Business plan for men skin care

I hope that the loan application will be approved as soon as possible -We really appreciate and we are grateful towards your consideration of approving our loan, as we look forward to hear from you soon. Thank you Yours Truly, 2. Executive Summary The Retro Skincare is a new business providing high-quality, full service distribution of skincare products specialty in moisturizing skin products and whitening product. Our product supplier is Reuben Skinner Company. Reuben Skinner Company is the sole manufacturer of the skincare product and located in Saba.In particular, what really sets up apart is that we are the ONLY full service distribution company servicing the skincare products around Slang Valley. In addition, Reuben Skinner Company has an exclusive contract to distribute a new, groundbreaking product that loud enable us to gain immediate access to a majority of the potential customer base. The principal owner is Subheadings, experience brings office management, high levels of cu stomer service, and over 20 years in distribution and sales management.At this time we are seeking additional equity capital to compliment our own investment and are seeking to arrange a bank line for inventory and receivables financing. Having firm commitments to distribute several high-quality new age skincare products we plan to distribute our first products within 30-60 days of finalizing financial arrangements. Our target customers are men located in urban areas and retailers. Our targeted end user is between the ages of 24 and 65. They are urban professionals with at least some college.Pricing of our products are ranging from ARM 17- ARMS per unit. 3. Introduction Reuben Skinner Company to customers in Malaysia. This will accomplished through a combination of company- owned retail outlet and wholesale distribution. The Retro Skincare will purchase product directly from manufacturer to eliminate the middle man and allows us to operate on a 25-30% profit margin, while providing our customers with competitive prices. The proposed location for Retro Skincare is Clan Marrow, Bangs. The principal owner is Subheadings.Distinguishing characteristics of our business will be the combination of management experience, sales and distribution experience, high- quality, innovative products and exceptional customer service. 4. Business Objectives and Mission 4. 1 . Objective To open and operate a successful skincare product distributorship in the Slang Valley market, employing three to five employees the first year. To obtain a minimum of 100 regular customers in the skincare market the first year of operation. Achieve first year ales of ARM 40,000. Maintain an average gross margin of 25 percent.To produce a net profit of at least OROMO,OHO by the end of the third year of operation. 4. 2. Mission The Retro Skincare intends to become a recognized distributor of specialty skincare products and spreading it around Slang Valley. The Retro Skincare plans to develop strong re lationships with key customers so we will be viewed as indispensable partners, rather than Just another supplier. The Retro Skincare will seek out and work with the manufacturers we represent to deliver the most innovative and exciting products possible to the customers we serve.We are not only selling product, we are selling service. † 5. 1. Industry Description and Analysis Skincare is one of the largest industry in the world. Technological advancement in the skin care market combined with development of innovative products contributing to the growth of skin care industry. The increasing demand for anti-ageing products and growing concern for the use of natural and organic skin care products are the major factors driving the skin care industry. In estimation, Malaysian annually spend an estimated ARM 3. Million on skincare products and cosmetics. By reason of lath awareness and aggressive product branding, consumers spend large amount of their income in buying skin care prod ucts. Malaysian skincare concerns include the heat and humidity of the climate, the drying effect of skin, stress and lightening the skin and areas of hyper pigmentation, acne, and the effect of aging on the skin. These concerns translate into strong prospects for skincare products and remain in broad consumption across all age and income groups in Malaysia.International brands such as Lance, L'Oreal Paris, Lola, Esteem Lauder, Clique and Sheikdom play a dominant role in the upper-end market of Malaysia. Imported products are highly in demand as most of the middle and high-income earners associate imported products with higher quality than local brands. The cosmetic giants still hold a dominant position in this industry and they will most likely continue to. But they have realized the need to acquire new brands and to keep their affiliation in the background. In recent year, names like Grainier, Dashing men, Naive have been acquired as local skin care products.This strategy indicate s that a few of the traditional big players recognize the benefits, for themselves and the industry, of emerging niche brands. 5. 2. Industry Trend Rapid arbitration in Malaysia resulted in strong demand for skin care products from both men and women. Sales for 2013, the most recent year available, were up to 45 percent, almost double the industry average of 20 percent. Soap is losing popularity as a facial skincare product, with the proportion of female users falling from 58% in 2008 to around (36%) in 2013.Due to skin dryness, women are attracted with emergence of facial and skin care products such as cleanser and moisturizing cream which make their skin healthy. At earlier, there are no skin care products use facial skincare products than women. Men's reactive approach to their skincare regime is the biggest challenge facing the industry Nowadays, men consumers can find some brand new skincare products of men almost in all grocery shops and supermarkets. An increasing number of c onsumers exposed to wide variety of skin care products like skin care products enhanced with collagen and other natural ingredients.Due to increasing disposable incomes and stronger consumer purchasing confidence in 2012, strong demand was seen for skin care products, particularly mass brands, since consumers could afford them to enhance or maintain their skin condition. Malaysian favor nature-inspired products mainly. If current trend play out as expected, the business of skin care products for men will become increasingly consolidated among other industry. The unique properties of men's skin need to be addressed in these new products (smaller sebaceous glands, oily skin, thicker skin etc. So that the products work effectively and the user experiences noticeable results more rapidly. 6. Market Segmentation Research 6. 1 . Market Analysis Summary The demand for man's skin care products are certainly on the rise as men are paying more attention to their appearance. According to resea rch conducted by Retro Skincare, six in 10 (65%) Malaysian men consider their appearance important and almost (48%) admit what they want to look attractive and well groomed. Just 15% of men admit that while it is acceptable for women to use skincare products, it is not acceptable for men to use such products.Highlighting the growing importance of the men's facial skincare market, today, as many as 7% of men admit to spending a lot of time on their facial skincare routine. Research highlights more than four in ten (42%) men use shaving lotions and almost a quarter (22%) use facial cleanser. 12% of men SE eye cream and gels , 17% use anti ageing products and 7% use moisturizer. While many of the nation's men are adopting a regular skincare regime, it remains that a lower proportion of men use facial skincare products than women.Men's reactive approach to their skincare regime is the biggest challenge facing the industry. Encouraging men to adopt a more preventative approach to their s kin's demographic changes in both mature and emerging markets: an increased number of men employed in the sector of services, increased competition in the workplace, ageing baby boomers eager to stay stylish, and the young generation influenced by hanging standards of male beauty. New entrants on the markets, as well as technologically advanced products, expanded lines, and innovative packaging are also stimulating sales. . 2. Market Segmentation To keep up with demand, the men's skin care market is becoming more segmented and expanding into new categories and claims. Generally, skin care market for male can be segmented based on four main segments: geographic, demographic, cryptographic and behavior. For the purpose of this analysis we are focusing solely on the male market. New research from Minute reveals that beauty and personal care munches specifically targeted at men have increased globally by 70% over the past six years (2007-2012).Its stated the market for facial skincare h as increased an impressive 20% in the last five years alone, valued at El,l billion in 2012, the market is set to reach a beautiful El,2 billion in 2017. L. Demographic: Retro Skincare target market is the retailers who have established relationships with consumers and the consumers themselves. We are essentially the distributing arm for these retailers. Our market research indicates about 46 potential retailers within a 1 to 25 mile radius of our location, who currently sell our competitors reduces. Our target retailers are drugstores and pharmacies.Another target market is men (end user). There are 30,001 ,710 individuals in Malaysia and 5,315,008 are male adults 18 to 65, which are our target consumer market. They are urban professionals with at least some college. This consumer has an active lifestyle. They are concerned about social and environmental issues. Mind and body wellness are important to them. Sales have been sustained as increasing numbers of young men are interested in capturing the stylish looks of media stars while older men have paid more attention to keep their skin younger as their younger days.Therefore, older men will give more attention to anti-aging products while young men will look for skin whitening products and moisturizer. Some youngsters will opt for acne free skin products. Our products can be used by any group of incoming level. Malaysia's men working under heat weather will buy sun block and skin care product which lighten the skin and areas of hyper pigmentation. Demographic factors such as the rising number of single-occupancy households, as consumers delay committing to marriage and children, have led to a growing number of men doing their own shopping, with ore disposable income to spend on themselves.Retro Skincare found out that single customers purchase a certain product more frequently than married people. II. Geographic: Men in different climatic conditions and with different skin colors will have with higher moistur e content. They also more inclined to whitening function products. High portions of the target market for Retro Skincare products are in urban areas with the population that desire to buy skincare products. Our main target geographic area will be KILL and Clangor because both states hold the largest number of men also have more urban areas.So our geographically targeted location to market our skincare product is in Bangs, KILL Central, Wants Major, Cubans and Among. We analyses, and came up with a conclusion that these areas will be best place to promote and market our Retro Skincare products. 6. 3. Competitors The skin care market is very broad. It includes products labeled as body cream, shower cream, cleanser, moisturizer, day cream, after shave and etc. Our market positioning will be in the lower price quadrant of high quality natural products.While there are other companies that distribute variety of skin care products, there are no main business in Malaysia focuses exclusively on the men's skin care product market as Retro Skincare. This will provide considerable flexibility in pricing and allow for the creation of great deal of customer awareness and brand loyalty, erecting significant barriers to entry for potential competitors. However there are some businesses offering men's skincare products as minor part of their businesses. Our primary competitors for men skincare products are: 7. L'Oreal Paris 8. Grainier 9. Naive 10.Clean 11. Their shortcoming is that they contain more chemicals than the natural herbs and ingredients of our company Retro Skincare products. Our main wholesale competitors will be power retailers who merge the specialty store concept with the discount store's emphasis on price. These retail warehouses are large stores with products displayed on metal racks in a warehouse setting. There are two distinct types of retail warehouses, the first being a membership and the second a consumer store which is open to the general public. Their shortcoming as with other competitors is service.Buyers must travel to them to pick up their goods. Some of the power retailers have Just begun to offer delivery services, which is helping retailers to appreciate the value of using a distributor like our company Retro Skincare. 7. Competitive Forces, Strategies and Risk Assessment 7. 1. Competitive Forces There are 5 competitive forces as following and the weak and strong determine how strong each of the competitive forces in our business is: Large amount of capital required High retaliation possible from existing companies, if new entrants would bring innovative products and ideas to the industry.Therefore we are introducing groundbreaking product 2. Supplier power (Weak): Supplier located in another state Saba. They are not currently available for wholesale distribution in Slang Valley The supplier supply in larger scale Products are widely accessible Supplier do not pose any threat of forward integration There are many suppliers who can supply different brand of skincare products 3.Buyer power (Strong): There are many skin care products buyers: urban area professionals, skin problematic customers Most of the buyers are individuals that buy one brand of product and can bargain for lower prices Buyers tend to switch to another brand of skincare product or to start using it Buyers can easily choose different skincare reduces based on their skin need Buyers are price and benefit sensitive and their decision is often based on how much does a product will cost them with a benefit of it 4.Threat of Substitutes (Weak): There are many alternative types of skincare products, such as soap, traditional products (aloe Vera) Substitutes can rarely offer the same convenience Alternative types of skincare products almost always cost less and sometimes are more natural and less chemical 5.Competitive Rivalry (Very Strong): Moderate number of competitors If a firm would decide to leave an industry it would incur huge losses , so most of the mime it either bankrupts or stays in skincare industry for the lifetime Industry is very large but matured Size of competing firm's vary but they usually compete for different consumer segments Customers are loyal to their brands 7. 2. Strategies for competitive advantage Cost Leadership We will improve our business cost to lower than our competitor to sell our skincare products. We have lowest cost of delivery service, cost of staff and staff wages and other.Differentiation We offer and selling only one brand of skincare product. This makes us easier and convenient for us to promote and sell it. Only full service distribution company in skincare market around Slang Valley. Our products are male oriented, which harder to get in market We has strategic location of distributing store Retro skincare products has beautiful design for exterior packaging and promotions Brightening serum for male is unique Operational Effectiveness full delivery service in 24 hour of avail ability We had implemented good leadership to our staff in order to became successful distributing company in future.The combined experience of the principal owners brings upper office management skills, high levels of customer service, and over 20 years in distribution and sales management. Customer Orientation Individualized customer service – providing our customers with what they want, when and how they want it. Free samples of new product for the customers Lower cost with quality product Fully integrated programs to help customers increase sales through menu development, creative promotions, advertising, and custom marketing material.Key personnel will stay in contact with our customers, and will be able to respond to changes in this market much faster than our competitors. 7. 3. Risk Assessments We had analyses that of strategic to sell our skincare product for male is good cause it has less competitor and the market is growing slowly. Risk from loses will be reduced if our company product sale is increased. Moreover we have good better promotion strategic without reducing our product sale profits.Based on our current analysis we find out that we has medium or lower than medium risk levels to sell our product in Slang Valley area. 8. Product 8. 1 . Description and Concepts The brand name is â€Å"Skinner†. The products are natural with less use of chemicals. The products will be delivered to customers or retailers in overnight shipping, on-site revive and 24- hour availability after the purchase is made. Our underlying rationality in choosing products is to select outlines that bring reliable quality, competitive prices and product satisfaction to our customers. We have personally quality we ensure.The primary products to be distributed through Retro Skincare will be as the following with the price stated: All the products are came in gig except shampoo and conditioner will be 100 ml. 8. 2. Features and Advantages Other service provided for customer and retailers: Free delivery, customer service ND consultation Retro Skincare will make these same products which available through wholesale sellers available through our excellent, full delivery service by sending these products directly to their doorstep at a competitive price Orders in bulk will be sold for customer carryout or delivery.Easy to use because the directions are written on each of the product itself and small template is provided to let customers know the benefit of these products and how to use it. These products are offered according to men's different skin type and they can choose to buy the product according to their skin need. For example there are 3 types of cleanser offered by Retro Skincare: Acne free, sensitive skin and Hydra Energetic. All the creams can last long for 2 months of usage.

