Coca Cola Crisis Case in 1999 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Coca Cola Crisis Case in 1999 - Essay Example Despite the success and growth of Coca Cola, there have been different problems that have arisen over time. One of the problems that occurred was in 1999, when products sold in Europe, specifically in Belgium, led to several children getting sick as a result from drinking Coca Cola products. This paper will examine the basic background of the crisis, what went wrong with Coca Cola and how the company had to recover from the position. Specifically, there will be an analysis of the social and economic implications of the time which changed the attitudes toward the Coca Cola beverages and which led to the crisis. There will also be an evaluation of the several theories that caused the reaction from society. The paper will then recommend ways in which Coca Cola could have prevented this crisis from occurring and other actions that could have been taken to change immediate responses to avoid similar difficulties in the future. The 1999 Coca Cola crisis was preceded by a number of developments. Coca Cola began with a mixture of water and syrup or sugar that was added as a bottled product. This beverage was used specifically as a snack type of beverage aimed at children and youth. After 1892, the beverage grew from a product and into a business, which was incorporated by Asa Candler. The company quickly grew into a regional then national business in the US. By the 1920s, the beverage had expanded into various regions of the world and began to emerge as one of the most popular brands and drinks. By the 1940s, Coca Cola was offered as a beverage in conjunction with the company’s sponsorship of events such as the Olympics, which added to its continuous growth and success. The market and brand of Coca Cola, until the mid – 1980s, was incorporated into a signature drink for political and social movements. Sponsoring events and specialized advertising campaigns that were related to concepts

Environmental Protection UK Essay Example for Free

Environmental Protection UK Essay Two lower primary boys died and their father and his girlfriend were equally hospitalized in coma after a terrible encounter with odorless, colorless and toxic fumes that leaked into their bungalow residence from a nearby hotel old and deteriorated boiler (Haines 2010). Carbon monoxide is a toxic and deadly gas that besides being odorless and invincible is quite light than air therefore rendering the gas more terrible in case of leakage. Mild exposure to the gas makes one get disoriented with dizziness and nauseating effect that render someone fatigued and sick. Continuous exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) leads to death within a short time for children while adults can pass out into a coma and if medical care is not guaranteed death is inevitable. Organically the gas contains oxygen molecule triple bonded with carbon and usually reacts with the body depriving the red blood cells ability from picking oxygen in presence of the lighter gas leading to cell suffocation due to lack of oxygen. Therefore the general public should be well familiar with the grave danger of CO that is usually liberated in partial combustion of petroleum products, gas, wood and coal that are used in boilers, engines, heaters and burners. Consequently it is important that the domestic home environment is sealed from dangers associated with CO gas leakages that are common due to presence of combustible materials in kitchen, garages and power generating equipment. Carbon monoxide in homes is as a result of partial combustion of fuels like gas, oil, coal or wood in various home appliances. This gas then leaks out into the atmosphere and inhaled by its victims unknowingly since it is odorless, colorless and very toxic to the thus calling for availability of first aid kits in all homes. Human efforts of preventing air leakage into the house especially during the cold season reduces the availability of fresh air into the house thus posing a threat of carbon monoxide congesting in the house especially when combustion activities are going on such as cooking or heating up the room. Use of unvented gas heaters and kerosene stoves can become a good source of carbon monoxide in homes since the fresh oxygen is inhibited from getting into the house or cooking room thus combustion is not fully achieved resulting into production of carbon monoxide. Worn out and poorly maintained devises that use combustion can lead to leakage of carbon monoxide saturation in homes due to untimely disconnections, blockage, wrong size of equipment that result from making use of unqualified personnel to install the house hold appliances or delay in replacing worn out ones . Such equipment includes boilers, heaters, generators and furnaces (EPA 2010). Blocked chimneys and poorly vented ventilations encourage accumulation of carbon monoxide in homes. Animal nests or thrown materials in chimneys always results into the carbon monoxide spilling back into the house thus leading to inhalation by any life animal and people found in the house or room. Further, blockages inhibit oxygen entry during combustion thus very little oxygen is made available for combustion which results into carbon monoxide production in the house thus posing a threat to lives. Storage of vehicles in attached garage leads to Carbon monoxide emission through the exhaust pipe especially during the warming up of the engine. Warming up of automobiles and other machines powered by gasoline like generators ,lawn mowers and grills in enclosed areas pose carbon monoxide poisoning hazard Use of charcoal burners, driers or ovens to heat up a poorly ventilated house leads to carbon monoxide build up and saturation in homes (NMGCO 1). Carbon monoxide is known to inhibit the capability of the blood carrying blood to major body most essential organs such as the heart, brain and liver. Upon inhalation, Carbon monoxide being a lighter gas than oxygen dissolves faster through the alveoli wall unto the red blood cells’ hemoglobin. The oxygen carrying protein has cooperatively ability such than it easily combines with large portions of available and lighter gas carbon monoxide thus forming a compound known as carboxyhemoglobin instead of oxyhemoglobin that is readily spent by the body cells (Robert 2010). Since carboxyhemoglobin is never used in the body, the blood is soon saturated with a foreign gas that cannot be easily removed thus depriving oxygen the hemoglobin transporting protein leading to oxygen deprivation that leads to headache, dizziness, fatigue, and chest pain to individuals with heart problems at lower concentration (NMGCO 2010). When the carbon monoxide concentration gets higher than the body immunity can handle it leads to poor vision and sensitization of the body cells in the victims leading to nausea, brain malfunction and mind confusion. At extreme concentration, carboxyhemoglobin is formed in the blood thus inhibiting the intake of oxygen in the body thus resulting into death of the victims (Bailey 2010). There are different measures that can be applied in order to reduce carbon monoxide poisoning accidents whose incidents are quite expensive to mitigate. Since the gas is tasteless, odorless and colorless, therefore carbon monoxide detectors can be installed in homes and domestic environments. Usually the accumulation of carbon monoxide can take place without notice in homes that use boiler, gas, kerosene and oil if the equipment is faulty. Regular checks should be organized by home-keepers by inviting qualified and focused technicians who can do professional repairs. Old burners, boilers, generators and CO producing equipment can be done away with in order to prevent unfortunate mistakes (CO 2000). According to US Environmental Protection Agency gas stoves can be done away with if the home environment is to be kept safe since though the equipment is cheap it pumps 5 to 15 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide with the deteriorated ones scoring 30 ppm while the U. S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards advocates for outdoor air to contain 9 ppm and indoor a maximum of 35ppm of CO-thus the stove and coal appliances need to be used in open ground (Pollutte 2008). Meticulousness approach to usage of boilers and stoves can be achieved by usage of clear and dry fuel of the highest possible approved standards (Environment 2010). Other measures include having a Gas Safe Registered engineer to install gas appliances with annual checks. Bedroom heating material should avoid usage of gas and cabinet heaters. All homes that operate CO emitting appliances have to install chimneys and heat ventilations tat have to be checked frequently to clear blockage by cleaning (NHS 2009). In case of an emergence one should cut off the gas supply in the appropriate valve with immediate ventilation and urgent call to a medical facility and a qualified and certified technician to check on the leakage and report appropriately the cause with effective repairs to protect life and environment. Information dissemination to the community is quite vital if the health of the society is to be-held as a top priority. Carbon monoxide incidents can be compiled together to arouse the mind of the ignorant public about the ill effects of CO leakage and prove that all homes are at risk since gas and coal heaters are common cooking apparatus. Also the history brings in news about the colossal effects of accumulated amounts of carbon monoxide that affected legendaries as Allan Poe though during that time their generation attributed their deaths to sensitivity of the mind. Therefore if leaflets, magazines and other printed media forms of communication in conjunction with the internet, TV and other digital and analogue mass media the community can be reached and change can be effected bringing about both awareness and a social order that is organized to mitigating risks associated with carbon monoxide poisoning. Conclusively, carbon monoxide poisoning affects the body’s concentration of oxygen thus attacking the general health of the suffocated body parts. Since the gas is odorless, tasteless, and colorless makes it such a dreadful chemical gas that further enhances the fumes’ ability to sneak in and kill within a relative small span of time in high concentrations while causing detrimental body health deterioration that retards immunity leading to poor health and life. References: Haines, S 2010, Corfu â€Å"carbon monoxide death familys fight for justice†, BBC News Channel, accessed 5 May 2010 http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/8497271. stm NHS, 2009, â€Å"What preventative measures can I take against carbon monoxide exposure? Gas safety Carbon monoxide awareness†. Health and safety Executive, accessed 5 May 2010 http://www. hse. gov. uk/gas/domestic/co. htm Pollette, C 2008, â€Å"Why is carbon monoxide poisonous? † Science, accessed 5 May http://science. howstuffworks. com/question190. htm Environment, 2010, â€Å"Using wood and coal for Home heating. Environmental Protection UK , accessed 5 May http://www. environmental-protection. org. uk/air-quality-and- climate/air-quality/solidfuel/ Robert, R 2009, â€Å"Is This Common Poison Carbon Monoxide Causing Chronic Illness? † Articles Directory http://www. articlesbase. com/alternative-medicine-articles/is-this-common- poison-carbon-monoxide-causing-chronic-illness-1433959. html CO, 2009, â€Å"A Guide to Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning†, Carbon Monoxide, accessed 5 May http://www. carbon-monoxide-poisoning. com/ EPA 2010,An Introduction to Indoor Air Quality, Carbon Monoxide (CO), US Environmental protection Agency, Accessed 05 May 2010 http://www. epa. gov/iaq/co. html NMGCO 2010, Sources of Carbon Monoxide, New Mexico gas company, Accessed 05 May 2010 http://www. nmgco. com/Sources_Carbon_Monoxide. aspx Bailey, R 2010 Carbon monoxide,About. com Accessed 05 May 2010 http://biology. about. com/od/molecularbiology/a/carbon_monoxide. htm

