Monday, November 25, 2019

Janus by Ann Beattie Essay Example

Janus by Ann Beattie Essay Example Janus by Ann Beattie Essay Janus by Ann Beattie Essay Essay Topic: The Things They Carried In the short story â€Å"Janus†, by Ann Beattie, the central character is not a real character at all, but in fact is an inanimate object. The cream colored ceramic bowl serves as the main character throughout the story, and is correlated to the Roman God â€Å"Janus† that is identified primarily with doors or other places of passage, and is also represented as being two faced. Janus is one of two characters with names, which is also evident of her importance throughout the story. The author uses the character of Andrea to give life to Janus through discussing the bowls importance to her. In many cases the primary character of a story is simply an object that is symbolic of an ideal or underlying meaning through which the author uses to convey their message. Throughout the story Beattie uses the bowl in many ways to convey different meanings to the reader. In the beginning, its sole purpose in the story is simply a tool that Andrea uses to sell houses. She places the bowl in homes she is trying to sell, along with house plants and even her dog at times. There is a strong connection made between Andrea and her bowl, and it becomes evident that Janus means much more to her than just an aesthetically pleasing piece of ceramic art. When Andrea is trying to sell a home, she essentially tricks people into buying them by creating these setups where she brings in her own props. Beattie also uses the bowl to show the weak relationship between Andrea and her husband. There are times when it is clearly obvious that Andrea cares more about the bowl than she does her own husband. It is implied when she wakes up in the morning next to him and feels guilty; it is understood as her feeling guilty for her deeper connection to the bowl, and almost as a betrayal to her husband. There is no passion in their relationship, they simply get along fine and live together. Janus reveals another aspect of their relationship that is nonexistent, â€Å"She had asked her husband to please not drop his house key in it. It was meant to be empty†, (113) their sexual life as well as their everyday life is not passionate either. The request not to drop house keys in the bowl can be viewed this way, and it is another way to demonstrate the parallel of relationships that Andrea has. The extremely weak and non meaningful marriage to her husband, who is left nameless throughout the story and the deep seeded connection she feels towards the cream colored ceramic bowl. Beattie also reveals through the bowl another meaning it could possibly take on. At the end of the story we are told about the first day Andrea sees the bowl. She is at an arts and crafts fair with her lover when she sees Janus. When she decides she doesn’t really need the bowl she leaves it, but her lover saw something in Andrea sparkle when she saw it, so he buys it for her anyways. Not only is this man her lover, but he is also the man she is having an affair with behind her husband’s back. It is clear that Andrea and this other man are truly in love, and have a passionate romantic relationship, but Andrea cannot bring herself to leave her husband and in turn her lover grows tired of waiting and leaves her. This brings another possibility to the table of Janus’s symbolism, it could possibly be representative of the true love and passion Andrea once had in her life, but let escape. Now she doesn’t want to let it go, it has become Janus. Many authors have used the same approach to emphasizing their true message in a story. For example, in â€Å"The Things They Carried,† by Tim O’Brien, (1098) the main character is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, but in the story the letters and pictures he carries of a girl back home become more meaningful than anything the he actually says. The fact that he carries these around with him is meaningful in itself because he is a soldier on the battlefront, and anything he packs around must have significant importance to him. He carries these letters and pictures because he believes he is truly in love with this girl, even though it is an unrequited love. He wishes for her to feel the same about him, but knows that she does not. He finds himself becoming obsessed with looking at these pictures and re-reading the letters multiple times. The notes and pictures are also symbolic of the outside world, the normal life that is going on outside of the battlefront. Jimmy finds himself getting lost in his own imagination, and thinking about home life more and more often. One day, one of his men is killed, and he believes it is his own fault for not paying enough attention to his surroundings and the situation his troop was in. He in turn decides that he must get rid of the letters and pictures so he burns them. Essentially this is symbolic of his maturity and realization that this girl does not and will not love him, and that his troop of men depends on him and looks to him for leadership and guidance. The use of the letters and pictures is like Janus because it is used to reveal more about the characters that go along with them, but also is used to portray many different shifts in the stories overall meanings. Another great story that correlates is â€Å"The Necklace,† by Guy De Maupassant. This story further continues with this theme because the main character, Mme. Loisel, is shaped by the pearl necklace that comes into her life. When she borrows it from her rich friend, she assumes that it is a real pearl necklace. It comes to mean to her then that if she wears it to the ball it will be seen as a sign of her wealth, and people will see her as a more refined person. Time goes on, and when she loses it she becomes desperate to replace it. Her and her doting husband work years to gain back the money to buy another set of expensive pearls for her friend. It turns out that the pearls were a fake, but it also makes Mme. Loisel more respectful in the sense that she has finally had to work for something in her life. The necklace was the main tool that gave her a reason to be proud of herself for working hard and earning enough money to buy a set of real pearls as a replacement for her friend. This resembles Janus because the author shows character traits and development through using an object that is symbolic for a deeper meaning. Janus† is a story that is a great example of an author characterizing her characters through using symbols and objects. The effectiveness of this writing is great because it is easy as a reader to indentify the connections between the characters and the symbols that they identify with. Using objects to form characters creates a more versatile story, this means of writing is able to take on many forms and thus develop many different underlying meanings that the author is trying to convey.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Wily Technology Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wily Technology - Article Example It was decided that total of $2million would be invested by the two parties for 33% of Wily and each party would contribute $600,000 of $2 million. However later the investor of small institution got to the back foot. Cirne acquired an office of 2000 square feet and started hiring. Cirne has been an active leader and has performed exceptionally well as a CEO. In searching for CEO, Cirne and the board took a lot of time, thinking, evaluating and implementing various approaches. Every approach was different from one another, and there were some disagreements also between Cirne and the board including Strohm. Wily first included senior managers to bring some candidates for the post of CEO; however, Cirne was not happy and comfortable after interviewing the candidates. After that Cirne came up with the idea of evaluating the existing candidates in Wily and suggested some names which Strohm rejected. The search process was quite long and included many people as the process was growing. After the long process, it was decided to engage another search firm. However, Cirne was not comfortable with any candidate during the process of search. He had a fear of selecting any candidate because he thought the candidates would not fit to the culture of the firm. He was worried and extremely cautious during the search process. Cirne should not be part of the search process because of his fear. He found negative points in every individual and was uncomfortable, because of Cirne the search process also got lengthy. Lew Cirne should not accept the request of Williams to step down from the position of Chairman. Remaining at chairman position, Wily could be more successful because all the individuals, members, technologies were introduced by Cirne at Wily. Cirne knows all individuals and the culture of the organization. After making so many efforts for the success of Wily Cirne could not afford to step down. Stepping down means that the new CEO and VC Strohm would

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) - Assignment Example Finally, it is done by showing the coverage and activity of agencies that are responsible for law enforcement through counting the number of arrests and using the strength data of police employee (Siegel, 2009). In Uniform Crime data reporting, reports for crimes are obtained from agencies responsible for law enforcement via the nation based on reporting procedures and uniform classifications. In order to provide the most complete outlook of crime in the U.S data is obtained only on offenses that are usually known by police officers. A meaningful view of crime can be seen by examining the seven major Crime Index offenses. These are chosen for their seriousness, likelihood of a report being made and the frequency of occurrence: forcible rape, murder, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft and larceny-theft. The FBA can get the number of crime offenses from reports of law enforcement agencies. The law enforcement agencies have records of victim complaints, witness reports and crime reports discovered during operations of the agency. The reports can be obtained from the contributing law enforcement agencies on a monthly basis. To ensure that there is uniformity and that qua lity of the data is maintained for any received data, Uniform Crime Reporting should ensure provision of training on all detailed procedures used for classifying and scoring offenses (Leonard, 2001). Since it was started, the uniform Crime Reporting plan has been able to provide a reliable, steady flow of information concerning crime in the country. However, since Uniform Crime Reporting is a summary reporting system, people may not provide data concerning individual crime incidences. The summary based method, even though it is reliable, has limitations in various aspects which can hinder submission of information from the examined population. These include lack of sufficient information regarding various