Functions of Secondary Market

Functions of Secondary Market: The secondary market provides an organized place and the mechanism for trading in securities. They also ensure that the deals struck in the stock are fair and within the framework of law. The efficient functioning of the stock exchange creates a conductive climate for an active and growing primary market for new issues. An active and healthy secondary market in existing securities leads to better psychology of expectations; considerable broadening of investment enquiries renders the task of raising resources by entrepreneurs easier.Good performance and outlook for equities in the stock exchanges imparts buoyancy to the new issue market. The good stock exchange facilities the following important activities in the economy of a country: i. Favorable climate for growth of primary market ii. Widening of investment opportunities for the investor iii. Improving availability of resources for the business enterprises iv. Buoyancy in new issues v. Increasing conf idence among the players of the market Important functions 1.Provide a continuous market: It is the important objective of the secondary market to ensure stability in price as the trading activity progresses. The stock market achieves this aim by providing a continuous market infrastructure to the investor, thereby ensuring liquidity in the market. Some important characteristics of a continuous market are: i. Frequency of trades; ii. Small spread between bid and ask prices; iii. Immediate execution of order; iv. Change in price being minimum as the transaction takes place; The enefits of continuous market are that it creates marketable liquid investments and facilitates collateral lending. 2. Frequency of sales: A market will be liquid only when a buyer/ seller can find seller/buyer. If there are no buyers/sellers for some securities or there is long wait before a buyer/ seller can find counterparty, such market are called illiquid markets. The primary criterion for a good market is whether investors can sell their portfolio holding quickly with minimal price fluctuation at the time of sale.Liquidity occupies a central place in evaluating the efficiency of exchange. The market should have three important dimensions of liquidity. They are: i. Depth ii. Breadth iii. Resilience Depth refers to the situation wherein buy and sell orders are available at the quoted price for the desired quantity. If it is not available, then the market is termed as shallow market. The number of the transaction or the number of orders determines the breadth of the market. Otherwise the market is known as thin.The response to orders to changes in price reflects the resilience of the market. 3. Empirical measurement of liquidity: Empirically, liquidity is measured by the number of days a company’s share is traded, out of the number of days in the year, when the market is open. The number of days particular share is being traded reflects the liquidity of the market. If it is trad ed actively 50%of the days when the market is open, then it is termed as liquid. The variation in price of the share from one trading day to another also determines the liquidity of the share.If the difference between the lowest asked(or offered) price and highest bid-price is wide, the market is said to lack depth and considered shallow. Actually bid- asked spread is an inverse measure of liquidity. ‘ Tick’ as the minimum difference in rates between two orders on the same side i. e. , buy or sell entered on the system for a scrip. Trading in scrips listed on BSE is done with the size of 5 paise, it is 1 paise, in case of mutual funds and others to encourage orders at finer rates and improve liquidity.In United states, variation of one –eighth point in the price from the immediate trade is considered liquid. In our country, the minimum tick start from 0. 25. 4. Fair price determination: The prices in the stock market are determined by the interplay of the forces of supply and demand. When the prices are going up, it is termed as bull phase and when the prices are going down, it is termed as bear phase. As seen earlier active, bidding and two-way auction trading takes place in the stock exchange. The result is as near a market for free trading and free competition, as can be found anywhere.The bargains that are struck are at the fairest price, determined by the basic laws of supply and demand. At time large scale speculator activities raise the price of the share. But such activities are ephemeral in nature. There is no fundamental relationship between book value, par value and market value of share, because the share price may experience a boom if there is large scale investment from an individual or mutual fund company and also during such period too much money chases a few shares.The performance of the stock exchange is also subject to speculation, which at times, drives up the prices above the investment worth and at others, below it. Un der the normal circumstances, one would leave the situation to the forces of the market- what the buyers and sellers willing to bid and to offer. But in India, conscious policy is adopted to make shares attractive to the foreign institutional investors who evaluates our market, in relation to the other emerging markets. The stabilization of the stock market prices around a reasonable level would be desirable. . Aid to Financing Activities: Listed company finds it helpful to sell further issues of their shares in the primary market based on the good performance of their earlier ones. An active market and the good market price’s for the company’s shares makes the task of raising funds through further issues easier. This facilitates the company to command good price for the subsequent primary issue in the market. Rights themselves have an immediate and a wide market in the stock exchanges, provided the price including the premium reflects a fair price.Thus the stock excha nges enable a company to market further issues successfully by creating a continuous market for the rights. 6. Other allied functions: * The market prices established in the stock exchange trading are useful for tax purpose. * The stipulation on disclosure and transparency ensures that the investors have access to information on the listed companies, particularly with regards to their financial condition. * It serves to protect the investor’s interest by eliminating the dishonest and irregular practices rampant in the brokerage trade. To ensure a measure of safety and fair dealing to protect investors interest. * To provide the instant valuation of securities caused by changes in the internal environment. * To induce companies to improve performance since the market price at the stock exchanges reflects the performance and this market price is readily available to investors. * Secondary marketing is vital to an efficient and modern capital market. * In the secondary market, s ecurities are sold by and transferred from one investor or speculator to another. * Risk management

