Rapex is a weapon for woman against rape

Rapex is a weapon for woman against rape. It is a diaphragm with teeth which bites when something touches it that is not supposed to, such as a penis. This is both painful and will make the rape stop immediately. It also has to be removed surgically thus it is much easier to identify the rapist. In this essay I will explain and discuss the facts and uses for Rapex, the medical concerns for Rapex and the ethical and safety issues. In South Africa there are 119 people per 100,000 that are raped every year. This is probably 9 times as much because the number that was previously mentioned is only the reported rapes. You could also say that there is 50,000 rapes per year in South Africa. This is again about 4 times as many because rapes of children and acquaintances are never reported. This is an alarmingly high number and measures needed to be made. One of these measures was the Rapex anti rape device. Rapex also prevents pregnancy and the infection of sexually transmitted diseases. This is another important function of Rapex because South Africa has the most people in the world which are infected by HIV/AIDS. 1 of nine people in South Africa are infected with the virus. This scientific development has lead to many discussions of ethical issues such as if Rapex would be used for revenge by an angry wife or girlfriend or that it might cause the men to act violently towards the women and hurt them or even kill them. Rapex is made of latex and polyurethane which is held firm by shafts of sharp barbs. When the man penetrates the hooks are fastened into the tip of the man's erected penis and the Rapex has to be surgically removed after that. Rapex is much like a diaphragm thus it should not stay inside the vagina for more than 24 hours. You should wear it when you know you are in danger of being raped such as walking a long distance or when you are somewhere were there are a minimal amount of people and a rapist can easily be attacked. You should also not wear it when you have you are menstruating. The reason that the men rape women in South Africa is that the men feel superior to them and women don't really count in society. They are suppressed by men and don't have the sufficient means to protect themselves. The reason for men raping children is that there is a smaller chance of sexually transmitted diseases. The man suffers from pain but no permanent injuries are inflicted. The woman may however suffer from violence from the man as a result to the pain the man is having. This could even result in death. Rapex is not as helpful by preventing rape because the man still has to penetrate for the Rapex to have an effect. This still causes the woman to be raped but she stops it immediately and she doesn't get pregnant or get a sexually transmitted disease. She does however get a chance to get the man back. In my opinion it is more a weapon for revenge than for self protection. The defense mechanism, Rapex, should be this hard. At least for the time being to scare men and do reduce the amount of rapes taking place. Also, the men that do rape will be identified. The punishment for raping in South Africa is very low at the moment and if the Rapex I going to be used the punishment should also go up. There should also be a punishment for women that use it as a weapon for attack and not as self defense. The 3 main religions in South Africa are Zion Christian, Pentecostal/Charismatic and Catholic. None of these religions encourage rape and so the religious and cultural issues of the Rapex have no impact on this in my opinion. If they choose to rape, against their religion then they can also suffer from this. To conclude I believe I think that the Rapex is a good idea to stop rape, pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. However, there is a big chance that it will be misused and that the men will get angry and kill the women. Therefore, I don't think Rapex should be produced in large amounts but I think the whole educational system, civil law system and the society needs to change when it comes to its look on women. Women need to get a better education allowing them to work and became more equal to men. The civil law system needs to change its punishments of rape and the society needs to change in the way that men except woman as their equal. Rapex is only a temporary solution to the problem of rape and instead of investing money in something short term I believe you can better invest it in something that will stay long term such as a change in society and the role of women within that society.

Sapakin Kita Diyan

Table of Contents Title Pagei Table of Contentsii Brief History/Background of the Company/Company Profile1 Summary of the OJT Experience5 Assessment of the OJT/Practicum Program9 New knowledge, attitudes, and skills acquired12 Theories actually seen in practice17 Feedback that can be given to the company/hotel/restaurant20 Benefits gained Problems encountered23 Appendices A. Company brochure and/or pamphlet25 B. Copy of the Endorsement Letter26 C. Copy of the Training Plan27 D. Copy of the signed Waiver Form28 E. Daily Time Record29 F.Quarterly Performance Appraisal Forms30 G. Certificate of Completion31 Brief History/Background of the Company/Company Profile Link Network Solutions Inc. is a formed corporation engage in all computer related consumables and parts. We aspire to give exceptional service by providing your needs in Printer Consumables; Toner, Ink Cartridges, Ribbons of all brands OKI, HP, CANON, SAMSUNG, EPSON, BROTHER, LEXMARK, FUJI XERORX. We also offer Office Equipment ’s: Printer, laminator, shredder, Fax machine, Copier, Computer and accessories among office and computer supplies.We guaranty that we can give you fulfilling commitment in our business with you, improve business practices, and ensure, reliable, secure our product to be delivered just on time. Above all, we value our client’s partnerships by guaranteeing complete customer satisfaction, and we will always provide our partners with the highest level of service and professionalism Summary of the OJT/Experience Assessment of the OJT/Practicum Program New knowledge, attitudes and skills acquired There are many knowledge, attitudes and skills acquired being an on the job training in Link Network Solutions Inc.I know how to setup and install high end printers. I know how to troubleshoot a printer. On attitude I must go to office early don’t be late. If you want to be absent tell the manager or any high staff so they know it early. Be honest and trustworthy. Being a tra inee is not only a subject to be passed or a requirement to be complete but on the job training is an opportunity to show what skills, talents and techniques that the student learned from the school and also opportunity to experience life outside the campus; serving companies like a professional on the field of students specialization. Theories actually seen in practiceFeedback that can be given to the company/hotel/restaurant I. Introduction I decided to have my on the job training at Link Network Solution Inc. at 5700 Pagulayan St. Poblacion, Makati City. It’s a little bit far from Cubao but I have no choice because I really have a hard time searching for a company where I can have my on the job training with. Good thing my classmate has a connections on one of the head of that company and luckily, me together with my two other classmate happened to start out our on the job training there. The Link Network Solution Inc. is the fourth company that we had applied.We first sub mitted our resume to POEA, SSS East Ave and PLDT Mandaluyong, but none of those companies had entertained our application maybe because they already have their chosen applicant or it may either be because we applied late. I started my on the job training on Jan 2013. It is from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm from Monday to Friday. II. PERSONAL ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING FROM THE COMPANY A. Cognitive or Intellectual Learning  I’ve learned a lot from the job given to me. I know how to setup a printer, troubleshoot, and deliver an item to a customer. I learned the daily routine inside the office. I also earned how to make a receipt when we deliver some items for our customer. Sometimes I voluntarily deliver when no one is available to do it. I learned every supply or item that we delivered it always have a receipt. I know how to go in different places riding jeeps and other transportation. B. Affective or Emotional Learning  I  learned how to love my job and all the staffs. I learned to a ppreciate the work given to me. I was so dedicated that I do all my best to give correct service but sometimes there were errors. I also experience that the manager get a little bit mad at us when we are absent.For the staffs, they were so kind and friendly and I never experience â€Å"out-of-place† there. They treated us like a family. I remembered what the manager said to us, â€Å"If we are in work, we work. If we are on outside, we’re friends. †Ã‚  Ã‚  I always put that in mind and  I became closer to my manager, supervisors and staffs. C. Psychomotor or Physical Learning  I noticed a lot of improvement on me. I became flexible. I also noticed that I became faster in moving. III. RECOMMENDATIONS a. For myself – I must recommend to me that I must omit my tardiness because coming early is really important in the job.I must be ready for all the work that they will give to me because I accept being an on the job applicant from their company. b. For OJ T Company  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ I recommend that they place OJT students nearer on the branch where they live, in order to avoid hassle in travelling. Also in scheduling of time. They must give students earlier schedules in order to go home early especially for those who travel from far places. c. For OJT Program  I recommend that they must put OJT programs at the earlier years in order to expose students at an early time and to learn the concepts and hands-on training in our industry.They should treat each on the job applicant equally. IV. AREAS TO IMPROVE A. About Self  I think I must improve my time management. Sometimes I came late especially on Friday because I must report in school B. For the OJT Company  I think they must improve the scheduling of time of their OJT students in order to go home early especially for those who travel from far places. C. For the OJT Program  I think they must improve the OJT program because I felt that we were late on having OJT. We have co-OJT stu dents in other schools and they were only 2nd  year and yet they were having an OJT.Benefits gained Problems encountered We are an On the Job Training in a company that focuses on printers so these are the problems that I encountered during our time there. A. Paper Jam If a Kyocera printer has been properly maintained, most paper jam problems are directly related to the paper that is being used. Although this is never the answer anyone wants to hear, it is the most overlooked component and the simplest to remedy. If persistent jamming is the problem, the first test would be to remove all of the paper in the printer and replace it with paper from a new ream, or of a different manufacturer.Check the label on the new package of paper to verify the paper meets Kyocera's specifications. Grain structure is very important. Short grain paper will cause frequent jams. Always use long grain paper. Most paper is manufactured to have a top side and a bottom side. This has something to do with grain structure and the natural curl of paper. Try flipping the supply of paper over. This will test the â€Å"curl† in case the paper was put into the printer upside-down. If all of these methods do not alleviate the problem, the problem is probably mechanical.Refer to the remaining questions on paper jamming. First check the paper and shuffle it properly. Second if the paper is stock inside the printer. Easily open the printer tray and remove the specific paper that is jammed. B. Blurred Letters Check if there still a toner, remove the drum and shake it and you will know if it’s empty or not. Check also at the report from the printer and print the status page. C. Poor print quality Check the drum if it’s dirty or there’s something in there. If the drum is dirty clean it. Check also the printers’ charger; if it’s dirty clean it. D.There’s a line on the text Check first the drum of the printer; it its dirty clean it. Check the Fuser Kit if it does have a scratch or have a defect you must change it. E. Empty Toner The toner is empty. The toner needs to be change. F. Invalid Cartridge The programmed chipset is done. G. Routine Maintenance The Charger in the printer needs to be change. The benefits that I gained from our company. We gained so many benefits as an on the job training in Link Network Solutions Inc. We know how to setup and troubleshoot a high-end printer. A. Company brochure and/or pamphlet

