Marketing Concept and Marketing Segmentation in Practice Essay

INTRODUCTION Haagen-Dazs were the pioneers in the market for creating distinctive and indulgent taste experiences by marketing to an untapped segment – the adult ice cream lovers. The Haagen-Dazs brand quickly developed a loyal following. Its early success was created by word of mouth and praise. Without the benefit of advertising the story of an incredibly rich and creamy confection spread rapidly. At first, it was only available at gourmet shops but soon distribution expanded In 1983 Haagen-Dazs was sold to The Pillsbury Company , which remained committed to the tradition of superior quality and innovation on which Haagen-Dazs was founded. Since then, it has become a global phenomenon. Ice Cream lovers the world over now recognize the unique Haagen-Dazs logo as synonymous with the ultimate super-premium ice cream. However, for the company to reach where it is today, a sincere marketing effort was undertaken from its early days to understand customers and their needs. Since the beginning, Haagen-Dazs has kept a keen focus on developing an internal & external marketing orientation. They obtained their current competitive strengths to establish premium pricing from: *Developing the brand with an attached history of perfection and luxury *Using the finest ingredients to deliver product excellence *Invested in consumer research to understand tastes and preferences of customers *Used selective distribution and did not mass market until the minimum critical mass of opinion leaders were established *Did not change their objectives in between *Used creativity and innovativeness to support brand identity This report will discuss in detail the evidence that Haagen-Dazs does, indeed, practise the marketing concept of keeping customers needs as a priority for the rest of the business to follow. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS Year by year, new products and their competing items have entered into the field and have successfully created a slot for themselves. This phenomenon is greatly supported by the open down policy of the local government to the people coming from other lands for settlement and tourism. Ice creams are a product that has not seen their prime in the U.A.E. Its potential is tapped in a meagre form. Not that the commodity is in short supply. There is ample ice-cream available even at the moment. But, there is great scope of habitualizing the inhabitants of this place to consume more of the product, by exploiting the U.A.E. climate to its best potential. The United Arab Emirates has an ice cream market of Dh140 million, yet it has one of the lowest consumption (6.00 per capita/ pints) of ice-cream when compared to Australia which consumes 36.87 per capita / pints and USA 30.04 pints . In spite of these low figures, Haagen-Dazs began its Middle East venture by opening its outlet in Al Diyafa Street in Satwa and from then on rapidly opened up cafes in Deira City Centre, Rigga Street, Palm Strip Shopping Mall and Thunderbowl. However, prior to their entry into this market, a proper industry analysis was undertaken, similar to the one described below using the Porter’s Industry Analysis. Rivalry in the Industry – Medium Rivalry is strong due to a number of factors. Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs dominate the global super-premium ice cream market. Each of these competitors has approximately 42% of the market, with the remaining 15% being divided up between a number of smaller firms that compete on either a local or national basis . However, within the U.A.E., Haagen-Dazs made its entry while Ben & Jerry’s was still concentrating on Europe. Globally, Haagen-Dazs was competing for a larger slice of what was a shrinking pie. The ice-cream sector has been stagnating in the recent years. In addition to this, new government labelling regulations, a rise in consumer price sensitivity, and other factors have led to further slow growth. In the U.A.E. however, the major competitor at the time was the highest priced ice-cream at that stage, namely Baskin Robbins. Baskin Robbins ice-cream parlours are still not considered direct competitors because they do not portray the image and class associated with a Haagen-Dazs cafà ©. Further, industry lead times for copying a new flavour are lowering, making it harder to maintain a competitive advantage in this area. Haagen-Dazs has been facing intense competition from a relatively similar priced entrant ‘London Dairy’ which has positioned itself as a premium ice-cream but still made itself accessible at every petrol station and convenience store in town. Haagen-Dazs quite readily imitated them and are now available in select petrol pumps and supermarkets. Threat of new entrants – Weak Though there are a significant number of competitors in the market, the largest firms still have such large market shares that they are somewhat â€Å"insulated† against smaller competition. Barriers to entry into this market are relatively low, especially since a firm that already competes in the premium or standard ice cream market could easily convert to the super-premium market (though not with guaranteed success). There is not a significant threat for a new firm to enter the market and establish itself as a rival to the main competitors though brands like Unikai, Kwality and London Dairy have been introducing ice creams to attract this market. Substitute Products – Weak This is not a significant force, even though there are a number of substitute products for this market. Because this is the super-premium ice cream and yogurt market, and the products have prices that reflect this super-premium  standard, the buyer who is interested in this type of product is probably going to be an ice cream lover that is willing to pay the extra price to receive the higher level of quality . One of the driving forces in this industry is the ability to produce a range of flavours, and to keep introducing new ones. Many sales could be attributed to the buyer attempting to satisfy a craving for some unconventional flavour of ice cream. Such a buyer would probably not be satisfied with a substitute product. Though there is sure to be some competition from products such as high quality cakes and cheesecakes, other frozen dessert products, and other snack products such as chips and dips, these products are not a significant factor to this super-premium ice cream market . Power of Suppliers – Weak This force is also weak since, in some cases, Haagen-Dazs is paying well above market prices in an effort to stay true to their mission of producing super-premium quality ice-cream and exotic flavours. Should the need arise, it would be quite easy for them to find a new supplier for any of its products. The advantage the Haagen-Dazs and Baskin Robbins have over the smaller producers are that since they purchase on a global scale, being such a large buyer, gives them more power in the supplier/buyer relationship. Power of Buyers – Strong This is obviously not a product that is necessary to the consumer. There is a declining level of the price elasticity of demand. This puts more of the power in the relationship into the hands of the consumer. Producers in this market must respect this and be sensitive to consumer attitudes concerning their products or face declining sales. Most of this revolves around flavours that they produce and for this reason, Haagen-Dazs is continuously innovating on newer and more exotic flavours to keep their customers continuously attracted to them. FOCUS ON CUSTOMER NEEDS Haagen-Dazs continuously researches its market because this is exactly what got them into the business in the first place. Effective marketing is based on three key elements, the marketing philosophy, market segmentation and consumer behaviour. Haagen-Dazs has been noted to practise the consumer-driven philosophy whereby they rely on research to discover consumer preferences, desires and needs before production actually begins. This philosophy stresses the need for marketing research to be conducted in order to better understand where or who a market is and to develop a strategy targeted toward that group . The core business they are in is production of ice-cream. This industry primarily focuses on consumer tastes and preferences and only research can help identify these. However, it is not enough that research is conducted only prior to production of a particular flavour. They need to constantly research the movement of this flavour in the market and get feedback from customers about this. Market research has given Haagen-Dazs many advantages, such as, *Unique environmental insight, which they used to spot opportunities others overlooked – Reuben Mattus found a segment in the market he believed to be un-served, namely, the adult ice-cream lover segment. While other companies focussed on enticing kids with ice cream, Mattus decided to tap the older, mature segment that had the disposable income to ‘indulge’ themselves. *Are proactive to competitor moves by following them closely – Haagen-Dazs quite readily met all of competitors’ Ben & Jerry’s moves by continuously introducing new flavours focussing on their niche while others lost focus and were mass marketing heir ice creams. This helps makes them fiercely competitive constantly striving to defend their turf. *Identify customer wants thus focussing energies on giving them exactly what they want – research helped them realise that Japanese love tea and hence introduced the Green Tea flavour which was an instant success in that market . They are not the only ones undertaking market research. The UK Super Premium  ice cream market had a retail value of  £56 million in the UK in February 2000. Ben & Jerry’s accounted for fully 83 per cent of the overall growth in the UK Super Premium market in 2000. Multiple grocers account for 70 per cent of all Super Premium ice cream sold in the UK, and in September 2000 Ben & Jerry’s secured parity with Haagen Dazs in terms of sales through this channel, with Ben & Jerry’s securing a 52 per cent share of the market as against 48 per cent for Haagen Dazs . In the U.A.E. though, despite being of reasonably higher price, the brand established itself quite comfortably as a ‘must try’ product among the elite and middle-class. This is exactly what Haagen-Dazs had hoped to achieve when it first came here. The management were counting on the expat population of the U.A.E. who were already familiar with the brand to spread word of mouth about its high quality, unique flavours and prestige associated. MARKET SEGMENTATION As simple as it looks, every little detail of the ice cream is meticulously planned for the final consumer to buy the product. Of the money that goes into paying for the ice cream, nearly 80% is returned into marketing costs for the company. The rest of the 20% represents the actual production costs. Consumers are an integral part of the industry and the market research helps identify the core market segments that Haagen-Dazs caters to. Market segmentation is the process of identifying a specific set of characteristics that differentiate one group of consumers from the rest. In respect to ice creams, although many people eat them, the market can quite easily be segmented on bases of taste and price. Some individuals prefer high-quality ice cream made with real sugar and cream because of its taste while others cannot tell the difference in quality and would buy primarily based on price and availability. Lower-priced competitors are into mass marketing while premium priced ice creams makers have followed a niche strategy to target that one single segment consisting of affluent upper-middle to upper class segment. Haagen-Dazs uses a few main segmentation bases for dividing their market,  namely, demographic, socio-cultural and psychographic. Under demographic segmentation, they focus on the income bracket of consumers. Their products are mainly aimed at the affluent with higher disposable income to spend on frivolous luxuries like super-premium ice cream. Although they do not segregate flavours by gender they do tend to highlight he romantic and sensuous image of ice-cream by featuring couples in all their international adverts. They tend to link their ice creams directly to sex in order to highlight that the indulgence and pleasure felt is similar in both cases and just as fulfilling for inner desires. This leverage gives it extreme importance among the adult population as they can understand this feeling and hence relate consumption of this product directly to this feeling. The socio-cultural segmentation looks at various cultures and nationalities and their preferences. Certain cultural groups tend to have similar needs especially when it comes to food, confectionery and drinks. For this, Haagen-Dazs has taken into account various national tastes