Amy Chua Hanna Rosen Essay Example for Free

Amy Chua Hanna Rosen Essay Amy Chua and Hannah Rosin: a comparison and contrast of parenting styles In recent years, Yale professor Amy Chua has drawn a great deal of attention due to her focus on a parenting style that is foreign – both figuratively and literally – to most Western parents. This style centers on a Chinese model that Chua espouses, and that has become famous, or infamous, for the stern and rigorous practices that Chua enforced with her own two daughters. Chua has received a large amount of criticism; one of her critics is Hannah Rosin, a prominent writer and editor. In response to Chua, Rosin outlines an alternative method of parenting. It can be argued that while both Chua and Rosin are involved and devoted mothers, they have distinctly contrasting views on how to raise children. There are three areas in which this contrast can be most clearly seen: attitudes to success, attitudes to self-esteem, and attitudes to happiness. Amy Chua’s model of parenting has success at its core. Chua sums up the Chinese approach to activities in this way: â€Å"What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it† (Chua, 2011). With this as a mantra, Chua promotes an extremely rigorous approach to such activities as learning a musical instrument; she believes that two or three hours of practicing an instrument daily is appropriate for young children. Furthermore, Chua believes that parents should not give their children any choice over which musical instruments to learn; the violin and piano are the only acceptable choices, regardless of the child’s natural talent or predilection. This approach is also evident in academics. Chua says, â€Å"†¦the vast majority of Chinese mothers†¦believe their children can be ‘the best’ students, that ‘academic achievement reflects successful parenting’ and that if children did not excel at school there was ‘a problem’ and parents ‘were not doing their job’† (Chua, 2011). Hannah Rosin takes a distinctly different approach to success, one that is arguably more reflective of Western attitudes in general. Rosin says, â€Å"Ms. Chua has the diagnosis of American childhood exactly backward. What privileged American children need is not more skills and rules and math drills. They need to lighten up and roam free, to express themselves in ways  not dictated by their uptight, over-invested parents† (Rosin, 2011). In Rosin’s view, Chua’s version of success is ultimately very limiting. Rosin doesn’t argue that success is a negative thing in and of itself; however, her looser, freer approach suggests that it can be achieved differently. Another area where Rosin and Chua differ from each other is in their approach to self-esteem and the way in which parents should treat their children. Chua openly admits that it is common for Chinese parents to make comments to their children that Western parents find reprehensible, such as â€Å"Hey fatty, lose some weight†, or referring to a child as â€Å"garbage† (Chua, 2011). However, Chua defends these comments by arguing that in fact, Chinese parents speak in this way because ultimately, they believe that their children are capable of being the â€Å"best†. She contends that Chinese children know that their parents think highly of them, and criticize them only because they have high expectations and know that their children can meet them. Hannah Rosin disagrees. She says, â€Å"†¦there is no reason to believe that calling your child ‘lazy’ or ‘stupid’ or ‘worthless’ is a better way to motivate her to be good than some other more gentle but persistent mode’† (Rosin, 2011). She believes that a parent’s role is not to act as a harsh critic and task master, but rather to guide them through the inevitable difficulties of life that arise. Unlike Chua, Rosin is not concerned with forcing her children to be â€Å"the best†. Rather, she says that â€Å"It is better to have a happy, moderately successful child than a miserable high-achiever† (Rosin, 2011). It is in this area, pertaining to notions of happiness that Chua and Rosin depart most distinctly from each other. It can be argued that the idea of happiness is almost completely absent from Amy Chua’s template. Chua says, â€Å"Chinese parents believe that they know that is best for their children and therefore override all of their children’s own desires and preferences† (Chua, 2011). In other words, the feelings or preference of the child as an individual are lacking completely from the Chinese framework of parenting. The child’s happiness, or misery, is completely irrelevant, because the  parent is the supreme authority, acting in the child’s best interest. Chua claims, â€Å"It’s not that Chinese parents don’t care about their children , just the opposite. They would give up anything for their children† (Chua, 2011). However, the one thing that Chua and other parents will not give up is complete authoritarian control. Rosin takes an entirely different approach to the value of individual happiness. She observes that happiness does not come through being successful; furthermore, â€Å"happiness is the great human quest† (Rosin, 2011). Parents cannot possibly always be in a position to know what will make a child happy or not; children must work out their own path to happiness (Rosin, 2011). Rosin believes that an over-emphasis on perfection will not lead to greater happiness and may even create less happiness in the end. In conclusion, it is undeniable that both Amy Chua and Hannah Rosin love their children and believe that their approach to parenting is based on a desire to do what is best for those children. However, the two approaches present a sharp contrast to each other. Amy Chua believes that success, perfection and being â€Å"the best† are of paramount importance, and will ultimately build a child’s self-esteem (Chua, 2011). Hannah Rosin is critical of the harshness of the Chinese template and argues for a gentler approach, one that takes the natural interests and talent of the child into account (Rosin, 2011). Rosin notes that the idea of enjoyment or happiness is strikingly absent from Chua’s parenting style; in turn, Chua observes that many Western parents are disappointed with the choices that their children make in their lives (Rosin, 2011; Chua, 2011). It can be argued that both the Eastern approach and Western approach have a great deal to offer each other; a wise parent knows how to walk a middle ground. Amy Chua Hanna Rosen. (2016, May 10).

Lulu PLC Clothing Manufacturing In China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Lulu PLC Clothing Manufacturing In China - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Lulu PLC Company is a textile company specialized in the manufacturing sector and is based in the UK. In the recent years, the company has engaged in business relations targeting international market. Recent developments led to the company developing a manufacturing plant in China. Rapid economic growth and industrial development have been witnessed in China in the recent past. China is ranked third from the U.S and Germany in the rankings of world’s trading nations. Business organizations intending to exploit business opportunities in China has a mandatory task to understand the prevailing business environment as this may have profound consequences in business development. The Cultural and political environment in particular greatly affects any business performance. The government of the People’s Republic of China has over time developed a market economy in the system, which is dominated by socialist characteristics. Soc ialism in China advocate for collective or state ownership of economic resources and their distribution. Equal opportunities to all characterize the mode of production. This poses a challenge to Lulu Company in that it may take time before adjusting to the common ownership and sharing of production resources. Clothing and textile industry has been in the lead among the industries that have dominated the economy of China. She has been a leading country in supplying the world market with the commodity.

