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The Effect of Extreme Dependency on Computers| Extreme Dependency on Technology Technology, good or bad? Some say it’s great, but that is said by drug users about illegal substances as well. They are essentially one in the same; once you have used them and they become part of your life, you are never the same again. Once you have researched via computer, or found your way to an unfamiliar area with a gps, doing it the old way is never as easy or as foolproof as it once was. These days, when you loose your phone or even have little reception, you worry; your pulse races, your palms sweat, and you perspire.This is not good. Something that used to make our lives easier now makes our lives harder. Most of us don’t even know how to use a map or to mail a letter anymore. The library, what’s that? If you go to a library, it’s probably to use the internet, not to read a book. The computer is a wonderful invention if you like moving fast. We can do everything a com puter can, except it takes us much longer. Wall Street is a big blue and green blur of humming computers and screens, it almost seems to have a life of its own, it’s like an urban jungle.If that system crashes, our economy falls to the ground in flames as well. Books are written in months instead of years. School becomes a mad thrash to get everything typed, created, or turned in on time. What happened to good old paper and calculators? Calculators are a hot issue in my opinion. While they are wonderful little contraptions, our dependency on calculators is worrying. When I walk through that door into the calc room, my grade rests in the hands of a small shiny piece of blue plastic dotted with smooth yellow buttons and stuffed with four triple-A batteries.Compare me to a crack addict, honestly; without my Texas instruments calculator I’m as good as dead. Gps’s are amazing little gadgets. About the size of a slice of bread, they help you find your way like a perso nal tour guide perched on your dashboard. Maps might as well be carved in stone; they’re old news. Does a map tell you where the nearest taco bell is? Does it recalculate when you miss a turn? Unfortunately, no — Gps’s are a godsend for the directionally challenged. The subtle, warm feeling of accomplishment you get when you find your way around with a crumpled up paper map is likely gone for good, it’s a shame.Survival of the fittest, I guess. But when you run out of batteries, or your gps breaks; good luck finding your way. They are as addicting as anything else humankind has created. As I was browsing for a topic for my illustrative essay, something funny happened. I clicked my merry little way to Google. And within minutes, I had a topic, quite ironically, about dependency on computers. My initial thought on what to write about did not come about by careful thought and planning, it came about through Google and my horrid dependency on computers.Depend ency on computers is unavoidable, unless you are Amish or a member of a tribe deep within the jungle. Computers have allowed us the monumental achievement of space travel, the wonder of deep sea submersibles, and the deadliness of heat seeking missiles. No doubt, great achievements not possible without computers. But for everyday activities like finding your way, doing mental math, or writing a paper, computers are a shortcut, they make life easier. We need to learn to do things with and without a computer. For example, I know many people who cannot do mental math to save their lives.At this point, technology is really part of us. Instead of having that knowledge of simple math to rely on, we build upon the base that calculators provide instead. More advanced math is not possible without that technology, though honestly we should be able to do it either way. Through this it’s much easier to screw things up; once you have become used to listening to music anywhere, anytime, th rough your ipod, it’s a downer to not have music. If your ipod breaks, it’s almost like quitting smoking. You MUST buy a new one, you can’t just stop listening.Cell phones are an utmost convenience. Nary a child or senior citizen lacks one, and they do everything from email to texting to taking pictures. How long until they come equipped with electric toothbrushes? If you’ve ever been in an accident or had car trouble, that cell phone is your lifeline, and there is no alternative. You cannot mail someone; and pay phones are nearly nonexistent. Without your phone, you get the jitters, you feel unsafe, and out of it. It happens to me on those days where I forget and leave it at home – I know 95% of the population is the same way.So obviously technology had done much good. Our quality of living has gone up substantially. But at the same time being perched up her in this greatly advanced society, on top of stacks of microchips and USB ports, it’ s a lot easier to lose our footing and tumble back to earth. At some point, the infrastructure will crumble; everything needs an overhaul sooner or later. We would live in much more stable times if it were not for computers. On the same note, we would live in a much slower, less equipped world. Is his a good trade off? It depends on your outlook and opinion. There is no doubt technology can crash and burn, and there is no doubt that technology has simplified out lives. Hopefully we can stabilize it before something drastic happens and we are left moving at 1889 speed. Thus technology has made it a whole lot easier to do most things – and much easier to mess them up – a double-edged sword| Computer addiction  is a mental illness which causes the excessive use of  computers  to the extent that it interferes with daily life.Excessive use may explain problems in social interaction, mood, personality, work ethic, relationships, thought processes, or  sleep deprivati on. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not include a diagnosis for such a disease. The term ? computer addiction? originated long before the Internet. Some people develop bad habits in their computer use that cause them significant problems in their lives. The types of behavior and negative consequences are similar to those of known addictive disorders.Contents  Ã‚  [hide]   * 1  Effects * 2  Origin of the term * 3  History * 4  See also * 5  References| ————————————————- [edit]Effects Excessive computer use may result in, or occur with: * Lack of social interaction. * Using the computer for pleasure, gratification, or relief from stress. * Feeling irritable and out of control or depressed when not using it. * Spending increasing amounts of time and money on hardware, software, magazines, and computer-related activities. Neglecting work, school, or family obligations. * Lying about the amount of time spent on computer activities. * Risking loss of career goals, educational objectives, and personal relationships. * Failing at repeated efforts to control computer use. * Never getting off the computer. A cause for many of the above-mentioned effects may be that computer games do not stimulate the release of neurotransmitters responsible for feelings of satisfaction and relaxation, such as oxytocin and endorphin, in the same way that real world activities do.

Models of Corporate Governance

The basis of the model of corporate governance can be identified in their approach to the three dimensions of decision making which are considered as the essence of corporate governance. The decision making is centered round the three basic questions; (a) by whom the decisions are to be made, (b) for whom the decisions are attempted to be made and (c) what are the resources that back up the decision making approaches. The ultimate aim of analyzing the decision making process through these questions is to underpin the agency to whom the accountability is due to be directed[1] This part of the study deals aims to contrast the Islamic corporate governance with the Western approach which is exhibited by at least two models which this paper considers. Governance Framework in Western Perspective The European system of corporate governance encompasses a socially responsive corporation where the shareholders and others are encouraged to exert influence over policies that are being adopted to the extent that they are not in conformity with a socially responsive attitude. Similarly the board members and managers are not discouraged either to follow their view points so that the decisions make the firm a socially responsive one[2]. However such a direct influence over the functioning of the firm is not provided for in all the market systems. For instance in Germany and other countries like Austria and Switzerland the governance is administered by a two tier board consisting of a ‘supervisory board’ and an ‘executive board’. The executive board represents the top management and the members of the supervisory board is composed of outside professionals and in some cases employee representatives just to oversee and discipline the executive board. Even in the case of ‘managed corporation’ model widely prevalent in the United States directors and managers found it worth to take the advise of the institutional shareholders in the conduct of the business of the firm. When this relationship is further expanded it leads to the formation of a ‘stakeholder model’ of corporate governance which protects the interest of all stakeholders.[3] Managed Corporation Model The model of managed corporation answers the question of ‘by whom’. This model is underlined by large public companies with a dispersed shareholding[4]. Under this model managers occupy the central role with the authority to strategy formulation and setting the policies of the company. While the Board takes the responsible of hiring the managers the managers lead the directors and shareholders. The Board is also given the responsibility to monitor the performance of the mangers appointed and remove them in case of unsatisfactory performance. The shareholders’ role is limited to replace the Board in case of poor performance of the company. Thus the scope of corporate governance under this model is limited to the extent of appointing the right managers and controlling their performance. Socially Responsive Corporation Model This model takes the position to answer the question ‘for whom’. This model presupposes the interest of the shareholders as the foremost principle of corporate governance as laid down by the OECD ‘Principles of Corporate Governance’ [5] Thus the concept of shareholder value has been made the yardstick against which the performance of the management need to be measured. This is the practice in the United States, the UK and several other Anglo-Saxon countries and has also been recognised as a matter of prominence in Europe and Japan too. Under this model the institutions view the firms eligible for potential investment in their securities to have a clear market directive to enhance the returns on the existing capital. [6] Accounting and Corporate Governance The process of identifying, measuring and communicating information for facilitating the user to make meaningful decision is provided by accounting. According to Baydoun and Willet (2000) [7] accounting disclosures in ‘managed corporation model’ is often limited to the extent the individuals that control the resources needs the disclosure. However the fact remains that the corporate governance issues can be addressed and explained by detailed financial statements since these issues are normally concentrated on the agencies having a wider financial stake in the entity. This explains the terms with what resources and to whom the accountability is directed. Islamic Perspective of Corporate Governance The important principles of good corporate governance and the codes of best practice developed during the last decade, imply that directing the companies and controlling them to function according to defined moral standards which are acceptable to the community in general[8]. The principles do not just recognize achieving the economic efficiency or earning maximum profitability as the best practice. According to Mervyn K Lewis (2005)[9] there are two aspects which particularly shape the nature of Islamic corporate governance. The first one is concerned with the Shariah which claims sovereignty over all the aspects of life of any human being. It is so extensive it covers ethical and social issues; and also it talks about civil and criminal jurisdiction. Shariah lays down the principle that every believer of Islam must conform to the basic principles of Islamic Law. Each one of them is expected to observe the ethical standards derived from economic principles irrespective of the status or social position. â€Å"These ethical principles define what is true fair and just, the nature of corporate responsibilities, the priorities to society, along with some specific governance standards† (Mervyn K. Lewis, 2005). Secondly, Shariah has also provided some specific Islamic economic and financial principles along with the business ethical standards, which have a larger influence upon the corporate practices and principles. â€Å"Included here are the institution of zak ¥h (the alms tax), the ban on rib ¥ (usury) and the prohibition on speculation, calling for the development of an economic system based on profit and loss sharing† (Mervyn K. Lewis, 2005). Dimensions of Decision Making and Islamic Perspective of Corporate Governance The three dimensions of decision making with respect to corporate governance under Islamic perspective is answered in the following way: By Whom According to Mervyn K. Lewis (2005) the question of by whom the decisions are to be made the Holy Quran is providing a correct response by promoting mutual consultations and once decision is taken then there has to be a firm belief that it will do good to everyone concerned. He further adds that when the basic principles of Shurd are followed it requires the leaders to encourage others to take part in the process of decision making. Thus consultation is made the key word by Shariah and this implies that â€Å"An employee would be expected to contribute his or her knowledge to the formulation and implementation of the organizational vision, and consultative procedures should be applied to all those affected, i.e. shareholders, suppliers, customers, workers and the community† [10] For Whom Under Islamic perspective of decision making process there is the clear answer to the question as to for whom the decisions are attempted to be made. The answer is that the ultimate end of any business and economic activity that involve the human beings are to be considered as being done to the grace of Allah and the ways and means employed to accomplish the activities should never deviate from the law of Islam as quoted by Shariah in any way (Mervyn K. Lewis, 2005). With Whom and to Whom Mervyn K. Lewis (2005) points out that the third requirement for ensuring corporate governance principles in an Islamic perspective involves the process by which an effective religious supervision is undertaken. The objective of this supervision is to ensure that the operations, contracts, and procedures of the enterprise are in conformity with the Islamic code. Algaoud and Lewis (1999)[11] observe that the process covering the religious supervision is explicitly illustrated in the case of Islamic Financial Institutions. In addition the religious auditors provide a comprehensive report on the adherence of the Islamic principles across the full spectrum of the business activities. The religious audit helps to improve the functioning of any corporation towards achieving the Islamic principles by undertaking the following distinct functions: (1)  Ã‚   the religious auditor advises the Board and the top management about the acceptability of the transactions and the contracts proposed to be entered by the firm and also on the development of new products (2)  Ã‚   the second function of the religious auditor is to make a comprehensive report to the shareholders as to the compliance by the management the Islamic principles in the running of the organization and (3)  Ã‚   the audit of the creation of Zakah fund to ensure that the fund is created after a proper assessment of the amount to be contributed and the administration and distribution of the funds are carried out as per the Islamic principles (Mervyn K. Lewis, 2005) Points of Distinction Hanifa and Hudaib (2003) [12] identify the following difficulties that the Islamic perspective of corporate governance face while adopting the best corporate governance practices. (1)  Ã‚   Under the Western approach to the corporate governance the business morality is primarily based on ‘secular humanist’ values governing the ethical foundations of the business while the Islamic perspective of corporate governance follows the principles laid down by shariah as the guiding force (2)  Ã‚   The basic beliefs and values in the Western corporate culture predominantly considers the self interest and even with some modifications there may not be the case that the larger interest of the society will be considered. This is totally against the Islamic principles (3)  Ã‚   Thirdly the Western model of corporate governance is based on agency theory and there is no place for stewardship theory.[13]The basic difference lies in the actors who are agents with a self interested opportunistic approach who can not be motivated to be stewards to act in the best interest of the principals. In the case of Islamic perspective of corporate governance there is no place for self interest of the agents, [1] Mervyn K. Lewis (2005) ‘Islamic Corporate Governance’ International Association for Islamic Economic Review of Islamic Economics Vol. 9 No 1 pp 5 – 29 [2] Mervyn K. Lewis (2005) ‘Islamic Corporate Governance’ International Association for Islamic Economic Review of Islamic Economics Vol. 9 No 1 pp 5 – 29 [3] Lannoo, K. (1995). Corporate Governance in Europe. CEPS Working Party Report No 12. Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies. [4]Pound, J. (1995). Ã’The Promise of the Governed CorporationÓ, Harvard Business Review, March-April, reprinted in Corporate Governance (2000), Harvard: Harvard Business School Press. [5] OECD (1999). OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. Paris: OECD. [6] Lewis, M.K. (2003b). Ã’Globalisation and Corporate GovernanceÓ in M. Shanahan and G. Treuren (eds.), Globalisation: Australian Regional Perspectives. Adelaide:Wakefield Press. [7] Baydoun, N. and Willett, R. (2000). Ã’Islamic Corporate ReportsÓ, ABACUS, 36(1), pp. 71-89. [8] Gooden, S. (2001). Ã’Participation of Stakeholders in the Corporate Governance of Islamic Financial InstitutionsÓ, New Horizon, 114, November, pp.12-15. [9]Mervyn K. Lewis (2005) ‘Islamic Corporate Governance’ International Associ ation for Islamic Economic Review of Islamic Economics Vol. 9 No 1 pp 5 – 29 [10] Baydoun, N.; Mamman, A. and Mohmaud, A. (1999). Ã’The Religious Context of Management Practices: The Case of the Islamic ReligionÓ, Accounting, Commerce &Finance: The Islamic Perspective Journal, 3(1 & 2), pp. 52-79. [11] Algaoud, L. M. and Lewis, M. K. (1999). Ã’Corporate Governance in Islamic Banking: The Case of BahrainÓ, International Journal of Business Studies, 7(1),pp.56-86. [12] Haniffa, R. and Hudaib, M. A. (2002). Ã’A Theoretical Framework for the Development of the Islamic Perspective of AccountingÓ, Accounting, Commerce & Finance: The Islamic Perspective Journal, 6 (1&2), pp. 1-74. [13] Davis, J. H.; Schoorman, F. D. and Donaldson, L. (1997). Ã’Towards a Stewardship Theory of ManagementÓ, Academy of Management Review, 22(1), pp. 20-47.