and preferences in their innovative product line by introducing flavours like Cheesecake ice cream for the UK, Green Tea ice cream for Japan, Belgian chocolate for those in East Europe, and so on . Finally, probably the most important type of segmentation bases in this case is the psychographic segmentation. To be attracted to eating super-premium ice cream, people need to be part of a particular lifestyle segment. They should technically be among those that enjoy the luxury and indulgence associated with the brand. Haagen-Dazs has been portrayed to be a reflection of pleasure and for this reason, the brand creates an ambience behind its cafes too by ensuring that furniture is cozy and in deep shades of browns, burgundy and red to add a feeling of cocooning and intimacy . Using these segmentation means, Haagen-Dazs has narrowed down its business to cater to specifically two main target markets, namely, *Affluent, pleasure seeking adults who are generally brand conscious, innovators & trend followers *Health conscious, young adults who are interested in desserts but prefer natural ingredients and low fat substitutes By identifying only two target segments and focussing on a small but profitable segment of the market, Haagen-Dazs is practising a niche market strategy. They have been fairly successful in identifying and catering to this segment and this can be determined by their growth from gourmet stores in New York City to its global presence now in over 54 countries. Identification which segments are profitable to market to is not enough. Companies need to design a marketing mix to cater to each of these segments. The next section discusses Haagen-Dazs current marketing mix for the mentioned segments. MARKETING MIX INDULGENT & AFFLUENT ADULTSHEALTH CONSCIOUS ADULTS PRODUCT – All products made with exotic ingredients to add to the luxury and fine taste by sourcing nuts from Hawaii, vanilla from Madagascar, and chocolate from Belgium, etc. – Ice cream flavours ranging from Bailey’s Irish Cream and Blueberry Cheesecake to Cherry Vanilla and Chocolate Caramel, etc. Velvety Gelato in flavours from Cappuccino to Raspberry. Ice cream, sorbet, gelato bars for the adult palate in all flavours of the tubs – Frozen yoghurts where the fat content is derived directly from fresh cream and fresh egg-yolk. Sorbets are sweetened only with ‘pectin’ which is derived from fruit sugar thus ensuring no extra artificial sweeteners – All low-fat bars & tubs are marked with accurate calorie counts and fat content on the packaging to ensure that this segment knows exactly what it’s eating PRICE – premium priced at AED 7-10 a scoop while regular ice-creams are only priced at a maximum of AED 5 per scoop – no price discounts or special offers to keep in line with the luxury and prestige associated with the brand – for the health conscious, Haagen-Dazs have not reduced price to try and attract them simply because this segment already exists and they are willing to pay the same amount and purchase the product PROMOTION – although initially advertising was only through word of mouth, today Haagen-Dazs uses its print adverts to entice customers worldwide. Due to regulations in the Middle East region, they have refrained from linking their product attributes to sex, intimacy, alcohol, etc. and have focussed on highlighting the pleasure of eating ice cream made from the finest ingredients in the world – advertising for this segment has focussed on the fact that you can still maintain a great body and still treat yourself to an occasional ice-cream and not add on pounds for it – in store displays of the actual number of calories in each scoop and endorsements from fitness conscious stars are evidence enough of how Haagen-Dazs is continuously trying to attract people from this segment. PLACE – cafes with comfortable seating for couples, bar stools, dim lighting, rich colours all help to create an ambience of intimacy & love – all cafes are located on prime streets or malls where young adults tend to hang out or socialise thus enabling maximum accessibility for the elite – focus for this segment has moved away from actual cafes where they may be tempted by the non-low fat products and towards supermarkets, petrol pumps and other convenient areas where they can pick a scoop while their on go. The current marketing mix does quite effectively meet the needs of the target segment and my only recommendation to Haagen-Dazs would be to start targeting emerging segments such as the affluent teenage segment that would have more time to spend in cafes an who would be more easily convinced to experiment with flavours. Haagen-Dazs major success factor was the way it positioned itself in the minds of the consumer. It took a strategic marketing outlook to achieve this positioning. All said and done, Haagen-Dazs core business is still in the production of ice cream. However, differentiation using the finest products and developing of a premium ice cream brand was the positioning they portrayed. The next section will look into how they achieved this. POSITIONING Superior flavour and texture are principal to Haagen-Dazs and their definition of quality extends much further. From the ingredients they choose to the recipes they develop, from the packaging materials they select to the care with which they deliver the ice creams, from the ambience of each Haagen-Dazs cafà © to the attention with which they serve, the Haagen-Dazs brand quite obviously signifies its commitment to perfection. However, it is not enough that they believe they have done this. At the end of the day, the customers would base their decision on the tangible aspects of the brand such as the taste of the products, the quality of service offered at the cafes and so on. Product-wise, Haagen-Dazs ensures to maintain the high quality and luxurious taste associated with the brand by using best-selected ingredients from  around the world and ensuring that fresh cream is used for a rich creamy flavour, fresh skimmed milk for body and texture and fresh egg yolk for delicate flavour As a matter of differentiation, they advertise that their ice cream is ALL ICE CREAM by ensuring that the ice cream is perfectly rich because it contains no excess air. Further, unlike mass marketed brands, no artificial flavourings or colours are used. Haagen-Dazs prefers to find better natural alternatives and make sure that their customers know about this. Although most companies limit their product quality testing only within their manufacturing process, Haagen-Dazs takes it a step further to ensure that quality tests take place at every stage of production by visiting and testing ingredients suppliers, checking manufacturing processes and equipment daily, tasting ice cream in-store on a regular basis for temperature and taste. From this we can see how Haagen-Dazs positioning is based primarily on product & image differentiation. For this to be understood by customers, Haagen-Dazs has tried to convey this through every available communication vehicle such as the deep maroon & gold logo, to the Scandinavian name and lettering, and the seductive adverts mentioning the various exotic flavours. The only possible aspect that they need to modify with regards to their positioning would be to start co-branding the product in the U.A.E. with luxury events, shows, etc. Although currently premium ice creams like Godiva and Haagen-Dazs are served at all the major five-star hotels in town, they have not really ventured into sponsoring or conducting events. Locally held international-level fashion shows, horse races and golf tournaments are splendid opportunities to link the brand with the ‘best of the best’. Being primarily based on an actual product and its augmented offerings, Haagen-Dazs has not been very successful in differentiating its products from its services. The next section will look at this in further detail. SERVICE VS. PRODUCT ASPECTS Haagen-Dazs product aspects have already been discussed and this section will now concentrate on the services that they offer that acts as evidence of their marketing orientation. Haagen-Dazs has a global website that offers customer information on all the newest flavours, special recipes, current promotions, events, links to other Haagen-Dazs international websites and even access to their loyalty programme called REWARDS . This is a free membership to all their loyal customers who like to enjoy the uncompromising quality and indulgent taste of their products. This gives customers VIP access to all Haagen-Dazs sponsored events, fashion and art shows, early announcement of all new products, trial coupons and free gift vouchers. An excellent means to keep their customers coming back to them time and time again. The website also gives investors information on how to open a franchise outlet and company highlights which gives a better understanding of the company’s early beginnings. The primary mode of service at Haagen-Dazs was through their numerous high-street cafes. The website is a feature that was established of late but to actually receive the welcoming, customer-friendly service, one must visit a cafà ©. All Haagen-Dazs cafes are staffed with well-trained staff whose primary concern is to keep their customers feel relaxed in the cozy ambience of the outlet. The staff are always impeccably dressed in fine uniforms and are sure to be there at every customer’s beck and call whether asked for or not. The feeling is almost as if being served in a five star hotel. Even within the various cafes, club memberships are offered for all regular customers . These customers get free privileges like attending flavour launches, sample testing and focus group meetings. All these features help Haagen-Dazs continuously cater to its niche affluent segment who are willing to pay that extra premium for this high grade of service. Extra services offered at the cafes are the free ‘love’ postcards and mugs that are given as giveaways to promote the feeling of love, intimacy, sensuousness and passion that the brand is directly linked to. CONCLUSION Haagen-Dazs’ main challenges will be faced from the growing media effect on consumer preferences and tastes. New segments are emerging constantly and they need to continuously innovate and broaden their target market to incorporate these. In the 1980s, the premium brands were faced with intense competition from consumers changing preferences to low-fat, fat free and light ice-creams . Now, the media is actually convincing people that they deserve to indulge and this has resulted in many ice cream marketers to come up with products that are both indulgent, yet not high in calories. Currently, Haagen-Dazs just has frozen yoghurts and sorbets to cater to this segment, but they need to come up with newer recipes and ideas for getting this segment to eat more of their ice-cream. Haagen-Dazs need to realize that the world is moving to a general economic trend of higher earnings, more disposable income and leisure time and they need to understand that its not just the affluent that are eating their ice-creams but also those of the lower and upper middle-income segments. They have focussed on capturing the innovators in the market but need to start developing their marketing strategies to include the early and late majorities into this segment because they pose as a larger market. The brand has repositioned itself from being exclusive to being accessible yet high-class and quality. This needs to be further capitalised on by convincing the market move it from being something to be eaten at the cafà © to something in all family fridges to indulge in when important guests come for dinner. Their clear marketing orientation has given them an established brand. They managed to educate their customers on how they should indulge themselves occasionally even if it means buying a relatively more expensive ice-cream. Now they need to change focus to monitor international tastes and trends to better predict changing customer tastes and preferences. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS Lancaster, G., and Massingham, L., 1993, Essentials of Marketing, 2nd edition, McGraw Hill Book Company Dickinson, P., 1994, Marketing Management, The Dryden Press ARTICLES Business News Publishing Group, September 2001, Sales Flat, Prices up for Top 12 Ice Cream brands, Dairy Foods Liebman, B., May 2002, Frozen Desserts Fatten Up, Nutrition Action Healthletter Reyes, S., 7th February 2000, Haagen-Dazs Extends Dulce’s Reach, Brandweek Wallace, K., 4th July 2002, Consumer Reports has the Scoop on the Best Ice Cream, Consumers Union of U.S. WEBSITES www.haagendazs.com www.finadarticles.com/cf_0/m0BDW/6_41/59779529 www.finadarticles.com/cf_0/m0813/4_29/85915465 www.finadarticles.com/cf_0/m3301/9_102/79007885 www.hauserbeiten.de/faecher/hausarbeit/bwu/5732.html www.wral.com/money/1544486/detail.html

