CASE STUDY2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

CASE STUDY2 - Essay Example In addition, the European Commission desired to confine isolated spot advertisements to short time slots during sports programs only (Lainer, 2005). According to Lainer (2005, pg. 1), "We are truly disappointed. We think they have missed an opportunity really to modernise advertising rules in a fast-moving environment with new technologies and competition." As previously mentioned, RLT is Europe's largest television group, having 32 stations in all. These include France's M6 and the United Kingdom's Channel Five. According to Lainer (2005, pg. 1), "Traditional commercial broadcasters pressed for more flexibility in using commercials amid increased competition for advertising. They also say tougher rules on commercials during children's and news shows could endanger programmer-making in these fields. The growth of digital channels, web-based TV and viewers' commercial skipping devices have fragmented audiences and challenged the core advertising-driven business of traditional free-to-air broadcasters." The European Commission stands up for itself by claiming that they tried to support traditional commercial broadcasters as much as possible when they were writing their proposal. A couple of things it proposed that would support advertisers include allowing them to have commercials during the first 20 minutes of television shows-which they currently cannot do-and allow for product placement in television shows. The proposal of the addition of product placement sparked much criticism, where some individuals feared that television in the UK would become commercial-soaked like it is in the United States (Lainer, 2005). One of the major forces impacting the European advertising industry is the European Advertising Standards Alliance. According to EASA (2008, pg. 1), "The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels. EASA brings together national advertising self-regulatory organisations (SROs) and organisations representing the advertising industry in Europe. EASA is, on behalf of the advertising industry, the single authoritative voice on advertising self-regulation issues and promotes high ethical standards in commercial communications by means of effective self-regulation, while being mindful of national differences of culture, legal and commercial practice." The advertising industry in Europe faces a number of key challenges today. Among these are socially responsible advertising. According to Perez-Latre (2003, pg. 1): In recent years, the European advertising industry has made a clear self-control effort since its goal is to provide a solid alternative to more governmental advertising regulation. But the last change in the European Commission's Directive, "Television without Frontiers" (COM/2002, 6.I. 2003), has provoked fresh thinking. Today's main controversial topics are alcohol advertising, time constraints for advertising on television, norms on interactive television, sponsoring, self-promotion, teleshopping, and other advertising/programming content. Extreme commercialization of television programs is having an impact: Clutter has increased to levels that are unbearable for viewers. Pretty much every European Union market is regulated with regard to its advertising industry. Children's advertising is particularly affected. For instance, in

Organisation and management issues of Alcan Essay

Organisation and management issues of Alcan - Essay Example s mentioned earlier, aluminium is a long term, and also a capital-intensive business, and as far as Lynemouth is concerned, it had begun its operations in the year 1972, and one of the major costs of operation was the power that it had to use for the process of smelting, twenty fours hours a day, all year round. In the year 1990, the plant had about 780 employees, the majority of whom were male, and who had been with the plant since its inception. Work organization was traditional, and the work turnover was low. (Newell; Scarbrough, 2002) There was in addition, a perception that the organization desired to impose changes, by using parts of already existing agreements, instead of involving the Unions. While the employees also reported that the management was not alt all communicative with them, the Union had to take up the cause, and it was requested that the management cooperate with trade unions to establish a better relationship with the employees, because the productivity of the plant was declining as a result of dissatisfaction. Gradually, there was overcapacity with the opening of new plants, and the price of aluminium started to fall, and employment also started to decline from 56,000 to 46,000. In 1991, one of the two pot lines of the plant had to be closed down, and there was a redundancy of fifty percent of the entire workforce. With only one line of operation, Lynemouth was faced with great difficulties, and the management found that they would have to somehow raise efficiency levels immediately, so that pro duction would be improved. Soon team working was brought in, with the cooperation of the trade unions, and in 1994, direct supervision was abolished, and in its place, team leaders were appointed to supervise operations, but the problem was that he could... There are certain specific issues in the Alcan Case that can be analyzed, like change, teamwork, and the managerial structure of the organization. Today, Alcan is entirely different in several aspects, from the Alcan of a mere four years ago. The company has grown operating earnings of 18% annual compound rate and has also managed to invest $8.8 billion for developing and to maintaining the growth of the organization, mainly through acquisitions and taking advantage of internal opportunities, like for example, the expansion of the Alouette Center in Quebec. These were some of the numerous strategic investments that Alcan had embarked on in the recent past, and it is because of this that Alcan has been able to effectively strengthen its global presence, and also maintain its stability and sustainability. Today, it can be stated that the main strengths of the company lie in the unique combination of its strong and committed workforce, and also because of its strong network of operation s. (Innovative aluminium and packaging Solutions Worldwide.In addition, its excellent customer base, in combination with the management’s decision to embark on and to maintain a sustainable and an innovative strategic alliance with its numerous customer and suppliers, making the organization one of the most dynamic and multilingual and multicultural organizations in the global world of today, with more than 70,000 employees in about fifty-five countries all over the world.