Debeers Case Study/Pov

C. Lo April 11, 2013 DeBeers Consolidated Mines Ltd. 1st POV Situation: DeBeers Consolidated Mines Limited (DBCM) occupies a major presence in the diamond industry. Discoveries of diamonds in the late 1800s were pioneered in South Africa, in which DeBeers held a heavy monopoly over. Since then, they have cultivated an impressive track record and leadership position. The Central Selling Organization (CSO) controls and regulates the flow and sale of rough diamonds, and was acquired by DeBeers in the 1930s. Due to a stable economy both locally and internationally, DBCM was the world’s largest producer and distributor of diamonds in late 1998.However, just before the turn of the century, globalization and developments in international markets had affected all industries of business. This enlarged economy attracted and enabled emerging and junior companies to increase mining competition. Demand for this area of commerce became subject to volatility due to market expansion, in addit ion to the fact that continued existence of such a market was solely linked to disposable consumer income. Problem: The problem at hand concerns the degree of control over rough diamonds and the industry.With increasing market placeholder and pressures from emerging competitors and the attention brought to regulating environmental impact of diamond mines, DeBeers needed to secure their place in the industry and do it without losing significant margins of profit or resources. By 1999, DeBeers Consolidated had a notorious name and major domination of the rough diamond market, with over half of the world’s rough diamonds mined by DBCM, several joint ventures with non-competitors, unparalleled knowledge and assets, and control of over 70 percent of all diamond sales worldwide.DeBeers needed to differentiate themselves from new entrants as well as establish a secure route of long-term control over their precious commodity. Cause: As previously mentioned, the turn of the century ex perienced increasing globalization of the marketplace for not only diamonds, but also all other commodities. This had both positive and negative effects on business. Centralizing focus on the aspects that raised concern were the unfamiliar position of vulnerability in a market DeBeers had dominated for years, as well as the demolition of barriers to entry that existed prior to the market expansion.Remarkably, the aging diamond industry actually produced increases in the prices and value associated with diamonds. Clever promotional and marketing campaigns were the major source of both domestic (U. S. ) and international success in the sincerity and symbolism of what a diamond represented – love. Though DeBeers essentially pioneered the entire culture and reputation of the diamond, the legwork was already done for emerging and junior companies trying to get in on the train of success and profit that DeBeers had trekked alone on for nearly a century.Uncertainty of demand with su ch an increase in possible demand location made for rising concern over the control DeBeers had been used to. Alternative Solutions: 1. The first solution is to continue with what they are doing presently. Without suffering significant losses and without any real singular threats in the realm of competition, DeBeers could exist and continue to be the dominating presence in the diamond industry with their extensive track record and what one asset that no company or amount of time could take away from them – their name.The brand of DeBeers has been generated over years through being in business as the industry leader, through upholding the position of premier diamond resourcer both in domestic and international markets, and for coining the creation and reputation of what the diamond represents is infallible. Continuing on this road with their secured allies, assets and realm of control is more than enough to keep their company a household name. 2. The second solution is to simp ly repeat history.In the past, when presented with a threat like that of the discovery of mines in Siberia, DBCM dipped into their comfortable cushion of finances and bought up all inventory from Russia. This way, DeBeers kept relatively complete control over the diamonds, and swiftly eliminated any possibility of an environmental industry threat toward their future profits, resources or market share. To be straightforward, DBCM decided to follow a motto of â€Å"rather than compete, make sure to make threats obsolete. † Along the same lines, DeBeers also has a history of making alliances for their monopolistic enefit. In the event of mining resources in Botswana, Africa, government 15 percent share was made in DeBeers in 1969. The government licenses that DBCM had compiled over time gave them necessary access and authority to set mining firms in a country where mining availability was plentiful, but availability of entry and control like that of what DeBeers had generated, w as not. 3. The third solution is to liquidate those assets or areas of the company where industry benefit was incomparable to the kind of revenue that the retail and raw diamond sectors brought in.For example, we will turn to what the present economies of countries where DeBeers has a hand in the market, and what the future of those economies looks to be. Asia, China specifically, has a stable economy with the potential for continuous growth, and a future of prosperity where the DeBeers marketing campaigns could be highly successful. With a consumer-base that is likely to have the disposable income to spend on commodities like diamonds, it may be wiser to concentrate efforts in Asia.On the other hand, both the present and future state of the euro is volatile. With such a great deal of uncertainty, it may be conducive in the long run to pull out of the European market, or at least in areas of the market where the future of currency is vulnerable to a decline in value. Decision: The b est alternative solution would be the third, to move away from markets where the economic state is either currently or heading towards instability, and to move toward those markets where the state of the economy is growing with promise for future stability.In comparison to the other alternatives, the third is more practical. Because uncertainty and volatility are the very aspects causing concern over the best course of action to be taken, the third solution actually takes action and implements both the opportunity for high risk and high reward. Pulling out of a market is not a move that DeBeers is used to, however, finding themselves in a sinking economy where losses could be more detrimental the longer they try to hold on could cause a major financial upset.Similarly, acquiring inventory or means of control over resources or markets does not necessarily mean the facilitation of revenue. Though giving up market control in one country would mean freeing up space for competitors to ga in control and so forth, profit, DeBeers can focus their energy on generating revenue in growing economies, and making their presence in those financially-stable countries that much stronger.Action Plan: Stakeholders, specifically shareholders who may have been originally attracted to invest in DeBeers due to their massive scope of control over the diamond industry, may not be welcoming to the idea of forfeiting control in some markets, however if they choose to stay on board, a year or two of focused campaigning and profit-generating in countries with growing economies can give them peace of mind. One way of keeping those control-driven shareholders on board with the idea is to share financial forecasts.Breaking the plan down into parts where stakeholders can visually see where costs will be cut, where assets will be allocated, and where revenues will be made could facilitate trust and loyalty to the go with this third alternative solution. Assembling a team to do just this would b e the first step in assuring stakeholders that it would be in their best interest to keep with DeBeers. This team would also be responsible for detailing DBCM’s annual 10K so as to keep financial stakeholders in the know of capital-related progress.Success would be determined by not only profit margins, but visualization of presence in these growing markets. If DeBeers has the ability to build more locations that generate community recognition and acceptance, it will show that planned focus in concentrated areas can be beneficial. References: http://www. businessinsider. com/history-of-de-beers-2011-12? op=1 http://www. bloomberg. com/quote/DBR:SJ http://hbr. org/product/de-beers-and-the-global-diamond-industry/an/905M40-PDF-ENG http://www. studymode. com/subjects/de-beers-consolidated-mines-page1. html http://www. slideshare. net/packetsdontlie/analysis-of-debeers

Cancer Biology and MicroRNAs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cancer Biology and MicroRNAs - Essay Example These various RNAs then decide how the amino acids will be coded to make the final protein chain and hence the expression of the genes. MicroRNAs however, are non-coding which means that they are not involved in the transcription and the translation process in any way. They are small molecules and they contain about twenty to twenty-five nucleotides. The role of the micro RNAs is to regulate gene expression as the work of the coding RNA needs to be streamlined to avoid abnormal or wrong coding. They are also very important in RNA silencing which involves suppressing the effect of a gene or more than one gene after coding has taken place (Dutta & Lee, 2010). This can also be important in the elimination of certain unwanted genes form the body. RNA silencing involves the use of antisense RNA which is used in the gene silencing. The identification of the two were among the greatest works done in this field in the last century. Of more importance is the realization that miRNA were signif icant players in the etiology of cancer. Further studies have shown that the miRNAs can be used in cancer therapy and so understanding their nature existence and roles is of great importance to molecular biology. miRNAs are often expressed differently in various stages of development in the organism an aspect that made them be called small temporal RNA due to their temporary expression (Dutta & Lee, 2010). The techniques used to measure their expression include Northern blotting and primer extension assay. This has been developed to help in understanding the small aspects of DNA and RNA that scientists could have ignored or bypassed in the past. As highlighted earlier, micro RNAs play a role in suppressing target messenger RNA expression. This is a complex interaction which includes interacting with 3’UTR in the mRNA. What has been noted is that there are many mismatches in the micro RNA target sites a situation  that is still being probed to establish the cause and effects in gene mRNA expression. miRNA is also known to inhibit or decrease the target levels in the respective mRNA and so this can affect the organism adversely or serve as a predisposing factor for cancer.

