body Wrap, Milk Bath, Mango Butter Facial and Baby corn Butter Scrubs to pamper you.It has a separate ladies private studio and an exclusive kid's colourful section with staff especially trained. All services are offered by trained and certified personnel. Bored with gifting loved ones nicely wrapped conventional gifts ? Limelite also offers gift vouchers of different denominations which can be used for the beauty or spa treatment at Limelite. Currently Limelite has outlets in many locations in Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi and we plan to expand to become India's leading chain of unisex Salons.So come, indulge yourself in a lifetime grooming exper ience and we, at Limelite, believe, we‘ll have you coming back for more! Green Trends From neighbourhood Parlour to a more professional branded Salon, Green Trends is a Family Beauty Salon which focuses on personal attentive grooming with an accent on natural products at an affordable price. The Salon is spacious, the interiors, well designed, with a spa room and a steam bath. While the men's and women's sections have been conveniently separated, there is a special area reserved for kids.Green trends believes in making you beautiful ‘Naturally beautiful from head to toe' with its passion for delivering beauty naturally. They have a panel of experts who will answer queries on beauty, skin care and personal grooming. Staffs are Cosmetologists and specialist beauty care professionals trained by international experts at the Trends Academy of Aesthetics. Located in different residential pockets in Chennai, and Bangalore, Green Trends is the most popular destination for family grooming. SWOT Analysis for Cavinkare IndiaStrengthsWeaknesses †¢ Ability to understand local market †¢ Strong distribution network1300 Stockists well organized. †¢ Strong in shampoo segment. †¢ Strong product portfolio with Brands like chick, nyle which are best sellers in southern India. †¢ Ability to cater unpenetrated rural market where again chick brand is the leader. †¢ Strong R&D †¢ Strong marketing team. †¢ Not having world wide operations. †¢ Not having strong products in the to hair colors segment. †¢ Not having strong products in the hair oil segment. OpportunitiesThreats Can to go for more vertical mergers so as to tap more market mostly in the northern zone where the reach is still weak. †¢ can go for more acquisition so as to increase their reach both in local and global market†¢ More and more FMCG companies are coming toIndia, so company might loose share within their strong shampoo segment. †¢ Shampoo market is getting saturated so need to find other segments where opportunity is high like hair color, hair dye etc. Outline of Future : 1)International business division was formed in 1999 to take the brands of CavinKare beyond the boundaries of India.Currently, CavinKare is marketing its brands across 12 countries including Srilanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, USA and GCC Countries. In a significant move towards geographical expansion high potential markets like Egypt, Nigeria, and United Kingdom are also being considered for entry. 2)The company plans to take on fast food multinational corporations (MNCs) such as McDonald’s Corp. not just in India, but also overseas with a multi-cuisine fast food restaurant format that it is currently testing.In July 2009, CavinKare decided to study the fast food business by opening its first outlet, branded CK’s Foodstaurant, in Puducherry. The restaurants are branded CK’s Foodstaurant, like CavinKare, a play on the name of the founder. The menu for the chain in India will be a combination of Indian fare such as idlis, dosas and sandwiches, and American favourites such as burgers and fries, but the restaurants will take on a slightly different avatar overseas. 3)Revenue Growth : The family-owned CavinKare logged sales of Rs700 crore in 2008-09 and expects to nearly double its sales to Rs1,500 crore in 2009-10,

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Madeline Leininger theory integrated into the clincial practice Essay

Madeline Leininger theory integrated into the clincial practice - Essay Example Cultural care and universality was identified as being the missing link between the nursing profession and what was actually done in practice (Leininger, 1988). Creating an environment that is culturally acceptable for a patient will lead to a better experience in the hospital (Shaner, n.d.) One of the most important landmarks in the profession of nursing was the establishment of theories to guide the nursing profession and provide the framework for this profession (Leininger, 1988). The concept of ‘care’ as put forth by Leininger was accepted and wrought into the framework of the theories that guide the nursing profession (Shaner, n.d; Leininger, 1988). The theory of care is now a firm fixture in the nursing profession. Nursing students are taught to emphasise on ‘caring’ and accept that being sensitive to a person’s culture will lessen the gap between healthcare professionals and the patients they treat (Leininger, 1988). To conclude, Leininger came up with the concept of caring in the nursing practice which includes the ideas that understanding the culture and environment that a person comes from is vital in providing care. These ideas have now been firmly accepted in to the nursing profession and students are taught these guidelines. Shaner, H. (n.d). Nightingale Knew More Than She Thought-Â  Environment as a Phenomenon in Nursing:Â  Reflections from Nurse Theorists. Nightingale Institute for Health and the Environment. Retrieved from http://www.nihe.org/enviropn.html.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Assess the impact of Edward Snowden's revelations on the public image Essay

Assess the impact of Edward Snowden's revelations on the public image of GCHQ and the wider intelligence community - Essay Example ons have made efforts directed towards improving the level of their national security intelligence with an aim of ensuring that proper investigations, surveillance as well as supervision of security issues is undertaken to prevent terrorism attacks. In addition, some countries have resorted to the use of spy and other intelligence agencies that basically monitor groups that might have been suspected of terrorism activities. The issue of military strength between countries has also compelled governments and concerned stakeholders to undertake certain sensitive measures that would ensure that they monitor the military strength of rival countries and their level of security intelligence. These measures have included the use of spies and intelligence agencies that are usually sent to the rival countries to perform such missions. However, the major challenge that has been identified with regard to the use of spies emanates from the tension that occurs in the case that the rival country becomes aware of the spying activities within their military operations. In some cases, intelligence organizations have also undertaken roles geared towards ensuring that the level of security within internet is kept under proper surveillance by monitoring the activities that are performed in the internet by their respective populations. However, this has raised the question regarding the privacy of information of the populat ion owing to the fact that national intelligence organizations are usually provided with the authority to access any activity performed in the internet and other sources of media by a specific population. Many people have complained that by accessing personal information of the activities that are performed by individuals within the internet is a violation or a sense of intruding personal privacy. A case of revelations of an employee of an intelligence agency occurred when Edward Joseph Snowden revealed the activities the United States National Intelligence Agency

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Gambling Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Gambling Industry - Essay Example ingapore Government in order to introduce the casinos officially in the international market was in 2005 by providing licenses to two of the casinos in Singapore. There were many controversies and remarks that went against the policy but today after taking proper legal actions and control the government have recorded to generate large incomes in terms of tax revenues from the gamblers. Another reason why gambling is so important for the economy is that it attracts customers from all around the world. Therefore, it enhances the growth of tourism sector, which is another major contributor to the Singapore Economy. This paper in this regard is focused on the challenges of the international market and the competencies of the gambling industry in Singapore. Conclusively the paper shall also direct to evaluate the limitations and drawbacks that can prove to be affective for the growth of the industry and try to suggest the economy to eradicate those factors. On this behalf, the paper shall also consider the Porter’s Diamond Model to analyze the competitive edge of the gambling industry of Singapore. Geographically emphasizing, Singapore is a country originated by the amalgamation of 63 islands in total and is termed to be the smallest country situated in the south eastern hemisphere of Asia. According to the economists’ view, Singapore is a developing economy, mixed by its nature, with a minimum interference from the part of the Government in its trading market. Mentionable, the economy ranked to be second among the economies possessing the best potential for international investment with the outlook to be most welcoming and liberal for the international trading business. Undoubtedly, despite the fact that the economy is geographically small, it is economically powerful as any other developing economy to attract the international trade (Economy Watch, 2010). The economy, in a wider perspective rather than international investments, is depended on the agricultural