Marketing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Marketing Management - Essay Example Moreover, the promotions presented by the management of Coca-Cola for the drinks are also quite fascinating and effective for the individual that acted as a boon for the growth and development of the organization in the market of North Korea as compared to other rival players (The Coca-Cola Company, 2013). Customer Analysis From the below presented graph, it might be clearly described that, Coca-Cola mainly targets the young generation of the country of North Korea with extreme consciousness for the health and hygiene. Moreover, the refreshing drink of Coca-Cola is mainly preferred by the age groups within 15-35 years among others as it serves as the best companion in parties, festivals, occasions and many others. And also the drink might be consumed by the individual of high to medium income groups along with a medium life style. Thus, it might be depicted that the drinks of Coca-Cola is mainly targeted to all the individual of the society with a proposition of ‘Healthy and re freshing drink’ among other rival players (The Coca-Cola Company, 2013). Objective and Strategies The prime objective of the organization of Coca-Cola is to offer best quality of drinks to the customers so as to retain its prosperity and loyalty within their minds. Apart from this, the organization of Coca-Cola also desires to offer most advantageous and refreshing drink so as to make it a value-added product in the market among other rival products. Only then, the desire to enhance the brand image and reputation of the organization might get enhanced and effective in future era. And the market share and profit margin of the organization might also get enhanced to almost 25% as compared to other rivals (The Coca-Cola Company, 2013). In order to make the objectives of the organization successful, the management might desire to implement varied types of strategies such as competitive growth policies and expansion survival strategies. These strategies might prove effective for t he organization thereby amplifying its brand value and market growth to a significant extent as compared to others. Along with this, by implementing expansion survival strategy, the organization might expand its products thereby improving the statistics of the organization in the market of North Korea. And it might also prove helpful in amplifying the brand value and market share in North Korean market (The Coca-Cola Company, 2013). Corporate Objectives The most essential requirement of any organization operating in this age is sustainability. This is because; it might help an organization to tackle varied types of challenging situations in an effective way as compared to many other existing rival players. Some of the objectives are stated below: Profit- presenting maximum extent of the returns to the shareholders thereby enhancing its foothold in the market of North Korea. Human resource- trained and experienced human resources need to be recruited within the organization so as to enhance the portfolio and reputation in North Korean m

Text Analysis essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Text Analysis - Essay Example The paper adopts the thesis Steve jobs speech appeals more to college students than his academic background. Steve Jobs is one of most celebrated inventor, businessperson, philanthropist and personality (Wilson 56). Steve is as one of the cofounders of Apple Company and computerized animation (Pixar animation). However, analyzing Steve Jobs at an academically it a different story. The quagmire of the speech at one of the most respected academic institutions is the fact he openly refers to his academic life standing at the podium. Steve’s speech is well crafted and depicts all the three elements that are necessary to capture the audience attention. Steve Jobs effectively uses irony to introduce the fact that he has never graduated by uttering the words â€Å"†¦This is the closest I have ever got to college graduation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Apple History Channel). Steve speech audience is composed of mostly young graduands from Stanford University. Steve Jobs understands well the level of education of his audience and goes directly to the main points in his speech. The environment and atmosphere that the audience offer Steve Jobs encourages him to continue with the speech. The audience is patient and responds well to Steve Jobs humor and emotional words. The composure of the audience implies they are eager to listen and learn new concepts. The audience responds well to Steve humour and applause him when he is for the first time. Steve Jobs uses tonal variation and posting from time to time giving audience time to comprehend his points. The audience respond during the pauses reveals they are attentive and listening to the speech keenly. There is very little murmuring during the speech, the audience in this case are a matured lot and respect the speaker Steve Jobs. The audience is more rejuvenated and fired up to face life at the end of the spe ech. Steve Jobs success overshadows the fact that he has never graduated from college and effectively

Essay-doing business in emerging market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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Subject-Sustainability in Global Business, Topic-Gold Mining Industry In Armenia - Assignment Example Such forecasting has resulted in greater invasion of the foreign investors in the country with a motive to extract a larger volume of gold. However, critical analysis to the context reveals that such repeat and continuous invasions in Armenian gold industry have resulted in a major consequence of hazardous mining activities (Abrahamyan, 2012). To obtain a better insight of the gold mining advantages and industrial disadvantages of the same, a PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) analysis of the country has been considered in this essay. Based on the analysis results, the discussion in this essay further attempt to measure the extent to which, the gold industry can be sustainable. Moreover, the essay also aims to provide rational solutions on the basis of which gold industry is likely to operate in a more sustainable manner. 2. PESTEL Analysis of Gold Mining Industry in Armenia 2.1. Political Elements In order to attract a larger percentage of g lobal investments in gold mining industry, the political system of the country has adopted a comparatively flexible international trade policies and plans with a vision to promote its exports, which acts as the main source of national income for Armenia (CIA, 2013; Stuhlberger, 2012). Although the increased foreign investments in the gold mining industry of Armenia has resulted in its augmented national income prospects, with the inflow of a greater volume of foreign currencies, the country witnesses immense complications in terms of corruption. Furthermore, the currently persisting unfavourable relationship amid governmental bodies and the mining sector investors have also resulted in greater degree of corruption within the national context (Stuhlberger, 2012). In addition to these national issues, the country has also been facing political conflict issues with Azerbaijan and Georgia, which has further affected its potentialities to attract a larger volume of foreign investment in the most sustainable manner for its gold mining industry (Nichol, 2013). It is thus recommendable that a stable and more organised political system must be developed by the responsible governmental bodies in Armenia in order to develop its gold mining industry in a socially responsible manner. 2.2. Economic Elements The economic condition of the country has developed quite rapidly, wherein the contributions made by the gold mining industry can be argued as inevitable. However, the economic crisis situations on a global context have adversely affected the economic stability conditions of the country to a large extent being majorly depended on foreign investments. As a matter of fact, with the shrinking purchasing power of customers in the gold industry, the investment trend also declined, which affected the Armenian economy adversely. However, in the recent years of post-recessionary phase, the increased demand for gold has attracted a large number of foreign investors in Armenia (Bu siness Reporter, 2013; UN, 2012; Chshmarityan, 2005). It is worth mentioning in this context that in order to be favourable towards the development of mining sectors and suffice the increased demand of valuable metals and minerals, the Armenian government levied taxes and regulations at a marginal extent, focusing more on charging royalties on the miners. However, unlike expectations, these tax control measures to facilitate greater independency of investors in the gold mini

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A Review on Reading Theories and Its Implication to the Teaching of Reading Essay Example for Free