Define JCAHO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Define JCAHO - Essay Example The commission has no connection with government regulatory agencies. The joint commission cannot penalize any health organization for not meeting its set standards as it has no legal powers. Any health care organization that needs the commission’s accreditation undergoes a three year survey. After completion, the findings confidentiality has to be ensured (Brennan, 1991). However, the commission provides accreditation decision, award date and suggestions for improvement. This paper will look at the importance of the organization in the healthcare sector. JCAHO accredited organizations operate under set rules and regulations by the commission. They are required to recruit well trained members of staff. The staff members must be able to communicate and coordinate especially during emergencies. The organizations should not be understaffed as this endangers the patients’ life. The staff must display name tags with a color photo for easy identification. The members of staff should not disclose the patient’s confidential information. The patient has the right to information, and the care giver should give it. All drugs should be well labeled and appropriately preserved. The hospital should develop disaster management programs. The hospital must create a friendly environment to the patient that is pollution free (Brennan, 1991). The hospital should not discriminate the patient against sexual orientation or gender. The commission requires accredited hospitals to give patients a chance to file a complaint in regards to the treatment administered in the hospital. The commissions’ accreditation has been of immense advantage to health bodies and to the general public. It advocates for improved patient care and enhances safety. The awards show the organizations’ commitment to safety and quality medicare. It has provided a competitive advantage to the awarded hospitals boosting

Human Resource Career Development Activities Essay - 1

Human Resource Career Development Activities - Essay Example Free trade agreements have increased activities around the world. We have encountered the need to interface, travel, and live in many parts of the world. Yet, often our employees do not have a cultural familiarity with the people that they contact in meetings, e-mail, or by telephone. Baugh (2005) has pointed out the importance of mentoring in career development (p. 523). It is time to extend our mentoring program outside our borders and view the world as our office, learn about the host country we are dealing with, their work role, office culture, and prepare people for international assignments. We also have a need for our internal employees to understand diversity in the workplace. Currently, we place a high value on our recruiting efforts in this area. However, the positive effects of creating a diverse workforce will be entirely dependent on how they are perceived by the men and women in our organization. (Burke 2005 p. 191). If the existing employees are not open to such policies, it will create new problems rather than solve existing ones (Burke 2005 p. 191). Improper and inadequate diversity training hold everyone back, even the beneficiaries of affirmative programs. We also have a need to offer our employees a program of lifelong learning. Education for everyone is an activity whose value has been proven. Education should include job related technical training as well as personal growth. Where this program has been implemented it has been a success. McGoldrick (2001) reports that the "investment in lifelong learning for employees has paid off in positive career experiences and positive psychological contracts". Workers feel like they are a valuable part of the organization and are worth investing in. Employees benefit from the training and also form a better psychological relationship with the company. The three activities of international mentoring, diversity training, and lifelong learning can add tangible and

Casual Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Casual Analysis - Essay Example The problem of obesity especially in American South highly relates to the daily lifestyles of people both socially and economically. Hence, the study will focus on the causative analysis on the increase percentage of obesity problem among the American South. Poverty is one of the causative factors of obesity among people living in the American South states. Poverty has a great relationship with the likelihood of a person becoming obese. This is because the poor people mainly focus on eating cheap affordable food despite the food being of low nutritional value and high fat content (Trust for American Health Web). Moreover, most food spots in American South states sell high fat and processed foods. Since such types of food are cheaper as to healthy food budget, most poor families in the South prefer buying fatty foods. Notably, the daily unhealthy consumption of fatty foods increase the fat deposit in the body that may lead to obesity, Lack of exercise significantly contributes to the level of obesity among children and adults in the American South. Remarkably, the low economic standards, most families lead working extra time to meet the daily requirements in the family hence giving the breadwinner almost no time to spend in physical exercises. Moreover, the limited space and playground for children in some of the American South state may also be a contributing factor to lack of exercise among children and adult. Additionally, children from poor families are likely not to participate in organized sports because of lack of funds to cater for transport and expenses incurred during the sporting period. Thus, the unattractiveness of a playground, lack of space and strained budget may lead to lack of exercise among American South people contributing to obesity. Bad eating habits also contribute to the trend of obesity problems experienced in America. Today, people prefer consume sugar-sweetened beverages, food with high calorie density, and processed and fried foods t o healthy food (Trust for American Health Web). This is because most healthy foods are more expensive and less accessible in most food stalls. Therefore, studies indicate that most of American consumes twice the amount of calories daily than the body require. Thus, this poses a threat to getting health related diseases like obesity. Moreover, overeating is an eating disorder that may lead to obesity. For instance, eating too much of carbohydrates and fatty food pose a risk to a person developing obesity complications faster than a person who takes a balanced diet. Therefore, eating disorders may be a contributing factor to obesity trend in most American South states. Genetics is another causative factor that may lead to high rate of obesity problem in American South people. Research has indicated that obesity could be inherent in family because of the functionality of gene deposition. American Association for the Advancement of Science postulates that when two parents are obese, the child is six times likely to become obese and if one parent is obese, there is a double chance for the child to be obese (22). Moreover, most babies born with weight above ten pounds are twice likely to become overweight when growing up. Thus, such statistics could explain on the increased trend of highest obesity conditions in American South states. Since research indicated that more than 50% of the American S

Conflicting Reward Systems and Their Impact on Criminal Justice Research Paper

Conflicting Reward Systems and Their Impact on Criminal Justice Administration - Research Paper Example Kerr (1975) presents a wide-reaching warning about the efficacy of reward systems that do not understand the knowledge or motivations of the individuals (or the society) the reward system hopes to incentivize toward some course of action. In order to draw attention to the scope of this problem, the author utilizes examples from politics, organizations, and profit-making firms, even though his intended audience is only concerned with the latter. By using examples from politics, however, the author’s analysis opens up avenues of investigation related to public administration, particularly criminal justice administration and the incentives it hopes to provide for mending the behaviors of convicted persons. Given the importance of preventing criminal recidivism and the economic impacts of fewer people in jails, it is no surprise that public administration officials would be interested in ways to realign their reward systems toward the knowledge or motivations of individuals. With those considerations in mind, this paper hopes to survey some of the problems that occur when reward systems in criminal justice work against the needs and wants of administrators, and how administrators can prevent that from happening. Employees are very good at figuring out what gets rewarded in the workplace and doing those things instead of what they are officially told to do. â€Å"Employee ambivalence† occurs when the explicit norms or desires of an organization come into conflict with the content of the reward systems and the norms generated by that system. An example of such a conflict might be when a company encourages employees to follow the rules, but also to be effective in their job—getting their responsibilities done any way they can. So, despite the wish for ethical behavior from upper management, cutthroat behavior might be ultimately what gets rewarded (Spencer & Sims, 1995, p. 190). And once a single individual figures out how to get rewarded, the pre ssure falls on his colleagues or else fall behind. Only a single violation from a single individual can expose a deep, underlying problem within a reward system. A specific application of Kerr (1975)’s analysis of problematic reward systems is contained within a study of prosecutorial misconduct. Bibas (2009) discusses possible ways to regulate the conduct of prosecutors, who the author believes have the most unreviewable power or discretion of any public official. Embedded in this analysis is a response to potential reward systems for prosecutors based on financial gains. For example, one perspective offers the solution of rewarding prosecutors whose initial charges closely match the charges the criminal was convicted upon. However, keeping in mind Kerr (1975)’s warning that what one measures is what one gets, â€Å"sizable monetary rewards for particular statistics could lead prosecutors to undercharge rather than overcharge and to plea bargain to avoid losing rewar ds for ethical misconduct† (Bibas, 2009, p. 156). Thus, the opposite problem arises out of the solution for the original problem, which is particularly important to bear in mind when creating reward systems for individuals within the criminal justice system. Manipulable and inflatable quantifiable statistics often define the effectiveness of prosecutors, which poses a problem for effective reward systems based on performance. Also, reward systems that become overused tend to produce the opposite effect of rewarding the right behaviors. In other words, the more rewards

Healthcare Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Healthcare Economics - Essay Example According to the Boston healthcare plans, adults are supposed to gain health coverage and employees too must have this nature of coverage. Similarly, the reform witnessed the merging of the individual health insurance markets and small groups of other related healthcare providers. Through this move, the number of uninsured persons dropped significantly from 8.2 % to 2.7% by the year 2009. It is also worth noting that the recession that occurred did not have a great influence on the healthcare reforms that were passed in the year 2006. According to the reforms, the law required every Massachusetts resident to have a state regulated healthcare insurance protection. Also, the reform bill recommended provision of free insurance healthcare for citizens that earned less than 150% of the state federal poverty level. The people that did not take the state healthcare insurance cover took Medicaid which also played a similar role in insurance. This move largely affected the market and changed several trends in the insurance market. Through the amendment, there was development of independent public authority that was formed to foresee the activities of the healthcare insurance, the connector (Minkler 19). ... Most of the key players in the healthcare industries suffered diminish of their businesses and as a result, they opposed the bill. The state healthcare bill had several effects on a number of people who were operating in the market. Several parts of the reformed insurance plan were changed with the political transformations that took place. For instance, the Romney’s care legislation had tax penalties that were given to residents who did not obtain the insurance plan. Such penalties were also levied on employers that did not offer insurance plan to them especially, those that had more than 10 employees. In 2013 however, the state legislature repealed the legislation and anticipated for a same but a more flexible mandate in PPACA. Similarly, the Obama administration waived off the PPACA mandates as the national employer. The individual penalties that were initially instituted by state were replaced with the provisions of the PPACA. The shape of the health insurance market has g reatly changed in Boston with a number of key players dominating the market. After the entry of the government into the insurance plans, many insurance firms had to change their approaches to delivery of customer services. Thus, they offer more lucrative benefits within their covers to ensure adequate competition in the market. From the above, it is evident that various key market players are currently competing for the insurance tasks of the community. Most of these wage conflicts against the government that is implementing policies that would benefit the citizens but silently hurt the various market players. The major insurers in the Boston market include the Medicaid, Medicare and the state owned PPACA. All these are major players that are currently competing for the insurance needs in

English 0990 Reality tv Essay Example for Free

English 0990 Reality tv Essay In â€Å"The Distorting Mirror of Reality TV† written by Sarah Coleman, says that the producers have a distorting mirror to us as viewers. All producers distort all stereotypes and want the viewers to know what life is really like because of human diversity. Coleman states that the producers choose particular contestants, and the producers are making the chosen contestants are playing particular characters that the producers want them to be Coleman states â€Å"For ethnic minorities, old people, the unbeautiful, and the disabled, the message is harsh even in â€Å"reality† you don’t exist. †(pg 207) In addition to reality TV shows having all villains also helps the producers find exotic locations. â€Å"In reality TV, every character is a villain. †(pg 207), Coleman states. Reality TV according to Coleman is viewed as â€Å"One man for themselves† and she says this well when she writes â€Å" By eliminating one contestant each week, the show offers us a symbolic form of public execution. †(pg208)This is distorting because it shows once again human diversity. After all its not us that is being eliminated so it does not really matter who gets eliminated because we are still able to see the show and this is what keeps the viewers watching the reality shows, which offers us the symbolic form of public execution. On the contrary is the mirror of reality TV showing us the viewers what real life is about because of what reality TV shows people in society. The producers of Reality TV shows society that anyone will do anything for money and fame no matter how ugly and nasty they have to be to get it, they are determined to do whatever it takes. Coleman says this best when she says â€Å"Not are the shows’ producers the only cynics in this game. With winners appearing everywhere from playboy to lip-salve commercials, and sore losers suing producers for alleged results-fixing, it seems everyone is exploiting everyone here. † (pg208)