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Sonny's Blues and Big Black Good Man Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sonny's Blues and Big Black Good Man - Assignment Example Sonny, the narrator finds out, had been trying to get away from falling into the trap of drugs, and through this the narrator sees his own shortcomings in trying to deal with his brother; this leads him to change his attitude towards himself as well. He feels no more bitterness towards his brother, as he now realizes that in a way his mistakes were a rite of passage of sorts. Finally, listening to his brother play the piano, he finally realizes that he has been pushing away his brother, and that he needs to be part of Sonny’s life now and listen to him and his music. The story is neither closer to Olaf’s point of view, nor Jim’s, it is basically an attempt by the author to challenge our prejudices and to let us know that even those amongst us who consider themselves to be racially unbiased, like Olaf, are actually racists at some level. This is exactly why Wright has used a stereotypical big black man; it is an image of the black man that is deeply ingrained in the white man’s psyche, an image the typical white man is scared of. Jim wanted to show gratitude to Olaf for introducing him to Lena, and he was merely measuring Olaf’s neck size the only way he knew how, it was Olaf’s prejudice that scared him into thinking his life was in danger. Richard Wright mirrors the reader in Olaf; he takes an exaggerated stereotypical black man and confronts the reader directly with his/her prejudices, showing the reader that no matter how unbiased we might claim ourselves to be, most of us are influenced by racial inclination s. Trevor, I agree that the narrator in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† underwent a lot of changes, with time and experience, throughout his narrative. However, I do not feel that Jim in â€Å"Big Black Good Man† was playing with Olaf intentionally; it was actually Olaf’s own biased and racist thinking that made him believe that Jim was

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Field Trip Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Field Trip Journal - Essay Example I even found myself loving the class more and more, especially when we began discussing the textbook and the beach types. By the time we started going for the trips, I was already in love with Marine Biology. A number of field trips that we went during the semester made the class more fun and lively and indeed, I learnt a number of things during these trips. Here is my journal on the various field trips that we went to. On 9th March 2013, we visited the Cabrillo Marion Aquarium. We arrived at around midday. The professor and the tour guide showed us around the shore. He told us to take care and be watchful of the animals and avoid those that were likely to harm us. He insisted on the safety measures that he had taught us. We then started the trip, and looked at the various animals in the aquarium. The various marine animals in the aquarium include the Lion Nudibranchia, which is a soft bodied animal. I learnt that it normally sheds it after the larval stage. I found it quite confusin g with the sea slug, and could not tell where their difference lay. Bat star (Patiria miniata) has five arms with a centre disc which is very wide. I was able to identify the many colours that the animals had, which were green, purple, red, orange, yellow and brown. I found it rather funny that an animal could have so many colours. Among the rocks I could make out the Giant sea star, (Pisaster giganteus) especially due to its huge size and the length of its arms which were very long. I also saw the warty sea cucumber (Parastichopus parvimensis) and felt its soft body that was cylindrical in shape. Its skin was leathery and which is either reddish brown or yellow in colour. California spiny lobster scared me with the huge body and large antennae that protruded from its head. I wondered how it would feel like for the animal carrying such large antennae on its forehead, imagining that it must get tired at times. California moray eel looked so ugly to me, with the huge mouth and the roc k like body that made it appear uglier and disgusting to look at. After visiting the aquarium, I think that looking and observing these marine creatures in real person is very different from studying them in a textbook. I felt that they are living, with their funny features, and sometimes weird nature making me awe at their uniqueness. I would suggest to the Cabrillo marine aquarium to assign bigger tanks or separate them because they appear to be too squeezed and uncomfortable. The following trip was to the Marine Mammal Care Centre that was on the 20th March 2013. The centre is a rehabilitation place for various animals in California, especially those that are hurt and the ones that cannot properly look after themselves. I felt quite sorry for the ones that were really wounded. However, the attendants who were mostly volunteers made me feel compassionate about animals. Their devotion towards the animals made me look at animal kingdom in a different way. While some people kill anim als for food and others wound them, some take care of their mess. There were two animals that I greatly mistook for sea lions since I had not gotten much used to their differences apart from the textbook pictures. However, I realized from the sign on the cage that they were On 27th March 2013, we visited the Point Fermin. Our professor allowed us to go to up to the shore.

Monday, September 23, 2019

International Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International Human Resource Management - Essay Example They could perhaps implement a program that keeps the expatriates informed about the new changes that have been implemented in their organisation back home. They could also organize training sessions on the return of their employees, to facilitate easy adaptation and help them get over the shock phase. ('Repatriation', website: http://www.intercultural-training.co.uk/repatriation.asp) I believe that while Sam has been given prior training and other aids, to adapt to the existent conditions in Japan, his family will receive a culture shock. This is due to the fact the family has not received any prior orientation, apart from a self-motivated attempt at learning the local language. The company must have recognized the services of employees and provide guidance and help, in aiding them and their families settle down amidst changing scenarios. First comes the phase of adaptation, when the employee's family finds the environment new and different from the routine he has been subject to. They need to get used to the whole new setup, which could probably include a new language, culture or practices in general. This could create disillusionment and slight depression.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 9

Immigration - Essay Example In an ideal situation, the national government controls border crossings and movements within the states. However, the national government does not put any restrictions on border crossing, or movements and this makes entity states to make laws that address these issues. As a result, conflicts about  these laws arise, as they do not exist in the Constitution. In fact, some laws from entity states conflict with federal laws. In my opinion, children of illegal immigrants graduating from high school are entitled to in-state tuition. These children are born in the states and thus, they live in their rightfully as citizens by birth. This gets support from the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which allows children of illegal immigrants to enjoy equal benefits with those of legal migrants (Haines & Rosenblum, 1999). These children are citizens and the constitution should protect them. It is true that parents to these children are lawbreakers, but children should not suffer for mistakes done by their parents. After all, children are innocent and they have no power over where they are born, or who are their

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Public Schools Segregation Essay Example for Free