Career and family priorities of college students

Career and family priorities of college students This study was designed to observe the career and family priorities of college students. It was studied to determine whether men and women differ in feelings towards career and family. It was hypothesized that there would be an inverse relationship between career values and the importance of family life between men and women furthermore; female students would value the family life role, whereas male would prefer the occupational life role. It was tested with the help of Life Role Salience Scale (Amatea, Cross, Clark, Bobby, 1986). Thirty female and thirty male college students rated the scale. Statistical analysis demonstrated that women valued family more than career and men valued career more than family. INTRODUCTION: Everyday decision can be related to the essence of human. In todays society, individuals are trying to do it all-to find life satisfaction through a combination of multiple roles (e.g., career, marriage, parenting, homecare). Super (1990) theorized that ones life career is made up of many different roles occupied over the life span, including the roles of career person, home and family person, community member, student, and leisurite. However, if they are not spending their time in ways that are congruent with their values, they are unlikely to find the happiness they seek. Greehaus and Beutell (1985) theorized that the more important a role is to an individual, the more time and energy that person will invest in it, which will allow less time and energy for other roles. Super discussed participation, commitment and value expectations in relation to life roles. Participation is the amount of time spent in a role, whereas commitment and values expectations reflect the importance of th e role to the individual, and the degree to which the individual can meet their needs through that role (Super Neville, 1986). Satisfaction in life is related to role congruence, which is the amount of congruence between the level of participation in each life role and the level of commitment to and valuing of that role. For example, if an individual highly values and is highly committed to the family role, but only participates in this role 5% of the time, that individual will be less satisfied with life than an individual with greater congruence between valuing/commitment and participation. Research has demonstrated that inconsistency between role participation and role commitment may cause increased psychological distress and decreased marital quality (Voydanoff Donnelly, 1999).Graduating senior women on the Berkeley campus overwhelmingly reported that they expected to be married, to have children and to have a career. Nearly nine-tenths are planning to earn graduate degrees in law, medicine, science, or business, and half expect to earn as much if not more, than their future husbands. Simultaneously, they hope to raise two or three children each and to interrupt their careers for extended amounts of time, (Six months to twelve years) in order to care for their children. Some researchers say that women place family before career and like to spend large amount of time at home, especially when their children are young. And women with children earn significantly less than either men or women without children. College women and men are quite similar in one respect they both want partners or spouses and they both want children. Ninety percent of the women and men in one of the research say that women hope to marry and have children. But one asks these students how they plan to combine their careers, marriages, and children, striking differences appear. They wanted their husbands to work continuously. It would be strange, said one, echoing the sentiments of man y, if I was at work and he was at home. But many of the men were tentative about their future wives employment. Several men stated they wanted there wives to stay home after she had children. Clearly, both women and men see the husbands job as essential to the economic well-being and survival of their future families and the wifes job as optional-a luxury they can choose to add on or take off at will. Most of the students come from fairly traditional homes-their mothers were responsible for cooking, doing the dishes, and cleaning the house while their fathers made money and fixed things around the house. Students say that mother took care of the kids and the house while father went out to work and earn money. Extensive research indicates that college men and women endorse both achievements goals such as career development and marital goals. Many researchers have found that college men and women are increasingly similar in their goals and value orientations. Scant information is avai lable about how women and men with similarly strong and equal motivations toward the achievement of goals and the maintenance of affiliative relationships will prioritize, make decisions, and interact when achievement demands and personal relationships conflict. Students reveal ignorance of the career hazards of interruptions in employment, and lack of awareness of the family sacrifices and stresses attendant to career commitment (Catalyst, 1987; Phillips Johnston, 1985; Zuckerman, 1980). As men and women in college today think about their future and plan for work and family, they are exposed to a variety of mixed messages relating to gender. Gender socialization continues to influence young peoples identities and stereotypes from the past frame choices (e.g., Angrist Almquist, 1975; Komarovsky, 1985; Machung, 1989) for students as they move into a society which, at least theoretically, permits equality of opportunities regardless of gender. Yet, participation of women in the work force has increased significantly and attitude surveys indicate that we are much more accepting of women taking active roles in our society (e.g. Mason Lu, 1988). Nevertheless, women still face considerable occupational segregation (Blau Ferber, 1985). Research suggests that women continue to oversee management of home, children and social activities of the family, while men help with household tasks (Hochschild et al., 1989) since discrimination results in women earning less money for eq ual time at work, men can justify their non-involvement in household chores because they must provide for the family. Thus, despite many changes, todays college students have grown up in traditional families where women have had to assume the majority of household tasks, whether they worked outside of the home or not. Consequently, many traditional gender expectations are maintained by the structural inequality in our society. According to Eccles, womens career choices will differ from mens because they place more value on family and relationships. Machungs (1989) interviews with 30 graduating Berkeley seniors, illustrates the contradictions which occur between the changing role of women in society and the traditional roles we still hold for women and men in the family. The women whom Machung interviewed wanted careers, but recognized that their career paths would be interrupted by family and children. The men researcher spoke to, on the other hand, planned their career with the exp ectation of having a support system (wives) to care for their homes and families. The women in other studies (e.g., Komarovsky, 1985; Maines Hardesty, 1987; Angrist Almquist, 1975) also express tentativeness of plans for their work life, in which career planning becomes contingency planning or planning around husbands and children. Women in these studies expect to be working most of their adult life, but also expect that their family will take priority over work as needed. Sociological functionalists saw employment and family in an earlier and family life in an earlier historical period as well-integrated (Parsons and Smelser 1956; Goode 1960). Only one person, the male breadwinner, participated in the labour force; the wife/mother met childcare, house-hold upkeep, and other pattern maintenance needs. Husbands and wives were thus specialists in their roles. Societal restrictions on employment for women of childbearing age reduced work/family conflict and stress. Today in our socie ty there is almost universal support in principle for equal opportunity however; traditional attitudes regarding womens family roles persist. Employed women thus experience conflict between work outside the home and family responsibilities (Mortimer and London, 1984; Mortimer and Sorensen, 1984). Pleck (1984) finds that traditional norms promote asymmetrically permeable boundaries in the roles of men and women. For men, the work role dominates; the family is expected to accommodate to its requirements. To support their work involvement, men spend relatively little time on family work. Because the male family role inextricably entails being a good breadwinner (Bernard, 1984), male workplace success simultaneously fulfills both work and family role responsibilities. On the other hand, women are expected to stress family obligations over activities related to employment. Womens work roles often give to accommodate the family (e.g., women with young children often work part-time or inte rmittently). Thus, employment doesnt radically disrupt the traditional core wife/ mother responsibilities. In essence, employed married women have two jobs, one in the workplace, the second in the family; this normative pattern has negative implications for their socio economic attainment (Marini, 1989). Therefore what normative controls used to accomplish (i.e., a women was expected to quit work when she married or had children). Adolescence is widely recognized as a critical life stage for vocational development (Erickson 1963) and crystallization of future plans. Adolescent work and family orientations are therefore expected both to reflect changing work/ family linkages and to contribute to them in the future. Public opinion trends (McLaughlin, 1988) show that widespread behavioral change (e. g., wives employment) often precedes attitudinal change (e.g., approval of wives working). Moreover, status attainment researchers have demonstrated that educational and occupational aspirations influence attainments (Sewell and Hauser, 1975). Given these reciprocal relations of work and family structures, it is important to continually monitor trends in young peoples work attitudes and behaviors. Recent research shows that future work (Farmer, 1983; Shapiro and Crowley, 1982) and family (Affleck, Morgan, and Hays, 1989; Machung 1989; Joss Elson, Greenberger and McConchie, 1977a, 1977b; Maines and Hardest, 1987) cont inue to be central life interests for adolescent boys and girls, with both planning to spend significant portions of their lives in the labor force and in families. A major gender difference persists in that girls more often plan to work part-time and intermittently rather than full-time to accommodate competing work and family role demands (Machung, 1989; OConnell, Betz, and Kurth, 1989).Young women often anticipate that career and family life will be problematic if perused simultaneously (Machung 1989; Ward and Rubin1989; Archer1985; Crowley and shapiro1982). Tangri and Jenkinss (1986)1980 survey of 1967 college female graduates showed a dramatic increase in reported conflict between career and marriage in the post graduate years. Adolescent males ,in contrast ,see their adult work and family roles as more congruent; they see few problems in wanting both careers and families(archer1985).This is to be expected since families do not impede adult mens career(Mortimer and Sorensen 198 4 ).Maines and Hardesy (1987)conclude, young men and women anticipate participating in basically the same categories of activity(education, work, family),butà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦differ in their assumptions about the nature and extent of that participation. Men expect ability and labour market opportunities to determine their futures, while women face the problem of how to integrate these various dimensions of their lives (Maines and Hardesty, 1987). Regan and Roland (1982) investigated marginal shifts in university seniors life goals and vocational aspirations, finding that they had changed over the decade of the 1970s. Women graduating in1979 expected careers to be the primary source of future satisfaction but also indicated that family relationships were still very important. Van Maanem and associates (1977) argue that an understanding of careers should focus on the interaction among individual aspirations, family concerns, and work demands. We therefore, build a measure of lifestyle co mmitment, constructed from individuals ordering of life goals, to investigate relationships. Gender differences in work and family experiences have been a consistently important theme in work-family research (Lewis Cooper, 1999). On the basis of Greenhaus and Beutells argument about the importance of role salience to the work-family conflict (Greenhaus Beutell, 1985), many scholars have hypothesized that women experience more work-family conflict than men because of their typically greater home responsibilities and their allocation of more importance to family roles. However, more recent researchers have discovered that men and women do not differ on their level of work- family conflict (Blanchard-Fields, 1997). In those studies where gender differences were found. The unanticipated results regarding gender and the work-family conflict raise the possibility that researchers emphasis on between-gender differences may mask important within-gender variation in work- family conflict. Within-gender variation may be as critical as between-gender differences in explaining work-fa mily conflict. Gender identity does not stand separate from other identity issues. Rather, it is part of a complex psychological and social process whereby men and women adopt varying degrees of traditionally masculine and feminine roles and responsibilities (Anderson Leslie, 1991). Social and cultural factors, as well as the individuals abilities and personality characteristics, mediate the relationship between gender and work-family conflict (Farmer, 1985). Thus, individual variation within gender can provide valuable information beyond the mere knowledge of gender in order to explain differences among persons regarding work-family conflict. The range of findings in the literature highlights the need to attend to the variation in mens and womens beliefs about the importance of work and family roles, rather than to generalize to all men and to all women (Kerpelman Schvaneveldt, 1999). Understanding this variation may contribute to a more coherent and comprehensive explanation of work-family conflict. The aim of this study is to explore gender differences in work-family conflict while attending to both between- and within-gender variation in perceptions of importance of work and family life roles. In the study we considered the importance attributed simultaneously to both work and family roles by both men and women. This approach should facilitate more precise understandings and may clarify some of the mixed findings of previous research concerning gender differences in work-family conflict. Role salience was typically determined by examining commitment and values regarding work or family roles (Neville Super, 1986). It is important to note that these researchers investigated work salience or home salience without simultaneously considering the relative importance of both roles in an individuals life. Much of the research on career and family orientation has disregarded