Moral Complexity in the Making and Keeping of Promises Essay examples -

The making of a promise involves the voluntary giving of one's word that, if and when a particular circumstance or situation comes about, one will undertake to act in a manner defined by the terms of the promise one has given. The act of making the promise, in other words, implies a willingness to keep it. What is being agreed is that, on the basis of something said in the past, one's future actions will, insofar as the future is foreseeable, follow a particular course and no other. On the related, but rather different question of the motivation involved in keeping a promise, it may be that the promise-maker's acting or deciding in a particular way places him in a position identical to or in complete sympathy with the person to whom the promise has been made. Equally, it is, possible that events may turn out in such a way as to suggest that to keep the promise would be harmful to the interest of the person to whom it was made. Should this dilemma arise, whether or not the promise is kept must depend upon the particular circumstances of the case. Choosing not to keep a promise in such a situation would be not a demonstration of the promiser's inability to keep his word, but a clear indication of his quite proper awareness that, in deciding what course to take, the promiser has quite properly concluded that the interest of others must be placed before his own. This situation is philosophically interesting in two immediately apparent ways: firstly, because of the questions which it raises concerning the ways in which a present or future obligation might be argued to exist in relation to a promise given in the past; secondly, because it is possible to imagine a society in which the concept of keeping promises does not exist, s... ... that of being possible beneficiaries by my action. They do stand in this relation to me, and this relation is morally significant. But they may also stand to me in the relation of promisee to promiser, of creditor to debtor, of wife to husband, of child to parent, of friend to friend, of fellow countryman to fellow countryman, and the like; and each of these relations is the foundation of a prima facie duty, which is more or less incumbent on me according to the circumstances of the case." Bibliography: Foot, Philippa (ed.) Theories of Ethics Oxford University Press, 1990 Honderich, Ted (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Philosophy Oxford University Press, 1995 Mackie, J. L. Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong Penguin, 1977 Norman, Richard The Moral Philosophers Oxford University Press, 1983 Ross, W. D. The Right and the Good London, 1930. Moral Complexity in the Making and Keeping of Promises Essay examples - The making of a promise involves the voluntary giving of one's word that, if and when a particular circumstance or situation comes about, one will undertake to act in a manner defined by the terms of the promise one has given. The act of making the promise, in other words, implies a willingness to keep it. What is being agreed is that, on the basis of something said in the past, one's future actions will, insofar as the future is foreseeable, follow a particular course and no other. On the related, but rather different question of the motivation involved in keeping a promise, it may be that the promise-maker's acting or deciding in a particular way places him in a position identical to or in complete sympathy with the person to whom the promise has been made. Equally, it is, possible that events may turn out in such a way as to suggest that to keep the promise would be harmful to the interest of the person to whom it was made. Should this dilemma arise, whether or not the promise is kept must depend upon the particular circumstances of the case. Choosing not to keep a promise in such a situation would be not a demonstration of the promiser's inability to keep his word, but a clear indication of his quite proper awareness that, in deciding what course to take, the promiser has quite properly concluded that the interest of others must be placed before his own. This situation is philosophically interesting in two immediately apparent ways: firstly, because of the questions which it raises concerning the ways in which a present or future obligation might be argued to exist in relation to a promise given in the past; secondly, because it is possible to imagine a society in which the concept of keeping promises does not exist, s... ... that of being possible beneficiaries by my action. They do stand in this relation to me, and this relation is morally significant. But they may also stand to me in the relation of promisee to promiser, of creditor to debtor, of wife to husband, of child to parent, of friend to friend, of fellow countryman to fellow countryman, and the like; and each of these relations is the foundation of a prima facie duty, which is more or less incumbent on me according to the circumstances of the case." Bibliography: Foot, Philippa (ed.) Theories of Ethics Oxford University Press, 1990 Honderich, Ted (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Philosophy Oxford University Press, 1995 Mackie, J. L. Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong Penguin, 1977 Norman, Richard The Moral Philosophers Oxford University Press, 1983 Ross, W. D. The Right and the Good London, 1930.

How hedge funds are structured Essay

Hedge funds are investment partnerships with the scope of investing in any kind of market securities including real estates, derivatives, currencies, commodities among many others. The funds play essential roles in decreasing the mispricing activities in the financial markets. They are considered significant in the provision of liquidity both during the calm and stressful periods. The funds add depth and scope in the capital markets and provide an important source of transferring and diversifying risks by taking risks that would have instead lingered in the balance sheets of numerous financial organizations. Various brokerages have offered hedge fund among other instruments. Firstly, the regional brokerage offers such instruments because of its potential higher return. Being a limited partnership, the hedge fund only has a little regulation, which means that different investment strategies such as financial leveraged or short positions can be used throughout their investment. They will seek to provide the exploited investment opportunities through different investment vehicles. Involved strategies include ultimate analysis of the publicly traded companies with an emphasis on the small and medium enterprises that are also involved in the conduct of business activities. The modern hedge fund structure includes an incentive-based fee based on a certain percentage of profits and a fee of assets under management. With an excellent performance of a hedge fund manager, the firm can maximize the returns and minimize market risk and thus earn high commissions in both up and down market by picking a good stock. From the history record, the energy prices usually have a high correlation with inflation. In the periods of rising inflation, the energy funds are doing better in the market. Its past performance was unusual in such a volatile and cyclical industry. Thus, it provides investors with a good diversification tool. This is also why such brokerages would like to offer energy fund. For the investors, the hedge funds bring a higher return for them. For the firm, their competitiveness is increased. The hedge funds are vital in maintaining competitive edges in capital markets. Brokerages provide essential research details that attract investors as well as financial capital that fasten economic growth. The dynamic hedge fund reports are provided to show the numbers, size, and locations of the funds. They show experiences of growth over periods of time which is measured either by the number of issued funds or rather the assets that are under the management. In addition to the above, they show the accountability and transparency by offering information associated with the financial health of the types of companies in the target for investment. Regional brokerages offer such instruments to enable investor protection from risks that are associated with hedge funds. It offers a guidelines to investors. The reports show the overvalued and undervalued equity securities. They reveal the funds with highly expected returns which one can invest in. The activist hedge fund intends to increase the benefit of the shareholder through the company ownership and the demands that are made in favor of improving the management and the business strategies.

Deviant Behaviour Essay

Deviant behaviour is any behaviour that does not conform to generally accepted social or cultural norms and expectations. Murder is a classic exemplar of extreme deviant behaviour as, according to the cultural norms of our society, killing another human being is unacceptable. There are many different theories on what provokes someone to commit a deviant act, including physiological explanations and psychological explanations. Deviance, in everyday language, is the act of being different from the popular belief, usually in a bad way. That being said, in order to understand and define a person’s behaviour we must first study the ultural norms of the society surrounding him. Norms vary across cultures and, in some situations, what is considered as deviant behaviour in a particular society and time may be seen as acceptable in another. For example, there was a time when it was a social norm for the ladies of the Western world to wear gloves in public but such an act would nowadays be considered as bizarre, unless the weather was cold. The determination of deviant behaviour depends on the general population or an individual. A common question is what triggers people to perform deviant behaviour. From the perspective of physiology, brain variations lead to expressions of deviance. They claim that genetically inherited characteristics such as chromosome abnormalities, chemical imbalances, vitamin deficiencies and hormonal differences make certain people naturally more prone to criminality. However, many sociologists tend to respond negatively to such theories. While there is some evidence to suggest that inheritance and the biochemistry of the brain may be factors in abnormal behaviours, biological factors on their own cannot interpret crime. On the other hand, psychologists are interested in the thought rocesses behind deviant behaviour. Some propose that early childhood socialization plays an important role in the personality the child will later develop. Others support Sigmund Freud’s (1856 – 1939) notion that crime can be an outcome of an imbalanced personality, caused by a failure to resolve the Oedipus or Electra complex. Each is resolved by the boy or the girl suppressing their sexual desires for their mother or father respectively. As with physiological theories, many sociologists have the tendency to criticize psychological theories as being unscientific, because he parts of the brain described by Fraud cannot be directly accessible to the researcher. In conclusion, sociologists have developed different theories as to why certain people develop such behaviours. Some cause this abnormality to genetic reasons and some to mental sickness. While there is little agreement amongst sociologists about what provokes deviant acts, one thing is certain; deviance is a relative concept and depends on the judger. There is no absolute way of defining a deviant act, as deviance is culturally determined and cultures change over time and diversify from society to society.

Immigration Essays (386 words) - Clifford Sifton, Free Essays

Immigration Essays (386 words) - Clifford Sifton, Free Essays Immigration subject = history title = Immigration Immigration Early immigration to Canada was generated by a network of emigration agents who were salesman who advertised to Canadas attractions to prospected immigrants. They targeted wealthy farmers, agricultural laborers and female domestics, preferably from Great Britain, the United States and Northern Europe. Canadas first immigration legislation, the Immigration Act of 1869 reflected the laissez-faire philosophy of the time by not saying which classes of immigrants should be admitted but , merely that the "governor" could prohibit the landing of pauper or destitute immigrants at any Canadian port. The Chinese, who were arriving in large numbers to build the railway, were a special target of fear and suspicion. An act passed in 1885 to "restrict and regulate" Chinese immigration, was later complemented by head taxes designed to discourage Chinese immigration. It wasnt until the 1960s that regulations and restriction to Chinese immigration were completely lifted. The 19th century closed with a world wide depression and a slow down of immigration to the West. But all that changed in 1895, when Clifford Sifton was appointed as Minister of the Interior at the start of an economic recovery. Sifton believed that "a stalwart peasant in sheep skin coat" made the most desirable immigrant , and set out to attract people suited for farming, In 1896, 16,835 immigrants entered Canada. When Sifton left in 1905, the population was 141,464. It rocketed to 400,970 by 1913. Some three million newcomers arrived between 1896 and the outbreak of World War 1. But Siftons policies triggered criticism, despite success in attracting farmers. Immigration from central and southeastern Europe raised a ground swell of hostility on the prairies because residents didnt believe theses newcomers could assimilate readily into the dominant Anglo-Saxon society. The authorities wanted to keep African-Canadians out of Canada because they thought that they were useless to Canada. They thought that the African-Canadians couldnt be farmers or could do any form of work that was useful to Canada so they thought that it would be better to keep them out of Canada then to have them in. Almost all of Canadas population can be traced back to the major immigration period between 1867 and 1915 which was when the most people immigrated to Canada which was a grand total of three million.

With advancements in technology increasing

With advancements in technology increasing every day a new breed of crimes have surfaced. Computer crimes, which are crimes that are committed by expert use of a computer, have escalated since the introduction of modems in the 1960s. In todays computer world computer crimes are even more abundant because of the growing use and capability of computers software. The growing knowledge and understanding of computers has also contributed to the growing numbers of computer crimes. In this paper I will explain the nature and extent of computer crimes and offer a feasible solution. I will begin with this paper by defining computer crimes and giving examples of different types of crimes and ways of committing them. A computer crime is any crime that is committed by means of the special knowledge or expert use of computer technology. Computer crime became a serious problem in the 1960s.(Britannica 157) There are quiet a few different types of computer crimes and there are very extensive ways of committing them. One example is breaking into a computer system without the authorization, this is the most popular of all of the computer crimes. One way of doing this is by going through a separate phone line, or using a modem to break into the system. Once the perpetrator is into the system they can do a number of things such as steal vital material or change or alter certain information. Often the information that is stolen is top secret and if it is put in the wrong it could be dangerous. Another type of crime is when a person takes a virus and spreads it throughout a large system in a short period of time. This is usually done by sending it through the E-Mail, under a false title and when it is opened it spreads through the system. This infects any number of programs and files stored in the computer. The infection can then transfer on other computer networks.(Andersen 24) These ar...