Bristol Biomedical Company

Bristol biomedical company came into being about ten years ago. It is a small fifty person medical device company. For years it has made sufficient revenue to fulfill the needs of the company and its employees and has also managed to make a profit. The reason for preparing a new marketing plan for the company is that the company through the hard work of its workers has invented a new x-ray machine which is both inexpensive and easy to use in a doctor’s office. Therefore a new marketing plan is being devised so as to market the product properly and also to target a vast market.Executive summary: The marketing plan for the Bristol Biomedical Company will consist basically of four steps which will guide our product and ultimately the company towards success; on the basis of these four steps a marketing plan will be developed. These four areas are Organization, Research, Creativity process, and Control. The area relating to organization will relate mainly to the establishment of m arketing goals and objectives. The research area will include the outlining of market audit, completing the completion of data and finally analyzing the audit targeting.The creativity process will deal in developing strategies and tactics and finally the control phase will deal with developing an effective control system. Our marketing plan will basically target the first two areas i. e. the organization and the research part and a little of the creativity process and we will also deal with the target market. The organizational and marketing plan will provide a base from which specific marketing goals and objective can be developed. Executive Summary: It should include research paper one material Marketing Plan:The core market objective for the marketing plan for Bristol Biomedical Device Company is for generating enough sales of x-ray machines of high premium qualities. The marketing plan consists of four areas: †¢ Target Marketing †¢ Pricing Strategy †¢ Product â₠¬ ¢ Place Target Marketing: The company must develop an action plan for introducing the x-ray machines into the markets. Within the role of markets the company must target its distribution and promotion to the best prospect groups. These prospects have following characteristics: †¢ They would be early adopters†¢ They would be heavy users †¢ They would be opinion leaders †¢ They could be reached at a low cost Geographically, Seattle is the originator of corporate successes in diverse businesses such as Starbucks, Amazon. com etc. It can be assumed that the diversity found in these successful businesses is due to the diversification of the local people. Seattle's economic circle is driven by bioinformatics and medical equipment which are trusted for premium quality. There is just one private hospital in Seattle and remaining are mostly government owned institutions.The management can use network planning techniques such as critical path scheduling. Critical path sc heduling calls for developing a master chart showing the simultaneous and sequential activities that must take place to launch the product. By estimating how much time each activity takes the management estimates the completion time for the entire project. Any delay in any activity on the critical path will cause the project to be delayed. The management of the Bristol Biomedical Company believes the theory of innovation, diffusion and consumer adoption to identify early adopters.The consumer adoption process is influenced by many factors beyond the marketers control including consumers that are private doctors and dentists and other health organizations willing to try new machines, personal influences and the characteristics of the new x-ray machine innovations. Demographically, variables such as age, income, occupation, religion, race, generation, nationality and social classes are mainly found in Seattle's population. Seattle locals are entrepreneurial, outdoorsy, rugged yet lite rate; they have a high sense of understanding.The new x-ray machine with its exclusive features such as being less economical and comprehensible enough to be used in doctors clinics. Situational Analysis: The term situational analysis â€Å"is a shorthand description for keeping track of what is going around you in a complex, dynamic environment†. Situational Analysis helps to keep in mind the uncontrollable factors while making a plan. The situational analysis is an analysis of the market and the competitive forces in terms that most influence revenues.The SWOT analysis gives statements to analysis of marketing. These generally involves analyzing the opportunities available such as customer requirements, product capabilities, cost of services and the price the market will bear to obtain the maximum self income. Several factors maybe responsible for hindrance and weakness: †¢ Social and governmental constraints. †¢ Fragmented markets †¢ Development costs being higher than expected. †¢ Competitors fight back better than expected.Bristol Biomedical Device Company can insure the success by a leading factor of its unique superior x-ray machine for example its higher quality and new features in use. Another key success factor of company is its well defined product concept prior to development where the management carefully analyzes the target market, product requirements and benefits before proceeding. Other success factors for the company are the technological and marketing synergy as Seattle is source of innovations by a scientifically oriented population, quality of execution in all stages and market attractiveness.Pricing Strategy: The main part of the marketing mix plan of the Bristol Biomedical Company Device has set a price for the first time for its success when the firm develops a new innovation and its supplying its machines to a new distributive channel or geographical area and at the time of new contract. The company considers it's product on quality and price on different levels considering its special needs that is ease and convenience. Each price that the company might charge has different impacts on its marketing obecjectives.The company wants to charge a price that covers it's cost of producing, distributing and selling the products including a good compensation for it's efforts and risks. The company should consider value pricing where they charge a relatively low price for high quality pricing and in return they gain more and more customer satisfaction. Planning should take into account costs per unit and display the projected surpluses, losses, subsidiary or contribution towards fixed costs. This information will be critical for: †¢ Pricing policy.†¢ Range of Products and services offered. †¢ Time required in achieving planned objectives. This wall all depend upon the particular circumstances of the organization. Product: Bristol Biomedical Device Company came up with an innovative new product in advanced radiological field through a new x-ray machine to satisfy want and need for medical equipments. The x-ray machine is easy to use and comes at an affordable price and occupies small space. This machine gives the fundamental services or benefits that the health professionals are buying.This x-ray machine is really an augmented product; it gives the total consumption system where the needs and wants are properly accomplished. General Electrics Medical System Division, Japanese model are the real competitors. Siemens and Toshiba are competitors in this radiological field. The Bristol Biomedical Company has no threat by its competitors as its product strategy considers through the five levels of the product. The most fundamental level is the core benefit that the customer is really buying.This x-ray machine includes additional services and benefits that distinguish the company's offer from that of competitors. Place: The Bristol Biomedical Company has a strong ma rketing plan for its fulfillment of core marketing objective that is to achieve the maximum number of sales. The increase in demand depends upon the place (marketing mix too) which includes the various activities that market demand is fulfilled, accessible, and available to target marketing. It links various marketing facilitators to supply its product efficiently it also includes the physical distribution firms and their decision making skills.Place is the distribution of the product of sale promotion, advertising, sales force, public relations, direct mail and telemarketing to reach the distribution channels and the target customers According to Corey observation in selecting and marketing channels a distributional system is an important external and internal resources such as manufacturing, research, engineering and field sales personnel and facilities. It represents as well a commitment to a set of policies and practices that constitute the long term relationship with the custom er.Determining the types of distribution channels is important because it can have a great impact on sales. The channels should be selected based on those distribution channels that can best satisfy those distribution markets. Developing a comprehensive marketing strategy will enhance the success of the x-ray machine sales. The customer demographic and Psychographic patterns along with competitive product advantages and key product features should be utilized to name the product, project a product image, advertise and package product.The sales force and the distribution channel must be selected and made aware of this product. Bibliography: †¢ Abell, D. (1980). Defining the Business: The Starting Point of Strategic Planning: Prentice-Hall. †¢ Levitt, T. (1986). The Marketing Imagination: Free Press. †¢ Pfeffer, J. , & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The External Control of Organizations: Harper & Row. †¢ Peters, T. J. , & Waterman, R. H. (1982). In Search of Excellence: H arper & Row †¢ Kotler, P. (1976) Marketing Management (3rd ed. ): Prentice-Hall . Coltheart, M. ,

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 37

Essay Example Since the business provides care and attends to the needs of their patients, training and development plays a major role. A training needs analysis should be conducted thoroughly in order to identify the job-related needs of the employees such as proper way to handle emotions, dealing with disabled persons and the like (bplans.com, 2011). Amongst the methods of training and development, real-life simulations and experiential training could benefit a Nursing Home since the care givers are constantly dealing with different people and different approach has to be given for specific instances. It satisfies both company and employees; cost-effective for the company while complacency for an employee to do his job with integrity (Jones, 2007, p.414). Another way to improve HRM in a nursing home is to do performance appraisal and feedback. This is a good way to help employees achieve their goals and plan their performance in a measurable time. As such, Managers should set a time, say 6 months for a rank or salary increase, for caregivers to achieve their goals and have them evaluated whether they have reached their target at the end of the given time. 360-degree performance appraisal is the best way to do it to avoid biased judging and be able to give the employee what he deserves (Jones, 2007,

Acute pain for postoperative patients in Kuwait Assignment

Acute pain for postoperative patients in Kuwait - Assignment Example According to Strauss and Corbin, research itself is only one of four possible sources of the research problem. Research problem can come from literature or researcher personal and professional experience. Therefore, I can add that from my clinical experience in Kuwait, I believe that pain assessment is very weak and not clear. Nursing in Kuwait is under development and there are only one or two persons with a PHD in Nursing in Kuwait. This is very disturbing because it shows that the nurses in Kuwait are not as competent as the nurses in other countries. In this light, the aim of my research is to gather evidence based to develop the best practice in Kuwait. Last, there is no good practice or an international assessment which is perfect or universal. 3. Project objectives To explore nurse’s knowledge of pain assessment; To analyze the perceptions of nurses and patients of pain assessment in a Kuwait surgical setting; To identify potential factors that could affect how the pati ents respond to post-operative pain. 4. Research strategy (For example, outline of research methodology, what information/data collection strategies will you use, where will you recruit participants and what approach you intend to take to the analysis of information / data generated) Due to the subjectivity of pain experience a qualitative method will be used for this study, which seeks to provide a perception of how or why things are as they are. Data will be collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with nurses and separately with patients. This is only fitting considering that Hancock (1998) relates that data collection in a qualitative research involves direct encounters with individuals through one to one interviews. In-depth interview allows intensive exploration of a topic with someone who has had related experiences. Open-ended questions will be used during the interview. The questions to be asked during the interview are not prepared prior to the interview. The researcher in charge of this exercise formulates the questions during the interview. He/ she ask what they think is in line with the interview and recorded the responses given by the patient. This is in contrast with close-ended questions which may limit further exploration of the participants’ experiences. Purposive sampling will be used in this study. Typically the recommended sample for grounded theory is about 20 to 30 participants (Helfand, M., & Freeman, 2008). Determining the sample size depends on the quality and richness of the data. This research will aim to involve as many interviewees as possible to the point that the responses being gathered from the new interviews being conducted are the same as the responses gathered from your prior interviews. Recruitment Once College ethical approval is gained, the researcher will send a formal letter to the hospital administration in Kuwait and to the surgical unit supervisor or manager requesting permission to recruit p atients and staff from the hospital. Once the approval is gained the researcher will then proceed to place a notice/poster in the surgical ward which will invite volunteers from among surgical nurses and patients who are willing to take part in the research or those who are readily available to become participants of the research.There is no ethical committee in the Kuwait hospital; therefore organizational approval will be gained from the Manager. Phase one: interviewing the nurses The research will involve registered nurses who work in surgical units. The nurses to be included in the interview should at least possess a bachelor’s degree from a recognized institution of higher learning in nursing and a minimum of three years working experience. Those are the

Business of Fashion COS shopping mystery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business of Fashion COS shopping mystery - Essay Example The essay "Business of Fashion COS shopping mystery" concerns Business and Fashion. The objective of establishing COS was therefore to provide people like these with the opportunity to purchase classy and fashionable goods without necessarily paying exorbitant amounts of money. On the other hand, it is also important to note that offering cheap products was not part of this strategy; the goods were supposed to be cheaper but not cheap. Finally, after months of talking about it, I visited the COS Flagship Store at 222 Regent St – near Oxford Circus. I must say that the store had a very good ambience, and the setting gave it a grandeur that I did not expect to see given the â€Å"cheaper† slogan that H&M had adopted for use in selling COS to its customers. The store was generally clean, and the dressing rooms were nice, presentable and welcoming. The attendants were all dressed in casual clothing, which was not a surprise considering the line of work they were in. From th e entrance, I could see both classic and casual attire. It is also worth mentioning that all the employees wore the current season trends from the brand; this is a promotional strategy that is used by businesses all over the world. If you want to popularize your products and get people to use them, start closer to home. One thing that left me disappointed during my visit was the service. I mean, it is one thing to set up shop, and a different thing to create good customer service that promotes a good rapport between a business and its customers.

Fine Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fine Foods - Essay Example Advertisements are placed on websites and local media and some are displayed through a company intranet. One of the best things about their policy is that they try to hire from within the company. That means that employees are familiar with the operations and the culture. However, if a company becomes to reliant on this method of hiring they will find that they rarely have new blood or ideas. It is important not to over-prioritize internal hiring as it can lead to redundant thinking and tiredness. Kudler’s training program is substantial. One of the best things about it is the 60 day buddy period which allows new employees to be supervised and gently acculturated to the company. However, 60 days is a long time to have a buddy and surely that â€Å"buddy’s† productivity will be reduced if he spends all his time with the new employee. If too many employees are hired at once, too many buddies will be spending all their time training. It’s important to keep this in mind. All payroll data is outsourced by Kudler. In some respects this is a good idea because it frees up HR resources in the company and saves a certain amount on personnel and the data system. However, one possible drawback of this method is the security of the employees data. By outsourcing the system to another company it is possible that confidentiality might be breached. No one wants that. A thread that runs through all these aspects of Kudler’s human resource management is a culture of respect for the employees. Management is a complex art. It involves a lot of angles relating to competition, performance and commitment. It also has a lot to do with competition. Kudler is hardly the only fine foods company in town and they must constantly be monitoring their competition to see how they are performing. Their prices and services change depending on the successes and failures of the competition. Training and

Personal Development Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Development Process - Essay Example The awkward resolution of a complaint, initiated by Tom, escalated into an uncontained environment that fuelled unsafe and untrustworthy feelings among the group. Toms trouble and unresolved issues with the tutor and college resulted in him feeling isolated, which I understood completely. I could tell this not only for the fact that I had been sitting always close to him but from his very often withdrawn stance and body language. I reflected on how Toms case affected me so much. I could feel his struggle to fight for some basic recognition of his rights as a student, but most importantly as a human being, who as far as I understood was left to his own devices. A strong sense of power and justice came over me from the way Tom was treated. Aware of my tendency to play the role of a rescuer, I held back in making any kind of intervention in relation to his position to the group. However, I also felt that I could no longer ignore Toms actions as part of the group. This time, my rescue mode with Tom had a different flavour. I was recognising that my approach had more to do with me trying to understand Toms world and his experiences of it rather than my need to be useful and feel good about rescuing him. Tom formed in me a sense of vulnerability and the anxious and unsettling feeling of not knowing what to do. The fact that only in the middle of the term was made aware that he had to re-write his essay, even after talking to some senior members of the college, made me think of the unbalanced power that we were possibly subjected to. Silence was very much a focus of this PD term. Many questions were asked about the reason for it and what it provoked in us. I have the view that silence is at times a comfortable and reflective space to be in, but it can also be uncomfortable at the same time. Tashi felt agitated by silence because of the unknown element it brought into the room. My experience of silence was similar