A Review on Reading Theories and Its Implication to the Teaching of Reading Essay Abstract Opini dan masukan untuk peningkatan pengajaran membaca kepada pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing, baik yang didasarkan pada hasil penelitian maupun pengalaman, tersedia sangat banyak dalam kepustakaan pengajaran bahasa. Tulisan ini merupakan sebuah rangkuman atas berbagai teori, temuan dan pendapat tentang pengajaran membaca. Pemahaman terhadap topik-topik tersebut, terutama tentang teori top-down, bottom-up, dan meta-cognitive, diharapkan dapat dijadikan landasan untuk meningkatkan teknik pengajaran membaca. Dengan demikian, kemahiran membaca para pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing dapat ditingkatkan secara signifikan. Kata Kunci: top-down, bottom-up, schemata, meta-cognitive, pre-reading, during-reading, after-reading Introduction Among the four language skills, reading is possibly the most extensively and intensively studied by experts in the field of language teaching. The results of the researches conducted for many decades on nature of reading—how people learn to process textual information—have contributed contrasting theories about what works best in the teaching of reading. As a result, language educators can choose among a wide variety of teaching methods and techniques for students learning to read in their second language (SL) or foreign language (FL). For students who are learning a SL/FL reading is the most crucial skill to master due to several reasons. First, students can usually perform at a higher level in reading than in any other skills. They can quite accurately understand written materials that they could not discuss orally or in writing with equivalent accuracy or thoroughness. Such condition will undoubtedly enhance their motivation to learn. Second, reading necessitates very minimum requirements. Different from speaking which requires opportunities to interact with sparring partner, or from writing which needs a lot of guidance and time to practice, reading necessitates only a text and motivation. Third, reading is a service skill. After learning how to read effectively, students will be able to learn effectively by reading. Realizing how crucial reading is for our students, we can see the great importance of developing their reading ability. To achieve it, we should improve our reading lessons by implementing the best method and techniques provided by theories. This article aims to describe principal theories of reading and examine some tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help us develop our learners abilities. Theories of Reading So far, there are three main theories which explain the nature of learning to read. First, the traditional theory, or bottom up processing, which focused on the printed form of a text. (2) the cognitive view, or top-down processing enhanced the role of background knowledge in addition to what appeared on the printed page. Third, the metacognitive view, which is based on the control and manipulation that a reader can have on the act of comprehending a text, and thus, emphasizes the involvement of the reader’s thinking about what he is doing while reading. 1. The traditional bottom-up view. The traditional bottom-up approach to reading was influenced by behaviorist psychology of the 1950s, which claimed learning was based upon â€Å"habit formation, brought about by the repeated association of a stimulus with a response† and language learning was characterized as a â€Å"response system that humans acquire through automatic conditioning processes,† where â€Å"some patterns of language are reinforced (rewarded) and others are not,† and â€Å"only those patterns reinforced by the community of language users will persist† (Omaggio 1993, 45-46). Behaviorism became the basis of the audio-lingual method, which sought to form second language â€Å"habits† through drilling, repetition, and error correction. Today, the main method associated with the bottom-up approach to reading is known as phonics, which requires the learner to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence. According to this view, reading is a linear process by which readers decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences (Gray and Rogers, cited in Kucer 1987). According to Samuels and Kamil (1988: 25),  the emphasis on behaviorism treated reading as a word-recognition response to the stimuli of the printed words, where â€Å"little attempt was made to explain what went on within the recesses of the mind that allowed the human to make sense of the printed page†. In other words, textual comprehension involves adding the meanings of words to get the meanings of clauses (Anderson 1994). These lower level skills are connected to the visual stimulus, or print, and are consequently concerned with recognizing and recalling. Like the audio-lingual teaching method, phonics emphasizes on repetition and on drills using the sounds that make up words. Information is received and processed beginning with the smallest sound units, and proceeded to letter blends, words, phrases, and sentences. Thus, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension ability. Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read. The bottom-up model describes information flow as a series of stages that transforms the input and passes it to the next stage without any feedback or possibility of later stages of the process influencing earlier stages (Stanovich, 1980). In other words, language is viewed as a code and the reader’s main task is to identify graphemes and convert them into phonemes. Consequently, readers are regarded as passive recipients of information in the text. Meaning resides in the text and the reader has to reproduce it. The ESL and EFL textbooks influenced by this perspective include exercises that focus on literal comprehension and give little or no importance to the reader’s knowledge or experience with the subject matter, and the only interaction is with the basic building blocks of sounds and words. Most activities are based on recognition and recall of lexical and grammatical forms with an emphasis on the perceptual and decoding dimension. This model of reading has almost always been under attack as being insufficient and defective for the main reason that it relies on the formal features of the language, mainly words and structure. Although it is possible to accept this rejection for the fact that there is over-reliance on structure in this view, it must be confessed that knowledge of linguistic features is also necessary for comprehension to take place. To counteract over-reliance on form in the traditional view of reading, the cognitive view was introduced. 2. The Cognitive View (top-down processing) In the 1960s a paradigm shift occurred in the cognitive sciences. Behaviorism became somewhat discredited as the new cognitive theory represented the mind’s innate capacity for learning, which gave new explanatory power to how humans acquired their first language; this also had a tremendous impact on the field of ESL/EFL as psycholinguists explained â€Å"how such internal representations of the foreign language develop within the learner’s mind† (Omaggio, 1993: 57). Ausubel (cited in Omaggio, 1993: 58), made an important distinction between meaningful learning and rote learning. An example of rote learning is simply memorizing lists of isolated words or rules in a new language, where the information becomes temporary and subject to loss. Meaningful learning, on the other hand, occurs when new information is presented in a relevant context and is related to what the learner already knows, so that it can be easily integrated into one’s existing cognitive structure. A learning that is not meaningful will not become permanent. This emphasis on meaning eventually informed the top-down approach to L2 learning, and in the 1960s and 1970s there was an explosion of teaching methods and activities that strongly considered the experience and knowledge of the learner. These new cognitive and top-down processing approaches revolutionized the conception of the way students learn to read (Smith, 1994). In this view, reading is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading. In this sense, reading is a dialogue between the reader and the text which involves an active cognitive process in which the reader’s background knowledge plays a key role in the creation of meaning (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Reading is not a passive mechanical activity but purposeful and rational, dependent on the prior knowledge and expectations of the reader. It is not merely a matter of decoding print to sound but also a matter of making sense of written language (Smith, 1994: 2). In short, reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game, a process in which readers sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, make new hypotheses, and so forth. Schema Theory Another theory closely related to top-down processing called schema theory also had a major impact on reading instruction. It describes in detail how  the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the reading task and illustrates how a student’s knowledge and previous experience with the world is crucial to deciphering a text. The ability to use this schemata, or background knowledge, plays a fundamental role in one’s trial to comprehend a text. Schema theory is based on the notion that past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help a reader make sense of new experiences. Smith (1994: 14) calls schemes the â€Å"extensive representations of more general patterns or regularities that occur in our experience†. For instance one’s generic scheme of an airplane will allow him to make sense of airplane he has not previously flied with. This means that past experiences will be related to new experiences, which may include the knowledge of â€Å"objects, situations, and events as well as knowledge of procedures for retrieving, organizing and interpreting information† (Kucer, 1987: 31). Anderson (1994: 469) presents research showing that recall of information in a text is affected by the reader’s schemata and explains that â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Comprehension is the process of â€Å"activating or constructing a schema that provides a coherent explanation of objects and events mentioned in a discourse† (Anderson, 1994: 473). For Anderson and Pearson (1988: 38), comprehension is the interaction between old and new information. They emphasize: â€Å"To say that one has comprehended a text is to say that she has found a mental ‘home’ for the information in the text, or else that she has modified an existing mental home in order to accommodate that new information†. Therefore, a learner’s schemata will restructure itself to accommodate new information as that information is added to the system (Omaggio, 1993). Content and formal schemata. Schema theorists differentiate formal schemata (knowledge about the structure of a text) from content schemata (knowledge about the subject matter of a text), and a reader’s prior knowledge of both schemata enables him to predict events and meaning as well as to infer meaning from a wider context. Formal schemata refers to the way that texts differ from one another; for example, a reading text could be a fictional work, a letter to the editor, or a scientific essay, and each genre will have a different structural organization. Knowledge of these genre structures can aid reading comprehension, as it gives readers a basis for predicting what a text will be like (Smith 1994). For example, if a reader knows that the typical format of a research article consists of sections subtitled Introduction, Theoretical Basis, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, that knowledge will facilitate their interaction with the article and boost comprehension. On the other hand, if he is not familiar with this formal schema, teaching it to him could lead to improved reading ability with lasting and beneficial effects. Content schemata refers to the message of the text. One’s familiarity with the content will make more productive and efficient. As Anderson (1994: 469) explains, â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Activating and building schemata Since the reader plays a fundamental role in the construction of meaning, his age, gender, experience, and culture are important considerations for teachers who want to select readings that will motivate their students. Anderson (1994) notes that when readers cannot locate a schema that fits a text, they may find it incomprehensible. In some cases readers may not have a schema that is significant to the text, or they may need help to activate the pertinent schema to be able to comprehend the text. In such cases it may not be possible for the reader to understand the text, and the teacher must be ready to engage in â€Å"building new background knowledge as well as activating existing background knowledge† (Carrell, 1988: 248). In parallel with this, Bransford (1994) points out that difficulties in comprehension may be caused by the lack of background knowledge presumed by the text, and he sees the responsibility of instructors as being twofold: to activate preexisting schemata and to help students to integrate isolated â€Å"parcels† of knowledge into a schema or to build a new one. If the texts to be read contain a cultural context that is different from the student’s, the issues of formal and content schemata become even more important. McDonough (1995), explains that, to a higher extent, this is the reason why ESL and EFL students find it difficult to read in a second language with texts that contain cultural assumptions of the target culture. They may lack the culture-specific background knowledge necessary to process the text in a top-down manner. His reports on several studies demonstrate how people outside a given culture may misunderstand events with unfamiliar cultural connotations. (Students from different cultural backgrounds taking standardized tests which assume common schemata for will also face the same problem.) Applying schema theory to L2 reading Based on the aforementioned ideas, it is obvious that in order to teach reading effectively, the teacher’s role to activate and build schemata is paramount. To achieve it, he should in advance select texts that are relevant to the students’ needs, preferences, individual differences, and cultures in order to provide meaningful texts so the students understand the message, which entails activating existing schemata and helping build new schemata. Then, after selecting the text, he needs to do the following three stages of activities to activate and build the students’ schemata. (1) Pre-reading activities, in which the teacher have students think, write, and discuss everything they know about the topic, employing techniques such as prediction, semantic mapping, and reconciled reading. The objective is to make sure that students have the relevant schema for understanding the text. (2) During-reading activities, in which the teacher guide and monitor the interaction between the reader and the text. One important skill teachers can impart at this stage is note-taking, which allows students to compile new vocabulary and important information and details, and to summarize information and record their reactions and opinions. (3)Post-reading activities which facilitate the chance to evaluate students’ adequacy of interpretation, while bearing in mind that accuracy is relative and that â€Å"readership† must be respected as long as the writer’s intentions are addressed (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Post-reading activities focus on a wide range of questions that allow for different interpretations. While schema activation and building can occur in all three stages, the pre-reading stage deserves special attention since it is here, during the students’ initial contact with the text, where their schemata will be