the perceived relative importance of both work and family roles. As a result, these studies do not reflect the growing recognition that work and family are interdependent spheres of life (Rapport Rapport, 1971; Westman Piotrkowski, 1999). Despite the increase in womens involvement in demanding occupations and the substantial rise of womens vocational aspirations over recent decades (Gerstein, Lichtman, Barokas,1988), mens occupational goals and aspirations frequently exceed those of women. For example, Leung, Conoley, and Schell (1994) found that women generally have lower career aspirations than do comparably talented men. During socialization to work and family roles, men are traditionally raised to pursue the provider role and women the marital/ family role (Major, 1989). Many women in the West continue to be socialized to believe that being a wife and raising a family is the first priority in life and that financial independence and career advancement is secondary (Gilbert, 1993) by this findings we can anticipate that more women than men will fit the Family profile that comprises ind ividuals who assign high importance to the family and relatively low importance to work. Similarly, if young men are raised to adopt the provider role more than young women, it is likely that more men than women fit the Work profile, and assign high levels of importance to the work role and relatively low importance to family roles. By this we can say that women will be represented most often in the Family profile and least in the Work profile. Men were expected to most frequently fit the Work profile and least frequently the Family profile. In research we assumed that womens values and commitment regarding parent and spouse roles would be higher than mens. In addition, following most research findings (Major, 1993; Schwartzberg Dytell, 1996), we anticipated that mens values and commitment to the work role would be higher than that of women. Many women are expected to feel primary obligation to the family role (Schwartzberg Dytell, 1996; Tompson Walker, 1989). Many researchers ha ve found that college men and women are increasingly similar in their goals and value orientations. Scant information is available about how women and men with similarly strong and equal motivations toward the achievement of goals and the maintenance of affiliative relationships will prioritize, make decisions, and interact when achievement demands and personal relationships conflict. Students reveal ignorance of the career hazards of interruptions in employment, and lack of awareness of the family sacrifices and stresses attendant to career commitment (Catalyst, 1987; Phillips Johnston, 1985; Zuckerman, 1980). As men and women in college today think about their future and plan for work and family, they are exposed to a variety of mixed messages relating to gender. Gender socialization continues to influence young peoples identities and stereotypes from the past frame choices (e.g., Angrist Almquist, 1975; Komarovsky, 1985; Machung, 1989) for students as they move into a society which, at least theoretically, permits equality of opportunities regardless of gender. Yet, participation of women in the work force has increased significantly and attitude surveys indicate that we are much more accepting of women taking active roles in our society (e.g.. Mason Lu, 1988). Nevertheless, women still face considerable occupational segregation (Blau Ferber, 1985). Research suggests that women continue to oversee management of home, children and social activities of the family, while men help with household tasks (Hochschild, 1989; Bernardo, Shehan, Leslie, 1987; Coverman Sheley, 1986, Berk, 1985). Since discrimination results in women earning less money for equal time at work, men can justify their non-involvement in household chores because they must provide for the family. Thus, despite many changes, todays college students have grown up in traditional families where women have had to assume the majority of household tasks, whether they worked outside of the home or not. Consequently, many traditional gender expectations are maintained by the structural inequality in our society. The purpose this study was to identity the relationship between male and female college students priorities in terms of there future goals regarding career and family. It was hypothesis that there would be an inverse relationship between career values and the importance of family life between men and women furthermore; female students would value the family life role, whereas male would prefer the occupational life role. Methods Participants In the present study there were two groups consisting of total 60 subjects of which there were thirty female students and thirty male students in the age group 17-22 years. The samples were selected randomly from different colleges. Material The instrument used for the study was life role salience scale. The scale had four different sub-scales dealing with occupational, parental, martial and homecare. Life role salience scale was assed on five point Likert scale ranging from a score of (disagree-1, somewhatdisagree-2, neitheragreenordisagree-3, somewhatagree-4, and agree-5). The purpose of this research was to find reliable information. The first section of the survey consisted of a small section of demographics, including age, gender, major, ethnicity, and academic classification. The second part of the survey contained the Life Role Salience Scales (LRSS), which measured variables of gender, career goals, and family priorities (Amatea, Cross, Clark, Bobby, 1986). The LRSS contained forty value statements regarding feelings about work and family roles. In addition, the LRSS was assessed on a five point Likert scale, ranging from a score of one (disagree) to five (agree). The scale is geared toward role reward value and role commitment level (Amatea et. al., 1986). It also identifies four major life roles as occupational, marital, parental, and homecare. The purpose of this scale is to obtain reliable information pertaining to future career and family expectations of male and female college students (Amatea et. al., 1986). Design: The present study was quasi-experimental design. The subject variable was the gender of the participant, and the dependent variable was whether or not the participant rated his or her career role or family role as more important. This is determined by the participants score on the two Occupational subsets of the LRSS and the participants score on the Parental, Marital, and Homecare subsets. The age group of 20-25 was taken for the study. This particular age group was taken so as to see where this age is where people take decisions regarding career and family. Procedure: The students who volunteered where given consent form and the instructions were read aloud and were also mentioned in the questionnaire. The participants were debriefed on the true nature of the study. Specifically, they were told that the experiment was not about the social opinions about men and women, but on the priorities of male and female career and family values. Once again, all the questions were addressed and students received contact information for any further questions that they may have. Results The data analyzed for this experiment was based on the LRSS which measured family as a combination of homecare, parental and marital roles and assessed career values through occupational role expectations (Amatea al., 1986). Means and standard deviation for all the scales, by gender are shown in Table1. The data displayed variability between males and females in regard to parental role expectations. Overall, the means between genders exhibited significance, and were detected in levels of an independent samples t-test shown in Table 1.According to the data, their was large difference between both men and women in terms of parental role scale. (t=2.45*). As a result the difference between the results of both genders on LRSS reveals that females assessed a higher value towards the parental role than males. Furthermore, the differences between gender in relation to homecare expectation was significant (t=3.17*) which suggests that female preferred homecare role more than males. These res ults support our hypothesis, which stated that there is an inverse relationship between gender, career and family values. Table 2 presents the paired samples t-test; comparisons of the means between the occupational and parental roles were significant. (t=2.63*).table3 shows the paired samples statistics of life role expectation between males. By comparing the means, their was a significant difference (t=2.15*) between male occupational and marital views. Table 1- Gender Life Role Descriptive and Independent Samples Statistics Male Female mean sd mean Sd T Occupational 39.93 3.28 37.93 3.43 2.30 Parental 37.97 4.01 40.77 4.80 2.45 Martial 34.63 4.00 40.75 4.76 5.39 Homecare 37.63 2.16 40.47 4.39 3.17 P Table 2- Female Life Role Paired Samples Statistics mean sd T Occupational Parental 37.93 3.43 2.67 40.77 4.80 Occupational Martial 37.93 3.43 2.63 40.75 4.29 Occupational Homecare 37.93 3.43 2.49 40.47 4.39 P Table 3- Male Life Role Paired Samples Statistics mean sd T Occupational Parental 39.93 3.28 2.0722 37.97 4.01 Occupational Martial 39.93 3.28 5.6119 34.63 4.00 Occupational Homecare 39.93 3.28 3.2077 37.63 2.16 P Discussion This study investigated career and family values of college students. The first purpose of this study was to identify whether or not males and females had different priorities concerning family life and occupational roles. In the present sample of thirty males and thirty females, significant differences were observed between family and career expectations. According to our analysis, females appeared to value the parental role greater than males. This finding suggests that women assess a larger significance towards family priorities than men who value career. These findings supported our hypothesis, which said that there would be a difference in career and family priorities between genders. As hypothesized, females appeared to value the parental role greater than the occupational role. Thus, females held higher expectations for having a family, rather than a career. Likewise, males showed a preference for occupation, as opposed to marriage. Consequently, males viewed having a career a s a greater importance than having a family. Overall, the results of this study highlight the tendency for females to value family priorities, as opposed to males who value career. This finding is also different from gender-role traditionalism research, which suggests that both male and female attitudes change correspondingly during college (Bryant, 2003). Furthermore, results of the present study also indicated that among females, women were more likely to value family, as opposed to career. Past research, such as the Valedictorian Project, obtained results congruent with our findings. Arnold (1993) attributed these outcomes to lowered career aspirations possibly due to female beliefs regarding family-work conflict. In other words, women lowered their career goals to avoid future work conflict and experience fewer family life demands (Arnold, 1993). This finding suggested that external factors (such as occupational stress) tend to lower womens desire to achieve career goals. On the other hand, additional research indicated that universal work expectations were common between genders, in that both males and females contained aspirations in regard to high education, work, and family values (Maines Hardesty, 1987). Similar studies also suggested that women, who pursued high-level careers and contained greater occupational aspirations, appeared to value high quality career roles over family roles (Faver, 1982). These findings, although they were incongruent with our results, suggested that women and men valued career equally. Many studies have emphasized that womens career and domestic choices are situational and change over time, that women negotiate their positions and form ideologies in accordance with various circumstances encountered over their life courses (Gerson 1985; Hochschild with Machung 1989; Jacobs 1989). While not denying the validity of this position, the study suggests that many women students, even before they have had any experience with marri age, motherhood and extra domestic work are incompatible and that husbands are reliable lifelong providers -that help to shape their core identities we suggest that these ideologies influence the choices and decisions, students make as they go through college and enter the world of work, which in turn condition and limit other choices they may wish to make as the circumstances of their lives change. Ultimately, an individuals priorities navigate that person throughout life. A persons values guide him or her in attaining future goals. The very nature of human beings is dependent on critical decisions based on their priorities, which result in life roles. Thus, value lies in identifying gender priorities, in which future human behavior may be predicted. Consequently, future research on the career and family values of college undergraduates is needed to investigate how males and females of different ethnic backgrounds value career and family role expectations, whether or not an increas ed sample size would affect the results of the present study, and the influence of college environmental factors (size, religious affiliation, and location) on gender values. Finally, eliminating media tactics geared toward unrealistic gender stereotypes would decrease the gender-role social pressures exerted on males and females. By projecting realistic and non-traditional attitudes, both men and women would expand their life role opportunities. Womens achievement orientations are clearly not less than males. But women do not feel they must sacrifice their family roles to achieve the arenas of education and work. They anticipate that future family roles will be more important to them than males. Males see their future educational and work as more important than family. Although women expect to earn less than men, they have similarly high expectations for income as their male peers. However, we also find many differences between males and females which imply that traditional gender roles may be influencing plans for their futures. Of particular interest is the gender difference in self-perception. Although females perform well in academics than male they are likely to see themselves as less able than their male. The difference in self-perception is particularly perplexing. These findings support a traditional gender socialization model in which males and all things masculine are valued and females and all things feminine are devalued. Women may be socialized to devalue their own achievements whereas males, despite lower abilities would be pressured to overestimate their abilities. Therefore, responses such as these may be appropriate for both young men and women of marriageable age if they live in a world where men are expected to be superior (Eccles, 1987). We also find that men and women have very different expectations form roles in the home and work place. Although both sexes feel that a good marriage and family are important, men do not feel it is important for them to maintain household activities. Furthermore, males hold more traditional values about women combining work and family, and are more likely to wan their wives to remain at home. Likewise, women place more importance on hous ehold roles, expect to be employed for fewer hours, and are more likely than male