Brain Mechanisms Controlling Drug Addiction Reinforcement

Brain Mechanisms Controlling Drug Addiction Reinforcement Discuss how theories relate drug addiction to endogenous brain mechanisms controlling reinforcement, and look at how these theories may be used to improve the effectiveness of treatment of addiction In psycho-biological terms addiction is regarded as the perceived need for a drug or substance and the potential for the subsequent re-use of that substance often manifesting itself in a pattern of drug induced behaviour. This has indicated a connection between the behavioural pattern of a user and the biological cravings that are associated with this pattern of behaviour. Due to this relationship between dependent and abusive behaviour patterns and the biological and psychological cravings for the wanted substances, research has gone into establishing the effects of drug addiction and their basis in psychology resulting in many neurobiological models. In terms of patterns of behaviour, operant conditioning provides a convenient, easy and reliable way of adjusting any subject’s pattern of behaviour under the conditioning of a controlled and changeable environmental. This has been conducted in research in an easily observable manner that was then able to account for factors pertaining to addiction and the potential for abuse through accordance to a pre-devised model. Through the notions of positive regard, response and reward and through shaping behaviours this could then be adjusted to test any independent variable. This acts as a convenient methodology for observing the effects of drugs and was devised by early Psychopharmacological researchers in a bid to examine the relationship between drug use and behaviour patterns. One such piece of seminal research that incorporated this relationship was conducted by Dews (1953). In his founding study, Dew began a program of operant studies in an attempt to observe the behavioural ef fects of drugs to see how it could act as a precursor for addiction. His initial experiments on the behavioural patterns observed in animals led to the establishment that a schedule of reinforcement maintaining a pattern of behaviour could play a critical role in determining the effects of a drug (Dews, 1955). Through operant conditioning and behavioural observation he was able to discern that the dose-effects of the drugs used in his experiment varied in terms of performances that were maintained under two different schedules of reinforcement. However, he was also able to observe that there was a dose range in which the rate of behaviour would increase in one schedule condition, whilst it decreased in the other condition. This was an early indication that drug addiction depended upon the schedule as much as it did the dosage. Essentially, addiction was determined by patterns of behaviour as much as patterns of behaviour were determined by drug usage. In these early experiments, Dew s was able to ascertain that stimulants would increase the probability of a pattern of behaviour as it pertained to the relevant classification of a drug. However, he was also able to note that the drug could decrease the probability of any given pattern of behaviour itself. This research indicated that there was a variety of concepts at play within the role of addiction, such as tolerance, abuse, dependency and reward. In contemporary research, we can see that these factors have been incorporated in an attempt to identify the mechanisms in the brain that lead to dependency, abuse and addiction through the parsing of reward. This was devised by Berridge et al (2003) as the investigation to find the neuro-pharmacological basis for three main psychological components essential to the parsing of reward and onset of addiction. These were the concepts of learning that included the explicit and implicit knowledge produced by associative conditioning and cognitive processes, an affect or emotion such as implicit liking and conscious pleasure associated with the experience of the drug, and motivation; suggested as the implicit incentive salient wanting and the accompanying cognitive incentive goals. Essentially, this three way split revealed that learning (Dews schedules of reinforcement), craving (the perceived effect of the drug) and habit (Dews patterns of behaviour) were the major contributing and operating factors in the role of addiction. Examining these three essential components, Franken (2003) was able to discern an attentional bias that indicated the need for relevant clinical approaches and treatments. It was concluded that cognitive processes would mediate between the drug stimulus or craving and the subjects learned response to the stimulus and subsequent behavioural response (e.g., drug use, relapse). It was revealed that a conditioned drug stimulus produced an increase in dopamine levels in the corticostriatal circuit, in particular the anterior cingulate gyrus, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens, which in turn served in drawing the subjects attention towards a perceived drug stimulus. This process resulted in a motor preparation and a hyper-attentive state towards drug-related stimuli that, ultimately, promoted further craving and relapse. This meant that craving was induced by stimuli rather than by a depletion of drug within the body’s circulation or the adherence to a schedule. The implications of thi s are that a person surrounded by stimuli is more likely to be susceptible to the biological onset of craving and subsequent abuse or relapse than those who are dependent upon a schedule of reinforcement and behavioural pattern. In subsequent research, the effects of a drug upon the user where tested against two groups; those of long term use and those of relatively short term use, in an attempt to see if there was a difference in the variation of tolerance, both cellular and behavioural. In a study conducted by Koob (2005) the immediate effects of drugs were compared to those observed after long-term exposure to see what role tolerance played. A neurobiological basis for drug dependence was proposed from the linkage between the cellular and behavioural effects of these drugs and the tolerance towards them. This meant that there was an inter-relation between behaviour and drug effect that could indicate drug dependence and subsequent treatment strategies. Although there appears to be a relationship between the behaviour patterns of drug taking and a neurobiological basis for drug dependency that may indicate areas of potential treatment and areas of potential relapse and abuse, it would appear that this is based primarily on a system of perceived reward. However, earlier research has indicated a system that does not depend upon reward. Research by Koob et al (1998) suggested that it was drug ‘seeking’ that was associated with activation of reward neural circuitry. Whereas, drug addiction in its entirety involved a dark side defined as a decrease in the function of normal reward-related neuro-circuitry and persistent recruitment of anti-reward systems, drug abuse did not. They proposed that understanding the neuroplasticity of this dark side of the circuitry could be the key to understanding the vulnerability to addiction. This research can be seen as a way of indicating the effectiveness of the potential to relapse after the successful treatment for drug addiction as well as a way of determining the neurobiological potential for drug addiction. >From these studies, we can seen that drug addiction is linked to the neurobiological system of the brain that in conjunction with environmental factors such as stimuli, behavioural factors such as schedules, and cognitive factors such as reward, can be identified and treated through the addressing of reinforcements and their relation to cravings and dependency. Bibliography Berridge, K, C., Robinson, T., (2003) Parsing reward. Trends in Neuroscience. 26, 507- 513. Dews, P.B. (1953) The measurement of the influence of drugs on voluntary activity in mice. British Journal of Pharmacology, 8, 46-48. Dews, P, B., (1955) Studies on Behaviour. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 113, 393-401 Franken, IHA., (2003) Drug craving and addiction: integrating psychological and neuropsychopharmacological approaches Prog. Neuro-Psychopharm. Biol. Psych, 27, 563-579 Koob, G, F., (2005) The neurocircuitry of addiction: Implications for treatment. Clin. Neurosci. Res., 5, 89-101 Koob, G, F., Sanna, P, P., Bloom, F, E., (1998). Neuroscience of addiction. Neuron, 21, 467-476.

Comparing Escape in Madame Bovary and Fathers & Sons Essay -- comparis

Madame Bovary and Fathers & Sons Many people have a difficult time dealing with the real world. These people search desperately for one thing: release from the toils of everyday life. Basarov in Fathers & Sons and Emma Bovary in Madame Bovary are also searching for an escape - through romance. Each character follows their own misguided thoughts and emotions. And by the end of their respective novels, each will have to come to terms with their decisions in dealing with an idealistic romanticism. Basarov, through most of the novel, is the personification of abstinence. He is introduced as a nihilist, "a person who does not take any principle for granted, however much that principle may be revered"(94). He denies the existence of anything that cannot be verified by empirical methods. To him, the world in one big laboratory, with laws waiting to be defined by experimentation and reasoning according to cold hard facts. A great deal of his time is spent in such experimentation. He is a doctor, educated in the sciences at the university in Petersburg, and applies his learning regularly during his nature walks at Maryino and with Madame Odintsov. He also exhibits other, less laudable characteristics as a result of his approach to life. Basically, he has trouble getting along with people. His arrogance and aloofness, especially in dealing with the "provincial aristocrats" (Pavel and Nikolai Petrovich), cause much conflict and ill will at Maryino: "[Pavel] regarded him as an arrogant , impudent fellow, a cynic and a vulgarian. He suspected that Basarov... all but despised him.... Nikolai Petrovich was slightly apprehensive of the young 'nihilist' and was doubtful whether his influence on Arkady was desirable"(117). Basarov detache... ...ent he thought of her; he could easily have mastered his blood but something else was taking possession of him, something he had never allowed, at which he had always scoffed, at which all his pride revolted"(170). Finally, early one morning in a fit of emotion, Basarov finally declares his mad, idiotic love to Anna. She responds with, "You have misunderstood me," and the two part company in confusion (183). The matter goes unresolved until a final scene at Basarov's deathbed. Neither Emma nor Basarov realize their fault in time. Emma returns to reality just in time to see her life crumbling and can't deal with it, committing suicide as a final escape. Basarov realizes his love for Anna only as he lay dying of typhus. So it appears neither had the correct approach to life. Maybe the correct approach is one of moderation; a balance of cold reason and glowing passion.

The Prioress Tale :: essays research papers

The Prioress’ Tale Prologue Prioress, now it is your time, Speak up loud, be not a mime. â€Å"Fine then, I’ll tell you a tale from my mother, ‘Twill be unique, unlike any other. My story will teach you change isn’t good, Understand it you will, make you better it should.† The Tale Across the town and down the street People stopped to sample his delicious treat Sweet, thick and full of custardy goodness There was a man, not Elliot Ness Who fulfilled the Bronx’s pudding needs. A fat man, he was, pudding was his seed To plant on the earth to grow. The lunch rush on Monday was quite slow, But Pudding Man knew not what to do. So he shut down his shop and put on his shoe And walked right home and started to nap, He fell asleep quick, unlike dripping maple sap. All of a sudden something made him scream, Was it a seizure, no it was just a dream. The dream inspired him to rethink his life Should he shut down his shop or kill himself with a knife? No, Pudding Man thought to himself, Just remodel the shop and add some new shelves. Change his image and his shops image too, Add new flavors of pudding, none tasting like poo. The next day Pudding Man began his plan, New recipes, new store front, new sign that read â€Å"Pudding Man.† Even with the new image, no business came. In fact his new image was incredibly lame. Then Pudding Man began to think, Appeal to new customers, along the lines of a mink. â€Å"I’ll cater to animals of all different kind, I’ll make new recipes that I think up in the mind.† Scour the world is what Pudding Man did, Looking for new ingredients, like Beruitan Malkafid, Venezuelan Tapioca and Chinese Vanilla Bean, Would make his pudding quite peachy keen. And for decoration add a bone or catnip His pudding was so good, his dog licked his lip. Pudding Man thought to himself, â€Å"I don’t know what I should, Oh well, I’ll make it up, just knock on wood.† He opened for business at a quarter to eight, He arrived early, not to be late. The first customer strolled in at 7:46, Hoping for goo business, he prayed not for a jinx. The customer brought in his pet porcupine. â€Å"My pet ‘pine likes pudding, and yours looks quite fine.† The man told our jovial Pudding Man. So, He ordered a bowl of Mongolian Poe. â€Å"What is exactly Poe, my good fellow?† Pudding Man didn’t know but he acted quite mellow. â€Å"Ummmmm†¦it tastes likes a mixture of apples and grapes.† But what Pudding Man didn’t know, is that Poe was the snot of apes.