Monday, November 18, 2019

Survey Article - Lexical System Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Survey - Lexical System - Article Example Number of times the given word is mentioned and finally the ability of to learn and to understand and use the learned vocabulary. This research paper aims at analysing the L2 lexicon system. How different components interact with others within this complex system. In order to understand the power of lexicon system, this research paper is going to analyse case studies of the academic English (L2) vocabulary. It has taken a lot of studies to study the development of vocabulary. Main emphasis has been on the active and passive setting of vocabularies, how people learn and acquire vocabularies. Over the several years, the Dynamic Systems Theory has been used to study the development of L2 vocabulary. This method focus on the process itself rather than the end product of the process. In order to understand how DST model influences development of L2 vocabulary, certain aspects have to be considered. This are, the ability to remember words that were said in the past and use them in the current environment (Schreuder & Weltens, 4). This paper will prove that the two environment are related and that patterns of variation between them are in accordance to the lexicon development system. Language and vocabulary exists in many spheres of life, ranging from medical, biology, geography among others. It is true to assert that language is dynamic and this dynamism gives birth to vocabularies. Be it to and individual or to a given community. Vocabulary development is not linear and is adversely affected by the interactions within the system. This is because factors that affect the ability of one to learn like memory capacity vary from one person to another (Read, 10). Secondly some factors like motivation, given to people so that they can learn something, is affected by the sociolinguistic environment from where this language is developed. Language growth

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Non-communicable diseases Diseases of Excess