Public Schools Segregation Essay I was recently struck by one of the political cartoons in the SacramentoBee newspaper, which presented an image comparison of drinking fountains in two schools. It quickly reminded me of the racist Jim Crow laws from the 1880s-1960s and how racial segregation existed almost everywhere in the United States at that time. However, I realize that this cartoon doesn’t portray the concept of racial segregation with a Jim Crow joke, but it makes a commentary on social segregation among public schools in the United States today. I slowly realized that all American public schools are not the same due to funding. The huge difference exists in the public school system because their funding is associated with local property taxes. If a school is located in an affluent area with wealthier residents who pay high property taxes, schools will receive more funding (School Funding 1). Do you think this system is fair? If I ask affluent parents, they probably would answer that they pay high property taxes, so their money should go straight to nourish public schools in their areas. Meanwhile, if I were to ask parents in low socioeconomic areas, they would say that funds should be distributed from the state and not by the county, which would help in reducing the inequality between schools. Although sharing funds is not fair for many affluent people who pay more taxes, we should encourage state governments to aid the poorer schools more because it helps to reduce poverty and prevent crimes in lower income neighborhoods. The first reason that poorer schools should get more funds is to reduce poverty. People in low-income areas might not get the direct effect from school funding, but in the future, their kids will be benefited greatly. For those in the low income bracket, education can be a legitimate way to help them climb out of poverty. However, in reality, most of these poorer schools today are still not treated equally as their richer counterparts. Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune reporter reviewed the vast difference between two public schools in the Chicago area to illustrate this point. The first school, Taft Elementary School in Lockport can’t offer students any arts, language or technology classes because of the limited budget available. Meanwhile, Rondout Elementary School, near Lake Forest, offers language programs such as Spanish in every grade including kindergarten. Most students use laptops in the class, and they can enjoy band and chorus classes. They can choose to study various art, drama and dance as well (Black 1). If poor children had the same opportunity as their counterparts, imagine the growth it could represent to them educational. If they enjoyed studying, they could move on to obtain higher education by attending to colleges, meaning better-paying jobs. Therefore, funds should be available for all people. Young minds deserve the opportunity to choose the programs that they want to study. They should be able to study art and any other subject, as they desire to, regardless of how much property tax their parents pay. In general, I believe that a good education is the foundation that can pave the way to a better quality of life. Aside from reducing poverty, preventing crimes is another reason that poorer schools should receive more funds. Crimes in lower income areas derive from being unable to sustain a decent living. These types of crimes can be directly connected to a lack of education and opportunity. Geoffrey Wodtke, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, mentions in his article that kids in poor neighborhood have less chance to graduate from high school (Wodtke 1). He also states: Poor neighborhoods are isolated and racially segregated, with none of the quality schools, day care, grocery stores, pharmacies, and parks that can help promote a child’s development and academic achievement; and they are disproportionately smoggy, crime-ridden and dilapidated. All of these factors, the researchers note, have been linked to poor performance in school, often culminating in dropouts. (1) Wodtke claims that poor neighborhoods affect school performance, and this can impact a child’s learning directly. Some children quit the schools because they have no interest in schooling. Dropping out is and having no high school diploma will limit a job opportunities. When they are not qualified for many jobs, they can’t escape the pitfalls of poverty. Therefore, some of them end up finding illegal ways to make money while others affiliate themselves with gangs (Wodtke 2). This is the reason why school is so important, because it is a good place to start children on equal footing educationally with the chance to better themselves in the future. However, schools in low-income areas still need more funds to afford having a variety of programs such as language, art and sports. Schools also need to be able to hire and retain qualified teachers. Moreover, every school should be able to afford sport programs, which is a good physical outlet for youthful energy and encourages good health and teamwork. Art programs should also be available because they provide an outlet to express creativity. A wider variety of activities and educational alternatives can create brighter and more promising futures if given the opportunities. These children can become doctors, football players or artists in the future as long as they get a fair amount of support from the beginning. It’s difficult to change the living environment in poorer neighborhoods, but we can start by improving the school system to reshape the future of that community. Some people think that pouring money into poor schools is wasteful. They believe the reason schools become poorly performing ones is because they are full of under-achieving students who lack interest in the curriculum. Even if some schools get more funds, it will not change anything. It’s like treating symptoms, but not starting at the root of the problem. They believe that the government should provide more funding to schools with higher achieving students who potentially will become successful contributing members of the community. In other words, the state government should invest in the right schools and students. However, I believe this thought to be completely wrong. People who believe this will never know the potential of students in lower-income schools unless they are given a fair and equal opportunity to succeed. If poorer schools receive more funding, they will be able to provide better facilities and a stronger variety in the curriculum. These factors would increase the chances that we see more students grow into productive and successful adults despite coming from lower class surroundings. When every school has the same resources and variety of programs available to their youths, political cartoons like this one will be a thing of the past because the educational system’s inequalities will no longer be a joke. We should call for action on the funding to reform poorer schools because education can help in reducing poverty and crimes in these neighborhoods. Although affluent parents who work harder and pay more property taxes might oppose an idea of distributed funding to poor schools, they should think about economic consequences. If a gap between rich schools and poor schools is still expanding, how can the children of today become responsible adults in the future? If this country is the land of freedom and opportunity for everyone, I should hope that schools would be the first place to start by giving equal opportunities to all children. Poorer schools should receive equal opportunities like those of the children in wealthier communities. Schools should be a sacred place where all children of any social standing are afforded the same opportunities of unlimited educational growth. The more we see children shine in their youth, the more likely they will rise up to become successful in the future and this will help strengthen the future of the United States’ socially and economically.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Marketing Plan For Coca Cola