How can the efforts of temperance movement in response to alcohol be Essay

How can the efforts of temperance movement in response to alcohol be explained - Essay Example During the Victorian era this movement became more drastic, campaigning for legal prohibition of alcohol rather than promoting moral suasion or calling for moderation. All in all, its efforts were perceived in both progressive politics especially female suffrage and religious renewal. Band of Hope, a temperance movement, was founded in Leeds with the working class being their centre of attention. They strived to keep away children of the working class from the dangers of alcoholism. In 1851 there was a success in banning or restricting the selling of alcohol in various parts of the U.S (Nugent, 2011). The prohibitionists formed different organizations inside the movement to address the problem of alcoholism from all perspectives. The anti-saloon league concentrated on creating dry counties and dry states away from alcohol. Moreover, the movement began to look for alternative places to hold their meetings thereby replacing the roles of public bars. Therefore, they introduced coffee pa laces, temperance halls, temperance theatre and temperance fountains where individuals could reliably get drinking water instead of having to get into the saloons. The movement began to nominate candidates for government offices and forming political parties thus producing leaders who supported the ban of alcohol. All in all they believed that taking alcohol was a deviant, moral and offset to Christianity (Nugent, 2011). The temperance movement advocated for its views with mounting stridency with which could not be of comparison to the use of mass media at the moment in terms of response, commitment and scope. The government of United States has identified alcoholism to be its leading drug problem. Consequently, it initiated some tools to promote more self control. The major tool is higher excise tax which inflates the prices on alcoholic beverages (Sartor, 2013). This helps promote standards of living and public health. Other successful control measures are heavy penalties for driv ing under influence of alcohol, minimum purchasing age to deter underage citizens from abuse, privatization in retail alcohol sales dram-shop liability and limitations on alcohol advertising. Privatization has proved to be effective in controlling sales of alcoholic beverages hence commercial retailing of these beverages is made possible. Never the less, the government also amended the constitution in1919 to prohibit the transportation, sale or manufacture intoxicating liquors. Efforts of temperance movement and the U.S response to alcohol explained in terms of racial prejudice Temperance movement gained more recognition in women suffrage after the seventeenth Amendment. This amendment created a new reliable workforce with prejudice to German-Americans together with their breweries which made ban of alcohol a patriotic cause. Moreover, prohibitionists clamored to make alcohol abuse directed to common racial prejudices thereby convincing others to ban alcohol (Nugent, 2011). The anti -saloon league in the temperance movement portrayed Catholics as morally depraved and intellectually inferior as they feared authoritarian orders from Rome would replace their capitalist and democratic principles. Pro-prohibition groups using rhetorical strategies claimed that alcohol influenced African- Americans to commit serious crimes. The

The reasons for a growing consumer preference for branded jewellery in Dissertation

The reasons for a growing consumer preference for branded jewellery in India - Dissertation Example Showing from where do you prefer purchasing jewellery Table 23. Showing if brand, what are the factors responsible for this choice Table 24. Showing, if local retailers, what factors affect this decision Table 25. Showing, from where did you get the knowledge of this store/brand Table 26. Showing, how long have you been making purchases of jewellery from this store/brand Table 27. How satisfied are you with the jewellery you buy Table 28. How important is the advertisement campaign followed by the store to make you opt for it Table 29. Before making any jewellery purchases, do you compare the designs and prices of the same between the branded showroom and the local dealers Table 30. Do you plan to shift or change the source of purchasing jewellery LIST OF FIGURES Analysis of Growing Consumer Preference for Branded Jewellery in Mumbai Figure 1. Showing how frequently do you make jewellery purchases Figure 2. Showing from where do you prefer purchasing jewellery Figure 3. Showing if br and, what are the factors responsible for this choice Figure 4. Showing, if local retailers, what factors affect this decision Figure 5. Showing, from where did you get the knowledge of this store/brand Figure 6. Showing, how long have you been making purchases of jewellery from this store/brand Figure 7. How satisfied are you with the jewellery you buy Figure 8. How important is the advertisement campaign followed by the store to make you opt for it Figure 9. Before making any jewellery purchases, do you compare the designs and prices of the same between the branded showroom and the local dealers Figure 10. Do you plan to shift or change the source of purchasing jewellery Analysis of Growing Consumer Preference for Branded Jewellery in Delhi Figure 11. Showing how... India has traditional relations with jewellery. Branded jewellery in India has established a niche for itself in the competitive Indian market. Branding is the procedure involved in making an exclusive picture and name for a product in the customers mind, generally in the course of advertising campaigns by way of a reliable and consistent theme. Significantly, the younger generation has more disposable earnings these days and they are ready to expend it on luxuries of preference. The younger citizens in their mid thirties and their seniors are normally prepared to buy branded jewellery. The aim of branding is to establish a differentiated and considerable presence in the marketplace so that it can retain and attract faithful and loyal customers. Branding is also a technique in establishing a significant business asset, which is nothing but an excellent reputation. The gems & jewellery business is one of the fastest growing businesses in the country with a market share of $13 billion in 2011 and is estimated to grow to $20 billion by 2015. In 2008-09 the business was $17.1 billion in opposition to $16.64 in 2005-06 billion, reflecting a growth of 26%. The picture of Indian ladies, wearing a sari and various types of ethnic jewellery in festival season and wedding, is no longer the sole customer profile of the world’s major gold importing state. Indian ladies around the world are turning out to be more emancipated: conveying a way of life that combines the strong values and traditions of their society and their modern worldwide approach to life, job and spending

BSC Flexibility & the Customer Perspective Essay

BSC Flexibility & the Customer Perspective - Essay Example David P. Norton and Dr. Robert S. Kaplan pioneered the approach in the 1990s. The case study is from the British Airport Authority (BAA) at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 project. They termed their balanced scorecard as the T5 BSC. T5 was a performance management system based on key performance indicators and measures. This paper also compares the Norton’s BSC approach to the T5 BSC approach. T5 BSC based on 5 key performance indicators, 10 key measures, and 37 performance data. The performance indicators were selected as high-level quality indicators to drive the project’s objectives & requirements, identify the stakeholders, agreement of benchmarks, performance of inspections and test from the begin to the completion of the project. The indicators related tot the key measures gave general directions of the project through enablers, monitoring progress, or ascertaining outcomes. The performance data were the metrics that were measured for each stage of the projec t. Team members did this in order to monitor performance. The key measures would be regularly reported and published (Basu, Little & Millard, 2009). The main objective of any measurement system should to encourage managers and other employees to work towards implementing the organization’s strategies. Through the translation of strategy into measure of the balanced scorecard, all parties can know objectives and goals. ... roject, key performance indicators and key measures of the project were made to meet the requirements of the T5 Agreement and its complexity, spanning road, rail, and air constructions. The T5 balanced scorecard has incorporated the balancing principles of Norton’s balanced scorecard fours aspects i.e. learning & growth, customer, internal processes and financial. In the T5 BSC, the leading indicators are given by the benchmarks agreed & the verifications planned and work supervised. On the other, in Norton’s BSC, the leading indicators are given by learning & growth aspect. Considering the outcome indicators, the handover agreed and work complete in T5 can be related to the customer aspect in Norton & Kaplan BSC. Norton and Kaplan’s BSC aspect of internal process can be related to T5’s inspected and protected, and compliance assured measurement indicators. On further analysis, not all the measures as groups in each of T5 indicators act according to Kaplan and Norton’s BSC aspects. For example, the financial aspect relates to the total estimated cost of NCRs, a key measure of the compliance assured performance indicator. It can also be argued that the T5 KPIs and key measures have gaps related to the growth and financial BSC aspects but the assembly and manufacturing level performance indicators would not be expected to counter this. Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard Aspects T5 Balanced Scorecard Customer Handovers confirmed RFT Closed outstanding work items Confirmed O&M manuals Confirmed Maintenance work plans Learning & growth Agreed test & inspection plans agreed Supervisors RFT-trained Financial Set Samples/benchmarks Total estimated cost of NCRs Internal processes Inspections with respect to the set benchmark & quality standards Checks confirming