Titillating Types of Sound Effects in Language

Titillating Types of Sound Effects in Language Its a basic principle of modern language studies that individual sounds (or phonemes) dont possess meanings. Linguistics professor Edward Finegan offers a simple illustration of the point: The three sounds of top dont individually have meaning; they form a meaningful unit only when combined as in top. And its precisely because the individual sounds in top dont carry independent meaning that they can be formed into other combinations with other meanings, such as pot, opt, topped, and popped.(Language: Its Structure and Use, 5th ed. Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008) Yet this principle has an escape clause of sorts, one that goes by the name of sound symbolism (or phonaesthetics). While individual sounds may not possess intrinsic meanings, certain sounds do seem to suggest certain meanings. In his Little Book of Language (2010), David Crystal demonstrates the phenomenon of sound symbolism: Its interesting how some names sound good and some sound bad. Names with soft consonants such as [m], [n], and [l] tend to sound nicer than names with hard consonants such as [k] and [g]. Imagine were approaching a planet, where two alien races live. One of the races is called the Lamonians. The other is called the Grataks. Which sounds like the friendlier race? Most people opt for the Lamonians, because the name sounds friendlier. Grataks sound nasty. In fact, sound symbolism (also called phonosemantics) is one of the ways in which new words are fashioned and added to the language. (Consider frak, the all-purpose swear word coined by the writers of the Battlestar Galactica TV series.) Of course, poets, rhetoricians, and marketers have long been aware of the effects created by particular sounds, and in our glossary youll find numerous overlapping terms that refer to specific arrangements of phonemes. Some of these terms you learned in school; others are probably less familiar. Give a listen to these linguistic sound effects (an example, by the way, of both alliteration and assonance). For more detailed explanations, follow the links. Alliteration The repetition of an initial consonant sound, as in the old slogan of Country Life butter: Youll never put a better bit of butter on your knife. Assonance The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words, as in the repetition of the short i sound in this couplet from the late rapper Big Pun: Dead in the middle of little Italy little did we knowThat we riddled a middle man who didnt do diddly.Twinz (Deep Cover 98), Capital Punishment, 1998 Homoioteleuton Similar sound endings to words, phrases, or sentencessuch as the repeated -nz sound in the advertising slogan Beans Means Heinz. Consonance Broadly, the repetition of consonant sounds; more specifically, the repetition of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words. Homophones Homophones are two (or more) wordssuch as knew and newthat are pronounced the same but differ in meaning, origin, and often spelling. (Because peas and peace differ in the voicing of the final consonant, the two words are considered near homophones as opposed to true homophones.) Oronym A sequence of words (for example, the stuff he knows) that sounds the same as a different sequence of words (the stuffy nose). Reduplicative A word or lexeme (such as mama, pooh-pooh, or chit-chat) that contains two identical or very similar parts. Onomatopoeia The use of words (such as hiss, murmuror the Snap, Crackle, and Pop! of Kelloggs Rice Krispies) that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Echo Word A word or phrase (such as buzz and cock a doodle doo) that imitates the sound associated with the object or action it refers to: an onomatope. Interjection A short utterance (such as ah, doh, or yo) that usually expresses emotion and is capable of standing alone. In writing, an interjection (like Fred Flintstones Yabba dabba do!) is often followed by an exclamation point. To learn more about phonosemantics in the context of a wide variety of modern languages, have a look at the cross-disciplinary essays collected in Sound Symbolism, edited by Leanne Hinton, Johanna Nichols, and John J. Ohala (Cambridge University Press, 2006). The editors introduction, Sound-Symbolic Processes, offers a lucid overview of the different types of sound symbolism and describes some universal tendencies. Meaning and sound can never be fully separated, they conclude, and linguistic theory must accommodate itself to that increasingly obvious fact.

Land Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Land Law - Essay Example This paper will analyze a case scenario which involves situations of easement rights, mortgage laws, and restrictive easements. Easement rights In English law, easement is an individual’s right over another’s land. In other words, â€Å"an easement is a right over one piece of land existing for the benefit of another piece of land† (plainlaw solicitors). The common easement rights recognised include the right to use way/driveway or light, the right to park a car on neighbour’s land, or even to use a neighbour’s lavatory. Some recent findings of the Law Commission indicate that at least 65% of registered freehold titles are subjected to easement rights (Law Commission & Ministry of Justice 2011). Although people have extensive easement rights under English law, land owners are not allowed to access a public highway without an easement right under certain circumstances. In order to claim an easement right successfully, the claim must meet the requirem ents of the common law definition. Danckwerts J in Re Ellenborough Park (1956) set forth four essential characteristics of an easement. The first essential feature of an easement is that ‘there must be a dominant and a servient tenement’ (Bailey 2012, pp. 205-207). ... It is particularly important to note that a claim of easement cannot be justified if the dominant and servient tenement come under a common ownership. Fourth, ‘the right claimed must be capable of forming the subject-matter of a grant’. It is the most complex characteristic of an easement and it must be definite and certain in its purpose (Ibid, pp. 205-207). Generally an easement is created in four different ways such as express grant or reservation, implied grant or reservation, prescription, and statute (NPC, n.d.). In most cases, easement rights are expressively created in a transfer document, and it is called easement creation by express grant or reservation. In case of creation of easements by implied grant or reservation, the right may be implied. The right to use way across the surrounding neighbour’s land to the public highway is an example of easement creation by implied grant/reservation. Sometimes an easement right will be created or granted following an open and unchallenged exercise for a long time. To illustrate, the right to use a way will be granted if the way has been uninterruptedly used for a long time (a minimum of 20 years). Finally, an easement right may be created by statute also. From the case scenario, it is clear that Anne sold a part of her land to Mike and Zara, who subsequently gained planning permission to convert an existing stable on the land. Here, it seems that Anne cannot prevent Mike and Zara from using the driveway that crosses her land because it is the only practical way to access the stable. The case context clearly says that the badly maintained country road is not a possible option for Mike and Zara. While analyzing the case, it is obvious that Mike and Zara

Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Human resource management - Essay Example 2011, 1). Empirical research has supported the theory by proving that the most impressive performance result when an organization sets clear and specific goals. Effective goals should also be measurable, accurate, and time-bound (Kessler, I. 2012, 66). Clear goals ensure that employees attain a conspicuous sense of direction in their duties. Goals motivate employees to perform at stipulated levels (Perkins,S. and White, G. 2011, 109). It is essential for both the organization and the employees to have distinct strategies about performance targets. This is because employees should work with goals that directly affect their departments. In this view, an organization pays an employee according to how one meets given goals. An employee that satisfactorily meets set goals possess a higher bargaining power in demanding for more pay. In turn, an organization faces the task of synchronizing incentives with the nature of number of goals that an employee is supposed to meet (Heery, E. 1996, 55 ). On the other hand, the expectancy theory holds that an individual acts in a certain way because one chooses a given behavior out of a set of behaviors (Marsden, D. 2004, 17). Such a behavior results into the desired performance. This theory evaluates performance as an outcome of an employee’s ability and motivation to choose one type of behavior over the other (Pendleton, A. 2001, 88). Three factors play a crucial role in shaping this form of motivational behavior. To begin with, an employee makes a psychological link between effort and behaviors (Thompson, M. 2009, 131). In addition, the concept of instrumentality links behavior and outcome. Outcome, in this sense, is perceived as pay. Lastly, valence relates to how a person attaches value to an expected incentive (Marchington, M., & Wilkinson, A. 2008, 124). In the share and ownership scheme theory, the

Response Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Response - Article Example There are quite a number of benefits that can be derived from online dating sites such as aspects related to privacy and security. Geographically dispersed people can date each other and the choice of the desired match is wide. There are likely chances that if you search patiently, you will get your match. More interestingly, online dating removes unfavorable elements such as fear and confidentiality is guaranteed. However, there are also certain disadvantages of online dating. It exposes other people to cyber bullies and the victims may live under constant fear which can eventually lead to psychological distress. Online dating can also promote multiple sexual activities which in turn exposes the people involved to health risks. In my own opinion, I think community dating sites are essential during the contemporary period. They help people to get perfect matches and the other benefit is that these sites are easy to use and maintain. During the contemporary period, it can be seen that organizations are operating in environments that are characterised by stiff competition. Likewise, advertising is also gaining prominence since it can be observed that companies use this communication strategy to attract customers to buy their products. However, some companies are manipulating advertising through creation of weasel images that are far from the truth. As such, I concur with Lutz who suggests that some advertising messages are manipulative and they are meant to deceive the customers into buying the products offered. For instance, the sincerity of advertisements used in marketing alcoholic beverages in particular is questionable. From my own perspective, alcohol is not good to our health. No matter how much effort is put to portray alcohol consumption in a positive light, I think this beverage remains detrimental to our health. It is just a marketing gimmick by marketers of brands like Heineken and Tusker to present their brands

Film Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Film Evaluation - Essay Example What is Nixon guilty of? The film uses multiple perspectives to question his military strategies in Vietnam and Cambodia and, of course, the break-in to the Watergate hotel office of the Democratic Party and the subsequent cover up. Audiences see Frost and Reston, a researcher representing liberal criticism of Nixon’s foreign and domestic policy, using these interviews as a mock trial for Nixon. Nixon’s camp views the interviews as a re-election campaign, a fence mending expedition, and a path back to the East and the Capital beltway, which I didn’t realize before watching this film. During the interview process, Frost and Nixon’s interview-prep teams act like campaign advisors and spin doctors. The film reveals a Nixon whose political ambition soothed an ego, who stretched past the judicial limits of executive privilege. Nixon, who was granted a full pardon by President Ford, discusses his conflicts with the bipartisan Congress and Media and his frustrati on with the American checks and balances system. The film becomes as much about exploring Nixon’s feeling that what he did was â€Å"wrong,† but paradoxically not â€Å"wrong† because he did it as president as about the influence of American media as a fourth branch, a watchdog of American democracy and political transparency. II: Analysis of Political Ideas Conveyed within Frost/Nixon As the film opens, Director Howard and Writer Morgan expose viewers to a plethora of media clippings from nightly news programs, presidential interviews and public events, the formal Watergate hearings, and the voice of the average citizen. While these clippings provide background information and certainly provide urgency and interest in this cinematic event, they oversimplify the complex, elongated task of these revelations and impeachment process. One of the main criticisms of this film deal with the compression of time and boiled down simplification of the steps and factors cul minating in Nixon’s resignation. In a 2009 article, Reston himself commented: â€Å"For that televised interview in 1977, four hours of interrogation had been boiled down to 90 minutes. For the stage and screen, this history has been compressed a great deal more, into something resembling a comedic tragedy† (para. 5). The issues of the historical veracity of almost every step of this screenwriting process and cinematic manipulation has become an ongoing, contentious issue among political journalists and pundits. The ethics of the original interview put David Frost, his camp, and media itself on trial within this film and questions the unbiased nature of Frost’s interviews. The first segment of Frost/Nixon focuses on Frost and Nixon dancing around each other as Frost attempts to raise funds to secure an interview with Nixon as well as find a reputable network to air the interviews. Yet, as I previously did not know, all the established networks scoff at Frostâ₠¬â„¢s party image and lack of political expertise and refuse to be involved or lend their credibility to support Frost’s initiative. Specifically, the networks refer to their policy not to pay for interviews while Nixon’s Hollywood agent is requiring a staggering 600,000 dollars, 200, 000 of which must be up front for an afternoon exploratory meeting. The angle on the Frost’s first scribbled check to Nixon sheds light upon both Frost and Nixon’

Narcotics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Narcotics - Research Paper Example A five year ban was imposed on people found with five grams of crack whereas a similar mandatory ban was imposed on people who possessed 500 grams of powder cocaine. It was because of this disparity that another act was implemented in year of 2010 known as The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. This act lowered the ratio of possession of crack cocaine to powder cocaine in relevant terms of 100:1 into 18:1. The act has been praised by many authorities as it tends to lower down the disparity between the people who used to commit these crimes and also save millions of dollars for the government (FAMM 2011; Stewart 2010). The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was signed by President Obama to lower the disparity between the crimes which involved powder cocaine or crack. The Act is not only being implemented for the people who will commit the crime but it is also being made retroactive so that people who are sentenced for the act are allowed some concession too. The Act was introduced after years of reports and research which proved that powder and crack were almost the same drugs with the same lethality. In 1995 the USSC issued a report to the Congress about the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986. It put forward that 80% of the crack offenders were black and this was causing serious racial disparities between the races as these blacks were considering the Act to be biased. It was in 1995 that an act was being sought by the USSC regarding the disparity but such an attempt was rejected by the Congress then. In 2002 another report was filed by the USSC which put forward that pharmacologically the harmful effects of c rack were similar to that of powder cocaine. It also put forward that the amount of violence in the crimes involving crime were being exaggerated by the reports and was rather creating a disparity of races. In 2007 the USSC filed another report to the Congress which appealed