Non-communicable diseases Diseases of Excess Non-Communicable diseases often referred to as Diseases of Excess or Diseases of Affluence are increasing in both rich and poor countries. What factors are contributing to this trend? What are the implications for public health policy? Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 1948) where as Disease is a condition where any deviation from or interruption of the normal structure or function of any body part, organ, or system that is manifested by a characteristic set of symptoms and signs and whose etiology, pathology, and prognosis may be known or unknown (Dorlands Medical Dictionary, 2007). Disease can be divided broadly into two categories as Communicable and Non Communicable Diseases (on the basis of its spread). Communicable disease is a disease which can spread from one individual to other through any carrier/organism (Malaria, HIV/AIDS, etc). It is also known as Infectious or Contagious disease. There are many factors responsible for the cause of communicable diseases like social, environmental, sanitation and education. Non Communicable disease is a disease which is not communicated from one individual from another (Hypertens ion, Cancer, etc). It is also known as Chronic diseases because these diseases takes lot of time to show the sign and symptoms within an individual. The major causes for NCDs are lifestyle, habits like smoking and alcohol, inadequate diet and physical inactivity. Communicable diseases was reported to be the major cause of death in earlier time where as Non Communicable diseases(NCDs) are of major threat in current era except in some countries like Africa where still people die out of infections. In some countries like USA, the leading cause of death in 1900s was tuberculosis and pneumonia where as these diseases are secondary nowadays and their places are acquired by the cardiovascular diseases on the top and cancer being the second. The main reason for the reduction in communicable diseases are the improvement in diagnosis, treatment, sanitation, nutrition, housing, working conditions, preventive measures such as immunization, evolution of life saving drugs like antibiotics and sulpha drugs. Non-Communicable diseases or Non-Infectious diseases are caused by factors mainly behavioural, lifestyle and heredity and which cannot be transmitted to other individual. It is also caused as the Disease of Affluence or the Disease of Excess as it is caused due to negligence or disturbance caused in the normal routine lifestyle which is mainly found in the upper class of the society where there is more chances of misbalance between diet and work can be seen. Few of the examples which come under non communicable diseases are Heart diseases, Stroke, Obesity, Diabetes, Cancer, etc. Acc. to WHOs statistics in 2008, Heart Stroke has become the leading cause of death globally leaving behind the infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, etc. In 2003, there was an estimated 56 million death globally, out of which 60% death was supposed to be due to non-communicable diseases (WHO, 2003). Among NCDs, 16 million deaths resulted from cardiovascular disease (CVD), especially Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and Stroke; 7 million from Cancer; 3 ·5 million from Chronic Respiratory Disease; and almost 1 million from Diabetes (Ibid). Apart from these, mental health problems are also the leading contributors to the burden of disease in many countries nowadays and play a major role in contributing to the severity and incidence of other NCDs. NCDs are now considered to be the major threat contributing 59% of death in 2000 and predicted to account for 73% by 2020 (WHO, 2002). NCDs are also termed as a Disease of Affluence due to incidence and prevalence mainly in the developed countries (Anand K et al, 2007). But according to them, this seems to be a misleading term as the NCD trend is increasing at a higher pace in middle and low income countries leaving them in a double burden of Communicable diseases as well as NCDs. It can more appropriately be labelled as Disease of Urbanisation (Ibid). Several studies done by them have proved that the NCDs and its risk factors are found in higher proportion among urban population than rural population. Their study shows that urban population has increased during past decade due to migration where as urban growth is stabilized at 3%. Contrary to it, the urban slum growth rate has doubled which has made the situation worse as these migrated poor people living in urban areas will adopt the NCD lifestyle but will not be in a condition to access the healthcare due to their poor purchasing ability. Study shows a high prevalence of NCDs risk factor in the urban slums of Haryana, India. The population residing in the slums is at high risk than the urban population due to poor access as well as no social and health support system for them. This requires an urgent intervention which can work at national, community as well as local level. A framework of the policy is required at national level which has tobacco and alcohol control measures, promotion of good diet and involvement of proper exercise. Simultaneously, reorientation and strengthening of the governments health system is needed to face the challenge of NCDs community level efforts to create an environment which promotes adoption of healthy behaviors. To overcome this situation, government has started the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) which provides a rational basis for decision making and impl ementing public health interventions and also ensures involving the slums as well (Ibid). A survey was being conducted by Anand et al in urban areas slums of Faridabad District, Haryana, India, in February 2003 to June 2004 for checking out the prevalence of NCDs in urban poor people. Their study followed the STEPS approach of WHO where questions related to tobacco use, alcohol intake, diet, physical activity were included and history of treatment for hypertension, diabetes, physical values like height, weight, waist circumference and blood pressure were also measured. They surveyed 1260 men and 1304 women of age 15-64. The result came out of this survey was very alarming. The rate of smoking and alcohol drinkers were high among urban slums male population. Almost one third of the population had at least one risk factor. Alcohol consumption among younger population indicates gradually falling economy of the country in the coming future. The table 1 (Appendix) shows that NCDs are the leading cause for the death in both developed and developing countries except some countries like Africa where still today, there is more number of death due to communicable diseases than NCDs. In 2003, 2 ·8 million CVD deaths occur in China and 2 ·6 million in India. NCDs contributed substantially to adult mortality with central and eastern Europe having the highest rates (WHO, 2003). The Table 2 (Appendix) shows that the developed countries have seven NCDs out of ten leading risk factors which are contributing to the global burden of disease, where as six and three out of ten with low and high rates of mortality respectively, in the developing countries. These NCD risk factors are increasing at a higher rate in the developing countries and assumed to continue in the same manner for the next two decades. Chronic diseases attribute to the 46% of the global burden of the disease, Cardio Vascular Diseases (CVDs), in particular. Although some of the communicable diseases are still prominent in the some parts of the Africa, Asia and Latin America, deaths mainly due to chronic diseases were reported in five out of the six WHO regions (Africa, America, South east Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Western Pacific and Europe). In developing countries also, 79% of the deaths are reported due to the chronic diseases. Incidence and prevalence of obesity, diabetes, cancers, respiratory diseases and other NCDs are increasing all over the world (Murray and Lopaz, 1996). Developing country like China has experienced an epidemiological transition shifting from the infectious to the chronic diseases in much shorter time than many other countries. The pace and spread of behavioral changes, including changing diets, decreased physical activity, high rates of male smoking, and other high risk behaviors, has accelerated to an unprecedented degree. As a result, the burden of chronic diseases, preventable morbidity and mortality, and associated health-care costs could now increase substantially. China already has 177 million adults with hypertension; furthermore, 303 million adults smoke, which is a third of the worlds total number of smokers, and 530 million people in China are passively exposed to second-hand smoke. The prevalence of overweight people and obesity is increasing in Chinese adults and children, because of dietary changes and reduced physical activity. Emergence of chronic diseases presents special challenges for Chinas ongoing reform of heal th care, given the large numbers who require curative treatment and the narrow window of opportunity for timely prevention of disease (Gonghuan Y et al, 2008). Common Non-Communicable Diseases Cardiovascular diseases include all the heart diseases like hypertension, stroke, atherosclerosis, etc. Annually, 17 million deaths are reported mainly due to the CVDs globally out of which 80% are reported in low and middle income countries with a continuous increasing trend (Reddy and Yusuf, 1998). Acc. to Lenfant, CVD will be the leading cause of the death by 2010 in the developing countries due to changes brought about by urbanization and industrialization. Due to costly and prolonged treatment cost of CVDs, developing countries are at greater prevalence for the risk factors, higher incidence of disease and higher mortality (Reddy, 2002). Diabetes is increase in blood sugar level in a person. International Diabetes Federation has released the statistics in 2003, according to which diabetes patients will going to increase from 194 million in 2003 to 330 million in 2030 and at that time every 3 out of 4 living person will be diabetic. The age of diabetic patients in developing countries is comparatively more than developed countries. The cases found in developing countries are above the age of retirement which may lead to conditions like blindness, amputations, kidney failure and heart diseases (Boutayeb and Twizell, 2004). Cancer and its type are increasing at an alarming rate worldwide. It is known to be the major cause for the mortality and morbidity. More than 10 million new cases and over 7 million deaths from cancer occurred in 2000 (Shibuya et al., 2002). Developing countries contributed by 53% in incidence and 56% in deaths. By 2020, there will be an increase of around 29% cases in developed countries and 73% in developing countries (Mathers et al., 1999). Lung, breast, stomach, colorectal and liver cancer are the most frequent in developing countries. Cancer and its related types can be treated on a preventative basis. Early detection and control of risk factors like tobacco and alcohol can be said to be the cornerstones in this process because it is estimated that over one third of the cancer types are preventable and around one third are potentially curable if they are detected early (Alwan, 1997). Other NCDs includes chronic respiratory diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, mental and depressive disorders, osteoarthritis, hearing loss and disorder of vision (WHO, 2003). They all contribute mainly to the burden of disease in developing countries. Conditions such as obesity and high blood pressure also has a double impact, either as a disease or as a risk factor for other NCDs (WHO, 2004). Risk Factors The life expectancy at birth has increased since 1970 in all the high, middle and low income countries (UNDP, 2005). Due to this factor, longer life span has resulted in the predominance of the chronic diseases in the population. The epidemiological transition has resulted in the higher proportion of the adults population due to decline in fertility rates and the infant mortality rates. The behavioural risk factors like smoking and nutritional transition towards diet having high fat, high sugar with low carbohydrates and fruits along with the physical inactivity and increase in alcohol consumption have become the greatest health challenge in the 21st century (Magnusson, 2007). The environmental causes are also responsible for the emergence of NCD as an epidemic. These factors have brought up the nutrition transition by industrialisation of the food production, expansion of the market economies in the developing countries, the growth of the complex supply chain management at a global level, rapid growth of supermarket in the developing world and the growing concentration of global food manufacturers (Ibid). Some other key factors like rising incomes, production of cheap and low energy-dense foods, growing urbanisation and increase in growth in demand for pre-packed food are also the major risk factors for NCDs (Ibid). The evolution of NCDs has put up a double burden on low and middle income countries. Diabetes and lung cancer are also reflecting rise in the rate of smoking and obesity which are called to be the major risk factors for the NCDs (Leeder, 2004). In the year 2001, 17 million people died due to heart diseases where as 3 million people died due to AIDS (Ibid). During this year, heart disease and stroke were the leading cause of death in both high income and low-middle income countries, accounting for 27 and 21% population respectively. Out of all, 83% of death occurred in the developing countries (Ibid). Evidence has shown that CVD occurs at an early age in developing countries, consuming their productive years of life. Globally, obese people are also increasing at a higher pace with a far higher number overall in developing countries. Due to this, diabetic patients are also increasing with more number falling in the 45-65 age group (Ibid). Tobacco causes 4.8 million premature deaths in the year 2000, half of which were in the developing world (Ezzati and Lopez, 2003). Since 1975, cigarette consumption has decreased sharply in the developed countries, but it is continuously rising in developing countries due to the rapid increase in population. More than 1 billion smokers lives in the developing counties out of 1.3 billion smokers globally which indicates that forthcoming threat of tobacco related epidemic will impact the developing world. Even after non smoking awareness programme through out the world, there will be around 1.45 billion smokers in 2025 (Guindon and Boisclair, 2003). Tragically, half to two third of the chronic smokers will die out of their habit (Jamison et al, 2006). Peto and lopez has estimated that if this trend continues, 10 million people will die every year because of tobacco where 7 out of 10 will be from the developing countries resulting in around 150 million death till 2025. The ageing of populations, mainly due to falling fertility rates and increasing child survival, are an underlying determinant of non-communicable disease epidemics. Additionally, global trade and marketing developments are driving the nutrition transition towards diets with a high proportion of saturated fat and sugars. This diet, in combination with tobacco use and little physical activity, leads to population-wide atherosclerosis and the widespread distribution of non-communicable disease. Globally, many of the risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, cancer and pulmonary diseases are due to lifestyle and can be prevented. Physical inactivity, Western diet, alcohol and smoking are prominent causes for the NCDs and its risk