activated. Pre-reading activities Pre-reading activities is aimed to activate existing schemata, build new schemata, and provide information to the teacher about what the students know. In their report on the positive effect various pre-reading activities had on reading comprehension, Chen and Graves (1995, 664), define them as â€Å"devices for bridging the gap between the text’s content and the reader’s schemata†. Various activities and materials can help the teacher introduce key vocabulary and reinforce concept association to activate both formal and content schemata. Formal schemata will be activated by employing devices such as advance organizers and overviews to draw attention to the structure of a text. The content schemata will be activated by using various pre-reading activities to help learners brainstorm and predict how the information fits in with their previous knowledge. One of the most important pre-reading activities proposed by schematic theorists is prediction. According to Goodman (1988: 16), prediction is important because â€Å"the brain is always anticipating and predicting as it seeks order and significance in sensory inputs†. Smith (1994, 19–20) defines prediction as â€Å"the prior elimination of unlikely alternatives†. According to him, predictions are questions the readers ask the world and comprehension is receiving the answers. He emphasizes that it is prediction that makes skilled readers effective when reading texts that contain familiar subject matter. â€Å"Prediction brings potential meaning to texts, reducing ambiguity and eliminating in advance irrelevant alternatives. Thus, we are able to generate comprehensible experience from inert pages of print† (Smith 1994, 18). Another pre-reading activity is previewing, where students look at titles, headings, and pictures, and read the first few paragraphs and the last paragraph; these activities can then help students understand what the text is about by activating their formal and content schemata and making them familiar with the topic before they begin reading in earnest. Semantic mapping is another pre-reading activity that Carrell, Pharis, and Liberto (1989: 651) describe as a useful way to pre-teach vocabulary and to â€Å"provide the teacher with an assessment of the students’ prior knowledge or schema availability on the topic†. This activity asks students to brainstorm about the reading topic as the information is displayed on a graphic â€Å"map. † As students make associations, the map becomes a thorough summary of the concepts and vocabulary that they will encounter in the reading. It can also help build schemata and vocabulary that students do not yet possess. Again, it is important to know something about the students so the selected texts contain the type of material that is likely to be familiar and interesting to them. Reutzel (1985) proposes another type of pre-reading activity called reconciled reading lesson, which reverses the sequence presented by many textbooks where the text is followed by questions. Instead, the teacher develops pre-reading questions from the questions that appear at the end of the reading. Smith (1994) criticizes comprehension exercises presented at the end of a reading because they are like memory tests. He argues that using prior knowledge efficiently contributes to fluent readers, and he believes that there is a reciprocal relationship between visual and non-visual (prior knowledge) information; the more the readers have of the latter, the less they need of the former. Although not all the post-reading questions can be easily turned into pre-reading ones, this strategy can be invaluable to activate schemata. 3. The metacognitive view According to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on whether reading is a bottom-up, language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process. It is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on readers. Research has gone even further to define the control executed by readers on their trial to understand a text. This control is what Block has referred to as meta-cognition. In the context of reading, meta-cognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Strategic readers do not only sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, and make new hypotheses while reading. They also involve many activities along the process of reading, whose stages can be divided into three, i.e. before reading, while reading, and after reading. The activities the readers involve before reading are to identify the purpose of the reading, identify the form or type of the text. In the second stage (while reading), they think about the general character and features of the form or type of the text—such as trying to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a conclusion, project the authors purpose for writing the text, choose, scan, or read in detail, make continuous  predictions about what will occur next based on information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within the previous stages. Finally, in the last stage, they attempt to form a summary, conclude, or make inference of what was read. Guidelines for Effective Teaching of Reading After discussing the ideas and concepts presented in the three reading theories, we are now on the position of arranging tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help to develop our learners abilities. These tips are arranged in three sections which are parallel with the three consecutive reading stages: before reading, during reading, and after reading. Pre-Reading Tips Before the actual act of reading a text begins, some points should be regarded in order to make the process of reading more comprehensible. First, teachers need to make sure that the texts to read contain words and grammatical structures familiar to the learners. If the texts contain unfamiliar vocabulary, teachers can introduce key vocabulary in pre-reading activities that focus on language awareness, such as finding synonyms, antonyms, derivatives, or associated words. Second, teachers should make sure that the topics of texts chosen are in accordance with the age range, interests, sex, and background culture of the students for whom they are intended. If they are not, it is necessary to provide the necessary background information to the reader to facilitate comprehension. This activity could be carried out by letting the class members brainstorm ideas about the meaning of a title or an illustration and discuss what they know. The followings are some activities teacher can use during the pre-reading stage. These activities will not take a very long time to carry out. However, they are very effective in overcoming the common urge to start reading a text closely right away from the beginning. 1. Teacher-directed pre-reading, in which some key vocabulary, ideas in the text, and the type of the text are explained. In this approach the teacher directly explains the information the students will need, including key concepts, important vocabulary, and appropriate conceptual framework. The text types are also necessary to introduce because texts may take on different forms and hold certain pieces of information in different places. The students’ familiarity with the types of the text they are reading will develop their understanding of the layout of the material. Such familiarity will, in turn, enable them to focus more deeply on the parts that are more densely compacted with information. Even paying attention to the year of publication of a text, if applicable, may aid the reader in presuppositions about the text as can glancing at the name of the author. 2. Interactive activities, in which the teacher leads a discussion in which he/she draws out the information students already have and interjects additional information deemed necessary to an understanding of the text to be read. Moreover, the teacher can make explicit links between prior knowledge and important information in the text. 3. Reflective activities, in which students are guided to make themselves aware of the purpose and goal for reading a certain piece of written material. At the beginning stages this can be done by the teacher, but as the reader becomes more mature this strategy can be left to the readers. For instance, the students may be guided to ask themselves, Why am I reading this text? What do I want to do or know after finished reading this? Being aware of their purpose and goal to read, later—in during reading activities—they can determine what skill(s) to employ: skimming, scanning, reading for details, or critical reading. During-reading tips The activities carried out in during-reading stage consist of taking notes, reacting, predicting, selecting significant information, questioning the writer’s position, evaluating, and placing a text within one’s own experience. These processes may be the most complex to develop in a classroom setting, the reason being that in English reading classes most attention is often paid to dictionaries, the text, and the teacher. The followings are tips that encourage active reading. Practicing them will help the students be active readers. 1. Making predictions: The students should be taught to be on the watch to predict what is going to happen next in the text to be able to integrate and combine what has come with what is to come. 2. Making selections: Readers who are more proficient read selectively, continually making decisions about their reading. 3. Integrating prior knowledge: The schemata that have been activated in the pre-reading section should be called upon to facilitate comprehension. 4. Skipping insignificant parts: A good reader will concentrate on significant pieces of information while skipping insignificant pieces. 5. Re-reading: Students should be encouraged to become sensitive to the effect of reading on their comprehension. 6. Making use of context or guessing: Students should not be encouraged to define and understand every single unknown word in a text. Instead they should learn to make use of context to guess the meaning of unknown words. 7. Breaking words into their component parts: To keep the process of comprehension ongoing, efficient readers analyze unfamiliar words by break them into their affixes or bases. These parts can help them guess the meaning of a word. 8. Reading in chunks: To ensure reading speed, students should get used to reading groups of words together. This act will also enhance comprehension by focusing on groups of meaning-conveying symbols simultaneously. 9. Pausing: Good readers will pause at certain places while reading a text to absorb and internalize the material being read and sort out information. 10. Paraphrasing: While reading texts, it may be necessary to paraphrase and interpret texts sub-vocally in order to verify what was comprehended. 11. Monitoring: Good readers monitor their understanding to evaluate whether the text, or the reading of it, is meeting their goals. After-reading tips Post-reading activities basically depend on the purpose of reading and the type of information extracted from the text. Barnett (1988) states that post-reading exercises first check students comprehension and then lead students to a deeper analysis of the text. In the real world the purpose of reading is not to memorize an authors point of view or to summarize text content, but rather to see into another mind, or to engage new information with what one already knows. Group discussion will help students focus on information they did not comprehend, or did comprehend correctly. Accordingly, attention will be focused on processes that lead to comprehension or miscomprehension. Generally speaking, post-reading can take the form of these various activities: (1) discussing the text: written/oral, (2) summarizing: written/oral, (3) making questions: written/oral, (3) answering questions: written/oral, (4) filling in forms and charts (5) writing reading logs (6) completing a text, (7) listening to or reading other related materials, and (7) role-playing. Conclusion Researches, opinions, and suggestions regarding the teaching of the reading exist in extensive amount, and this summary of reading theories is by no means exhaustive. However, with a basic understanding of the theoretical basis of top-down and bottom-up processing, teachers can better take advantage of the most useful methodologies associated with the different approaches. What is important to bear in mind is that relying too much on either top-down or bottom-up processing may cause problems for beginning ESL/EFL readers; therefore, to develop reading abilities, both approaches should be considered, as the meta-cognitive approach suggests. Considering my own experience in teaching reading to Indonesian students, I have found that the students who managed to read English text effectively are those who approach texts in a painful, slow, and frustrating word-by-word manner. By improving their decoding skills, they are freed to concentrate on global meanings. So, both the psycho and the linguistic† aspects must be emphasized in EFL reading classes. Bibliography Barnett, M. A. 1988. â€Å"Teaching Reading in a Foreign Language. † ERIC Digest. Anderson, R. 1994. â€Å"Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning, and memory. † In Ruddell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, 469–82. Anderson, R. , and P. D. Pearson. 1988. â€Å"A schematheoretic view of basic processes in reading comprehension. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 37–55. Block, E. L. 1992. â€Å"How They Read: Comprehension Monitoring of L1 and L2 Readers. † TESOL Quarterly 26(2) Bransford, J. 1994. Schema activation and schema acquisition: Comments on Richard C. Anderson’s remarks. In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, 483–95. Carrell, P. L. 1984. The effects of rhetorical organization on ESL readers. TESOL Quarterly 18 (3): 441–69. _______ 1988. Interactive text processing: Implications for ESL/second language reading classrooms. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 239–59. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, Interactive approaches to second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Carrell, P. L. , B. G. Pharis, and J. C. Liberto. 1989. Metacognitive strategy training for ESL reading. TESOL Quarterly 23 (4): 647–78. Chen, H. , and M. Graves. 1995. Effects of previewing and providing background knowledge on Taiwanese college students’ comprehension of American short stories. TESOL Quarterly 29 (4): 663–86. Goodman, K. 1988. The reading process. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 11–21. Kucer, S. B. 1987. â€Å"The cognitive base of reading and writing. † In The dynamics of language learning, ed. J. Squire, 27–51. Urbana, IL: National Conference on Research in English. Mcdonough, S. H. 1995. Strategy and Skill in Learning a Foreign Language. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Omaggio, M. A. 1993. Teaching language in context. Boston: Heinle and Heinle. Reutzel, D. R. 1985. â€Å"Reconciling Schema Theory and the Basal Reading Lesson. † The Reading Teacher 39 (2): 194–98. Rigg, P. 1998. â€Å"The Miscue-ESL project. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 206–220. Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer, eds. 1994, Theoretical models and processes of reading. 4th ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Samuels, S. J. , and M. L. Kamil. 1988. â€Å"Models of the Reading Process. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey, eds. 1988. 22–36. Smith, F. 1994. Understanding Reading. 5th ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Stanovich, K. E. 1980. â€Å"Toward an Interactive-Compensatory Model of Individual Differences in The Development of Reading Fluency. † Research Reading Quarterly 16 (1): 32-71. Tierney, R. J. , and P. D. Pearson. 1994. â€Å"Learning to learn from text: A Framework for Improving Classroom Practice. † In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer, eds. 1994. 496–513.