Precise Software

1. In assessing the value of Precise SQL for the user firm one has to consider increase in DBA productivity. Assuming 52 weeks in a year, how many hours does a DBA save in a year because of Precise? 3 Points DBA Hours Saved per year52 * 9. 4488. 8 DBA Hourly Wage (assuming 40 hours to a week) 3 Points Unburdened DBA salary$60,000 Hours worked Per Year52 * 402080 Burdened DBA salary1. 33*$60,000$79,800 DBA Hourly Wage (unburdened)$60,000/2080$28. 84 DBA Hourly Wage (burdened)$79,800/2080$38. 36 Annual Saving for the customer firm Hours saved per DBA per week9. 4 Hours saved per DBA per year52 * 9. 4489Savings per DBA per year (unburdened)489*$28. 84$14,102 Savings per DBA per year (burdened)489*$38. 36$18,758 Average number of DBA's10 Annual savings for firm per year (unburdened)10*$14,102$141,020 Annual savings for firm per year (burdened)10*$18,758$187,580 2. Precise SQL also helps with respect to deferral of hardware replacement decision. Answer the following questions on hardware deferral What is the probability of postponing hardware purchase for a year? Hint (a year has 12 months or four 3-month periods). 3 Points Probability of postponed purchase (A) for 3 monthsP(A) = . 6 Probability of making purchase (B)P(A) = 1-P(A). Probability of not making a hardware purchase for 1 yearP(A)4. 1296 Hardware Cost Saving if postponed by a year 30% 1 Point What is the average annual hardware budget affected by Precise? $1,430,000 1 Point Based on the above three pieces of information, what is the dollar savings due to deferral of hardware purchase? Average annual hardware budget affected by Precise$1,430,000 Hardware Cost Saving if postponed by a year30% Probability of postponing by 3 months60% Savings for three months($1,430,000*. 3*. 6)/4$64,350 Dollar savings due to deferral of hardware purchase for one year($1,430,000*. )$429,000 5 Points 3. Precise SQL also enhances end-user productivity; please answer the following questions on end-user productivity (total 15 poi nts). Number of transactions per day: 194,000 Total time in seconds spent in these transactions in one day prior to precise? 2 Points Average daily transactions processed by all users combined194,000 Average end user response time per transaction15 Total time in seconds15*194,0002,910,000 Total time in seconds spent per user per day: 2 Points Total time in seconds to accomplish 194,000 transactions2,910,000 Number of simultaneous users215Number of transactions per user194,000/215902 Total time in seconds spent per user per day:902*1513530 Total time spent per user in hours over one day? 2 Points Total time in seconds spent per user per day:902*1513530 Total time spent per user in hours over one day13530/60*603. 76 Assuming an 8 hour day – % time spent 2 Points Total time spent per user in hours over one day13530/60*603. 76 % of time spent3. 76/8. 47 (47% of user time) Improvement in end-user response time per transaction: 25% Based on the above two pieces of information, % of time saving: Total time spent per user in hours over one day13530/60*603. 6 % of time spent3. 76/8. 47 (47% of user time) Improvement in end-user response time per transaction25% % of time saving:. 25*. 4711. 75% Using information on time saving from above, the salary information, and information on burden rate , what is the $ saving per user per year? Average end user salary$30,000 Burdened rate, average end user salary$30,000*1. 33$39,900 $ savings per user per year11. 75%*$39,900$4,688 Using the above number, what is the saving for the firm (in dollars)? $ savings per user per year11. 75%*$39,900$4,688 Number of users215 Total user savings for the firm215*$4688$1,007,920 . Cost of selling a Single Unit of SQL (for 1999) : Revenues (Software License): $9,770,000 Assuming $20,000 price per unit, number of units sold: 2 Points $9,770,000/$20,000 = 489 (approx) Assuming Sales and Marketing expenses capture all sales related expenses, cost of a single sale: $7,913,000/489 = $16,183 3 Points ? 5. Total Value of Precise SQL The value of Precise SQL to an end-user firm has three components that you have calculated thus far. Taking these three components together what is the value of Precise SQL for a customer firm with one copy of the SQL? 3 PointsAnnual savings for firm per year (burdened)10*$18,758$187,580 Annual hardware deferral savings(1,430,000*. 3)$429,000 Total User Savings215*$4688$1,007,920 TOTAL$1,624,500 With a customer investment of $20K, what is the return on investment? Cost per license$20,000 Cost per firm (assuming 10 DBA's per firm and each DBA requires a license)($20,000*10)$200,000 Discount (assume 25% discount as per page 8 of case)($200,000*. 75)$150,000 ROI (12 MONTHS)($1,624,500-$150,000)/$150,000983% With your ROI calculation is Precise able to capture (appropriate) the value it creates for its customer? Why or why not?Given the scenario that led to an ROI calculation of close to 1000%, the product is priced too low. Precise needs to focus on communicating the value generated by usage of their software to potential customers in an effort to support increasing the price of their product to more accurately reflect its overall value to the end user.? 6. In terms of sales force for Insight, Precise has two choices, what are these choices and what are the two main advantagesdisadvantages of using each option. Precise currently has a single sales team trained to sell all of the company's products (other than Presto) through a dual channel distribution system.Each rep is paid a base salary of $75,000 plus a commission depending on how many licenses they sold. The average rep made sales of up to $800,000 annually and thus earned $120,000. The highest paid rep about $300,000. Options: a)Keep the same sales force Advantages – Able to continue to cultivate existing business relationships with IT managers and DBA's. Since the sales cycle of software, especially of higher priced suites, could take up to 12 months, these re lationships could prove beneficial for a new product launch.Their overall knowledge of Precise products and services is also an advantage, allowing the sales rep to leverage the full specter of Precise product offerings to a potential client. Disadvantages – The current sales team is perhaps not the best. Their annual sales and salaries are below average for commercial software sales forces. It may not be the wisest decision to leave the sales of your newest product in the hands of an underperforming team. Additionally, the current sales force is already heavily tasked, as Alon stated â€Å"They're running in ten directions at once. Adding to what appears to be an already overloaded sales team would not be the optimum way to introduce a new value and feature laden product to the market. b)Create a more specialized sales force Advantages – Precise would be able to recruit top sales people and begin product introduction with a high performing, laser focused team. This t eam would not have existing relationships with current Precise customers which could be an advantage in dealing with the echelon of Company executives required to authorize a software purchase of this magnitude.Disadvantages – Loss of the personal relationships with current customer DBA's may crimp product sales. Additionally, augmenting the existing sales force adds to the overall operating expenses of Precise and would add to their current string of operating losses. ? 7. One option to introduce Precise Insight at the Oracle OpenWorld 2000. Such an introduction could result in first mover advantage. What are the factors that likely influence the possibility of first mover advantage in this case. How would these factors impact first mover advantage in this case? 0 Points Precise conducted a survey of its customers and quickly found that â€Å"end-to-end response time† was the preferred indicator of overall system capacity and health. High dollar investments in enterpr ise applications like ERP, CRM or supply chain management left those who championed for their introduction into a Company eager to demonstrate the effectiveness of their respective choices. An end-to-end software application would help these internal champions by assuring optimizations throughout the user base.As companies continued to expand their global presence, many locations were separated geographically, at times by thousands of miles. Insight offered a solution to make high data intensive applications run more smoothly and efficiently. The need for senior executives to ensure these high dollar investments authorized by they themselves were successful was itself an undiscovered and underserved market. Meeting the needs of some top decision makers, more importantly, those with the ability to authorize large Company investments would add to the first mover advantage. Precise Software 1. In assessing the value of Precise SQL for the user firm one has to consider increase in DBA productivity. Assuming 52 weeks in a year, how many hours does a DBA save in a year because of Precise? 3 Points DBA Hours Saved per year52 * 9. 4488. 8 DBA Hourly Wage (assuming 40 hours to a week) 3 Points Unburdened DBA salary$60,000 Hours worked Per Year52 * 402080 Burdened DBA salary1. 33*$60,000$79,800 DBA Hourly Wage (unburdened)$60,000/2080$28. 84 DBA Hourly Wage (burdened)$79,800/2080$38. 36 Annual Saving for the customer firm Hours saved per DBA per week9. 4 Hours saved per DBA per year52 * 9. 4489Savings per DBA per year (unburdened)489*$28. 84$14,102 Savings per DBA per year (burdened)489*$38. 36$18,758 Average number of DBA's10 Annual savings for firm per year (unburdened)10*$14,102$141,020 Annual savings for firm per year (burdened)10*$18,758$187,580 2. Precise SQL also helps with respect to deferral of hardware replacement decision. Answer the following questions on hardware deferral What is the probability of postponing hardware purchase for a year? Hint (a year has 12 months or four 3-month periods). 3 Points Probability of postponed purchase (A) for 3 monthsP(A) = . 6 Probability of making purchase (B)P(A) = 1-P(A). Probability of not making a hardware purchase for 1 yearP(A)4. 1296 Hardware Cost Saving if postponed by a year 30% 1 Point What is the average annual hardware budget affected by Precise? $1,430,000 1 Point Based on the above three pieces of information, what is the dollar savings due to deferral of hardware purchase? Average annual hardware budget affected by Precise$1,430,000 Hardware Cost Saving if postponed by a year30% Probability of postponing by 3 months60% Savings for three months($1,430,000*. 3*. 6)/4$64,350 Dollar savings due to deferral of hardware purchase for one year($1,430,000*. )$429,000 5 Points 3. Precise SQL also enhances end-user productivity; please answer the following questions on end-user productivity (total 15 poi nts). Number of transactions per day: 194,000 Total time in seconds spent in these transactions in one day prior to precise? 2 Points Average daily transactions processed by all users combined194,000 Average end user response time per transaction15 Total time in seconds15*194,0002,910,000 Total time in seconds spent per user per day: 2 Points Total time in seconds to accomplish 194,000 transactions2,910,000 Number of simultaneous users215Number of transactions per user194,000/215902 Total time in seconds spent per user per day:902*1513530 Total time spent per user in hours over one day? 2 Points Total time in seconds spent per user per day:902*1513530 Total time spent per user in hours over one day13530/60*603. 76 Assuming an 8 hour day – % time spent 2 Points Total time spent per user in hours over one day13530/60*603. 76 % of time spent3. 76/8. 47 (47% of user time) Improvement in end-user response time per transaction: 25% Based on the above two pieces of information, % of time saving: Total time spent per user in hours over one day13530/60*603. 6 % of time spent3. 76/8. 47 (47% of user time) Improvement in end-user response time per transaction25% % of time saving:. 25*. 4711. 75% Using information on time saving from above, the salary information, and information on burden rate , what is the $ saving per user per year? Average end user salary$30,000 Burdened rate, average end user salary$30,000*1. 33$39,900 $ savings per user per year11. 75%*$39,900$4,688 Using the above number, what is the saving for the firm (in dollars)? $ savings per user per year11. 75%*$39,900$4,688 Number of users215 Total user savings for the firm215*$4688$1,007,920 . Cost of selling a Single Unit of SQL (for 1999) : Revenues (Software License): $9,770,000 Assuming $20,000 price per unit, number of units sold: 2 Points $9,770,000/$20,000 = 489 (approx) Assuming Sales and Marketing expenses capture all sales related expenses, cost of a single sale: $7,913,000/489 = $16,183 3 Points ? 5. Total Value of Precise SQL The value of Precise SQL to an end-user firm has three components that you have calculated thus far. Taking these three components together what is the value of Precise SQL for a customer firm with one copy of the SQL? 3 PointsAnnual savings for firm per year (burdened)10*$18,758$187,580 Annual hardware deferral savings(1,430,000*. 3)$429,000 Total User Savings215*$4688$1,007,920 TOTAL$1,624,500 With a customer investment of $20K, what is the return on investment? Cost per license$20,000 Cost per firm (assuming 10 DBA's per firm and each DBA requires a license)($20,000*10)$200,000 Discount (assume 25% discount as per page 8 of case)($200,000*. 75)$150,000 ROI (12 MONTHS)($1,624,500-$150,000)/$150,000983% With your ROI calculation is Precise able to capture (appropriate) the value it creates for its customer? Why or why not?Given the scenario that led to an ROI calculation of close to 1000%, the product is priced too low. Precise needs to focus on communicating the value generated by usage of their software to potential customers in an effort to support increasing the price of their product to more accurately reflect its overall value to the end user.? 6. In terms of sales force for Insight, Precise has two choices, what are these choices and what are the two main advantagesdisadvantages of using each option. Precise currently has a single sales team trained to sell all of the company's products (other than Presto) through a dual channel distribution system.Each rep is paid a base salary of $75,000 plus a commission depending on how many licenses they sold. The average rep made sales of up to $800,000 annually and thus earned $120,000. The highest paid rep about $300,000. Options: a)Keep the same sales force Advantages – Able to continue to cultivate existing business relationships with IT managers and DBA's. Since the sales cycle of software, especially of higher priced suites, could take up to 12 months, these re lationships could prove beneficial for a new product launch.Their overall knowledge of Precise products and services is also an advantage, allowing the sales rep to leverage the full specter of Precise product offerings to a potential client. Disadvantages – The current sales team is perhaps not the best. Their annual sales and salaries are below average for commercial software sales forces. It may not be the wisest decision to leave the sales of your newest product in the hands of an underperforming team. Additionally, the current sales force is already heavily tasked, as Alon stated â€Å"They're running in ten directions at once. Adding to what appears to be an already overloaded sales team would not be the optimum way to introduce a new value and feature laden product to the market. b)Create a more specialized sales force Advantages – Precise would be able to recruit top sales people and begin product introduction with a high performing, laser focused team. This t eam would not have existing relationships with current Precise customers which could be an advantage in dealing with the echelon of Company executives required to authorize a software purchase of this magnitude.Disadvantages – Loss of the personal relationships with current customer DBA's may crimp product sales. Additionally, augmenting the existing sales force adds to the overall operating expenses of Precise and would add to their current string of operating losses. ? 7. One option to introduce Precise Insight at the Oracle OpenWorld 2000. Such an introduction could result in first mover advantage. What are the factors that likely influence the possibility of first mover advantage in this case. How would these factors impact first mover advantage in this case? 0 Points Precise conducted a survey of its customers and quickly found that â€Å"end-to-end response time† was the preferred indicator of overall system capacity and health. High dollar investments in enterpr ise applications like ERP, CRM or supply chain management left those who championed for their introduction into a Company eager to demonstrate the effectiveness of their respective choices. An end-to-end software application would help these internal champions by assuring optimizations throughout the user base.As companies continued to expand their global presence, many locations were separated geographically, at times by thousands of miles. Insight offered a solution to make high data intensive applications run more smoothly and efficiently. The need for senior executives to ensure these high dollar investments authorized by they themselves were successful was itself an undiscovered and underserved market. Meeting the needs of some top decision makers, more importantly, those with the ability to authorize large Company investments would add to the first mover advantage.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Essay Example In this regard, the business objectives might encompass enhancement in sales turnover, increment in profits and accomplishment of superior competitive position over chief business market competitors (Westwood, 2002). The imperative advantages of an effectual corporate plan that is initiated by different organizations are adopting as well as implementing better decisions, saving operational costs, focusing upon fulfilling long-term goals and most importantly attaining desired business targets (Chary, 2009). It has been viewed that a corporate plan may assist an organization towards attaining success in future, if it is incorporated with the significant concern of manpower planning. In this similar context, the notion of manpower planning denotes a systematic procedure of placing appropriate personnel in the suitable work or operational departments. This particular concept of manpower planning is also acknowledged as ‘Human Resource (HR) Planning’ that supports different organizations to attain their expected business targets by a considerable level. In other words, manpower planning is fundamentally described as an effective strategy for the attainment, enhancement, implementation and retention of the human resources of a specific organization (Price, 2007). In this paper, a detailed assessment of the assertion that "unless there is a corporate plan for the organization integrated with the manpower plan, manpower planning is worthless" will be taken into concern. Moreover, the valuable linkage between HR planning and the corporate plan of an organization and the different features of HR planning that must help the procedure of organizational change will also be discussed in this paper. The assertion i.e. "unless there is a corporate plan for the organization integrated with the manpower plan, manpower planning is worthless" principally depicts that the notion of manpower planning would become much beneficial for