factors. Tobacco is number one enemy of public health (WHO, 2000). It is the most important established cause of cancer but also responsible in CVDs and chronic respiratory disease. In the twentieth century, approximately 100 million people died worldwide from tobacco-associated diseases such as cancer, chronic lung disease, diabetes and CVDs. Half of the 5 million deaths attributed to smoking in 2000 occurred in developing countries where smoking prevalence among men is nearly 50%. Today, 80% of the 1.2 billion smokers in the world live in poorer countries and, while tobacco consumption is falling in most developed countries, it is increasing in developing countries by about 3.4% per annum. However, albeit these striking facts, the majority of developing countries which signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) (Joossens, 2000) remain passive about the control of smoking. Obesity and dietary habits represent potential risk factors for CVDs (Kenchaiah et al., 2002), type 2 diabetes (Drewnowski and Specter, 2004), and some types of cancer (Key, 2002), especially in absence of physical activity (Derouich and Boutayeb, 2002 and WHO, 2003b). Fish is considered to be a useful food intake to prevent CVDs and reduction of CVD associated deaths (Stampfer, 2000). Similarly, intake of an adequate quantity of fresh fruit and vegetables is recommended to help reduce the risk of coronary disease, stroke and high blood pressure (WHO, 2002). But, developing countries finds it more fruitful to export most of the quality fruits and vegetable production in exchange of the foreign currency. Alcohol causes more than 2 million deaths every year in the world. It is particularly associated with liver disease and esophageal cancer. The increase in alcohol consumption in developing countries will add other hazards caused by violence and road accidents to the burden of disease. Public health policy and its implications Lee, Fustukian and Buse provide a helpful framework for disentangling four dimensions of global health policy-making (Lee et al, 2002) as:- * Policy Actors They are the power (political) who can drive the policy and decision making at a global level. In case of NCDs, United Nations, WHO, FAO, WTO, World bank, Codex Alimentarius Commission, etc. * Policy Process Process through which policy is developed and implemented. Interactions and relationship between policy actors. * Policy Context For NCDs, its global. * Policy Content Effective strategy should address universal prevention , selective or primary prevention for high risk group and targeted or secondary prevention and treatment for those with existing conditions. It is pretty clear that NCDs has its roots in unhealthy lifestyles or adverse physical and social environments. Risk factors like unhealthy nutrition over a prolonged period, smoking, physical inactivity, excessive use of alcohol, and psychosocial stress are among the major lifestyle issues. Now to our understanding, it is known that what has to be done so we have to work more on how to do it (Aulikki et al, 2001). Well planned community programmes can be a successful step towards this process. Several factors like cultural, psychological, political and economical factors has created a gap between what needs to be done and day to day happening in the developing countries because of which major health challenges cannot be achieved. So, a community programme will help in bridging this gap and also helps in changing the NCD related lifestyles (Ibid). . The policies made at an international level also require global processes which can help to achieve a stable policy change at a country level, thus reducing the long term harm associated with it. International law is an example for this type of process. Multilateral agreements contain legally binding obligations, such as the WHOs Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). FCTC includes hard law conventions. FCTC is an evidence-based treaty that identifies core areas of agreement over regulatory measures that involved countries are leally required to implement within their own domestic systems (WHO, 2005). Apart from FCTC, there are some soft law resolutions and declarations too, like United Millennium Declaration and WHOs Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (GSDPAH). WHO also worked in the area of chronic, lifestyle related diseases through Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (GSDPAH, 2004). It works on a strategy which builds on the role of t obacco, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity in the most NCDs. GSDPAH works in close relation with the UN agencies, the WTO, World Bank, other Development banks, Codex Airentarius Commission (WHO, 2004). One of the most significant health development programs within the United Nations system is the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are a global partnership embracing ambitious goals to be achieved collectively within 15 years timeframe from 2000-2015 (Magnusson, 2007, p 6). The MDGs and FCTC serve as helpful models when considering ways of strengthening the global response to non-communicable diseases. The ideal step for developing countries to overcome the NCD epidemic and they have to plan and implement accordingly to control NCDs. Each community based prevention programmes require the same principles to be followed. As an example, The North Karelia Project in least developed areas of Finland which was based on low cost lifestyle modifications and community participation (Puska P et al, 1981). The reason to follow the general principle can be the collaboration between countries and different international organizations working on the similar fields and projects like WHOs countrywide Integrated Non Communicable Disease Intervention (CINDI, 1985). Even these sort of integrated programmes like CINDI were implemented in developed countries; they are now followed by the developing countries too. Many of these programmes are carried out in conjunction with the WHO integrated programmes, which was started in 1986. After the success of CINDI programme, American regional office had also l aunched CARMEN (AMRO) programme in 1990s. With the regional development experience, WHO has launched similar programme in Asian and African networks. In Latin America, Cuba is carrying out the NCD prevention programme from long time with the collaboration with the WHO activities where Havana and Cienfuegos as the main sites. Chile also participated in the Interhealth Programme CARMEN and was the first Latin American country to join this programme and many other countries followed it. Argentina has started PROPRIA heart health intervention as an active network at various demonstration sites (Aulikki, 2001). Africa has started community based CVD prevention programme long time back. Nigeria, Mauritius and united republic of Tanzania participated in Interhealth Programme and gained the positive responses. Mauritius intervention programme recorded considerable effect of nutrition policy and education interventions on diet and serum cholesterol levels, although rates of obesity and diabetes increased (Dowse G et al, 1995). Asias community-based initiatives have been initiated in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran and other countries. Particularly active development has taken place in China, where the Interhealth Programme was involved in initiatives in Tianjin and Beijing (Tian et al, 1995) . The Tianjin project in China was one of the major project launched in 1984 in China. This project was also cooperating groups in Finland, China and USA for NCD control since 1989. This project focused on 4 leading NCDs of China, i.e. stroke, coronary heart disease, cancer and hypertension. The aim of this project was to reduce sodium intake in the population, decrease smoking especially among men and provide hypertension care by reorganizing the existing primary health care services. The result of this project shows a significant reduction in the sodium intake after three years and also reduction in number of patients of Obesity and hypertension among 45-65yrs old after five years of the intervention. Smoking cases were also reduced among men, especially those with the higher education (Aulikki et al, 2001). Health education and the media campaigns also play an important role in the community programmes. Media campaigning although leaves the less impact on the population, it is one of the effective measure in the comprehensive package. Health service intervention such as primary care centre in the long run can also be one of the most effective intervention tools. This strategy can more appropriately work where certain biological risk factors such as hypertension and high blood pressure are dealt with. Primary health care workers played an important role in both North Karelia project and Tianjin project (Ibid). The North Karelia project worked on a concept of Community organization where various sectors of the community were collaborated and involved. It involved many non governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Housewives` organizations. It is not easy to collaborate with the industries and businesses at a small community but a classic example for it is finlands cholesterol level, which reduces with the support and collaboration of the food industries, who supported the policy decisions (Puska P et al, 1986). Aulikki et al had made some recommendations for a successful NCD prevention program which must include the following factors. A good understanding of the community, close collaborations with the various community organisations and the involvement of the local population is important for any community intervention programme. It should combine well planned media and provide some communication messages in the community activities. It should involve different elements such as primary health care workers, food industries and supermarkets, voluntary organisations, schools work places, and local media for its success. It should be cost effective, mainly in the developing countries. For this reasonable outcome, effective dose intervention is a very important requirement (Aulikki et al, 2001). The increasing NCDs burden should be controlled by the developed and developing countries as a global health priority. International organisations with the national, regional and each individuals contribution can make these programme a success. Controlling of risk factors like smoking, alcohol, obesity, diet and inactivity, sexual and environmental factors are must and should be considered seriously and worked upon to treat it. The poverty and the high cost of prevention and treatment of chronic diseases causes burden on many countries and thus demands for international solidarity and public private partnership. The coordination of health decision makers, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, community groups and individuals is must for controlling the incidence of diseases, preventing the spread of epidemics and regulate the health management of human and material resources (Boutayeb, 2005). WHO is a political champion for coordinating global response. The developin g countries face problem in the implementation and enforcing the policies that are set up by the international legal standards which have a normative role and also these legal standards are not self executing, so compliance can be monitored by the NGOs and government. A global approach in a way like this could reduce health inequalities (Magnusson, 2007). REFERENCES  · Anand K, Shah B, Yadav K, Singh R, Mathur P, Paul E, Kapoor S K (2007), Are the urban poor vulnerable to non-communicable diseases? A survey of risk factors for non-communicable diseases in urban slums of Faridabad, The National Medical Journal of India, Vol. 20, No. 3,   p 115-120.  · Aulikki Nissinen, Ximena Berrios, Pekka Puska (2001), Community-based non-communicable disease interventions: lessons from developed countries for developing ones, Bull World Health Organvol.79no.10.  · Beaglehole R, Yach D (2003), Globalization and the prevention and control of non-communicable disease: the neglected chronic diseases of adults, The Lancet; 362: 903-08. * Boutayeb Abdesslam (2006), The double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases in developing countries, Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Volume 100, Issue 3, Pages 191-199 .  · Countrywide integrated non-communicable diseases intervention (CINDI) Programme. Copenhagen, WHO, Europe, 1995. * Dowse G (1995), Changes in population cholesterol concentrations and other cardiovascular risk factor levels after five years of the non-communicable disease intervention programme in Mauritius, British Medical Journal, 311: 1255 ¾1259. * Ezzati M, Lopez A (2003), Estimates of Global Mortality Attributable to Smoking in 2000. TheLancet, 362:847-852. * Guindon G, Boisclair D (2003), Past, Current and Future Trends in Tobacco Use-Health, Jamison D, Breman J, Measham A, Alleyne G, Claeson M, Evans D (2006), Priorities in Health, Washington DC, World Bank.  · Horton Richard (2005), The neglected epidemic of chronic disease, The Lancet, Volume 366, Issue 9496, Page 1514. * Lee K, Fustukian S, Buse K (2002), An Introduction to Global Health Policy, Health Policy in a Globalising World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press; 2002:3-17. * Leeder S, Raymond S, Greenberg H, Liu H, Esson K (2004), A Race Against Time: The Challenge of Cardiovascular Disease in Developing Economies, New York, Columbia University. * Magnusson R S (2007), Open Access Non-communicable diseases and global health governance: enhancing global processes to improve health development, Globalisation and health; 3:2.   (http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/3/1/2). * Mehan M B, Srivastava N, Pandya H, (2006), Profile of noncommunicable disease risk factor in an industrial setting, J Postgrad Med;52:167-173. * Miranda J J, Kinra S, Casas J P, Smith G D , Ebrahim S (2008), Non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries: context, determinants and health policy, Trop Med Int Health; 13(10): 1225-1234. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2687091). * Murray J L and Lopez A D (1996), The global burden of disease: a comprehensive assessment of mortality and disability from diseases, injuries and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2020, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA.  · Puska P (1981), The North Karelia Project: Evaluation of a comprehensive community programme for control of cardiovascular diseases in North Karelia, Finland, 1972-1977, Copenhagen, WHO, Europe. * Semenciw R M, Morrison H I, Mao Y, Johansen H, Davies J W , Wigle D T. (1988), Major Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease Mortality in Adults: Results from the Nutrition Canada Survey Cohort, International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol.17, No.2, p 317-324.  · Reddy K S (2002), Cardiovascular diseases in the developing countries: dimensions, determinants, dynamics and directions for public health action, Public Health Nutrition 5, pp. 231-237.  · WHO (2002), Reducing Risk: Promoting Health Life, World Health Organization, Geneva, Annual Report. * WHO (2003b), Diet, Nutrition and the prevention of Chronic Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Technical Report Series No. 916.  · WHO (2004), Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, WHA57.17.  · WHO (2005), WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, WHA56.1 * Yusuf S, Reddy K S, Ounpu S, Anand S (2001), Global burden of cardiovascular diseases: Part I: General considerations, the epidemiological transition, risk factors, and impact of urbanization, Circulation 1