Ethnic Market Essay Example for Free

Ethnic Market Essay With mounting western influence and focus on revival of traditional Indian fashion elements, diversity in India sees many faces. To maintain the dignity of the culture and to provide a platform to small Indian brands, future group initiated ethnocentrism concept by opening ethnicity store in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This initiative has provided new format insights to organized retailers to expand their horizons in highly volatile Indian consumer oriented market. A new format has always been a challenge to any retailer to sustain into the market. In the changing face of market, to regain preference of consumers towards nationalized brands, can be looked from a confronting angle. This created an anxiety in the mind of researchers and inspired them to undergo the research to understand the ethnicity concept. Ethnicity format is studied based on the first ethnicity store set up in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat and glimpses are taken from the second and third store set up in Mumbai and Pune respectively. Research is secondary followed by primary in nature. This paper gives insights into the overall set up of ethnicity format that includes differentiating Criterias of ethnicity in comparison to regular retail formats based on observation at the store. Questionnaire based survey is also performed to get opinion on ethnicity store and paper gives insights into preferential category for purchase for future developments Consumers have given a very good response to the new concept. Along with shopping, experiences of consumers with the format have given a lasting impact on their mind-set. Further Raja market, Rani Market, Thoda aur market are found attractive to consumers and have gained good preference of consumers followed by Sona-chandi market Chota India and Ghar aangan market. The insights into concept development and suggested potential extended formats of ethnicity may readily work as a pillar to stand into the market for new retailers. Keywords: Ethnicity, Ethnocentrism, Organized Retail, Nationalized brands. Introduction Indian fashion industry is moving towards westernization due to high level of acceptance of foreign brands by the consumers. Due to this ,western brands are getting a wider platform than the ethnic brands across the country. As a result, national/ethnic products are even overlooked by consumers and time may come that such products may disappear from the market. To protect the Indian heritage, Future group took up the maiden initiative to provide a space to Indian products and brands under its own name and fame Future Group, Indias leading business house with strong presence in retail sector, launched a new retail format, family lifestyle store Ethnicity, in Ahmadabad to market ethnic brands and products of India in 2008. This chain is a major family format developed after the launch of *Professor, G. H. Patel Post Graduate Institute of Business Management, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar. **Assistant Professor, N. R. Institute of Business Management (GLS-MBA), Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad. Pacific Business Review International 2 highly successful family formats like Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, and Home Town. The new store format that has been billed as Everything Indian, seeks to promote ethnic brands, ranging from ethnic and fusion wear, Jewellery, handicrafts, home decor, beauty products to accessories and gifts. Thus ethnicity showcases a large number of small Indian brands under one roof. Ethnicity besides promoting the culture of ethnic products, provide a modern platform to augment the presence of the retailers into the industry. Research Objectives †¢ †¢ †¢ To understand the concept of ethnicity as a new retail format To understand differentiating factors of ethnicity store in comparison to the modern retail stores. To understand the consumers preference towards the new format. Scope of the Study The study has explored the concept of ethnicity. In includes understanding of the theme and concept development, merchandise development and differentiation criteria of format in comparison to existing formats. Further to understand acceptance of the new format, consumers preference towards the offerings has also been analyzed Data Collection Sources Secondary data sources have been used to understand the concept the ethnicity. Information has been taken from leaflet provided by ethnicity store of Ahmedabad, and Company website to get insights into ethnicity store of Pune and Mumbai. Articles kept on the websites are also used at the launch of ethnicity. Primary data has been collected through questionnaire to know consumers preference towards the new format. Respondents were the consumers of Ahmedabad who visited ethnicity store. Sample of 100 respondents was administered out of which 94 responses identified as valid sample for the study. Literature Review Ethnic origin has been defined as a group of people who share a common descent, a sense of collective identity and usually a shared cultural heritage and tradition (Crysdale and Bettie, 1973). Ethnicity implies common customs, values, and attitudes within a group of people who are bound by a common cultural identification. Because values reflect a standard or criterion that people use in the guidance of behavior, they act as a norm for ethnic consumer behavior and an influence on many consumption motives. Ethnic Marketing Ethnic marketing is an important aspect of lifestyle marketing, a strategy that tailors a companys products and services towards the customers lifestyles. According to Technopak Analysis, the current market of sarees and ethnic wear stands at Rs 31,000 crore and is projected to grow at 10 per cent to reach Rs 45,000 crore in 2014. Views expressing rationale towards ethnic marketing Mr. Arvind Singhal, chairman of management consulting and retail specialist firm Technopak Advisors (201011) said, Overall apparel category spends are rising, with special focus on ethnic wear brands, where many new brands have emerged as market heroes. They sensed the vacuum in the market, ease of entry, and attracted women the most interesting target consumer, which places the Indian ethnic wear market at Rs. 56,800 Crore, growing at 9% annually. Govind Shrikhande, customer care associate and managing director, Shoppers Stop said Branded ethnic Volume 5 Issue 5 (November 2012) wear is one of the top selling categories in our stores. For the past few years this segment has seen double digit growth, Mr. Gaurav Mahajan, CEO, Westside, a Tata group company said ,Indian ethnic wear is an integral part of our customer promise. We widened the Westside range and introduced Zuba, which offers silks and authentic handlooms. This autumn will see the launch of two more brands, Mr. Rakesh Biyani, joint managing director, Future Group said ,There is a significant rise in demand for womens ethnic clothing. There is a big gap between the opportunity and what is being delivered today by organized players. This gap identification generated a lead to cover the untapped ethnic market and future group took up the initiative to establish ethnicity store as a revolution in the existing apparel format. Concept development of Ethnicity Store by Future Group. Store Design Future Group has launched the first of a chain of stores aimed at retailing Indian wear in 2008 in Ahmedabad city. It is the branded Ethnicity store that keeps the a range of ethnic and fusion wear, jewelry, handicrafts, home decor, beauty products and accessories and gifts. All the products are India inspired. The store is having a spread over an area of 25,000 to 30,000 sq. ft. Store Objective The apparel labeled as traditional and indoor clothing a decade ago, has laid the foundation for todays contemporary Indian ethnic chic. Ethnicity proudly follows the Indian values of being sensitive to Ahmedabad city, environment and community. It provides a platform to bring together traditional or ethnic 3 retailers and consumers. It recreates the know-how of a traditional ethnic market in a modern retail format and is an aggregator of the multi-faceted ethnic merchandise and traditional selling practices. It revives and rejuvenates anything and everything that is Indian. It aims to truly open out the urban ethnic market and redefine the scale of ethnic merchandising. Ethnic-Theme Positioning at the Store The concept Ethnicity is not limited to ethnic clothing but it is a destination to get the unique experience. The key differentiator for Ethnicity lies in its 360-degree shopping experience. Ethnicitys store design reflects a distinctly ethnic character visual merchandising tools include artifacts, paintings and decor pieces from Rajasthan, Orissa and Gujarat. Visual merchandising at ethnicity is like the synopsis of a story book. Ethnicity has gone the Desi way (Highly traditional) to become attractive and communicative. It is vital to not only be a differentiated retailer but also to draw out the true essence of the products. Branding in ethnic wear has been led by region of origin of the product like Benaresi sarees, Lucknowi kurta, Kutchchi Bandhani. The store is colorfully designed and the flashiness gives it an ambience of luxury and festivity. Atmosphere at Ethincity Store Atmospheric at ethnicity store is a reflection of Indian heritage. Instead of halogen lights, everywhere light is reflected by lanterns. Instead of room freshener or perfumes, a raw fragrant of essential oil from flowers known as attar is used to mesmerizes the entrant and bring them to the Indian culture. All the racks for display of merchandise are developed from wooden and outside decoration is of handicraft, which gives a reflection of Indian art. Instead of having all the racks or shelves for display, few of the merchandise is displayed on cot. Store assistants are dressed in ethnic kurtas for refreshments, Coconut water is served in a lorry (Cart) which gives a flavor of typical Indian culture, on the road serving. Pacific Business Review International 4 Use of multi colors, art and fancy designs, air fragrance and traditional lightings give all time festival feeling experience. market. Chosen name for the market is based on arterial language of India. With the theme of ethnocentrism, the collection represents only Indian brands in all the merchandise. Merchandise at Ethnicity Store. All the offerings are divided into a Niche name of Overall Analysis of Ethnicity Store Table 1 Store Sections Generic category name Ethnic name at ethnicity store Women’s wear category Rani market-everything ethnic for women Men’s wear category Raja market-everything ethnic for men Kid’s wear category Chota India market Jewellery/ accessories Sona –chandi market- ethnic Jewellery Home accessories Ghar –aangan- ethnic ideas for your home Stationary/medical items Thoda aur- ethnic accessories and more Source: http://www. indiaretailing. com/organising-ethnic-retail. asp Data Analysis Regular formats of organized retail stores have their specific offerings. While ethnicity store has differentiated the same to give a new experience to the consumers. Based on observation at ethnicity store, the following comparison has been made to derive the differentiation criteria Table 2 Comparative Analysis: Organized Regular Retail Format V/s. Ethnicity Format Parameter Organized Retail Organized retailOutlet outlet Theme A move culture Objective To give exposure to western To give platform to Indian brands culture dynamics and appeal to ethnocentrism Size of the outlet Large size Comparatively small size Structure Vertical departmentation Horizontal departmentation. Availability of brands Global brands Only Indian brands Atmospheric Exclusive halogen lights lantern /yellow lights towards Ethnicity Store Ethnicity store western A move towards Indian legacy Volume 5 Issue 5 (November 2012) 5 Decoration No additional decoration Fully decorated with colors, lamps, handicraft ,puppets etc. -looks like all time festival Music Western songs Indian instrumental Fragrance Room fresheners Raw fragrant of essential oil from flowers known as attar Shelves Racks Along with racks Traditional village themed cots with four legs Merchandise division Products are separate Gender wise product bundling. Apparel gets displayed in one section, accessories other section, footwear another section and so on e. g. Raja market includes apparel ,accessories ,footwear addressing men. Rani market includes apparel, accessories, footwear for women Merchandise name English names Traditional Indian names Store assistant’s dressing Western formal wear Traditional Indian kurta Packaging Plastic printed bags Paper bags with traditional look Merchandise Western outfits western designs and indo- Indian traditional embroidery work outfits with Shoes Mojaris and chappals Indo-western painting Handicraft Cosmetic products. Natural ayurvedic products and aromatherapy Perfumes Incense stick, fragrances Light chandelier Candles and Lantern Artificial jewellery Stone work, Kundan jewellery Refreshments Food court with multi cuisine Small push cart/lorry with coconut water Deliverable Shopping Experience attar, natural Source: Primary data collection through observation Analysis of Consumers Preference Towards Ethnicity Store: Consumers survey has been performed to get insights into their experience towards the format with the help of questionnaire. Respondents were the consumers who visited the ethnicity store. Pacific Business Review International 6. Figure 1 Consumers Preference towards the Market based Merchandise at Ethnicity Store with Mean Rank ( where 1 is least and 5 is maximum) 0 1 2 3 4 5 4. 