Childhood Perspectives in Jane Eyre and Hideous Kinky Essay -- Jane Ey

Childhood Perspectives in Jane Eyre and Hideous Kinky Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 in Hamworth in Yorkshire. Her father was the vicar of the village she lived in. Her mother died when she was very young. With her two sisters, Maria and Elizabeth she was sent to a very strict boarding school where she was very unhappy. Both her sisters died of tuberculosis, which made her very upset. Jane Eyre was based on Charlotte Bronte's own experience and is a fictional autobiography. Esther Freud was born in London in 1963 almost 150 years after Charlotte Bronte. She spent most of her childhood in Sussex, she was taken to Morocco when she was very young but says she can't remember. Hideous Kinky was published in 1992, although it's not an autobiography its base on her childhood experiences in Morocco. Jane Eyre is set in the middle of the Victorian period where children had no rights and social class was everything. As the book goes on we see Jane grow from a rebellious and boisterous young girl to a sensible and determined woman. We see Jane move from place to place meeting and losing people. Although we do see Jane growing into a young woman we are only concentrating on the first 10 chapters in which we follow her childhood. Hideous Kinky is set in the 1960's, in Morocco .The book gives a view of life on the road to Morocco is put across through the eyes of a sincere but often distracted hippie's five year-old daughter. As the small family seeks food, shelter and friendship wherever they can and their adventures unfurl, there grows between them a strange yet unshakeable bond. The contrast between the historical and social period in which the two books are set is stark, particularly with regard to th... ...y. In the evening, Jane speaks to Helen, she asks her why she puts up with Miss Scatchared's bullying and she explains the principles of endurance, duty and self-sacrifice to Jane, as based on the New Testament Gospels. A lot of the first few chapters when Jane starts Lowood consist of the converse between Helen and Jane. Though this dialogue covers some complex theological ground, it is nonetheless quite naturalistic and provides us with a deep insight into Helen's character. Helen offers one solution to Jane's problem - the need to quell her passionate nature and Jane does learn from her, as we begin to see in the following chapters. But Helen's faith is also essentially inward - looking, as indicated by her tendency to slip into reverie, and potentially death - willing; she looks forward to death as an elevation, 'I live in calm, looking to the end'.

Advertising Statement Essay

Rosser Reeves was the one who invented the term â€Å"USP†. The Unique selling proposition is sometimes referred to as â€Å"product difference.† In rare cases, some products or services have a unique and impressive proposition/benefit. A unique selling proposition is the ultimate proposition because its one that no other competitor can claim. It has to be something that you could also sell from. The concept of a unique selling proposition, or USP, is based on a benefit statement that is both unique to the product and important to the user. The heart of a USP is a proposition, which is a promise that states a specific and unique benefit you will get from using the product. If the product has a special formula, design, or feature, particularly if protected by a patent or copyright, then you are assured that it is truly unique. This is why a USP is frequently marked by the use of an â€Å"only† statement, either outright or implied. There are various methods that c an be used to find a USP as it is demonstrated in advertising strategies and ideas. Strategy in Advertising In advertising, â€Å"strategy† refers to the overall marketing or selling approach. It is the thinking behind the concept/idea. (The thinking behind the thinking, if you like.) Decisions about selling premises are central to the overall advertising strategy. The strategy (or strategic thought) can come from a proposition/benefit of the product, how it used, the market background, the choice of target audience, or any combination thereof. Every strategy should have an element of distinction ( small or large ) from the competition’s strategies, as should the proceeding concept and campaign. All strategies should be written in the form of a strategy statement, also known as â€Å"creative brief†. However, there are several questions we should seek to answer to cover the area of strategic analysis. Competitor, best prospects, and what buying appeals have the greatest leverage. At the corporate level what takes place in the advertising department would be seen as tac tical whilst in the advertising department this would be seen as strategic. * Corporate strategies are concerned with the major functions of the company, and cover finance, human resource management, production, administration, and marketing. * Marketing strategies are concerned with ANSOFF’s matrix and the marketing mix. * Promotional strategies are concerned with the promotional mix options (advertising, sales promotions, PR, publicity, selling, sponsorship, exhibitions). Effective Advertising Advertising that is effective creates the message that best expresses the product-prospect relationship. In addition, the message has to be intrusive enough to battle through the clutter in the contemporary media marketplace. To reach the effectiveness in advertising, a creative strategy should be involved in the process. It has to sell the product effectively by promoting them through smart and well designed advertisement. Creative Brief When forming a strategy from which to create ideas, it needs to be written down in a black and white. This helps to focus and steer the formation of ideas from the onset. When people suggest that an idea is â€Å"off strategy,† they mean that it doesn’t relate back to the defined strategy, and will therefore be much harder to sell the idea to the client. By having a strategy statement at hand, you can keep referring back to it whilst generating ideas from that strategy. It is very hard, even if you are an experienced creative, to produce a great campaign idea (or even a single one shot) without a solid, tight strategy. In short, the better you are briefed, the easier your job will be. A poorly defined, vogue, â€Å"wooly† brief is no use to a creative person, nor is highly specific one that restricts the number of ideas. Below are the basic examples of the headings in a creative brief, * Client * Product/service * Product and market background (supposition) * Competition * Business/Advertising Objective (problem to solve) * Media * Target market/Group/Audience * Proposition/Promise/Benefit * Proposition Support Points * Tone of Voice * â€Å"Mandatories† (Inclusions/Exclusions) Media in Advertising The choice of media depends upon the type of product or service being advertised, the target market, and the client’s budget. Each campaign can be in one form of media, or multiple forms. Traditional advertising media includes print, TV, and radio. Non-traditional includes ambient and guerrilla concepts. In addition, there is direct media, and interactive media. In the UK, each type of media is defined by its relation to a hypothetical â€Å"line† that divides the two. Traditional media is â€Å"above the line,† whereas direct marketing and interactive advertising is â€Å"below the line.† Companies that produce work in all the forms are referred to as â€Å"through the line† agencies, or â€Å"full service.† Other divisions within advertising include sales promotion, and business-to-business. Whereas business-to-consumer advertising, once the skill is developed, the same creative process can easily be applied to these other forms of media an d advertising. Positioning All products and companies, as seen by the customer, occupy some kind of ‘position’ in the market whether they intend it or not. This might be, for example, high price-high value, low price-low value, high price-low value, good company-not-so-good company and so on, when compared with comparable competing products and competing organizations. Most modern organizations now attempt to actively influence this position in the market by matching product and corporate benefits with the needs of clearly identified segments. The managers have performed professionally, be integrated to match the identified needs of the target market. Positioning is how the marketer wants the consumer to view its product relative to the competition. Although product differentiation plays a role in creating a product position, product differences account for only part of a product’s position. A positioning strategy also includes the manner in which a product’s factors are combined, ho w they communicated, and who communicates them. The size (and value) of the advertising corporate and brand positioning is crucial to the well-being of any company and so should be left to the agency professional. Copywriting Copywriting is an essential part of the design communication mix, and those of us who do it for a living will tell you that crafting massages and telling stories is a rewarding mental process, even in the business context. You’ll find that being able to generate a response from your audience is a valuable and highly sought-after skill. Copy (or text, or words) used in design is a very particular type of creative writing that requires the inspiration of an artist and the control of a craftsman or craftswoman. In comparison to the rails on which the copywriter runs, the novelist or poet has no limitations. Poetry and storytelling are flights of the imagination, with no client or news editor to bear in mind. Whether the personality of the writer shines through directly or indirectly, this is the purest creative writing – it can take off in any direction, be as fictional as it wants to be, and go wherever it pleases. Writing copy, however, is all about sticking to brief, while paying homage to the creativity and style of the poet and storyteller. Journalists and copywriters are commercial writers, but the essence of the role is completely different. In most cases journalist have to create the story from the scratch, usually by following leads. They will have to research the facts to get to the heart of the matter, discover the different viewpoints and opinions, and bring this material together accurately and coherently. Articles are often written to a tightly defined structure, while features can allow more room for individual expression and the interweaving of the writer’s viewpoint. The message has to be factually correct, balanced, and fair, but the writer is allowed to take a stance, which could reflect that of the newspaper or, in the case of regular column, the writer’s opinion. Copywriting borrows from all other fields of writing in its quest for creative expression, but ther e is no room for your personality in the copy that you write; you are simply a scribe, a hired mouthpiece for your client, and it is the brand’s voice that must come through, loudly and clearly.

