The South African Youth

Reflecting back on the tragedy that just occurred at Columbine High School in Denver Colorado and the generalizations being made about the U.S youth and the crisis that we are in and supposedly are experiencing ,I decided to research the youth crisis in South Africa. There is at present no â€Å"youth crisis† as such. However young people find themselves in the midst of a range of crises that should be addressed urgently by the state and society. † South African youths† as a category refers to South Africans between 15 and 30 years of age; they constitute 29,5% of the population, yet there is no comprehensive youth policy in place to attend to their needs. Most young people share common values of society – signs of radicalism and militarism are found in only a minority of youth. Only a small percentage of South Africa's youth can be considered truly marginalized as the country's youth as a whole and therefore cannot be called a â€Å"lost generation†. Thirty-seven per cent of South Africa population were below the age of 15 in 1991. It can be compared with the average of 40% for similar countries in the world, less-developed countries averaging 44% and industrialized countries 23%. The composition of people between 15 and 30 years, comprised 29,5% of South Africa's population. Figures for racial categories indicate a total of approximately 8,3 million (75%) black, 1,4 m. (12%) white, 1,1 m. (10%) colored and 300 000 (3%) Asian youths in this group. There are many problems for the South African Youth and some of the most challenging problems include family and community instability that leads to a wide range of other social problems for youth. The black family has been under enormous strain partly because of an education system that is not providing all youth with relevant and quality education. Economic stagnation, together with inadequate education, has resulted in high levels of unemployment and poverty, especially among women and blacks. Demographic factors which continue to impact on the South African population and more specifically the youth. It has been estimated that by 1995, 50% of the age cohort 15 to 19 will live in urban areas. The extent to which young people from the different racial and cultural groups have become isolated from one another, with the accompanying negative stereotypes, intolerance and racism. A historical survey in the report leaves little doubt that South African youth have over the years been victims of political and socio-cultural crises. They have been subjected to poverty, blatant political manipulation, racial and other divisions that tore the country apart, and a lack of any systematic youth policy to attend to their needs. As a group, they have for many years been largely ignored by the leaders in control of their destiny. And yet, from the earliest decades of the century, they have attempted to assert themselves by forming youth organizations, by protesting against injustices and by insisting on a decent education and living conditions. Unemployment has been a struggle for the South African Youth. Studies show roughly 42% of youth between the ages of 15 and 30 were unemployed. Young women were particularly disadvantaged. In the first place, they were less likely to be part of the labor force because large numbers were involved in unpaid domestic work. Secondly, they found it difficult to find employment while being involved in unpaid domestic work. Unemployment affects the unmarried, junior members of households more adversely than the other members. Unemployment is higher in the homelands and in urban areas that comprise squatter and informal settlements close to the major metropolitan area. It is however unclear as to whether unemployment is higher in rural or in urban areas. At the time, studies indicate 45% of the black, 12% of the white, 40% of the colored and 29% of the Asian youth were unemployed. Family structure and living conditions play an important role. The core family has been seriously affected by social upheavals. Studies indicate that 22% of white, 20% of Asian, 32% of colored and 40 % of black families are currently headed by females. Stability may be found in nuclear, extended, compound or single-parent families. The extended kinship system among blacks and Asians seems to cushion the negative effects of disrupted nuclear family units. However, many youths are not experiencing stability of an enduring nature, and it emerges from surveys that a lot of young people are receiving only fragmented care. The lack of control, supervision and attention is clearly linked to teenagers' negative behavior such as alcohol and drug abuse, crime, indiscriminate and unprotected sexual activities, etc. Percentages of teenage pregnancies and births out of wedlock are unacceptably high and AIDS is a frightening reality. Amenities such as electricity, on-tap water, waterborne sewerage, refuse removal, etc, are massively under provided to blacks. Black youth live in homes of which 46 % do not have running water and 57 % have no electricity. Only 53 % blacks have access to television Over the life span of today's youth, a third of all Asian families, nearly a quarter of all colored families and nearly a fifth of the black population were forcibly moved by one method or another. Culture and youth organizations play a very important role in the South African youth of today. Studies affirm that one cannot really speak of a single, monolithic â€Å"youth culture†. In an era of rapid social transformation, stereotyped binary cultural oppositions such as urban/rural, elitist/popular, modern/traditional, are also losing their essential distinctive value. For example, some research point to the possibility that the position that youth occupied in â€Å"traditional†, conservative societies has changed with urbanization and westernization. Recognition of youth's new, more assertive position has important implications for policy formulation regarding their diversity and their ability not only to react to change and development but actually help guide it. On the other hand, one study showed that, in spite of lingering signs of racism, 60% of adolescents from all the population groups preferred to identify themselves as â€Å"South African†, which may indicate an increasing sense of shared identity, if not unity. The present processes of societal transformation and democratization make the promotion of a shared culture and values essential; something that should start at school level. Recreation and sports play an important role in young people's lives: 41,7% of male youth and 18,7% of female youth in South Africa are active members of sports clubs. Only 16,3% of all youth however belonged to a youth club and only 8,4% belonged to a cultural organization. Facilities for sports, recreational and organizational activities are urgently needed. The crisis in education is well documented. Black education was seriously disrupted during the 1980s. However, black education expanded greatly in an attempt to fulfil its community's needs, and improved its retention rates at the same time, despite a range of crises that were almost beyond human imagination. For the majority of black youth in South Africa, access to secondary education is restricted to traditional secondary schools where places are limited, facilities are not up to standard, teachers are not properly qualified and access to subjects such as mathematics, physical science, economics, business economics, accounting, etc, is limited because of a shortage of teachers qualified in these subjects. This causes the whole system to be skewed in favor of such subjects as biology, geography, history and biblical studies, which are the four most â€Å"popular† non-language subjects among black pupils. Clearly if this trend were to continue, the youth would be even more fr ustrated with the learning opportunities offered to them. Violence and crime remain endemic in the country and have many destructive effects on youth. Scientific research has shown that black respondents generally rejected violence as a political option, but that about 20% of the white the respondents tended to be militarized in their outlook. In a new democracy like South Africa it is imperative that all its citizens should be politically literate to enable them to participate fully in all facets of a democratic society. Several studies on political literacy among young South Africans have suggested that this country's youth are not well informed about politics. There is probably no area of South African life which has more compellingly shown the extent to which apartheid has isolated and insulated different sections of this country's youth from one another than the area of politics. Youth who grew up in the security and tranquillity of white neighborhoods could fully participate in the parliamentary politics of apartheid South Africa if they wished to do so. They had very little knowledge or understanding of the harsh realities of township life which confronted the vast majority of South Africa's youth every day. For most white youths the events, that have taken place in South Africa's black townships since the mid-seventies, were nothing more than images on the television screen – events they were socialized to interpret as being initiated by radical (communist inspired) people who were attempting to take away their (whites') privileged position. Indeed, white and black youths under apartheid lived in different worlds. Studies have shown that the above problems are ameliorated by two sets of findings, namely that â€Å"the South African youth† by no means represent a uniform category of people, and that the majority of South Africa's young people want to play a constructive role in the creation of a new South Africa. Their rejection of violence, their respect for the cultural and racial diversity in South Africa, the value they place on education and training are all very important to the South African youths of today and in that sense we American youths should learn a thing or two from them. They have adapted in remarkable and innovative ways to the often painful processes of rapid change, and although they may lack skills and opportunities, they are eager to face the challenge of reconstruction and development. Most of them share their communities' values and are basically conservative in their views. Only 8% of the sample claimed no religious affiliation – the majority felt that religion played an important role in their daily lives. In conclusion that the tide may be turning for the country's youth. Population growth rates are decreasing, income distribution is becoming more equal, the assault on family structures was balanced by the growth of the compound family, a legitimately elected government is in place and a national youth policy has been promised in the RDP. June 16 has been declared a public holiday and renamed Youth Day. Not only youth's many contributions to the country, but in particular their sacrifices and hardships have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

How to meet the learning needs of mixed age groups in the home-based setting Essay

One of the biggest advantages of mixed age groups is that they make us really analyse the individual needs, interests, and temperaments of each child in the group. We can then plan and provide for the next steps in learning, by getting to know our group of children very well, and making careful observations on them, as individuals, what they do and how they interact with others. This knowledge can then be mapped to the EYFS Practice Guidance over the six areas of Learning and Development and used to devise individual learning plans by assessing activities, opportunities and experiences based on their individual development, interests and needs. Careful planning and organisation are critical factors in meeting the learning needs of different age groups. Each play area, including outside, must provide the maximum of learning opportunities for all ages in your care, using barriers e.g. gates and big cushions only where needed for safety so that infants and toddlers feel included whenever possible. A good idea is to go through the house looking at the room from the child’s level. What would the baby see first, what would the toddler or pre-schooler see first? What appeals to the school-age child? You can create small play areas for special activities, e.g. using a sturdy playpen or hallway as an â€Å"office† for older children when they want to colour, do a puzzle, play a board game or do something without â€Å"help† from toddlers. The little ones can then watch without interfering with the activity. A range of open-ended multiple-use resources should be used, that can be played with in different ways according to stage, such as balls and bricks and Lego. Toys that are safe for children of all ages can be kept on low shelves easily accessible, e.g. blocks, board books, dressing-up clothes,  dolls, stuffed animals, materials to play house, and a collection of heuristic play items (plastic containers, measuring spoons, funnels, etc.), which should be changed round frequently. It is possible to use the same activity to support the learning of mixed age groups, with modifications. This is differentiating the curriculum, by extending or adapting the original play into more specific areas of learning, as per the aims and targets set for each child. For example, younger children can handle gloopy paint to explore colour and texture, while older children use the same paint materials to express their feelings and ideas. Each child does the bit of the activity that he is ready and keen to do. If one child in the group is using a schema e.g. ‘Enveloping’, this can be used as the basis of a plan for the whole group e.g. to make a den, dress up or wrap up some ‘presents’. It is important to set up these activities for shared learning, as children develop socially when they have opportunities to observe and play with those who will play differently due to being older or younger. Being at different stages of their learning journey should mean that all will be able to share other viewpoints and richer experiences. This will help them be co-operative, and for the group to ‘gel’. NEC 733.000 08/516573 Ruth Dickerson The older members of the group can help to meet the younger ones’ learning needs, e.g. by ‘communicating’ pulling faces with babies, reading to preschoolers, putting on a play or a puppet show, or teaching a board game. They do often enjoy being valued for their input, but their help should be volunteered, not relied on, and they should have lots of opportunities away from the babies, since being your ‘assistant’ can be a way for older children to avoid their own age group, and a way to escape peer conflicts. Unplanned opportunities are also very useful as they can often spark off the kind of conversations and reminiscences about other experiences, and sharing of ideas, that just wouldn’t have happened unless that event had occurred.  They encourage communication and social skills which the smaller ones can pick up on and everyone can share. We can also help children to think about ways to include each other in their play, e.g. if the older children are playing house you could ask â€Å"As you are the daddy, could you read Tom and me a book?† (710)