Evaluate proposals for reducing environmental air pollution by energy E

Evaluate proposals for reducing environmental air pollution by energy taxation and emissions trading. Pollution is created as a by-product of output in most industries. It can be described as an external cost to the economy as its existence causes a loss of welfare to the population as a whole, and, in a free market, this loss of welfare will generally go uncompensated. However, that does not mean that the optimal level of pollution is zero, contrary to the environmentalist presumption, as this would mean that economic activity would have to be zero and this is illogical. Therefore, an optimal level of pollution and corresponding economic activity has to be found. According to the Pareto efficient, the ideal allocation of resources occurs when nobody can be made better off without making someone else worse off. In the case of pollution production, this can also be defined as the point of production where the marginal net private benefit (MNPB) of the polluter is equal to the marginal external cost (MEC) as a whole, as shown on diagram 1, at the level of economic activity Q*. The polluter’s total net private benefit from production is illustrated on diagram 1 as the area below the MNPB curve and total external cost is the area below the MEC curve. Using this analysis, we can see that ‘A’ is the largest area of net benefit available, thus confirming that Q* is the optimal level of activity. However, without regulation in this market it is likely the polluter will continue to operate at Q to maximize their own private benefits, although this will create an unacceptable level of external costs. Therefore, the government faces several policy choices in order to regulate pollution and keep it at an optimal l... ...mits are also effective in lowering emissions, but only if they are auctioned off and tradable in the market. If there is grandfathering (giving permits only to established firms in the industry) or output based allocation present then this would incur a greater cost to the economy than auctioning off permits, thus increasing the optimum level of emissions. Bibliography * Banzhaf, Burtraw & Palmer, Capping Emissions: Where Efficiency and Public Interest Intersect, Public Utilities fortnightly, 1st Dec 2002 * Pearce & Turner, Economics of natural resources and the environment, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990 * Pindyick & Rubinfeld, Microeconomics – 2nd edition, Macmillan, 1992 * Parry. I, Are Tradable Emissions Permits a Good Idea? Resources for the future Issue Brief 02-33 * DTI, Energy White Paper, TSO, Feb 2003 * www.defra.gov.uk

I’m Nobody Essay

â€Å"I’m Nobody! Who are You? † is a poem written by Emily Dickinson. The poem conveys the main idea of being alone, isolated from the society – or being â€Å"nobody†. This is partly influenced by the social gender status of Dickinson’s time – 19th century featured the inequality of sexes, where females were expected to stay at home and serve their husbands, thus disconnected from the society. As a result Dickinson had adapted and perhaps taken pleasure into being an outsider, whilst she found it boring to be part of the society – or to be a â€Å"somebody†. These are all various ideas reflected through Emily Dickinson’s poem. The poem has 2 stanzas – very typical of Emily Dickinson’s style. Her choice of language in this poem is also very simple and succinct – but at the same time meaningful and pithy. The first line, â€Å"I’m nobody! †, shows how Dickinson admits to be a â€Å"nobody† willingly. Being a â€Å"nobody† can mean an outsider – a person who is isolated, alienated from the rest of the world and society. The second phrase of the line – â€Å"Who are you? † shows that the poem is directly written to a target. This person – shown on the second line of the first stanza, is a â€Å"nobody† too – perhaps even a friend of Dickinson. The poet also realizes the fact that being a â€Å"nobody† is to be loathed by the society. This is shown in line 3, when she advises the other â€Å"nobody† not to tell, as she states in line 4 â€Å"They’d banish us†. The word â€Å"They† in the beginning of lines 3 and 4 suggests the rest of the society – people who are â€Å"somebody†, as opposed to Dickinson’s â€Å"nobody’. The use of dash in line 3 shows the furtiveness of the phrase â€Å"don’t tell! †, emphasizing the hatred or dislike they face from the society. The same effect is achieved by the use of exclamation mark in line 3. Lines 3 and 4 can also be interpreted as that after she finds another â€Å"nobody†, they are a pair – not longer belong to a group of â€Å"nobodies†. She does not want to be banished from the status of being â€Å"nobodies†. A conclusion can be drawn that she feels more secure to be a â€Å"nobody†; she feels comfortable to be treated as a â€Å"nobody† by the rest of the society. The second stanza sees a noticeable change in Dickinson’s tone. The repetitions of â€Å"How† and â€Å"To† in the beginning of each line give a more secure and commanding tone. This can be explained by the â€Å"discovery† of another â€Å"nobody† stated by the poet in the first stanza – she feels more assured that to be a â€Å"nobody† is not too unacceptable as she is not the only one. Also perhaps because she feels more secure to be with a person who feels the same as she does and understands her, she is more willing and daring to express her more inner feelings. The poet states that it is â€Å"dreary to be somebody† in line 5 of the second stanza. â€Å"Dreary† refers to being boring or dull; and â€Å"to be somebody† suggests to be recognized by the society and belong to it. Hence Dickinson is suggesting that to be part of a society is tedious and meaningless to her, which can also implies being a â€Å"nobody† is the contrary – interesting and meaningful. A further implication may be that being â€Å"nobody† allows her to write poetry – as it is not part of the â€Å"traditional role† of women at her time to write poetry, and instead women were expected to serve only their husbands. However, being a â€Å"nobody† in the society helps her to escape her role of being a â€Å"women†, granting her freedom instead. Hence we can see that poetry is meaningful to her. She also compares that to be â€Å"somebody† is like to be â€Å"public†, another indication that Dickinson likes isolation – which is proven correctly as one would learn that she locked herself in her house for the majority of her life. Dickinson uses a simile to compare â€Å"somebody† to a â€Å"frog† in line 6. This can be explained by the fact that â€Å"frogs† are considered noisy with the sound they generate. Combining with line 8, â€Å"To an admiring bog! †, it suggests the idea that frogs create noise to be noticed – but only by â€Å"an admiring bog†. A bog is the environment in which a frog dwells – this creates an irony. Emily Dickinson is suggesting that although being a â€Å"somebody† means being noticed by the public, but the public to â€Å"somebody† is like a bog to a frog – it is not really a relationship, or friendship, as no one would say that a bog is the friend of a frog. Also the word â€Å"admiring† creates a whole sense of sarcasm to the idea – and the technique of personification is used to describe the â€Å"bog† as well, perhaps to emphasize the sarcasm of the simile. Overall the poet suggests that to be â€Å"somebody† might mean to be well-known, accepted by the society; however the relationships are often shallow, distanced or impersonal. The rhyming of the words â€Å"frog† and â€Å"bog† also suggests a congenial relationship between â€Å"Somebody† and her targeted audience – conveying the idea that the poem is a direct criticism against the â€Å"somebody† – the general public. Through the use of contrast and irony between â€Å"Nobody† and â€Å"Somebody†, her strong will to be a â€Å"nobody† is shown, as well as her despise towards â€Å"somebody†. This poem reflects Emily Dickinson’s life and perhaps her more inner and cryptic feelings – it was probably written from the heart. She imprisoned herself for the most of her life, completely isolated from the rest of the world. This may contribute to the reason why she thinks being an â€Å"outsider† is better than being â€Å"somebody†, and that she does not value â€Å"friendship† in the same way as normal people do. However at the same time it was also proven in the poem – for instance she found another â€Å"nobody† in the first stanza – that she is not totally a recluse, and that she treasures the very few friendships she had.