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

More Than Just A Shirt :: essays research papers

Before reading this poem one doesn't completely realize the details and stories behind an object as basic as a shirt. I had no idea that so much detail could be found in such a simple object, much less an entire poem. This poem presents a very good example of how we can easily overlook terrible things which happen, but choose to ignore. Even though we know bad working conditions exist in small countries which produce products we need, we choose to buy these products and support the inhumane working conditions. The poem does a good job of making us more aware of the world around us, and that there are more to things then meets the eye.The poem Shirt by Robert Pinsky is written in a free verse form. The poem tells the story behind a shirt. It starts by describing the shirt and its physical characteristics, but then goes into the story of the workers which produce it. The shirt is not one particular shirt, but all shirts in general. The first story which is described in the poem tells us about a factory which has poor working conditions. These conditions led to a fire which kills one hundred and forty-six people. A specific example of a man who tosses three girls out the window and then plunges to his own death serves to show us the horror of the situation. the poem then continues on to tell us of in humane conditions in Scotland. It ends by telling us about the slaves who picked and planted the cotton. The speaker seems to be telling us a story in order to inform us of what's going on in the shirt industry.Robert Pinsky doesn't have many obvious examples of diction in his work, although hints of it can be found. There is a simile in the first line of the tenth stanza. The line goes "corners of both pockets, like a strict rhyme"(line 28). When reading the poem many images present themselves. One of the first images I see continues to present its self through out the poem. This image is one of the shirt with its " invisible stitches along the collar "(2), " twin bar-tacked corners "(27), and " Buttons of simulated stone ".(45) The strongest image in the poem which really stuck with me was one of the man dropping girls out of the window, and then jumping himself.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Market Segments