Analysis Of The Epic Of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, And The Aeneid Essay

a. Gods and goddesses intervention plays a key role in many of the stories, including The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and The Aeneid. Apollo, god of sun and art, intervenes multiple times in The Iliad. He is known for sending the plague to the Greeks. Aruru, goddess of creation, made Gilgamesh and Enkidu in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Aeolus, god of wind, is persuaded by Juno, goddess of marriage, to build a storm. 2. Discuss the importance of the "voices of reason" in three of the stories. (Who or what group emerges that seems to be more rational than the stories ' characters?) a. â€Å"Voice of reason† is important in many stories including The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Song of Roland, and _____. Gilgamesh is a cruel king. He rapes women of all ages and does whatever it takes to get his way. If the men of Uruk had not complained about Gilgamesh then Enkidu would not have been created. Throughout the Song of Roland Oliver suggested that Roland blow the olifant but Roland refused. Although Roland’s actions did result in his death, Oliver knew it was what needed to happen. Oliver was the voice of reason throughout the story. 3. Discuss the theme of strength (inner or outer) in three of the stories. Use specific examples to support your answer. a. The theme of strength can be seen in many stories including Confession, The Song of Roland, and . St. Augustine had behavioral problems as a child but as he grew older became more mature. During his later years he finds the inner strength and courage to believe in God and put all of his faith into Him. Roland’s strength in The Song of Rolarent stories or the same story. a. Three symbols are the ark, olifant, and the inferno. In The Hebrew Bible, God commanded Noah to build an ark. The ark symbolizes God’s promise to Noah and all of the Israelites. The olifant in The Song of Roland is what kills Roland. It symbolizes his death. Dante’s Inferno includes many symbols. The story itself symbolizes one’s spiritual search. 10. What was your favorite story or character? Give at least three specific reasons/examples to support your answer. a. My favorite character was Joseph. Joseph’s brothers hated him very much and because of that they sold him to the Ishmaelites. Even though Joseph’s early years were not pleasant that did not stop him from believing in God. He kept the faith. He is such an inspiration to many because of his love for God. We can learn from him that if we put faith in God we can become a su

I will attach four pictures and i want an essay of 6 paragraphs

I will attach four pictures and i want an of 6 paragraphs Intoduction, and body of 4 paragraphs description of the pictures and conclusion - Essay Example The above painting, New Mexican Pueblo, was done by Frank P. Sauerwein. The painting is a representation of an Indian lifestyle setting where the old would seat with the young and educate them on life issues. I selected this painting for inclusion in MyartLabs History 6th Edition since it signifies a very important cultural practice among the Indians. The Indians are today marked as one ethnic group that has retained its culture and whose people still value the importance of morality especially among the young people (Maria et al 134). With such a painting in this edition, both the young and the old will be reminded on the importance of upholding their culture and the role that the old have on educating the young people as they grow up. The painting will serve as an educational and cultural tool in the MyartLabs History. The 2nd thing that I would want included in this section is the San Juan Pueblo clay pitcher. The pitcher is white in color with black designs to show the traditional beliefs of the Mexican people. The reason for this inclusion is that the jar will serve to remind us how our ancestors preserved their water. This is in comparison of today’s readily available bottled water which is believed to contain minerals. This ceramic is an indication of how much man has changed his lifestyle to cope with the changing technological advancements of the 21st century. Thomas Worthington Whittredge is well known for his â€Å"In the Rockies† sculpture. This sculpture captures the vast plains along the Platte River. This sculpture serves to remind us how the world was before civilization occurs. It captures the real beauty of the world; with a soldier holding a gun possibly getting ready for hunting. It would best fit into the historical context of the edition as a constant reminder of the adverse changes that modernization has caused to our environment. In the cultural context, the sculpture serves to remind us of the simple lives that our ancestors once

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

Pesticides - Essay Example Pesticides would also ensure that stored food, especially cereals, stay for long periods without any destruction from probable pests. However, the consequence of this is devastating. The chemicals used in the pesticides, though not poisonous to man on instant use, would accumulate in the body, posing risks such as developing such deadly diseases like cancer. Levine (2007) says that pesticides are not harmful to human beings, but excessive use of foods that have elements of the chemicals are harmful to the body. The danger may not be instant, but the negative impact would surely come. Genetically modified foods are equally unsafe. The fact that they increase food productivity notwithstanding, the modification makes them unsafe. This modification interferes with the normal arrangement of the DNA in the food. The body depends on the food we eat for various processes. By taking in food that is genetics modified, chances are that the body might assimilate this manipulated genetics, a fact that can result in a person giving birth in abnormal children. Pesticides and genetically modified foods should completely be

THELMA AND LOUISE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

THELMA AND LOUISE - Essay Example There are many things that can be taken from this memorable film, and the characters including how they are portrayed make the whole picture seamless. The issue of sexuality is the main foundation of the story. From the beginning we are introduced to the two main characters that represent different sides of the spectrum. We see Louise, a waitress, who is characterized as a modern woman who takes charge. She is confident in her job, smokes and drives a convertible muscle car nonetheless. She seems to live alone without a family despite her marrying age and all we know at first are passive references to a boyfriend. Then we see Thelma who perceptibly struggles in her day-to-day living with an abusive husband but without a child to care for. Thelma labors on the kitchen when Louise calls her about the out of town trip that she wants them to take. The latter was finally able to coerce her into going despite Darryl, her husband, unwilling to let her go based on his inherent proclivity to shelter her and prevent her from doing just about anything. The characters are shaped from the start of the film and their transformation is as interesting as it is revealing. Thelma’s changes were significant to the progression of the plot. To describe it in Louise’s own words, she had always been â€Å"sedated† from her life as a housewife and having to live with her husband. Prompted on Louise’s promise of fun on their road trip, Thelma’s loosening was taken to a whole new ground when they went to a bar which started the whole predicament. Having had too much to drink, Harlan, a too friendly guy took advantage and tried to rape her before Louise steps in to prevent his devious motive. Instigated by the arrogance of the man, Louise pulls the trigger and kills him. From here we watch as the two friends try to come up with a solution to evade their problems. Louise comes out as the problem solver as she had always been between the two of them, and struggles to pull herself together for both of them. She had been the stronger character up until J.D. shows up and steals their money which was their last remaining chance to get out for a clean break to Mexico. Suddenly, something changes on Thelma and she takes the foreground by robbing a convenience store with ease and composure. The criminal propensity is right within her all along and from â€Å"sedated† to â€Å"disturbed† she became just downright â€Å"crazy,† as Louise puts it. Thelma quips, â€Å"Oh man! You wouldn'ta believed it, it was like I was doing it all my life, nobody woulda believed it† (Thelma & Louise). The subdued housewife became the criminal mind who single-handedly robbed a store, thought of and carried out locking a policeman in the trunk of a police car. She had even deliberately thought it through by firing to create breathing holes, and was able to get comfortable with a gun she never wanted to handle in the first place and managed to blow up an entire truck. The repressed housewife, in a matter of days, let go of her morals and all the connotations of the abiding wife she had been expected to be. Louise is the other equally captivating character of the movie. The background of her story is the binding force behind her actions. What exactly happened in Texas

Change Management Ass 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Change Management Ass 2 - Essay Example This has resulted in a multi-racial and multi-cultural workplace. Moreover the mergers and acquisitions have caused diverse organizational cultures to come together resulting in a clash of cultures. Bolman and Deal state that "managers regularly face an unending barrage of puzzles or "messes." To act without creating more trouble, they must first establish an accurate picture of what is happening. Then they must proceed to a deeper level, asking, "What is really going on here?" This important step in reading a situation is often overlooked. As a result, managers may form superficial analyses and leap on solutions nearest at hand or most in vogue. Market share declining? Try strategic planning. Customer complaints? Put in a quality program. Profits down? Time to reengineer or downsize† (Bolman & Deal 33). Taking hasty decisions in the name of adaptability and dynamism through superficial analysis can cause negative consequences especially in the long run. This paper reviews orga nizational change with reference to the multi-frame approach to organizational diagnosis. The consequences of superficial analysis will be done first. This will be followed by the multi-frame approach for understanding organizations. A contingency approach to change and the sociological matrix of organizational culture by Goffee and Jones will also be reviewed. a few examples of organizations with regard to the multi-frame approach will also be provided. Bolman and Deal argue that even apparently brilliant managers act in dumb ways in change management scenarios. They are of the view that such many of these problems are caused not because the managers are stupid or inexperienced, but due to other (mostly personal) factors. This attitude is referred to as the ‘self-destructive intelligence syndrome’. Referring Feinberg and Tarrant who coined the phrase, the authors state that â€Å"people act stupid because of personality flaws – things like pride,

Day of leisure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Day of leisure - Essay Example To begin with, leisure is such a word that cannot be defined by a single statement, as there is so much to it than meets the eye. It is thus agreed that the best way to really cover its meaning is to define it as an activity, as time, and as a state of mind. Leisure as time defines leisure as being free from obligations or duties that may be either paid or unpaid or tasks that are essential for our existence. Leisure time in this case is seen as residual time. While there are those who see all the time that they spend away from work is leisure time, the truth is only a small percentage of this time is essentially spent for leisure. Some of the time spared after work can be used to do other activities that are crucial to our survival, say eating or sleeping. As an activity, leisure does not entail life maintenance tasks such as sleeping or general house cleaning. Leisure in this case means the activities that we engage in for relaxation, growth, meditating, competition, engaging in certain sport activity, painting and so on. These tasks are not done for our existence but for fun. As an activity, leisure is solely dependent on an individual. As a state of mind, it relates to the above definition in that leisure is dependent on an individual’s perception of what they are doing and whether they perceive that to be leisure. Concepts that come into play here include perceived freedom or competence, intrinsic motivation, and the positive effect of the activity. Remember it is the above effect that helps the individual knows whether a certain experience was pleasurable to them. To elaborate a little on the above, we would say that in perceived freedom, the individual is free to choose the activity they want to engage in without any obligation to do so. In intrinsic motivation, the individual is not influenced by any external force to engage in a given activity and that such motivation comes from within. Perceived competence refers to an individual

Create a branding strategy for a small island destination (Phuket) Literature review