Nicole Sarah Calgary Wedding Photography

Nicole Sarah Calgary Wedding Photography, a wedding photography service based in Calgary, Alberta, has announced its full range of services including international locations By prong Prepossessing Nicole Sarah Calgary Wedding Photography, a wedding photography service based in Calgary, Alberta, has announced its full range of services including international locations Nicole Sarah Calgary Wedding Photography is a luxury wedding, engagement, and lifestyle photography studio. Announcing Services Provided in Canada andInternationally, June 03, 2014 /Prepossessing/ – Customers demanding the best In Calgary wedding photography can turn to one of Canada's award winning and Internationally recognized photographers. Nicole Sarah Calgary Wedding Photography , now providing its services in Calgary, Fans, Commoner, Edmonton, Vancouver, Los Angels and Internationally. Your photographs will depict the emotion, feeling, and experience of your day, no matter the setting. For Canadian couples requiring a wedding photographer, Calgary is a stunning action with beautiful architecture, natural landscapes and mountains with stunning vistas.Providing the best In Calgary, Fans, and Commoner wedding photography , Nicole Sarah tailors Its services to provide award winning, emotive, editorial and publication worthy Imagery. Nicole Sarah Is a professional wedding photographer with an educational background In Fine Arts. Because Nicole Sarah Photography is considered one of the best wedding photographers in Calgary, they book quickly and only accept a limited amount of pots each year to provide only the highest quality experience and photographs to each couple. They can be reached online or by phone.A direct phone number and email address are provided at www. Micronesian. Com About Nicole Sarah Calgary Wedding Photography Nicole Sarah Calgary Wedding Photography Is a luxury wedding, engagement, and lifestylephotography studio. While she shoots primarily In Canada, she Is also base d out of Los Angels, California and Vancouver, Fans, Commoner, Edmonton as well as Nicole Sarah is a Calgary Wedding Photographer who blends fashion, luxury, fine art ND Journalistic storytelling into her exquisite and finely detailed work.She has won multiple national and international awards and accolades for her wedding photography and has been featured in prominent publications including Vogue Magazine, Wedding's Magazine, Style Me Pretty and Then. Com Contact Nicole Sarah Calgary Wedding Photography [email  protected] Com or [email  protected] Com ALBERTA, CANADA Nicole Sarah www. Micronesian. Com Source URL: http://prepossessing. Com/Nicole-Sarah-Calgary-wedding-photography- weatherproofing-service-based-Calgary-Alberta-has

Is the New SAT Harder 6 Challenging Changes

Is the New SAT Harder 6 Challenging Changes SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Significant changes are coming to the SAT in 2016, but the effect they'll have on the student experience is debatable. Is the new SAT harder?It's impossible to tell for sure without any data on new score patterns. In the meantime, we can make a few predictions for how the changes to the format and content of the test could increase its difficulty. In this article, I'll give you an overview of the changes to the test, list some factors that might make it more challenging, and suggest study strategies for students who may struggle on the new SAT. Overview of Changes for the New SAT You should know some relevant background information before we dive into the reasons the test might be more challenging.Here’s a summary of changes you can expect on the new SAT.For more details, check out this article. Overall Format: The new SAT will be out of 1600 points instead of 2400 points. The Reading and Writing (which is now called Writing and Language) sections will be compressed into one section worth 800 points (Math will still have its own section). There will be four answer choices for each question instead of five. There are only four sections plus the essay, similar to the structure of the ACT (Reading, Writing and Language, Math with no calculator, and Math with a calculator). Reading: There will be no more sentence completion questions (all questions are passage-based)! Some questions will ask you to identify textual evidence for your answers to previous questions. You'll see data interpretation questions that will ask you to read charts and graphs that relate to the passages. Writing and Language: All questions will be based on longer passages rather than individual sentences. Writing style (paragraph structure, making logical arguments) will be more important than it was on the old test. You'll see a few data interpretation questions on this section as well. Essay: It's gonna be optional! You'll get 50 minutes instead of 25 You will need to analyze an argument that you read in a passage rather than writing a personal opinion-based response to a prompt. Your essay score won’t impact your Reading and Writing score. Math: There will be some trigonometry on the test. Some problems will have more than one part. There's a no calculator section. Questions will deal with real-world scenarios more frequently, and there will be fewer â€Å"tricky† questions. Ooh so many shiny new changes! Why Might It Be Harder? Here are a few reasons why I think the new SAT could be harder in general. You Can’t Memorize Vocabulary for Points One of the major changes on the new SAT is that there are no more sentence completion questions.The College Board is trying to de-emphasize knowledge of obscure vocabulary words on the test.Many of these words are not relevant to students after high school, and there have been claims that the old sentence completion questions favor wealthier students.On the new SAT, you will see vocabulary in context questions rather than sentence completion questions.These questions will refer to a word in the passage and ask you to choose the answer that represents its most accurate definition given the context. With this new format, memorizing lists of SAT words won’t help you much.You’ll need to have strong overall reading comprehension skills to understand nuances in the definitions of more common words.It’s harder to study for these questions than it might be to study for sentence completion questions because the skills you need are usually acquired over time through independent reading rather than by studying vocab flashcards. Domino Effect on Reading Questions Another new feature on the Reading section is the inclusion of â€Å"find the evidence† questions.You’ll get a question about a reading passage that requires you to make an inferred conclusion.Then, the next question will ask you to choose the evidence that you used for your answer.You’ll have a choice of four different quotes from the passage. I describe this as a â€Å"domino effect† because if you get the first question wrong (or can’t decide on an answer), you’ll probably get the second one wrong too.Even if you get the first question right, you might not be able to pinpoint the quote that fits best as evidence.Since one question relies on the other, it’s easy for things to get messy. I'm presenting this view of the situation because this article is about how the test might be harder. However, it's also possible that these types of questions will make things easier for you instead. Seeing potential direct evidence for your answer might make you realize a mistake on the previous question and actually help to improve your score. I think it's likely that this will balance out the problem. Noooo skinny naked Pillsbury Doughboy! What have you done?! More Reading Overall The new SAT involves a lot more reading than the current (soon to be old) SAT.All the Reading questions are based on passages.Even the Writing questions will reference parts of passages rather than isolated sentences.The essay also involves more reading because you’re asked to analyze an argument made in a passage rather than just reading a short prompt and responding to it. Less Room for Subjectivity and Variation on the Essay The essay is changing a lot on the new version of the test.Whereas before you had to form an opinion and make up your own examples, now you will be asked to analyze an author’s argument. This will make for stricter grading criteria and less flexibility in general.On the new essay, there will be pretty clear correct and incorrect responses. Data Interpretation Questions The new SAT is going to have graphs on the Reading and Writing sections! The horror!This actually isn’t so bad, but it’s different from anything the College Board has done on the test in the past.These new types of questions could be confusing or challenging for some students who aren’t comfortable drawing conclusions in this context (or have avoided the ACT because of the Science section!). More Advanced Math and Writing Content Math problems will get a little more in-depth with the inclusion of word problems that have more than one part in the grid-in section.Higher-level concepts will be tested, including a light sprinkling of basic trigonometry. The Writing section will also test a wider variety of concepts that may be more challenging. The old Writing section primarily focused on grammatical rules, whereas the new SAT Writing section will ask more questions about stylistic choices within long passages.For example, questions will ask you to determine where a sentence belongs logically in a paragraph. Thankfully, only Writing style matters on the new SAT, not sartorial style. You can wear a burlap sack to the test for all I care (but I wouldn't recommend it; that stuff is distractingly itchy). Will It Be Harder for You? How Can You Prepare? It depends partially on what kind of student you are.I’ll go through a few different qualities that might cause students to struggle on the new test and provide prep strategies to help you combat these problems. Case #1: You Tend to Rely on Memorization Like I said in the previous section, memorizing vocabulary words won’t help you much on the new SAT. If you’re a really intense studier and were hoping to ace the Reading section based on memorization skills, you might have some trouble.Understanding meaning in context will be a critical skill, so on-the-spot analytical thinking is more important than remembering the dictionary definition of â€Å"obsequious.† You should still know what obsequious means, though, because it's a fun word, and it describes a lot of people. Study Strategies: Practice with passage-based questions.The best remedy for this issue is to get more comfortable with answering the types of questions that are hard for you.Although there are limited practice resources for the new SAT, passage-based questions on the old SAT will still be helpful to you for this purpose. You can also practice reading comprehension in your daily life.Set aside time every day to read a couple of challenging articles online.Learning through experience is the easiest way to build better reading comprehension skills. Case #2: You’re a Slow Reader The new SAT will have way more reading than the current version, which means that time problems are more likely to happen.All questions in both the Reading and Writing portions are based off of passages rather than individual sentences.If you had trouble with time on the Reading section in the past, the new test might end up being harder. Study Strategies: Again, I’d recommend setting aside more time for independent reading.You can also try and build up your speed by taking practice tests.The key is to start preparing early so that you have time to improve; reading quickly and comprehensively is a skill that you won’t learn overnight. You can also practice with the ACT English and Reading sections.ACT English is very similar to the new SAT Writing section because it’s all based on passages.It's a good idea to check out some strategies for ACT English that will give you better ways to approach this new format.ACT Reading is pretty different from SAT Reading in terms of what the questions look like, but if you’re just trying to improve your reading speed, you should time yourself and try to complete the section. Case #3: You’re Less Confident in Math and Science The new SAT will test slightly more advanced concepts in Math, and it will also include a bit of data interpretation.If the Math section is the scariest part of the SAT for you, the new test could be more of a challenge.Math will also make up a greater proportion of your score with the elimination of the separate Writing section (half of the test versus a third).Your math skills will have a greater influence on your overall performance. Study Strategies: You can also use the ACT as a resource in this situation.The ACT Science section will give you some practice with data interpretation questions.ACT Math problems are more aligned with the format of the math section on the new SAT as well (trigonometry, more straightforward problems).Make sure you’re comfortable with any formulas that might show up on the test.You can also buy a review book that’s specifically designed to improve your math skills. If all you see when you look at this image is a terrible drawing of a staircase, you might have reason to be concerned about the new SAT. Conclusion: Is the New SAT Harder? That really depends on what's challenging for you! Changes thatmight make the testmore difficult include: Memorization won’t help you as much Some reading questions depend on one another There’s more reading overall The essay has a less flexible grading structure You’ll have to do some data interpretation Math and Writing concepts are a little more advanced You personally may find the new SAT particularly difficult if: You tend to rely on memorization for your vocabulary knowledge Speed reading is not your forte Your skills in Reading and Writing are significantly stronger than your skills in Math The good news is that now you know what’s going to be on the test, and you can prepare accordingly.If you think you might struggle, make sure you plan your studying well in advance so that you aren’t caught off guard by the demands of the new format. What's Next? How can you set an appropriate goal for your score on the new SAT? Read this article for some advice on calculating a target score based on your plans for college. The new SAT is similar to the ACT in many ways. Check out this article for a full breakdown of the difference and similarities between the two tests. Should you even take the new SAT, or is the ACT a better choice? This article will guide you in figuring out which one suits you better. Disappointed with your scores? Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Analysis of McDonald’s Corporation The WritePass Journal