25 Raja Market 4. 02 Rani Market 2. 80 Chota India 3. 20 Sona Chandi Ghar Aangan 2. 05 4. 15 Thoda aur Source: Primary data collection through questionnaire Consumers preference towards the ethnic theme based markets is analyzed to know the preferred market. This analysis is aimed at developing the market to increase the preference †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Consumers are highly satisfied with Raja Market offerings followed by Rani market and thoda aur market. New introductions in thoda aur market like lamps, candle and fragrances, ayurvedic products etc have grabbed attention of people which gives a lead to introduce more unique and Indian traditional items. Sona chandi market has got a good response. Thus it can be interpreted that fashion accessories in ethnic look are keeping tune with the ethnic garments. As per consumers opinion, Chota India is yet to gain preference may be because of traditional designs that are not preferred more for kids in †¢ comparison to western attractive outfits with cartoon characters Again as per consumers opinion, Ghar aangan is also yet to gain preference may be because of bed sheets, utensils, toys , purchase for rituals like puja ka saaman etc. have pre-existence of established unorganized market. Volume 5 Issue 5 (November 2012). 7 Consumers Preference towards Ethnic Products for Three Most Preferred Markets Figure 2 Preference has been Analyzed towards Offerings for Females as Rani Market Source: Primary data collection through questionnaire Fusion wear and Mix Match are able to attract consumers as it is a new and unique base of ethnic products. As Saari, salwaar kamiz have become a common purchase and many platforms are available to address the demand, preference is found at the moderate level. Figure 3 Preference has been Analyzed towards Offerings for Males as Raja Market Source: Primary data collection through questionnaire In mens wear traditional wear in the form of Jodhpuri, Chudidar and kurtas along with traditional mojaris have attracted consumers to larger extent Pacific Business Review International 8 Figure 4 Preference has been Analyzed towards Offerings for Thoda Aur Market Source: Primary data collection through questionnaire Full range of Fragrances and Candles Incense has been introduced by ethnicity store. It has got extra ordinary preference of consumers. Thus it has contributed towards maintenance of Indian legacy Consumers preference towards Aromatherapy Aromatherapy is the use of aromatic plant oils, including essential oils, for psychological and physical wellbeing. Aroma therapists blend therapeutic essential oils especially for each individual and suggest methods of use such as topical application, massage, inhalation or water immersion to stimulate the desired responses. Aroma therapy oils may include : †¢ Peppermint Digestive disorders †¢ Rosemary Muscular pains, mental stimulant †¢ Sandalwood Depression, anxiety and nervous tension †¢ Sweet orange Depression and anxiety. †¢ Tea tree Respiratory problems, antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral †¢ Lavender Headaches, insomnia, burns, aches and pain Ethnicity store has provided the platform for Aromatherapy. Full range of essential oils has been displayed to generate the awareness and preference towards the same. It is aimed at generating awareness towards ayurvedic medicine in the arena of allopath for better and secure treatment. Ethnicity has taken maiden initiative to mould the consumers psychology towards naturopath. (Graph on next page) It can be interpreted from figure-5 that first hand response has been satisfactory with 49% for. Aromatherapy and thus it enjoys the potential to increase the preference in future. The atmospheric of traditional products is supporting the purchase of traditional way of health supplements. The advice and explanation given along with the product has played important role in making realization to go for natural products Volume 5 Issue 5 (November 2012) 9 Figure 5 Preference has been Analyzed for Aroma Therapy Source: Primary data collection through questionnaire Figure 6 Analysis of Consumers Satisfaction towards Ethnicity Store: Consumers level of satisfaction towards the differentiated offerings has been analyzed. Such analysis is aimed at identifying the most appealing differentiation for future positioning of the store and developing the strategies that may lead to future satisfaction Competitive Assessment Matrix with Mean Rank ( Where 1 is least and 5 is maximum) Regular Organized Retail Formats and Ethnicity Store Consumers’ satisfaction on competitive assessment matrix 0 1 2 3 4 5 4. 05 4. 95 Theme 2. 30 2. 60 Price 3. 25 4. 00 Variety 3. 94 4. 35 Display 4. 00 Experience Source: Primary data collection through questionnaire Keys : Regular organized retail outlets Ethnicity store 5. 00 Pacific Business Review International 10 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢. Competitive assessment matrix depicts that ethnicity theme is highly appealing to the people. The differentiation point of giving experience to the consumers than only to provide a platform for shopping is getting correct positioning in the mind set of consumers as it is applauded by consumers with the mean rank of 4. 95. Unique display of ethnicity is highly appreciated by consumers in comparison to regular organized retail formats. On the dimension of variety ethnicity is lagging behind in comparison, the contributing reason may be limited number of Indian brands into each category. As far as pricing is concerned none of the outlets satisfied the consumers expectation. It brings out the fact that price structure is too high. Here opportunity lies with ethnicity store to discriminate pricing strategy to get competitive edge over other formats. It might be feasible to reformulate the pricing strategy due to nationalized brands. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Suggestions †¢ Major Findings †¢ †¢ †¢ Ethnicity is indeed a revolutionary move towards consumers ethnocentrism. National players have also joined hands with the big retailer and accepted the opportunity to address the mass market. Thus it has contributed to a greater extent in providing a wider platform to small retailer of India. Further is has contributed towards generating awareness of ethnic products and brands of allover India which were not noticed by the consumers and importance was not realized by consumers. It is an absolutely unique model into organized retail formats. Everything starting from atmospherics to collection of brands, merchandise display and packaging is uniquely positioned with the nationalized theme. It provides a feel-good factor and thrilling experience to the consumers. Consumers are getting attracted by the theme and getting exposed and penetrated by ethnic products. Today consumers look for fashionable clothes. National brands which were not recognized earlier, have provided a platform of fashion to explore Consumers are highly satisfied with Raja Market offerings followed by Rani market and thoda aur market. Fusion wear, Mix Match, Jodhpuri,Kurtas, Chudidars, Mojaris and fragrances ,candles and incense are able to get preference of people. Aroma therapy is able to get good welcome form the consumers. Ethnic designs are getting acceptance in the form of novelty. In all this innovative concept well applauded by consumers as they are getting exposed to all the variety and designs of products of all the corners of India under one roof. †¢ †¢ †¢ More Indian retailers should be motivated to provide huge collection of ethnic products in the categories of mens wear and womens wear to provide more varieties. There is a need to increase the range of aroma therapy offerings to increase the awareness and consumption. Fragrances, candles and incense offerings have brought Indian values back in the preferences. This has showcased a very good business potential as a whole. There is a need to provide more and more offerings into the segment with more and more varieties. Potential revolutions into existing format of ethnicity for India. Format can be expanded by introducing specialties of major states/cities of India †¢ Rajasthan market Art craft †¢ Jamnagar market-Bandhani Volume 5 Issue 5 (November 2012) †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Bangalore -Silk garments Chennai- Pearl jewellery Kerala market-Spices Format can be expanded by introducing specialty food of major states/cities of India it may help to give a back shift to the consumer trend which is moving towards western food Gujarati food Punjabi food South Indian food Rajasthani food North Indian food Kathiyawadi food Potential revolutions into existing format of ethnicity for other countries. It has been witnessed that countries are getting specialized into technological innovations but spread of such innovations into the same continent reflects questionable behavior of consumers. Many a times it is because of lack of awareness. Such type of format may provide a common platform to explore the small innovative products at consumer end E. g. European countries. Fashion based Ethnicity- As fashion industry is one of the major growing industries in Europe, all fashion statements can be displayed under one platform †¢ Fashion statement of Italy †¢ Fashion statement of France †¢ Fashion statement of United kingdom Technology based ethnicity- Technical Research innovation driven countries, all innovations can be displayed under one platform †¢ Big to small innovative products of Finland. †¢ Big to small innovative products of Germany †¢ IT Renewable technology based products from Sweden †¢ Electric technology innovations of Netherland E. g. Asian Countries 11 Technology based ethnicity †¢ Robotic technology based innovative small to big products from South Korea Japan References Crysdale and Bettie, 1973, Retrieved from, http:// www. manifolddatamining. com /html /products/ ethnicmarketing. htm on 15/02/2012 Anuradha Shukla, Ethnic wear market booms in India retrieved from http://wonderwoman. intoday. In/ story/ethnic-wear-market-booms-in-india/1/ 88440. html http://indiatoday. intoday. in/story/ethnic-wear-marketto-grow/1/124981. html retrieved on 06/02/2012 koregaonparkplaza, pune (2011) retrieved from http:// w w w. k o r e g a o n p a r k p l a z a . c o m / s t o r s details. asp? id=77catid=1st=1 retrieved on 06/ 02/2012 Runul Vashistha, (2009) retrieved from http:// www. indiar et a iling. com/ R et ailC oncep t _ details. aspx? Id=58 retrieved on 02/02/2012 Pooja nair, (2009). retrieved from http://ahmedabad. metromela. com/Lamps+and+ethnic+ wear+at+. Ethnicity/article/3183 retrieved on 15/02/2012 Shailesh Shah, (2012). Ethnicity: Towards organising ethnic retail, retrieved from http: // www. indiaretailing. com/organising-ethnicretail. asp retrieved on 02/02/2012 http://www. pantaloonretail. in/pdf/ethnicity_karigari. pdf Reference Book Jr. Churchill Gilbert A. , Lacobucci Dawn, Israel D. , (2009),Marketing Research- A South Asian Perspective, India Edition, Delhi: Cencage Learning. Additional material Leaflet circulated at ethnicity store 12 Glossary Attar: A fragrant of essential oil typically made from rose petals Ayurvedic: It is a Hindu system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. Ayurveda can be defined as a system, which uses the inherent principles of nature, to help maintain health in a person by keeping the individuals body, mind and spirit in perfect equilibrium with nature Bandhani: A process of patterning cloth by tie-dyeing in which the design is reserved on the undyed cloth by tying small spots very tightly with thread to protect them from the dye especially popular in Rajasthan and India Chappal: An item of Indian footwear, similar to a flipflop with a toe strap Chota (India market): Younger, junior child related products. Pacific Business Review International Kundan Jewellery: Kundan is a traditional Indian gemstone jewelry, a method of gem setting in a jewellery piece, consisting of inserting gold foil between the stones and its mount, usually used to create elaborate necklaces believed to have originate in royal courts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is the oldest form of jewellery made and worn in India Kurta: A knee-length, collarless shirt worn over pajamas by men in India Mojaris: A style of South Asian handcrafted footwear mostly using vegetable-tanned leatherproduced in India Organized retail: Organized retail has been defined as a network of similarly branded stores with an element of self service Raja (Market): A prince, chief, or ruler related products in India Rani (Market): Indian princess related products Ethnicity: Ethnicity implies common customs, values, and attitudes within a group of people who are bound by a common cultural identification Saree: a dress worn primarily by Hindu women; consists of several yards of light material that is draped around the body Ethnic groups: A group of people who share a common descent, a sense of collective identity and usually a shared cultural heritage and tradition Sona-chandi (market)-Gold silver related products/jewellery Ethnic Marketing: Ethnic marketing is an important aspect of lifestyle marketing, a strategy that tailors a companys products and services towards the customers lifestyles Ghar -aangan (market):Home decoration related products Handicraft: Items made by hand, often with the use of simple tools, and are generally artistic and/or traditional in nature . They are the objects of utility and objects of decoration. Incense stick: It is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned Thoda aur (market): somewhat more than the existing here in the context of more than the regular offerings.