Research and Account Essay Example for Free

Research and Account Essay Two carers were moving a service user from a bed to a chair using a hoist. they placed the hoist sling underneath the service user and then attached it to the hoist. Whilst the hoist was stationary one carer turned away to pick up the service users slippers and as a result the service user fell forward to the ground. The service user suffered wounds on their scalp and bruising to their head. The service user was taken to hospital but passed away 10 days later. It was found that the sling loop fixings were wrongly adjusted and a safety pommel was not used. In this report the carers were lacking in training and guidance to use the hoist from the company they worked for. One carer was not focused on the task of the service user being in hoist as she took on another task to get the slippers which meant she wasnt aware of what the service user was doing. If the correct equipment was used and adjusted properly then that would have prevented the fall and death of this service user. When assisting a service user with a task whether it be small or large we always need to carry out the task using the correct equipment, and the correct members of staff to be present. Also our full attention should be on the task at all times and aware of what the service user is doing and what is happening around them. if not doing so then this could result in the service user falling or being injured and equipment could be damaged. Carers should always carry out a visual check of the equipment prior to using and if a problem arises should not be used and reported to the relevant person. Report 2 Michael Shorthouse suffered from Downs Syndrome, learning difficulties and dementia. He moved into Cedars Care Home in May 2007 but, despite hes families pleas over hes treatment, within five months his health had deteriorated so much he had to be admitted to hospital. Whilst in hospital doctors found that he was seriously dehydrated, had developed acute kidney problems and pressure sores, and had aspiration pneumonia, which is an inflammation of the lungs caused by breathing in foreign material like food or liquids. Michael Shorthouses condition improved once he had been transferred to hospital and then moved into a different nursing home, but later died in 2010. Cedars Care Home was reported to Social Services and the Safeguarding Adults Office (SAO) which investigated and found that there had been overall neglect in the care given to Michael. Two years after Michael was admitted to hospital, the care home hadnt improved and was given a zero-star rating in a Care Quality Commission inspection.

An Interesting Definition Of Mature Product Marketing Essay

An Interesting Definition Of Mature Product Marketing Essay An interesting definition of mature product market is found in Economics in Business Context by Colin Haslam, Alan Neale and Sukhdev Johal (2002, p.92). As per this definition, a product market reaches maturity when demand for the product is determined by replacement. I will try to elaborate this definition. In a mature product market, there is little or no scope for the further growth of the product. In simple words, the product has been sold to the maximum number of targeted customers. Hence, customers will demand the product only when the previously bought product has to be replaced. Does maturity necessarily lead to deterioration of market? This question can be answered using the concept of cyclicality. Economics in Business Context (Haslam et al. 2002, p.92) further defines cyclical markets as generally mature markets in which volume fluctuates at or around steady pattern of demand. Depending on the replacement period of the product, the product will be required by the customers every few years, months or weeks. During the period when maximum customers replace the product, the demand for the product will be at its positive peak. This period is followed by a period of low sales. Thus, fluctuation in the demand for a mature product makes it cyclical. Some products have longer replacement periods than the others, making them cyclical. For example, a refrigerator may be replaced after every ten years but cold drinks manufactured by Coco Cola or Pepsi are bought by billions of people every day. Therefore, refrigerators may be termed as mature and cyclical. Coco Cola and Pepsi have reached maturity but they are not cyclical. Let me illustrate with the help of a hypothetical example. Consider a product XYZ. Say, I had introduced XYZ in the market in 1990. The replacement period of this product was five years. Using excellent marketing strategy, XYZ had gained popularity amongst the customers by 1991. But, I had not yet sold XYZ to maximum number of targeted customers. I had to maximize my sales as well as confront a new problem; a competitor introduced a similar product called ABC in the market in the year 1992. After a research on XYZ, I realized that the product could be manufactured in a better way, leading to an increase its durability. The replacement period after increase in durability became 8 years. Increase in the durability of XYZ attracted more number of customers. Because it was a very popular product, XYZ reached maturity by 1995. It was sold to maximum number of customers. If I had not increased the durability of XYZ, more number of people would have bought XYZ every few years. Thus, the product was sold to maximum number of customers in its initial years in the market. But later, maturity, increase in durability and competition in the market led to a drop in the sales. After this, the sales reached a positive peak only when the demand reached a peak. And the demand for XYZ reached a peak only when maximum customers replaced the product. If a product like XYZ cannot survive the period of low sales, it may vanish from the market. Is the growth of a product in a mature market possible? Can it reach more number of customers despite the competition and maturity? Can a company that manufactures a mature product increase its revenue drastically? Through his article How Organizations Overachieve and Outrun Mature Markets (2005, p.1) in Ivey business journal, Al Magrath (director of corporate marketing, 3M Canada) says, it is possible. He illustrates the following ways of doing this task with examples: 1. Participate in a different value stream 2. Use technology to invent new sectors 3. Conquer new geographies 4. Extend branding power 5. Elongate your price/value 6. Help value changes in your market and 7. Use high end technology. Some companies also use cost reduction along with the above measures. Cost reduction, extending branding power, using high end technology to upgrade a product or a manufacturing process, acquisitio ns, mergers and asset reorganization form a part of what is called as corporate restructuring. As western automobile markets reached saturation, automobile giants like Chrysler and Volkswagen resorted to restructuring. Volkswagen had concentrated on its portfolio restructuring since early 90s. Volkswagen acquired Skoda in 1991. Volkswagen helped Skoda to emerge out of bankruptcy and Skoda soon became U.K.s best loved car (kn.theit.org 2009). This in turn helped Volkswagen, whose profits were declining around the same time. It gained access to the little penetrated car market of Eastern Europe. In 2009, it acquired 49.9% stake in Porsche. During recession, Porsche plunged into debts. Volkswagen used this opportunity to gain from its rival, who had a respected brand name globally (english.peopledaily.com.cn 2009). And now, Volkswagen is coming up with a strategy to acquire Toyota (in.reuters.com 2010). Even though the car market has matured in western parts of the globe, Volkswagen has been using strategic acquisitions to grow further. The financial restructuring process of Volkswagen, called as ForMotion is well-known. This restructuring process began in 2004. With the commencement of ForMotion, a number of workers lost their jobs. The working hours of most of the workers were extended (www.wsws.org 2006). Downsizing for restructuring had become infamous by then. A number of companies operating in mature market had adopted downsizing. Did the downsizing of its plants work for Volkswagen? Restructuring hurts Volkswagen was the headline of Los Angeles Times on October 28, 2006 (articles.latimes.com 2006). The profit of Volkswagen had plunged by 92% in the third quarter of 2005. Spokeswoman Christiane Ritz said the costs of employee buyouts and a deal with metalworkers union IG Metall to provide one-time payments of 6,279 Euros per person into workers pension funds were booked in the third quarter. But as demand for Volkswagen cars grew, the profit started rising. During the release of financial statements for the year 2005, the group chairman, Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder, revealed the following facts: Profit before tax rose by 58.2 percent to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1.7 billion in 2005. Overall, however, the level of earnings we achieved remains unsatisfactory. Hence, the group decided to continue with the restructuring plan (volkswagenag.com 2006). But the true test of any company in the automotive industry was the global recession in 2008. Initially, in 2008, Volkswagen, too, felt the heat of the recession. But 2009 saw Volkswagen emerge as the only survivor in the automotive industry. Portfolio restructuring had helped Volkswagen to work in newer car markets. Even after the financial restructuring, its position was weak in the United States of America. But it proved to be a boon for Volkswagen. VW is coasting through 2009, boosting its share of global car sales to 12% from 9.9% in the first half of the year, reported time.com (2009). If Volkswagen had used only financial restructuring, it may have suffered major losses. It had invested money in financial restructuring, which was yet to be recovered through its profit. During recession, some of the smaller Skoda cars had performed better than the parent brand in the car markets (independent.co.uk 2007). But the cost reduction achieved through the financial restructuring comple mented the portfolio restructuring and Volkswagen survived. Thus, a mixture of restructuring strategies helped Volkswagen in alleviation of harm caused by the recession. The restructuring process surely helped Volkswagen in a mature market. But the sales have started stabilizing again. And this time, Volkswagen has come up with a new strategy. It has begun exploring hitherto unexplored markets. Initially, it was the cheap labour in India that attracted Volkswagen. But now, Volkswagen has set its eyes on the unexplored Indian car markets. Volkswagen began the execution of its plan with the launch of Polo in India. The Indian car market is predicted to be favourable for Volkswagen and is expected to generate additional revenues (thelocal.de 2009). Thus, it is true that restructuring (both financial and portfolio restructuring) has helped Volkswagen to not only survive in a mature market but also emerge as a leader in the automotive industry. But as observed from the study of Volkswagen, corporate restructuring can aid a mature industry only to a certain extent. It may help a company to perform better than its competitors in a mature market. It may also assist the growth of a company through acquisitions. But after a certain point, the company has to look for newer avenues of business. It is evident from the scenario in the automotive industry that restructuring of industries in a mature and cyclical product market is essential. Use of the right kind of restructuring, as in case of Volkswagen, is also important. But to supplement the growth of the product, exploration of newer markets is inevitable.