CUSTOMER-DRIVEN MARKETING STRATEGY: CREATING VALUE FOR TARGET CUSTOMERS PREVIEWING THE CONCEPTS – CHAPTER OBJECTIVES define the four major steps in designing a customer-driven marketing strategy: market segmentation, market targeting, differentiation, and positioning list and discuss the major bases for segmenting consumer and business markets explain how companies identify attractive market segments and choose a market targeting strategy discuss how companies differentiate and position their products for maximum competitive advantageJUST THE BASICS This chapter looks further into key customer-driven marketing strategy decisions—how to divide up markets into meaningful customer groups (segmentation), choose which customer groups to serve (targeting), create market offerings that best serve targeted customers (differentiation), and positioning the offerings in the minds of consumers (positioning). Then, the chapters that follow explore the tactical marketing tools the Four Ps—by which marketers bring these strategies to life. INTRODUCTIONBest Buy: Embracing the Angels and Ditching the Demons. Best Buy set out to identify its best customers and win their loyalty by serving them better. At the same time, it identifies less attractive customers and began to send them packing. To better differentiate itself in a crowded marketplace, Best Buy needed to stake out is own turn – to identify its best customers and serve them in ways that no discount on online competitor could. Rather than trying to make all customers happy all of the time, Best Buy segmented its market and sharpened it’s positioning.This resulted in what they term â€Å"customer centricity. How has this worked for Best Buy? Very well. They have designed a customer-driven marketing strategy that builds the right relationships with the right customers. Market segmentation involves dividing a market into smaller groups of buyers with distinct needs, characteristics , or behaviors that might require separate marketing strategies or mixes. Market targeting (or targeting) consists of evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more market segments to enter.Differentiation involves actually differentiating the firm’s market offering to create superior customer value. Positioning consists of arranging for a market offering to occupy a clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers. MARKET SEGMENTATION Through market segmentation, companies divide large, heterogeneous markets into smaller segments that can be reached more efficiently and effectively with products and services that match their unique needs. Segmenting Consumer Markets Geographic SegmentationGeographic segmentation calls for dividing the market into different geographical units such as nations, regions, states, counties, cities, or even neighborhoods. Demographic Segmentation Demographic se gmentation divides the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender, family size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race, generation, and nationality. Demographic factors are the most popular bases for segmenting customer groups. Age and LifeCycle Stage is offering different products or using different marketing approaches for different age and lifecycle groups.Gender segmentation has long been used in clothing, cosmetics, toiletries, and magazines. Income segmentation has long been used by the marketers of products and services such as automobiles, clothing, cosmetics, financial services, and travel. Psychographic Segmentation Psychographic segmentation divides buyers into different groups based on social class, lifestyle, or personality characteristics. Marketers use personality variables to segment markets. Behavioral Segmentation Behavioral segmentation divides buyers into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product.Occasion segmentation is grouping buyers according to occasions when they get the idea to buy, actually make their purchase, or use the purchased item. Benefit segmentation is grouping buyers according to the different benefits that they seek from the product. User Status is segmenting markets into nonusers, ex-users, potential users, first-time users, and regular users of a product. Usage Rate is grouping markets into light, medium, and heavy product users. Loyalty Status is dividing buyers into groups according to their degree of loyalty. Using Multiple Segmentation BasesMarketers rarely limit their segmentation analysis to only one or a few variables. PRIZM NE (one of the leading segmentation systems) classifies every American household based on a host of demographic factors. Segmenting Business Markets Consumer and business marketers use many of the same variables to segment their markets. Business marketers also use some additional variables, such as customer operating characteristics, purchasing approaches, situational factors, and personal characteristics. Many marketers believe that buying behavior and benefits provide the best basis for segmenting business markets.Segmenting International Markets Companies can segment international markets using one or a combination of several variables. * Geographic factors: Nations close to one another will have many common traits and behaviors. * Economic factors: Countries may be grouped by population income levels or by their overall level of economic development. * Political and legal factors: Type and stability of government, receptivity to foreign firms, monetary regulations, and the amount of bureaucracy. * Cultural factors: Grouping markets according to common languages, religions, values and attitudes, customs, and behavioral patterns.Intermarket segmentation is segmenting of consumers who have similar needs and buying behavior even though they are located in different countries. Requirements for Ef fective Segmentation To be useful, market segments must be: Measurable: The size, purchasing power, and profiles of the segments can be measured. Accessible: The market segments can be effectively reached and served. Substantial: The market segments are large or profitable enough to serve. Differentiable: The segments are conceptually distinguishable and respond differently to different marketing mix elements and programs.Actionable: Effective programs can be designed for attracting and serving the segments. MARKET TARGETING Evaluating Market Segments In evaluating different market segments, a firm must look at three factors: 1. Segment size and growth, 2. Segment structural attractiveness, and 3. Company objectives and resources. The largest, fastest-growing segments are not always the most attractive ones for every company. The company also needs to examine major structural factors that affect long-run segment attractiveness. * A segment is less attractive if it already contains m any strong and aggressive competitors. The existence of many actual or potential substitute products may limit prices and the profits. * The relative power of buyers also affects segment attractiveness. * A segment may be less attractive if it contains powerful suppliers who can control prices. Selecting Target Market Segments A target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve. Undifferentiated Marketing Using an undifferentiated marketing (or mass-marketing) strategy, a firm might decide to ignore market segment differences and target the whole market with one offer.This mass-marketing strategy focuses on what is common in the needs of consumers rather than on what is different. Differentiated Marketing Using a differentiated marketing (or segmented marketing) strategy, a firm decides to target several market segments and designs separate offers for each. Concentrated Marketing Using a concentrated marketing (or n iche marketing) strategy, instead of going after a small share of a large market, the firm goes after a large share of one or a few smaller segments or niches. It can market more effectively by fine-tuning its products, prices, and programs to the needs of carefully defined segments.It can market more efficiently, targeting its products or services, channels, and communications programs toward only consumers that it can serve best and most profitably. Micromarketing Micromarketing is the practice of tailoring products and marketing programs to suit the tastes of specific individuals and locations. Micromarketing includes local marketing and individual marketing. Local marketing involves tailoring brands and promotions to the needs and wants of local customer groups—cities, neighborhoods, and even specific stores. Local marketing has drawbacks. It can drive up manufacturing and marketing costs by reducing economies of scale. * It can create logistics problems. * The brand†™s overall image might be diluted if the product and message vary too much in different localities. Individual marketing is the tailoring of products and marketing programs to the needs and preferences of individual customers. Individual marketing has also been labeled one-to-one marketing, mass customization, and markets-of-one marketing. Choosing a Targeting Strategy Which strategy is best depends on: * Company resources. * Product variability. Product’s life-cycle stage. * Market variability. * Competitors’ marketing strategies. Socially Responsible Target Marketing Target marketing sometimes generates controversy and concern. Issues usually involve the targeting of vulnerable or disadvantaged consumers with controversial or potentially harmful products. Problems arise when marketing adult products to kids, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The growth of the Internet and other carefully targeted direct media has raised concerns about potential targeting ab uses. The issue is not so much who is targeted, but how and for what.Controversies arise when marketers attempt to profit when they unfairly target vulnerable segments or target them with questionable products or tactics. Socially responsible marketing calls for segmentation and targeting that serve not just the interests of the company, but also the interests of those targeted. DIFFERENTIATION AND POSITIONING Value proposition: How a company will create differentiated value for targeted segments and what positions it wants to occupy in those segments. A product’s position is the way the product is defined by consumers on important attributes. Positioning MapsPerceptual positioning map show consumer perceptions of their brands versus competing products on important buying dimensions. Choosing a Differentiation and Positioning Strategy The differentiation and positioning task consists of three steps: 1. Identifying a set of differentiating competitive advantages upon which to build a position, 2. Choosing the right competitive advantages, and 3. Selecting an overall positioning strategy. 1. Identifying Possible Value Differences and Competitive Advantages To the extent that a company can differentiate and position itself as providing superior customer value, it gains competitive advantage.It can differentiate along the lines of product, services, channels, people, or image. 2. Choosing the Right Competitive Advantages How Many Differences to Promote Ad man Rosser Reeves believes a company should develop a unique selling proposition (USP) for each brand and stick to it. Other marketers think that companies should position themselves on more than one differentiator. Which Differences to Promote A difference is worth establishing to the extent that it satisfies the following criteria: Important: The difference delivers a highly valued benefit to target buyers.Distinctive: Competitors do not offer the difference, or the company can offer it in a more distinc tive way. * Superior: The difference is superior to other ways that customers might obtain the same benefit. Communicable: The difference is communicable and visible to buyers. Preemptive: Competitors cannot easily copy the difference. Affordable: Buyers can afford to pay for the difference. Profitable: The company can introduce the difference profitably. 3. Selecting an Overall Positioning Strategy The full positioning of a brand is called the brand’s value proposition.More for More positioning involves providing the most upscale product or service and charging a higher price to cover the higher costs. More for the Same positioning involves introducing a brand offering comparable quality but at a lower price. The Same for Less positioning can be a powerful value proposition—everyone likes a good deal. Less for Much Less positioning is offering products that offer less and therefore cost less. â€Å"Less-for-much-less† positioning involves meeting consumers†™ lower performance or quality requirements at a much lower price. More for Less positioning is the winning value proposition.In the long run, companies will find it very difficult to sustain such best-of-both positioning. Developing a Positioning Statement Company and brand positioning should be summed up in a positioning statement. The statement should follow the form: To (target segment and need) our (brand) is (concept) that (point of difference). Communicating and Delivering the Chosen Position Once it has chosen a position, the company must take strong steps to deliver and communicate the desired position to target consumers. All the company’s marketing mix efforts must support the positioning strategy.Discussing the Issues 1. List and briefly describe the four major steps in designing a customer-driven marketing strategy. 2. Discuss the behavioral variables used to segment buyers and provide an example of each. 3. Explain how companies segment international markets. 4. Name and describe the characteristics of useful market segments. 5. In the context of marketing, what is a product’s â€Å"position†? How do marketers know what it is? Under the Hood: Marketing Technology When you think of hybrid or electric automobiles, you probably think don’t think â€Å"sports car. But the Fisker Karma is about to shatter that stereotype. It’s been called the hybrid with â€Å"sex appeal† and is often compared to a Mercedes-Benz roadster. During the haughty Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races, it was seen cruising around Monterey, California with the likes of Ferraris and Lamborghinis. In the increasingly crowded field of new-generation electric vehicles, Fisker Automotive wants to carve out a niche as a high-performance eco-car with lots of style. The creator, Henrik Fisker, was formerly head of design at Aston Martin.The Fisker Karma goes from 0 to 60 in six seconds, can go 125 miles per hour, and can travel 50 miles on electric power and 300 miles on combined electric and gasoline power. All this performance and style does not come cheaply, however. Prices range from $87,900 to $106,000. The company already has orders from 1,400 buyers. If this is above your means, don’t worry—the company is promising a lower-priced, mass-market version for the rest of us in a few years. 1. On what basis is Fisker Automotive segmenting the automobile market? Is the company using a single segmentation approach or a combined approach?Explain. 2. What market targeting strategy is Fisker pursuing with this automobile? How is the company differentiating its automobile and which value proposition is it using? Staying on the Road: Marketing Ethics In 2009 Anheuser-Busch launched the Bud Light â€Å"Fan Can,† a promotion that included 27 different color combinations of its cans in college team colors. For example, students at Louisiana State University could purchase purple-and-gold cans of Bud Li ght. Anheuser-Busch timed the campaign, called â€Å"Team Pride,† to coincide with students returning to campus and with the kickoff of the football season.Several schools, such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa State, University of Colorado, and others, objected strenuously. As a result, Anheuser-Busch halted the program in those markets. The promotion also caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission. Both the FTC and college officials are concerned about the high rate of underage and binge drinking on college campuses. Some school officials also were concerned about trademark infringements, and about the appearance that they support Budweiser’s activities.As criticism brewed around the country, A-B released a statement claiming that it did not mean to encourage underage drinking—it just wanted to create more fun for sports fans. Although the company halted the promotion in areas where college officials objected, controversy surrounding the promotion appear ed in newspapers and on television nationwide. 1. What type of market targeting strategy is Anheuser-Busch using with the Team Pride promotion? 2. Was this a wise promotion? Explain. Rough Road Ahead: Marketing and the Economy Vanilla Bikes Portland-based Vanilla Bicycles sells hand-built bikes with price tags ranging from $4,000 to $12,000.Now, after only nine years in business, owner Sacha White has stopped taking orders – not because business had dried up but because he has a five-year waiting list. White and his crew of three make only 40 to 50 bikes a year. Frames are made from exotic metals, are welded with silver alloy, and weigh as little as 30 ounces. No two Vanilla bikes are the same. Each is custom fitted to the client and features intricate metal carvings and an artisan paint job. Amazingly, almost all of these high-end velocipedes are sold to middle-class customers. Still, orders have not ebbed with the economic downturn.In fact, Vanilla could ramp up production significantly and still sell everything it makes. However, White claims that would compromise the special nature of what customers consider to be works of art. Vanilla bikes are so special that when Portland bike couriers describe something as cool, they routinely say, â€Å"That’s soooo Vanilla. † 1. Based on the segmentation variables discussed in the chapter, construct a profile for Vanilla Bicycle’s probable target market. 2. Given that most luxury products suffer in an economic downturn, why has Vanilla still succeeded?