Create a branding strategy for a small island destination (Phuket) - Literature review Example (2005). A brand contains a trademark which is normally protected by law. The function of the brand is to identify the owner of the business. In most times, the consumer tends to think that the quality of a product is the same as the brand. The importance of branding helps a business to be able to market its products. Brands have a tendency to confuse people with the product itself. The most important thing in deciding for a brand is to select a good brand and also decide on how many brand s are to appear on the product line. Different decisions can be decided upon. These options include the following: A company should decide on how the brand should appear to the customers as well as the stakeholders of the business. A brand that has a long term perspective should be of bigger consideration. This is according to Varumarkesskola, 2007. Good management is very important in order to ensure that the brand is kept alive and customers as well as the stake holders. An island can take advantage of its originality by acquiring other companies and penetrating to the market according to (Bradley, 2002). The brand quickly develops from being of a local market to an international market. It thus becomes known to international market. For an island to design an international brand it has to decide on which markets to act on, accessibility of the products to the international market and whether to bring new products or to modify the existing products. Brands should be unique so that their popularity can grow faster and should be as well-being accessible. According to Ying Wong and Merrilees (2007), developments of brands on the international basis offers opportunity to exploit the economies of scale, developing global markets and pursuing of multiple market segments. However. It is important to note that, brands are not guaranteed success in the market world. Through

Scrutinize the Qatar Architects Ethical and Professional Code of Assignment - 1

Scrutinize the Qatar Architects Ethical and Professional Code of Conduct, Analyze and structure its components in canons, ethical standards (ES) and rules, according to the AIA and RIBA codes - Assignment Example The second part analyses and relates the AIA codes and then the RIBA codes to that of Qatar Architects’ ethical standards and professional codes are essential since they work towards aligning themselves with the AIA’s Ethics Code on Human Rights: This is through prohibiting design of execution and spaces, torture, inhuman treatment, and degrading treatment of architects. All registered architects must try to promote excellence in architecture through their work and encourage others too. They must also carry out their duties to the best of their ability and to the satisfaction of clients and have proper regard for the interests of all consumers. The code of conduct expects architects to conduct themselves with integrity and honesty. This is in line with RIBA codes of integrity. This makes them to honor architecture as a unique profession. They must not act in manners that will make put their profession into dispute. They must therefore, work with fairness and integrity. The Qatari architects’ code of conduct explains that architects (registered), do not have interest in personal or financial in connection with businesses that may turn out to be inconsistent with obligations of professional conduct and standards. The code also calls for architects to rely on performance, ability, and experience as the basis of advancement in business, and shall not criticize maliciously how other architects work. Finally, it states that an architect shall be disqualified to serve as director or partner of any practice of architecture proffering service to the public when he becomes a bankrupt or his application is not discharged or has his application rejected by the registration board of architects. The first standard in architecture is about integrity and honesty, where architects are at all times expected to act with honesty and integrity and avoid situations or actions inconsistent with professional obligations. Secondly, they need

Love and Memory in Deuteronomy Essay Example for Free

Love and Memory in Deuteronomy Essay Love and Memory in Deuteronomy, is the prompt for this weeks reflection paper. First, we must identify what each of those terms means to us in context to Deuteronomy and for me Love does not just mean love in the sense that we all know. Although you could easily write a reflection amount the many ways God displayed his love to his people, like when he parted the seas for them and crushed the Egyptians behind them, or when he was slow to anger when they chose to worship Baal while Moses was a top Mt. Sinai, but I choose to interpret love in Deuteronomy as Gods continued faithfullness to his people. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. (Deuteronomy 7:9, English Standard Version) Here God is described as a faithful God, and one who will always love those that love him, and follow his word. This is such a powerful verse and really speaks to the faithfullness of God to his people, here it shows that God is obligated to us, that he must love those that love him. I think it also shows that he is bound to look out for us because he is our faithful creator, and that as the creator he is obligated to look out for us, to satisfy us, and provide for us, and ultimately look out for us enough so that we may seek him out and follow him with out Faith. That creation of the Covenant is the ultimate example of Gods faithfullness to us as it takes out all mystery and makes things most certain for us, and shows his commitment to us as a people, because of the covenant we know all the cornerstones of His divine government. The many I wills in Deuteronomy cover everything that we as a people might need in both the past, present, and future. There is no avenue of life that we can venture to where we can not find God, and he has given us clear definition of His heart and intentions by his word and covenant. Gods love in Deuteronomy can best be described as his faithfullness to us, and as mentioned prior, there is no greater example of this than his Covenant, and new Covenant with us through Jesus Christ. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. (Deuteronomy 8:2, English Standard Version) Memory plays a huge role in Deuteronomy as God is very clear in this verse, that the people are to remember, that all they have been through was a way for God to see what was in their heart, to see what kind of people they were. Memories, in general, throughout time are always a great way to see someones true heart. There were times the people worshipped false idols or cried out against the Lord, and in those moments peoples true natures were revealed, the memories of those times are a great reminder of where people stood, and as it says in that verse that is what it was all about, was for God to measure their true hearts. This principle is still the same today, we are often judged by our past deeds, and it is not because we do not believe people can not change or that people do not deserve new chances, but often times we are what we do, and again the memories of our past actions are a great way to measure who we are as people.

Contextualising Disability and Immigration in Britain

Contextualising Disability and Immigration in Britain 1. Contextualising disability in modern Britain is a problematic task. The principal challenge of any contextualisation is perhaps the question of whose contextualization is the most apt one. Answering this question and the position taken as a result is also arguably a critical tension within the issue of disability. This then hinges upon whether we contextualize disability from a point of view centred on society generally in modern Britain or whether we contextualize it from the viewpoint of those living with disabilities in modern Britain, (Barnes, 2006). This then highlights the issue as to whether disability is problematic for British society itself or whether it is in actuality British society is disabling itself for those it counts as living within disabilities. We can also contextualize disability in modern Britain in the very sense of its modernity by reflecting on the development of care, policy and legislation for disability, seeing it in a progressive light as a gradual deepe ning of respect and civil society values towards the disabled in Britain. Yet has the success of increased legislation towards the disabled in society gone any way towards combating the problems raised and highlighted by the disability rights movement for example. Perhaps in some ways this question can be answered positively in that legally many forms of discrimination against those living with disabilities has been placed on an equal footing with other kinds of discrimination such as that to do with race and racism. But has a legal countering of discrimination been enough to counter what many might count as socially embedded negative values and attitudes towards the disabled in modern Britain. In many instances activists within the disabled rights movement have argued that this has not occurred. This contextualisation returns us then to the issue noted above in that while legal and political measures have been taken to protect and enable disabled persons to live more active and fuller lives in particular settings socially in terms of British society questions can be asked as to how successful these attitudes have been diffused. As an illustration of this in examining the statistics of those who are disabled and working as opposed to those who are disabled and living on benefits highlights in many ways the inability of disabled persons to secure employment even where they are legally entitled to be considered on the same basis as those who are not disabled, (Kemp, 2006). Contextualising disability then is an interesting task as it centres as such on definitions, attitudes and reactions to the incidence of disability and how those with disability are treated by and perceived by British society in a wider and more general sense. Disability then when we contextualize it in this manner becomes a matter of respective perspectives on the issues that are play within the area of disability. For those then within the disability rights movement for example it is British society itself which is disabling in terms of restricting those living with disability from leading full and active lives. In terms of societal responses then the legal and political measures which have been pursued can be seen as responses to these criticisms. Yet the effectiveness of these can continually be questioned in terms of their impact. Similarly an often occluded aspect of disability in modern British society is the emphasis legally on physical as opposed to mental disabilities. A cl aim that can also be levelled at the disability rights movement itself at times. This can be seen in the fact that much of the legislation has focused on the concerns of those living with physical disabilities to the detriment of those living with mental disabilities, (Borsay, 2005). What this points towards in terms of a contextualization of disability in modern Britain is a failure of particular perspectives to be heard at all in the face of certain perspectives seeing a sustained debate on which version is the more correct one to be used in examining the issue of disability. 2. A contextualization of immigration in modern Britain is in many critical ways a contextualization of modern Britain itself. This can be seen in a number of key ways, such as for example the historical impacts of immigration on the makeup and composition of modern Britain. It can also be located in some of the more current socially problematic issues such as the role of Britain in the European Union, terrorism and the decline of the primacy of the welfare state. These are however broad claims and as such then how does a contextualization of immigration become relevant to the themes outlined above? Perhaps the clearest way a contextualisation of immigration points to these themes is by the manner in which immigration is discursively as an issue by society. As such then it can be argued that the discourse of immigration in Foucauldian terms points towards a complexity of issues that reflects, intersects and interacts with a set of much broader discourses within British society. Not only this but importantly but in terms of this wider social discourse on immigration what is not perceived or what is not discussed has immediate relevance also for the themes mentioned above, (Block, 2006). As such immigration can be seen as a contested issue and its contextualization as such offers insights into critical debates within modern Britain. An example of this can be seen in the recent debates over the economic benefits of immigration which are made against the backdrop of the expansion of the EU. Here there has been a shift from the unrestricted access of inhabitants of the first accession countries such as Poland to living and working in Britain to one of restrictions for newer accession countries such as Romania. Similarly debates over multiculturalism in the wake of recent terrorist acts have seen immigration being contested in the sense of how well do newer immigrants, and in particular Muslim immigrants integrate into British society. Likewise a final aspect of the contested nature of immigration is their partaking of the use of various public services in Britain. Arguments are made that immigration causes strains on public services such as the NHS, housing, education a nd other aspects of the welfare state, (Dustmann, 2005). Each of these issues are importantly social and political discourses themselves also. A contextualisation of immigration then needs to consider whether immigration is a feature of these discourses or whether they are a feature of immigration itself. Arguably the most suitable approach is to see a contextualisation of immigration as a mix between both of the extremes outlined above to see it as a contested discourse. Dissecting these contestations of immigration then is arguably the principal method to contextualizing immigration in modern Britain. It is an issue as such that is a mirror and a lens reflecting and providing insights into what are major transformational debates in modern Britain. Indeed the greater immigration is perceived or is in actuality occurring then the greater these debates are played out in the media, political circles and within national and local settings, (Cohen, 2001). There is a need then to situate immigration discursively within a framework which recognizes the multiplicity of discourses which are at play or are extolled in relation to the issue of immigration. It is a discourse containing many images and symbols about particular aspects of modern British society which are seen as problematic. Conte xtualising immigration then as a result necessitates a contextualisation of many disparate aspects of British society. References Barnes, C. (2006) Independent Futures: Creating User-Led Disability Services in a Disabling Society, Bristol, Policy Block, D. (2006) Multilingual Identities in a Global City: London Stories, Basingstoke, Macmillan Borsay, A. (2005) Disability and Social Policy in Britain since 1750: A History of Exclusion, Basingstoke, Macmillan Cohen, S. (2001) Immigration Controls, The Family and the Welfare State, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers Dustmann, C. (2005) Immigration, Jobs and Wages: Theory, Evidence and Opinion, London, Center for Economic Policy Research Kemp, P. A. (2006) Sick Societies? , Geneva, International Social Security Association