Analysis of McDonald’s Corporation Abstract Analysis of McDonald’s Corporation , total revenues reached USD$ 27.5 billion. This is a 2% growth from its 2011 figure. Based on data for the past six years, the company had the highest growth rate in 2010-2011 at 12%. However, the company experienced a steep decline the following year, with growth rate at only 2%. Table 1. McDonald’s 6 Year Summary (Millions) Dollars in millions, except per share data 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 Company operated sales 18,603 18,293 16,233 15,459 16,561 16,611 Franchised revenues 8,964 8,713 7,842 7,286 6,961 6,176 Total revenues 27,567 27,006 24,075 22,745 23,522 22,787 Table 2. McDonald’s 6 Year Percentage Growth Year on Year Percentage Growth 2011-2012 2010-2011 2009-2010 2008-2009 2007-2008 Company operated sales 2% 13% 5% -7% 0% Franchised revenues 3% 11% 8% 5% 13% Total revenues 2% 12% 6% -3% 3% 2.Industry Overview and Competitive Environment McDonald’s operates in the fast food industry, which involves selling foods and beverages for immediate consumption either within the retail premises or as â€Å"take away.† The market may be categorized in to the following segments: QSR (Quick Service Restaurants), Leisure Locations, Mobile and Street Vendors, and Takeaways. In 2011, the global fast food market grew by 6.8%, reaching USD $253 billion in total value. The compounded yearly growth rate from 2007 to 2011 was at 5.2%. QSR is the most lucrative segment, generating over $167.8 billion in revenues; which is equivalent to 66.4% of the total market value (Research and Markets, 2013). McDonald’s, together with other players such as Burger King, dominate the burger segment (Reynolds, 2013). The market is comprised of many independent restaurants, as well as large chain outlets. To a reasonable extent, competition is intensified by the low entry costs and the ease with which already established companies can increase volume or grow outlet numbers. Within the restaurant industry, players focus more on fast food where profitability is dependent on high turnover activities. The degree of price competition is usually high within this industry with many companies, including McDonald’s, focusing on the same target market. Competitors range from fast food restaurants, traditional fish and chips outlets, coffee shops, and other fast food businesses (Brotherton, 2012). Key competitors to McDonald’s are other similarly large and well-established global fast food chains such as Burger King, Wendy’s Co, and Yum Brands. Although it is not actually a fast food chain, Starbucks is also considered as a major competitor of McDonald’s due to its immense popularity, especially in the US. McDonald’s McCafe chains are considered as more of a competitor to Starbucks. Table 2. Profile of McDonald’s Top Competitors Competitor Profile Burger King Corporation  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Operates over 12,174 fast food outlets in the US and has others in over 76 countries across the world  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Has 1,387 company restaurants as well as 10,787 independent franchises Domino’s Pizza Inc.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The leading pizza delivery firm in the US  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It runs a network of about 8,999 outlets, both franchises and company-owned stores in US’s 50 states and other 60 world countries. Starbucks  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A global coffee company based in the US  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is the largest coffee shop chain in the world with over 20,800 stores in 62 countries Wendy’s Co.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wendys/Arbys Group, arose from a merger between Wendys International and Triarc Companies  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wendys/Arbys group is a popular quick service restaurant operator, franchising the Wendys and Arbys brand names within the US and Canada.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The total number of franchises for this group is over 10,000. Yum Brands Inc.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Yum runs several branded restaurant chains including Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In total, it has over 39,000 restaurants spread in over 125 countries. Source: Key Note, 2012 Figure 1. Market Share of Fast Food Chains in the US (2006-2011) 3. Market Entry Strategy Historically, McDonald’s has experimented with a variety of market entry strategies (Hendrikse, 2008). Currently, some of the outlets are run by the company, while most of them (more than 26,000 outlets) are franchises. McDonald’s franchise arrangements comprise conventional franchise engagements, developmental license arrangements, and foreign affiliates. Of all franchises, the corporation runs 19,279 conventional franchisees, 3,574 affiliates and 3,485 developmental licenses (McDonald’s, 2013). Currently, McDonald’s is one of the biggest franchisors in the world. The company has implemented a comprehensive framework for engaging, training, and monitoring its franchises to make sure that they abide by McDonald’s’ Values, Quality, Cleanliness and Service plans (Moschandreas, 2000). These franchisees are required to pay a fixed fee plus a certain percentage of the generated revenues. They operate basically as independent entities within a national brand structure where they purchase various inputs from the approved contractors and also determine their own prices. The first international market expansion experiment by McDonald’s was to establish an outlet in the Caribbean with limited supervision by the company. After the failure of this first attempt, the firm experimented with a joint venture strategy in Netherlands. In this experiment, the local stores involved replaced the usual McDonald’s menu offerings with based on local preferences. The company decided to abandon its old strategy where stores would be run by local entrepreneurs and instead engaged a combination of both local and expatriate partners (Marketwatch, 2005). Unfortunately, the result was disastrous; forcing McDonald’s to revise its entry strategy. This made way for the second phase of entry, which was centred on adapting versus changing local culture. Despite some initial failures, McDonald’s continued to experiment with market entry strategies in foreign markets. For example, in India, the company established as a 50-50 joint venture partnership. This arrangement was between McDonald’s USA and two other Indian businessmen, Vikram Bakshi and Amit Jatia, who owns Connaught Plaza Restaurants and Hard Castle Restaurants respectively (Gerhardt et al., 2012). The joint venture partnership was different from McDonald’s usual franchise business model but it was seen as the best way to successfully enter India’s highly diverse and complex restaurant industry. 4. McDonalds Global Marketing Strategy The marketing mix is a framework consisting of the basic, strategic components of a firm’s marketing plan. The components are referred to as the 4P’s denoting product, promotion, place, and price (Chon et al., 2012). Marketers decide the right mix to use where they can alter the final product or service offerings to customers by varying the components of the mix. This section analyses McDonald’s marketing mix to find out what the foodservice retailer has done to position its products in the market. 4.1. Product Product is probably the most important element of McDonald’s’ marketing mix. The company has tightly controlled its products’ quality so as to induce demand from the target market (Verma, 2012). With the support of the other elements, McDonald’s has managed to develop a broad product portfolio to attract a broad market segment. The company’s products are planned carefully, considering aspects such as quality, design, shape, brand name, services, size, services, and packaging. McDonald’s also oversees the operations of all its restaurants to guarantee uniformity of standards in product quality and services offered.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An important matter when it comes to international marketing relates to how a firm adapts its products across national boundaries. McDonald’s, like many other internationally recognized brands, uses standardization to ensure that its products appeal to a wide audience. This is a very i mportant marketing aspect because the company must ensure that its global brand is preserved. Therefore, McDonalds restaurants across the word offer a substantially standard menu. However, according to Thomadsen (2007), some variations are necessary to make sure that the different needs of consumers in different regions are addressed. As such, McDonald’s has made effort to adapt some of its products to some markets. This is necessary because consumers in different areas have diverse needs, tastes and preferences, and different consumption and buying habits. A good example of McDonald’s adaptation strategy is the Indian market where the company, on top of trying to market its international brand, has made several modifications to its products to make sure that they are suitable for Indian consumers. The Indian market consists of a large number of vegetarians. Therefore, the company found it necessary to modify its product offerings to cater to this market segment. This led to the introduction of vegetarian foods such as McAloo Tikki and McVeggie Burgers. The company has made sure that the separation of the two food categories (vegetarian and non-vegetarian) is maintained. Also, in India where cows are considered sacred, burgers are either fish or chicken in instead of beef (Armstrong Kotler, 2005). McDonald’s constantly innovates its product offerings based on the changing needs and preferences of its customers (McDonald’s, 2013). Additionally, intense price competition increases McDonald’s motivation to differentiate itself from other industry players. Applying a differentiation strategy can help a company to control price competition to some extent (Thomadsen, 2007). It can be surmised that McDonald’s is not a global retailer of exclusively American food because it offers modified menus to suit different regions. The brand and the format are globally consistent; however, certain customer-oriented components like individual menu offerings and service personnel are tailored to suit local preferences. 4.2.   Price Price is another very important element of a marketing mix. This refers to the amount that consumers are required to pay so as to obtain products and services. McDonald’s has always been dedicated to providing quality food products for reasonable prices (Datamonitor, 2012). Therefore, the company has developed a pricing structure to support this objective. Historically, the company has had several value bundling and pricing tactics such as Combo meals, Happy Meals, Family Meals, and others. The dollar menu is one of the most significant price strategies adopted by this firm. 4.3.  Place Another very important element of McDonald’s marketing strategy is place. In general terms, place refers to the mechanisms (distribution, intermediaries or channels), which enable the firm to supply its products to the final consumers (Thomadsen, 2007). McDonald’s has strategically situated its outlets to make sure that customers have easy and convenient access to its products. The best example is the United States where the walking distance to a McDonald’s outlet averages three minutes. In smaller market regions, McDonald’s locates it outlets close to the market centre; while in large markets, it chooses locations which are on the opposite sides of the market. Compared to its closest competitor, Burger King, McDonald’s locates outlets closer to optimal central locations. In a nutshell, McDonald’s is all about convenience (Datamonitor, 2010). 4.4.  Promotion In a marketing mix perspective, promotion encompasses the various marketing communication modes that McDonald’s uses to communicate information about its products in order to generate positive response from its consumers (Mishra, 2009). McDonald’s devotes a vast amount of money to global advertising, with the aim of promoting its image. It has used several advertising formats such as print publications, billboards, radio, television, and the internet. In order to increase awareness and create a lasting image in the minds of its target market, McDonald’s has creatively employed slogans such as: â€Å"It’s a good time for the Great Taste of McDonald’s† â€Å"Food, Folks, and Fun† â€Å"We love to see you smile† â€Å"I’m Lovin’ it† McDonald’s strives to position itself as a fun family restaurant and has implemented several tactics to achieve this goal. A very effective strategy that has enabled the company to differentiate itself from other companies is invention of the Ronald McDonald character. This character was invented to symbolize the company and has become a recognizable figure. The show â€Å"The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald,† produced under the sponsorship of the company, is an outstanding promotional strategy that leaves every kid craving the McDonald’s experience (McDonald’s, 2013). The company also positions itself as a family fun restaurant by setting up play areas in its outlets. With the use of various strategies, McDonald’s has built a strong image. This has greatly helped the company not only to grow but also to stave off the competition (Chon, Pizam, Mansfeld, 2012). 5. McDonald’s Corporation has always been determined to remain ahead of competition. Its international marketing strategy employs several tactics, which has enabled the company to emerge as one of the market leaders in the fast food restaurant industry. The success of a business greatly depends on the effectiveness of the strategies it adopts. McDonald’s’ strategies have proven to be effective as evidenced by the level of success that the company has achieved to date. The initial strategy for the company involved taking standardized American practices to other parts of the country. The initial resistance and failures that it experienced forced the company to change their strategy and instead adapt itself to the different preferences of its target market. References Armstrong, G. Kotler, P., 2005. Marketing: an introduction. London: Prentice Hall. Brotherton, B., 2012. International Hospitality Industry. Burlington: Routledge. Chon, K.S., Pizam, A. Mansfeld, Y., 2012. Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism. Madison Ave, New York: Routledge. Daley, J., 2013. Do you want truffle fries with that? Entrepreneur, 41(1), pp.124-29. Datamonitor, 2010. Mcdonalds Corporation SWOT Analysis. London: EBSCO Datamonitor. Gerhardt, S., Dudley, D. Hazen, S., 2012. Franchising and the Impact of McDonalds. Journal Of Management Marketing Research, 10, pp.1-10. Hendrikse, G., 2008. Strategy and governance of networks: Cooperatives, franchising, and strategic alliances. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag. Key Note, 2012. Fast-Food Home-Delivery Outlets Market Report Plus 2012. [Online] Available at: keynote.co.uk/market-intelligence/view/product/10636/fast-food-%26-home-delivery-outlets/chapter/1 [Accessed 9 March 2013]. Marketwatch, 2005. Company Spotlight: McDonalds Corporation. Marketwatch: Global Round-Up 4, no. 12, pp.78-83. McDonald’s, 2013. Company Profile. [Online] Available at: aboutMcDonald’s.com/mcd/investors/company_profile.html   [Accessed 9 March 2013]. McDonalds, 2013. McDonalds USA Ingredients Listing for Popular Menu Items. [Online] Available at:   Ã‚  http://nutrition.McDonald’s.com/getnutrition/ingredientslist.pdf   [Accessed 9 March 2013]. Mishra, P., 2009. Sales management: Keys to effective sales.. New Delhi: Global India Publications. Moschandreas, M., 2000. Business Economics. London: Thomson. Research and Markets, 2013. Fast Food: Global Industry Guide. [Online] Available at: researchandmarkets.com/reports/564112/fast_food_global_industry_guide [Accessed 9 March 2013]. Reynolds, J., 2013. McDonalds runs ad to knock rival Burger King. Marketing Magazine, 25 January. Thomadsen, R., 2007. Product Positioning and Competition: The Role of Location in the Fast Food Industry. Marketing Science, 26(6), pp.792-804. Verma, H.V., 2012. Services marketing: Text and cases. New Delhi: Pearson Education. Wendys, 2013. The Wendys Company. [Online] Available at:   aboutwendys.com/Our-Company/   [Accessed 9 March 2013].