Skoda: Business Strategy Analysis

Skoda: Business Strategy Analysis Skoda Company and its business 1.1 Introduction to Skoda Company The two cyclists, who were known as Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement, are considered as the founders of Skoda Company. The two cyclists were used to design and produce their own bicycles and eventually it was established as Skoda. In 1925, Skoda was established in Czechoslovakia and gradually, it was expanded towards Eastern Europe by producing cars, farm ploughs, and aero planes other than bicycles. Skoda has to cope with hard times in company history such as war, economic problems and also the changes in the political environment. While the Skoda is grown up internationally, there was a requirement of a strong foreign partner. By, 1990 Volkswagen AG had dominated by joining Skoda. Volkswagen AG is known as the leading car manufacturer in Europe by manufacturing variety of branded products such as Volkswagen, Skoda, and Audi (Skoda Auto, 2011). The remarkable thing is the Skoda UK is selling Skoda cars through its independent network of certified dealers. 1.2 Business as a transformation process In common, there is an input and output can be clearly identified in a business. Input may consist of working force, entrepreneurship, capital and land. Output may be goods and services. Therefore, the process of transformation is common for all the organizations and most of the time, output can be considered as a combination of goods and services (Oxford University Press 2007). For an example considering the hospitality as a business foods and beverage can be the goods they serve and the lodging may be the service they offer. The critical thing is to be produce outputs which may worth higher than the inputs. In financial terms, it is known as the profit in relation to the organizations which are expecting profits. But, in the case of non profit oriented organizations such as schools and hospitals other indicators are used to measure the progress. Transformation may differ from business wise. The critical thing is to implementing innovative methodologies of value addition for the pro ducts and services while cost cutting (Oxford University Press 2007). Value addition can be done by manufacturing outputs that the customers are ready to pay money more than usual price. Since the brand name may be incorporated with customers lifestyle and preferences, effective branding result in improved sales. For an example, plain pair of shoe can be marketed to a higher price by branding it with brands like Nike or Addidas. Chapter 2 Organizational audit and the business environment 2.1 Organizational Audit Organizational audit is critical for a business to meet the following objectives. To analyze the businesss organizational framework, procedures and flow chart. To investigate the contest between the job descriptions, responsibilities and the flow chart of the business.    To emphasize the unsatisfactory aspects of the current structure of the business. To define development paths for improvement of the business. To satisfy these objectives organizational audit is being done by analysis of existing data, summary reporting, individual interviewing processes and analysis of raw data gathered through the surveys. Organizational audit is crucial for a business to cope with the business environment. 2.2 Business environment It is believed that business transformation process may not occur in a vacuum. Firms are driven in particular frameworks and subjected by the business environment. Business environment can be divided in to two. Micro Macro Micro environment consist of individuals or organizations which the business deal with a regular basis. It may include customers, employees, distributors and suppliers which are known as the stakeholders. That all components may have the direct involvement of the business activities and it can be affected by the actions of the business. Therefore, it can be concluded that micro environment play a vital role in the success and the behavior of a business. The macro environment may consist of factors which are lying outside of the direct control of the business. It includes economy, policies of the government and also the social changes. Since these macro factors can primarily change the environment of a business one individual business can rarely do much on its own to shape them. Theoretically, the macro environment can be analyzed by using PESTEL analysis. (Scott, 1982) Chapter 3 The PESTEL analysis for Skoda Company PESTEL Analysis PEST analysis is the methodology of analyzing the macro environment in most of the countries. But, the expanded PEST model which is known as PESTEL is commonly used in UK (CIPD, 2009). PESTEL is stand for Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal analysis. It describes the outline of macro environment in relation to the business environment. Referring to the political factors, it consists of policies implemented by the government such as the involvement in the economy. It also includes what kind of goods and services to be produced and the priorities in relation to the business support. The political decisions may play a vital role for some businesses which are related to education health and also in the infra structure facilities. Considering the Skoda Company, the changes in laws and regulations such as accounting standards, taxation requirements and environmental laws and legal power of the foreign states may affect on their business especially in the international trade. Therefore, it is critical to monitor the governments policies and regulations in a continuous manner. (Lynch, 1999) Economic factors may include economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates as well as the inflation rate. Those are the factors that may have the potential to make effects on operations and decisions. Referring to Skoda, interest rate may affect its  cost of capital. Therefore, it determines the extent of the growth of the business and expansion. Exchange rates may affect the costs of exporting goods and the supply and price of imported goods. Social  factors include cultural aspects, health perception, population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes and emphasis on safety. Changes in social factors influence in the product demand and operation. For example, aging process may generate smaller and less-willing workforce .This may lead to increasing the labour cost. Therefore, referring Skoda to cope with these trends there should be various management strategies to be adopted. For an example, it should be more concerned on age limit of the workers when recruiting new workers. The factors such as rate of technological changes, automation and the technical inducements altogether considered as technological factors. Those factors may influence with the outsourcing decisions, market entry barriers and efficient production level of a company. When considering the Skoda, it is producing branded motor cars. Therefore, technology should be their main focus. Because, it creates opportunities for new products and product improvement in relation to the marketing. As the technology advances, new products may launch. (Scott, 1982) Ecological and environmental aspects such as weather, climate, and climate changes can be considered as environmental factors. Those factors may especially influences industries such as tourism, farming, and insurance. Furthermore, growing awareness of the potential impacts of climate change is affecting how companies operate and the products they offer, both creating new markets and diminishing or demolishing existing ones. Discrimination law,  consumer law,  antitrust law,  employment law, and  health and safety law can be considered as the component of the legal factor. These factors can influence with the operation process, cost of production and the demand for the products. Legal aspect mainly focuses on the effect of the national and world legislation. The Skoda Company receives all the rights applicable in the nature of their business and every inventions and product developments are always going into the patented process. I.e. Audi, Skoda. The PESTEL factors are combined with external micro-environmental factors and internal drivers in relation to the business. Furthermore, it can be explained as opportunities and threats in a  SWOT analysis. Chapter 4 The SWOT analysis for Skoda Company SWOT Analysis SWOT is stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths can be described as internal components of a business that lead to its growth. Weaknesses can be identified as the attributes that will make disturbances business or make the business susceptible. The external conditions that could lead to future growth are known as the opportunities in SWOT. Threats are described as the external elements which could make negative effects on a business. (Lynch, 1999) To recognize its strengths, Skoda gathered information through researches from both customers and also from the reliable independent surveys. For an example, annual JD Power customer satisfaction survey had questioned the vehicle owners about their feelings on their vehicle for last six months by using questionnaire for about 20,000 owners. According to the results Skoda dominated in the top five car manufacturers for last 13 years (JD Power 2010). Not only that, in 2007, Top Gears survey revealed that among the 56,000 viewers Skoda dominated as the number one car manufacturer (Top Gear 2007). According to those results, Skoda found that the company excelled at satisfying its customers when focusing the owner experience rather than on sales alone. Almost all of Skodas customers would recommend Skoda branded vehicle to others, means that Skoda had a distinctive strength. As a result, Skoda manufactured cars that their customers could enjoy, rather than simply maximizing the sales. The refore, Skoda branded themselves as a quality product that satisfies its customers. Skodas analysis showed that in order to grow the business required to address issues about how the small company fit into the highly competitive market. An out-dated perception of the Skoda brand, related to the companys Eastern European origins, contributed to the business small size. By 1999, Volkswagen AG ownership had changed this negative attitude about Skoda. But, in 2006 brand Health Check revealed that the weak and neutral image in mid market range is still existing when compare to the Ford, Peugeot and Renault like brands (UK Branding 2006). Though, Skoda still deficient of a strong appeal, it is realized that the company needed to reduce the defensive campaigns exemplifying what the brand was not and begin new campaigns illustrating what Skoda had to offer. The change was simple and Skoda knew that its owners were satisfied with their cars. Skoda had realized that its rivals marketing approaches are mainly focused on the product itself. But in contrast, Skoda tends to focus its attention on emphasizing the owners experience with their cars and the customers satisfaction with Skoda vehicles. This SWOT analysis may lead Skoda to distinguish its product from its competitors. Considering the UK market, there are 50 different car makers selling around 200 vehicle models. To survive in this large and competitive market, Skoda needed to ensure that its message would not be lost or drowned out within the crowded environment. As a result, Skoda had manufactured seven different cars such as city car, luxurious car, and family car addressing different market segments with subsequent levels of pricing. Chapter 5 The planning for a business and implementation a new strategy 5.1 Strategic planning, Tactical planning and Operational planning Depending on the PESTEL and SWOT analysis, the business plan for the business should be created by the management of the business. Planning process can be identified as three phases such as strategic planning, tactical planning and operational planning. Strategic Planning can be considered as a long term planning attempted by senior management of a business. I.e. the executives. It involves making decisions which will work toward reaching an organizations mission and vision statements. Tactical planning it the mid term planning. It may range from months up to about two years. This involves middle management those who plan strategies to achieve a businesss strategic goals. In contrast, operational planning is routine planning handled by front line managers. They may report to middle management and enact the leg work of the strategies developed by middle management to achieve strategic goals. 5.2 Implementation of the new strategy Novel business strategies are designed to improve the overall utility of a business, its employees and increase profitability of the business. But change may be troublemaking and can be costly within its own context as employees deal with new procedures, information technology, products or an organizational matrix. To reduce the cost, disturbances and negative effects of implementing new strategies, it should implement a strategy for implementation. Essentially, a well planned and accomplished implementation plan may lead to reduce confrontation to the changes. The process of implementing a new strategy can be identified as six major steps (Kaplan and Norton 2010). Split the new strategy into smaller portions. Aware the employees about the map of change Create and post a scorecard for the new implementation, helping as a cheerleader to employees throughout the process that success is reasonable step wise. Acquiring the feedback regarding the new strategy at each stage by employee surveys. Request customer satisfaction. Doing the correct adjustments in the new strategy, time scale and goals based on feedback and customer satisfaction. 5.3 Conclusion With the concentrated study of the PESTLE, the Skoda Company will continue to emerge and develop if they manage to find solutions in different challenges that the entire organization might face in the future. Since the external environment is extremely complex and dynamic it is important to conducting the PESTEL in a regular basis. Practically, it may not possible to identify almost all the significant changes in the business environment. But, still they may able to find some of those critical changes through their assumptions and that will lead them to take the correct decision in the future. At present the PESTEL structure is further expanded as STEEPLE and STEEPLED by considering the ethical and demographic factors. Therefore, it may be important to stick to this latest model, because in some businesses those factors considered to be critical. To improve its performance, it may be needed to conduct a brand positioning examination by obtaining market research data from both interna l and external audits, allowing Skoda to conduct a SWOT analysis.   Skodas SWOT analysis may facilitate the company to reveal that customer satisfaction by purchasing their products. Not only that, it also reveals that the brand was no longer seen as a poor, outdated car, the company was able to operate within a position in the market, and that a change in public perception was very important to Skodas ability to expand within a highly competitive market. SWOT analysis makes the raw information which may gathered from a survey in to an order therefore, it may support managers to investigate both internally and externally. Therefore, it may also highlight the key internal weaknesses of a business, and also the strengths what the management should be alert on their business. Depending on the SWOT and PESTEL analysis, it is required to implement a new business strategy. The critical thing is to implement that new business strategy without disrupting the business. Romeo and Juliet | Summary and Analysis Romeo and Juliet | Summary and Analysis The classic story line of star-crossed lovers has been replicated time and time again, but possibly the most renowned version is William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet No matter what version is consulted, whether it be the original script or the movie rendition directed by Baz Luhrmann, this familiar plot of the age-old play ultimately ends in the tragic death of the romantic couple. However, no calamity to this magnitude merely comes about coincidentally. Rather, Romeos character is to blame for his and Juliets untimely death. Literary critic, Douglas Cole writes, â€Å"The sorry spectacle that Romeo, the romantic lover, makes of himselfpoints directly forward to the catastrophe†(108). In his play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare leads the star-crossed lovers to their ultimate demise through the development of Romeos character traits. His strong emotions and rash impulsiveness result in Romeo and his beloved Juliets tragic death. Consentingly, Romeo must not assume full responsibility of his and Juliets deplorable collapse. However minor a role they may have assumed, other characters such as Juliet herself, Friar Lawrence, and the Nurse played their part in the journey to the final, cataclysmic outcome of the play. Nonetheless, Romeo plays a large role in bringing about his unfortunate downfall. Romeos excessively strong emotions such as rage, despair, and love are contributing factors to his ultimate demise. To begin with, Romeos frequent display of rage and anger throughout the play promotes his untimely death. A clear instance of this severe fury is when, at the end of the play, Romeo takes his anger of Juliets apparent death out on Paris and kills him. This scene takes place long enough after Romeo and Juliet are well on their way to their impending doom so as not to have a direct impact on the outcome. However, it clearly illustrates a detrimental mistake resulting from Romeos excessive anger. Furthermore, even though Romeo fully intended to commit suicide, he could not control his extreme rage at his entire predicament and felt the need to take his feelings out on Paris. A literary critic aptly explains, â€Å"In such conditions men were naturally more excitable and more subject to sudden panic and prevailing moods,†(Granville-Barker and Harrison 165). In this t ime of great stress, Romeo was more prone to behaving in an excessively fervent manor. To illustrate this, Shakespeare did not grant Romeo complete control of his emotions and instilled in him a superfluous amount of anger. Next, Romeos limitless rage is evident in one of the major climaxes of the theater piece. In Act 3, Scene 1, Romeo enters a confrontation with Tybalt, Juliets cousin. Romeo, with Juliet in mind, does everything he can to avoid a fight. Even so, when Mercutio is killed at Tybalts hand, Romeo cannot control his anger and murders Tybalt in an attempt to avenge Mercutios death. With this, it is extremely evident that â€Å"Romeo is weakened by his superfluous amount of emotion. This excess of rage resulted in his killing Tybalt†(Nardo 122). This murderous act directly leads to Romeo and Juliets tragic ending. Upon committing the crime, Romeo receives a sentence of banishment from Verona. Had Romeo refrained from killing Tybalt, and therefore never been exiled from Verona, Juliet may not have found it necessary to drink the potion that would render her dead. Without Juliets false death the romantic couple would not have encountered the disastrous situation that they would soon be f acing. Additionally, Romeos grief for his seemingly dead Juliet causes him to take actions that contribute to his demise. This is evident in the last scene of the play when Romeo commits suicide after seeing Juliet lying as though in death. One Shakespearean critic proclaims, â€Å"When Romeo perceives Juliet to be dead, the grand romantic lovers emotional state deteriorates to the point of suicide†(Cole 108). Romeo was completely and uncontrollably overcome by anguish and mourning. Without his surplus of uncontrolled emotion, he would not have immediately digressed to suicide. This would have given him the time to discover that Juliet was in fact, not dead. In short, the couple would ultimately survive. Furthermore, immediately after receiving the news of Juliets supposed death, Romeo is already overwhelmed by his grief and he instantly speaks his suicidal thoughts: Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. Lets see for means. O mischief, thou art swift To enter in the thoughts of desperate men! (Rom. 5.1.36-38) With this, Romeo is already plotting ways to take his own life. Had Romeo kept control of his emotions and investigated the matter for himself, he would have discovered soon enough that Juliet was not dead after all. He may even have come in contact with Friar Lawrence who would have been able to dispel the entire plight. Clearly, â€Å"This catastrophe is hastened by Romeo himself who, when he hears the false report of Juliets death, revealsa despair that turns instantly to thoughts of suicideand he perishes miserably†(Cole 108). Obviously Romeos utter grief for the apparent death of his beloved contributes to the unfortunate outcome at the end of the play. Also, Romeos deep and passionate love for Juliet is instrumental to his downfall. Over the entire duration of Romeos relationship with Juliet, he is obviously completely infatuated with her. One instance that shows Romeos undying love for Juliet is when he kills Tybalt. Romeo murders Tybalt while his thoughts are elsewhere, specifically on Juliet. His passion for her is all consuming (McLeish 215). If Romeo were able to set aside his deep passion for Juliet for a small amount of time, he would not have murdered Tybalt and, therefore, he would never have entered into the horrific situation that would lead to his downfall. In addition, perhaps the scene that best demonstrates this undying love is Romeos final act: his suicide. Upon hearing the false rumor that Juliet is dead, Romeo decides to take his own life. Shakespeare clearly reveals Romeos reasoning behind this decision: â€Å"Heres to my love! †¦ Thus I die with a kiss†(Rom.5.3.129-131). With this, Romeo undoubtedly admits that he cannot live without his love and thus is ending his life out of passion for Juliet. It is also evident that Romeo completely loves Juliet even after she is seemingly dead at his feet (Goddard 289). The adoration that Romeo quite obviously feels toward Juliet is so exceptionally intense that he cannot control his emotions enough to think clearly. If Romeo would not have let his love become so alarmingly out of control, he may never have decided on the horrific action that was his self-murder. At the very least, he would have been able to think lucidly and postpone this unnatural self-destruction long enough to be present and, more importantly, alive, when Juliet would awake. This would have inevitably thwarted the romantic couples tragic death. Harold Clarke Goddard concurs, â€Å"in the case of Romeo, love puts him out of loveâ€Å"(16). In other words, Romeos suicide is a result of his endearment towards Juliet, and ending his life negates any possibility of findin g love with her. Shakespeare ingrains in Romeo a passion for Juliet so intense that it eradicates the possibility of love for the romantic couple, and ultimately brings about their tragic end. Finally, the impulsivity of Romeos actions plays a large role in the catastrophic ending. Throughout the entire story, Romeo is constantly carrying out actions that he has clearly yet to think through. Friar Lawrence even provides foreshadowing to the fact that this rashness will prove to bring about dire results when he says â€Å"they stumble that run fast†(Rom.2.3.94). This metaphorically states the rather simple fact that acting impulsively before considering the consequences can only result in complications. One example of Romeos impetuousness is when he makes a quick decision to seek out Juliet in her garden even though it is extremely dangerous. This rash decision could have been disastrous, but because Romeo was fortunate and was not discovered by Juliets father this particular instance left him relatively unscathed. It is noted that William Shakespeare particularly †emphasizes Romeos own impulsiveness†(Nardo 61). This action, though, just marks the beginni ng of a succession of hasty decisions. For example, Romeo decides that he wants to marry Juliet when he has known her for so short a time. Because Romeo decided to wed Juliet so hastily, the duo was met with problems stemming from the suddenness of their becoming a couple. Perhaps if the two had not rushed into what they considered to be their future so quickly, they would have avoided the ensuing issues. Instead, â€Å"Romeo insists upon the marriage, with an untimely haste†(Nardo 122). This ultimately leads to the rapid advancement of the tragic death. Simply because none of their plans were thought through, they were merely acted upon, Romeo and Juliets relationship was doomed to fail. The long chain of hasty mistakes by Romeo does not, by any means, end with his hasty marriage. Rather, Tybalts murder can also be described as rash and impulsive. Although Romeo does seem to consider the consequences of harming his enemy, as soon as Mercutio is killed, he does not so much as pause before he attacks Tybalt. This impulse that Romeo indulges himself in causes a great flood of events leading directly to his demise, which could have all been avoided had he taken the time to think about what he was doing. Indeed, â€Å"[Romeos] whole love affair betrays a cast of mind that isimpatient of cold reason, and this very quality helps to induce the tragic ending†(Nardo 122). Shakespeare urges Romeo to his demise by denying him the use of forethought that would allow him to make rational decisions. This small but significant character trait would have unquestionably been enough to prevent the romantic couple from advancing toward their deaths. Possibly the most consequential act of impulsive behavior on Romeo s part is in the last act of the play. To begin with, Romeo buys poison to kill himself immediately after hearing of Juliets supposed death. He wishes only to end his life at her side and refuses to investigate Juliets â€Å"death†(Nardo 61). Romeo could not take the necessary time to be sure that the rumor of Juliets death was true. Instead he acted on his very first impulse, which was to commit suicide. This resulted in the awful ending that was the romantic couples death, distinctively showing that â€Å"Romeros [tragic flaw] is his impulsive rashness†(Hammersmith 246). Additionally, Romeo did not waste any time in committing the heinous act of suicide after entering the Capulet tomb. Should he have paused for even a brief moment to contemplate what he was about to do, he would have lived long enough to see Juliet awaken from her death-like sleep. Unfortunately, he continued his trend of rash behavior and cut his life short, which in turn would cause Juliet to do the same. Surely, then, Romeos distinct character traits play an important role in his tragic ending. Uncontrolled emotions including rage, grief, and love, as well as a tendency to act on impulses are major contributing factors to this cataclysmic demise. Although Romeo could not have been alone in the creation of this catastrophic ending, he very clearly played the largest role in bringing about his downfall. The romantic lovers did everything in their power to make their love work. In the end, though, Romeo and Juliet could just not survive the harsh realities of their lives and Romeos flawed character traits.