Generate Ideas Of The New Products Marketing Essay

Generate Ideas Of The New Products Marketing Essay This is a project for Mr Bean to launch a new product for a new segment. The process starts from idea generation, idea screening, business analysis, product development, test marketing and ends at 4Ps. Chosen Segment The new chosen segment is aiming at families, especially, the group of people who like soya bean food and do not go to Mr Beans outlets very often. Most of Mr Beans products are with short shelf life or difficult to store after selling. Usually, the products are eaten just after being sold. This restricts the sales. The consumers wouldnt buy a lot by one time. And the products are not available at home. If the consumers do not pass by Mr Beans outlets, the products are not available. So, Mr Bean may lose a lot of business opportunities. The new segment can length the time period for consumers to consume Mr Beans products. It will increase Mr Beans sales obviously. But, on the other hand, new products in this segment will affect the sales of existing products. Some consumers may do not buy products from Mr Bean when they pass by the outlets. It may be because that they have just eaten some Mr Beans similar products at home or they would eat at home. Considering the stagger location and time of the consumption, the effect will be slight. Overall, the new segment is expected to drive up Mr Beans sales significantly. The new products are expected to have a long shelf life and be easy to store, so that they are available for the families at home. 2 New Product Development 2.1 Idea Generation To generate ideas of the new products, internal and external surveys were held. The ideas were created by the employees and customers of Mr Bean. They are the following: Soy milk power: Instant soy milk. Dried bean curd: Traditional dried bean curd with package. Soya bean: Use complementary branding with a soy milk maker producer. And sell soya bean as the main material. Vacuum-packed pancake: New taste with package, the product can be stored at home. Mascot cookie: Cookies with different shape of Mr Beans mascot. Bagged soy milk oatmeal: A mix with soy milk power and dehydrated oatmeal. Frozen steam stuffed bun: A traditional and popular food. Boxed ice cream: Different to Mr Beans existing soft serves. 2.2 Idea Screening After the idea generation stage, the new product ideas were evaluated through some internal criteria, such as the consistency of the company positioning, of Mr Bean. Soy milk power: The production method of soy milk power is complex. And some large equipment is required. Mr Bean cant produce it now. Rejected. Dried bean curd: Dried bean curd can be produced easily by simple tools. Accepted. Soya bean: Directly sell soya bean takes low expense. Fabrication is not required. Accepted. Vacuum-packed pancake: The new taste pancake is very similar to the existing ones. Low cost and simple equipment is required. Accepted. Mascot cookie: The production process is simple. And tools to cook cookies are easy to get. Accepted. Bagged soy milk oatmeal: This new product is based on soy milk power. Since Mr Bean cant produce its own soy milk power, rejected. Frozen steam stuffed bun: Not soya bean related food. Inconsistent to company positioning. Rejected. Boxed ice cream: New equipment is required. But it is small and cheap. Accepted. The Screening result is as the table below: No. New Ideas Screening Result Accepted Rejected 1 Soy milk power 2 Dried bean curd 3 Soya bean 4 Vacuum-packed pancake 5 Mascot cookie 6 Bagged soy milk oatmeal 7 Frozen steam stuffed bun 8 Boxed ice cream 2.3 Business Analysis After the Idea screening, then the residual 5 ideas were examined by some external factors. Cost, sales and profitability need be considered in business analysis stage. Dried bean curd Cost: The main raw material is soya bean. And only simple tools are required. Cost should be low. Sales: Its a traditional food with a long history, demand may be high. As a soya bean food related company, the brand can help to get considerable sales. Profitability: Considerable sales with low cost makes it be very profitable. Soya bean Cost: Only some packaging fees are required. Sales: Lots of Singaporean dont like to cook at home, so the demand may be low. And its a convenience product, Sales may be disappointing. Profitability: Even cost is low, Sales may be also low. Its not profitable. Vacuum-packed pancake Cost: The cost of a vacuum-packed pancake with new taste is quite similar with the existing ones, just need extra packaging fees. Sales: Since the new pancake can store at home, both demand and sales are expected to have a obviously increase. Profitability: Net profit margin should be very similar to pancake. Profit should be high with good sales. Mascot cookie Cost: Cookies are easy to make with simple tools. Raw materials are also cheap. Cost is expected to be low. Sales: Most of the mascot cookie lovers should be little children. This limitation restricts the demand. Sales may be low. Profitability: Because of the low sales, it cant generate satisfying profit. Boxed ice cream Cost: The method and recipe are different from existing ice cream, but cost is very similar, both are low. Sales: Singapores climate stimulates the demand of ice cream. Sales are expected to be doubled. Profitability: High sales and low cost can bring good profit. Based on the profitability, the result is as the following table: No. New Ideas Analysis Result Accepted Rejected 2 Dried bean curd 3 Soya bean 4 Vacuum-packed pancake 5 Mascot cookie 8 Boxed ice cream 2.4 Product Development After many evaluations, the rest 3 ideas are developing into products. Dried bean curd The product is cut into small squares and with a lite taste. As the first product in this product line, choose original taste. Choose plastic as the packaging material. Some part of the package should be hyaline, so that the consumer can see the dried bean curd inside. Net weight is set at 150 gram per pack. So the consumers can eat up one pack one time. The label should show the flavor. Vacuum-packed pancake The new taste pancake was designed as a jam taste. It retained the soft texture of the existing ones. To reduce pressure on the product, the space inside the package should be fixed. So it can have a good appearance. As many other vacuum-package, use plastic as the material. Use specific color to show the flavor. Single pack can fit customers behavior. Boxed ice cream Boxed ice cream is different to Mr Beans existing soft serve. The new product has a relatively high hardness and low storage temperature. Its more suitable for transportation and storage. Strawberry taste is a common taste my other competitors use, and is very suitable to be chosen as the taste for the new product. Choose paper as packaging material. And the package should embody the flavor by color. Net content is 1L, a common quantity on the market.The label should highlight the new feature: it can be store at home. 2.5 Test Marketing Test marketing is to try to infer the response of a full-scale launch by a small regional test. The result may be not reliable (McDonald Christopher 2003, p.180). So choosing an ideal region can improve the reliability of the test result. Singapore is a very small country. This can help improve the accuracy of the test marketing. And the convenient public transportation makes the movement of mass very active, especially in MRT stations and bus interchange hubs. So choosing the outlets in these places to launch the prototypes can get a relatively reliable data. The outlet in Toa Payoh Hub is an ideal place to conduct the test. In location, it is at the center part of the country. And the passenger flow is high. Price is one of the considerations for the consumers in their consuming behavior. So the prices of the three products were based on the variable cost. And the contribution margin was set at 30% of the variable cost. So the selling prices are the following: Dried bean curd: 0.9 SD per pack Vacuum-packed pancake: 1.2 SD per pack Boxed ice cream: 4 SD per box At the same time, the customers who bought the new product were asked to take part in a survey. Customers voted to their favorite new product. The test lasted for a month. Then the data was collected and analyzed by Mr Bean. The result is as the following graphs: From the graphs, the sales of boxed ice cream were far ahead to the other two. And in customers choice, dried bean curd failed to get a good acceptance by most customers. The degree of vacuum-packed pancake and boxed ice cream among the customer is very similar. Boxed ice cream got a slight lead. Combining with data from all aspects, the result of test marking is as the following table: No. New Ideas Analysis Result Accepted Rejected 2 Dried bean curd 4 Vacuum-packed pancake 8 Boxed ice cream 3 Commercialisation Marketing mix is very often used in complex marketing strategies. It involves both targeted customers and companys objective (DIMCC 2008). Boxed ice cream should be classified as a product, so the marketing mix should base on 4Ps. 3.1 Product Product is the most important part in the 4Ps. The whole marketing mix bases on the products. Characteristics The new boxed ice cream is classified as a kind of regular ice cream. Its quite different from soft serves in recipe, hardness, taste, storage, process, etc. So it is a new product in a new product line in Mr Bean. And the taste is strawberry, a very common flavor on the market. So it is more probable to be accepted by the consumers. Regular ice cream is appropriate for many kinds of flavors. So it is possible to translate it into a series of products to length the product life circle. Different to many other regular ice cream on the market, Mr Beans boxed ice cream uses soya bean as one of its raw material. Packaging Package is an important part of the product. It has many functions. Contain the core product is the basic function of a package. For the boxed ice cream, paper box with cap is an ideal container. The design capacity is 1.1 liter. Since the net weight was decided to be 1 liter, the design capacity of the package must have some cushion. But the cushion mustnt be too much, or the customers may have a wrong impression that the product is short in actual weight. The paper must accord with food hygienic standard. And material quality must be waterproof paper. The package must have the ability to bear some situation that the ice cream melted. It can avoid leakage. The package protects the ice cream from external impurities and protects consumers from touching the ice cream, even when it melted. Piling method was considered to make sure the package is burly enough to bear the pressure. The design of the package must contain the information of the ice cream to consumers. Slight pink was chose n as the background color of the box, and strawberry was added into the design. So the consumer would know that it is a strawberry flavor. And Mr Beans trademark was designed on the striking area of the box. And some necessary information, such as ingredient, shelf life, was added on the package. Labeling Label is used to persuade or inform consumers. For the new boxed ice cream, the label was design to show the difference from Mr Beans existing products. The slogan on the label is designed as Enjoy simple pleasure at home. The background color was designed to be deep brown, a contrast color to slight pink. It can catch consumers attentions and arouse interests on the product. 3.2 Price To make a pricing strategy is very complex. There are too many aspects can affect the decision. There can be 6 steps in the process of setting a price (Kotler Keller 2006). A simplified process was used to set the price for this new product. Step 1: Choosing a pricing objective Pricing objectives can be classified as profit-oriented, sales-oriented and status quo. To the boxed ice cream, status quo pricing objectives are the optimal choice. Firstly, its a convenience product, the price must be competitive. Secondly, to Mr Bean, its new product line in a new market. And its still at the introduction stage. Surviving is the primary task. So, the pricing strategy should meet competitions prices. Step 2: Positioning After deciding to meet competitions prices, the question became to which competitor should be chosen to follow. On the market, there are many kinds of ice cream with different positioning. Analysis Mr Beans existing pricing strategy and the value of boxed ice cream to get the positioning. Then compare with the existing products on the market. Some competitors on the market are listed in the table below: Brand Product/Flavor Net Content Price Haagen-Dazs Mango 1L S$13.90 Haagen-Dazs Strawberry 1L S$14.45 Nestle La Gremeria 1L S$4.80 Weis Sorbet 1L S$9.15 KINGS VCRM SWT CORN 1L Similar PositioningS$3.57 KINGS VCRM R BERRY 1L S$3.57 Walls CRM-PADD RAINBOW 1.5L S$5.00 Walls CRM-CHOCLOLATE 1.5L S$5.00 So, the price of Mr Beans new boxed ice cream should be around S$4.80 per liter. Step 3: Estimating costs and adjusting Cost is an important factor to be considered in the process of setting price. It directly affects the contribution margin. The price should be set with a positive profit. The contribution margin was compared with the target profit, and the price was adjusted to S$4.60, a more competitive price with satisfying profit. 3.3 Promotion The role of promotion can be summarized as DRIP, Differentiation, Remind, Inform and Persuade (Ho 2012). As its in the introduction stage, the main objective should be Inform. Mr Bean is good at promote its product in many different ways. As boxed ice cream is a convenience product at the introduction stage. Combining with Mr Beans methods, the chosen tools are advertising, public relations and sales promotion. Advertising Overall, the purpose of advertising is to increase sales and profit. But it can be subdivided into different communication objectives (Jobber 2004, p.423). As this is the introduction stage of a new product, the communication objective is to create awareness. The following are the tools used: Poster and leaflet Enjoy Simple Pleasure At HomeSince the new segment is to length the time period for consumers to consume Mr Beans products, the main group of the targets is Mr Beans existing customers. Putting up a poster and distributing leaflets around Mr Beans outlets can get a good effect to create awareness. And most of the innovators should be Mr Beans loyal customers. And comparing with many other traditional advertising media, the total cost is very low. Good design of the poster and leaflet also can increase customers interest on boxed ice cream. Internet On the homepage of Mr Beans official website, there is a striking space for the companys star item and new products. This space is big enough to show a detail of product. Put boxed ice cream on the space. The visitor can aware it at first glance. Public Relations Public Relations is a good tool to build up a good image for a company and introduce new products to public. Mr Bean is very good at using this tool. For example, in the last few years, Mr Bean continually worked as a principle sponsor of National Day Parade. Such events are good opportunities for the introduction of boxed ice cream. The remarkable events can help boxed ice cream get awareness effectively. And by using public relations, many new consumers may be attracted.http://www.mrbean.com.sg/cmsresource/Events/NDP%202011/NDP2011_W243.jpghttp://www.mrbean.com.sg/cmsresource/Events/NDP%202011/NDP2011_W7.jpg Sales Promotion After consumers getting the awareness and reason for purchasing on boxed ice cream, sales promotion gives consumers the incentive to buy it. The short-term but obviously effect can help shorten the introduction stage and lead boxed ice cream to the growth stage. In the introduction stage, coupon is a very useful tool. It can stimulate the consumer behavior and increase the sales significantly. Since leaflets are used to advertise boxed ice cream, coupon can be distributed with the leaflets. 3.4 Place A place strategy affects the accessibility of the product to consumers and the profit of the originations in the marketing channel. Mr Bean defines itself as a retailer. Actually, it is also a producer. The company produces all the products by itself. So, the company uses direct channel for consumer products. Without the intermediaries, Mr Bean can get a significant profit from the sales.One of the reasons why does Mr Bean only use direct channel is the feature of the existing product. Most of Mr Beans products are made and sold on the spot. They are with short shelf life and are not convenient to transport and store. So other market channels are not suitable to Mr Bean. The new product, boxed ice cream, doesnt need to be restricted to the existing channel strategy. The new features make it possible to be sold by third parts. But, by considering the stage in product life circle and the capacity of the company, boxed ice cream was decided to launch by the existing channel strategy. As a new product, Mr Bean managed its capacity at low level in the introduction stage. And there are more than 60 Mr Beans outlets in Singapore. Its enough to offer a good accessibility to the consumers. Centralized production mode was selected for the new product. So the outlets didnt need to add any new equipment. Boxed ice cream was sold in all Mr Beans outlets. The channel strategy decision is a temporary one. With the increase of acceptance of the product, Mr Bean will increase its capacity. Other channels are possible to be used to increase the sales. 4 Conclusions After going through many screening and well planned by Mr Bean, the new product, boxed ice cream, came to the market. But whether it is a successful new product or not, is still waiting for the examination by the market.