Film Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Film Evaluation - Essay Example What is Nixon guilty of? The film uses multiple perspectives to question his military strategies in Vietnam and Cambodia and, of course, the break-in to the Watergate hotel office of the Democratic Party and the subsequent cover up. Audiences see Frost and Reston, a researcher representing liberal criticism of Nixon’s foreign and domestic policy, using these interviews as a mock trial for Nixon. Nixon’s camp views the interviews as a re-election campaign, a fence mending expedition, and a path back to the East and the Capital beltway, which I didn’t realize before watching this film. During the interview process, Frost and Nixon’s interview-prep teams act like campaign advisors and spin doctors. The film reveals a Nixon whose political ambition soothed an ego, who stretched past the judicial limits of executive privilege. Nixon, who was granted a full pardon by President Ford, discusses his conflicts with the bipartisan Congress and Media and his frustrati on with the American checks and balances system. The film becomes as much about exploring Nixon’s feeling that what he did was â€Å"wrong,† but paradoxically not â€Å"wrong† because he did it as president as about the influence of American media as a fourth branch, a watchdog of American democracy and political transparency. II: Analysis of Political Ideas Conveyed within Frost/Nixon As the film opens, Director Howard and Writer Morgan expose viewers to a plethora of media clippings from nightly news programs, presidential interviews and public events, the formal Watergate hearings, and the voice of the average citizen. While these clippings provide background information and certainly provide urgency and interest in this cinematic event, they oversimplify the complex, elongated task of these revelations and impeachment process. One of the main criticisms of this film deal with the compression of time and boiled down simplification of the steps and factors cul minating in Nixon’s resignation. In a 2009 article, Reston himself commented: â€Å"For that televised interview in 1977, four hours of interrogation had been boiled down to 90 minutes. For the stage and screen, this history has been compressed a great deal more, into something resembling a comedic tragedy† (para. 5). The issues of the historical veracity of almost every step of this screenwriting process and cinematic manipulation has become an ongoing, contentious issue among political journalists and pundits. The ethics of the original interview put David Frost, his camp, and media itself on trial within this film and questions the unbiased nature of Frost’s interviews. The first segment of Frost/Nixon focuses on Frost and Nixon dancing around each other as Frost attempts to raise funds to secure an interview with Nixon as well as find a reputable network to air the interviews. Yet, as I previously did not know, all the established networks scoff at Frostâ₠¬â„¢s party image and lack of political expertise and refuse to be involved or lend their credibility to support Frost’s initiative. Specifically, the networks refer to their policy not to pay for interviews while Nixon’s Hollywood agent is requiring a staggering 600,000 dollars, 200, 000 of which must be up front for an afternoon exploratory meeting. The angle on the Frost’s first scribbled check to Nixon sheds light upon both Frost and Nixon’

Social psychology (within a school setting) Essay

Social psychology (within a school setting) - Essay Example Behaviorism argued that a subject matter of psychology must be firmly grounded in observed human behavior rather than in unobservable mental constructs. This approach suggested completely new theoretical structures and empirical approaches. Thus at a time it seemed that the majority of social psychologists were behaviorists, which asserts that human behavior can be understood in terms of stimulus response relationship without necessarily referring to underlying mental state. Then Gestalt inspired group dynamics (MCGARTY, 1997:1-15). He claimed that social environment is not only made up of things but of relations bettering things, Thus Gestalt's tradition promoted a concern with groups as real social entities. Another trend 'Attitude Change' came in vogue with the end of World War II. The third major Trend that was occurring in 1960s, with the breakdown of the dominance of attitude concept, was the rise of 'Attribution theory'. The ground work of this theory was laid by Heider's book, 1958 "The Psychology of Interpersonal Relation" during 1970s and became the most dominant concern in social psychology. Cognitive Dissonance (McGarty, 1997:20-26): According to Festinger, theory of Cognitive Dissonance is a deft blend of motivational and cognitive constructs. Cognitive dissonance is a type of psychological discomfort, produced by having attitudes in consistent with behavior, which creates pressure to change those attitudes. When a teacher has to mould or change children's attitude, most of the occasions, reward and punishment is applied but the previous notorious behavior is seen to be repeated in some other social context or situation. The application of cognitive dissonance theory can bring stability and positivism when applied for a purpose of attitude change. Freedman in 1965 conducted an experiment "forbidden toy" of Aronson and Garlsmith regarding the permanence of dissonance induced opinion change. Its utility in school setting is thus: If the children become aggressive when punished for touching forbidden things then dissonance should be generated in them through mild threat for that thing. So this cognitive dissonance generated in them makes the forbidden item less attractive. This mild threat will bring in them self persuasion which will lead to neutral attitude for that thing. (MCGARTY, 1997:20-26) Self-Perception VS. Cognitive Dissonance (Bem 1972:1-62) : Self-perception theory differs from cognitive dissonance theory in that it does not hold that people experience a "negative drive state called "dissonance" which they seek to relieve. Instead, people simply infer their attitudes from their own behavior in the same way that an outside observer might. Self-perception theory is a special case of attribution theory. Attribution Theory (Heider, 1958): This theory is concerned with the ways in which people explain (or

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, one of the main themes is the discrepancy between appearance and reality. The development of this theme through the plot, soliloquy and imagery help to reinforce the players role in the play and directs the audience to where their allegiances should lie for the climax of the play. The theme appearance versus reality is clearly evident throughout this Shakespearean play; it is introduced at the very beginning through Claudius speech to the court. The structure and rhythm of this blank verse carries him through but the imagery that Shakespeare uses signals to the audience the corruption in Denmark he uses phrases such as defeated joy, one auspicious and one drooping eye and wisest sorrow. These opposing images and hollow phrases reveal the hypocrisy of the diplomats words; how can a person have one auspicious and one drooping eye unless they are duplicitous? Claudius opening speech is also eloquent, relaxed and so carefully structured that it appears rehearsed he deals with three items of business before confronting his black-suited nephew: Old King Hamlets death; the threat from Fortinbras army; Laertes impending departure to France. Shakespeare here signals to the audience that Claudius is uneasier than he appears by leaving his nephew and son-in-law to deal with last. In my opinion, the exposition of Claudius Machiavellian mature at the beginning through the theme appearance versus reality is very effective as it reveals to the audience the corruption in Elsinore which essentially instigates Hamlets revenge and also exposes Claudius at the beginning of the play as the antagonist, aligning the audiences sympathies. Furthermore, this main theme is developed through the soliloquies in particular Claudius. During his agonised soliloquy, Claudius puts on the appearance of praying but he is pseudo-sincere in this: Pray can I not, though inclination be as sharp as will. This reveals Claudius confessing to the murder of his brother but not repenting for his sins. As he is not sincere in this, he believes that he will not go to heaven: My words fly up, my thoughts remain below, words without thoughts never to heaven go. This rhyming couplet not only reveals the theme appearance versus reality, but is also richly ironic as this prayer actually saves his life. Shakespeare also employs the transferred epithet stubborn knees to further emphasise Claudius reluctance to repent for his sins and how he is putting on the appearance of praying, albeit mendaciously. In my opinion, the development of the main theme through Claudius soliloquy successfully polarises Claudius from the protagonists and reinforces him as the villain in the play, directing the audience to where their allegiances should lie for the climax of the play. In addition, Shakespeare conveys the theme appearance versus reality through Hamlets antic disposition. This is illustrated particularly well through Hamlets exchanges with Polonius: Let her not walk ithsun. Conception is a blessing. But as your daughter may conceive friend, look tot. Although these words sound like nonsense to Polonius and the audience, there is a thread of bitter satire running through them. Hamlet reveals his witty sarcasm here as he is aware that Ophelia has been prevented from seeing him and tells Polonius that he should not let her walk in the sun if he wishes to prevent her becoming pregnant. Hamlets antic disposition is reinforced throughout the play but particularly through his exchanges with Claudius: Excellent ifaith of the chameleons dish. I eat the air, promised crammed. You cannot feed capons so. Hamlet here is trying to make Claudius think that he is frustrated at not being the King; Claudius pretends not to understand him. In my opinion, Shakespeare effectively polarises Hamlet from Claudius through his antic disposition and wit which in turn successfully aligns the audience with the protagonist for the denouement. Furthermore, it could be argued that the theme of surveillance intertwines with the main theme appearance versus reality which helps to further develop the audiences awareness of the conflict between reality and appearance. For example, Hamlets conversations with the two people he loved, Gertrude and Ophelia, were eaves-dropped by Polonius. As a result of the spying, Ophelia and Gertrude spoke to Hamlet with constrained formality: How does your honour for this many a day? . This heated exchange between the eponymous prince and Ophelia during the nunnery scene recapitulates arguably the main theme of the play; appearance versus reality which is exposed at the very beginning and is reiterated through Hamlets exchanges with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern they also spy on Hamlet for Claudius: they did make love to this employment! . In my opinion, Shakespeare effectively evokes sympathy for Hamlet and his little allies through dramatic irony and further polarises Hamlet and Claudius through the development of this main theme hence reinforcing Hamlet as the tragic hero of the play. In conclusion, the development of the theme appearance versus reality is essential in augmenting the audiences understanding and appreciation of the play as a whole. In my opinion, Shakespeare effectively develops this main theme through the plot, soliloquy, imagery and dramatic irony which successfully reinforces the players role in the play and also directs the audience to where their sympathies should lie for the denouement.