Reading And Reading Processes

Reading And Reading Processes 1.2 Definition of Reading and Reading Processes It is hardly possible to carry out, or even read, a research on reading without an understanding of the word reading and the processes involved in it, and the present study is no exception. Reading plays such an essential role in educational settings that it has been defined as the most important academic language skill (Grabe Stoller, 2002). It is a psycholinguistic receptive process of written communication in that it starts with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning that the reader constructs (Goodman, 1995). It is a process that involves the reader and the text in a dynamic and complex interaction in which a mental representation is constructed based on the meaning signaled by the writer and the readers goals and interests (Rumelhart, 1985; Stanovich, 1980). What is meant by the process is reading proper, i.e. the interaction between a text and a reader (Alderson, 2000, p. 3). In this process, what the readers do is look at print, decode the written words on the page, and determine their meanings and their relationships. The readers also think about what they are reading, what it means to them, how it relates to other things they have read before and to things they already know. Different readers will develop different understandings of what a text means. This is partly because a text does not contain meaning which has to be detected by a proficient reader as the product of reading. The product of the reading process is comprehension (Barry Lazarte, 1995). There may be as many different reading products as there are different readers. This is because readers may differ in their experiences and knowledge. In order for the reading product to be attained, readers employ two different approaches while engaged in the reading process (Nuttall, 2005), namely the bottom-up and the top-down approaches. Bottom-up, or data-driven, approaches are serial models (Alderson, 2000, p.16), where the reader begins with printed words, recognizes graphic stimuli, decodes them to sound, recognizes words and decodes meanings. According to Grabe and Stoller (2002), the bottom-up model suggests that reading follows a mechanical pattern in which the reader creates a piece-by-piece mental translation of the information in the text, with little reference from the readers own background knowledge. Top-down, or conceptually driven, processing is a complementary method of processing written text in which readers draw on their intelligence and experience to understand a text (Nuttall, 2005). According to the top-down model of the reading process, what the reader already knows is thought to determine in large part what s/he will be able to comprehend (Alvermann Phelps, 1998). The top-down model assumes that comprehending begins when a reader has access to appropriate background experiences and knowledge to make sense of the print. In other words, unlike the bottom-up model, the top-down model proposes that the reader makes educated guesses to predict the meaning of the print. As a matter of fact, what is emphasized in top-down processing, according to Alderson (2000), is the knowledge that a reader brings to text. This model is based on schema theory, which accounts for the acquisition of knowledge and the interpretation of text through the activation of schemata: networks of information stored in the brain which act as filters for incoming information (Ausubel, 1968; Bartlett, 1932; Carrell, 1983a; Carrell, Devine Eskey, 1988; Hudson, 1982). In this view, readers activate what they consider to be relevant existing schemata and map incoming information onto them. To the extent that these schemata are relevant, reading is successful. Nevertheless, neither the bottom-up nor the top-down approach, per se, is an adequate characterization of the reading process (Alderson, 2000). What readers need to employ while attending to texts is a combination of the two approaches, which, in Nuttalls words (2005), are used to complement each other. This inadequacy led to the introduction of a third approach, the interactive model. The interactive model of the reading process incorporates features of both the bottom-up and top-down models. In practice, a reader continually shifts from one focus to another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict the probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer says (Nuttall, 2005, p. 17). In this context, Alvermann and Phelps (1998) believe that the interactive model of reading process is a good descriptor of how students typically read their content area texts. They connect what they know about language, decoding, and vocabulary, or bottom-up skills, to their background experiences, prior knowledge, and familiarity with the topic being read, or top-down skills. Interestingly, these skills are compensatory to Stanovich (1980). He argues that when readers lack enough bottom-up skills, they may use top-down knowledge to compensate. Likewise, when they do not have enough background knowledge on the topic they are reading, they resort to their language skills to comprehend the text. Most of the current models of L2 reading comprehension, according to Nassaji (2007) are interactive in that L2 comprehension is considered to be a process consisting of both bottom-up and top-down processes. However, familiarity with reading models, alone, is not sufficient for the understanding of the factors involved in the reading process. Alongside the significance of the knowledge of the reading process, the importance of reading for ESL learners necessitates the understanding of the variables affecting a learners comprehension of texts. Research on reading variables has divided them into two major sections: factors within the reader, and aspects of the text to be read (Alderson, 2000). What is of focus in the present study is the former section, the reader variables. 1.4 Reader Variables Research has looked at the way readers themselves affect the reading process and product, and has investigated a number of different variables. Among them, two very important reader variables are topic familiarity (i.e. prior knowledge on topic), or background knowledge, (Bransford Johnson, 1972; Carrell, 1983a; Carrell Wise, 1998; Kintsch, 1992; Leeser, 2007; Moravcsik Kintsch, 1993; Nassaji, 2007; Young, 1991), and vocabulary knowledge (Alderson Urquhart, 1985; Anderson Freebody, 1983; Carrell, 1984; Koda, 1988, 2005; Qian, 1999). A definition of these variables seems indispensible to this research introduction. 1.4.1 Topic Familiarity Prior topic knowledge, and its influence on readers text comprehension is one of the variables being investigated in this study with regards to teachers intervention in the classroom. Therefore, an understanding of the concept seems essential for the reader. There is a substantial body of research in cognitive psychology supporting the idea that topic familiarity has a facilitative role in reading comprehension (e.g. Bransford Johnson, 1972; Kintsch, 1992; Moravacsik Kintsch, 1993). This role has been motivated through schema-based models of comprehension (e.g. Rumelhart. 1977, 1980) which posit that pre-existing schemata control comprehension. In other words, readers background knowledge contributes to their understanding of texts. When the term background knowledge is used, what is usually meant is a readers prior knowledge of the subject matter of the text. In this regard, Alvermann Phelps (1998) claim that What a person already knows about a topic is probably the single most i nfluential factor in what he or she will learn ( p. 168). The nature of the knowledge that readers have will influence not only what they remember of text, but also the product, i.e. their understanding of the text, and the way they process it (Bartlett, 1932; Carrell, 1984; Rumelhart, 1980; Alderson, 2000). The development of schema theory has attempted to account for the consistent finding that what readers know affects what they understand. Schemata are seen as interlocking mental structures representing readers knowledge (Alderson, 2000, p. 33). When readers process text, they integrate the new information from the text into their pre-existing knowledge or schemata. In addition, their schemata influence how they recognize information as well as how they store it (Carrell, 1983a). Researchers have distinguished different types of schemata, which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 2. Problems arise when a reader has no relevant schemata or an insufficient schema, if relevant schemata are not recalled, or if an existing schema is inconsistent with information in the text. Readers will often ignore ideas in a text that conflict with conventional real world knowledge (Alvermann, Smith, Readence, 1985). Students with reading difficulties appear to have particular trouble using their prior knowledge to modify misconceptions or to learn new information from reading (Holmes, 1983). Often, a reader who is struggling to understand a difficult text will follow isolated details in the text and as a result employ an inappropriate schema to fill in the gaps. A factor that has strong potential to affect readers comprehension, and can cause their misinterpretations is culture (Steffensen, Joag-Dev, and Anderson, 1979). Effects of cultural differences on reading recall, test scores and reading miscues have been consistently found in different studies (e.g., Carrell, 1984b; Dima ssi, 2006; Rice, 1980). This will be elaborated on in the next chapter. 1.4.2 Vocabulary Knowledge The second parameter that is probed in the study, the understanding of which is inevitable to the reader, is vocabulary knowledge. Successful comprehension is heavily dependent on knowledge of individual word meanings (Koda, 2005, p. 48). Research confirms a strong connection between readers vocabulary knowledge and their ability to understand what they read (Anderson Freebody, 1983; Davis, 1968; Koda, 2005; Qian, 1999). For example, Koda (2005) argues that there is a reciprocal relationship between word knowledge and comprehension. On the one hand vocabulary knowledge plays a crucial role in text understanding among both L1 and L2 readers, and on the other, vocabulary learning and processing are equally dependent on comprehension. She adds that the precise meaning of a particular word is determined in large part by the context in which it appears, and that this meaning is closely linked with readers real-life experience. However, in spite of overwhelming data available on their str ong connection there is little consensus as to the exact mutuality between the two (ibid.). While, traditionally, vocabulary has been viewed as the dominant factor in reading comprehension (Davis, 1968; Whipple, 1925, cited in Hiebert Kamil, 2005), a more recent view suggests a two-way link where the two are interdependent during their development process (Anderson Freebody, 1983). Anderson and Freebody evaluated two contrasting hypotheses: instrumental and knowledge. The instrumental hypothesis postulates a direct mutual tie between vocabulary and comprehension, maintaining that word knowledge facilitates comprehension. On the contrary, the knowledge hypothesis assumes an indirect link between the two, positing that their relationship is linked through a third phenomenon, background knowledge. In this view, vocabulary size reflects conceptual knowledge. Once readers have real-world experience, their text understanding is considerably improved. There will be more elaboration on this in Chapter 2. As was said earlier in this chapter, vocabulary knowledge and background knowledge, or topic familiarity, are two most important variables affecting students comprehension. Research has also shown that the most important problems teachers face in a reading class is unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar topic (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008). In order to have a better understanding of teachers contribution to the reading class with regard to these two parameters, an awareness of the teachers role in the reading class, which is another variable in the present research, seems inevitable. 1.5 Teachers Role It is believed that the role the teacher plays in reading instruction is significant in the degree of the effectiveness of a reading program (Blair, Rupley Nichols, 2007). In this regard, Duffy-Hester (1999) is convinced that the teacher is more important and has a greater impact than any single, fixed reading program, method, or approach (p. 492). However, it should be noted that it is not enough for a teacher to be a good person who loves working with students. They must be aware of the reading process and the teaching and learning of reading if they want their instruction to yield good results (Blair, Rupley Nichols, 2007). Good teachers understand that students need to be prepared to read before they are asked to (Alvermann Phelps, 1998). One way to prepare students for reading new topics is presenting basic background knowledge through brainstorming, question and answer, discussion on the topic, or pictures. Another way is providing students with topic related vocabulary and instructing them prior to reading (ibid.). These preparatory activities are usually practiced in the pre-reading phase, which, according to Chastain (1988), is meant to motivate students to want to read the assignment and to prepare them to be able to read it. Pre-reading activities provide a reader with necessary background to organize activity and to comprehend the material (Ringler and Weber, 1984). These experiences involve understanding the purpose(s) for reading and building a knowledge base necessary for dealing with the content, vocabulary, and the structure of the material (ibid.) Ringler and Weber argue that pre-reading activities elicit prior knowledge, build background and focus attention. In fact, it is in the pre-reading stage that teachers attempt to facilitate and enhance students comprehension of reading texts by topic familiarization and vocabulary introduction. Chapter 2 will discuss the pre-reading stage in detail. 1.6 Background to the Problem There is a considerable bulk of research on the comparison of the effectiveness and enhancing roles of topic familiarity and vocabulary knowledge in ESL reading (e.g. Afflerbach, 1986; Brantmeier, 2003; Carrell, 1987; Hammadou, 1991; Hudson, 1982; Johnson, 1982; Park, 2004a, 2004b; Swaffer, 1988). Studies on these two reader variables reveal that there is little consensus among the researchers as for their functions in ESL contexts. Some findings have shown a significant, positive effect for topic familiarity as either a main effect or as part of a complex interaction. For example, Johnson (1982) gave ESL readers a passage on Halloween and demonstrated that topic familiarity had a greater impact on comprehension than the pre-teaching of vocabulary. Also, Swaffer (1988) concludes, in her paper, that background knowledge can be more influential in reading comprehension than word knowledge. She further claims that topic familiarity facilitates language recognition, and recall of concepts. However, some other research in the literature indicates that vocabulary knowledge may be a more significant variable than prior knowledge on topic in ESL readers success. For example, Phillips (1990), reported by Hammadou (1991), finds that prior knowledge is insignificant when readers lack vocabulary knowledge and language proficiency. To Phillips, it is only when readers are proficient that high or low background knowledge comes into play and differentiates between readers levels of comprehension. But, perhaps the most comprehensive study on the effects of vocabulary pre-teaching and providing background knowledge on L2 reading comprehension was done by Park (2004b). He divided his 180 participants into three groups à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ the vocabulary group, the background knowledge group, and the control group, with different treatments. The results he attained were a) the scores of the vocabulary and background knowledge groups were significantly higher than those of the control group, b) the vocabulary group scored higher than the background knowledge group, although the difference between the mean scores of the two groups was not significant, and c) the effects of pre-reading activities on L2 reading comprehension differed by achievement level and text type. Nevertheless, to Tuero (1996), unknown vocabulary and prior knowledge play equally decisive roles in reading comprehension. She concludes, in her study, that background knowledge and vocabulary difficulty function independently and affect reading in different ways. Even though prior knowledge facilitates comprehension, vocabulary development is equally crucial to foreign language reading. As said earlier, unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar topic have been found to be the most important problems that teachers encounter in a reading class (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008). Therefore, to ensure students comprehension, teachers should concentrate on these two variables, because without comprehension reading would be meaningless. Different learners seem to approach reading tasks in different ways, and some of these ways appear to lead to better comprehension (Tercanlioglu, 2004). Research has shown that learners can be instructed to use appropriate reading strategies to help them improve comprehension and recall (Carrell, Pharis, Liberto, 1989), and that this instruction should include more pre-reading strategies than post-reading strategies (Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008). However, what is of concern to the researcher is the degree of effectiveness of teachers instruction of these reading strategies. It is true that unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar topic are the most significant problems in a reading class. But, who should, or can, attend to these problems? Is it the teacher, the student, the author, or other variables that have this responsibility? Although there has been quite a lot of research on topic familiarity and vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension, unfortunately, to date, there is no data available reflecting on the degree of effectiveness of the teachers presence at, or absence from an ESL reading class. In fact, the role of the teacher in enhancing students familiarity with texts topics and contents, and his/her role in vocabulary introduction have not been investigated yet. It is not clear to what extent teachers intervention facilitates students performance on reading comprehension and vocabulary tests. What if the teacher is not available for a pre-reading instruction? Does this mean that students have to postpone their reading activities, waiting for the unfamiliar topic and unknown vocabulary to be introduced by the teacher? In other words, should topic familiarization and vocabulary introduction be necessarily carried out by the teacher? The researcher believes this is a gap in the literature, which the present study seeks to fill. 1.7 Purpose and Design of the Study This study is an attempt to investigate in depth, in an explanatory mixed methods design, the degree of the effectiveness of teachers construction of background knowledge and his/her instruction of vocabulary at pre-reading stage in adult ESL reading comprehension. The influence of the teacher on the reading class, his/her contribution to students comprehension, and the facilitative role that s/he might play are the important aspects that this study aims to shed light on. The reason for conducting a mixed methods study is that the researcher attempts to combine both quantitative and qualitative data for more precise results. The explanatory mixed methods design, which is also called the two-phase model (Creswell, 2008), puts emphasis on quantitative data collection and analysis. In this method, the major aspect of data collection is quantitative, and a small qualitative component follows in the second phase of the research (ibid.). The quantitative phase of the study aims to test the following hypotheses: Teacher-directed topic familiarization enhances students performance on ESL reading comprehension tasks more than written introductions do. Dictionary use and teachers instruction of vocabulary yield the same results in students performance on vocabulary tests. To test the research hypotheses, this study seeks to answer three questions, and for the qualitative part of the research, RQ4 is supposed to serve the purpose. The research questions are as follows: RQ 1 To what extent does teacher-directed topic familiarization enhance students performance on multiple-choice reading comprehension tests? RQ 2 To what extent does teachers intervention help students recall of a reading passage? RQ 3 What are the differences between teachers instruction of vocabulary and dictionary use in students performance on vocabulary tests? RQ 4 What are students perceptions as to the teachers role in an ESL reading classroom? To answer RQs 1, 2, and 3, quantitative data suffices and serves the purpose, and that is why the researcher applies multiple choice questions and written recall tests. But, for RQ 4, it is deemed necessary to mix quantitative and qualitative data to obtain more detailed , specific information than could be gained from the results of statistical tests. Therefore, a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire is combined with semi-structured interviews to answer RQ 4. Details will be found in Chapter 3. 1.8 Significance of the Study Through his experience as an EFL teacher, the researcher has noticed that many EFL students face challenges whenever the reading comprehension process is altered by any unfamiliar reading task or assignment. He has also noticed that pre-reading instruction activities, including prior knowledge construction of unfamiliar topics, and teaching new vocabulary, play an important role in preparing students for the task and can help them become more aware of the characteristics of reading that are important to the task. This study will help teachers and educators find out the effectiveness and significance of teachers presence at, or absence from, the reading class. It is an attempt to explore teachers contribution to students reading comprehension, and tries to answer the question of whether or not, or to what extent, adult ESL students could be independent readers. This research will investigate, for the first time, the effectiveness of dictionary use as compared with the teachers vocabul ary instruction in enhancing students vocabulary knowledge in the reading class. Another significant viewpoint of the study is that, again for the first time, the teachers skill in familiarizing students with unfamiliar topics at pre-reading stage will be compared with the efficacy of written introductory data doing the same job of providing students with background knowledge on unfamiliar topics, hence the applicability of written pre-reading information in helping students text comprehension. All this will have implications for educators, teachers, practitioners, and researchers in the field of L2 reading comprehension, and will also help them design reading skill courses accordingly. It is hoped that the present research will make a positive contribution to the field of teaching second language reading. 1.9 Methodology The study was conducted with newly registered postgraduate students at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. The Institute of Graduate Studies (IGS) at UM administers regular English Placement Tests for those new students who do not possess any scores on either the TOEFL or the IELTS as the prerequisite for the registration for the university programs. Based on the students scores on the university Placement Test, the participants were assigned to two treatment groups, Group A and Group B, comprising 35 students each. To find the answers to RQs 1, 2, and 3, the participants were provided with three reading passages of unfamiliar topics and contents, which they read and were tested on, with a weeks interval between the tests. The difficulty levels of these passages were measured through the Flesch Readability Test (Flesch, 1948). A typical session ran as this: The participants in Group A received no teachers intervention. They were provided with some brainstorming questions, to which they received no answers, a list of the text concepts, and a written introduction, which were meant to help them construct background knowledge on the text they were going to read. The text this group read had a title, which is believed to have a role in helping students to construct prior knowledge (Hammadou, 1991). They were also given a list of the key vocabulary, and were encouraged to use their dictionaries to check words meanings. In short, Group A received any information which was thought to be necessary in rea ding the text, but in the form of written input. Group B, however, underwent teachers intervention. That is, it was the teacher who, in some pre-reading activities, familiarized them with the topic and content, and taught them the key vocabulary. Moreover, their text did not include a title, and no dictionary use was permitted in this group. This procedure was repeated for all the three passages. The participants were then assessed on comprehension and vocabulary after finishing each text. Each reading passage was followed by a free written recall test and a set of 20 multiple choice questions, 10 on comprehension and 10 on vocabulary. In fact, in the three treatment weeks, the students took three written recall tests, 30 comprehension and 30 vocabulary MCQs. Also, to find the answer to RQ4, on the students perceptions of the teachers role in a reading class, a 5- point Likert scale questionnaire was administered, and then through purposeful sampling, 20 of the participants, 10 from each group, were selected for an interview. Applied as one of the data collection tools, the free recall test is a measure in which readers write down as much as they can remember from what they have just read, without looking at the passage. According to Johnston (1983) and Bernhardt (1983), the recall measurement is a valid means of evaluating foreign language reading comprehension. This technique has been widely used in second language reading research (e.g., Carrell, 1987; Dimassi, 2006; Leeser, 2007; Young, 1999) Multiple choice tests, as another research tool, are common instruments for assessing reading comprehension (Alderson, 2000). To Koda (2005), they are the most popular format used in standardized reading comprehension tests. MCQs have been employed extensively in L2 reading assessment (e.g., Bugel Buunk, 1996; Carrell, 1987; Carrell Wise, 1998; Oded Walters, 2001; Park, 2004; Yazdanpanah, 2007), and, therefore, have been coupled with the free recall test to measure the participants reading ability. In addition, Likert scale questionnaires and interviews are two common techniques in measuring perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs in second language teaching and learning (DeVellis, 1991; Turner, 1993), and have been used widely in the literature (See Brown, 2006 2009; Richardson, 1996; Williams Burden, 1997; Yamashita, 2004, for Likert scale questionnaires, and Barkhuizen, 1998; Cabaroglu Yurdaisik, 2008; Conteh Toyoshima, 2005; Li Wilhelm, 2008, for interviews). Thus, the study has applied these tools to find the answer to RQ4. Details on the research instruments will be revealed in Chapter 3.