Direct Democracy Pros and Cons

Direct Democracy Pros and Cons Direct democracy, sometimes called pure democracy, is a form of democracy in which all laws and policies imposed by governments are determined by the people themselves, rather than by representatives who are elected by the people. In a true direct democracy, all laws, bills and even court decisions are voted on by all citizens. Direct vs. Representative Democracy Direct democracy is the opposite of the more common representative democracy, under which the people elect representatives who are empowered to create laws and policies for them. Ideally, the laws and policies enacted by the elected representatives should closely reflect the will of the majority of the people. While the United States, with the protections of its federal system of â€Å"checks and balances,† practices representative democracy, as embodied in the U.S. Congress and the state legislatures, two forms of limited direct democracy are practiced at the state and local level: ballot initiatives and binding referendums, and recall of elected officials. Ballot initiatives and referendums allow citizens to place – by petition – laws or spending measures typically considered by state and local legislative bodies on statewide or local ballots. Through successful ballot initiatives and referendums, citizens can create, amend or repeal laws, as well as amend state constitutions and local charters. Examples of Direct Democracy: Athens and Switzerland Perhaps the best example of direct democracy existed in ancient Athens, Greece.  While it excluded women, slaves, and immigrants from voting, Athenian direct democracy required all citizens to vote on all major issues of government. Even the verdict of every court case was determined by a vote of all the people. In the most prominent example in modern society, Switzerland practices a modified form of direct democracy under which any law enacted by the nation’s elected legislative branch can be vetoed by a vote of the general public. In addition, citizens can vote to require the national legislature to consider amendments to the Swiss constitution. Pros and Cons of Direct Democracy While the idea of having the ultimate say-so over the affairs of government might sound tempting, there are some good – and bad – aspects of direct democracy that need to be considered: 3 Pros of Direct Democracy Full Government Transparency: Without a doubt, no other form of democracy ensures a greater degree of openness and transparency between the people and their government. Discussions and debates on major issues are held in public. In addition, all successes or failures of the society can be credited to – or blamed on – the people, rather than the government.  More Government Accountability: By offering the people a direct and unmistakable voice through their votes, direct democracy demands a great level of accountability on the part of the government. The government cannot claim it was unaware of or unclear on the will of the people. Interference in the legislative process from partisan political parties and special interest groups are largely eliminated.Greater Citizen Cooperation: In theory at least, people are more likely to happily comply with laws they create themselves. Moreover, people who know that their opinions will make a difference, they more eager to take p art in the processes of government. 3 Cons of Direct Democracy We Might Never Decide: If every American citizen were expected to vote on every issue considered at every level of government, we might never decide on anything. Between all of the issues considered by local, state and federal governments, citizens could literally spend all day, every single day voting.Public Involvement Would Drop: Direct democracy best serves the interest of the people when most people take part in it. As the time required for debating and voting increases, public interest, and participation in the process would quickly decrease, leading to decisions which did not truly reflect the will of the majority. In the end, small groups of people often with dangerous axes to grind, could control the government.One Tense Situation After Another: In any society as large and diverse as that in the United States, what is the chance of that everyone will ever happily agree with or at least peacefully accept decisions on major issues? As recent history has shown, not much.