Brand Potency of Soft Drink in India

Introduction Research Objective The sole objective of making of this research report is to know about the present BRAND potency of PEPSI in comparison to other brands of soft drinks competing in the Indian market and by the help of a research to know that which soft drink brand has a highest brand potency. This report will further put a spotlight on the various soft drinks competitors in the Indian Market and the attitude and choice of the customers about their preferred soft drinks. Industry/Company Background Soft drink market size for FY00 was around 270 million cases (6480mn bottles). The market witnessed 5- 6% growth in the early‘90s. Presently the market growth has growth rate of 7- 8% per annum compared to 22% growth rate in the previous year. The market size for FY01 is expected to be 7000 million bottles. Soft Drink Production area The market preference is highly regional based. While cola drinks have main markets in metro cities and northern states of UP, Punjab, Haryana etc. Orange flavored drinks are popular in southern states. Sodas too are sold largely in southern states besides sale through bars. Western markets have preference towards mango flavored drinks. Diet coke presently constitutes just 0. 7% of the total carbonated beverage market. Growth promotional activities The government has adopted liberalized policies for the soft drink trade to give the industry a boast and promote the Indian brands internationally. Although the import and manufacture of international brands like Pepsi and Coke is enhanced in India the local brands are being stabilized by advertisements, good quality and low cost. The soft drinks market till early 1990s was in hands of domestic players like campa, thumps up, Limca etc but with opening up of economy and coming of MNC players Pepsi and Coke the market has come totally under their control. The distribution network of Coca cola had 6. 5 lakhs outlets across the country in FY00, which the company is planning to increase to 8 lakhs by FY01. On the other hand Pepsi Co's distribution network had 6 lakh outlets across the country during FY00 which it is planning to increase to 7. 5 Lakh by FY01. Types Soft drinks are available in glass bottles, aluminum cans and PET bottles for home consumption. Fountains also dispense them in disposable containers Non-alcoholic soft drink beverage market can be divided into fruit drinks and soft drinks. Soft drinks can be further divided into carbonated and non-carbonated drinks. Cola, lemon and oranges are carbonated drinks while mango drinks come under non carbonated category. The market can also be segmented on the basis of types of products into cola products and non-cola products. Cola products account for nearly 61-62% of the total soft drinks market. The brands that fall in this category are Pepsi, Coca- Cola, Thumps Up, diet coke, Diet Pepsi etc. Non-cola segment which constitutes 36% can be divided into 4 categories based on the types of flavors available, namely: Orange, Cloudy Lime, Clear Lime and Mango. About Pepsico & Its Products PepsiCo Mission â€Å"To be the world's premier consumer products company focused on convenience foods and beverages. We seek to produce healthy financial rewards to investors as we provide opportunities for growth and enrichment to our employees, our business partners and the communities in which we operate. And in everything we do, we strive for honesty, fairness and integrity. † Corporate Profile PepsiCo In India PepsiCo entered India in 1989 and has grown to become one of the country’s leading food and beverage companies. One of the largest multinational investors in the country, PepsiCo has established a business which aims to serve the long term dynamic needs of consumers in India. PepsiCo India and its partners have invested more than U. S. $1 billion since the company was established in the country. PepsiCo provides direct and indirect employment to 150,000 people including suppliers and distributors. PepsiCo nourishes consumers with a range of products from treats to healthy eats, that deliver joy as well as nutrition and always, good taste. PepsiCo India’s expansive portfolio includes iconic refreshment beverages Pepsi, 7 UP, Mirinda and Mountain Dew, in addition to low calorie options such as Diet Pepsi, hydrating and nutritional beverages such as Aquafina drinking water, isotonic sports drinks – Gatorade, Tropicana100% fruit juices, and juice based drinks – Tropicana Nectars, Tropicana Twister and Slice. Local brands – Lehar Evervess Soda, Dukes Lemonade and Mangola add to the diverse range of brands. PepsiCo’s foods company, Frito-Lay, is the leader in the branded salty snack market and all Frito Lay products are free of trans-fat and MSG. It manufactures Lay’s Potato Chips, Cheetos extruded snacks, Uncle Chipps and traditional snacks under the Kurkure and Lehar brands. The company’s high fibre breakfast cereal, Quaker Oats, and low fat and roasted snack options enhance the healthful choices available to consumers. Frito Lay’s core products, Lay’s, Kurkure, Uncle Chipps and Cheetos are cooked in Rice Bran Oil to significantly reduce saturated fats and all of its products contain voluntary nutritional labeling on their packets. The group has built an expansive beverage and foods business. To support its operations, PepsiCo has 43 bottling plants in India, of which 15 are company owned and 28 are franchisee owned. In addition to this, PepsiCo’s Frito Lay foods division has 3 state-of-the-art plants. PepsiCo’s business is based on its sustainability vision of making tomorrow better than today. PepsiCo’s commitment to living by this vision every day is visible in its contribution to the country, consumers and farmers. Performance With Purpose Performance with Purpose articulates PepsiCo India's belief that its businesses are intrinsically connected to the communities and world that surrounds it. Performance with Purpose means delivering superior financial performance at the same time as we improve the world. To deliver on this commitment, PepsiCo India will build on the incredibly strong foundation of achievement and scale up its initiatives while focusing on the following 4 critical areas that have a business link and where we believe that we can have the most impact. |  |[pic] | | | | | |[pic]REPLENISHING WATER PepsiCo India continues to replenish |[|[pic] | |water and aims to achieve positive water balance by 2009, |p|PARTNERSHIP WITH FARMERS | |which means it is committed to saving and recharging more |i|PepsiCo India’s Agri-partnerships with farmers help more than | |water than it uses in its beverage plants. |c|22,000 farmers across the country earn more. | |]| | |   |  |   | |[pic] |  |[pic] | | | | | |   |  |   | |[pic] |  |[pic]HEALTHY KIDS | |WASTE TO WEALTH | |PepsiCo India will stay committed to the health and well-being| |PepsiCo India continues to  convert Waste to Wealth, to make | |of children. It will continue to provide children with a | |cities cleaner. This award winning initiative has   established| |healthy and fun portfolio while simultaneously tackling the | |Zero Solid Waste centres that benefit more than 2,00,000 | |calories out’ side of the equation by expanding its Get Active| |community members throughout the country | |programme for kids, especially for school going children. | | |PepsiCo will also launch and distribute products directly | | | |aimed at addressing nutritional deficiencies and will launch a| | | |pilot program that directly delivers against the United | | | |Nations’ Millennium Development Goal to eradicate extreme | | | |poverty and hunger by 2015. | PepsiCo’s global commitment to Performance with P urpose PepsiCo believes that its performance is fundamentally connected to its purpose agenda which represents the commitment to give back as the company grows. It is a continuing journey that spans three major areas of focus – human, environmental and talent sustainability. Human Sustainability reflects PepsiCo’s goal of nourishing consumers with products that range from treats to healthy eats. PepsiCo’s products have always offered consumers nutrition as well as great taste. The progress that PepsiCo has made under the Human Sustainability pillar includes reformulating some of its products to improve their nutritional profile while launching products that reflect consumer demand for healthier nutritious snacks and beverages. PepsiCo partners with Governments, health officials and Non Governmental Organisations to help address obesity concerns and it continues to provide consumers with new product choices and innovations. Environmental Sustainability is based on PepsiCo’s commitment to strive to replenish the resources used where possible, and minimize the impact on the environment. PepsiCo continues to work to further reduce its water and electricity consumption and improve its packaging sustainability. Across the world, PepsiCo has re-used water from its processing plants and has worked with local communities to provide access to clean water, while supporting farmers to deliver â€Å"more crop per drop. † Talent Sustainability is founded on PepsiCo’s belief that cherishing its extraordinary group of people is crucial to building an empowered workforce. PepsiCo pursues diversity and creates an inclusive environment which encourages associates to bring their whole selves to work. PepsiCo has increased female and minority representation in the management ranks and has encouraged employees to participate in community service activities while continuing to create rewarding job opportunities for people with different abilities. Together, PepsiCo associates across the world are building on the platform of Human, Environment and Talent Sustainability, while delivering great financial results. PepsiCo India’s Performance With Purpose To deliver on the commitment of Performance With Purpose, PepsiCo India continues to build on  its strong foundation of achievements and scale up its initiatives while focusing on the following 4 critical areas that are linked to its business and where it can have the most impact. PepsiCo India’s Performance with Purpose | |Replenishing water | |[pic] | |PepsiCo India continues to replenish water and aims to achieve positive water balance by 2009, which means it is committed to saving | |and recharging more water than it uses in its beverage plants. | | | |   | |Waste to Wealth | |[pic] | |PepsiCo India continues to  convert Waste to Wealth, to make cities cleaner. This award winning initiative  has established Zero Solid | |Waste centres that benefit more than 200,000 community members throughout the country. | | | | | | |[pic] | | | | | |   | |[pic] | | | | | | | |Partnership with Farmers | |[pic] | |PepsiCo India’s agri-partnerships with farmers help 22,000 farmers across the country earn more. | | | | | | | |   | |Healthy Kids | |[pic] | |PepsiCo India stays committed to the health and well-being of  kids. It will continue to provide children with a diverse, heathful and| |fun portfolio while simultaneously encouraging active lifestyles by expanding its Get Active programme for kids, especially for | |school going children. PepsiCo will also launch and distribute products directly aimed at addressing nutritional deficiencies and | |will launch a pilot program that directly delivers against the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal to eradicate extreme | |poverty and hunger by 2015. | | | [pic] Pepsi is a soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. It is sold in retail stores, restaurants, cinemas and from vending machines. The drink was first made in the 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North Carolina. The brand was trademarked on June 16, 1903. There have been many Pepsi variants produced over the years since 1898, including Diet Pepsi, Crystal Pepsi, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Max, Pepsi Free, Pepsi AM, Pepsi Samba, Pepsi Blue, Pepsi Gold, Pepsi Holiday Spice, Pepsi Jazz, Vanilla Pepsi, Pepsi X (available in Finland and Brazil), Pepsi Next (available in Japan and South Korea), Pepsi Raw, Pepsi Retro in Mexico, Pepsi One, Pepsi Ice Cucumber and Pepsi White in Japan. In October 2008, Pepsi announced they would be redesigning its logo and re-branding many of its products by early 2009. In 2009, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max began using all lower-case fonts for name brands, and Diet Pepsi Max was re-branded as Pepsi Max. The brand's blue and red globe trademark became a series of â€Å"smiles,† with the central white band arcing at different angles depending on the product. As of January 2009, Pepsi's newer logos have only been adopted in the United States. Currently, Pepsi Wild Cherry and Pepsi ONE are the only two products that still use their previous design. Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry, Diet Pepsi Lime, and Diet Pepsi Vanilla received the redesign. Origins Pepsi was originally named â€Å"Brad's Drink†, after its creator, a pharmicist in New Bern, North Carolina. It was created in the summer of 1893 and was later renamed Pepsi Cola in 1898, possibly due the digestive enzyme pepsin and kola nuts used in the recipe. Bradham sought to create a fountain drink that was delicious and would aid in digestion and boost energy. Another theory is that Bradham and his customers simply thought the name â€Å"Pepsi† sounded good and reflected the fact that the drink had some kind of â€Å"pep† in it because it was a carbonated drink. And another theory is that the word Pepsi was chosen because it reflected phonetically the sound of a can being opened, the sound â€Å"pop† â€Å"schi†, was condensed and simplified in the name â€Å"Pepsi†. This theory can be considered folklore only, since at the time of the naming of the drink, Pepsi was sold in glass bottles and not metal cans; and the pop top lid producing Pepsi's oddly phonetic sound wouldn't be invented for another forty years. In 1903, Bradham moved the bottling of Pepsi-Cola from his drugstore into a rented warehouse. That year, Bradham sold 7,968 gallons of syrup. The next year, Pepsi was sold in six-ounce bottles, and sales increased to 19,848 gallons. In 1929, Pepsi received its first logo redesign since the original design of 1905. In 1926, the logo was changed again. In 1929, automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield endorsed Pepsi-Cola in newspaper ads as â€Å"A bully drink†¦ refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race† In 1931, the Pepsi-Cola Company went bankrupt during the Great Depression- in large part due to financial losses incurred by speculating on wildly fluctuating sugar prices as a result of World War I. Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark. Eight years later, the company went bankrupt again. Pepsi's assets were then purchased by Charles Guth, the President of Loft Inc. Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to replace Coca-Cola at his stores' fountains after Coke refused to give him a discount on syrup. Guth then had Loft's chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula. Rise During the Great Depression, Pepsi gained popularity following the introduction in 1936 of a 12-ounce bottle. Initially priced at 10 cents, sales were slow, but when the price was slashed to five cents, sales increased substantially. With a radio advertising campaign featuring the jingle â€Å"Pepsi cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you,† Pepsi encouraged price-watching consumers to switch, obliquely referring to the Coca-Cola standard of six ounces a bottle for the price of five cents (a nickel), instead of the 12 ounces Pepsi sold at the same price. Coming at a time of economic crisis, the campaign succeeded in boosting Pepsi's status. In 1936 alone 500,000,000 bottles of Pepsi were consumed. From 1936 to 1938, Pepsi-Cola's profits doubled. Pepsi's success under Guth came while the Loft Candy business was faltering. Since he had initially used Loft's finances and facilities to establish the new Pepsi success, the near-bankrupt Loft Company sued Guth for possession of the Pepsi-Cola company. A long legal battle, Guth v. Loft, then ensued, with the case reaching the Delaware Supreme Court and ultimately ending in a loss for Guth. Marketing [pic] [pic] A bottle of Pepsi with its 2003-2008 logo. This Pepsi logo is still used with Pepsi Wild Cherry, Pepsi ONE, and in many countries. In 1975, Pepsi introduced the Pepsi Challenge marketing campaign where PepsiCo set up a blind tasting between Pepsi-Cola and rival Coca-Cola. During these blind taste tests the majority of participants picked Pepsi as the better tasting of the two soft drinks. PepsiCo took great advantage of the campaign with television commercials reporting the test results to the public. In 1976 Pepsi, RKO Bottlers in Toledo, Ohio hired the first female Pepsi salesperson, Denise Muck, to coincide with the United States bicentennial celebration. In 1996, PepsiCo launched the highly successful Pepsi Stuff marketing strategy. By 2002, the strategy was cited by Promo Magazine as one of 16 â€Å"Ageless Wonders† that â€Å"helped redefine promotion marketing. † In 2007, PepsiCo redesigned their cans for the fourteenth time, and for the first time, included more than thirty different backgrounds on each can, introducing a new background every three weeks. One of their background designs includes a string of repetitive numbers 73774. This is a numerical expression from a telephone keypad of the word â€Å"Pepsi. † In late 2008, Pepsi overhauled their entire brand, simultaneously introducing a new logo and a minimalist label design. The redesign was comparable to Coca-Cola's earlier simplification of their can and bottle designs. Due to the timing of the new logo release, some have criticised the logo change, as the new logo looked strikingly similar to the logo used for Barack Obama's successful presidential campaign, implicating a bias towards the President. Also in 4th quarter of 2008 Pepsi teamed up with Google/Youtube to produce the first daily entertainment show on Youtube for Youtube. This daily show deals with pop culture, internet viral videos, and celebrity gossip. Poptub is refreshed daily from Pepsi. Since 2007, Pepsi, Lay's, and Gatorade have had a â€Å"Bring Home the Cupâ„ ¢,† contest for Canada's biggest hockey fans. Hockey fans were asked to submit content (videos, pictures or essays) for a chance at winning a party in their hometown with The Stanley Cup and Mark Messier. In 2009, â€Å"Bring Home the Cupâ„ ¢,† changed to â€Å"Team Up and Bring Home the Cupâ„ ¢. The new installment of the campaign asks for team involvement and an advocate to submit content on behalf o f their team for the chance to have the Stanley Cup delivered to the team's hometown by Mark Messier. Bans in India Pepsi arrived on the black market in India in 1988. In 2003 and again in 2006, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-governmental organization in New Delhi, claimed that soda drinks produced by manufacturers in India, including both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, had dangerously high levels of pesticides in their drinks. Both PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company maintain that their drinks are safe for consumption and have published newspaper advertisements that say pesticide levels in their products are less than those in other foods such as tea, fruit and dairy products. In the Indian state of Kerala, sale and production of Pepsi-Cola, along with other soft drinks, were banned in 2006 following partial bans on the drinks in schools, colleges and hospitals in five other Indian states. On September 22, 2006, the High Court in Kerala overturned the Kerala ban ruling that only the central government can ban food products. Rivalry with Coca-Cola Main article: Cola Wars According to Consumer Reports, in the 1970s, the rivalry continued to heat up the market. Pepsi conducted blind taste tests in stores, in what was called the â€Å"Pepsi Challenge†. These tests suggested that more consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi (which is believed to have more lemon oil, less orange oil, and uses vanillin rather than vanilla) to Coke. The sales of Pepsi started to climb, and Pepsi kicked off the â€Å"Challenge† across the nation. This became known as the â€Å"Cola Wars. † In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company, amid much publicity, changed its formula. The theory has been advanced that New Coke, as the reformulated drink came to be known, was invented specifically in response to the Pepsi Challenge. However, a consumer backlash led to Coca-Cola quickly introducing a modified version of the original formula (removing the expensive Haitian lime oil and changing the sweetener to corn syrup) as Coke â€Å"Classic†. In the U. S. , Pepsi's total market share was about 31. 7 percent in 2004, while Coke's was about 43. 1 percent. Overall, Coca-Cola continues to outsell Pepsi in almost all areas of the world. However, exceptions include Saudi Arabia; Pakistan (Pepsi has been a dominant sponsor of the Pakistan cricket team since the 1990s); the Dominican Republic; the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island; and Guatemala.. Pepsi had long been the drink of Canadian Francophones and it continues to hold its dominance by relying on local Quebecois celebrities (especially Claude Meunier, of La Petite Vie fame) to sell its product. PepsiCo use the slogan â€Å"here, it's Pepsi† (Ici, c'est Pepsi) to answer to Coca-cola publicity â€Å"Everywhere in the world, it's Coke† (Partout dans le monde, c'est Coke). By most accounts, Coca-Cola was India's leading soft drink until 1977 when it left India after a new government ordered The Coca-Cola Company to turn over its secret formula for Coke and dilute its stake in its Indian unit as required by the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). In 1988, PepsiCo gained entry to India by creating a joint venture with the Punjab government-owned Punjab Agro Industrial Corporation (PAIC) and Voltas India Limited. This joint venture marketed and sold Lehar Pepsi until 1991 when the use of foreign brands was allowed; PepsiCo bought out its partners and ended the joint venture in 1994. In 1993, The Coca-Cola Company returned in pursuance of India's Liberalization policy. In 2005, The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo together held 95% market share of soft-drink sales in India. Coca-Cola India's market share was 52. 5%. [pic] [pic] A sticker from a USSR-produced Pepsi bottle. The logo shown is a version used from 1973-91. In Russia, Pepsi initially had a larger market share than Coke but it was undercut once the Cold War ended. In 1972, Pepsico company struck a barter agreement with the then government of the Soviet Union, in which Pepsico was granted exportation and Western marketing rights to Stolichnaya vodka in exchange for importation and Soviet marketing of Pepsi-Cola. This exchange led to Pepsi-Cola being the first foreign product sanctioned for sale in the U. S. S. R.. Reminiscent of the way that Coca-Cola became a cultural icon and its global spread spawned words like â€Å"coca colonization†, Pepsi-Cola and its relation to the Soviet system turned it into an icon. In the early 1990s, the term â€Å"Pepsi-stroika† began appearing as a pun on â€Å"perestroika†, the reform policy of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. Critics viewed the policy as a lot of fizz without substance and as an attempt to usher in Western products in deals there with the old elites. Pepsi, as one of the first American products in the Soviet Union, became a symbol of that relationship and the Soviet policy. This was reflected in Russian author Victor Pelevin's book â€Å"Generation P†. In 1989, Billy Joel mentions the rivalry between the two companies in the song We Didn't Start The Fire. The line â€Å"Rock & Roller Cola Wars† refers to Pepsi and Coke's usage of various musicians in their advertising campaigns. Coke used Paula Abdul,while Pepsi used Michael Jackson. They then continued to try to get other musicians to advertise their beverages. Whilst filming the Pepsi advert Michael Jackson burned his hair. In 1992, following the Soviet collapse, Coca-Cola was introduced to the Russian market. As it came to be associated with the new system, and Pepsi to the old, Coca-Cola rapidly captured a significant market share that might otherwise have required years to achieve. By July 2005, Coca-Cola enjoyed a market share of 19. 4 percent, followed by Pepsi with 13 percent. Ingredients Pepsi-Cola contains basic ingredients found in most other similar drinks including carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, colorings, phosphoric acid, caffeine, citric acid, and natural flavors. The caffeine-free Pepsi-Cola contains the same ingredients minus the caffeine. The original Pepsi-Cola recipe was available from documents filed with the court at the time that the Pepsi-Cola Company went bankrupt in 1929. The original formula contained neither cola nor caffeine. Competitors †¢ Coca-Cola †¢ R. C. Cola Brands Under Pepsico (used in research) 1. Miranda 2. Slice 3. Mountain Dew 4. 7 Up About Miranda Mirinda is a brand of soft drink available in fruit varieties including orange. A â€Å"citrus† flavour is also available in certain areas of the Middle East. It is part of a beverage area often referred to as the flavor segment, comprising carbonated and non-carbonated fruit-flavored beverages. The orange flavor of Mirinda represents the majority of Mirinda sales worldwide. Mirinda is owned by PepsiCo and is primarily commercialized outside of North America. It competes with Coca-Cola's Fanta and Cadbury-Schweppes's Orange Crush brand, with flavor brands local to individual countries. As with most soft drinks, Mirinda is available in multiple formulations depending on the taste of individual markets. History Mirinda was originally produced in Spain. It became available in the United States in late 2003 in bilingual packaging, and initially sold at a reduced price, presumably to become a competitor against Coca-Cola's Fanta brand. Since 2005, Mirinda flavors have largely been sold under the Tropicana Twister Soda brand in the United States except in Guam, where Pepsi began selling it under the Mirinda brand in 2007 (replacing Chamorro Punch Orange). Pepsico also tried to sell Mirinda in Brazil in late 1996, but the brand was discontinued in 1997 after weak sales, keeping the local brand Sukita under production. Recent events Mirinda campaigns over the years have included the Mirinda Woman campaign in the 1970s and a campaign in the 1994-1996 time frame with a campaign using the tag-line ‘The Taste is in Mirinda' with the Blue Man Group. In some markets, including Mexico, the Blue Man Group campaign re-launched Mirinda away from a multi-flavor positioning to a brand solely focused on the orange flavor. The Blue Man Group campaign showed the Blue Man Group competing to drink orange Mirinda and celebrating a successful drink with an open-mouth exclamation of ‘Mirindaaaa'. Also in this same country Mirinda launch a campaign with the Pokemon anime series to the children with a promotion of many gadgets with the characters of the manga series. A recent, highly successful advertising campaign was launched in India featuring a handsome young gentleman, Stefan Persson, gallivanting about town in hunt of his sweet sweet Mirinda. Stefan's credible portrayal of the Mirinda-obsessed youth earned the campaign accolades in Brand Equity, the advertising section of a leading financial newspaper. Mirinda advertising campaigns over the last fifteen years have been handled by Pepsi's stable of creative agencies, including BBDO and J Walter Thompson. Mirinda also regularly introduces special movie-themed editions in Asia. Recent ones included Batman (Blueberry) and Superman (Fruit punch). Mirinda has also recently released a new flavour of drinks called Mirinda Sorbet. They come in two flavours: Raspberry and Lime. Facts [pic] [pic] Pepsi and Mirinda (orange flavor) with Arabic labels (bottled, left to right). †¢ Mirinda is available in most continents of the world with other PepsiCo products. It is also in the Middle Eastern markets, but the name is commonly mispronounced as â€Å"Miranda† due to its Arabic spelling. †¢ The name â€Å"Mirinda† means â€Å"amazing† in Esperanto. There is a claim that the original manufacturer of Mirinda, which later sold the brand to PepsiCo, was an Esperanto-speaking individual. †¢ Spanish-speaking consumers may also associate it with merienda or afternoon (teatime) snack. †¢ Mirinda's primary formulation is as an artificially flavored beverage; however, it has been produced in the past with a percentage of fruit juice, usually due to local tax benefits tied to non-artificial juice ingredients. †¢ Mirinda was sold in a distinctive ribbed glass bottle in Australia and parts of Southeast Asia, when originally released there. Mirindas asesinas (â€Å"Killer Mirindas†) was the first short film of the Spanish filmmaker Alex de la Iglesia About Slice Slice is a line of fruit-flavored soft drinks m anufactured by PepsiCo and introduced in 1984, with the lemon-lime flavor replacing Teem. Varieties of Slice have included Apple, Fruit Punch, Grape, Passionfruit, Peach, Mandarin Orange, Pineapple, Strawberry, Cherry Cola, â€Å"Red†, Cherry-Lime, and Dr Slice. Originally, the drink was known for containing 10% fruit juice, but that was discontinued by 1994. The original design of the can was a solid color, related to the flavor of the drink. These were replaced around 1994 with black cans, with a colorful burst (once again, related to the flavor of the drink), along with slicker graphics. Around 1997, the cans became blue with color-coordinated swirls. The original orange flavor was reformulated at this time with an infiltration marketing campaign led by Danieli. The new flavor's slogan was â€Å"it's orange, only twisted. † Orange Slice has since been changed back to its original flavor. Lemon Lime Slice was replaced by Sierra Mist in most markets in the summer of 2000. Sierra Mist became a national brand in 2003. The rest of the Slice line was replaced in most markets by Tropicana Twister Soda in the summer of 2005, although the Dr Slice variety can still be found in some fountains. It has been discontinued in more and more markets though. In early 2006, the Slice name was resurrected for a new line of diet sodas from Pepsi, called Slice ONE. Initially, Slice ONE was available exclusively at Wal-Mart stores, in orange, grape, and berry flavors. All three flavors are sweetened with Splenda. In 2009 Slice (Orange, Diet Orange, Grape, Strawberry, Peach) will be sold only in Wal-Mart Stores. About Mountain Dew [pic] Mountain Dew (also known as Mtn Dew as of late 2008) is a soft drink distributed and manufactured by PepsiCo. The main formula was invented in Knoxville, Tennessee, named and first marketed in Knoxville and Johnson City, TN in the 1940s, then by Barney and Ally Hartman, in Fayetteville, North Carolina and across the United States in 1964. When removed from its characteristic green bottle, Mountain Dew is bright yellow-green and translucent. As of 2007, Mountain Dew was the fourth-best-selling carbonated soft drink in the United States, behind only Coca-Cola Classic, Pepsi-Cola, and Diet Coke. Diet Mountain Dew ranked ninth in sales in the same year. On October 15, 2008, it was announced that Pepsi would be redesigning their logos and re-branding many of their core products by the end of 2008. At the same time they registered the name â€Å"mtn dew† and a related logo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This also announced the re-launch of Mountain Dew in the UK, which was released by Pepsi in 1996 but was dropped in 1998 due to low sales. As of April 2009, the flavors â€Å"Code Red† and â€Å"Live Wire† continue to use the previous Mountain Dew design. Ingredients Mountain Dew lists its ingredients as: †¢ Carbonated water †¢ Sugar (replaced by High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in much of the United States) †¢ Concentrated orange juice †¢ Citric acid †¢ Natural flavors †¢ Sodium benzoate (preserves freshness) †¢ Caffeine (54 mg per 12  US  fluid ounces (350  ml)) †¢ Sodium citrate †¢ Erythorbic acid (preserves freshness) †¢ Gum arabic †¢ Calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor) †¢ Brominated vegetable oil †¢ Thiamin hydrochloride About 7 UP [pic] 7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo (or its licensees) in the rest of the world. The 7 Up logo includes a red spot between the ‘7' and ‘Up'; this red spot has been animated and used as a mascot for the brand as Cool Spot. Name According to Professor Donald Sadoway (MIT) the name is derived from the atomic mass of Lithium, 7, which was originally one of the key ingredients of the drink (as lithium citrate). However, there are numerous myths explaining the name. One popular myth is that its creator named the soft drink after seeing a cattle brand with the number 7 and the letter U. Other theories suggest that the drink was formulated with seven flavors plus the bubbles from the drink's carbonation (the bubbles go up). Other ideas include the original bottle contained seven ounces; its creator came up with the name while playing dice; that it was the 7th large commercial lemonade brand that tasted the same. Another rumor has it that the name was created because the company had previously failed six times, hence the name â€Å"7 Up†. Before the formula change in 2006, a can of 7 Up included seven ingredients. The â€Å"Up† in the drink's name might refer to the original inclusion of lithium citrate, when it was marketed as a patent medicine to cure hangovers. Some people mistakenly believe that the name 7 Up comes from the belief that its pH is 7. 