Marketing Plan For Coca Cola The Coca-Cola Company is one of the leading manufacturers, distributors, and marketers of non alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. They produce non alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups which are sold to bottling partners. The bottlers usually add carbonated water with the concentrates and sweeteners and then bottle the product and sell it to wholesalers or retailers. Coca-Cola owns more than 400 brands in which they market for in over 200 different countries (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola sells a variety of soft drinks, juices, sports drinks, teas, and water. They operate in eight segments, but most of their revenues come from three of those segments. Their three major segments are North America, South Asia and the Pacific Rim, and Bottling Investments. Their five other segments include Europe; North Asia, Eurasia and Middle East; Latin America; Africa; and Corporate. Coca-Cola also has the leading brand (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Their vision is to maximize profits and returns to shareholders. Coca-Cola wants to have skillful workers and inspire them to do the best that they can. They want Coca-Cola to be an enjoyable place to work at and for employees to be motivated in coming to work. The company likes to obtain a product line of beverages that satisfy the needs and wants of consumers. Coca-Cola wants to build trusting relationships with their partners and suppliers along the supply chain. Also Coca-Cola prides itself in making a difference in their community and their many contributions that work to improve the environment. The business decisions that Coca-Cola makes are guided by their values. Their main values include: leadership, passion, integrity, accountability, collaboration, innovation, and quality (Coca-Cola Company 2006). Coca-Cola has remained successful by maintaining strong values, visions, and mission. Marketing Objectives Future growth for Coca-Cola will emerge from their focus shift towards the global market as well as the health conscious market. They are implementing and continuing to build on their global strategy (FrontPage, 2007). Coca-Cola would like to continue to market to countries around the world outside of the United States. They are having growth in emerging markets in Latin America, the BRIC, and Western Europe (FrontPage, 2007). This will be their major focus in the future, because they feel this is where their major growth opportunities lie. Consumers are moving towards a healthier lifestyle, which in turn is causing Coca-Cola to expand their products to continue to meet their needs. They would like to focus on providing juices, sport drinks, and water lines that will aim at the more health conscious market. Coca-Cola has been performing trials on their Minute Maid Heart Wise orange juice to prove that it does help lower cholesterol and improve health. Also they are having trials for their Enviga green tea which can help boost metabolism. This new market is huge and creates a lot of growth opportunity for Coca-Cola (Credeur, 2007). The core of our business is healthy and its poised to capture significant growth over the coming years (Credeur, 2007). Consumer behavior is changing therefore Coca-Cola must adjust their marketing strategies and product lines to meet the consumers needs. Industry Analysis The Coca-Cola Company falls in the beverage industry with many other developing companies. Leading the beverage industry by generating revenues of $24,088 million dollars, Coca-Colas closest competition in this industry is Coca-Cola Enterprises and Anheuser-Busch. Others that fall into the industry include Pepsi Bottling, Molson Coors Brewing, Constellation Brands, Pepsi Americas, and Brown-Forman (Fortune 2007). The beverage industry is moving toward the more health conscious consumer. The market is shifting from soft drinks to juices, sport drinks, and water products. To remain competitive Coca-Cola must also enter into this market and follow the healthier trends. In many European countries, the increasing consumer trend toward a healthier lifestyle continues to grow demand for functional beverages that offer physical or mental well being, lower calories and other added values (Fuhrman, 2007). Consumers value products that are going to help them live a healthy lifestyle and feel better both physically and mentally. SWOT Analysis Strengths Coca-Cola has a lot of strength in their marketing plan and business. They are the worlds leading brand name, and they have a large scale of operations, and have continuing revenue growth in all of their three segments. Coca-Colas three major segments are Latin America; East, South Asia, and Pacific Rim; and Bottling Investments. These are the segments that earn the highest revenues. Each of these segments continuously grows in revenues each year. The revenues earned in these segments have helped The Coca-Cola Company to grow and expand (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Colas brand name is valued higher than their biggest competitor, Pepsi. Business Week valued Coca-Cola at $67,000 million and Pepsi at only $12,690 million. The brand of Coca-Cola is known globally and allows the company to enter new and emerging markets. Having a strong brand name also allows them to expand their company by adding products such as Cherry Coke and Coke with Lemon, and allowing them to meet different consumers needs. Coca-Cola owns the brand names of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Fanta which are four of the leading brands in soft drinks (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola, with large scale operations, is the leader in manufacturing, distributing, and marketing nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. Selling in 200 countries, Coca-Cola owns 32 beverage concentrate manufacturing plants. They also own bottle water production and beverage facilities. The companys large-scale of operation allows it to feed upcoming markets with relative ease and enhances its revenue generation capacity (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Weaknesses Coca-Cola has three major weaknesses that occur internally in the company, they include: negative publicity, poor performance in North America, and decrease in cash from operations. In 2006, Coca-Cola was accused of selling a product with pesticide residues in India and received negative publicity. These residues contained harmful chemicals that could damage the nervous and reproductive systems and could potentially cause cancer. Coca-Cola was plagued with harmful publicity much like this scenario throughout the year. This type of publicity can affect their brand image and decrease demand for their products (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola focuses on North America as their major target market; therefore it is important for them to have a good performance for the target market. In 2006, Coca-Cola did not perform well and its market growth ceased in North America. The company actually got worse. If this poor performance continues, it could affect the overall companys growth in the future and could allow their competitors to surpass them (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola had a decrease of 7% in cash flows from operations in the year 2006. This affected the company by reducing the amount of funds available for Coca-Cola to reinvest in the company (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola must then finance their growth with debt which makes them vulnerable to interest rates. Opportunities Major opportunities for growth for Coca-Cola include acquisitions, the bottled water market, and the growing Hispanic population in the United States. This growing demographic segment gives Coca-Cola an opportunity to try and reach new consumers and expand their product lines. Some acquisitions of the Coca-Cola Company are Kerry Beverages Limited in 2006 which is headquartered in Hong Kong. By acquiring Kerry Beverages Limited Coca-Cola gained control over distribution and manufacturing joint ventures in nine major Chinese provinces (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). They also acquired Apollinaris in Germany, which sells sparkling and mineral water. Coca-Cola also took over TJC Holding, a bottling company located in South Africa. They even acquired companies in Australia and New Zealand. This enabled Coca-Cola to have a strong hold on the global market, which as a result helped their international operations grow and get stronger. It also gives them an opportunity for growth and to enter into new markets. The increasing health conscious market is just one of the new markets that Coca-Cola has shown a growing interest in, like the bottled water market. Bottled water is one of the most fast-growing segments in the worlds food and beverage market owing to increasing health concerns (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Threats Even a large and successful company like Coca-Cola has external threats. Three of their major threats are intense competition, dependence on bottling partners, and slow growth of carbonated beverages. The nonalcoholic beverage industry is highly competitive, leaving Coca-Cola with many competitors in their industry. Their largest ones are PepsiCo, Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes, Groupe Danone, and Kraft Foods. This intense competition influences Coca-Cola and their strategies. Key aspects that are affected are pricing, advertising, sales promotion programs, product innovation, and brand and trademark (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). The high dependence Coca-Cola has on their partners and suppliers makes them vulnerable. Most of the revenue that Coca-Cola generates comes from selling concentrates and syrups to bottlers, in which they have no ownership control. These distributors and bottling partners make their own business decisions and Coca-Cola has no say in the choices they make. Not having control over a major aspect of their business is a major threat. (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Target Market As Coca-Colas mission statement states it wants to refresh the world (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). Therefore the companys target markets are any and all consumers that have a thirst that demands satisfaction. However, there are some brands that target specific consumers. For example, Coca-Colas PowerAde is a sports drink that is aimed at athletic men and women, where as its diet soft drinks are targeted at consumers who are of older age (Clark, 2005). This type of marketing approach is referred to as market segmentation. Market segmentation is defined as the process of dividing a market into meaningful, relatively similar, and identifiable segments or groups (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 212). Two ways in which Coca-Cola segments its target market are by demographic and geographic segmentation. Before 1960 the Coca-Cola Company only had one beverage aimed at the entire soft drink market (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 212). Currently Coca-Cola offers a wide range of products includi ng coffee, tea, sports drinks, energy drinks, water and their well-known Coca-Cola soft drinks (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Market segmentation allows the Coca-Cola Company to market to people with different product needs and preferences. For example, in the past year the Coca-Cola Company felt like they needed to focus on the need that their products satisfy for their consumers. They came out with a beverage portfolio based on seventeen need states of their consumers. Some of these included relaxation, hydration, weight management, and heart health (MacAuthor Thompson, 2006). Therefore the Coca-Cola Companys target market strategy is to segment the entire soft drink market to better understand and design marketing mixes that specifically matched with the characteristics and desires of each segments. Marketing Mix: Product, Place, Price, Promotion Product: In order for an organization to be successful it needs to have a well-defined marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of the four Ps; product, place, price, promotion (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 48). Product is defined as everything, both favorable and unfavorable, that a person receives in exchange (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 48). The Coca-Cola Companys products consist of beverage concentrates and syrups, with the main product being the finished beverages (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Colas products can be viewed as both business and consumer products. Ultimately, the main goal of the Coca-Cola Companys is to satisfy a consumers personal want, which is the definition of consumer products (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 248). The type of consumer product the Coca-Cola Company creates is convenience product. Convenience products normally require a wide distribution in order to sell sufficient quantities to meet profit goals (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 285). In addition, the Coca-Cola Company often pays a certain amount to retail stores to resell their product. Therefore the Coca-Cola Company products can be considered a business product. The Coca-Cola Company has a fairly large product mix which contains about 400 brands, including diet and light beverages, waters, juice and juice drinks, teas, coffees, energy, and sports drinks (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). The Coca-Cola Company has increased its product mix width since 1960. This enabled the Coca-Cola Company to spread risk across many product lines rather than depend only on one and to help generate sales and boost profits within its organization (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 287). The Coca-Cola Company also packages its products different sizes to appeal to certain consumers (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 286). For example, Diet Coke is available in twelve-ounce or even six-ounce cans and various plastic containers, ranging from two liters to twenty ounces (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). The Coca-Cola Company has increased its product mix by product line extensions as well as creating new products. The Coca-Cola Company has extended its product line by introducing a variety of drinks (Will New Cokes, 2006). These include Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke, Cherry Vanilla Coke, Coke Plus and many more to attempt to meet the needs of all of its consumers. The Coca-Cola Company also increases its product mix and broadens its market by the innovation of new juice and sport drink products (Marcial, 2007). This fairly large product mix enables the Coca-Cola Company to satisfy the needs of their consumers thirst, whatever it may be. This type of product mix allows the Coca-Cola Company to achieve its mission statement in which it states that it wants to refresh the world (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). Place/Distribution: Another crucial part of the marketing mix is place and distribution of an organizations product. Place and distribution strategies are concerned with making products available when and where customers want them (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 48). The Coca-Cola Company states in its mission statement that it wants to offer its products to all consumers globally (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). The Coca-Cola Company uses intermediaries (i.e. retailers and distributors) instead of directly selling to distribute its products worldwide (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). The Coca-Cola Company also uses intensive distribution strategies to make sure their products can be available everywhere. One low profile type of retailing that the Coca-Cola Company does to increase its distribution of its product is the use of automatic vending machines. These can be found in a number of places, such as schools and concert venues (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 411). Since their product is a convenience produc t, it requires a wide distribution in order to meet profit goals (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 285). Recently the Coca-Cola Company has focused more on their global strategy to help them increase their growth. Much of this growth is coming out of Latin America, the BRIC, and Western Europe (Innovation, acquisitions, 2007). Currently many Europeans are beginning to be more worried about their health, which has increased Coca-Colas Diet Coke and Coke Zero sales (Fuhrman, 2007). In addition, the Coca-Cola Company is in many other countries including India that are in the growth stage of the product life cycle (Marketing: New products, 2007). The Coca-Cola Companys growth in these areas are caused by their improved marketing to consumers, better relationships with bottlers, their live happily campaign in 200 markets, and the launch of Coca-Cola Zero. They also launched Minute Maid juice in India as well as China and Korea (Marketing: New products, 2007). Their innovation and introduction of new products as well as their winning culture has helped them begin to grow again worldwide. Price: Price of the product or service is another important part of the marking mix. Price is defined as what a buyer must give up to obtain a product (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 49). Price is the quickest and most flexible element to change in the marketing mix. The prices of the Coca-Colas Companies products vary according to the brand and the size in which they come in (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). The Coca-Cola Companys products are sold by a wide variety of distributors and retail stores, such as convenient stores and gas stations, as well as vending machines (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). The distributors and retail stores that the Coca-Cola Company deals with often implement their own pricing strategy (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Gas stations and convenient stores usually sell Coca-Cola products at a fixed price. However, the retail outlets use a variety of pricing methods and strategies when selling Coca-Cola products (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). There is often competition pri cing of the Coca-Cola products and prices are set around the same level as its competitors. In addition there are also psychological pricing strategies that are used to make consumers perceive that the products are cheaper than they really are. Promotion: The fourth aspect of the marketing mix is promotion of a product. The promotions role in the marketing mix is to bring about mutually satisfying exchanges with target markets by informing, educating, persuading, and reminding them of the benefits of an organizations product (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 49). Since the Coca-Cola Company operates on a global scale, their promotional strategy needs to consider the external environment in which their products are. These external environmental factors include culture, economic and technological development, political structure, demographic makeup and natural resources (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 77). For example, the Coca-Cola Company promoted its new Coke Zero in Australia differently than it did in the United States because of the different external environmental factors associated with that segment (Alarcon, 2007). In addition, the Coca-Cola Company often has to adapt its advertisements in different cultures. For example, an ad in Singapore portraying teenagers careening down a store aisle on a grocery cart was perceived as too rebellious (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 129). The ultimate goal of any promotion is to get someone to by a good or service. There are four main aspects of the promotional mix that integrate together to create a competitive advantage for an organization. The four aspects of the promotional mix are advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 411) The advertising part of the promotional mix allows the organization to reach the masses with its product. The Coca-Cola Company was built heavily on advertising and marketing investments. Today the Coca-Cola Company spends most of its money on advertising that maintains the brands awareness (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 468). Thus advertising is a main source in increasing consumer awareness. The Coca-Cola Company uses many forms of advertising, from TV advertisements to magazines and billboards (Steinberg Vranica, 2004). One target segment that the Coca-Cola Company is having trouble trying to advertise to is the more outdoor, health conscious and environmentally friendly consumer (Steel, 2007). The advertisers are unsure how to advertise to them in a green fashion where the advertisement achieves its goals of persuading, informing, and reminding as well as being environmentally friendly. Public relations part of the promotional mix helps maintain an organizations image and educate consumers (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 444). Many organizations hire outside professional help to deal with public relations within an organization. Public relations are the element in the promotional mix that evaluates public attitudes identifies issues that may elicit public concern, and executes programs to gain public understanding and acceptance (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 441). The type of public relations tools that the Coca-Cola Company uses widely are product placements and sponsorships (Steinberg Vranica, 2004). The Coca-Cola Company often uses is a spokesperson to appeal to the younger more youthful (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 163). An example of this can be seen in China where the Coca-Cola Company has increased advertising containing younger Chinese celebrities to help inform, persuade, and remind their target segment (Flagg, 1999). The Coca-Cola Company also uses publicity to try and create a good company image. An example of this is when the Coca-Cola Company invested 60 million dollars in creating a recycling plant in South Carolina. By creating this plant the Coca-Cola Company hopes to help eliminate carbon dioxide emissions and recycle a mast majority of their plastic bottles (Truini, 2007). This effort in trying to help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions strengthens the Coca-Cola Company image of wanting to create value and make a difference everywhere they go. Personal selling allows the organization to build relationships with their consumers or other business associates (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 444). Personal selling is defined as direct communication between a sales representative and one or more prospective buyer (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 443). Personal selling in the Coca-Cola Company often is done in a business-to-business fashion. An example of this is seen when the Coca-Cola Company was trying to boost their sales in North America by forming alliances with Nestea to create coffee and tea drinks (McKay Corderio, 2007). This demonstrates how the Coca-Cola Company uses personal selling in a business-to-business atmosphere to provide its consumers with a larger variety of products that can satisfy their need. The Coca-Cola Company also uses sales promotions to increase their effectiveness of their promotional efforts. The essence of sales promotion is to help stimulate a purchase (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 444). Some examples of sales promotions that the Coca-Cola Company uses are coupons and rebates and are used frequently because they are more likely to influence customers buying decision (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 442). Another type of sales promotion that the Coca-Cola Company is currently using is their coke rewards points promotion. My Coke Rewards is customer loyalty marketing campaign from the Coca-Cola Company. Customers enter codes from specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products into a website. These codes are converted into virtual points which can in turn be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes entries (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). The ultimate goals and tasks of promotion mix are to inform, persuade, and remind the target audience. Marketing Research The Coca-Cola Company is a mass company with many marketing channels. They are widely distributed throughout the world. Many marketing decisions they face are backed with data or conflicts that result in them creating a fancy or reasonable solution. Even though Coca-Cola does an excellent job of quenching ones thirst, they sometimes have trouble understanding what regions of the world to emphasize marketing certain products towards. To stay competitive, Coca-Cola conducts marketing research to try and better understand their consumers. Coca-Cola creates products and services that will help fit into the needs and wants of their marketplaces. They have found that people expect more from their beverages. To try and fill this desire Coca-Cola has developed the Beverage Institute For Health and Wellness. This institute develops and tries new product ideas that can contribute to their product line. In additions, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the Institute works with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences to research the active ingredients in Chinese medicinal beverages and soups for the potential development of new beverages (The Coca-Cola Company Annual Review, 2006). Coca-Cola wants to be able to keep their market alive and constantly drinking their line of refreshments, so they continue to do research that will benefit their consumers, as well as being potential profits for the company. Coca-Cola within the last decade has been slowly grasping the idea of introducing and emphasizing products that may not be profitable in certain regions to other cultures where they may find value in such a product. For instance, Coke Zero is a product that carries no carbohydrates or calories and was not quite meeting the expected profits in the United States, but Coca-Cola started to advertise it more in Europe to areas that to enjoy it. This region seemed more concerned about their health and well being, which contributed to Coke Zero becoming more of a profitable product. Coca-Cola also develops interesting marketing techniques such as business to business strategies to make their products more appealing to the younger generations. According to marketing research, younger generations will pay more attention to consumer products when they are advertised in a modern and hip way. For example, Coca-Cola united with iTunes, so that whenever someone purchased a Coca-Cola product they would receive free songs to promote both products (Fuhrman, 2007).Since in younger generations are very music oriented. This relationship proves to be effective in promoting their products and attracting to the youth. Even though Coca-Cola has interesting ways to promote their products, they need to find an effective way that will sell and promote their whole product line. With more marketing research, Coca-Cola is now being scrutinized for selling their product in public schools. Upset parents and school faculty see the carbonated drinks as contributing to the nations obesity. The ban limits the company to selling products in schools to children less than twelve years old. The company has also agreed to only advertise healthier products towards this targeted market. A solution to this could be that Coca-Cola should input their marketing skills to other products, as well. In addition, The soft drinks giant would do better to concentrate its advertising efforts on newer products with greater growth potential (Datamonitor). With the Classic Coke, being one of the most popular carbonated drinks in the world. Coca-Cola could try and promote their other products that would acquire to different tastes. Coca-Cola could put more efforts towards their Dasani, Inc. brand, known for their bottled water. Bottled Water is a non carbonated drink that is becoming increasingly popular and more of a competition towards the carbonated and other drinks. Organizational Structure and Plan Coca-Cola implements an organizational strategy that better involves the employees and customers. The ultimate goal of Coca-Colas structure is to continually build customer relationships. Coca-Cola likes to have a flexible organizational structure that will be compatible with the market environment. Since 2006, the market has been seen as a complex environment and to help fix this problem, Coca-Cola conducted a thorough company analysis through their departments and segments. They assembled a diverse, multi-functional executive group mix from separate countries and divisions. They mixed these executives from the organizational levels and created a new business model that would accommodate to the centralized as well as local Coca-Cola divisions. Coca-Cola claims that the impacts and benefits of this new business model are already showing improvements. For example, Among our results, we improved our efficiencies throughout the supply chain, grew our volumes of single-serve presentations, and increased our EBITDAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (The Coca-Cola Company Annual Review, 2007). Coca-Cola has been making new improvements all over the globe for their operating segments. The eight operating segments in the Coca-Cola empire: North America; Europe, North Asia, Eurasia and Middle East; Latin America; Africa; East and South Asia, and the Pacific Rim; Bottling Investments and Corporate. Then each of these regions is broken down into smaller segments. The Coca-Cola segments work together as well as dependent from each other to fit their demographic segments. But all groups prove to be successful of share the similar approach and idea to operating: to create happy consumers through their products. Recently in 2006, Coca-Cola decided to move the operating group headquarters to Johannesburg, South Africa from its previous home in the United Kingdom. This enabled the company to be closer to more potential and current business, and be able to expand their empire through Africa. They also opened a new office in Cairo, which helped increase the products volume sale in that area by 23 percent (The Coca-Cola Company Annual Review, 2006). Coca-Colas repositioning and structure allows them to be more intact with their consumers and business. Financial Projections Coca-Cola has had an extremely successful year with improving the image of the company, introducing new product lines, acquiring companies, and increasing their products profitability from around the world. Coca-Cola expects to see a continue rise in profits through the next year. Even though the rising costs of commodities pose a threat, Coca-Cola will still prove to be profitable. With an upcoming year of hopefully new promising products, Coca-Cola might be looking at their lines of bottled water, juices, and sports drink to bring in most of the revenue due to their increasing popularity and consumer demand. The companys top sellers in 2006 were their sparkling beverages, juice and water products. From 2006 to 2007, the net income per share has already risen 2.6%. This increase is just the beginning for the company which shows extreme efforts towards the growth of the company. Coca-Cola will continue to expand its empire throughout the world. With already being sustainable in China and successful in India, Coca-Colas profit will only increase. For instance, Coca-Cola is set to switch its focus to the China market in an effort to sustain growth. The company said that with current economic growth continuing apace, China should be its third biggest market by 2008 (Coca Cola Looks to China For Future Growth, 2004). China is a very profitable segment for Coca-Cola and will only continue to contribute to increased profits. With excellent resources and planning, Coca-Cola can only bring in more consumers. The companys financial future projections are looking promising and the companys profits will continue to rise with more consumers drinking their products daily world wide. Summary The Coca-Cola Company demonstrates unique traits and strategies. Not only do they serve the world with quality products ranging for any type of taste, but they contribute to the well-being and restorat

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Belly Dancing Essay -- Art, Dancing

Hate doing crunches? Do they strain your back and neck muscles? Try belly dancing, it gives you better benefits than the average crunch with less pain. In addition to the physical and emotional benefits, belly dancing also has an impact on child birth and ones creativity in an entertaining manner. The physical benefits of belly dancing are, being able to become healthier, and in better shape. Being out of shape can also affect a person’s emotional-state. Participating in belly dancing can benefit ones self-esteem, and help their emotional well-being. Ones emotional-state can take a toll for the worst or the best when trying to become pregnant. Belly dancing is said to help the chances of a woman trying to become pregnant. Belly dancing also helps the birthing process, and can also help your pelvic muscles after pregnancy. Being pregnant can affect ones choice in attire. Belly dance allows one to become creative through the choreography and also their attire. Belly dancers bri ng out the most of their creativity while performing on stage. Belly dancing is very beneficial to ones physical and emotional state and could also help with the birth process; therefore it should be applied as a creative and entertaining form of daily exercise. Belly dance has physical and health benefits, remember; â€Å"A healthy heart is a happy heart†. According to Pina Coluccia â€Å"Belly Dancing strengthens the heart muscle and stimulates circulation† (Coluccia 84). Belly dancing is considered an aerobic or cardiovascular exercise. â€Å"Belly dancing can be considered a cardiovascular exercise, because it has similar effects as jogging or cycling† (Coluccia 84). Kanina says â€Å"Most of the students that attend my belly dancing classes, use belly dancing as a form o... .... The creativeness of belly dancing is brought out by what the women or men wear, and also where they are performing, and what style of belly dancing they are performing. If a woman is pregnant and is performing she could wear a dress and hide her belly, or she could emphasize her belly and wear a bra and a skirt. Belly dancing depends on the person; if they want to be more physically fit it is a good form of exercise. If a person wants to boost their self-esteem level practicing belly dancing will allow them to come in touch with their spiritual self. Also if a woman wants the birth process to be an easy belly dancing practices the birthing dance or movement. Belly dancing is very beneficial to ones physical and emotional state and could also help with the birth process; therefore it should be applied as a creative and entertaining form of daily exercise.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Mark Twain Thesis :: essays research papers

Mark Twain To look at that person on the honor role, who's the best athlete, has the newest car, and gets all the ladies. Or the person in art class who continually produces the best art work and ruins the grade curve for the rest of us. Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. Throughout his life Mark Twain continued to produce masterpiece writing leaving no good example un-battered. A man who gets his dream job, and is despised by the whole town of just dreamers. A person who's convictions are stronger than his flesh. And a seemingly harmless man, who tells the story as it should be told and comes under the utter annoyance of the narrator. Imperfect characterization played an , obvious, major role in his writings proving that few things annoyed him more than a good example. The pose that Twain takes to his characters that seem to be striving for excellence is quite unique. In an excerpt from Life On The Mississippi Twain tells us of a man with a dream. As imperfection has it this man's dream did not come true. But his friend's similar dream , however, did. The narrator tells us through a blanket of jealousy how this man was perpetually annoying, and how, 'there was nothing generous about this fellow and his greatness.'; Like many of Twain's writings this excerpt shows us a man with convictions as he looks at a seemingly good example and puts it under a different light. Convictions that shine through in what could quite possibly be a realistic situation (in Twain's accounts of them) shimmer with imperfection. In a part of Roughing It Twain brings us to a camp of three men. Under the inclination that they are all about to die, these men start to ponder what they could have done with the rest of their lives. They all end up making promises to themselves that they fully believe they will not have to keep. Promises of, 'reform'; and 'examples to the rising generation.'; In what would seem to be a surreal end to a story of repenters continues on. These men find themselves in a comical situation and end up surviving. So what happens to the promises they never gave a thought to having to keep but for the few moments it takes a man to freeze to death in the dead cold of winter?

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Female Genital Mutilation: A Gross Violation of Human Rights Essay

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has often been viewed as a rite of passage for women in various countries within Africa, South America, the Middle East and Asia. However, due to societal norms and pressures, whether it based in culture or religion, forces women to partake in a practice that has serious health risks and takes away the rights of women who believe they have no other choice. The Universal Declaration of Human rights are applicable to all member states including most of the countries that still practice FGM. However, despite claiming that the human rights set forth would be observed as obligated in terms of their memberships, FGM violates numerous rights and freedoms that claim to be recognized but, are not known to the people. These rights are neglected, and frequently go unacknowledged within communities because of denied access to media or information. Nonetheless whether it is intentional or a direct result of the poverty levels within these countries these are rights that the people deserve to know they have. If women were exposed to various forms of media and knew of their rights, FGM would not be so highly practiced. Female Genital Mutilation is a flagrant violation of one’s human rights. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is also known as female circumcision. There is this passivity and social acceptance that implied when using female circumcision versus FGM because, circumcision of males in western cultures is a norm and therefore, not viewed as a violation of one’s rights. However, if female genital cutting is referred to as female circumcision then it equating the severity of FGM with that of a male which is not the case. FGM is more harmful to the health of the woman at question and in no means beneficial to... ... Study Using Female Genital Mutilation†. Health and Human Rights. The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Vol. 2, No. 2 (1997), pp. 137-146. Web. Dorkenoo, Efua. â€Å"Combating Female Genital Mutilation: An Agenda for the Next Decade†. Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 1/2, Teaching About Violence Against Women, The Feminist Press at the City University of New York (Spring - Summer, 1999), pp. 87-97. Web R. Beitz, Charles. â€Å"Human Rights as a Common Concern†. The American Political Science Review, American Political Science Association, Vol. 95, No. 2 (Jun., 2001), pp. 269-282. Web N. Davis, Aisha. â€Å"Female Genital Cutting: The Pressures of Culture, International Attention, and Domestic Law on the Role of African Women†. Gender and Sexuality Law Online. Columbia Law School. 25 January 2012. Web. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a3

Monday, September 16, 2019

Innovation of Apple

MBA A Case Study on â€Å"Innovation on Apple† Course Code : MBA Cohort 22 Lecturer : Mr. D. L. Allen Student Name : Wong Man Pan Student ID : Submission Date : 18 July, 2012 No of words :3,092 1. Executive summary This article contains four main sections; in the first section, the characteristics of innovation Company are defined, mainly the ideas which follow Barry, John and Richard, 2011 and the overview of Apple Inc innovation would be evaluated based on the factors found. In the second section, the affecting factors in management (Amabile, 1998 ) and climate (Ekvall, 1996) based on Apple Inc would be discussed.Hence, two innovative companies such as HP and 3M performance would also be brought out . These three companies would be identified according to the three strategies suggested by Barry, John and Richard, 2011. Moreover, four actions framework from Kim and Mauborgne, 2005 would be analyzed with respect to one application from Apple — â€Å"Siri†. Finall y, recommendation would be made for future development and challenge especially since the key man [Steve Jobs] passed away in 2011. 2. Content 1. Executive summary2 2. Content2 3. Introduction3 4.Five elements of innovative company – Apple Inc5 5. Creativity7 6. Managerial practices and organization climate for creativity7 7. â€Å"Siri† Four Actions Framework11 8. Conclusion and recommendation12 9. Reference14 3. Introduction Among the enterprises pursue innovation, Apple Inc is recognized as the most successful case. In 2011, Barry, John and Richard, 2011 conducted the survey and concluded that Apple Inc is the most innovative companies worldwide and the Exxon Mobil Corporation has been replaced by Apple as the most valuable company in the U.S by market capitalization. Always there is a misconception for most people, as heavy investment is the fundamental requirement to be the most innovative company. However it was found that Apple spend only around 2. 7% of revenue annually on R&D, comparing with Microsoft whom spend 14% of revenue, there is a big gap. It implies that the findings from Barry, John and Richard, 2011- spending more on R&D does not necessary drive results, the most crucial factors are strategic alignment and cultural influences that support innovation.Therefore, this article mainly focuses on managerial practices, such as organizational and environmental support, rather than how the investment was allocated. In the article of Barry, John and Richard, 2011, the innovative organization should focus on innovative strategy, effective overall business strategy, deep customer insight, great talent and the right set of capabilities to achieve successful execution, all of these factors are critical when identify the way of Apple Inc in performing innovation.Simultaneously, creativity is the inspiration of organization and it is easily affected by management and cultures. Two more innovative companies would be analyzed based on Amabile, 1998 and Ekvall, 1996, Apple would be defined as need seekers and technology drives based on Barry, John and Richard, 2011. Innovation would be resulted as strong identification with customer experiences and passion for products; this would drive the products with superior performance and quality.After the management and culture of Apple Inc is analyzed, one product – Siri would be taken into account to show the result of innovation based on the four actions framework suggested by Kim and Mauborgne, 2005. Although Apple Inc stands for the top innovative company, it is essential to review the strategy and make change especially when top management is altered. 4. Five elements of innovative company – Apple Inc In the article of Barry, John and Richard, 2011, it is clear that innovation is not determined by the amount on R&D spending, the most vital factors are strategic alignment and cultures which support innovation.In this section, five elements issued by Barry, John a nd Richard, 2011 would be studied. Focused innovation strategy of Apple would be started from the key element in Apple’s approach to innovation (Walter, 2011), focus on where you think you can make a significant contribution recognized and it was further confirmed by Steve Jobs when he returned to Apple in 1997, Steve cut the unnecessary product line, minimized the number of developing products from 15 to 4.At that moment, only one or two new products were limited to launch into the market annually, it attempted to obtain the team power to concentrate on specific products development. Besides Apple Inc which only heavenly focuses on design and development, all the component and product assembly are outsourced, where it needs to share the profit with the supplier and the vendor, but Apple inevitably takes the largest portion.Effective overall business strategy is the combination of effective resources allocation and business model, Apple Inc, not like other electronic device c ompanies, it is the pioneer to perform value chain integration. In the figure of Apple, 2011, it showed that only 40% of revenue is generated from the consumer electronic products like iphone and ipad, the large portion are generated from the Apps store and advertising agent. This means that the business model is no longer relied on buy-off product; it keeps the financial stability by ongoing sales from Apps store and advertising agent platform.The crucial point for Apple is that they do not need to invest tremendously on platform development as they are run by users and new apps are not developed by Apple itself but it shares the profit. This overall strategy is effective and sustainable to the whole group. Deep customer insight is defined as customer relationship quality, in other words, it is determined by products and services where customer orientated. One of the innovation strategies from Apple was customer eccentric; end users can not realize the needs until the products of A pple launched.The structure of the products chain is constructed by end users plus application, users get the electronic hardware from Apple which allows them to share and personalize their software of products through the Apps store and iTunes, and this also helps the group to diversify the income base. Moreover through the breakthrough of mp3 and Discman player, it is easy to observe that Apple products like ipod and iphone, the feature is user friendly, such as users are easily to find the particular song within a minute among 1,000 stored file.Furthermore, looking at the environment Apple store, it successfully created a fairly comfortable atmosphere for customers, where a number of well trained staff would solve whatever problems from the products and always equipped with well manners and technical support. Great talent in Apple Inc could be said to be influenced by the company key man – Steve Jobs, it is the dedicated person who make Apple as an icon of innovation. Acco rding to Purkayastha and Syeda Qumer, 2011, most of the decisions of product development came from Steve.Also he inspired every staff in Apple to design and develop the products by thinking differently and create an environment in which the people working in Apple would believe that they are better than the rest (Purkayastha and Syeda Qumer, 2011). In recruiting staff, Steve put a large effort and resources on selecting the most outstanding talent on hardware, software, design and management. In the mind set of Steve Jobs, he believed that hire people who want to make the best things in the world and innovation comes from passionate, dedicated people.Indeed, there is no specific R&D team in Apple Inc, all the development is based on objective orientation, featuring the right person and forming the team. The right set of capabilities to achieve successful execution, although there is no variety product from Apple, but it provides a total package to the customer. Apple has all self ow ned necessaries in the execution which is included but not limited to electronic device, operation system development (iOS) and itunes platform with alliance with media company and apps developer, Apple does not need to rely on another company on the operations. . Creativity The presence of both individual and organizational creativity mechanisms led to the highest level of innovation performance (Sundar and Anil, 2000), it is essential to investigate the creativity in Apple, there are three components of creativity suggested by Amabile, 1998, they are expertise, creativity thinking skills and motivation. (i) Expertise means every professional knowledge that people acquired and perform in the duties.Information technologies is the main core of Apple, hire people who want to make the best things in the world is one of the key elements in Apple approach mentioned at Walter, 2011, it implied that there are many experts in Apple. Apart from I. T and design area, Apple also provides corp orate service to different industries; the team of consultant is required to have a variety of industries knowledge in order to offer the total consultative solution in different area to different types of customer. ii) Creativity thinking skills are defined as the flexibility and imagination of people to solve the problems, many Apple products are originated from another companies, like ipod, the idea was come from Tony Fadell (Ping and Yuan-hong, 2012), after the modification of design with creativity thinking skills, the outcomes equipped the pocket size devices would be store 1,000 songs and quick search function that is far advance than other type mp3 players. (iii) Motivation  drives people to behave actively toward a desired goal and initiates, controls, and sustains certain goal.Apple  attracts and retains employees in part owing to the benefits, or expected and non-performance related incentives, it offers, such as product discounts or insurances, executives are rewarde d by giving them a recognition bonus of 3 to 5 percent of their base salary. 