Hamlets Relationships Essay -- essays research papers

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the character of Hamlet has many relationships with all characters. The theme human relationships is very strong in this play. A human relationship is a logical or natural association between two or more people. Hamlet has many of these associations with King Hamlet's Ghost, Gertrude, Claudius, Ophelia, Polonius, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Many of his relationships are just and unjust according to the character's flaws and feelings. The ghost of King Hamlet played an important role during the book. The first interaction between King Hamlet's Ghost can be simply called extreme. Hamlet is extreme when he goes with the ghost that looks like his father even though his friends warn him that the ghost may be evil and ". . .tempt you toward the flood . . . Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff . . ." (Act 1, Scene IV, Lines 69-70). If the prince was thinking right he would not have gone with the ghost that resembled the old ". . . King, father, royal Dane . . ." (Act 1, Scene IV, Line 45) Hamlet's radical actions let him find out about Claudius' devious murder of his brother, King Hamlet . The ghost of King Hamlet has described Claudius as "...that incestuous, that adulterate beast" (Act 1, Scene V, Line 43). King Hamlet wants Hamlet to get revenge against Claudius for killing him, but he does not want Gertrude to get hurt while this is going on. Hamlet therefore delays in killing Cl audius because he needs to find out if his mother has anything to do with the treachery. Hamlet took this relationship cautiously and did this correctly because ghosts were thought as underhandedly evil. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is interpreted as the Oedipus complex. The Oedipus complex refers to the thoughts some men have regarding their mother or maternal figures. Many scenes from the play can prove Hamlet did have these thoughts about his mother, such as acts one and three. Gertrude's fondness and helpfulness to protect her son is also displayed throughout the play. This can be seen in the play many times, even up to when Gertrude is about to die. She tries to save Hamlet from drinking the poison himself. Also when Hamlet tries to get Gertrude to believe him that Claudius killed King Hamlet, she thin... ... breath with your mouth,". (Act 3, Scene II, Lines 348-349) As the play continues Hamlet is sent off to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for him to pay for his crimes. Hamlet finding the letter to England changes it to say kill the possessors of the letter. Hamlet on the way to England gets supposedly kidnapped by pirates, while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern go to England and get executed. Hamlet felt they got what they deserved when they followed out the king's plan of action. With all of the corruption and back stabbing in Denmark, Hamlet thought out every decision with great intelligence. Hamlet's human relationships with the ghost, Gertrude, Claudius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were all very just and deserving. As Hamlet finds out they all contain lies and have hidden intentions within them. Hamlet's blinding rage against Polonius was very hurtful and unjust. Hamlet's friend, Horatio, was his only true friend and he helped Hamlet until the end. As Marcellus said it best, "Something is rotten in Denmark." (Act 1, Scene 4, Line 90) That being the lies, which have replaced or covered the true state of each character.

Free Waste Land Essays: Underlying Myths in The Waste Land :: T.S. Eliot Waste Land Essays

Underlying Myths in The Waste Land The underlying myths that Eliot uses to provide a framework for "The Waste Land" are those of the Fisher King and the Grail Quest. Both of these myths come to Christian civilization through the ancient Gaelic tradition. Neither is found in the Bible, but both were important enough to Europeans that there was a need to incorporate them into the new European mythology, and so the stories became centered on the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Other examples of these myths can be found in Eschenbach's Parsifal, in de Troyes' Quest of the Grail, and in the various stories of the grail quest surrounding King Arthur and his knights. It is described in works of anthropology, as well, two of which Eliot recommends to readers: Jessie L. Weston's From Ritual to Romance and Sir James Frazier's Golden Bough. In the Fisher King stories, a journeyer comes to a barren land and discovers a wounded king whose wound has caused the land to become sterile. In some cases, the wounding of the king was sexual in nature. Because these ancient peoples believed that the king and the land were united as one and that they reflected on each other, it was necessary to heal the king in order to heal the land. The journeyer then needs to undertake a quest (which fits the archetypal hero's journey pattern) to heal the wounded king and, through him, the land. In the Grail legends, which are frequently intertwined with the Fisher King legends, a questor searches throughout the land for the Holy Grail, undergoing tests of purity, his character, and his dedication to the quest on the way. The nature of the Grail differs from one account to another: It is sometimes thought of as a cup which caught the blood of Christ when he was pierced by a spear while hanging on the cross (which may be derived from the Celtic l egends describing the Grail as a cauldron of rebirth which allowed resurrection to warriors killed in battle but did not allow them to speak of the experience of rebirth -- a pattern into which the story of Lazarus roughly falls), and it is sometimes thought to be a stone (in Eschenbach's Parsifal, the Grail is described as a gem struck from the crown of Lucifer when he was ejected from Heaven).

Buddha :: essays research papers

Buddha There are many Buddha’s in the world. The story by Ashvaghosha called The Life of Buddha talks about the original Buddha, and how he came to be. Sculptures and pictures of Buddha always have the same features. From the Art Institute in Chicago comes a sculpture of Buddha from China. These two things have a lot in common. The parts of the body in the sculptures depict certain things about a Buddha’s life and the way Buddhism spread though Asia influenced the arts depicting Buddha.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most works of art involving Buddha have features that are almost always there. Whenever a person sees Buddha, he always has most of the ten qualities or powers of a Buddha, described in Story of the Life of Buddha Shakyamuni. However there are thirty-two major characteristics and eight minor, among them is the eight-spoked lines on the soles and palms. The spot between Buddha’s eyebrows, sometimes calls the third eye or wisdom bump, is a mark of wisdom. The nose has a specific length like the ears have their own characteristics. The enlightenment-elevation on the top of the head, describe by old texts as emerging from the head of a saint, symbolize Buddha’s enlightenment and is a visible symbol of the â€Å"spiritual generative power that strives toward heaven and passes into the immaterial sphere.† (Buddhist Art: Perfect Proportions of a Buddha, Para. 3). The Yoga position stemming from the pre-Buddhist tradition in India hides the lower half of Buddha’s body, but show the divine meditating with the utmost concentration, soles visible. The image of Buddha expresses serenity and proportional beauty. These Measurements are laid out in the canon of Buddhist art, which corresponds to ideal physical proportions; each span has a twelve-finger breadth and has 9 breadths. If there is a background behind Buddha it usually depicts a halo around his head. For example, the Buddha in Buddhism: a Brief Introduction on page thirty-eight exhibits a fiery halo. The Buddha statue from the Art Institute is sitting in the lotus position, have the wisdom bump, and the hair is knotted on the top of the head. Also the Buddha would have had long ear lobes if they were not broken off. The long ear lobes seem to be a symbol of his wealth and that the fact that they are now longer filled shows that he renounced wealth. At the end of the story the Prince did just the he renounced his wealth and became Buddha.