Field site task Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Field site task - Essay Example Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) is an essential part of almost all the Tasmanian educational institutions has been designed and implemented at school level. It contains variety of disciplines in their vast fold including History and Geography in particular and Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science and Economics in general; all of them are required to be kept in view while making a learning plan as the part of classroom curriculum on the one hand and field side task on the other. The best teaching plan will be the one designed to meet the needs and interests of the particular students we are teaching. (McDonald, 2001:23) I have selected the Salmon Ponds in my plan as the area situated in Derwent Valley for my field side task. Since fieldwork is an essential part of my course in SOSE, so all the activities related to it must be well-knitted and properly planned according to the requirements and patterns designed and developed for this purpose. Before embarking upon the t opic, it would be advisable to introduce and discuss the historical and geographical significance of the area under study. Salmon Ponds is situated in the Derwent Valley, which is not only an important part of Tasmania, but also is a remarkable region containing gorgeous scenes of natural beauties and worthwhile charms. Due to its splendid landscapes, magnificent planes and pageant hills, the valley captures the attention of visitors from different parts of the world. Since Tasmania maintains a rich cultural heritage, ideal geographical location and traditional historical background, it is therefore the area provides a lot for studies and research work especially in the discipline of SOSE. It is estimated that Aborigines were the most primitive community of the region, which have been stated living in this area for the last 35,000 years. Tasmania is said to be linked with the mainland nearly ten

Critical summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Critical summary - Essay Example For instance, the gilded silver the grinder was innovated in this era. Language and traditions assimilation was also an aspect that was affected in this era. The development of China into a cosmopolitan Empire is shown by the different individuals that were in the dynasty. This means that ideologies from different areas in terms of religion, trade and traditions were incorporated into developing cosmopolitan Empire. This is an area that helps in understanding how China became to be one of the most developed countries in the world. Relating the excerpt to information on empire development in China, it is imperative to note that some of the dynasties formed played a huge role. In my opinion, this is one of China plays a huge role in developing the international economy. Having different individuals play a huge role in economic development can be related to some of the recent growth in the neighboring regions like Japan. This clearly depicts that cosmopolitans are developed from incorporation of different

Perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly Assignment

Perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly - Assignment Example Such market structure reduces output in order to drive up prices and hence increase profits (Tragakes, 2012). Such a firm, therefore, produces less than the socially responsible level of output and manufactures at greater costs than competitive firms. Oligopoly is an industry that has only a few firms that can collude to decrease costs and drive up profits just like monopoly. However, such firms may end up cheating against each other due to strong incentives to cheat on such collusive agreements. Finally, monop0listic competition is an industry that contains many competing firms. The firms sell a similar or identical but at least somewhat different product. The products are highly differentiated in terms of features and prices (OConnor, 2004). The paper discusses the features or characteristics of the dour basic market structures. It then explains the key differences and similarities between the markets in terms of output and price determination. Further, the paper explains whether the allocative and productivity efficiencies can be achieved in the monopoly and perfect competition. The market has numerous sellers and buyers who buy, this reduces the bargaining power that buyers and sellers have, for instance if a seller of Milk tries to increase its profits by increasing the price of milk, the buyers in the market shifts to other milk sellers. The sellers are simply price takers and not price makers. The products sold in such a market are almost the same or identical as other. The products are indistinguishable from each other because they are perfect substitutes for each other. The products are perfectly similar in quantity, quality, size and shape. Commodities like corn, oil and wheat are examples of homogenous products (Kurtz & Boone, 2011). Buyers and sellers are totally free to enter and leave the market. There is no restriction imposed on the entry and exit of buyers and sellers. The firms get normal

Historical Perspectives in Christianity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Historical Perspectives in Christianity - Essay Example However, the Lutheran church was further divided into several denominations due to doctrinal differences. Some retained some rituals conducted by catholic faith while some did away with them altogether. Divisions continued and up to date many denominations continue to crop up. The birth of Pentecostalism however, can be attributed to the Azusa street revival led by William J. Seymour an African American preacher in 1906.2 Seymour was born in a catholic family but was later converted into born again Christian owing to his numerous travels. He believed in the baptism of individuals with the Holy Spirit and the filling of individuals with the Holy Ghost as stated in the book of Acts: 2 by Apostle Luke.3 The Pentecost was thus a renewal of the church and was referred as a revival. There are many events that led to the Azusa street revival that affected and continue to influence the church even today. These will be the focus of attention in this paper but first, a short history of the chu rch will be given. The rest of the paper will be based on the events in the life of William Seymour which led to the revival. Brief History of Christianity The early church mostly was comprised of the Jews hence was regarded as Jewish Christianity. Its roots can be traced in the New Testament where Jesus used to walk with His disciples preaching the gospel to all nations. When He ascended to Heaven, He promised the Apostles He would send them a helper in the name of the Holy Spirit to enable them to preach the gospel widely and this was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost.4 The apostles established a church and spread the gospel far and wide. However, they were all persecuted for holding on to their faith but this did not stop the gospel from spreading. These early churches practiced hymn singing and also believed in miracles such as healing. According to Noll, the Jews were attacked by Romans on 66AD and the war continued for seven years.5 This resulted in taking over of Jerusalem wh ich was the centre of Christianity’s communication, organization and authority and consequently replacing it with Rome. This according to Noll served to expand Christianity from Jewish Christianity to universal Christianity, that is, from Judaism to Christianity. The church became independent and creeds were established to â€Å"mark out boundaries of Christian faith.† 6 Christian reform did not end with transformation from Judaism to Christianity; rather, more reforms were in the offing. The Roman Catholic was the dominant denomination and followed the structure that was used by the apostles with the pope as the head of the church. However, the church entangled itself with politics and materialism leading to decay of some moral values. The congregation was supposed to pay taxes, women were not allowed to preach, indulgencies.7 Besides, some people were not happy with the doctrine of celibacy. As such, the protestant movement cropped up and led to reformation of the ch urch. In the protestant church, women were allowed to preach and clergy were allowed to marry. The doctrine of repentance or confession was done away with as people could communicate directly with God instead of confessing sins to priests.8 The protestant church also differed on several issues leading to formation of many other denominations such as Calvinists, Anabaptist, Lutherans and Anglicans.9 The ruling king decided on the denomination to be adopted by the country; some countries were

Ssocial media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ssocial media - Essay Example Social media refers to any of the many online tools that allow people to share information and learn from others through a communication network in an open process. Social media thus refers to online contents that are created and consumed by regular people for communication. As Singh and Diamond (10) noted, it may be comments a person adds at the end of a website- article or family photograph he uploaded to a photos-sharing site or a video he uploaded to a video-sharing site. From some years ago to now, business communication for most of the business had a huge impact, because social media brought tremendous changes in business and marketing communication. It has not only brought greater opportunities for many businesses, but also posed bigger challenges for many to survive in competing with others. It thus becomes very important for a small startup firm to also realize that it needs to utilize the power of the social media well in order to prosper against the big companies that are already established. The marketing and advertising needs to be very sharp; website interface must be very catchy and most importantly, it must be able to gather a large customer base. For a new business to be set up successfully, marketing communication is an extremely important function since its ultimate plan to reach its customers will be successful only if it can communicate with its people about the business and its goals. When introducing a new brand or the existing brand with new product or service to the market, it needs to be communicated to the general public in order to make them aware about it, to inform or persuade them to buy or to keep on reminding them about the goods or brand (Kitchen 21). This can be done by displaying catchy captions and promotional logos of the brand... The paper describes the social media in competitive business contexts. Almost all Fortune 500 and world’s largest multinational companies have established relatively much stronger stance in social media to use it for marketing communication purposes, and they proclaim that social media helped them a lot. A best example is Wal-Mart because as recent reports and studies revealed, social media played a significant role in Wal-Mart’s success. Large numbers of business organizations and government firms use private as well as public social networks. Turban, Bollojuand and Liang (203) found that almost all Fortune 500 firms keep on encouraging its employees to use an internet social media by creating its own applications and social discussions. It proves that social media helps businesses not only for marketing communication, but also to enhance knowledge and experiences of employees and other people by knowledge share of social media networks and thus to improve overall prod uctivity of its people. Websites like Twitter and Facebook allow companies to form their own forums and groups where they can keep in touch with one another and discuss important matters. Such an exchange of ideas is healthy and keeps employees at their toes. Moreover, since everybody checks their notifications from time to time, companies need not worry about the message not going across. For any new or existing business, consumers are the biggest concern. Almost all the businesses today are required to be consumer-centric.

Technological device Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Technological device - Essay Example After staying in college for three months, my parents sent me money to buy a cell phone. Unlike Gathman (42) who preferred a bilingual phone, I preferred a phone with internet access. I acquired a Nokia 2330 Classic model. This device increased my urge to use the internet. I deviated from searching for academic material to searching for famous quotes and biographies of famous people. From famous philosophers like Aristotle, Socrates to the greatest mafia such as Al-Capone I passed through their lives. This information was not much related to my field of study but I fancied searching for it. The quotes and biographies, I downloaded them, printed, and documented them. This was not only outside the lecture room; I could search for this information even during lectures if I found the lecturer to be boring. My colleagues found my character weird because at that time we were overburdened by assignments and less time was available for leisure. I had heard about Facebook several times even b efore I joined college and when I came to college I found it was very popular among the students. We were raised in a Christian family and my parents instilled in me strict Christian values. They had warned me against sites like Facebook over and over again. They told me that Facebook was a dating site that enhances moral degradation in the society. I heed to their advice and no matter how much my friends convinced me to join the network, I resisted the temptation. In fact, I commenced a campaign to discourage my friends from being on Facebook. I usually used to search for my friends on the internet and sent them messages requesting them to delete their Facebook accounts because it was an â€Å"immoral† site. One time a lecturer gave to one of our colleagues an assignment, we did not have a lecture that day so reaching all students in our class was an uphill task. The student decided to post the assignment on Facebook because making phone calls would have been costly for her. Information went round but I could not get it because I was not part of the â€Å"Facebook community†. The next day the assignment was due for submission yet I heard not heard about it. My friends blamed me for being rigid towards embracing the new technological paradigm. Since that day my thinking was transformed; was it for better or for worse? During the lunch hour, I disregarded my parents’ advice and went and opened a Facebook account. Even though I had opened the account, I was very cautious. I researched about social networking sites in depth. It was then that I came to learn that Facebook unlike dating sites offered a platform for people to make friends and share views and thoughts (Jain, Anand and Gupta 2). My whole attitude towards Facebook changed. I sent friend requests to my colleagues and friends. My friendship search did not stop at home; I crossed the borders and even searched for friends in other continents like Africa, Australia, and Europe. Sometime s I sent them messages in their in box and commented on their status. This site now provided me with information about lecture schedules, assignments, and meetings. I became so used to Facebook that most of my time was spent on Facebook. My passion for searching for quotes and biographies faced and was replaced with Facebook networking. The reason as to why I had resisted Facebook was now contradicted. I commenced

Travels by Joseph Zere Essay Example for Free

Travels by Joseph Zere Essay My first example of satire is in Lilliput when Gulliver was invited to a entertainment feast. But when Gulliver arrives at the feast, he gradually discovers that its not only an entertainment feast, but it is an job applicants who will dance on the tight rope. Who ever dance the highest on the tight rope will get a very good job. This is absurd because to get a good pay job, you need to have qualifications, familiarity and the experience to do the job. I know of all this, because in page 32 it says when a great office is vacant by either dead or disgrace, 5 or 6 candidates petition the emperor to entertain his majesty and the court with a dance on the rope, and whoever jumps the highest without falling succeeds in the office. This is not fair, because you need to be educated, not be a good dancer. So Jonathan Swift is translating it based to London, he is trying to put out that you dont need merit to get a well-paid job; you could get it for daft reasons. Like if you had friends in power, through favouritism, so getting a job wasnt based on merit, it was based on silly, childish ways. In fact people at the time (18th century) were incompetent people and didnt know how to their jobs, especially in politics. Jobs were allocated on the ground of tradition and family. Luckily and rightfully civil exams came in, and it was a big change, but at the time Swift wrote this book, there was nothing stopping a mental man getting a well-paid job. The issue that Swift is satirising is the ineptitude of a ruling class who value dancing more greatly than education. He is also attacking the class structure of Britain. Swift suggests the solution would be to create a society were people rose on merit. To modern readers the satire may seem rather indirect. We might feel that he is not confronting the issue. However we should remember that there was a very strong royalist feeling and class prejudice at the time Swift wrote. There was also active censorship. In order to get his message across at all, Swift had to be tortuous. He had to make his meaning a little indistinguishable. This satire is as effective as it could be if we consider the time Swift wrote. At first the story honestly struck me as rather silly like a childs fairytale. However I quickly started thinking about the message. That it is still very important today. If we consider how money buys education in Britain we might think that it is still wealthy people who dance prettily. Who get to the top. Swifts satire was of great magnitude in the 18th century. That is why he has to make his meaning a little unclear. Yet what he said is still important today. My second example of satire was when Gulliver was invited to an entertainment feast yet again. However Gulliver arrives at the feast, he realises that it is a reward scheme, for the emperor to give rewards to people ( blue, red, green). To get rewards you had to jump over a stick, which the emperor held out for you. This is absolute madness, a reward should be given out who worked hard and deserved it, not jump over a wooden stick. I know of this case it quotes the emperor lays on the table three fine silken threads of six inches long. One is blue, the other red and the third green. To receive this it says the emperor holds a stick in his hands, both ends parallel to the horizon, while the candidates, advancing one by one, sometime leap over the stick, sometimes creep under it backwards and forward several times, according as the stick is advanced or depressed. Swift is satirising that people in Britain got their jobs by creeping. This satire is aimed at the kings court. The first satire concerned jobs. This one concerns influential positions at court- and you see a few great persons about this court who are not adorned with one of these girdles. In the 18th century many people like Swift felt that the kings court was too important and too corrupt. They felt that people rose through the court on how well they crept to the king. The positions at court were also very important. Many of the people who governed the country and who ran the army and the navy were appointed by the king. Swift and others felt that such important positions should be given out according to merit. They also felt that the government of the country should come from elected MPs rather than creeps at the kings court. The satire works in many ways. One way is the gap between the ridiculous things being described and the very formal and technical language that Swift uses to describe them. The candidates are to undergo a trial of dexterity very different from the former. The use of formal words like a trial of dexterity is amusing when it is applied to something so stupid. This gap between ridiculous action and a very high tone is something that humorous and satirical writers use a lot. Another similar technique, which I find very effective, is the way Swift includes lots of detail about actions that are meaningless. One example would be the detail, the emperor lays on the table three fine silken threads of six inches long. One is blue, the other red and the third green. Readers are used to hearing this kind of technical detail applied to serious things like engineering, so they find it amusing when these phrases are used to describe madness. The best satirists such as Swift have the imagination to came up with crazy situations and they have the control if language and tone to put this into kind if language people would expect to hear speaking about serious things. The solution that Swift seems to suggest is that the King should not be in charge of appointing people to important positions. He also suggests that in England the Prime Minister is to close to the king and is also corrupt. It is noticeable the emperor and the first minister share the holding of the stick. Swift suggests that Prime Minister should be separate from the king and that important jobs should be given out elected people in parliament.

Business plan about cambata aviation

Business plan about cambata aviation Business Plan Executive Summary: Cambata Aviation Private Limited is a private sector leading ground handling agency in India. Currently CAPL handles more than 30 international passenger airlines, more than 10 cargo airlines and number of non-scheduled airlines operations across India. Company management would like to expand the operations of the company in coming two-three years to become pioneer in the ground handling industry. In order to succeed and become ground handling giant we need to takeover domestic ground handling market which is growing very rapidly and also attract new international, private and non-scheduled airlines towards our company. We also need to acquire new equipments to support our operations and increase productivity. Following plan will give an idea about how company is going to achieve the said objective. Cambata Aviations main strategy is to emphasize the quality of its professional services. Since CAPL is the existing and well known ground handling agency we have a backup of our expert management team that is always looks after the development of the company. Based on the size of our market, our sales projection for the next year will be $4,250,000. In order to acquire new equipments, complete all the legal formalities and for marketing we will need around $3,486,000 at start up. Company chairman invested $600,000 and rest we will borrow from bank as a long term liability. Introduction:- Cambata Aviation Private Limited (CAPL) started offering Ground Handling services in 1967 at Mumbai International airport. British Airways (formerly known as British Overseas Airways Corporation) was the first customer airline company of CAPL. In earlier days Cambata use to provide only ‘Meet and Assist services to certain airlines that includes wheelchair assistance, unaccompanied minors assistance, flight crew clearance, CIP handling. Because certain airlines provide such meet and greet services to their premium customers. Later CAPL started providing other functions like Check in, Baggage Tracer, Cargo acceptance and unitization, Flight Dispatch, Weight Balance, Ramp, Cabin Appearance, and Clearance of Company Stores Mail. Cambata Aviation is the member of the International Air Transport Association Ground Handling Council (IATA-IGHC) and approved ground handling company. At present CAPL is the only independent and private ground handling agency in India with IATA-JAR-OPS Service Level Agreement. Currently Cambata handles more than 30 international airline operations across India. The objective of CAPL is to provide highest standard of services to all the international customer airlines and to attract new airlines towards company. The services provided at CAPL are world class keeping in mind the safety and security in operation is the aim, which is the base of aviation industry. This business plan is about the expansion of the company to start ground handling activities for domestic airlines, private airlines and non-scheduled airlines as well as to provide new and innovative value added services required by the international customer airlines and purchase of new own equipments like Push back tractors, belt loaders, cargo dollies and loaders, Ground Power Units, Passenger stairs, baggage carts, wheelchair lifts and Ambulift etc. to become pioneer in the ground handling services in India. The main purpose behind this expansion is to capture whole domestic market. Since we have certain international airlines that operate twice or thrice a week so we can utilise our workforce for domestic operations as well. Day by day domestic airline market is roaring up, in the year 2006-07 there were 3 new airlines that started their operations. The Market Situation Currently Aviation industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, India is no exception. Earlier times at airport, airline companies used to employ their own employees but now most of the airlines ask the ground handling agencies to look after their all flight movements. This is the cost-effective basis for airline companies. Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) is Indias and South Asias largest and most important hub, handling more than 25million passengers and 533,593 tonnes of cargo. Between April 2006 and February 2007, CSIA handled 180,000 landings and take-offs and over 20 million passengers with around 6.73 million international passengers and around 13.65 million domestic passengers. As compared to the year 2005-06 passengers growth rose to 21.28%. From above statistics we can figure out that domestic sector of the Indian aviation is also coming up rapidly. Most famous domestic airlines are Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Spice Jet, Go A ir and Indigo. In case of domestic airlines there are only two ground handling agencies. At present in Mumbai there are 5 ground handling agencies namely National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), Cambata Aviation, Air works India, National Aviation Services (NAS) and Globe Ground India. Among all Cambatas services is one of the best. This can be proved by the number of international airlines customers Cambata has. At Mumbai Airport Cambata handles more than 15 international passenger airlines, more than 6 cargo airlines and quite a few non-scheduled airline movements as well. Now Cambata will eye on the new entrants at Mumbai airport by introducing some new services along with ground handling. We can say that, at the time Cambata has a very good position in the ground handling market in India. It can be seen by following figures: Mission And Objectives: Every company has a vision and mission, basically mission means an exercise where all the employees of the company follows an organisational culture to work together to work towards the desired results. But I think vision is more important because it helps the company to determine the future. It serves as concrete foundation to the company. Cambata Aviation will be the most preferred Ground Handling agency in India. It will be the first choice handling agency for the international and domestic carriers, which other ground handling agencies will seek to match. Cambata Aviation will achieve this pre-eminent position by offering a high quality of service and safe, reliable and efficient operations on behalf of the airline company. Cambata will achieve these objectives at the same time ensuring consistent profitability, creating goodwill, satisfy employees and important of all satisfying customer airlines. Objectives: 1) To introduce ground handling for domestic, private, cargo and non-scheduled airlines in coming two years. 2) Acquire new equipments to provide 100% own ground handling support at the airport. 3) Provide better and innovative services to our international customer airlines. Keys To Success: 1) Thorough and stringent induction training for the employees to help them understand the responsibilities towards daily activities keeping safety and security as the motto. 2) Improving established practises of the company. 3) Maintain good relations with the customer airlines by providing best services all the time. Company Summary: As mentioned above Cambata Aviation is one of the oldest ground handling agency in India. It started in 1967 at Mumbai. Later operations of the company spreads across India, in 1972 we started our operations in Delhi and then Chennai, Ahmadabad, and Pune. CAPL looks after different operations such as passenger handling services like check-in, baggage handling, aircraft cleaning, security, ramp handling, flight despatch operations, weight and balance etc. Further company is divided into five departments namely accounts and marketing, Personnel, Passenger handling services and Human resources, cargo and ramp operations department. Accounts and marketing department looks after companys income and expenditure, bills receivables, bills payables, salaries of staff etc. and marketing of our services among new entrants. This department plays an important role in growth of company by controlling costs and increasing revenues. Start Up Expenses: Since our company is well established company we dont require raising money to cover certain expenses but as we have to complete certain formalities we need some capital. Following chart will give the description of Start up Expenses. Marketing Plan: Cambata Aviation is well established company but now we have to expand our business to provide ground handling facilities to domestic sector airlines, private airlines in coming two-three years. Also to expand the current functions we have to acquire new equipments. We need to use different strategies to expand our business to operate on domestic sector. Important thing is we have to obtain permission from Airports Authority of India and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to act as an authorized ground handling agent. Currently there are only two ground handling agencies operating at domestic terminal. Our agency is the oldest one so introducing ground services at domestic terminal would be easy. As like international operations we can provide service to domestic giants. Our target customers would be emerging airlines, existing small airlines that lacks in professional skilled workforce, and new entrants in the international and domestic markets. Basically new airlines lack in skilled workforce, equipments and they have to invest lot of money in training of employees and acquiring new equipments. Here we can use our goodwill and offer ground handling services to them. We have trained workforce with proper experience and knowledge in this sector. We feel that our well trained employees will generate more goodwill by providing world class services with well maintained equipments. Market Segmentation: 1) Unsatisfied Airlines: We hope to obtain positive response from the airlines like commercial, cargo airlines that are dissatisfied with their current ground handling agency. 2) New Entrants: We can target new airlines that just started their operations. 3) Non-scheduled , Private Airlines: We can target non-scheduled aircrafts and most importantly private airlines. It will be very easy for them to hire the services for particular time and number of private airlines is on rise which can provide us a good advantage. Market Segmentation Market Needs: Due to intense competition many airlines started reducing the fare prices and cutting off other expenses. By handing over the airline operations to ground handling agencies they can cut off some of their expenses on employees. There are several airlines flying to Mumbai that are not satisfied with either the quality of the service or the poorly maintained equipments provided by their ground handling agency. Flights which we handle with our well trained workforce at all levels and well maintained equipments will confirm their dissatisfaction with our competition and generate new business for us. Almost all the airlines whether international or national require high quality of professional services with well maintained equipments. Because most of the airlines are of turnaround type they depart back within 2-3 hours after the arrival, in that short time ground staff has to work very hard because lots of activities needs to be carried out right from aircraft cleaning, catering, refuelling, baggage loading and unloading etc. Only efficient workers can do these activities fast. Cambata Aviation is well known for its efficient and world class services and because of that it handles more than 15 international airlines operations at Mumbai. We hope this awareness will generate goodwill for us and generate better opportunities as well. In short, demand for ground handling services agencies is increasing. So we should concentrate on our marketing activities, professional services and try to grab the new contracts. Market Trends And Market Growth: The cut throat competition among all the airlines resulted in the global fare cuts. Fare cuts are affecting airline companys revenues. It can be noticed that other expenses related to food and in flight service are decreased but ground handling expenses are steady. In order to cut off cost and raise revenue most of the airlines started outsourcing the major operations to the ground handling agencies. In short to cut off expenses such as training, acquisition of equipments, salaries of the staff at airport; airline companies outsource the operations of airline to ground handling agency which helps to create immense demand for the ground handling agencies. Also most of the airlines know that efficient ground handling helps to improve aircrafts productivity and generate more revenues. Due to such cost cutting measures adopted by most of the airlines, ground handling providers market is growing day by day. New global ground handling agencies are trying to start their business in India. In earlier days there were only 3-4 ground handling agencies, and now number increased to around 10. Major Competitors: 1) National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL): We can consider NACIL as our main competitor, being a government owned company it gets lot of benefits. Although their quality of service is not good enough still they handle around 10 international airlines and 2 domestic airlines. This is mainly because its a government owned company. NACIL has all owned equipments so they gain an upper hand as compared to other agencies in the market segment. 2) National Aviation Services (NAS): NAS has recently started their operations at Mumbai Airport. NAS has its base in Kuwait. Currently they are handling 3 international airlines and looking forward to start ground handling at domestic airport too. 3) Air Works India Limited: Air Works India is also an old ground handling agency. They mostly look after operations of Private Charter flights, they are specialised in providing services to private aircrafts. They also have their own helicopter services. Strategy And Implementation Summary: In order to gain good position in the aviation industry CAPL always try and use new strategies. CAPL always keep their staff updated with the latest technology and equipment knowledge. Cambata is well known ground handling agency in India, because of its professional and timely services. Competitive Advantages: 1) Professional Workforce: We always kept our standards at high level; our staffs undergo rigorous training after every 8 months. CAPL training modules aimed to ensure world class services and achieve the set safety and security standards in all our operations such as Passenger services, ramp handling, load control, flight operations, mishandled baggage, aircraft cabin cleaning, cargo documentation. This helps our company to grow and reach soaring heights. 2) Overall Handling Of An Aircraft Movements: Though we dont have all owned equipments we provide all the services to an aircraft from the moment aircraft touches down till airborne. Currently we have four push-back tractors, four ground power units, and important of all we have our own hanger which we can rent out in case if any aircraft needs to carry out maintenance activity. 3) Flight Report Control System (FRCS): Ours is the only ground handling agency that developed FRCS. It was developed with an aim to keep high level of productivity, vigilance and service standards. FRCS helps both the airline company and our management to keep an eye on the level of service. FRCS has to be filled up and acknowledged by customer airline duty manager. Management can use these flight reports in order to raise the standards of the company. 4) Safety And Security Manuals: Cambata has developed its own security manuals which we use for our security training sessions. Our security manual has been approved by Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), India. This enables to reduce the frequency and severity of accidents causing personal injuries and aircraft ground damage. SWOT Analysis: SWOT analysis means analysis of our companys Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT analysis helps to uncover the opportunities which we are looking for. And helps us to understand the weaknesses by which we can eliminate threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are the internal factors and opportunities and threats can be considered as external factors. It is a useful tool which can be use to analyse the position of the company in the market. In case of our company, following is the SWOT analysis of Cambata Aviation. Strengths: 1) Strong Brand and Reputation: Cambata Aviation was established in 1967 in Mumbai. It is well known ground handling agency in India with more than 30 customer airlines across India. 2) Certification: Cambata Aviation is the only independent and private ground handling agency in India with IATA-JAR-OPS Service Level Agreement. It is a member of IATA Ground Handling Council (IATA-IGHC) and also an approved ground handling agency. 3) Good Relations: After serving the international giants like British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Alitalia, Air France etc we have very good relations with international airlines and domestic operators as well like Jet Airways for whom we look after ramp activities. 4) Professional Management And Employees: We have a team of professional experts in the aviation industry. Also we provide overall training to our employees in order to keep them updated with latest technological knowledge. 5)Location: We enjoy the benefit of our location as we have our base in Mumbai the economic capital of India. Being an economic capital people from different parts of the world visit Mumbai resulting in more international flight movements in Mumbai and we can use our professional expertise to get the contract for ground handling of most of the airlines. Weaknesses: 1) Absence Of International Branch: We are pioneer in the ground handling services in India. But we are missing the opportunities which are generating at the ‘hubs across the world. 2) Government Restrictions: Being a private company we dont have freedom in certain areas. We have to obtain proper permission from government authorities in order to start the new activities at different airports. 3) Insufficient Equipments: We lack in ownership of some equipments, which we need to hire from other ground handlers. Opportunities: 1) Developing Market: Aviation industry is growing at very fast pace. Lots of new airlines are coming into the market. We can grab the opportunities by approaching new entrants in the Indian skies. 2) New Market Segment: In India domestic aviation and private airlines activities are on rise. Domestic market is also growing very fast; new airlines are setting up their operations. We can expand our operations or services to become a giant in ground handling in both international and domestic airlines market. Airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher also looking forward to start international services if we provide ground handling at domestic level then obviously we can operate as their ground handling agent for international operations. 3) Ineffective Competitor: We can attract other airlines that are not happy with their ground handling agent, because of poor services. Threats: 1) New Competitor: National Aviation Services (NAS) Kuwait based ground handling giant has entered in the Indian market. Because of its global presence airlines may attract towards NAS. NAS operates as a ground handling agent for some of the airlines in Kuwait. 2) Price Wars: After the economic downturn many airlines are discontinuing their services to cut the costs. Some of the competitors like National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) a government owned agency have cut the cost to attract other airlines. This could be a possible threat. 3) New Government Policy: As per new government policy only three ground handling agencies can operate at Mumbai airport. Out of that one is government owned NACIL and other two are undecided. In such circumstances we can lose our separate entity and forced to merge with other agency. Project Plan: We will need period of two years to expand the operations. Also we are planning to purchase new equipments. We can assume that after two years we can increase our profits by providing ground handling services to most of the airlines. As our main objective is to capture domestic airlines ground handling market and increase our market share in international airline ground handling market we will work hard in coming two years and grab the market share. We are expecting to achieve the said mission by proper vision in next two years. We have to invest more in our marketing and human resources for better and fast results. (Figure showing various activities carried out by Ground Handling Agency) Sales Forecast: Sales forecast shows our estimated ground and ramp handling, equipments usage, hangar usage revenue. We have a very good relationship with airline companies and many of them have expressed their interest in hiring our services. Management Summary: A strong management team is the heart of any business. Cambata is no exception; we have a very strong management team with wide experience in aviation industry, working to raise the standards of our company. Our management policy is to provide better environment to our staff wherein they can be challenged and stimulated to provide effective and better solutions that meet our customer airlines needs. Promoters And Directors: Late Mr. Kershi S. Cambata was the founder of Cambata Aviation. He was holding a Private pilot license and was ex-Royal Force personnel. He was also a pioneer in Aerial crop spraying business in India. Mr. Nelson K. Cambata- He is a trained pilot holding private pilots license. He acts as a Chairman and Managing Director of the company. He has specialised experience relating to all aspects of ground handling and management. Mr. Sarosh J. Contractor- Mr. Contractor is an Executive Director for Operations. He is a finance graduate holding 36 years of experience in Banking, Airline and ground handling industry. He is responsible for the day to day affairs of India operations. Mr. Burjor N. Nicholson- Mr. Nicholson is also an Executive Director for Finance. He has completed graduation in accounts and finance field and holds 38 years of experience in aviation industry. Above mentioned management team is at highest tier. Further tier consists of Airport Manager, Personnel Manager, and Departmental Managers or head that controls day to day operations at airport. This entire team is highly experienced and qualified in the aviation industry. Management Hierarchy: Personnel Plan: As Cambata is established company currently we have 3 personnels at Directors level. Under them we have 5 Airports manager. But in future we have to increase the number in order to divide the work properly. Our projected Personnel Plan is as follows: Companys success depends upon its employees. Now we want to expand our company so we will need more employees. Having professionals at particular place will help the company to form a solid foundation. Following data summarizes increase in our human resources. Year wise increase in Human Resources (Projected) Financial Analysis: Finance department of the company acts as a watchdog over company expenditure. It makes sure that all our operational activities are funded. It may be possible for a company to fund all the activities from operations, but certain times company may need to turn to the capital market for finance. Company has certain outside sources of money like current debt, bonds, loans etc. For all these activities we need to raise around $5 million in loans. As mentioned above we have to expand our services and also to acquire new equipments which will require huge sums of money. To begin with we have to raise money through loans and some long term investments. There are certain assumptions on which we have to rely on. General Assumption: Break Even Analysis And Costs: Break Even Analysis is calculated where total revenue received by a company is equals with the total cost associated with sales. Our fixed cost consists of rental for our hangar to Airports Authority of India, equipments routine inspection and maintenance cost, monthly fuel cost. In order to provide better service we should have our owned equipments. There are number of equipments available in the market and behind one movement of an aircraft we require almost all equipments such as tow-bars, push-back tractors, unit load device, ground power unit, baggage loader, cargo dollies, forklifts etc. These equipments are very diverse in varieties and expensive. Cambata handles more than 5 airlines at peak time so we require more equipment. It can be seen that we have to invest huge amount of money in equipments. Other costs include training activities conducted by our company. We provide training to our employees after every 8 months with updated topics. In order to get better productivity we have to invest some amount in training and development of employees. Revenue: Following table gives an idea about Revenue generated from Ground handling of single aircraft, equipments rental and hangar rental: As mentioned in the above chart, we provide ground handling services to more than 18 airlines; out of those some airlines operate twice a day daily, some operates just thrice a week. Cambata operates around 1200 arrivals and departures a year with the help of these equipments generating millions of revenue. There are some other revenue sources such as equipment rent and hangar rent. Many a times other ground handling agencies require some of the equipments so they can hire it from us at above mentioned price same in the case of our hangar.

Going Towards a Postpatriarchal Family :: Philosophy Hochschild Women Papers

Going Towards a Postpatriarchal Family Ours is a time of dramatic and confusing transformations in everyday life, many of them originating in the social enfranchisement of women that has occurred over the past twenty-five years. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild demonstrates a widespread phenomenon of work-family imbalance in our society, experienced by people in terms of a time bind, and a devaluation of familial relationships. As large numbers of women have moved into the workplace, familial relations of all sorts have been colonized by what Virginia Held critically refers to as the contractual paradigm. Even the mother/child relationship, representing for Held an alternative feminist paradigm of selfhood and agency, has been in large part "outsourced." I believe that an Arendtian conception of speech and action might enable us to assert anew the grounds for familial relations. If we require a new site upon which to address our human plurality and natality, the postpatriarchal family may provide that new site upon which indi viduals can freely act to recreate the fabric of human relationships. It would seem to be our moral and political responsibility as social philosophers today to speculatively contribute to the difficult yet imperative task of reconfiguring the family. In this paper, I attempt to articulate the basic assumptions from which such a reconfiguration must begin. I. Some Ironies of Our Current Moment While motherhood represented women's primary opportunity for achievement and respect within previous societies, second-wave feminism critically explored the lived reality of women as mothers within our middle-class American society. Betty Friedan's influential The Feminine Mystique, published in 1965, indicted the deadly boredom of the suburban home, while later works such as Adrienne Rich's Of Woman Born, articulated with devastating incisiveness the oppressive qualities of the contemporary institution of motherhood. According to Rich, the intense joys of mothering children were embedded in a patriarchal structure that created agonizing conflicts for any woman who saw herself as more than merely a nurturer of her spouse and children. As feminists, we believed that the institutions of family and motherhood would change quite radically as women entered the workplace. And they have. Our lives have been dramatically transformed over the last twenty-five years, through a process I refer to as "the social enfranchisement of women." (1) As large numbers of women have entered the public workforce and contraception has become widely available, women have come to be seen as possessing the same economic and political rights and responsibilities as men.

A Short History Of The Blues Essay -- Music, Blues, Communication, Ni

The late 19th century marked a great deal of change in the United States as well as the rest of the world. World war one had begun and reeked great havoc on the entire world. Nikola Tesla and the fathers of communications had made major scientific breakthroughs in the communications field and modern radio programming was right around the corner. Slavery had been abolished for over thirty years but segregation was still an enormous factor amongst the African-American people in the U.S. One of the most segregated states in the entire country, Mississippi, was on the brink of one of the most influential forms of modern music that the world had ever seen or heard: the blues. What the blues did for music is reflective in almost every piece of modern music heard throughout the world today. From rock and roll to country music, all the way to hip hop, the blues is deep down inside shining like a beautiful light that makes that music glow forever. Weather a person is happy or sad, compa ssionate or indifferent; the blues will always be there to light the way. Right at the turn of the century a man by the name of W.C. Handy was about to stumble upon a sound that would change the world of music forever. The year was 1903. The summer sun was beating down ferociously and a man named William Christopher Handy, who happened to be catching a train heading north, found himself in a town called Tutwiler Mississippi which lies smack-dab in the middle of the Mississippi delta between Clarksdale Mississippi and Greenwood Mississippi. Handy, a former bandleader of â€Å"a black orchestra that mostly plays dance music and popular standards of the day, is a learned musician who understands theory and the conventions of good, respectable music’’ sudden... ... America the civil rights movement had begun and a new type of blues called soul music was introduced. Traditional country blues was making its way into college towns and it was only a matter of time before electric blues would follow. As the fifties came to a close, the most musically influential time period in the history of popular music, the sixties, would come roaring in with bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Jimmie Hendrix all of which were heavily influenced by the blues. After the 1960’s through the seventies and the eighties the blues and its wonderful history would help to shape almost every form of modern music. In 2002 the United States Congress passed a resolution making 2003 â€Å"the year of the blues.† Without the development of the great pioneers of the blues genre music would be in a totally different place, as we know it today.

Personal Reflections on the Self Essay

I  certify that  the attached  paper is my original work and has not previously been submitted by me or anyone else for any class. I further declare I have cited all sources from which I used  language, ideas, and information,  whether quoted  verbatim or paraphrased, and that any assistance of any kind, which I received while producing this paper, has been acknowledged in the References section. I have obtained written permission from the copyright holder for any trademarked material, logos, or images from the Internet or other sources. I further agree that my name typed  on the line below is intended to have, and shall have, the same validity as my handwritten signature. Student’s  signature (name typed here is equivalent to a signature):   Marjorie Neal When we talk about self, it is generally meant to be a reflection of an individual’s identity and separate from others and the environment (Huitt, 2009). The most widely used concepts when it comes to self are the self-concept and self-esteem. Self-esteem is the sense of self worth and dictates how we feel about ourselves where self-concept is dictated by how an individual answers the question â€Å"who am I? †(Myers, 2008). Research has shown that self-concept is the basis for all motivated behavior because self-concept that provides individuals with possible selves and those possible selves create the motivation for behavior (Huitt, 2009). Self-concept is built through the process of taking action and reflecting on the action one has taken as well as what others tell him about what he has done (Huitt, 2009). We are not born with a self-concept. Self-concept is developed through interaction with the environment and one’s reflection of that interaction. Self-concept has four parts: self-image, self-esteem, ideal-self and self-efficacy My sister had all the friends that my parents approved of, she got the good grades, she was not in special education classes and at home report cards and progress reports were constantly compared. I never heard that I was doing a great job or that I had improved on this subject or that it was always how wonderful my sisters grades were compared to my C’s that I worked very hard for in the early years. By the third grade I was behind in reading and math so I had to go to special classes to get help on those subjects. I not only felt inadequate at home but the other students in school made me feel very stupid and not good enough. I was picked on at school and called all sorts of names from stupid to Margarine to Rhino. Looking back it was kids being kids and picking on me because they could see that it bothered me. I used to come home in tears and all my parents said was to ignore them and they would stop but they did not stop. I was in the â€Å"loser† group and there was no getting out of it. By third grade I believed them. When I entered Junior High School, I started off in the lowest group for my classes, the one that all the troublemakers were in and all the â€Å"stupid† kids. I got tired of being lumped with those kids and decided I could do better so I decided I was going to work hard and talk to my teachers about moving up a group. In sixth grade I went from group four to group three at the half way point in the year. This gave me a bit of a boost but I still was not happy. I wanted to be one of the smart kids like my sister was so that my parents would be proud. So in seventh grade I worked harder and talk to my teachers and I was moved from group three into group two. I was feeling better about myself and continued to push harder until I was finally in group one by the end of the eighth grade. Being in group one meant I could take the college level classes I wanted to take in High School, it also meant that I was just as good as my sister was but that did nothing for me at home because I was struggling to pull C’s and my sister was still pulling A’s. Nonetheless, I was proud of my accomplishment and myself so I tried college level classes in High School. I did fine in college English but not so good in Math. I found that high school was very difficult for me and after all those years of trying to be as good as my sister I still could not pull the same grades no matter how hard I worked at it. I gave up and stopped taking college level classes with the hope that the other classes would be easier for me and I could pull the A’s and B’s that my parents were so proud of my sister for getting. When I continued to struggle my freshman and sophomore year I gave up and decided that I was going to do what it took to get those C’s and nothing more. I became very discouraged. Then my parents separated and we moved from my hometown to the Cape with my aunt so I had to change schools half way through my sophomore year. I was happy with that, a new group of kids to meet and different expectations by the kids I already knew in that school so this was going to be easy and that was my easiest semester ever. I finally got the good grades that I was looking for and my mother stopped criticizing me for my choice in friends. She actually approved of most of my friends. My sister at that point became the problem child. Then it all fell apart. My mother decided that she was going to take a job in Boise, Idaho and my sister and I had to move with her across the country. I had finally adjusted to the idea of my parents getting a divorce and now she was going to take me away from all of my life long friends and everything I knew. My attitude, self-esteem and everything went right down the toilet. When we got to Idaho I didn’t care anymore. I was going to do what I had to do to graduate and get out of my mother’s house so I could go back to Massachusetts where I knew people and I was home. I made poor choices in friends, poor choices in behavior, and poor choices in my schoolwork all because the only thing I could see was anger. I was so angry with both of my parents, my mother for making me move to Idaho and my father for not fighting to keep us in Massachusetts. It was like my opinion did not matter and once again my sister was the queen. All the good I had done in junior high and down the Cape did not matter anymore. I graduated from high school, turned down a military career and moved back to Massachusetts where I met my first husband. It was a marriage destined to fail. My first husband was very abusive verbally and emotionally. He constantly made me feel like I was not worth the dirt I walked on. I was diagnosed bipolar two years after we got married and he never took the time to learn about it, said he didn’t believe in mental illness and did not help me find the help I needed so it was a very rocky ten-year marriage. I did get two wonderful children out of the marriage though, of that I was thankful and challenged. After my first husband and I divorced, I met my current husband. He is the exact opposite of my first husband. We have a very good relationship. It was the relationship with my first husband and all the abuse that I went through in the ten years we were married and my childhood experiences that made me who I am today.