6. Managerial practices and organization climate for creativity In Barry, John and Richard, 2011 findings – spending more on R&D won’t drive results; the most crucial factors are strategic alignment and a culture.Inevitably, managerial practices affect creativity of whole organization, per Amabile, 1998 suggested that six general categories are challenge, freedom, resources, work-group features, supervisory encouragement and organization support. Apple Inc would be analyzed together with two more innovative companies in order to obtain a better understanding on the way management of Apple encourage and develop innovation within the organization comparing with another innovative companies. | Apple Inc| HP| 3M|Challenge| Apple followed 10:3:1 approach, 10 entirely different mock up of the new design is required to provide by designer, only three designs would be selected, then engineer would wor k on the designs before the final stage. Although the process is harsh and consuming, Steve Jobs would drop all the finished concepts at very last minutes. | Researchers are not limited to work in R&D area; they can work across the different team and department on variety of projects like engineering and marketing team. Under the performance rating system, the salaries of individuals are determined by comparing with their peers performance. Salaries and promotions are tied to the product’s progress, for any new product, when the sales grow to USD5M, the product’s originator becomes a project manager, at USD20-30, a department manager, in USD75M range, division manager. 25% rules introduced: A quarter of division’s sales come from the products introduced within the past five years. | Freedom| There is no restriction in the brain storm meeting, team member of development team is free to express their creativity then pass the proposal for further investigate on the feasibility and effectiveness. The management philosophy of HP is mutual trust and respect for individuals, everyone can make decisions on almost everything idea which related to their research work. Staffs in HP lab have flexible working hours. | Staffs in 3M tend to be self-policing. There is no restriction for the staff moving from one business to another. | Resources| | Diversity network associations offer employees an opportunity to engage in professional support and networking activities. | HP invest a lot on its R&D section and put R&D as the centre of business.The resources are come from HP Labs Bristol and their big partner like UK government. It provides advanced office building and world class facilities for research staff to perform their technological work. The researcher would grant special research funds to set up new projects | USD 50,000 would be granted for the project pass the idea stage, a panel of technical experts and scientists awards as many as 90 grants eac h year. | Work-group features| Apple worked on the concept of informal corporate culture flat organizational structure is established.No matter the job post is high or low, they share the same open spaces for creativity. | HP lab consists of many small units, individuals take responsibilities and work together as a team. The lab operates a flat organizational hierarchy, only three layers of management, scientist, manager and director. | Every division are kept small, on average about USD200M in sales| Supervisory encouragement| Management in Apple especially Steve Jobs created an environment in which employees were encouraged to believe that they are better than the others.The employee also would gain the benefits in the coaching and mentoring arrangement. | With the trust and respect philosophy, the staffs do not have much interference from management and only simple regulations in the HP lab. Senior researcher would be assigned as a mentor for the new comers. Supervisor is easily be found in HP lab as they would participate in the regular coffee meeting and spending leisure time with researcher to get more idea on the on going activities. Tolerance of mistakes and all technical staff at coporate labs dedicate about 15% of their efforts toward learning and training programs in areas outside their responsibilities. | Organization support| Developmental program in Apple Inc is included 16structured on-the-job training. | Workshops and training program is opened for everyone. Renowned experts would be invited in regular public lecture and give talks to the staff. Recognized award in form of financial rewards would be encouraged to the staff that make particular contributions to the innovation, even the output is not suitable for commercialization would still be patented. 15% rule allows anyone in 3M to spend up to 15% of work week on anything they wants, as long as it is product related. Small meeting rooms allows a small group of staff from different divisions even customer to exchange ideas. | These six elements are similar to what Ekvall, 1996 suggested organization climate for creativity and innovation, and it plays an impact variable which interferes the results of organization operations.Based on the three strategies suggested by Barry, John and Richard, 2011, need seekers, market readers and technology drivers and then comparing with three innovative companies analyzed, it is induced that Apple Inc strategy is belonged to need seekers, with respect to the pioneer concept and ideas like itunes, apps store and siri, it satisfy the characteristic of shaping new products/services and being a leader to the market. At the same time, the technological capabilities allows them to have the whole product integration, range from operating system iOS to hardware, it would be also defined as technology driver.In reviewing 3M innovation and new concept is come from customer and market needs with incremental change to the products and being the fa st followers in the market place, so 3M takes the market readers strategy. Finally with the advanced laboratory support and customer orientated, HP would be recognized as market readers and technology drivers. 7. â€Å"Siri† Four Actions Framework Creativity is easily found on every Apple’s product, the innovation involvement on one of the latest products â€Å"Siri† would be investigated based on the Kim and Mauborgne, 2005.Four actions framework suggested by Kim and Mauborgne, 2005 included (i) reducing factors which below the industry’s standard; by applying voice recognized analysis technology in Siri, it simplifies the end user key in process and reduce the hardware and software application. (ii) Creating the products that the industry has never offered; Siri offers accurate result through â€Å"Voice to result† to end users which is the pioneer to the market. (iii) Raising the factors above the industry’s standard; Siri allows users do not have any knowledge on computing which enhance the number of users from any background. iv) Eliminating the items that industry takes for granted, by applying â€Å"Siri†, keyboard, mouse and even touch screen would be eliminated. 8. Conclusion and recommendation According to the analytical result of the five elements on innovative company, managerial practices and four action framework on both Apple Inc and its product, it is identified that strategies of Apple Inc are need seekers and technology drivers, the products including but not limited to â€Å"Siri† totally reflect the result from individual and organizational creativity.There are many people worried about Apple future as the matter of fact that the key person [Steve Jobs] has resigned and pass away in 2010, although there is no immediately impact as innovation plan is normally lasted for 5-10 years, it is difficult to replace [Steve] who acted as spiritual leader and final decision makers in short period of time. It would be a golden chance for the company to readjust the policy especially on the decision making; the decision power would be distributed to different project leader by absorbing more idea from the staff and redefining the standpoint.It would enhance the freedom in the whole organization and it is easily recognized the importance of freedom to the effect of creativity from the analysis of HP and 3M. No doubt, [Steve] is a symbol of Apple Inc, he was not only CEO, and he was also a new product pitchman. Now when Steve was passed away, people included investor and consumer would unilaterally associate the innovation and advanced technologies are all gone simultaneously, the confidential level of Apple’s products would be dropped.To put a stop, it would be grateful that the message of team spirit and performance be demonstrated to the public by putting focus on how individual and team affecting the result. The new product presentation should be introduced in form o f team which allows the public forget the past image of Apple but it is important that keeping the spirit of [Steve] eternally in form of brand image in order to consolidate the cohesion internally and externally.It is truly believed that Apple Inc is the most successful innovation company throughout the investigation base on theories suggested by Barry, John and Richard, 2011, Amabile, 1998, Ekvall, 1996, Kim and Mauborgne, 2005 and Sundar and Anil, 2000. Inevitably Apple Inc would face a great challenge as the change is necessary with the top management movement, with the best wishes on smooth passing the transitional period and sustaining the long established innovative image. 9. Reference 1. Barry, John and Richard, 2011: Barry,J, John,L and Richard,H. 2011, The global innovation 1000 why culture is key.New York: Booz & Company Inc. 2. Amabile, 1998: Amabile, TM. 1998, How to kill creativity, Harvard business review. 76(5), pp. 77 – 87 3. Ekvall, 1996: Ekvall, J. 1996, Or ganization climate for creativity and innovation. European journal of work and organizational psychology. 5(1), pp. 105-123 4. Kim and Mauborgne, 2005: Kim, W. C and Mauborgne,R. 2005, Blue ocean strategy. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard business school press. 5. Walter, 2011: Walter, I. 2011, Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster. 6. Ping and Yuan-hong, 2012: Ping,C and Yuan-Hong,L. 012, Comparison on innovation of high-tech corporation, Technoeconomics & management research. 292(5), pp50-54 7. Purkayastha and Syeda Qumer, 2011: Purkayastha,D and Syeda Qumer, M. 2011, Innovation at Apple, India: IBS Center for management research. 8. Apple, 2011: Annual report 2010-2011. California: Apple Inc. 9. Sundar and Anil, 2000: Sundar, B and Anil, M. 2000, Making Innovation Happen in Organizations: Individual Creativity Mechanisms, Organizational Creativity Mechanisms or Both? , Journal of product innovation management. 17(6), pp424-434