Legalizing Marijuana Essay -- Drugs Weed Legal Argumentative Essays

Legalizing Marijuana Drugs are a major influential force in our country today. The problem has gotten so out of hand that many options are being considered to control it or even solve it. Ending the drug war seems to be a bit impossible. The war on drugs seems to be accomplishing a lot but this is not true. Different options need to be considered. Legalization is an option that hasn't gotten a chance but should be given one. Although many people feel that legalizing marijuana would increase the amount of use, marijuana should be legalized because it will reduce the great amounts of money spent on enforcement and it will increase our country’s revenue. There are also many benefits that can be uncovered to help people if legalization of marijuana is given a chance. Legalizing marijuana would increase our economy's revenue. During Prohibition alcohol use was still sold and used, but people were doing it illegally. The 21st amendment repealed prohibition and alcohol taxes were increased. The same thing should happen with drugs. Marijuana should be taxed heavily to increase our revenue. Marijuana and other drugs would be made by the same people who make aspirin so the quality would be assured, containing no poisons or adulterants. Sterile hypodermic needles will be readily available at corner drug stores. These could be taxed heavily because the users will be assured of "clean drugs." Making drugs legal will reduce the great amounts of money spent on enforcement every year. Drug dealers and users are one step ahead on the enforcement process. If one drug lord is caught, another one will show up somewhere else. We cannot win. â€Å"In 1987, 10 billion dollars were spent alone just on enforcing drug laws. Drugs accounted for about 40... ...on on the amount spent on law enforcement efforts to apprehend and prosecute users and sellers of marijuana. The drug enforcement authorities might reduce their budget requests, or, more likely, focus more intensely on hard drugs and violent crimes. The courts would be relieved of hearing some drug cases, as well. The most important gain would be in the quality of government. The sorts of temptations and opportunities that lead to corruption would be significantly minimized. The illogical pattern of law enforcement, which now treats marijuana as more dangerous as alcohol, would end. It would set more achievable goals for law enforcement, and this would lend strength and credibility to the government. In the essay â€Å"drugs,† Vidal states, â€Å"It is possible to stop most drug addiction in the United States within a very short time, Simply make all drugs available.

Minor Characters in Arthur Millers All My Sons :: essays research papers

There are many minor characters in Arthur Miller’s play, All My Sons. For instance there is Bert, a eight-year-old boy, who visits Joe Keller twice during the course of the play. there is also Frank and Linda Lubey, neighbors of the Keller’s. This couple bought Ann’s house after she moved out. There is also Dr. Jim Bayliss and his wife Sue, who are friends of the Keller’s. The last minor character is George Deever, Ann’s brother. Out of all of these actors only two of them have and important impact on the course of the play. They are George Deever and Frank Lubey. Both characters have minor parts, meaning they are only seen very infrequently. The reader only meets George in the second scene and he is gone by the third scene, and Frank is only seen very sparsely throughout the play. Frank Lubey is a very important character because of what he represents to Kate Keller. To Kate, Frank is one of the few reasons to believe her son Larry is alive. Larry was reported MIA during World War II, which was three years ago according to the play. Frank Lubey believes in the stars and fate and favorable days. He tells Kate through out the play that a man can not die on his favorable day. Frank sets out to find out if November 25th (the date Larry was reported MIA) was one of Larry’s favorable days. By the end of the play Frank figures out that November 25th was one of Larry’s favorable days. When Kate hears that the stars are telling her that her boy is alive, nothing will dieter her from believing it. Though Chris, Ann and Joe plead with her to let Larry go, she will not believe it. Frank’s major part in the play was to make a horoscope for Kate Keller, in hopes of seeing if Larry could still be alive some where in the world. With out Frank Lubey making the horoscope, every single character in the play would be against Kate’s belief that Larry was alive. Because Frank also agrees with her, Kate has almost solid proof, for herself, that her boy is alive. Kate is a very stubborn woman because no matter what anyone says, she will never let go of what she believes in. Because Frank also believes, with Kate that Larry is a alive, Kate will continue to believe because someone else shares her belief.

Ford :: essays papers

Ford The Good Soldier, utilises a variety of literary techniques to construct meaning and propel imaginative power. Ford uses figurative language to initiate the polarity of â€Å"Convention and Passion†(1) and a divergent narrative style and structure to present cultural issues such as the quest for human knowledge and the imprisonment of society. â€Å"The long afternoon wore on† commences in the context of Nancy’s revelations. She has read the account of the Brand divorce case in the newspapers and is apprehending the manifestations of recently discovered phenomena. Ford employs a vocabulary that is mournful and dull to conjure up images of shadow and anguish. He uses words like â€Å"frightened,† â€Å"writhed,† â€Å"agony,† â€Å"pain† and â€Å"gloomy† to connote feelings of â€Å"affaissement.† These are juxtaposed with the vocabulary of the second half of the passage: â€Å"lover’s,† â€Å"flame ,† and â€Å"cheerful† which signifies the corruption of Nancy’s chastised mind. Knowledge of convention takes â€Å"all sweetness†¦out of life.† The lexicogrammar interplays the theme of â€Å"Convention and Passion† as being unable to exist congruently in â€Å"the law of the land† and cognition of human nature as futile, leading only to darkness. Ford expresses the degenerative nature of human passion in the metaphor: a tune in which major notes with their cheerful insistence wavered and melted into minor sounds as, beneath a bridge the highlights on dark waters melt and waver and disappear into black depths. The anagoge alludes to images of passion fading into darkness. An antithesis of light and dark, black and white, the certitude of Passion succumbing to Convention: Society must go on, I suppose, and society can only exist if the normal, if the virtuous, and the slightly-deceitful flourish, and if the passionate, the headstrong, and the too truthful are condemned Samuel Hynes, ‘The Epistemology of The Good Soldierâ⠂¬â„¢, The Good Soldier, Norton Critical Edition (1995. W.W. Norton & Company) to suicide and to madness. Nancy’s love must regress, as the etiquette of society must prosper. Fatally for those who were unable to conform to â€Å"the technicalities of English life† due to burgeoning eroticisms, â€Å"the end was plainly manifest.† Ford creates imagery of umbra and shadow elsewhere in the novel: â€Å"inevitably they pass away as the shadows across sundials.† Ford’s adumbrations of unillumination may also reflect the restrictions of human knowledge. Darkness reflects the tenuousness of human cognition. Dowell proposes earlier: what is there to guide us in the more subtle morality of all other personal contacts, associations, and activities?

Brand Onions The Crying Game: Article analysis

The crying game, Martin Well. Article Analysis The article from Martin Well Is calling Into question the use of models for brand- perception management. Brand-marketing models may create barriers in the development of brands. By following strict rules, the way for creativity is not accessible. To better understand the article we will mentioned the main statement from the author, to then better analyze it.Processes in marketing lock the values of companies in a strict way (like in a box), and it doses ‘t promote the creativity and the action. Employees will not think out of the box, being locked in those concepts. Then any messages, Ideas, options, alternatives, solutions or opinion that do not have a direct link to the â€Å"rules† are automatically rejected. This Is quite â€Å"Nazi† and does not promote Innovation. The brand will not take any risk. Its messages will be very simple. There won't be evolution over the time.The company stays stacked with its values, and launch messages around it, but probably this is not what its customer or target is expecting, and believe in. Or it is not well done (the message) and the target group does understand a different meaning of it. In the article, Nikkei is mentioned as an example, and Nine's slogan â€Å"Just Do It† Is probably Included In employee's minds. This motto Is part of the values of the firm. In this case this value Is very motivating, pushing for creation and action.Also It does encourage the employee to think out of the box. A call to action and creatively should always be part of any company' s values. Furthermore, these tools do not give much opportunity to adapt to national market, where values and messages could be improved in many cases. Of course it is useful as a base to help you understand (as a company), who you are, hat you want to achieve, where you are going and why? This is kind of a raisin d' ©tree, witch helps the business and its employees to stay focus, knowin g why they are waking up every morning.Any tool should be adapted, changed or only be used as a remembered over the time. Studies, trough tests directly taking place on the market, analyzing reactions of people). To understand if the message is perceived as we want it to be perceived, or even if it is the right one. Does the target group really want to be associated to those values? Is there any improvement to be done? Should we stick on our firm-values anyway? Or are we capable to adapt, to evolve, being smarter?I would like to conclude by this post from Erg Manses, witch commented the article: â€Å"we spend most of our time trying to post-rationalize the decisions we make by instinct†. The brain has two different parts that are (thanks god) connected between each other, meaning that our instinct might not be that instinct, but a fast connection inside our brain is probably made. Models we are using in order to plan a brand strategy should not be followed like science, but they should be used as different tools to orient ourselves.

Counter-Terrorism Strategies

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were founded in 1976 with the aim of championing for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka-Hindus who comprise about 18% of the total population against the Buddhist Sinhalese who make up the majority of the population (Rabasa, pp. 68). To fight for the formation of an independent state curved out from Sri Lanka, they have repeatedly waged war using guerrilla, conventional, and terrorist tactics and have attacked military, government and civilian targets.One major unit that specializes in terrorist attacks is the Black Tigers who often commit suicide during such attacks. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a terrorist organization founded in the year 1916 and has conducted many violent and terrorism campaigns against the British authorities in the Northern Ireland for a long time since 1916 . The current operations of the army is based on a kind of rules of war in which for instance warnings of an imminent bomb attack are provided followed by a certain cod e that acts as a verification of the legitimacy of the warnings.The bombings have been targeted to disrupt the lives of British people so that the organization can continue obtaining financial support from associate countries though this is anticipated to change. The range of bombs used by the terrorists include small devices made from high explosives which have been provided by foreign associates or stolen and large improvised bombs based on Ammonium . A renewed ceasefire declared in 1997 by the IRA was far from being comprehensive since it only refrained them from attacking the security forces and therefore the IRA continued to launch brutal attacks against Roman Catholics .Different strategies have therefore been employed to combat terrorism both in Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland. These strategies exhibit some differences as well as a number of similarities. This paper will compare and contrast these strategies adopted by the authorities to suppress acts of terrorism propagated b y the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and the IRA in Northern Ireland. The strategies adopted by the authorities to suppress acts of terrorism in Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland differ on several facets.Firstly, the authorities in Sri Lanka have predominantly used military force to combat the violent acts propagated by Tamil Tiger rebels. In contrast, the British government have applied extensive legislative measures to suppress the terrorist organization, the Ireland Republican Army in Northern Ireland. There are several examples of legislation by the British government. It is worth noting that since its formation, Northern Ireland has been in a state of emergency and the Civil Authorities Act of 1922 was passed only a year after its partition .In the 1970s the British government perceived an imminent possibility of the violence in Northern Ireland spiraling out of control and therefore it expeditiously introduced the Northern Ireland Emergency Provisions Act (EPA) in 1973 . This Act was a milestone since it paved way for a number of new measures including increased power for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and Army to arrest any terrorism suspect.In addition, the Act allowed the formation of non-jury courts specially for conducting trials on those accused of terrorism and also it provided for the prohibition of all terrorist organizations. As another and more advanced measure to suppress acts of terrorism, the British Parliament quickly passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in 1974 after the deadly Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA . The PTA also served to extend the measures undertaken by the EPA throughout the UK by the virtue of introducing more powers with regard to interrogation and detention.These two major Acts had extreme provisions and therefore they were originally designed to be temporary though the government fully understood the dynamic nature of terrorism and therefore was committed to renew them until they were eventually replaced by more permanent provisions of the Terrorism Act of 2000 . The effectiveness of such legislation can be seen particularly from the implementation of Northern Ireland Emergency Provisions Act in 1973 which gave the military power to arrest and detain suspects temporarily and also search homes in the absence of warrants.The culmination of such a move was that hundreds of people were detained and more than 250,000 homes searched during which thousands of hidden weapons were discovered and seized by the military . These legislation paved way for a number of methods in curbing terrorism in Northern Ireland. These methods include criminalisation, internment without trial, Diplock courts and the supergrass system in which the policies of each focus on punishing those accused of crimes related to terrorism with unwanted or unforeseen effects .Therefore, the legislative measures adopted by the British government to combat Ireland Republican Army’s terrorist actions forced it to alter its ow n legislative avenue to make it commensurate with the political violence in the Northern Ireland by both taking extreme steps and first making their provisions temporary. In contrast to such legislative approaches to ending terrorism, the government of Sri Lanka can be said to have mostly applied military force combined with very few harsh legislative measures when compared to those adopted against IRA by British government.It is important to remember that when it attained its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka was not prepared to deal with even minor protests leave alone such large terrorist groups as Tamil Tigers which developed gradually over time. This was due to the small number of police and military in addition to inadequate equipment and lack of a firm organizational structure. There are several incidences which demonstrate that the government has employed force in terms of military action as well as legislation as major strategies against the Tamil rebels.In 1977, before a mon th was over after the UNP government coming to power, an army was sent to wipe out all the people who were organizing a movement to demand for a separate Tamil state . This was purposed to stop the secessionists before the movement became a threat to the government. A similar attack in August 1977 resulted in hundreds of Tamils being killed and thousands left homeless. This was done through the use of force by the police and the military.An example of a legislation against terrorism is the Prevention of Terrorism Act which was passed in 1979 and whose provisions included confessions made out of torture, detention without trial, and conducting searches without warrants . In addition, the Act made crimes such as kidnapping, murder, and abduction punishable by life imprisonment. This legislative approach can however be compared to the one used in Northern Ireland by the British government though it has passed many legislation compared to the situation in Sri Lanka with regard to counte r-terrorism.In the mid 1981, another military-initiated attack against the Tamils occurred which left the group devastated. A major preventive war in 1983 was waged against Tamils by the government to crash them completely following a shift in the balance of power between the Tamils who were secessionists, and the Sri Lankan government . This pogrom had a lot of effects compared to the previous incidences of military action since it was accompanied with the use of violent attacks by organized mob groups which left over 3,000 Tamils brutally killed and 150,000 left homeless .These events are examples which demonstrate the difference in the way the two governments have dealt with terrorism propagated by the two groups. Another major contrast in the strategies to combat the activities of both the Tamil Tigers and the Ireland Republican Army is that the British government in the Northern Ireland has extensively applied contingency measures which include legislation aimed at dealing with biological, chemical or radiological attacks .In Sri Lanka, such measures have hardly been used and instead, legislation to curb terrorism by the Tamil Tigers have been predominantly those that give the military more power and authority to use force. However, a similar case applies in Northern Ireland with regard to use of harsh tactics to arrest and suppress the members of the Ireland Republican Army. The major measure used between 1971 and 1975 was that of using torture during interrogation of suspects who had been subjected to internment without trial .The measure was particularly applied on suspects whom the authorities believed they were potential sources of valuable information which could possibly enable them apprehend more suspects including the masterminds of the terrorist attacks by the IRA. The in depth interrogation as an example of using force on suspects entailed five main techniques including exposure of the terror suspects to a monotonous and continuous loud voice w ith the head covered with a black hood and being forced by means of a button to stand for about six hours at a time against a wall, hands raised above the head with the legs apart for a period of several days.The suspects were also subjected to severe deprivation of food and water and also sleep was denied. However, the European Commission on Human Rights later on judged the method as one constituting an inhuman practice of treating people who have been arrested. This led to the discontinuity of the use of the five techniques following unfavorable publicity . A major similarity in both counter-terrorism strategies is with regard to the attempts to use peaceful means or dialogue which has seen several treaties being signed between the IRA and the British government and between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers.The peace agreements have been accompanied by certain promises and conditions such power sharing deals, surrendering of weapons by the rebelling groups including o ther conditions with the purpose of seeking peace. However, a similar scenario witnessed in both cases is that most of the attempts to initiate sustainable peace agreements have in most cases failed due to diverse political, economic or social reasons.A major attempt and a good example of a peace agreement in the Northern Ireland is the Downing Street Declaration which was initiated in December 1993 and which signaled readiness for more dialogue to break the stalemate between all the sides involved in the resolution process including the IRA and Sinn Fein, the Ireland’s oldest political movement . In Sri Lanka, since a new government came to power in 2001, the government has adopted a peace approach to suppress terrorism by the Tamil Tigers in which at least three breakthroughs have been achieved.Among the peace talks have been a disarmament process, agreement on humanitarian measures and most importantly, the readiness of the Tamil Tigers to welcome a federal structure . It can therefore be clearly deduced that there have been practical and viable approaches to counter acts of terrorism by both the Ireland Republican Army and the Tamil Tigers which have been implemented by the governments concerned to try and improve the situation in these countries. A good similarity is that both governments have tried peace agreements though most have not elicited sustainable outcomes.Another similarity is seen in the use of force though the kind of force used against IRA is seen to be mostly applied after suspects have been apprehended in an effort to gather useful information from them. The force used on Tamil Tigers is predominantly military action. The biggest contrast between the strategies in both situations is that a lot of sustainable legislative measures have been adopted against the IRA with only one major legislation being implemented against the Tamil Tigers. Bibliography Bjorgo, Tore. Root causes of terrorism: myths, reality and ways forward.New York: Ro utledge, 2005. Brenner, Edgar H and Yonah Alexander. Uks Legal Responses to Terrorism. New York: Routledge, 2003. Derkins, Susie. The Irish Republican Army. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003. Dos Santos, Anne Noronha. Military intervention and secession in South Asia: the cases of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, and Punjab. New York: Anne Dos Santos, 2007. Geraghty, Tony. The Irish War: the hidden conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence. New York: JHU Press, 2000. Houen, Alex. Terrorism and modern literature, from Joseph Conrad to Ciaran Carson.New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Martin, Gus. Essentials of Terrorism: Concepts and Controversies. New York: SAGE, 2010. Rabasa, Angel. Beyond al-Qaeda: The outer rings of the terrorist universe. New York: Rand Corporation, 2006. Shanahan, Timothy. The provisional Irish Republican Army and the morality of terrorism. Salt Lake City: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Sluka, Jeffrey A. Death squad: the anthropology of state terror. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. Wallis, Geoff, Mark Connolly and Margaret Greenwood. Rough guide to Ireland. Dublin City: Rough Guides, 2003.

The Balding, Toothless, Castaway †with Wings

Marquez's A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings revolves on the genre of magic realism, where the unnatural events and characters are interspersed with the daily activities of human life.The story presents the two main topics of interest – the old and withering winged man and the small community around it. Magical characters are of a natural thing when it comes to this genre and the response of the people around it implies a subtle reality where the realms of magic and the real world meet halfway.The story does not present a clear moral perspective or lesson in the end. Rather, it only presents a straightforward storytelling style designed to give the reader an opportunity to think of different subjective possibilities. There are no genuine expressions of shock or exclaim over the appearances of these characters. In this case, the angel appears as though it is a part of their reality wherein it is viewed as something ordinary.The characters in the story view the angel as divine, even in his pathetic physical state. However, after the town priest carefully examined the angel, they have deduced that he was an impostor, for he did not know the language of God.   Although angels are closely associated with Christian teachings, the divinity of the angel in the story is concentrated more on the magical rather than the religious aspect.The angel—a decrepit old man with half-plucked wings infected with parasites—may be related to the struggles that the human soul experiences in the eventuality of submission from the burden of mortal problems. The angel symbolizes decay and the slow death of the soul as he tries to relieve all his burdens.There are several notions on the symbolisms of the angel and its wings. First, as a general figure without cultural or religious basis, the angel may be regarded as simply a man with wings coming from some shipwreck across the sea.However, the story made no mention of the origins of the man, nor the reasons why he h as wings attached naturally to his body. As Pelayo and Elisinda observed, it was a toothless, balding old man that could have been easily mistaken as someone from a foreign country. But the wings make the character all the more mysterious. Thus, upon their consultation from their neighbor who knew the â€Å"workings of life,† the latter immediately responded that it was an angel sent to claim their sick child's life (Marquez 388).The experience of the townspeople with the angel also implies the contextual definition and nature of the community. They immediately impose in their consciousness that it is in fact an angel and quickly resort to several propositions in order to use this divine entity for the benefit of the human race.The simplest of the proposals is to make the angel as mayor of the world. The more radical ones suggest that he be made either as a five-star general in order to win all wars or as a genetically perfect parental source in order to make all human beings wise and conquer the universe. These reactions are the natural impulse of man to associate divinity on earth as a universal solution to mortal problems.This divinity is a structured action that delimits the capacity of human act as incompetent and incapable compared to the powers of the divine. Human beings, upon the proper circumstances, will willingly submit themselves to a higher order or a divine power in order to take over and create a perfect society.These propositions also deal with human freedom, where the townspeople entrusts their problems to divine solution. Although the divine effects were in a sense magical and comical (blind man who, instead of regaining vision, grows extra teeth), the townspeople did not view the angel's abilities as a proper divine capability because of the lack to completely heal people.