Pay for Performance why it doesn't work in the Workplace Essay

Pay for Performance why it doesn't work in the Workplace - Essay Example To show the extensive use of the reward system, the author writes on using rewards to recognize teamwork, monetary rewards for employees for undertaking trainings and gaining new skills. The author states that rewards often impede than they enhance performance on many tasks with specific emphasis to those that require creativity with the example of Japan and Germany countries that do not use reward incentives and are successful in employee motivation. The other further explores the fact that there are no empirical studies linking motivation to rewards showing poor implementation of compensation systems. In fact, research by Jenkins in 1986 shows no relation between quality performance and rewards (p 124). In a case where incentives were withdrawn, production decreased then after sometime rose to reach a better level than when there were incentives further showing that incentives do not motivate workers for quality or higher productivity (p 124). The author then delves into the reasons for the failure of incentives including lack of necessity that is the introduction of incentives unnecessarily resulting in lack of any impact on performance. The second reason is secrecy where there is no transparency on each employees earning leading to overestimation and belief of differences in pay resulting in low morale and turmoil at the workplace. Other reasons are lack of match between performances and pay and expense in rewards solved via using noncash rewards. The other reason is too big versus too small incentives where small incentives do not have an impact while large ones are not received by all the workers resulting in failure of incentives to motivate performance. Short-term versus long-term incentives are the other reasons for incentives failure where employees may make decisions countering long-term interests when incentives base on short-term performance. Objectivity versus subjectivity,

Law for Licensed Premises Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Law for Licensed Premises - Assignment Example Liquor licenses refer to license issued to different types of premises to sell to authorize them sell alcohol to the public. It is under the regulation of Northern Ireland and is applicable to twelve types of premises (Hutter, 2011). The applicant of liquor license should deposit the application form to the court and ascertain they are qualified to hold liquor licenses and that the premises are suitable for the sale of alcohol. These are; hotels, off-licenses, guest houses, pubs, higher education institutions, restaurants, non-sea-going vessels, conference centres, indoor arenas, refreshment rooms available in public transport facilities, seamen’s canteens and places of public entertainment (Crown, 2018). The licensing laws imposes penalty to license holders for the breach of licensing requirements, the licensee, should have age checking policy to prohibit people of underage from taking alcohol and request for display of documents appropriate to prove the age and PSNI can with draw the license if the premise owners engage in activities that deem to encourage excessive drinking (Crown, 2013). Apart from the liquor policies the following activities will require the operator to acquire a license before they are authorized to sell conduct those activities. These include dancing facilities, live music, theatre performance, dance, showing film, making music facilities, indoor sporting event, selling food and beverages between 11pm and 5am and boxing or wrestling (Martin, 2006).

Industrial ergonomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Industrial ergonomics - Essay Example Task analysis applies the use of ergonomic sciences. Ergonomics is the field of science that aims at creating tasks and tools that suit employees in their respective duties at the workplace. Ergonomics looks at the tasks, tools, machines, workplace layouts, and the entire organisation to determine their suitability for employees rather than employees fitting to these aspects of an organisation. Therefore, a clear understanding of task analysis plays a key role in assisting supervisors and managers in identifying ergonomic health hazards and creating solutions to eliminate such hazards. With proper measures in place, risks of cumulative trauma disorders, back pains and costs related to treatment of such disorders can be significantly reduced at workplaces (Deeb, 2004). According to Jonassen (1999), on the other hand, task analysis refers to systematic assessment of how tasks are accomplished. In task analysis, serious attention is given to task duration, task frequency, task complexity, task allocation, work environment, clothing and equipments, and employee fitness. Information obtained from task analysis is helpful in various areas within an organisation, which include designing of tools and equipments, selection and training of employees, designing of procedures, and automation within an organisation. Task analysis courses are available for managers, supervisors and persons working in ergonomic committees. People who undertake this course acquire training on conducting ergonomic task analysis by looking into how employees perform their duties, as well as formulating measures that adapt employees to their work. Different methods of task analysis exist, but for one to decide the most suitable method, a good understanding of the analysis to perform is required. There are five types of task analyses that are available that include job analysis, learning analysis, cognitive task analysis, content analysis, and activity analysis. Different

Book Review of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Essay

Book Review of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - Essay Example It did end as he was able to catch a great marlin but as he was going home, sharks attacked and ate his prized fish. He arrived at his home exhausted with what’s left of the marlin, its skeleton, mostly its backbone. At the first read, The Old Man and The Sea was like a simple story about an old man struggle to end his unlucky streak in fishing. And it did end when he caught the marlin though he lost it to the sharks as he was going home. But The Old Man and The Sea was not a simple story. In fact, when you read it several times, you would always find something new with it. The story could be about old age. It could also be about man versus nature. It could also be about social expectations and discrimination. It depends on your perspective how you would interpret the meaning of the symbols Hemingway used in the story. The Old Man and The Sea has a lot of references to the rituals that our society follows. The hopes and dreams of individuals are influenced by the belief in a r eligion and luck. This is shown through the story by telling us how Santiago had precise actions before going fishing. His methods of preparing himself with battling the ocean and the fish that he was to catch indicated a great influence of religious practices. Even in the course of battling with the marlin, Santiago showed us how he was influenced by religion and rituals. He regarded the marlin as human, someone who can understand him. This was seen when he talks to the fish while it resisted Santiago’s tug. Religion had taught us to respect every living being. And this was what he did even when he knew he would eventually kill the fish. He respected the fish by talking to it. He did not bastardize its body. In fact, he tried to save it from being eaten whole by the sharks. When the fish circled around the boat and indicated its weakness, Santiago felt the strength come out of him as he pulled the fish into boat. This showed us that, although it was a hard feat, Santiago was prepared to do it, for the sake of proving to himself and to everyone else back at home that he was not an unlucky one anymore. And even if he was unable to bring the whole fish home intact, he was able to regain the respect of the community for bringing home the largest fish ever caught by a villager. This stressed how one’s status in the community is influenced by the perspectives of other people. Before catching the marlin, Santiago was taught to be an unlucky one. Parents feared their sons would catch his â€Å"sickness† (as the unlucky one), and this might bring them bad luck as well. He was also not fully accepted because of his Cuban descent and even more because he was old. The story also showed us that fishing is not a simple job. It was something that you need to be prepared for. Hemingway used simple words in this short story. It seemed like he wanted to make sure that the people reading this story would really understand what it means when they become of a ge, and when they become older. The story was simply constructed. It did not go in circles and it was linear. It also did not suggest how you would understand the story. Rather, it presented ideas and facts through the way Hemingway constructed the story. Aside from the rich images and allusions, Hemingway also made sure that the narrative modes are shifting. When you look at the first and last part of the story, you would notice that it is in the third person view, someone who did not dwell on Santiago’

Student must present and analyze this data and based on the analysis Essay

Student must present and analyze this data and based on the analysis students must derive requirements for the design of a simple decision support system to hel - Essay Example 2002, p.237). The hard part of selecting what best fits you is still present as below. From the above analysis, it is evident that software is good in saving time and cost effective. In restaurant, investing in software is a priority due to the monies they are willing to use. According to Barnes (2004), nowadays the choice of the software determines what you will be able to accomplish in time. In small scale business ventures, the owners need to be directed on what to use. Further, they should be trained how to use them since from the above two scenarios, they are experiencing difficulties in the operations. Also, during the purchase of the software, they rely much on the leadership of specialist, thus for them to be successful, a strategic department specializing in their advice should be set up which will lead them in selecting the software and informing them of the advantages of each. Further, they should be made aware of the importance of upgrading the software. According to Cynthia, M. (2006), software update minimizes the effects of data loss and makes the organization fit security wise. In this regard, they should be made aware of other services which exist since they appear to be only using the software which has been in existence since long ago. In addition, they should be made aware that, the amount they invest in software will be returned in terms of profits. Software raging from $400 and above should be designed aimed for the small scale business man. One is willing to invest in the correct software, one which will perform as per specifications. The environment one is in also plays some part. For example, family members as well as friends have been helping one in deciding and this is mostly if one is in the computing sector. In all the industry environments, software is in much demand but with the right specification. Cynthia, M. (2006). Beyond terrorism: data collection and responsibility for privacy. VINE, 36 (4), pp.  377-394 [Online]

EXPLAINING bEHAVIOUR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

EXPLAINING bEHAVIOUR - Essay Example According the psychoanalytical theory of Freud, a child goes through a series of psychosexual stages as he grows up. Each stage is dominated by the development of sensitivity in a particular erogenous or pleasure-giving zone of the body. Freud identifies five stages of psychosexual development: the oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital. The oral phase starts from the moment of birth, when both needs and their fulfilment involve participation of child’s tongue, lips and teeth. Mouth is the first zone of body the child can control and due to this the most part of his sexual energy is focused on it. Later, when the child can control other parts of his body, a certain part of his energy still remains ‘cathected’ to his mouth. Therefore it is natural for a child to have a moderate interest to oral pleasures at this stage (Frager & Fadiman, 2000). As the child grows up new zones of pleasure appear. At age between two and four years the child is learning how to control the anal sphincter and bladder, they obtain much of his attention. The process of toilet training excites the child’s interest to self-discovery. Since parents interfere with elimination pleasures, the child develops ambivalent attitudes toward them. As children resolve the conflict between their needs for parental love and instinctual gratification they evolve lifelong attitudes toward cleanliness, orderliness, punctuality, submissiveness, and defiance (Bateman & Holmes, 1995). At the age of tree years the child enters the phallic stage of development: he focuses on his genitals. This phase is called phallic because the child starts to realize whether he has penis or not. At that point children understand the difference between two sexes. During phallic stage of development children treat their parents as a potential threat to fulfilment of their needs (Frager &