Friday, November 8, 2019

A Reedsy Success Story Matt Biebers Life in the Loop

A Reedsy Success Story Matt Biebers Life in the Loop A Reedsy Success Story - Matt Bieber’s Life in the Loop We launched Reedsy 6 months ago. Since, we’ve had an incredible amount of authors working on a daily basis with our fabulous editors, proofreaders, designers and illustrators. But we haven’t really followed up on their success. So when Matt Bieber dropped us a line to thank us and tell us about his book, we thought we’d give him a spot on our blog!  My name is Matt Bieber, and I’m the author of Life in the Loop: Essays on OCD. The essays in this collection are an effort to come to grips with life as an obsessive-compulsive. Some of them deal with big, dramatic stuff – sex, religion, death – while others are about the million mundane-but-excruciating facets of OCD.Writing about this stuff is helpful to me, but publishing is always a challenge. I’m fairly tech-illiterate, and my forays into the blogosphere have provided OCD with endless freak-out opportunities: â€Å"Did I save those changes on WordPress? Why does it keep formatting that way? Is this post even gonna be legible if readers re-size their browsers?† And so on, forever.When I decided to collect my OCD writing into book form, then, I knew that designing a cover and an interior layout were way beyond me. â€Å"If I just stick to the writing and let a pro handle the rest, this’ll be doable.†I shared my plans with a friend, and he pointed me toward Reedsy. (He’d been a fan of Reedsy’s own design for some time.) I agreed to check it out, but I was nervous; was this gonna be yet another frustrating, overwhelming platform, a web world with nonsensical navigation and no way out?Merely arriving at the site, then, was a relief. It was straightforward! And kind of pretty! And you could find stuff! After a long print publishing career, Jason knows how to work magic with fonts, headers, and spacing. In just a couple of weeks, he turned my Word manuscript into a beautifully laid-out volume.The one glitch in the project, however, was that Jason didn’t know how to make an e-book. (He’d told me this from the outset, and we’d agreed that he’d explore it as we moved along). As he discovered, though, creating an e-book isn’t just a matter of converting file types: in his words, it’s a bit more â€Å"like designing web-pages; it’s a different animal altogether.† Thankfully, Jason was willing to call a buddy named Mick in Scotland, who handled the final conversions. (Thanks Mick!)Here was the best part: Jason didn’t treat my book any differently than those of his higher-profile clients. At every stage of the process – from our first contacts in mid-December through completion and publication at the end of March  œ Jason was incredible: professional, responsive, and straight-up cool. He anticipated my questions, took stuff off my plate before I even realized it was bothering me, and stayed patient through a long series of tiny edits and adjustments.The pace of the process varied: sometimes, we each retreated to our tasks for a week or two. Other times, we exchanged several emails per day. And at a certain point, it dawned on me: he cared – about the book, about the process, and about me. Instead of chasing down some elusive freelancer, I was working side-by-side with a generous partner.So it was the journey, then – but it was also the destination. Because at the end of the process, we had this book in our hands (and on our Kindles) – this thing that, by some miracle of text and color, reflected the hazy vision that had been floating around my brain for so long.So now the sucker’s up on Amazon and selling nicely, and the reviews are starting to come in. This feels great, of course – but it feels even better to know that my work with Jason will help this little volume reach folks who can really use it.Matt Bieber is the author of Life in the Loop: Essays on OCD. He blogs at mattbieber.net and coaches young writers.Learn more about book layout design and book cover design on Reedsy's design page.Read our other success stories here!