Importance of Strategic Human Resource Management in Tesco

Importance of Strategic Human Resource Management in Tesco The business that I have chosen to study as part of this assignment is TESCO. TESCO is a public limited company, which is very successful and renowned in all over the world. I am always interested about TESCO and do my shopping very regularly from there. So I chosen to do my study about this particular business and it will help me to get information quite effectively and efficiently than any other organisation or business. Definition: Human resource management is the organisational function which is focused on recruitment, management, and providing direction for the employees of an organization. Strategic human resource management is linking of human resources with objectives and strategic goal in order to develop business culture and performance with flexibly, innovative. In an organisation SHRM means involving the HR function and implementing companys strategies through recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding personnel. 1.1 Importance of strategic human resource management TESCO: Strategic human resource management is a part of Human resource management. SHRM focuses on human resource programs with long-term objectives. rather than focusing on internal issues of HR, its focus on addressing and solving problems what effect people management related issues in the long run globally. So the primary goal of strategic human resources is to increase employee skills by focusing on business problems that happens outside of human resources. The actions that needed to be taken at first for a strategic human resource manager is to identify key HR areas ,where strategies will be implemented in the future to improve employees productivity, motivation and skill. Human Resource Management professionals are facing with some issues such as performance management, employee participation, human resource flow , reward systems and high commitment work systems in the context of globalization. These are some of the major issues that HR professionals and top management involved in SHRM that implemented in the first decade of the 21st century: Internationalization of market integration. Significant technological change. New concepts of general management. Cross-cultural factors The economic trend transferring from developed to developing countries in the world. SHRM also reflects some of the contemporary challenges faced by Human Resource Management. Such as aligning HR with core business strategy, demographic trends on employment and the labour market, integrating soft skills in HRD and finally Knowledge Management. References Armstrong, M (ed.) 192a) Strategies for Human Resource Management: A Total Business Approach. London:Kogan Page Beer, M and Spector,B (eds) (1985) Readings in Human Resource Management. New York: Free Press Boxall, P (1992) Strategic Human Resource Management: Beginnings of a New Theoretical Sophistication? Human Resource Management Journal, Vol.2 No.3 Spring. Fombrun, C.J., Tichy, N,M, and Devanna, M.A. (1984) Strategic Human Resource Management. New York:Wiley Mintzberg, H, Quinn, J B, Ghoshal, S (198) The Strategy Process, Prentice Hall. Truss, C and Gratton, L (1994) Strategic Human Resource Management: A Conceptual Approach, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol.5 No.3 1.2- The purpose of strategic human resource management in TESCO: The purpose of SHRM is to stimulate interest in the field of Human Resources by inviting HR professionals to speak about different aspects of their job and other HR issues. SHRM was created to provide assistance for development of its members, to provide leadership opportunities, and establish and support standards of excellence in Human Resource Management. SHRM aims to provide a sense of direction in an often turbulent environment so that organizational and business needs can be translated into coherent and practical policies and programmes. SHRM should provide guidelines for successful action, and the ultimate test of the reality of strategic HRM is the extent to which it has stimulated such action. There is an overall corporate purpose and that the human resource dimensions of that purpose are evident. A process of developing strategy within the organization exists and is understood, and that there is explicit consideration of human resource dimensions. The organization at all levels establishes responsibility and accountability for human resource management. It includes the responsibility to identify and interact in the social, political, technological and economic environments in which the organization is and will be doing business. The need for a Concept Much of the literature provides evidence that strategic integration is not well developed and advances reasons why to achieve it would be beneficial to organizations. Organisation advocated an increase in the input of human resource considerations at strategic planning, an attitude of treating employees as assets, more participation and involvement for employees, effective and open communications, less rule-oriented policies and practices, better training and career development opportunities, reward and recognition tied to performance. 1.3 Contribution of SHRM to the achievement of TESCOs objectives: Strategic HRM typically helps to achieve strategic goals in many ways. The main aspect of using strategic approach is alignment of all the levels of the organization with the organizational goals. The strategic approach to HRM will lead to development of policies that align with the organizational strategies. The various HR policies will try to reward positive behaviors which are essential to achieve organizational strategy. The HRM functions help to achieve corporate goals like growth or expansion by recruiting people, training and orienting them, and put them in new job assignments. The growth plans of any organization will require employees and recruitment is the only function which ensures that people with required skill sets are acquired. The retention strategy used by the company can lead to differentiation by retaining best of the talent force. Retaining best of the employees will lead to quality work, higher efficiency, customer satisfaction, etc. The strategic approach when taken helps performance management as there will be measurement of correct parameters which affects the organization as whole. It also ensures that correct feedback is obtained so that measures are taken to bring above the improvement. The other practices like performance appraisal helps to assess employee performance and using suitable reward system the company can channelize employees efforts to achieve organizational objectives. The training and development function ensures that the employees have the skill sets required to perform their tasks. The training programs are organized to train the employees for specific skills which will help them to achieve required goals. The strategic approach will help in developing effective training programs. Due to this the organization is benefited as there will be proper utilization of financial resources available for training and development function. The training and development function also supports the growth of the organization through career development of employees. It will be interesting to see how companies have benefited through HRM practices. Take the example of Tesco which is UKs biggest supermarket. It has more than 240000 employees and has seen consistent profits over the years. The company over the years has used participative management which has helped the organization as a whole. The company made use of the competitive A company or an organization is an entity where two or more people come together to achieve specific goals. The basic aim of any organization is to earn profits. There is always a talk on ways by which a company can earn profits continuously. In this context the word strategy is often heard. It is also said that proper alignment of strategy with all the processes is extremely important. In the present essay I would like to focus on how strategies help to achieve competitive advantage. I have also tried to evaluate the effect of linking strategy to human resource management to improve employee performance. I have found t hat properly aligning organizational goals with different processes helps the firm to achieve competitive advantage. It can also be seen through many examples how strategy linked to HR practices helps to improve performance of employees.An organization is always in dilemma regarding use of financial, technological and human resources. According Porter (1985) an organization must use resources which are valuable, inimitable and rare. In this context there has been a shift in focus from financial aspect to human resources. An organization is said to have sustained competitive advantage when the strategies applied by it are not applied by any of its competitors and are hard to implement. Now it is necessary to understand what strategy is? And which aspect of strategy gives importance to human resources? Strategy can be defined as plans and methods deployed by a company to achieve competitive advantage and operate profitably. It is related to the long term plans of the company. The reso urce base view of strategy sees it as a way to create opportunities using the organizations internal resources and competences (Johnson, Scholes, Whittington, 2005). According to this theory employees are considered as resource with knowledge, skills and experience present with them as the core of organizational performance. Now, human resource management (HRM) is the branch of management which deals with managing employees in an organization and using their knowledge to gain effectiveness. The resource based view looks employees as valuable resource, which is rare, their knowledge is hard to imitate, which provides organization to get competitive advantage (Pfeffer, 1994). Strategic human resource management can be defined as predetermined steps of human resource development activities undertaken to achieve organizational goals (Jackson, Schuler, 2003). The strategic approach makes it necessary for organizations to focus on improvement of Human resource capability (H helps the organization to improve its competitive position by improving human skills, knowledge and experience. The strategic approach to various human resource practices like staffing, performance management, training and development, career planning, etc helps in improvement of human resource capabilities. Beer et al. (1984) stated that with rapidly change in environment the makes it essential to take strategic approach to human resource function. Strategic HRM can therefore be considered as overall process related to long term human resource issues which are part of strategic management of the firm. The SHRM approach need that the HR function of the firm must set new priorities which are more business and strategic oriented. These priorities have less orientation towards traditional HR practices like staffing, performance management and training. There is more emphasis laid on improvement of organization structure, quality, values, culture and performance of employees which are the pillars of an organization. The traditional HRM focused more on physical skills. It was more of functional nature and there was lot of concern of individual efforts. It gave more importance to tasks and there was less focus on people. The strategic HRM focus on overall contribution and efficiency of firm (C hang Huang, 2005). It promotes innovation, creative behavior and cross function integration. This approach helps to produce employee behavior that focuses on core business priorities. This in turn helps to drive the growth, profits and market value of the firm. The strategic HRM approach systematically brings about coordination of all HRM measures and implements it, so that it influences employee attitude and behavior which helps a business to gain competitive strategy. There is need for proper strategic human resource planning as it helps not only to retain the talent necessary to achieve organization goals but it also helps in penetration of strategy at all level of an organization. Proper strategic human resource planning helps an organization to find the gap between current position of a company and desired future position. It helps to stimulate creative thinking and promotes proactive behavior. It helps to identify causes of the problems and opportunities present. Now let us examine these aspects in more details. For any company its employees are the major assets. So as suggested by Hertzberg (1959) in his two factors theory, the hygiene and motivating factors should be made available to them so that it results in satisfaction of employees. These factors include good working conditions, status, rewards, incentives, communication, work culture, etc. So if the hygiene and motivating factors are provided the employees will be satisfied and they will work productively. The question is how strategic approach to HRM helps to achieve competitive advantage? Strategic HRM typically helps to achieve strategic goals in many ways. The main aspect of using strategic approach is alignment of all the levels of the organization with the organizational goals. The strategic approach to HRM will lead to development of policies that align with the organizational strategies. The various HR policies will try to reward positive behaviors which are essential to achieve organizational strategy. The HRM functions help to achieve corporate goals like growth or expansion by recruiting people, training and orienting them, and put them in new job assignments. The growth plans of any organization will require employees and recruitment is the only function which ensures that people with required skill sets are acquired. The retention strategy us ed by the company can lead to differentiation by retaining best of the talent force. Retaining best of the employees will lead to quality work, higher efficiency, customer satisfaction, etc. According to Jain (2005) the organizations which have ability to attract and retain employees which have skills to achieve the organizational goals gets sustainable competitive advantage. The strategic approach when taken helps performance management as there will be measurement of correct parameters which affects the organization as whole. It also ensures that correct feedback is obtained so that measures are taken to bring above the improvement. The other practices like performance appraisal helps to assess employee performance and using suitable reward system the company can channelize employees efforts to achieve organizational objectives. The training and development function ensures that the employees have the skill sets required to perform their tasks. The training programs are organized to train the employees for specific skills which will help them to achieve required goals. The strategic approach will help in developing effective training programs. Due to this the organization is benefited as there will be proper utilization of financial resources available for training and development function. The training and development function also supports the growth of the organization through career development of employees. It will be interesting to see how companies have benefited through HRM practices. Take the example of Tesco which is UKs biggest supermarket. It has more than 240000 employees and has seen consistent profits over the years. The company over the years has used participative management which has helped the organization as a whole. The company made use of the situation by improving the way in which they interact with the customers. Tesco used continuous innovation, welfare management, customer relation in conjunction with HRM strategies to gain respectable position in UK retail industry. It treats employees as champions and involves them in decision making. It has also resulted in increase in employee satisfaction, efficiency, high work morale, motivation and greater acceptance to any change. Total development of all the employees within the organization is the main strength of Tesco. It constantly focuses on effective implementation and utilization of HR strategies, which has helped it to perform well in the market. For Tesco the HR policies go along with marketing strategies which are then placed into operation. The participative management practices have helped in improvement of the employees as well as the whole company. These have made them to achieve required performance through employee engagement. It has used distinct employee man agement practices which have helped it to achieve competitive advantage (Strategic HRM: TESCO, n.d). The strategic HR practices help to produce competencies that differentiate products and service and thereby create competitiveness. The strategic approach is also important as in many cases the human resource is in direct contact with the customer. Finally to conclude it can be observed that HRM function manages various functions like human capital skills, work culture, employee commitment, teamwork, productivity, etc. which is likely to be source of sustained competitive advantage for any TESCO. The human resources are extremely important in a company from finance to sales to customer service. There is a significant relation between satisfied employees and customer satisfaction. It is therefore necessary for managers and supervisors to ensure that employees are motivated, productive and enthusiastic.

Rebuilding the Virginia Department of Transportation Essay -- Leadersh

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is among the largest of state agencies and holds a national reputation as a leader in road safety and innovation dating back to the early 1920's. VDOT also has a history of being judged as the most professional state agency that is - until the 1990's, when buyouts and politics shook the department's composition and threatened its public reputation. The agency lost thousands of veteran employees who would prove to be irreplaceable assets and they began to see a decline in revenues. With the inability to deliver the quality construction and maintenance program they were once known for, it was clear that new leadership and a complete restructuring was needed. In 2002, Phillip Shucet was appointed commissioner of VDOT, bringing his private-sector business experience along for the ride. His task proved to be a difficult one and he was faced with many challenges including: management and organizational behavior, general and specific environm ental factors, and motivational problems. ("Virginia Department of Transportation: Trying to Keep Virginia Moving.") Part 1 The primary problem of VDOT is that supervisors lack the ability to complete road projects on time. Overall, VDOT suffers from a deprivation of "foresight, command, control, coordination and organization (Oke, 2011)." The classical approach of administrative principles will provide a line of unrestricted communication between VDOT field workers and executive management. The administrative principles approach will also direct leaders to deploy their resources through command principle; by giving orders to people from one source (Oke, 2011). Thereby, centralizing similar activities and tasks under one supervisor; increasing synch... ...partment of Transportation: Trying to Keep Virginia Moving." 2011. Retrieved from http://dm.darden.virginia.edu/vdot/studentWeb/content/videoList.htm 6 Steps to Insanely Successful Business Goals for 2013 http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanhall/2012/12/08/6-steps-to-insanely-successful-business-goals-for-2013/ http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=22466052&site=ehost-live&scope=site © 2013. State University. All Rights Reserved. Oke, R. (Ed.). (2011). Organizational behavior and management. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Custom Learning Solutions. Custom (abridged) text ISBN-13: 9780470942710 Sternberg, B., & Weitzel, S. R. (2001). Key Point Summary. Setting Your Development Goals: Start With Your Values, 29-30. Yemen. G and Clawson. J (2005), Virginia Department of Transportation: Trying To Keep Virginia Moving

Physical and Cognitive Development in Adolescence Essay

Adolescence is a developmental phase with issues that have repercussions throughout adult life. It is a period of vast change, more aptly described as a series of phases that mark the transition from childhood to adulthood. It is also a period of life in which several forms of sociopathy and psychopathology often appears. Adolescence is both a biological process and a social-cultural transition. The juvenile organism undergoes a process of growth and maturation as it moves toward adult size and functional capacity, and, more or less concurrently, the individual must pass through a transition from the status and conduct of a child to the responsibilities of the adult. The suitable adjustment of these processes, each to the other, and the appropriate direction and timing of the demands made by adults upon the developing adolescent are important factors in the ease and adequacy of growing up in our culture. Physical Development in Adolescence The normal human life span may be considered as divisible roughly into three epochs: the first, which extends from conception until past the age of twenty, is the time required to attain adulthood; the second is the variable, but usually very brief, period during which the individual enjoys the peak of his physical efficiency; and the third is the period of physical deterioration, a process which begins insidiously as early as the late twenties and, gathering speed as the years go by, effects his eventual senility and dissolution. Thus, the first twenty-odd years of life are spent in achieving physical maturity and a degree of physiologic equilibrium which is lost, at least in part, almost as soon as it is attained. If this seems an exaggerated statement, one need only recall that the baseball player is usually past the peak of his physical efficiency at thirty and that the pugilist’s legs have already begun to slow him down some years earlier. Viewed in this way, it is, perhaps, not too much to say that man has scarcely begun to live when he begins to die. Adolescence begins early in the second decade and is usually considered as ending at about the twenty-second or twenty-third year in boys and somewhat earlier in girls. It covers, therefore, approximately the last ten years of what was just referred to as the first epoch of life, the period extending from conception to adulthood. The physical changes which occur during this early period of life include both growth and development: growth, in the sense of an increase in mass, volume, and external dimensions, and development, in the sense of becoming progressively more complex. These two processes, growth and development, do not proceed at the same absolute rate or at the same relative rate throughout this early period of life. There are intervals during which the body is increasing in size more rapidly than it is growing in complexity, and them are other times at which this relationship is reversed. Some of the developmental changes which occur during adolescence are, perhaps, best appreciated when viewed in the light of some events which have preceded them. When we speak of things which are determined by heredity in the human body, such traits as eye color, hair color, hair form, skin color, or such defects as hemophilia, red-green color blindness, etc. , suggest themselves. We are likely to lose sight of the fact that, in addition to determining a vast number of what may more or less properly be called â€Å"unit characters† such as those which were just enumerated, there is also in the germ plasm some mechanism which controls larger aspects of development and which insures, for example, that human beings give rise only to other human beings and that elephants continue to produce only elephants. The genetic constitution of man, like that of other forms, controls another important aspect of development. It not only determines within rather narrow limits what the end product of development will be, but it also prescribes quite definitely the stages to be followed in attaining that end. (Blos, P, 1967). It has become increasingly evident that the growth and development of the child is a more or less orderly sequence or process which, for convenience, we classify into various arbitrary steps or periods. It is also clear that each individual child moves through this sequence at his or her own rate of progress and attains dimensions of structure, function, and behavior that are idiomatic to the individual. Thus, while we observe a certain order and regularity of process, we may also note a wide diversity of products, as exhibited by groups of individuals who differ in size, shape, and capacity, although of the same chronological age. As a result of these pronounced differences in rates of growth and maturation, the number of years a person has lived is in many situations of less significance than the level of physiological and social maturity he has attained. Differences in the time of maturing are sometimes of great importance to the individual. The early-maturing child has a shorter period of prepuberal development than the late-maturing child. Conversely, the child with early puberty may have a prolonged period in which to make adolescent social adjustments, while the late maturing may have to compress these adjustments into a shorter interval before reaching adulthood. Preceding and accompanying sexual maturation the child undergoes a transformation in size and body form of greater or Im degree, with a lengthening of the legs that sometimes producesan almost sudden change in height. Some rapidly growing boys and girls may â€Å"shoot up† and within a brief period of eighteen months or two years attain nearly their full adult stature. Others may grow slowly but continuously over a longer period. It has become evident that puberty is merely an early stage in adolescent development. It may be two or three years after the first menstruation before the girls will ovulate and attain full sex maturation and the capacity for procreation. Less is known about the male, and at present it is not possible to say when spermatogenesis or production of motile, functionally potent sperm does occur. At this point we should also note that recent studies show that every individual is bi-sexual, with the power of producing both male and female sex hormones. These male and female hormones have been found in the urine of boys and girls as early as five or six years of age; they increase in quantity as children approach puberty. Initially, the female sex hormones (estrogens) are more significant for puberal development even in the male, who develops only somewhat later a characteristic preponderance of male hormones (androgens). This balance of male and female hormones directs or controls the sex maturation of the boy and girl and the appearance of the secondary sex characteristics–breasts, pubic and axillary hair, beard, voice changes, etc. Esman, A. H, 1975). One important aspect of adolescent development is that the growth of other dimensions and of the several organ systems may lag behind growth in stature. The very tall boy of fifteen or sixteen may still have juvenile, undeveloped gonads, while his heart and circulatory system, the respiratory system, and the gastrointestinal tract may still be relatively immature and progressing only slowly toward the size and functional capacity appropriate to his stature. Conversely, the boy or girl who reaches puberty at an earlier age apparently grows and develops more as a whole, with fewer biological discrepancies and organic imbalances. But this earlier puberty has its disadvantages as well as advantages, especially in view of the social consequences of â€Å"outgrowing† former friends and associates. A simple analogy may serve to illustrate this. We can imagine a hundred boys and a hundred girls starting from New York to California. A small number of them will travel by airplane, arriving there quickly. Another and larger group will travel by fast limited express trains and arrive soon after the first group. A still larger group will travel by trains operating on the usual time-schedules; some will go by bus, others by hitch-hiking, and a very few will attempt to trudge across the continent on foot. Not all of the two hundred will reach their destination, for some will be lost en route. Those who do arrive will bear the evidence of how they traveled-including the discomforts and dangers of each mode of travel. Similarly, in the course of child development, each mode of travel, each pattern of growth and maturation, involves its peculiar biological and personality risks. Just because the whole organism is changing, in organ systems and functions as well as in external size and shape, impairment often occurs in the ability to maintain homeostasis, or physiological stability. Especially during the period when various parts of the organism are showing their maximum discrepancies in rates of growth, we may find that some functional sotivities are imperfectly integrated. If these interacting functions become seriously out of balance, as may sometimes happen as a result of neglect, overstrain, inadequate nutrition, or other adverse factors, it in possible that the residual effects of this adolescent disturbance will be carried over to influence, when they emerge, the physiological patterns and homeostatic capacity of the adult. (Freud, A, 1958). Boys or girls who complete their growth within a relatively short time may experience only a brief period of instability and may therefore be able to go forward to adult status with less internal incongruity. On the other hand, a brief period of growth may entail disturbances of various kinds merely because of the sudden, unexpected increase in size. During this brief period the adolescent must revise his image of the body and try to become accustomed to a new body size and form. Moreover, many of the eye-hand co-ordinations and other patterns of muscular co-ordination built up over the years of childhood may be rendered obsolete by these changes, so that the individual may find himself clumsy and painfully incapable of even simple activities. Cognitive Development in Adolescence Adolescence is a time in which cognitive process is ever expanding, reminiscent of the child’s shift from being a nonreader to being a reader. Suddenly, the world opens up to that child. What once appeared as jumbles of letters now appears as words: messages, directions, communications of all kinds. For adolescents, it is the abstract world that is now open: the world of ideas and concepts. Adolescents can think about thinking, think through hypotheses, think ahead. This is what allows them to use the defense of intellectualization, which A. Freud (1958) identified in â€Å"Adolescence. Adolescents can think instead of taking action as a way to discharge energy and reduce conflict. With the development of the capacity for abstract thinking, adolescents can think beyond the present; they can conceptualize a past. This is how they can leave â€Å"childhood,† an abstraction, behind while they live in the present and, eventually, begin to contemplate a future. In her 1937 article, Katan described â€Å"object removal† as a process that involves a directional change for adolescents wherein they leave old ways of looking at important people behind. This takes place in the context of an adolescent’s ability to conceptualize a â€Å"past. When analytic thinking develops, the social, political, aesthetic, and religious spheres open up for the adolescent’s exploration. Adolescents develop theories about how these spheres should be and then try to validate their theories by looking at the world around them. According to Inhelder and Piaget (1958), this represents an important change in the direction of thinking: Children look at the world and develop hypotheses to explain what they see; adolescents think about what is possible and then look out to see whether they are correct. Reality is secondary to possibility. This is described as the change from concrete to formal operations. In Piagetian theory, adolescence marks the transition from the concrete operational thinking characteristics of school aged children to formal logical operations. Formal operations include the ability to manipulate abstraction such as algebraic expressions, to reason from known principal, to way many points of view according to varying criteria, and to think about the process of thinking itself. Some early adolescence demonstrates formal thinking, others acquire the capability later, and others don’t acquire at all. Young adolescents may be able to apply formal operations to school work but to not to personal dilemmas. When the emotional stakes are high, magical thinking, such as the conviction of invulnerability, may interfere with higher order cognition. The ability to treat possibilities as real entities may affect critical decision, such as whether or not to have unprotected intercourse or engage in other risk taking behavior. Some theorists argue that the transition from concrete to formal operations follows from quantitative increases in knowledge, experience, and cognitive efficiency rather than a qualitative recognition of thinking. Consistent with this view are data showing a steady rise in cognitive processing speed from late childhood through early adulthood, associated with a reduction in synaptic number (pruning of less used path ways) and progressive maturation of electroinsephalographis results. It is unclear whether or not the hormonal changes of puberty directly affect cognitive development. The development of moral thinking roughly parallels general cognitive development. Mostly adolescents perceive right and wrong as absolute and unquestionable. Taking a loaf of bread to feed are starving child is wrong because it is â€Å"Stealing†. Adolescents often question received morality, embracing the behavior standards of the peer group. Group membership may allow them to displays guilt feelings for perceived moral infractions from themselves to the group. With the transition to formal operational thought, middle adolescents question and analyze extensively. Questioning of moral conventions fosters the development of personal codes of ethics. Such codes often appear design to justify the adolescent’s sexual apatite: â€Å"anything I want is right†. In other cases, adolescents may embrace a code that is more strict than that of there parents, perhaps in response to the anxiety engendered by the weakening of the conventional limits. An adolescent’s new flexibility of thought has pervasive effects on relationships with self and others. In late adolescents sexual experimentation decreases as they adopt more stable sexual identities. Cognition tends to be less self-centered, with increasing thoughts about concepts such as justice, patriotism, and history. Older adolescents are often idealistic but also may be absolutist and intolerant of opposing views. Religious or political groups that promise answers to complex question may hold great appeal. According to Kohlberg and Gilligan (1971) looked at whether the Piagetian stages of cognitive development corresponded to Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development. They found correspondence in childhood and established that it was only with the attainment of formal operations that Kohlberg’s last stages of moral development could be achieved. Adolescents delight especially in consideration of that which is not, a capacity that develops in the move from concrete to formal operations. They show a marked preference for abstraction. This may be what permits adolescents to deidealize their parents, a necessary component of the second individuation process that takes place at this time (Blos, 1967). Early adolescents can see that other parents are different from theirs; by midadolescence, they are able to criticize their parents for things that they have not done or ways that they have not been. Both of these serve the adolescent disengagement process. According to Esman (1975) the state of anomie in which adolescents find themselves once the deidealization of their parents takes place. They go through a mourning process in which they may search for alternative â€Å"gods† in politics, religion, or ideology. This process may also simply serve to motivate a search for values, political and religious beliefs, or ethics. This search often brings the adolescent into contact with different groups. The group involvement diminishes some of the anomie that results from the disengagement from the family of origin. That to which people aspire is denoted as their ego ideal. As people approach this ego ideal, self-esteem rises. Blos posited that there is a maturation of the ego ideal during adolescence given that adolescents develop the capacity and the motivation to formulate values and goals that are different from those of their parents. It is the move toward autonomy that permits goals and values to be examined and reformulated. Adolescents look to the world around them for both people and ideas that may be transiently used to aid them in forming these new goals and values. Thinking about, through, ahead, and beyond are all forms of exercising new potential and gaining mastery over both internal and external reality. These contribute to the adolescent’s achievement of greater competence. An adolescent does not have to look to others for explanations of that which is not immediately comprehensible; hypotheses can be generated and tested. This contributes to the adolescent’s sense of greater autonomy. Researchers on the development of a concept of self during adolescence note that there is more differentiation evident over time. This is seen as a direct result of adolescents’ increasing cognitive ability. The components of their self-concept become more and more complex, both quantitatively and qualitatively. This is very much in keeping with the second individuation theory of Blos (1967), which posits that adolescents have an increased capacity to see and define themselves. In their major study of sex differences, Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) established that the effect of children’s cognitive skill is greater than the influence of their parents’ attitudes and behavior on the development of sex roles. This suggests that it is the greater cognitive skill of adolescents that leads them to be more aware of and responsive to sex differences. A major psychoanalytic characterization of self or identity is that people form mental pictures or representations of themselves. The representations of adolescents must include images of their now more mature bodies. This gives them a sense of ownership of their bodies. It is no longer the caretaker of bodily needs from childhood who is responsible for â€Å"seeing to† the body; it is the adolescent. These mental representations of the body must include images of the genitals as functioning organs for the adolescent to feel identified as male or female, or potential father or mother.

Pizza Hut strategic plan Essay

Executive Summary This proposal describes Pizza Hut and the introduction of a new product called â€Å"The Extreme.† A brief history of Pizza Hut is provided at the beginning of this proposal along with an analysis of the fast food industry. Current trends in demographics and eating habits are included. A SWOT analysis has been done to identify Pizza Hut’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats so that these factors can be taken into consideration in deciding whether or not to launch the new â€Å"Extreme Pizza.† Some of the key elements of our marketing plan first describe the â€Å"Extreme Pizza.† It will be the largest pizza on the market, with double the cheese and double the toppings. We will target the X and Y Generations, which is the fastest growing segment in America. This segment has been successfully targeted before using the â€Å"extreme† angle. This segment is has been a segment that hasn’t been targeted to the level that they should in this industry and we plan on changing that. We have used past financial data to establish reasonable goals for the product and have set limits on promotional spending. We will be using a high/low pricing strategy, pricing this new pizza at $9.99. Our main sales promotions will be offering the Extreme Pizza bundled with Mountain Dew to target Generation X and Generation Y. We will be using direct channel distribution as well. This pizza will be available through dine-in, carry-out, delivery, and ordering on the Internet. 1)Introduction Pizza Hut was started in 1958, by two brothers in Wichita, Kansas. Frank and Dan Carney had the idea to open a pizza parlor. They borrowed $600 from their mother, and opened the very first Pizza Hut. In 1959, the first franchise unit opened in Topeka, Kansas. Almost ten years later, Pizza Hut would be serving one million customers a week in their 310 locations. In 1970, Pizza Hut was put on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PIZ. In 1986, Pizza Hut introduced delivery service, something no other restaurant was doing. By the 1990’s Pizza Hut sales had reached $4 billion worldwide. In 1998, Pizza Hut celebrated their 40th anniversary, and launched their famous campaign â€Å"The Best Pizzas Under One Roof.† In 1996, Pizza Hut sales in the United States were over $5 million. Out of all the existing pizza chains, Pizza Hut had the largest market share, 46.4%. However, Pizza Hut’s market share has slowly eroded because of intense competition from their rivals Domino’s, Little Caesar’s and newcomer Papa John’s. Home delivery was a driving force for success, especially for Pizza Hut and Domino’s. However, this forced competitors to look for new methods of increasing their customer bases. Many pizza chains decided to diversify and offer new non-pizza items such as buffalo wings, and Italian cheese bread. The current trend in pizza chains today is the same. They all try to come up with some newer, bigger, better, pizza for a low price. Offering special promotions, and new pizza variations are popular today as well. For example, chicken is now a common topping found on pizzas. In the past, Pizza Hut has always had the first mover advantage. Their marketing strategy in the past has always been to be first. One of their main strategies, that they still follow today is the diversification of the products they offer. Pizza Hut is always adding something new to their menu, trying to reach new markets. For example, in 1992 the famous buffet was launched in Pizza Hut restaurants worldwide. They were trying to offer many different food items for customers who didn’t necessarily want pizza. Another strategy they used in the past and are still using is the diversification of their pizzas. Pizza Hut is always trying to come up with some innovative way to make a pizza into something slightly different – different enough that customers will think its a whole new product. For example, let’s look at some of the pizzas Pizza Hut has marketed in the past. In 1983, Pizza Hut introduced their Pan Pizza, which had a guarantee of being ready to eat in 5 minutes when dining at Pizza Hut restaurants. In 1993, they introduced the â€Å"BigFoot,† which was two square feet of into 21 slices. In 1995, they introduced â€Å"Stuffed Crust Pizza,† where the crust would be filled with cheese. In 1997, they marketed â€Å"The Edge,† which had cheese and toppings all the way to the edge of the pizza. Currently, they are marketing â€Å"The Big NewYorker,† trying to bring the famous New York style pizza to the whole country. Lastly, Pizza Hut has always valued customer service and satisfaction. In 1995, Pizza Hut began two customer satisfaction programs: a 1-800 number customer hotline, and a customer call-back program. These were implemented to make sure their customers were happy, and always wanted to return. In our plan, we will first give a situation analysis of current and relevant environmental conditions that affect our plan. Next, we will give a brief analysis of the current fast food industry, and any trends or changes that might occur in the future. Also, a SWOT analysis of Pizza Hut will be included. Identification of current and potential competitors will be discussed in the SWOT analysis as well. Next, we will list our marketing objectives for this plan and our rationale for the selection of these objectives. 2) Situational Analysis A number of demographic and societal trends in the United States contributed to increased demand for food prepared outside the home. The divorce rate is almost 50%, and there is a growing trend showing that people are choosing to get married later in life. Because of these factors and many others, the single-person household represented about 25% of all U.S. households in 1998, up from 16% in the 1970’s. There has also been a trend in the 1990’s showing that individuals are choosing to eat out more often than eat at home. Another factor to consider is the increased number of women working outside the home. In 1998, 59% of all married women had careers. As a result of more women in the workforce, household incomes are now combined and are much higher than previously. According to Restaurants and Institutions magazine, more than one-third of all households had incomes of over $50,000 in 1996. The combination of higher incomes and dual-career families result  in less time! in the home, therefore less time to cook food at home. Also due to higher incomes, consumers have more disposable income, allowing them to eat out more often. However, in the early 1990’s, the growth of traditional fast food restaurants slowed down because the U.S. market had become saturated. The slowdown in growth intensified competition for market share and lead to consolidation. Many chains found that their market share could be increased by buying an existing company rather than building new units. Mergers and acquisitions had a powerful effect on the fast food industry. The top ten fast food restaurant chains controlled over 60% of fast food sales in the U.S. 3)Industry Analysis’ According to the National Restaurant Association, food service sales were $320 billion for the 500,000 restaurants in the U.S. in 1997. The U.S. restaurant industry grew 5.2 percent in 1997. Six major segments make up the fast food segment of the food service industry. Sandwich chains, like McDonald’s and Wendy’s are the number one segment, followed by dinner houses, such as Applebee’s and Red Lobster. Pizza chains are ranked third. Out of all the pizza chains, Pizza Hut has the largest market share, 46%, followed by Domino’s with 21.7%. International sales have become more and more important to the fast food industry. In 1998, Pizza Hut was the number one global chain with units in 88 different countries. In 1990, Pizza Hut opened two restaurants in Moscow where 20,000 customers were served a week, about the amount serviced by 10 American Pizza Huts. As profitable as the fast food industry is, there has always been one problem that many fast food companies cannot seem to overcome. Because of America’s large aging population, greater awareness and interest in health issues have resulted. Nutritional value of fast food is a huge problem. For many people, fast food automatically means low nutritional value. As a result of this, many chains have introduced items that are â€Å"low calorie† and â€Å"low fat.† Despite their efforts, many critics and consumers feel that their efforts were not satisfactory in providing a healthy meal. 4)SWOT Analysis Pizza Hut has many different strengths. Name recognition is an obvious strength for Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut has been around for a long time, and consumers know the name well. Another big strength and even a competitive advantage is the fact that they have a full service restaurant as well as delivery services. Most of Pizza Hut’s competitors do not have restaurants. Because of the restaurant, Pizza Hut can market to many different segments that other pizza chains cannot. For example, Pizza Hut can market to families much easier than Domino’s or Little Caesar’s. Pizza Hut offers a sit-down, conversational type restaurant where families can take their children for birthday parties for example. Pizza Hut’s broad selection of products also makes it easier for them to market to different market segments. However, the fact that Pizza Hut does have a restaurant to run is also a weakness. Pizza Hut has higher overhead costs, due to the restaurant that other competitors don’t have to deal with. Another result of higher overhead costs is higher prices Pizza Hut must charge. Obviously, Pizza Hut is not the low cost producer. They rely on their quality pizza and good service to account for their higher prices. An indirect weakness that Pizza Hut has is that they have lost a lot of their customers and market share due to such intense competition with competitors. Pizza Hut’s opportunities are almost endless. They can increase revenue with their new innovative pizzas, and increase brand loyalty with good customer service. Another opportunity that Pizza Hut has is their new ordering online system. Anyone with Internet access can order whatever they wish and get it delivered to their house without even speaking to someone. This program has just been started, so we do not have any numbers to support whether or not it will be a success. Pizza Hut’s number one threats are from their competitors. Currently, their closest competitor is Domino’s Pizza. Domino’s main competitive advantage  over Pizza Hut is their price. It is generally lower than Pizza Hut. Also, Domino’s was very profitable when they ran the promotional deal of delivering a pizza within 30 minutes. However, many lawsuits have been filed against Domino’s in the past for reckless driving by their drivers, so Domino’s withdrew the promotion. Little Caesar’s is another one of Pizza Hut’s competitors, right behind Domino’s in market share. Little Caesar’s is famous for offering large quantities of pizza for less money. Other competitors include Papa John’s, Sbarro, and Pizza Inn. A problem facing all of the pizza chains is that each of their individual competitive advantages are pretty much everyone’s competitive advantages. Most if not all the top pizza chains offer free delivery, and always have some sort of promotional deal offering large ! pizzas at reduced prices. Other competitors to take into consideration are frozen pizzas and make-it-yourself pizzas that are purchased in grocery stores. Some examples of these are Tombstone Pizzas, Boboli, and Di’Gornio pizzas. 5)Marketing Objectives Being that Pizza Hut holds the most market share in the pizza industry, the perceived quality and service of the company will help to ensure a better than average chance at a successful introduction of a new product. The pizza industry firms are famous for introducing new products to spark short-term sales. Pizza Hut as stated earlier has been very successful at accomplishing this. The introduction of a product that keeps with today’s trends is also important to reduce the risk of failure. In recent years there has been an increase in the marketing of products with an extreme twist to them. Mountain Dew, which is a brand name owned by Pizza Huts parent company, Pepsico, has been very successful at repositioning itself to this segment of the market, which has sparked new interest in the soft drink. Many other imitators have followed in there footsteps and have been successful as well. Pizza Hut has the resources available to research and implement a new product with great succe ss. Pizza Hut is the leader in innovative products and this new product that we  are proposing will surely be a success, given Pizza Huts track record. With high competition from the other top firms in the industry, the introduction of a new product is necessary to keep one step ahead of the competition. We propose that Pizza Hut introduce the Extreme Pizza. This pizza will be larger than the competitors at twenty-inches and have twice the toppings that the competitors have. Pizza Hut will market this product along side other extreme products such as Mountain Dew, to help Pizza Hut capture part of this new segment of the market. The selection of pizza’s offered by the competition have been significantly less creative than that of Pizza Hut in the past and Pizza Huts reputation of offering high quality, new products will allow this new product to move into the market as other new offerings have in the past. With the introduction of a new product, one of our main objectives is to create recognition for our product. Our goal is to reach 85% recognition of the new product in our target market. As with all businesses, the most important goal of a company is to increase revenue and profits. With the introduction of this new product we hope to increase the overall sales of the company by 7%. If we can in fact reach our goal of 85% recognition of the product, through a successful promotions mix, then the increase in sales should be easily acquired. 6)Target Markets With the introduction of the Extreme Pizza from Pizza Hut, the name itself is an indication of the target market sought. In today’s world of adrenaline junkies and extreme sports, a products affiliation with the world of the extreme has grabbed the attention of the younger generations. These generations range from the age of 12 to 30. These generations are affectionately referred to as the Y and X generations. For many years marketers ignored this segment and simply stereotyped them as slackers or losers. However, this has not been the case in recent years. With extreme sports making an entrance into pop culture in the early 90’s, many companies have realized the potential for high returns by targeting this highly diverse segment of the market. In America today, there are 71 million Americans that fall between the ages of 12 and 30, making generations X and  Y the two fastest growing segments of society. The overall spending power of this segment is 300 billion dollars a year, with a large percentage of that money spent on non-essential items. The reason for the high amount of spending in this segment has been associated to the times that they have grown up in. Unlike the baby-boomers, there has been no times of risk or economic depression in their lives. This is a generation with a â€Å"spend now, pay later† attitude, which has made for high spending averages on a per person basis. In 1997, The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, found that the median amount of cash that children receive from their parents for auxiliary spending is $50 dollars a week. This kind of spending money that children are given is what Pizza Hut wants to target with the Extreme Pizza. However, children living at home are not the only o! nes to have extra money to burn. A study on the spending habits of college freshmen also indicates a high percentage of money being spent on non-essential items. The results showed that an average of $56 is spent monthly on eating out. This information on this segment of the market, gives Pizza Hut a window to offer a product that will attract these customers who not only have the money to spend on such things as pizza, but who have done so in the past. In the past Pizza Hut has not specifically targeted the younger generations with products. They have created a more generic marketing plan, to attract a wide variety of customers. In order for this marketing strategy to work, Pizza Hut needs to target this one segment of the market. The advertising and promotion needs to be very specific to their needs, in order for the money spent on advertising to be worthwhile. Many products have failed in this segment because they have tried to treat the segment as one group. This segment is made up of many groups and many individuals. This is part of the reason for society labeling generation X and Y members as loser’s and slackers. So with this in mind our advertising campaign must follow the same ideas by realizing that even within this segment there are many other segments. One characteristic of these two generations, that makes them a prime target for our new Extreme pizza, is the amount of time that these age groups spend with friends in groups. With the lack of responsibilities that teenagers have, and the lack of home cooked meals while away at college, pizza is a  quick alternative for dinner, and a fun way for friends to eat together. Pizza has long been targeted to families, because of the convenience that is present when serving pizza to a group. Teenagers and young adults spend quite a bit of time with friends in groups, whether it be in a dorm room or at parties. This gives Pizza Hut an outlet to sell a pizza that will fulfill the needs of this younger generation with a product that is designed just for them. With the total number of Generation X and Y members being so high and the money they spend on non-essential items being as much as it is, this segment could make this product a huge success. However, this is a hard market to target since everyone is so different, but they all have one thing in common, there love for pizza. The most important factor in making this a success will be to design advertising that is able to attract all of the individual segments of these generations. 7)Marketing Mix A)Product Pizza Hut should offer a new product called â€Å"The Extreme† pizza. â€Å"The Extreme† is a twenty-inch pizza with twice as much cheese and toppings as Pizza Hut’s other pizzas. This new pizza will have many different competitive advantages. The first competitive advantage of â€Å"The Extreme† is that it is the largest pizza on the market. No other pizza restaurant offers a twenty-inch pizza. The second competitive advantage is that it has more cheese and toppings than any other pizza on the market. Another competitive advantage is the Pizza Hut brand name. Pizza Hut has built a brand name that means quality products and services. Since Pizza Hut will be introducing â€Å"The Extreme,† customers will automatically think this is a high quality product. The final competitive advantage is that this product will be the first pizza to target America’s youth. â€Å"The Extreme† pizza will target Generation X and Generation Y or people between the ages of 12 and 30. This market purchases a lot of pizza each year, but very few pizza restaurants actually target them. â€Å"The Extreme† will be introduced on Super Bowl Sunday, 2001. During the introduction stage of the product life cycle, Pizza Hut will try to establish a market for the product and persuade early adopters to buy. During the growth stage, Pizza Hut will try to build sales and develop a preference for the product. Pizza Hut will try to seek  differentiation during the maturity stage. â€Å"The Extreme† is expected to begin to decline after one year on the market. B)Price In the past, Pizza Hut has successfully used the high/low pricing strategy when setting the retail price of its products. The high/low retail pricing strategy allows Pizza Hut to charge a price that is above the competition, but also promote frequent sales to lower the price below them. The retail price of â€Å"The Extreme† pizza should be set at $9.99, which is higher than Pizza Hut’s competitors. Several sales promotions and coupons will be used to lower the price below those competitors. Since both Pizza Hut and the beverage Mountain Dew are Pepsi subsidiaries, bundle pricing will be used. Customers can purchase â€Å"The Extreme† for $9.99 and receive a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew for free. Pizza Hut will be able to sell two products together at a single price to suggest a good value. The high/low pricing strategy has several advantages. First, this pricing strategy will help segment the market. Different groups of customers are willing to pay different prices for the same product. Pizza Hut can sell â€Å"The Extreme† to the customers who will pay the higher price to be the first to buy and also to the bargain hunters. The high/low pricing strategy will also create excitement. Customers will be able to try something new when they purchase â€Å"The Extreme† and this exciting experience may bring those customers back to purchase other products. Finally, this strategy will emphasize product and service quality. Pizza Hut sets a high initial price for its products to send a signal to customers that its products are quality and the service is excellent. C)Promotion The main theme that will be used to promote â€Å"The Extreme† is youth. Fun, excitement, danger, and even the term â€Å"extreme† all appeal to our target market. Mountain Dew, which has already successfully appealed to this target market, will be included in â€Å"The Extreme† promotions. The main promotion will be a coupon to purchase â€Å"The Extreme† for $9.99 and receive a free two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew. The objectives of this promotion are to introduce a new product, stimulate demand, change the short-term behavior of the customers, and encourage repeat or greater usage by current customers. This promotion will be distributed mainly by mail, but also by  fliers on college campuses around the country in order to reach the target market. â€Å"The Extreme† will be introduced on Super Bowl Sunday, 2001, in a television commercial. Although Super Bowl television ads are expensive, Pizza Hut has enough financial resources for one. This commercial will be similar to the current Mountain Dew advertising campaign. Several young people will be performing exciting, high-risk activities such as snowboarding, rock climbing, and bungee jumping. The young people will then eat â€Å"The Extreme† and drink Mountain Dew. There will also be similar ads in magazines that are popular with the target market such as Surfer, Snowboarding, YM, and Maxim. This advertising campaign will create awareness of the new product in our target markets. D)Distribution The type of distribution channel used by Pizza Hut is the direct channel. The direct channel is successful when there is an extremely large market that is geographically dispersed. The direct channel is also useful when there are a large number of buyers, but a small amount purchased by each. Pizza Hut uses three different methods of selling its products directly to the market. The first method of distribution used by Pizza Hut is delivery. Customers can call Pizza Hut ahead of time, place an order, and the order is delivered to the customer’s home. Another method of distribution is for customers to dine-in. Customers can go to the nearest Pizza Hut, place an order, and either leave with the order or eat at the restaurant. One of Pizza Hut’s largest competitive advantages is its restaurant style facility. Pizza Hut offers a clean place to sit down and enjoy the variety of pizzas, salads, and sandwiches in a fun, family atmosphere. The third method of dist ribution is! online ordering. Customers can now go on the Internet and place an order. This method is useful because it allows customers to view the entire menu, download any special coupons, and order without having to disclose any credit card numbers. The market coverage for â€Å"The Extreme† will be nationwide. Customers all over the country will be able to order â€Å"The Extreme† by one of the three distribution methods. 8)Control Stage First, we will address who will be responsible for the control measures we plan to take. The Marketing Vice President in the Corporate Headquarters, the local/regional Marketing Vice Presidents and the Pizza Hut restaurant managers will all play a role in being responsible for the control. Our success or failure will be determined in a couple of ways. One main way is to compare results to our objectives. If our objectives are not met, steps to meet them will be taken in the future. We will also look at profits, sales revenue, unit volume of the â€Å"Extreme Pizza† promotions used. If our budget allows, perhaps we could give a survey to our customers and get some direct feedback about our new pizza. Ongoing research is essential for our success. Since our plan is for one year, we feel that every 3 months we should do some type of evaluation and control to see how we are doing. Also, during the maturity state of the product life cycle, we will improve the quality and distinguis h ourselves well from competitors. Hopefully, this process of control will be monitored on a monthly basis. 9)Summary and Conclusion Pizza Hut has a successful history of introducing new products to increase sales and reach new customers. This introduction of new products to the market on a regular basis is what makes Pizza Hut the leader in their industry. The level of success that the â€Å"Extreme Pizza† will bring Pizza Hut depends heavily on the correct promotions mix. As we had stated earlier, the segment of the market that we have targeted is a very diverse group. This means that the promotion of the product must be done in a diverse fashion. This will result in a more expensive advertising campaign than in past campaigns, but the potential for a successful product will cover the costs and bring in substantial profit. The advertising campaign is going to be budgeted to use 8% of projected sales. We are forecasting that the introduction of the Extreme Pizza will increase sales by 7%. This forecast is based upon other new products that Pizza Hut has introduced and the impact that they have had on Pizza Huts revenues. A 7% increase in sales for Pizza Hut will bring a total of $547 million dollars in revenue, making the advertising budget $43.76 million.  This kind of advertising budget will allow for a mass media blitz of promotions featuring our new â€Å"Extreme Pizza†. Our target market spends many hours a day in front of the TV and computer, so the constant messages being played will allow our product to generate a high level of awareness. The advertising of the product is very important but the promotion of this product along side Mountain Dew will help to put our product in a more specific category. Mountain Dew has targeted our target market for several years and is by far one of the leaders in this market. With this in mind promotions with Mountain Dew will be crucial to the success of the â€Å"Extreme Pizza†. With competition being so strong in this industry the threat of imitation products will surely be a problem to be dealt with. Pizza Hut will however have the first mover advantage with this product. With the entry of imitation products into the market, Pizza Hut will have to adjust its mixes to accommodate change. The promotions may have to be bigger and better than the competition, or the product may need to be altered to give it that little bit of an edge over the competition. For example stuffing the crust with cheese or giving a free topping with the purchase would help give Pizza Hut an edge over the competition. Basically, Pizza Hut will need to remain flexible in the maturity stages of the product life cycle in an attempt to continue to be the market leader. Overall, this is a product that is not much unlike any of the other new pizza’s that Pizza Hut has introduced. What makes this new product so exciting is the marketing plan that is directing the product at a new segment. We are taking a large pizza with a lot of toppings and marketing it as an â€Å"Extreme Pizza† to a generation of younger adults that are consumed by this marketing tool. This is what will make this a success. The mix of promotion and advertising we will be using will target a very profitable, sometimes overlooked market segment known as generations X and Y.