Crocs Company Essay

I have chosen crocs company to make the report that required in my first assessment. I choose this company because I am interested to make analysis about this company. In my opinion this company is unique. Based on (Wikipedia crocs), Crocs, Inc. is a shoe manufacturer founded by 3 friends – Scott Seamans, Lyndon â€Å"Duke† Hanson, and George Boedecker, Jr. They produce and distribute a foam clog design acquired from a Quebec company called Foam Creations. The shoe had originally been developed as a spa shoe. The first model produced by Crocs â€Å"The Beach† was unveiled in 2002 at the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show in Florida, and sold out the 200 pairs produced at that time. After a great success selling the 200 pair of Crocs â€Å"the Beach† spa shoe, George realize the potential and try to go beyond the 200 pair. Every pair of Crocs Shoes is from a material called Crosliteâ„ ¢. Croslite is a made from the company’s PCCR (Proprietary Closed-Cell Resin). It is not plastic nor rubber and it is a closed-cell in nature and anti-microbial (eliminates that foot odor). The special Patented Closed Cell Resin (PCCR) warms and softens with your body heat and molds to your feet. The Crocs European styling of the orthotic heel, built-in arch support, and tarsal bar position your feet for ultimate foot comfort and health. Say No to Painful Shoes and Hallo crocs Crocs, Inc, a world leader in innovative casual footwear for men, women and children, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012. Crocs offer several distinct shoe collections with more than 300 four-season footwear styles. All Crocsâ„ ¢ shoes feature Crosliteâ„ ¢ material, a proprietary, revolutionary technology that gives each pair of shoes the soft, comfortable, lightweight and odor-resistant qualities that Crocs fans know and love. Crocs fans â€Å"Get Crocs Inside† every pair of shoes, from the iconic clog to new sneakers, sandals, boots and heels. Since its inception in 2002, Crocs has sold more than 200 million pairs of shoes in more than 90 countries around the world. The brand celebrated reaching $1 billion in annual sales in 2011. Marketing Concept have 4 elements that briefly explain what the marketing concept is; Customers Orientation, Competitor Orientation, Inter-functional Coordination and Profit Orientation. In Crocs Inc. Marketing concept is implemented to help the organization identify and give the customer need and want while also trying to achieve their organizational goals. I will explain more about the marketing concept that have been applied by Crocs Company. Customer Orientation This Customer Orientation is mostly about how the organization understands their core customers, their target buyers and their consumers in the industries. This people play a great part to them in creating the ideal product to the optimum valued. Based on the Crocs mission statement â€Å"Bring profound comfort, fun and innovation to the world’s feet â€Å". Crocs do their research what customer need and want. They value their customer toward comfort, fun and innovation footwear. They treat their customer so much better that they make their shoes according to what customer want in their feet. Crocs have made research and collect various types of information that may help them to satisfy their customer needs. That why Crocs have made various types of shoes that cater to all their customer’s need. The Croslite material that make it possible. Crocs defined Croslite as Ergonomic, lightweight, comfortable and odor resistant. Who ever thought that having an ugly shoe can make our feet feel absolutely relax? Well, Crocs did and it was a success. Crocs shoes do not only give absolute comfort like other shoes or stylish appearance but it gave more. No more foot odor, no more aching feet, no more heavy shoes and say Hello to better Healthy Shoes. (crocs, 2013) Crocs have launched an advertisement called â€Å"Feel The Love by Crocs†. In the television commercial for Crocs footwear, the actress wearing black high-heel shoes enters an apartment building and with tired climbs a flight of stairs. When she opens the door, two small red animated characters based on the Crocs original clog model, with stubby arms and legs and blinking  ventilation holes representing eyes, scamper toward her like puppies. The characters cling to her ankles and then, as she sits on the couch to read her mail, they remove her shoes, massage her feet, and then slip a new style of Crocs flats onto her feet. â€Å"Meet Croslite,† says a voice over toward the end and lastly says â€Å"the loyal, loving, good-for-you technology, in every pair of Crocs.† It was a great TV commercial that shows how Crocs understand their core customer, buyers and consumer’s needs and wants. Crocs knows that most of us will have a tiring day and it is a hassle to walk back home with an uncomfortable shoes. The advertisement wanted to deliver that Crocs is the ideal footwear to wear anytime anywhere. Besides that, another example of Crocs is Customer orientation is developing a shoe called † Crocs Prepair Flip† that focus on Athletic like runners and cyclists, etc. The flip-flop enhance recovery after athletic activity thus help lower muscle exertions can provide an improved opportunity for blood flow and fatigue relief, creating greater recovery potential after a hard sporty activities. This doesn’t focus on the athletics but to the customers that like to do sports. This shows that rather than they focus on general customer need them also specific to certain group of customer needs. Like in this Crocs Prepair case, they focus on the active runners, cyclist or other types of sports that might causes some of feet damage like fatigue or muscle exertions. Crocs have proven that they are Customer Orientation organization. (crocs, 2013) Competitor orientation Competitor Orientation means an organization that look at how its competitors are able to satisfy their buyers, customer or consumers. The organization should collect information about their competitor strategy and in the same time making their competitors as their benchmark for either short term or long term marketing strategy. Crocs major competitor is Decker’s, NIKE and Timberland. This major footwear brands have been around for many decade compared to Crocs that is consider as a â€Å"baby† in this Industries. But, to compare the success of crocs to them is actually same. The thing that make  these other competitor different from Crocs is they have the experience and well-known to the world. Crocs have collected some information of their competitor. Based on an article found from the internet called The Strategic Move of Crocs, Inc, 2009, Crocs have identified their competitors and what their competitors are doing in the industries. Crocs also realize that the global casual footwear and apparel is a highly competitive industry. Every competitor is competition with each other’s. In relating Crocs with its Competitor, I will be using Nike to make comparisons with crocs. (HOOVERS) Well-known Brand Name Nike began in the 1971 sold its functional running shoes to the jogging set, but then quickly expanded its offerings to include all athletes in virtually every sport. The shoes were customized to handle the rigors of the individual sport. Nike also expanded its line to be fashionable and cool to wear even when its wearers weren’t sweating. Compare Crocs and NIKE, NIKE has been in the global casual footwear and apparel industry since 1964. It is not surprising if Crocs has a long way to go and face many problems before they are on par with the well-known large companies around the world like Nike. But the potential is very good as Crocs is appear as category-dominant shoes. Even both are different in age but both brands are equally well known to the customers. Who in the world does not know Nike or Crocs? Both have carved a name their brand name in the mind of the customers when they think about shoes. (NIKE,Inc) Inter-functional coordination Inter-Functional Coordination means the people in the organizational that help in developing a marketing plan to achieve the organizational goals and satisfy the customer need and wants. The cooperation within the individual in the organization plays a part in this Marketing concept. In 2007, Crocs acquisition a Designer/manufacturer of sandals for beach/action sports called Ocean Minded. In the acquisition, Ocean Minded is introduced by Crocs  and helping Ocean Mind to boost up their product. Ocean Minded mission statement is; To become the global leader in sustainable lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories whilst ensuring that the four pillars of the Ocean Minded brand – Quality, Authenticity, Responsibility and Community – resonate throughout our company, products, associates and actions. This brand helps Crocs to boost up their social responsibilities toward their employees, their organization, the customer, the environment and to the world. Crocs, Inc. and its founders continue to live the Ocean Minded lifestyle by actively leading beach clean-ups, and supporting and educating customers on the importance of leaving the ocean and all waterways in better condition than when they were found. Thus this shows that not only Crocs is Inter-functional coordination but also a responsible organization that wanted to help another brand that sole purpose to keep the world a better place. (crocs, 2013) Profit orientation Profit orientation Profit Orientation means a term used to describe a business that operates under the primary objective of making money. Although most commercial enterprises have some form of profit orientation to motivate employees to maximize revenues, the most successful producers also incorporate a customer orientation into their corporate philosophy to protect the company’s reputation and facilitate client satisfaction with its products. (BusinessDictionary) Profit Oriented organization means a business that main objective to generate profit. There are ways an organization may achieve the greatest profit for their organization while still giving the customer the satisfaction of their products.In Crocs Inc, the company wanted to make money by selling their clog shoes to the customers. Crocs Inc also have some ways to be Profit Orientation; Cheapest Marketing Strategy Crocs were able to build its brand and build momentum with word-of-mouth marketing without traditional high advertising costs. Crocs Inc started their name by using the cheapest way of Marketing. Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM), also called word of mouth advertising, is an unpaid form of promotion; oral or written. In which satisfied customers tell other people how much they like a business, product, service, or event. Word-of-mouth is one of the most credible forms of advertising because people who don’t stand to gain personally by promoting something put their reputations on the line every time they make a recommendation. (Word-of-mouth marketing, 2013) This strategy is the cheapest way to spread the word about Crocs Brand to the world. Crocs use the social network to market and promotes their product toward their potential customer. Thus, they save up a lot by not having an expensive advertisement or building a billboard that might cost them a lot. Cutting cost Costs were lowered by the elimination of standard box packaging for individual pairs of shoes. They were also decreased by the reduction of stock-keeping units (fewer styles, sizes, etc) and by the use of inexpensive plastic resin material compared to leather and other fabrics. In addition, the plastic resin material allowed Crocs to lower manufacturing costs because the product could be made faster and cheaper using injection molding machines compared to traditional labor intensive methods. This speedy production, also made it possible for Crocs to revolutionize the traditional supply chain approach and make its shoes available to a wide range of retailers and consumers within weeks, not months. By lowering the cost, Crocs can obtain larger amount of profit. This is a great step toward not only to the organization profit margined but helping the other brand realize that Crocs have better ways of managing it cost. This show that Crocs uses the cheapest Marketing Strategy to promote it product, uses the Cheapest distribution Channel to sell their product and cut unnecessary cost to obtain larger amount of profit. Crocs are genius ways of profit orientation  organization. Marketing process consist of 4 step; Situation Analysis, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Mix Decision and Implementation and Control. Situation Analysis SWOT Analysis Strength In Croc Inc, they give not just comfort but by created a material called Croslite, that technologically design to gives each of Crocs Shoe comfort, softness, lightweight, non-marking and odor-resistant. If we think back, Crocs have eliminates most of the problem that we suffer about shoes. When we buy a shoe, we seek comfort, soft and stylish. Plus I always have a problem with new shoe that hurt my feet when I wear it the first time. Well with crocs, they no more painful shoes. The Croslite material ensures that Crocs will never hurt our feet when we wear it. Plus with Crocs, there is no more feet odor. They satisfied the most of customer’s needs, desires and expectation in one material. The product design also unique with many shapes that is very interesting. The price also reasonable based on the material that crocs use to create the product. The product very comfortable and stylish. Weakness Crocs does not have a diversified product offering beyond footwear, which causes revenues to be seasonal (since most of their footwear is worn in summer) and also very cyclical (dependent on consumer spending and performance of the retail sector). Demand for â€Å"Crocs Classic† shoes has been declining over time (from 30% of total sales in 2007 to 16% in 2009) as they transition to a mature product and therefore, revenues are contingent upon the success of new models and fads. Crocs has poor IT systems and depends on manual processes which are not efficient or scalable Opportunities Crocs has the ability to expand through growth in direct to consumer sales and internet sales. Given Crocs’ success internationally, they can continue expanding abroad by reaching untapped markets. In addition, it’s possible that the Crocs â€Å"fad† is in a different part of the fashion trend cycle  abroad and Crocs can even take advantage of further growth in countries where it already has a presence. Lastly, there is an industry movement towards more comfortable and casual shoes, so Crocs has the opportunity to attract new consumers by highlighting the benefits of Croslite. Threats The product of Crocs increase in counterfeit product and highly competitive market. Highly competitive market for example Crocs have to competitive with NIKE. Some retailer with more product differentiation. Decrease in consumer spending resulting from global economic condition poor publicity escalator incident Marketing Strategy The marketing strategy for Crocs is the different target of customer. They do not only focus to one type of customers. Crocs has defines their customers and what they need from Crocs. A) Kids. The Kids which comprised their 23% revenue of sales in 2009, is the number one customers for Crocs. Kids love their Crocs shoes because Crocs’ comfort, easy-on, easy-off style, bright colors and customizable Jibbitz accessories make them ideal for kids. And their low price point and broad size range make them ideal for parents on a budget with fast-growing children. Crocs Inc introduced a fall kids’ collection for school. Kids do love Crocs shoes and they wanted to wear them everywhere even to school. That why this falls collection comes with a â€Å"School Approve† symbol. This â€Å"School Approve symbol comes with meaning of features of closed toes, enclosed heels and non-marking soles that meet typical school dress code. Now kids can wear Crocs everywhere even in school. B) Women. 77% of Crocs sales in 2009 were from products geared towards adults, and suspect that the majority of those sales are to women. Continued focus on understanding the needs of this segment as well as effectively marketing to it. Crocs introduce the Feel the Love campaign seems to focus on female protagonists Marketing Mix Decision Product The Product that provided by Crocs is a brand new type of casual shoe, it is a clog that partly a shoe and a part sandal. This clog shoe is fun, whimsy, brightly-colored, comfortable and lightweight with perfect balance of functional appeal. Crocs Inc provides various types of shoes for women, men, girls and boys. The clog like shoe look ugly at first but with the appealing bright colors that the come with, it catches the buyers and customers. The bright color catches the attention of customers to try it on. Well, the materials that Crocs shoe made from actually make it far. The special Patented Closed Cell Resin (PCCR) warms and softens with your body heat and molds to your feet. The material eliminates all the shoes problem that we have in life. That what sold it worldwide. The wonder shoes. Pricing Croc wanted their product is accessible to many people so their base price point is RM90. They also eliminated a standard box packaging for individual pair of Crocs shoes. This step help them to lower their cost as well decrease their stock keeping unit. Place When we say The Place in Marketing Mix, there may explain how providing the product at a place which is convenient for consumers to know. Crocs evolves their distribution in retail by having each stores in every shopping complex, malls and even streets worldwide. But, recently they reduce on retail expansion and focus on others distribution strategies like having Crocs Kiosk and Online Crocs Shop. All the distribution strategies that implemented by Croc is focusing on the customer’s convenient to purchase a Crocs Shoes. There are now no boundaries in distribution. Promotion Last in Marketing Mix is The Promotion, it represents all of the methods of communication that a marketer may use to provide information to different parties about the product. Promotion comprises elements such as: advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion. In Crocs Inc., they started their marketing strategies in having a Word-To-Mouth Marketing that is an unpaid form of promotion whereby it may be in oral or written form. It created a buzz that will make other people  satisfaction toward the clog shoe to another person. Crocs Inc spend less in promotion because of the word-to-mouth marketing that is the cheapest way of promotion. When the word get out, the influence people like celebrities like Al Pacino, Faith Hill and Paris Hilton were seen wearing the clogs shoes and with their social class influence the other people to wear one clog shoes. Even US President Bush wear one and he actually loves the clogs shoes. Other than using this word-to-mouth marketing, Crocs Inc also do some discounts, promotion online and public relations. Define marketing and related it with Crocs Inc understand us how Marketing works. It is more than Selling and Advertising a product. The major focus is the Customer Satisfaction towards a product. That why a study have been made and a strategies like The 4P’s Marketing Mix is developed. It is to understand more how marketing works. The company’s growth strategy includes: 1- distributing new and internally developed products through a wide range of channels e.g department stores, specialty footwear stores, sporting goods and outdoor retailers and Cocs website 2- acquisition of small footwear companies e.g Foam Creations in June 2004, Fury and EXO in October 2006, Jibbitz in December 2006, Ocean Minded in February 2007 and Bite in August 2007. 3- expansion into global markets with products distributed through more than 8000 international retail stores sold in about 90 countries. The company was able to realize high margins on its products due to high economies of scale and shift to third party operated facilities (83% of third-party manufacturers in China, Bosnia, Vietnam and Romania). The company faces a lot of challenges. 4- Crocs core competencies are supply chain management and small-retailer level marketing, just in time distribution. Croc has used its core competencies to build a brand familiarity and popularity and to distribute new models and accessories in mid-season. Their supply chain management has helped the company to create a stronger maturity map for their products, and to extend the maturity map through marketing How could Crocs exploit their core competencies in the future? Consider the following alternatives: a.Further vertical integration into materials a.Growth by acquisition b.Growth by product extension (Bogari, 2009) My recommendation Crocs have to focuses more on the shoes. Crocs should refocus its entire organization (design, manufacturing, and marketing) on the unique appeal of its shoes. Realign the distribution model in U.S. We believe that Crocs should reduce its focus on retail expansion and instead recommend migration to the model that has proven Reduce retail store presence. Crocs should carefully evaluate the returns on existing stores, and suspend plans to open new stores. For those stores that are not in key geographic areas and that are not strong performance.