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

A Critical Review of Yahoo! Corporate Governance Essays

A Critical Review of Yahoo! Corporate Governance Essays A Critical Review of Yahoo! Corporate Governance Paper A Critical Review of Yahoo! Corporate Governance Paper A recommendation is then given followed by a conclusion to the analysis. L. Introduction Corporate governance has come along way since the 1 9th century. What was once an elite fraternity based on little more than cronyism and family connections has now taken on a new shape, resulting from greed and deceitful corporate breakdowns of iconic companies in the first part of the 21 SST century. If the 19th century was the century of the entrepreneur; and the 20th century was the century of management; then the 21 SST century is the century of corporate governance. This paper seeks to review the governance in a publicly listed company whose equines performance has been criticized publicly and to report about its governance protocols and practices. A brief description of the company in question followed by the criteria for the review of governance will be presented. Then, a critical review of their existing practices will be forwarded. Finally a list or recommendations will conclude the review. The goal is to shed light on boardroom practices and to better understand past events so to prevent them from reoccurring. 2. Background Yahoo! S a SIS based multinational Internet company headquartered in Californians silicon valley. It is widely known for its Web portal, search engine, Yahoo! Mail, advertising, online mapping, social media and a myriad of other services, including popular acquisitions such as Alabama, flicker and Tumble. Yahoo! Was founded in 1 994 and was once one of the most popular sites in the US. However, in recent years, its been plagued by poor governance. Between 2009- 2012, the board had dismissed 5 Chief Executive Officers, indicating a history of CEO problems with dire need of stability at the top. The current CEQ Marimbas Mayer has been in place since 201 2 and has also been heavily criticized; however, her leadership has changed the dynamic and ultra of the company, resulting in a tripling of the stock price and acquisitions worth over $1 billion. (Geol. 2014) The next section will explore the criteria for the review of governance. 3. Criteria for review In light of on-going setbacks at Yahoo! , the following criteria have been identified, including a discussion on their importance and why it is appropriate to use them. Yahoo! As a section addressing my criteria in their Corporate Governance Guidelines and nothing appears out of place, in other words, the guidelines are concise and appropriate, according to the textbook. (Trickier 2012) 3. Board membership criteria Although this may seem basic at first glance, it is not. Boards operate differently company to company. In theory, an active board oversees the formation of strategy in shareholder favor, they develop incentives fo r the CEO and other managers to tackle whilst also working toward the agreed upon strategic objectives. The board also critiques the performance of management against such objectives throughout the year and also formally once annually. It is important for boards to run smoothly, as outlined above so to monitor the business, stay abreast with changes in the marketplace so to be in a session to act quickly when required. There is always work to be done by board and committee members, (independent or external) law also requires regular reporting and shareholders require updates. This is an appropriate way to operate because if a board becomes passive, the effects will trickle down and a change in company culture will ensue. To avoid this, and to follow best practice, boards and committees are voted in by shareholders and reviewed annually by the chairman. 3. 2 Selection of the Chief Executive Officer Selection of the Chief Executive of the company is reserved for an active road committee (often independent) who is nominated to do the legwork in the nomination process. The idea is that the nomination committee, headed by its own chairman accept suitable referrals and vet said referrals (and leads) based on the board requirements. Best practice suggests that by the time a nomination is put forth to the chairman, the audit committee has already approved the candidates background and confirmed that no known conflict of interest exists. Not only is it important that each board member be given a specific task or project, its also important to have clear guidelines in place to undertake one f the most important board obligations. Chief Executives are typically not identified easily or hired quickly and the search itself is often expensive. For this reason, shortcuts cannot be made or left up to assumption. It is appropriate for a board to have nomination guidelines in place for top-level positions before exploring the market even begins and well before candidate engagement. By having such guidelines approved and published, it lessens the possibility of oversight by committee members who may feel pressured to tick all the boxes before a formal nomination can be presented, with a genuine seal of approval. . 3 Independence of the Board As a result of the breakdown in governance of iconic companies such as Enron and Arthur Anderson, governments from each country have been forced to take action to preserve the rights of shareholders and employees. An example of this can be found in the US, UK and Australia who operate as a unitary board, unlike Europe, which operate on a two tier board consisting of the executive board and the supervisory board. By law, the unitary board must include independent directors (INDEED) and committees. The paradox of the unitary board is the greater a directors independence, the less he/she is keel to know about the company. The more the INDEED knows about the company, the greater his/her potential contribution, the less his/her perceived independence. According to the textbook, an independent board is one that is capable of performing under the direction and leadership of a non-executive chairman or lead director so no to fall prey on initiatives from management or internal directors. (Trickier 201 2) Independent directors have periodic meetings of independent directors to evaluate management against the strategic goals. They follow strict rules to keep a fair, unbiased balance between the board ND management. This is important because it demonstrates greater transparency to the shareholders and to the SEC, SOX and other government regulators. A lack of transparency was a pattern followed by every board of companies that have since been found guilty in criminal court. It is appropriate to adopt an INDEED board not only to satisfy laws but also to demonstrate that action has been taken to ensure that the board as a whole is fair, that board members come from diverse backgrounds with unique areas of expertise, including industries. Independent Directors are equally accountable to the chairman of the board, hat they are offering is another a new way to view challenges faced by the company and offering the best solutions. . Critical review of Yahoo! Governance Yahoo! Has experienced tumultuous board movement over years, considering that the company is only 20 years old. Many past board members have held their seats for only one year. As of this day, there have been thirteen past board directors which suggests a critical lack of congruence within the business. There are currently ten board directors, including Mayer, CEO. Each director boasts a diverse set of skills and experience from companies that align with Yahoo! , which is ideal and half appear to be independent, also a good thing. It has been acknowledged however, that half the board were replaced following Mayors induction in what is reported to be a buyout. Its been reported that those she bought out would have become made her new post difficult as they likely would have clashed at some point and that it would likely be due to character first and strategy direction, second. (Yarrow 2013) According to Yahoo! Corporate governance guidelines, The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee shall be responsible for assessing the appropriate balance of criteria required of Board members. It is true that a board will often nominate new members with the induction of a new CEO; however, it is reported that Mayer handpicked this board to support her. (Swisher 2014) If this is the case, then it brings up many concerns and questions. The textbook identifies nine concepts and principles for corporate governance. (Trickier 2012) In the case of board selection, believe the following principles sing out: judgment, and accountability. The execution Of best judgment is expected in any nomination. The boards decisions should e made for the greater good of the company, rather than to promote personal agendas. Records show that although Mayer may have nominated half her board, the shareholders and existing board directors have approved it. In other words, they appear to have gone through due process as stated in the company guidelines. One would hope that the current board will prove not to be yes-men and that they will be supportive yet unbiased and even critical as required as cronyism has lead many a company down slippery slopes. The concept of accountability suggests that directors are answerable for their actions and decisions. Mayer must have already known that as one of the first changes she initiated at Yahoo! Was a weekly meeting that everyone was invited to attend to have their questions answered based on recent decisions, changes in the business and write ups in the press. Employees submitted questions online and the first 5 questions with 50 votes would be addressed. Mayer even allowed employees to submit anonymously, which naturally invited in the tougher questions. From an outside perspective, this was a genius move on her part and showed that she was being transparent and penny willing to put herself on the line. This next topic goes without saying that Yahoo! Has been hit hard by the mismanagement of their Chief Executive Officers in recent years. As stated above, the selection of the CEO is a critical task of the board and its committees. Yahoo! Has terminated four Chief Executives in three years. Mayer took the reins in 2012 following Scott Thompson resume embellishment that was made public only four months into his tenure. Each of the two interim Chief Executives had been deemed unsuitable to take the role on permanently. This is an example of poor governance; the situation tit Thompson may have gone away more rapidly had Yahoo! Not already terminated the 3 Chief Executives before him. This is also a problem of succession planning as 2 of the interim Chief Executives were internal. On the other hand, how might a company be prepared to nominate two internal Chief Executive candidates who are ready for the role in such a short space of time? Chief Executives are not interchangeable. It is believed that Yahoo! Did the best with what they had to work with, it just wasnt enough. To make matters worse, at the time of the Thompson revelation, the chair of he nomination committee, Patti Hart (who approved Thompson) was also found to have an embellishment on her resume. This is was an embarrassment for Yahoo! As the filing had already gone to the SEC to which the board was accountable. The concepts that stand out in this instance are: honesty, meaning not misleading and of strong morality and integrity, mean inning of high moral value and professionalism; such principles are expected by a board of a ($billion) company. One article describes the dilemma well. Should we be focused more on education or on ethics? Enders 201 2) As an outsider, I believe ethics weigh stronger than education; especially as top executives receive ongoing, relevant training and development. In Thompson case, he resume claimed a computer science degree from the asss which would have added little value to the company. Makes one wonder if it was really worth the risk. Oversights do happen, yet this particular one had been following him around since the early asss. Based on the updated company nomination guidelines, such mistake will likely never happen again as better, more appropriate checks and balances have been set in place. The final topic is around independence. As outlined above, a unitary board just have independent directors and committees to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the company. At the time of Thompson and Harts tenure, the only thing that makes sense is that the board became too comfortable and exercised gross oversight and incompetence. The trouble here was that the board didnt question the independent committees findings. Independence is important, though so is due process. (Labeled Sillies 2003) The audit committee was not involved and the chairman at the time was known for not rocking the boat. Brenner 2014) The results were crippling for the company. The concepts that require discussion and analysis are: responsibility, having clearly defined roles and reputation, an estimation of having done something well. Although each board member looked adequate on paper, there were many gaps that could have been avoided if the directors had been diverse enough or willing t o take a stand to ensure that all the boxes have been ticked. It seems that each was relying on the other to do the right thing and each accepted the general consensus without further query. This proved damaging to the reputation of the entire board and some lost their appointments as a result. On a positive note, Yahoo! Now have a new guideline in place to ensure that three committees review and approve a nomination before it goes to the board for further review. This is consistent with best practice for unitary boards. 5. Recommendation Mayer has been CEO for a little more than two years. Since then, she has driven more than 30 acquisitions worth more than $1 billion; she has also initiated a monthly bell curve review of all staff which determines merit for bonuses and in some cases, termination. Stock price has tripled under her tenure. Her decisions are not always popular, yet shes doing what few before her were able to. Therefore, its recommended that the board continue to give her money for acquisitions and also for RD to make Yahoo! Known for its products, not just its acquisitions. Mayer has been heavily criticized in the press for making decision based on feeling. Not all her decisions have worked out well, yet she has not yet created a pattern of poor decisions making. I recommend that she remain CEO for another two years to bring her strategy to fruition. That way, shareholders will continue to reap the rewards of the tock price whilst Mayer continues to harness energies toward customer experience, which is where her expertise lies. 6. Conclusion The past several years have been tough for the company. The good news is that Yahoo! Appears to be turning things around for the better. It was a big risk for the board to hire a green CEO. Her successful track record at Google as well as her industry contacts and networking skills will prove invaluable. Meyers gender, age and rapid ascent into executive management have earned her a national celebrity status.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Performance Measures Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Performance Measures - Assignment Example spite encouraging a comparison of income generated to assets used, Caplan (2014) argues that this measurement could encourage focus on short-term as opposed to long term financial performance and deferment of asset replacement. The second measure is residual income, RI. RI refers to the operating income earned by an investment center above the minimum desired return on the assets invested (Needles et al., 2014). This is a dollar amount of profit that remains after the subtraction of the targeted income for an investment center. RI is a significant measure because it enhances goal congruence (Jiambalvo, 2011). This follows the fact that RI encourages managers to invest so as to post higher RI values. Of these two performance measurements, RI would be considered as more important. Whereas both measures determine performance, RI incorporates the rate of return that an organization expects from invested capital (Needles et al., 2014). Thus, any investment with a return exceeding the minimum needed rate of return yields a positive RI. As such, RI measures an important aspect of performance, the level of investment, which ROI omits, making it a more important measure of

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Types of Aging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Types of Aging - Essay Example exposure to toxins may dramatically reduce expectancy. Today’s society has witnessed a pronounced increase in longevity coupled with lowered birth rates. Aging bears both positive stereotypes (such as becoming wiser, more confident, and more motivated) and negative aspects such as predisposition to disease, disability, and depression arising from isolation which influences old people’s self esteem (Morgan and Kunkel 2011, p.11). Some years back, aging experience was not a cosy affair. Nevertheless, improvements in health and nutrition aided by technology have eased the experience making it more comfortable. Modern technology has improved the living conditions of many people. However, the increase in longevity has yielded shortcomings such as a rise in risk of abuse, exploitation, and neglect among the older people. Statistics from the Office for National Statistics (UK) indicate that the percentage of the population above 70 years will continue to surge through the 21st century. A report from the Office of National Statistics places the life expectancy of persons at 75 years, a figure that rises with dawn of each day. The contemporary society has undergone demographic, structural, and cultural transformations with the advent of aging populations. In fact, gerontologists have coined the term â€Å"global graying† to describe this phenomenon. ... Chronological age also aids in prediction of health problems within the population and is a common variable in research endeavours (Blackburn & Dulmus 2007, p.3). Biological/physiological aging refers to body changes that accompany advancement of years. The physical changes that occur in people are not all normal since they borrow heavily on lifestyle choices and cultural practices. Some of these changes can be modified, if not prevented. Psychological aging refers to how people act and feel about themselves as they age. As people age, the information processing capability such as reaction time, intelligence, learning, memory and problem solving are affected. Similarly, their personality and self concept is affected. For instance, a 90-year-old who is occupationally active may be considered as psychologically young (Morgan and Kunkel 2011, p.12). As people age, they become functional dependent. This is particularly more pronounced in mental functions such as learning of new languages (Hillier and Barrow (2011, p.48). Functional age helps in targeting of services to sub-groups guided by age and need e.g. identification of people with physical limitations and who need home care. Contemporary societies have been able to maintain a reasonable quality of life of the old while preserving their functional independence. In addition, as people age, social factors such as society’s perception of â€Å"growing old† or being â€Å"old† define and redefine the social construction of self. As individuals age, they are bombarded with contradictory social meanings, structures, and processes attached to age. Most of these constructions are erroneous accounts on the effect of aging on the physical and mental capabilities of the elders. People interpret events in