0 and therefore neutral. This is not the case at all: the pH of 7 Up is comparable to many other soft drinks. At a pH of 3. 67, Diet 7 Up is less acidic than lemon juice (pH 2. ), vinegar (pH 2. 9) or wine (pH 3. 5). History 7 Up was created by Charles Leiper Grigg who launched his St. Louis-based company The Howdy Corporation in 1920. Grigg came up with the formula for a lemon-lime soft drink in 1929. The product, originally named â€Å"Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda†, was launched two weeks before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. It contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug. It was one of a number of patent medicine products popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries; they made claims similar to today's health foods. Specifically it was marketed as a hangover cure. The product's name was soon changed to 7 Up. The Great Depression was just the beginning of the business challenges the product would face. In its early years, there were around 600 lemon-lime beverage brands being sold in the US. 7 Up was able to survive and become the market leader in the category by being one of the first to be nationally distributed as well as being marketed as more healthy than other soft drinks. The success of 7 Up led Grigg to rename his company to â€Å"The Seven Up Company† in 1936. Lithium citrate was removed from 7 Up's formula in 1950. Expanding the brand beyond a niche market, major competitors began to set their sights on it such as The Coca-Cola Company with its Sprite brand introduced in 1961. Sprite would not challenge 7 Up's position seriously until the 1980s when Coke forced its major bottlers, then distributing 7 Up, to drop the beverage in deference to Sprite. 7 Up challenged Coke's actions in court as â€Å"anti-competitive†, a challenge they eventually lost. Formula 7 Up has been reformulated several times since its launch in 1929. In 2006, the version of the product sold in the U. S. was re-formulated so that it could be marketed as being â€Å"100% Natural†. This was achieved by eliminating the preservative calcium disodium EDTA, and replacing sodium citrate with potassium citrate in order to reduce the beverage's sodium content. This re-formulation contains no fruit juice and is still sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The manufacturing process used in the production of HFCS has led some public health and special interest groups to challenge the ad campaign's â€Å"natural† claims. In 2007, after the Center for Science in the Public Interest threatened to sue 7 Up, it was announced that 7 Up would stop being marketed as â€Å"100% natural†. Instead, It is now promoted as having â€Å"100% Natural Flavors†. The controversy does not extend to other countries, such as the United Kingdom, where high fructose corn syrup is not generally used in foods, including 7 Up. Methods used during my research:- Interview method During the research I used the personal interview method. I asked the questions generally face to face. sometime only for the appointment I used the telephonic method. Questionnaire method Mostly I used the proper sequencing of the questions I used rating scale method Reason: – I think that this type of question is very easy and attractive to give the answer for respondent. I also used multiple choice type questions. Reason: – because this type of question is also easy for the respondent to give the answer. This is also helpful for clear and reasonable analysis. Open ended: – this type of question I also used in the form of personal interview. Research Design The design that is used in this project is exploratory design. The reason for choosing this design was to get clear response from the customers. I also used descriptive research design. Research Instrument used In this research I used mainly the structured questionnaire for getting the different type of information. Sample Size My sample size for this research report was of 100 individuals. Fieldwork It includes giving out in the field to collect required information and data from the concerned person. I used to visit major educational institutes, localities, markets, shops, malls usually area wise conducting short interviews & giving awareness and for the promotion about the. Under this survey my main objective was to have an interaction with its users and to find out their preferences. ANALYTICAL TOOLS USED Different types of charts are used : 1) Pie 2) Cylindrical Charts 3) Column Charts 4) Table of all percentage. About the Research Particularly about the project, this research was carried to know the Brand potency about the various brands of soft drinks in Indian Market on the basis of calculations of several values of each brand namely: 1. Value Of Memorization (VM): this is value of a brand which states the degree of remembrance of a particular brand. It tells that how much does one individual remember about the brand. 2. Value Of Association (VA): this is the value of the brand which tells the degree of association of a brand for an individual to his personal life experiences. 3. Value Of Description (VD): this is the value of the brand which tells the degree of a brand, that how much does it describes its features according to its brand name. 4. Value Of Motivation (VMo): this tells the value of the brand in the terms of the degree of motivation which the brand gives to the user to buy it. 5. Value Of Reurchase (VR): this tells the value of a brand according to which it can be calculated and stated that an individual will repurchase the brand. Market Potency = VM*VA*VD*VMo*VR Softdrink Brands Chosen for Research 1. Pepsi 2. Coca-cola 3. Thums Up 4. Mountain Dew 5. Sprite 6. 7 Up 7. Maaza 8. Slice 9. Mirinda 10. Fanta Data Analysis & Interpretation 1. People going for Brand wise or Taste wise in soft drink brands? (out of 100) [pic] Interpretation: According to the above mentioned question, it was asked that whether the user have soft drinks on the basis of Brand or its taste. Therefore it can be interpreted from the above graph that 77% of the sample size goes for soft drinks on the basis of its taste whereas 23% of the sample size goes on the basis of its brand. |Brandwise |Tastewise | |23 |77 | 2. Average, maximum & minimum age of the sample ? (out of 100) [pic] Interpretation: According to the interpretation of this graph we can conclude that the average age of the sample is of 23 years, maximum age of the sample is of 49 years and minimum age of the sample is of 16 years. |Average Age |23 | |Maximum Age |49 | |Minimum Age |16 | 3. Value of memorization for each soft drink brand. [pic] Interpretation: According to the diagram Brand Pepsi & Coke holds the maximum Value of Memorization among all the other brands i. e. these brands are quickly comes into the mind of the consumers. Whereas Slice & fanta holds the least value of memorization (8%). On the scale of 5 |Pepsi |Coke |Thums up |Miranda |Slice | |4. 34 |4. 19 |4. 16 |3. 48 |3. 01 | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |3. 62 |3. 58 |3. 58 |3. 29 |2. 95 | 4. Value of Repurchase for each soft drink brand. [pic] Interpretation: According to the diagram Brand Pepsi, coke, Maaza & Thums Up holds the maximum Value of Repurchase among all the other brands (11%) i. e. these brands are easily repurchased by the customers. Whereas Fanta holds the least value of repurchase (8%). On the scale of 5 |Pepsi |Coke |Thums up |Miranda |Slice | |3. 54 |3. 56 |3. 82 |3. 07 |2. 97 | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |3. 61 |3. 07 |3. 29 |2. 84 |2. 49 | 5. Value of motivation for each soft drink brand. pic] Interpretation: According to the diagram Thums Up holds the maximum Value of Motivation among all the other brands (13%) i. e. this brand easily motivates the customers. Whereas Fanta holds the least value of motivation (8%). On the scale of 5 |Pepsi |Coke |Thums up |Miranda |Slice | |3. 43 |3. 43 |3. 76 |2. 88 |2. 83 | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |3. 28 |3. 27 |3. 19 |2. 9 |2. 37 | 6. Value of Association for each soft drink brand. [pic] Interpretation: According to the diagram Pepsi holds the maximum Value of Association among all the other brands (13%) i. e. this brand is easily associated by the customers to their personal life experiences. Whereas, Fanta holds the least value of Association (7%). On the scale of 5 |Pepsi |Coke |Thums up |Miranda |Slice | |4. 43 |4. 33 |4. 47 |3. 32 |3 | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |3. 19 |3. 59 |3. 54 |3. 43 |2. 63 | 7. Value of Description for each soft drink brand. [pic] Interpretation: According to the diagram Thums up & Mazza holds the maximum Value of Description among all the other brands (12%) i. e. this brand is easily Describes its brands name according to the taste and brand it holds. Whereas, Fanta holds the least value of Description (8%). On the scale of 5 |Pepsi |Coke |Thums up |Miranda |Slice | |3. 2 |3. 51 |3. 96 |2. 86 |3. 32 | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |3. 75 |3. 29 |3. 06 |2. 95 |2. 56 | 8. Which brand holds the maximum market potency ? This is the original question for which this whole research was carried on, he answer for the maximum market potency holder brand can be interpreted by the following charts: [pic] [pic] Interpretation According to the above mentioned bar and chart it can clearly be known that in Indian Soft drink market specifically in Lucknow region Brand Thums Up has a maximum market Potency i. e. the brand Thums Up is very well known, remembered, and demended the most in the market by the consumers. Percentage wi se Thums Up holds 22% of the total Brand Potency while Fanta holds the minimum market Potency. It can be noticed thoroughly that both the maximum and the minimum potency brands are owned by COCA COLA. Pepsi holds the third position with 15% of brand potency. Above bar chart also deicts the brands with their levels in the analysis. Suggestions & Recommendations This research was particularly carried for only knowing the barnd name in the soft drink market of lucknow having the maximum market Potency which is Thums Up. It is suggested to Pepsico in Lucknow that it holds the third position in the research of market potency, which Pepsi brand holds. It is noticeable that the first positions are held by the competitors Coke. The company Pepsico should increase their marketing efforts. Limitations of the Study Though best efforts have been made to make the study fair, transparent, error free, there might be some inevitable and inherent limitations. Though I tried my level best to make this report most accurate, some of the limitations are as follows : ? This study is valid for Lucknow city only. ? Due to certain unavoidable reasons, it was not possible to cover each and every outlet such as holidays, absenteeism, working closed etc. ? There may be some biased response. ? Some of the customers didn't provide dull data. ? Most of the customers were too busy to meet. ? Too much time consumed on some calls because of appointments and waiting. Conclusion Soft drink market whether on micro or macro scale, it is vast and full with great opportunities. It is one of the industry which is not adversely affected by the recession process. Demand for soft drink is still at large, which is resulting in the launch of new and more soft drink variants. Due to which also the companies are adopting aggressive market strategies. Although consumers are going for and liking every soft drink brand but definitely some brands have more value and demand in the market than compared to others. This research was carried out for knowing the brand having maximum market potency, which is Thums Up hence objective achieved. At the end of this report we can clearly conclude that Coke had been greatly got success in the local Lucknow market of soft drinks as the first two positions of maximum potency Brands are held by Thums Up (22%) and Coca cola (16%). This tells us that coke’s marketing strategy is far more clear cut and accurate than its competitors Pepsico, Coke is very well understanding the mind of the local Lucknow Consumer’s, which is making coke and its other brands more preferred and desired by the consumers in Lucknow market than compared to Pepsico’s Brands. Annexure Name:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Age:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Address:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Mob. No†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Occupation:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. E-mail:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 1: Excellent2: Good3: Average4: Satisfactory5: Bad Questn 1 : Which softdrink do you drink the most ?†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Questn 2: You choose your softdrink on what basis ? Brand wise ()Taste wise () Questn 3: How early and fast can you recall the following brands first? (rate from 1 to 5 for each) |Pepsi |Coke |Thumbs Up |Miranda |Slice | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | Questn 4: Priority wise tell that which brand will you repurchase again ? (rate from 1 to 5 for each) |Pepsi |Coke |Thumbs Up |Miranda |Slice | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | Questn 5: Do you get attracted or feel motivated towards the following brands for the purpose of use ? |Pepsi |Coke |Thumbs Up |Miranda |Slice | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | Questn 6: Are you aware of the company names of these brands ? rate from 1 to 5 for each) |Pepsi |Coke |Thumbs Up |Miranda |Slice | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | Questn 7: Do you feel that the following brand names justify their name with their purpose ? Pepsi |Coke |Thumbs Up |Miranda |Slice | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | |Maaza |Mountain Dew |Sprite |7 UP |Fanta | |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) |( ) | [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic]