China's Monetary Policy, From Fixed to Managed Exchange Rate Essay

China's Monetary Policy, From Fixed to Managed Exchange Rate - Essay Example As of the last quarter of 2010, the economy of China was reported to overheat when its gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 10.3% as compared to the previous year (Simpkins 2011). In response to the on-going global financial crisis, the Chinese government decided to implement a â€Å"moderately loose monetary policy† from the usual â€Å"prudent monetary policy† as a strategic move in stabilizing the overall economic condition in China (Pierson 2010; Yang 2010). Based on the standard economic practice, a tight monetary policy is normally implemented by the central bank in order to control the economic consequences associated with high inflation rate. To allow the readers have a better understanding about this particular research topic, the standard model of a fixed exchange rate economy will first be tackled followed by discussing the previous case of China. Upon examining China’s preferred monetary policy today, this report will focus on determining whether or not the Chinese economy behave in accordance with, or differently from what one would predict from a standard Model of a fixed exchange rate economy experiencing overall balance of payments surpluses. Standard Model of a Fixed Exchange Rate Economy Under the Bretton Woods System, monetary policy was focused on fixing the exchange rates in order to protect the balance of payments stability (Hagele 2006, p. 8). Right after the World War II, making exchange rates stable by pegging the currencies against the US dollar was considered as one of the best ways to promote growth on international trading and in making the employment rate high (Hagele 2006, p. 9). Even though the pegged exchange rates are adjustable when necessary, historical events revealed that implementing a fixed exchange rate system could create disequilibrium in the balance of payment and international trading system (Bordo and Eichengreen 1993, p. 5). Given that importation and exportation of products are considered inelastic, a lot of economists in the past disregarded the significance of exchange rates in the use of monetary policy. This is because most of them believe that developing countries will remain the principal exporters of goods. Given that the presence of industrialization reduces the need for importation of goods from other countries, devaluation of currencies were considered less advantageous for economic development. It was only during the 1997 Asian crisis wherein a lot of economists considered the significance of exchange rate in managing the internal economy in each country. In an economy wherein the exchange rate is fixed, the government tends to rely heavily over the use of its fiscal policy in order to control the economic situation in each country. To boost the economic growth in each country, the government can make use of its reserves or to borrow money from local or international sources to create more demand for products and services. However, Tornell and Velasco (20 00) explained that excessive use of fiscal authority could result to more economic consequences since misuse or excessive use of fiscal policies could result to the exhaustion of the government reserves. Since demand for goods and services is growing in China, the Chinese government is

Behavior Modification and Alcoholism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Behavior Modification and Alcoholism - Essay Example At first it provided me a sense of relief but a point came when the distress began to mount all over again. People start the habit of drinking due to many reasons which mainly include emotional distress. According to some theories drinking of alcohol provides relief to increasing stress. (Cooper et al., 1988) A time comes when a person has feels like evading himself from the reality that is the time when he has the urge of drinking.(Wills and Hirky, 1996). Drinking of alcohol is commonly found amongst the new young generation. This is because young people start the drinking process thinking that it would lead to the betterment of their frame of mind. (Frone and Windle, 1997) Recent research has proved that avoiding alcohol at times can lead to the usage of more alcohol. (Wunschel et al., 1993) To further prove this a ten year model research was conducted to find out about the relationship between alcohol consumption and the coping up with emotional distress. The ten year model showed that if drinking helped in coping with the emotional distress the consumption of alcohol increased but if it did not the consumption decreased. (Holahan, Moos, Holahan, Cronkite , & Randall 2001) The relationship between a child and parent is an important one and the parent is a great source of influence for the child. Through the observation of ancestral and parental habits children pick up the influential practices. Observing my parents had a great impact on me and it gave me a reason to start the practice of drinking. (Greeley et al., 1983) Research has shown that the relationship of drinking between parents and children is highly related. (D. Herd 1994) The environment I worked in played another major role in the adopting of the habit of drinking. Due to working stress and other factors including accessibility of alcohol during working hours I was tempted to drink excessively. Research has suggested that the availability of alcohol during working hours is a factor for excessive drinking. Easy to get alcohol and drinking it with all the friends together during the working hours is supposed to be really easy for the working people. The factor of drinking with friends had a great influence on me and I being a social person liked drinking alcohol with them. In order to avoid drinking in the work places management took grave measures. Competition of drinking with friends while working and the amount of alcohol you can drink as compared to others is a usual sight in the office. Nowadays the labor unions and the management gave salary cuts to employees and formulated a strict scheme against excessive alcohol drinking during working hours. These measures gave a blow to my financial flow but I coped up by reducing the level of drinking during work hours. This scheme has been successful to quite a level but it requires a further amendment and realization of the environmental factors involved in the availability of alcohol at work places. (Ames, & Grube 1999). Nowadays alcohol abuse and the excessive usage of it is leading to deaths and society failure. This is either through the reckless driving after getting drunk or because of the after effects which are lethal to the consumer of alcohol. Today in the modern world little governments are taking strong measures to limit the usage

Sustainability Strategies for Proctor Gamble

Sustainability Strategies for Proctor Gamble 1. Introduction: Procter and Gamble is an organization which produces diverse products, and its ambition is to reach the consumers demand. PG began in the 1911; with the theme of innovation by producing every time a different product. For every product they go through three stages. The first stage was to make innovative needed products; the second was to proceed with the successful products with suitable quantities; and the third is to have more investments of capital to enlarge the company. These three stages preserve the success of PG. PG is a multinational corporation with 156 branches in more than 70 countries. There are three main development centers, the first center is in Germany in which paper products like Always and Pampers are developed. The second is in Brussels, used to develop detergents. The last center is situated in the United Kingdom where soap and shampoos are developed. PGs environmental science department plays a unique role to ensure that their products are safe to use for the consumer as well as for the environment. Environmental safety is an internal part of the quality that PG builds into its every product. The Company is committed to produce best quality of products to refine the consumers of whole world. The companys actual performance could be deduced by looking at its 2009 Annual Report. Its worldwide net earnings for the year 2009 were 13,436 million dollar, which is 13.61% increase over the prior year. It has total assets of $134,833 million and liabilities of $71,451 million. PG has been paying a dividend for 120 consecutive years since its incorporation in 1890 and has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years at an annual compound average rate of approximately 9.35%.This is an evidence of how much consumers demand PGs product and how this initiates the company to develop 300 brands to satisfy five billion consumers all over the world. Alan G. Lafley became chairman of PG in 2000, he made it clear that he wanted innovation across the spectrum-in how the company invents, markets, manufactures, and distributes its products. 2. Methods 2.1 Data collection methods We get the data from the documentary analysis of the PG which come from the website of the PG. The data is easy accessed in the internet. PGs annual plans are useful in the research. At the same time, we keep contact to PG via emails. They give us information on the plan of the companys development. 2.2 Issues and challenges Biases different comments of PG in massive aspects, often find data from some organization within the PG. that circumstances may cause biases, which influence comments to become less objective and even flattery. It is significant to distinguish the information because possibly comments on one aspect could go opposite and cause dilemma. Detailed resource constraints it is not difficult to find general information about PG. However, it was not easy to search details and depth objections. Although, connecting PG for details may work, yet it cannot be certain that the opinions gained from PG are 100% objective and real. Collecting from dispersive information a majority of resources is dispersive. It means much time consuming and less efficiency. Also some information may mislead ideas to somewhere wrong. 2.3 Analysis Through the analysis of companys annual report, we know the performance of PG. according to the structure and culture of PG, we can forecast the development foreground. We evaluate the approaches to management and leadership. We use the view of a manager, trying to give out a better way. We are based on management principles and analysis the existing business model. PG has a unique pattern in the business management which was widely praised by consumers. 3. Business strategy, mission and goals 3.1 Introduction PG products touch the lives of people around the world billion times a day. This happens because PG provides products of best quality to improve the lives of all consumers around the world. This results in sales, profit and value creation, between the company and the consumers in which they operate to prosper. Its business is divided into three global units: beauty, health and well being, and household care. It also makes pet food and water filters and produces soap operas. Some products of PGs brands are billion-dollar sellers, including Gillette Fusion, Always, Braun, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Downy/Lenor, Folgers (which it reportedly plans to spin off), Gillette mach 3, Iams, Olay total, Pampers, Pantene pro v, Pringles, Tide lemon jasmine, and Wella, among others. The above products were mentioned by Robert N. Lussier(2009) in annual report 2009. The PG consists of over 138,000 employees working in over 80 countries. It began as a small, family-operated soap and Candle Company which now not only provides products but also concentrate on services of best quality and value to consumers in more than 180 countries. In PG, they are focusing their efforts on where they can make the most meaningful difference in both environmental and social Sustainability. According to Andrea Redmonds (2010) research, their dedication begins with PGs Purpose, values and principles, in which Sustainability is embedded, and manifests itself in a systemic and long-term way. They try to make their company better. 3.2 Mission and goals In 2007, PG implemented five strategies to Sustain goals for the future. In March of 2009, PG made a progress to emphasize their commitment to achieve more significant goals. The five strategies are as follows: Strategy1 Products: Delight the consumer with sustainable innovations which improve the environmental profile of the products. They have developed the market which was at least $50 billion in cumulative sales of sustainable innovation products, and products that have an improved environmental profile. Strategy 2 Operations: Improve the environmental profile of PGs own operations. An additional 20% reduction (per unit production) in CO2 emissions, energy consumption, water consumption and disposed waste from PG plants, leading to a total reduction over the decade of at least 50%. PROGRESS (percent reduction per unit production) Since July 2007 Since July 2002 Energy Usage 11% 48% CO2 Emissions 10% 52% Waste Disposal 30% 53% Water Usage 13% 52% Strategy 3 Social responsibility: Improve childrens lives through PGs social responsibility programs. Enable 300 million children to Live, Learn and Thrive. They prevented 160 million days of disease and also saved 20,000 lives by delivering 4 billion liters of pure water for the Childrens Safe Drinking Water program. Strategy 4 Employees: Engage and equip all PG employees to build Sustainability thinking and practices into their everyday work. Strategy 5 Shareholders: Plan the future by working transparently with their shareholders so that they can work with freedom to innovate in a responsible way. Beside the five strategies, they have several goals on the market. 1. Designed to Matter In PG, they focus the Sustainability efforts on improvements that matter, to make the most meaningful impact they can. 2. Purposes, values principles PGs Purpose, Values Principles formulated their shared vision, a common sets of behavior and their beliefs about the business and its potential. 3.3 Marketing strategy Many people think that multi-brand strategy will result in a situation that internal competition happens, but P G believes that the best strategy is to compete with their own product. Gary Armstrong (2009) said this is because the market economy is a competitive economy, while its opponents to develop new products to share the market. As their challenge themselves and overcome their own, so that their products  brands may occupy a different market, in order to consolidate its leadership position. 1. Differentiated brands If P Gs multi-brand strategy to be understood as simply more brands, it would be wrong. Actually the pursuit of similar products, the differences between different brands, including features, packaging, promotion, etc., to form each brand distinctive, such as Procter Gamble brand strategy so that each brand has its own development, the market will not overlap, and it will not lead to market its brand in the consumer confusion. The words above are supported by Piero Morosini (2005) 2. Manufacture of USP According to the report, USP means unique selling proposition. It is proposed by the American advertising guru Rosser Reeves (said Brent Green 2006). Marketing theory: the core of its content: Advertising should be according to the characteristics unique to the consumer for rhetoric,  and allow consumers to believe that this feature is not available to others or others not mentioned. These features can bring tangible benefits to consumers. 3. Unique way: numbers brands in one organization As Michel Philippart (2005) and Hangzhou da Xues (1994) study, multi-brand strategy is very difficult to succeed. While a single image of the brand extension strategy to facilitate the unity of management, reduce marketing costs, easy-to-be customers to accept, but it is not guaranteed, because of a branding, the easy formation among consumers  fixed image, resulting in the customers mind-set is not conducive to the extension product. 4. Overall structure: The Procter Gamble Company (PG) is divided into three main worldwide units, which are household care, beauty and grooming and health and well-being (Marketing magazine: 2009). Every units report is sent to Susan E. Arnold, who has been promoted from vice chair of PGs beauty and health department to the position of president of global business units. The beauty care section is also managed by Susan Arnold. PG has restructured its hierarchy of top executives, who include Arnold, in order to meet the changing needs of their larger, more flexible and faster-paced global business. Lafley, who is the chairman of PG, announced that PG has nearly doubled its business since 2000 with the acquisitions of the Clairol, Wella hair care businesses and Gillette. The change in structure is designed to meet the needs of a larger business that is also developing new initiatives faster than in the past (Balendu: 2007). Initially, PG managed its international operations through an international division of foreign expansion, in the same manner many other multinational enterprises. A variety of products were identified to match national differences and preferences. Consequently, a portfolio, consisting of subsidiaries, run by country general managers was established. However, this management structure may result in two basic problems. Firstly, the cost of operating these subsidiaries is high, and secondly the ferocious autonomy of national subsidiaries prevented the global roll out of new products and technology improvements (Lin, 2008: 9). Therefore, PG needed innovation in the subsidiaries management structure. It concluded that the matrix structure, in which subordinates report to more than one superior (MacKenzie, 2002:22), is a better alternative for PG, as it allows authority to be kept at lower levels. However, most firms would have some difficulty implementing this Matrix structure into their organization because it is difficult to organize multinational activities through this complex structure. For example, dual reporting can lead to disagreements and confusion and a possible overlap of responsibilities. This may result in a loss of accountability and wastes time. Through time PG has been trying to optimize its structure. The current structure resulted in a culture within PG, which was viewed as slow, conformist and risk-averse (Lin, 2008:11). This led to a decrease in productivity and an increase in inefficiency in the organization. Moreover, these factors would slow down the decision making process and reduce the competitiveness of the company. Although, the management structure of PG seems imperfect at the moment. However, the Procter Gamble Company is still a giant in the area of consumer goods and the leading maker of household products in the United States. PG operates its business in over 80 countries around the world and has approximately 300 brands in more t han 160 countries. The matrix structure helps PG develop its global business structure into more specific areas. As a result, the company has become more flexible to change within market competitions and the different expectation of PG. The final stage of completing the innovation process of management structure is to transform the formal structure and responsibilities of the company. For example, the global business units of PG were established in order to manage product development, manufacturing and marketing of their respective categories all around world. Furthermore, global business service units were established to organize with the transactional activities such as Accounting, HR, IT, etc. Eliminating bureaucracy and increasing accountability is another main objective of structure change (Bartlett, 2004: Chp 4). The Procter Gamble Companys corporate structure has been mainly dependent on worldwide subsidiaries and merging. During this time of restructuring, PG has continued its active acquisitions pace. For instance, PG entered the European tissue and towel market through the purchase of Vereinigte Papierwerke Schickedanz AGs European tissue unit and added the luxury fragrance business of Giorgio Beverly Hills, Inc. In the same year, PG returned to the South African market following the lifting of U.S. sanctions. PG has altered its geographic management structure gradually. As a result, PG has divided its operations into United States and other countries, which mainly includes four regions North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe/Middle East/Africa. PG announced a new restructuring initiative in September 1998. A key factor of this restructuring was a shift from an organization centered around the four geographic regions to one centered on seven global business parts based on product lines: Baby Care, Beauty Care, Fabric Home Care, Feminine Protection, Food Beverage, Health Care Corporate New Ventures and Tissues Towels. PG has continued to restructure and adapt to different markets and different financial situation worldwide. According to a firm press release announcing the new structure, This change will drive greater innovation and speed by centering strategy and profit responsibility globally on brands, rather than on geographies 5. PGs Culture: Culture plays an important role in any organization to run their organization well in this fast growing business world. According to Scheins theory of culture it is defined as A pattern of shared basic assumption that the group learned as it solved its problem of external adaptation and integration that has work well enough to be considered valid and therefore to be taught to new members as a correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problem-(Scheins 1992, p12, italics altered). According to Schein organizational culture is the acquired outcome of group experience, as it is to a large extent unconscious. Schein considers culture to the three layer phenomenon. From figure 1 it is clearly seen that the organizational culture comprises of three layers first one is the artefacts, espoused values and underlying assumption. Artefacts Innovation culture is the mission statement of Procter and gamble organization in which they state that the consumer is boss, consumer should be the heart of all PG do from ideation stage through the purchase of the product. For example if 30 seconds with a deodorant or one minute with a disposal diaper have made a small part of your life a little bit better then PG made a difference. PG policies made the company a unique one that respect of governments and law, respects in workplace and respect in the market place (annual report of PG, 2005). PG is a multinational company and it is widely spread geographically. They maintain open work system in lots of work places around the world. Executive offices do not have doors. Leaders do not have a secretary cordoning them off. The executive floors on all the offices at Procter and gamble are open, conference room is an open round space. They made it round as a small symbol of the new approach (Lafely .A, 2000 CEO of PG). Espoused values PG is having hierarchy of company ethics principles. PVP(Purpose, Values and principles), corporate policies, worldwide business conduct standards, operating policies/procedure/practices. For over 170 years PG purpose values and principles has been guiding the way they do business and it is shown in the fig 2 below. There purpose is to provide branded products and services of superior quality and values that improves the lives of the worlds consumer. PG lives with its people and values, they recruit the finest people in the world who built organization by promoting and rewarding people without regard to any difference related to performance. Lafely said that PG have been fortunate that some of this flexible multifaceted ethics exist in our heritage. For example Procter and Gamble pioneered a system which is technician based in its manufacturing plants during the 1960s and 70s. In this system they avoided the approach in which one person assigned to do only one job. The technician sys tem still operates today and working well. To get the highest evaluation rating in PG factory, you learn how to do all the jobs on line and once you have that rating, company expect you to be that much capable of problem identification, problem solving, and innovation. This background has made it easier for company to plug manufacturing and engineering in to the innovation culture. PG CEO Lafely said in one conference that once people in our organization have succeeded at innovation then you can see the energy in the company changing. People at PG routinely says that we can do this, this is feasible and the change of attitude of the people in PG is incredible to watch. Integrity, leadership, ownership, passion for winning and trust are the main asset values of PG. By considering purpose and values they made their principles like the show respects for individual, interest of the company and individual are inseparable and innovation is the cornerstone of PG success. These are the offi cials objectives which had been espoused by the company head and it is common for PG organization all over the world. Fig 2 PVP of PG 2003 sustainability report Underlying Assumptions It consists of unconscious, taken for granted beliefs, perception, thoughts and feelings. PG are having problem relating to external adaption and internal integration. PG keep refining their products, launch model from ideas, to prototype, to development, to qualification and to commercialization. Applying this sequential practice on large scale and replicate them does not mean to eliminate judgment, thats why PG needs active leaders and a strong innovation culture. Therefore PG introduces the inclusive culture for leaders and they expected to build inclusive work environment that welcomes and embraces diversity an environment where people feel comfortable. Forced diversity training/learning process are utilized to equip leaders to values and nurture difference in management experience, style of leadership and problem solving approaches. By analyzing the PGs culture it is seen that PG is having a strong and dominant culture and that culture follows in every part of the world. Innovation is the main theme of PGs success and to bind organization culture together. 6. PGs management leadership: Innovative Management and Leadership of PG When we observe organizations and try to classify, we tend to classify them in terms of their success and describe them as highly successful, successful, struggling to succeed or unsuccessful. There are certain factors influencing their success. Management in the organizations has to perform some functions like planning, organizing, staffing, directing, leading and controlling for success. Management consists of implementation of the vision and strategy provided by leaders, coordinating and staffing the organization and handling day-to-day problems. By Koontz and Weihrich management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals work with such performance for optimizing efficiency in reaching goals. HENRI FAYOL identified the main operations in business management- technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting and administration. The administration function he further subdivided into organizational, coordinating, commanding, controlling and purveyance. The purveyance further included the concepts of forecasting and planning.  [i]   PG was facing certain disadvantages using the Henri Fayol method because it was not an empirical but more theoretical. Moreover PG wants to be innovative and wants to differentiate products by its formation. So they adopted the Cooper-Kleinschmidt study of innovation method which was based on the triangle process. The Innovation Diamond in Exhibit 1 began as a triangle process, Resources, and strategy the result of a 1990s Cooper-Kleinschmidt study of innovation across a Broad range of businesses.4 Procter Gambles management in the 1990s subsequently transformed the triangle into their Initiatives Diamond, shown in Exhibit 2.  [ii]   The Innovation Diamond is a guiding framework to help management focus on whats important to success: innovative strategy, a good idea-to-launch process, portfolio management, the climate and leadership. PGs Initiatives Diamond serves as a guide for each businesss product innovation efforts, and helps to focus managements attention on what is important to success. Heres what Bob McDonald, PGs Vice Chairman of Global Operations, says: The Initiative Diamond played a significant role in improving the business results in PGs Fabric Home Care global business unit. This work brought us a new discipline to manage our innovation programs, and yielded a major increase in the in-market success of our initiatives. We aligned our organization on how to use Stage-Gate ® success criteria and portfolio and resource management to deliver better innovations for the consumers we serve.  [iii]   The top half of PGs diamond in Exhibit 2 is strategic in nature, and captures the businesss product innovation strategy: goals, the mix of new products required to meet those goals, and the required resources. Portfolio management (or project selection) is thus closely connected to strategy. The bottom half of the diamond is more operational and focuses on delivering specific new product projects or initiatives: what resources must be put in place for each project; and how individual new product projects are managed so they succeed using PGs idea-to-launch SIMPLTM Methodology? Thus how the PGs business success has been generated through focusing on effective innovative Management. Peter F. Drucker says Leadership is the lifting of mans thinking to higher sights, the increment of mans performance to higher standard, the building of mans personality beyond its normal limitation. Alan Bryman offers the working definition of leadership as: the creation of a goal about a desired future state which seeks to mesh every members of an organization in its net. Many commentators trait spotting approach to; have argued or assumed that the performance of an organization depends on the quality of leadership exercised by its leaders; same is the case with PG organization. The single most enduring thing PG leaders can do is to identify develop our next generation of leaders. If we can get the right people with the right skills and experiences in place to run our business, the rest will take care of itself. By Lura Mattimore, Director, Leadership development PG. So the leader is someone who exercises influence over other people leading is a process of actuation. It provides an electrifying effect to the organization makes people action-oriented and bridges gaps within the organization. Distribution of work, delegation of authority and supervision of work should be done meticulously. There are various approaches to leadership such as trait spotting, style counseling, content fitting, New leadership. PG uses the trait spotting approach to leadership. PG leaders are built from within because they believe that their future success is entirely dependent on the ongoing strength of talent pipeline. So the first trait spotting in PG is done by PG leaders itself who select the next leader of the company by searching a quality of dedication towards the work. PG leaders are not born leaders at first they are just the ordinary people of the company. For PG people are the company most important asset. Their success depends entirely on the strength of the talent which they build from within manage with a disciplined process led by the CEO the senior leadership team. This is an essential element of how PG is designs to lead. Thus PG develop leaders whose purpose is to centre on improving more consumers lives in all parts of the world. Thus PG uses two dimensional style of leadership because it concerns for the production as well as for the people. People are the main asset of PG and for production they always wanted to get differentiated by their innovation method. Thus PG uses the two dimensional style. (Blake Mouton 1964) According to the Likerts there are four leadership systems: Exploitative Autocratic Benevolent authoritative Participative Democratic Democratic leaders have complete confidence and trust in their subordinates, they allow the subordinates to make decision for themselves; these types of leaders always motivate their subordinates by reward for achieving goals and to share the new ideas and opinion. PG uses the democratic type of leadership system. They believe to build their organization from within; PG consider their most important asset as the people of the company because of their faithful work excellent performance. Procter gamble respect all employees and consumers and offer them their trust on condition that they treat them similarly. PG also uses servant type of leadership because they always feels that the customers are the boss .And in servant leadership, leaders put the needs of their followers first. According to the John Adair Leadership is a social process in which an individual influences the behavior of others without using the path of violence. Below is the example of how the innovative product is developed under the innovative leadership of PG, which shows some relationship between leader and follower of the PGs. PG crank up on one on one consumer research, so the marketers of PG spend a time with the consumers, watching the way they wash, clean their floors, diapers their babies and asking about their habit and frustration. So based on this one on one technique PG opened a diaper -testing centre right down the hall of their office, where moms watch their babies get undressed, diapered, and measured by PG technicians. So one thing the PG learn from this experience is that parents are frustrated by the time it takes their youngsters to be toilet trained and they have to change their diapers every time when they wet those. So thus based on the comments received from the parents PG launch their new innovative product in the line of pampers whose mission was to dry diapers to helping moms with babys development. Thus how the PG is always innovative in the way of leadership to find new products which improves their relationship with their followers, as the consumers are the main boss of the PG. 7. Future Aspects: Strategy improvement: Through analysis of P Gs multi-brand strategy we realize that many of the benefits of this strategy are clear, but it is very difficult to achieve in the market, they have to note that several aspects of business practice. According to Sanjay Tiwari (2000), they can make some improvement by the ways below. A company which operates a variety of brands must have the appropriate strength; the work of brand extension is complicated.  From market research to product launch, to advertising, every job has a large number of enterprises to spend manpower and material resources. In the specific operation, they must be through careful investigation, to find the product differentiation. The industries in which according to the specific situation of enterprises, such as Procter Gambles consumer products industry which with easy access to a successful multi-brand strategy.   Structure Improvement: The improvement of structures of PG possibility could be to have wholly autonomous temporary groups or teams that are responsible for an entire project, and are split up as soon as it is successfully completed. Teams are often not very good for decision-making, and they run the risk of relational problems, unless they are small and have a lot of self-discipline. Actually, team members still require a definite leader, which is indicated from decentralization. It means the separation of the organization into competing autonomous divisions. PG has various branch brands, and some in one subject. Competition between own brands may seems unreasonable. However, changing corporate structure may encourage positive challenges among PG. In addition, appropriate manipulating probably is required during the management process. On the other hand, some inefficiency brands or areas may better to be abolished for saving funds and decrease expenses. Decision- making is very crucial of this innovation, which is easy to regret if prediction is wrong. Various differences of brands among PG could be helpful and practical in different occasions. However, this improvement could go to the opposite and create unexpected situation because sometimes the market could be influenced by news in many ways.

Animal Testing Needs To Stop Essay -- essays research papers

Cosmetic and drug companies should stop animal testing. By animal testing, the companies not only violate the animals' rights (which is breaking the law), but their testing methods are hazardous which endanger the animal's life. Finally, the companies should stop animal testing because each year we lose hundreds of thousands of animals and could make a difference by stopping this cruelty. Stop the animal testing, and save a life. To start with, cosmetic and drug companies should stop animal testing their products. By animal testing, they not only violate the animals' rights- they are breaking the law. Animals cannot speak for themselves so when they are unwillingly tested on, they cannot say anything in their own defense. The companies that test on animals violate the rights that were given to all living beings-including animals. As most know, this is illegal to break the law, yet still they get away with it. Who wants these companies taking charge of our rights- our freedom? Therefore, animals should not be used as lab specimens just so we humans can indulge ourselves in beauty products. Take a stand against animal testing, immediately, and stop this brutal treatment that is being done to these defenseless animals. Above all, help save their lives, and help show others how important it is that people know just how big of a difference they can make. In addition to breaking the law and violating animal rights, the cosmetic and drug companies endanger the helpless animals with their destructive testing methods and procedures. Scientists have tested up to twenty animals at a single time. In that experiment, each individual animal died. Their testing methods are not only horrible, but they are deadly. Whethe... ... To review, animal testing does nothing helpful to anyone except to cover up themselves with fashionable beauty products in which hundreds of thousands of innocent animals die every year. The companies that test violate the animal?s rights and at the same time, break the law. Animal testing for medicines, and make up is unreasonable and cruel to the animal. Finally, the companies testing methods are hazardous and deadly, and endanger the animal?s life- if they do not die first. Animal testing should be stopped and ban from ever being done again. Animal testing is not a requirement and therefore it does not have to be done. There are alternatives to animal testing and yet we fail to see them. By stopping animal testing, you can save hundreds of thousands of animals a year. These animals do not deserve to be treaty so viciously. Stop animals testing and save a life.

Odysseus’ Obstacles

Epic heroes must overcome obstacles in order to prove themselves true heroes. In The Odyssey by Homer many of the obstacles Odysseus encounters are female, monsters, and seducers. Odysseus overcomes many female obstacles such as Scylla, Circe, Sirens, and Calypso. Ancient Greeks felt women were dangerous. Things would be different if Odysseus encountered more male obstacles because he would have just fought them and won. Odysseus has many experiences with female characters such as Scylla, Circe, Sirens, and Calypso. In order to overcome these obstacles Odysseus had to go threw many difficulties. He ended up having affairs with Calypso and Circe. To overcome these obstacles he left them for Penelope. When Odysseus was stranded on Circe’s island he tried to escape waiting for boats to save him. He came in contact with many other female characters also after he escaped. The ancient Greeks thought women were very dangerous and tempting. If Odysseus never came in contact with Calypso or Circe he would have never had any affairs. If those affairs never started Odysseus would not have had an affair with Calypso for seven years. He also would not have had an affair with Circe meaning he would have returned to Ithaca sooner. His affairs were part of the reason for his delay. Things would have been different if Odysseus encountered more male obstacles because he could have fought them and would have won but from what we see Odysseus did not believe in physical abuse toward women, so he was also sexist. He did not believe in killing or hitting women. Throughout the book the only women he killed were his maids because they had sexual relations with the suitors. Therefore he could not kill or hit Circe or Calypso because they were good to him. If Odysseus did not encounter so many female obstacles he would have gotten to Ithaca quicker but he was an epic hero therefore he had to prove himself a true hero.

Piaget’s Cognitive development theory Essay

Jean Piaget and his theory of the stages of cognitive development have made significant contributions to a wide cross-section of disciplines including educational psychology and applied developmental psychology. Though his original theory has undergone some amount of changes, the basic tenets are still applicable in understanding how humans develop progressively from birth to adulthood. Several theorists have criticized Piaget’s theory and have proposed alternative approaches to explaining human development. Other theorists have espoused Piaget’s theory with few modifications or additions to the original theory. Nevertheless his theory of cognitive development has had a tremendous impact on developmental psychology and will continue to represent a valid theory in helping to understand the nature and stages of human development. The field of applied developmental psychology has and will continue to benefit from the views put forward by Piaget. Biography of Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland on August 9, 1896 to what he described as a ‘tumultuous family environment. From an early age Piaget showed signs of having superior intelligence and acquired an interest in several fields of study including psychoanalytic theory, philosophy, mechanics and natural history. At the very young age of ten he published a study on mollusks (malacology). Several years later, in 1917 he published a philosophical novel. His intellectual and research accomplishments thereafter are numerous. In 1918, at only 21 years of age he obtained his doctoral degree in Biology from the University of Neuchatel continuing his study of mollusks in his thesis. His interest in philosophy and psychology led him to Zurich where he worked with mental patients while studying psychoanalytic theory. His interest in child developmental psychology began in Paris with his work in a laboratory at a grade school. Here he worked along with Alfred Binet, who headed the laboratory, in standardizing reasoning tests for Paris children. He became curious about the thought processes of children that influenced them producing either the correct or incorrect answers. Piaget published a number of articles discussing the research he conducted here. In 1921 Piaget was made director of studies at the Institut J. J. Rousseau in Geneva. In 1923 he married Valentine Chatenay with whom he had three children. He continued his study of child psychology and later published five books on the topic. His background in Biology had a significant amount of influence in his research (Slavin, 2000). These publications subsequently distinguished him in this field of study. His academic and administrative appointments saw him working at the University of Geneva, the Sorbonne, the Institut des Sciences de l’Education, and the Bureau International de l’Education. He is also noted to have founded and directed a center for philosophers and psychologists called the Centre d’Epistemologie Genetique. He worked along with several other researchers including Alina Szeminska, Barbel Inhelder, and Marcel Lambercier. Among the research topics that he conducted extensive studies on have been noted the notions of number, physical quantity, and space; manipulation of objects; and the development of perception. These areas collaboratively contributed to his theory of cognitive development. His platform of study was both at the professional and personal level. It is widely known that he conducted detailed observations of his three children Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent throughout their infant and language development years. His wife, herself a psychologist, also worked along with him during his observations, recording the behaviors of their children (Fischer & Hencke, 1996). Piaget’s contributions to the field of developmental psychological are indeed considerable and have been widely acknowledged. He was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 1969 by the American Psychological Association for his contributions. At his death in Geneva on September 16, 1980, Piaget had written and published more than 40 books and over 100 articles or chapters dealing with the topic of child psychology. His earliest works include The Origins of Intelligence in Children (1936/1952), The Construction of Reality in the Child (1937/1954) and Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood (1945/1951) (Fischer & Hencke, 1996). To date his research is believed to have made the single most important contribution to developmental psychology (Slavin, 2000; Beilin, 1992) and to a large extent the field of cognitive development psychology was founded primarily on his work (Goswami, 2001, p. 259). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Piaget sought to describe how development occurs from the moment of birth unto adulthood and the cognitive changes that occur as physical development takes place. Using his background in Biology and his knowledge of the way organisms behave relative to their environment, Piaget sought to explain how children think along these lines. Piaget’s position that children construct knowledge based on these processes was in antithesis to behaviorist orientation which suggested that behavior was molded exclusively by external environmental forces. Piaget’s theory was more constructivist in nature proposing that each child is actively involved in constructing his own reality. Construction of knowledge, Piaget argued, was facilitated via the interaction of the processes of adaptation, accommodation, assimilation and equilibration. Piaget commenced by proposing that children are born with a natural inclination to interact with and a need to understand their environment (Slavin, 2000). From the earliest stage children develop mental patterns that guide their behavior, what Piaget calls schemes. Schemes are used to â€Å"find out about and act in the world† (Slavin, 2000, p. 30). The goal of intellectual development, according to Piaget, was towards adaptation where existing schemes are adjusted in response to modifications in the environment. As new situations arise children either incorporate new objects or events into existing schemes through assimilation or they adjust existing schemes when new objects and events do not fit into those existing schemes in the process of accommodation. When unfamiliar situations arise a state of disequilibrium ensues and the processes of accommodation and assimilation facilitate the return to equilibrium where balance is restored between existing understanding and new experiences – the process of equilibration (Slavin, 2000). The dimensions of the theory Piaget believed that children passed through four different stages of development that are defined by different characteristic features from birth to adulthood. Piaget proposed that each child moves progressively through each of the stages of cognitive development as they mature physically. The four distinct stages of cognitive development that Piaget has specified are the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational periods. He also gives an estimate as to the age at which each child will enter either stage. Wakefield (1996) points out, though, that â€Å"the age range for each stage is only an average† a child may enter a specific stage earlier or later than that estimated by Piaget. However, each child, Piaget argues, must pass through each of these stages of development in the specified order and no child can skip a particular stage. It must also be noted here that his theory is necessarily universal as it examines only how all children will progress and does not seek to analyze individual differences among children. The sensorimotor period represents a child zero (0) to two (2) years old. The main aspects of this stage Slavin (2000) summarizes as where â€Å"infants learn about their surroundings by using their senses and motor skills†. Piaget believes that each child is born with some built in mechanisms and tendencies and these he labels as reflexes. Because a newborn child has not yet developed a concept of his environment, his initial response to this environment up to one month old is instinctive. These reflexes, however, soon become the basis through which the child acquires new perspectives and behaviors (schemes) in an attempt to learn about and understand his environment. From birth to one month children begin to establish schemes as they commence the processing of interacting with and understanding their environment. Initially displaying behaviors by simple reflex children soon begin to modify these reflexes. From one to four months children attempt to reproduce recurring themes in their schemas. Children later begin to establish repetitive patterns in behavior and to associate different behaviors with different schemes. Examples include an infant crying when hungry and laughing when happy. The period two to four months Fischer and Silvern (1985) notes as when the child is developing the ability to intelligently adapt individual actions such as grasping a rattle (p. 634). Between four and eight months children are more object-oriented paying more attention to objects in their external environment, becoming more observant and less preoccupied with issues related to themselves such as hunger and sleep. Children begin to display more coordination in their schemes. From eight to 12 months children become aware of what they want and begin to construct their own schemas in order to achieve their goals. Behaviors are now more deliberate, carried out with a particular purpose in view. From 12 to 18 months children they are exploring new possibilities with objects in their environment. A child’s action at this stage is very experimental using trial and error to discover new schemas. From 18 to 24 months children begin to transition from this stage to the second preoperational stage. They are developing the ability to function using symbolic representations. Of course a child at the sensorimotor stage may not necessarily be able to fully understand every new thing that he perceives in his environment. Wakefield (1996) comments that, even though a child is unable to perform some amount of logical thinking at this stage, there is still some attempt to understand his environment through the use of his sense perceptions and motor skills. The preoperational stage is between ages two and seven years approximately. At this second stage children begin to be able to use symbols to represent things mentally by associating those new things with objects they are familiar with. While they are a little more developed cognitively than the earlier stage they still have a very narrow view of their environment. Within this stage, from age two to four years a child is relatively egocentric believing that everyone else sees things from their perspective. They also possess some amount of animism, believing that objects have characteristics similar to living things such as the ability to move. From age four to seven children further develop their reasoning capacities even though their thought processes are not completely logical. They have difficulty, however, with the concepts of centration and conservation. Slavin (2000) explains these concepts by illustrating that in this stage a child does not understand that the amount of milk in a tall glass is the same when it is poured into a shallower container nor are they able to realize that an object painted a different color is still the same object. The third stage of cognitive development is the concrete operational stage which covers children aged seven to eleven. At this stage children, while experiencing difficult thinking in abstract, are able to form concepts and solve problems. Of course they must be able to relate such operations to already familiar objects or situations in order for them to function properly. They are now able to understand and apply the principles of conservation and centration. Their reasoning is also considerably more logical and can show interrelations between different objects and classes of objects. They are still limited, however, in that they are unable to reason in abstract terms but need concrete circumstances and examples as guides. A child in the final formal operational stage, lasting from age eleven (11) to adulthood, is now able to reason in abstract and to conceptualize situations beyond what they can see and touch. They have now developed the capacity to perform reasoning about events, actions or objects that they cannot see or that are strictly hypothetical and they are also able to use deductive reasoning. They begin to devise plans to solve problems and test their hypothesis against a variety of options. Piaget’s stratification of cognitive development into different stages has considerable implications particularly for educational goals. Because children are able only after having moved through certain stages, to manipulate certain tasks and to be effective in certain cognitive activities, learning situations must be structured so that they match the developmental stages. Education must therefore be developmentally appropriate to the abilities of the child and attempts should be made to help children, as they progress from one stage to the next, to manipulate the operations inherent at each stage. Piaget’s view of cognitive development has been quite formidable and influential in helping researchers understand the processes at work at different stages and ages. There have, however, been several criticisms of the model. One of the major criticisms has focused on the presumed universality of the stages that Piaget describes. He supposes that every child, irrespective of situational context, will go through these stages at a prescribed time and that the principles are therefore applicable to all children everywhere. Some researchers have noted, however, that the rate and stage of development is not at all universal. The ages that Piaget initially suggested as delineating each stage are therefore thought of as rough estimates and children can enter and exit each stage either earlier or later than initially prescribed. Another concern that was raised with regards to Piaget’s theory was that it suggested that as the child progressed through the stages that the abilities at the lower stage no longer become useful or necessary. Piaget later clarified, however, that the concrete thinking and other abilities at the lower stage are not only essential before a child is able to progress to more complex thinking but they are also persistent over time and that a child never loses the lower abilities. He suggests that over time certain tasks become automatic, almost instinctive, but they are still essential even in the later stages of development. Further Piaget’s original theory had not considered the potential impact that the environment may have in impacting behavior. His initial argument much to anti-behaviorist and thus the power of environmental factors to shape behavior was almost ignored. Even though he accounted for these influences in his explanations of the process of adaptation and equilibration, he did not focus much on this aspect. Researchers have found that various social and environmental factors can have a considerable impact on a child’s development. They propose that a child can enter a stage earlier and progress through that stage much quicker than others based on the stimuli available in his environment. Similarly a child’s development may be significantly retarded if adequate stimuli are not provided in the environment. A child would therefore progress through stages later and at a slower pace. The behaviorist position that the environment matters is therefore not completely invalid and their view of the potential influence of the external environment in shaping behavior has some merit. Despite this failure to fully acknowledge and explain the relevance and impact of environmental factors in facilitating knowledge construction based on reality and even though the theory seems to emphasize universal stages of development, Fischer and Hencke (1996) believe that Piaget with his cognitive development theory is notably still the most influential researcher and theorist on developmental that the twentieth century has seen (Fischer & Hencke, 1996, p. 09). Current research Several theorists have arisen in more recent times to expand on Piaget’s original theory, to propose modifications on the areas of weakness or to suggest a complete new approach to understanding cognitive development. Among those worthy of mention are Robbie Case, Kurt Fischer, Michael Shayer and Juan Pascual-Leone. Robbie Case is a neo-Piagetian who agrees with Piaget’s general position that children go through developmental stages. Case also agrees with Piaget that each stage is delineated based on age and is representative of the changing ways that children are able to mentally represent reality and how they process information in their brains. Case also supports that cognitive development occurs in four stages commencing from when a child is around one month old until the period of adulthood. Within each stage he also recognizes substages of development postulating, like Piaget that each successive stage is a continuation or a building on to the former (Sternberg, 1987, p. 08). Beginning in the mid-nineteen seventies Case began to propose alternative interpretations of the stage development theory. He has developed some characteristics in his new theory that are not in complete alignment with original Piagetian thought. His first area of departure is with relation to the way that information is processed in the brain throughout the stages.

4 Rules For Creating Awesome Content Your Audience Loves

4 Rules For Creating Awesome Content Your Audience Loves I know you’re not just another aimless blogger (or podcaster, video maker, [insert  what you do  here]) looking to clutter up the Internet. You have a specific purpose behind your content. You want to create content  that is valuable for your audience and grows your business. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, even with a noble purpose like that one, it’s really hard to get your content noticed. 4 Rules For Creating Awesome #ContentMarketing Your Audience Will Love via @sonjajobsonNo one is looking for plain old â€Å"accurate† or â€Å"relevant† content anymore. They don’t have to look for it because it’s flooding their inbox and social streams constantly, like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Your audience wants something more. They want content that not only provides accurate and relevant information, but something that applies to their specific situation, something they can relate with, and something that helps them make real, significant improvement in their life. Whether you’re aiming to teach, inspire, or entertain with your content, use the following 4 rules to create content  that your audience will love, share, and come back for. No one looks for accurate or relevant #content. Thats everywhere. Yours has to be better.Rule #1 – Not All Topics Are Created Equal Your readers are very picky. And why shouldn’t they be? Somewhere around 2 million blog posts are written every day. That’s a heckuva lot of content to choose from. So when it comes to picking a topic for your next blog post or video, it’s worth putting in a little extra time- and research- to get it right. And there’s one more thing to consider: A content topic that sounds great to you might not sound great to your audience. In order to stand out from the sea of content we’re all swimming in, you need to get inside your readers head. And here’s how to do it. Step 1: Stop confusing â€Å"audience† with â€Å"peers†. Sometimes when we sit down to create content, we accidentally slip into peer-mode. This is when we  create content that we  think will be impressive in our  industry. The problem is this: Content that impresses others inside  our industry isnt necessarily what will impress our  audience. Make sure you’re addressing topics that will help your viewers, not your peers. A topic that sounds great to you might not sound great to your audience. #blogging #contentmarketingStep 2: Do some Internet stalking. The very best way to find out what your audience really wants to know about is to go straight to the source. Look at questions your readers are asking, the problems they are struggling with, and the solutions they are searching for. Scour the comments sections on other related blogs to see what people are asking about. Check out QA websites like Qu0ra and Yahoo! Answers. Scan  profiles on social media for complaints, questions, or rants. This is all fodder for your next irresistible piece of content. Research  questions, problems, struggles, and solutions. #contentmarketing #bloggingStep 3: Look before you write (or record). Most topics have already been written about. It’s really hard to come up with a 100% original idea to create content on, so I’m not going to suggest you try and do that. But you should avoid creating content that is nearly interchangeable with what’s already out there. So after youve decided on a topic, do a quick Google search to turn up other content written on the subject. Ask yourself, â€Å"how can I improve on what’s already being said?† and â€Å"were there any questions left unanswered in that post/video/etc.?† and â€Å"how can I put my own spin on this subject?† Connect with your audience by improving on the #content that already exists. #contentmarketingRule #2 – Relate With Your Audience Earlier, we talked about how there is an abundance of blog  posts written every day, and how almost every topic has already been written about. This has led to a very important shift in what people are looking for online. Instead of searching only for accurate information and helpful tips, they are looking for those things piled on top of a style, personality, or a view point they can relate to. Your audience might have read a dozen blog posts on how to choose the right color paint for their kitchen remodel, but they might not really get it until they hear it from you. Your unique perspective, background, opinions, and personality will make your content unique. It won’t appeal to everyone, but it will appeal very strongly to those that relate with you (aka your dream customers or readers). So how, exactly, do you tap into what makes you you in order to create content that your readers can relate with? Start by getting comfortable showing some vulnerability. Get vulnerable with your audience. Share  opinions, values, and failures. #bloggingWhen we put our opinions, values, past failures (and even successes) out there, we open ourselves up to some degree of push back. But we also open ourselves up to a whole new level of connection with our audience. People can find facts anywhere- what they really want is the story. Your story. Rule #3 – Stay Focused Youve probably heard the expression that people have the attention span of a goldfish online. It’s true that almost all of your visitors have their cursor hovering over the back button, so it’s vital that you find a way to capture and keep their attention. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to stay focused. Bunny trails, long-winded introductions, and off-topic side notes are great ways to lose your visitor’s attention. Choose one very specific  topic for each piece of content, and then stick to it. If you try to tackle a topic that’s too large, you’ll feel yourself drifting from point to point. Bunny trails, long-winded introductions, and off-topic side notes lose attention. #bloggingHere’s a trick for making sure your content is focused: Identify the outcome you want for your audience after they view  your content. What one thing do you want them to learn, understand, or get inspired about? At every paragraph, bullet point, and sub-header, ask yourself â€Å"does this help my visitor accomplish that one specific goal?† Does every paragraph, bullet point, and sub-header help your audience accomplish a specific goal? #4 – Give Them An Easy Win Remember the outcome you identified a minute ago for your audience to achieve after viewing your content? This is the step where you drive that home and create  content so valuable that your audience will love it, share it, and come back for more. We know that valuable content should help our audience achieve something (whether it’s a specific goal, a lifestyle change, or even a mindset shift), but achieving it is often a process. We all tend to resist starting a new process- whether it’s for a lack of time, motivation, or courage- so how can you help people act on your content? The simple answer: Make it ridiculously simple to do so. The actual process of achieving the outcome your content was created to produce might take a while (say, losing weight), so break the process down and identify one, tiny step your audience can take in that direction. For our â€Å"losing weight† example, maybe this small step is identifying one thing they could do today to eat just a little bit healthier or get in an extra 10 minutes of exercise. Choose something very small that your audience can do for an easy win. It will build momentum toward that goal. This transforms your content from something abstract into something actionable.

The important of Magwitch in Great Expectation Essay Example

The important of Magwitch in Great Expectation Essay Example The important of Magwitch in Great Expectation Paper The important of Magwitch in Great Expectation Paper We first see Magwitch as a fearful man which gives us the impression that he is an unpleasant character. Magwitch is an escaped convict he is often judge on his appearance, up bringing and lack of education, which is important. Pip who lives with his sister- Mrs Joe- and her husband Joe Gargery, Pip was in a graveyard when he first comes across this fearful man. Magwitch was in grey rags, very hungry and cold he was covered in cuts, smothered in mud and stung by nettles. The convict asks Pip to bring him wittles and a file, its ironic how a simple task will change Pips life forever. The convict threatened to Pips fat cheeks and turned upside, which is also ironic as to what will happen to Pip in the future. Pip obeyed the stranger. Fearing for his life he steals porkpie, mincemeat and brandy for the convict from his home. He also got the convict a file. Pip returns the next morning on the marches. Emptied his pockets, gave Magwitch the wittles and Magwitch gobbles them down like a dog. Pip showed Magwitch kindness and pity. Pip asked him if he had enjoyed the meal, Magwitchs answer was I did, thankyee dear boy. This is important because it shows compassion to Magwitch that he has never received. As he was an orphan and had no one. This is the first time we see a sign of humanity from the fearful man. Later on in chapter 5 soldiers were out looking for two convicts, Magwitch and another Compeyson. Joe, Pips brother-in-law a blacksmith helps the soldiers to look for the two convicts. The two men were found fighting on the marches. Pip was with Joe at the time when the two men were arrested. Magwitch noticed that Pip was with Joe and presumed that Joe was the man Pip lived with. The convict not as bad as he looks owns up for Pip saying that it was him who stole the food he said then Im sorry to say, Ive eaten your pie. Magwitch didnt want Pip to get into trouble at home. The humble blacksmith Pips father figure replies by god knows youre welcome to it. The man Magwitch was fighting with Compeyson was a convict that Magwitch used to do crime with. Compeyson was a gentleman. The two men were tried in court together because of a forgery scam that the men were involved in. The justice system favoured the rich and so Magwitch received 14 years but Compeyson only got 7 years. Compeyson had the benefit of learning and public boarding school Compeysons education and gentlemanly ways convinced the judges that he was innocent. This is a point the Dickens made out about a corrupt legal system. That was why Magwitch is prepared to go to any lengths to kill Compeyson. Magwitch feels that the only way he could get justice is to take matter into his own hands. After the soldiers had caught the two men. Magwitch is transported to Australia. When he has served his time he can make a new life there, but if he returns to England he will face a death sentence. Magwitch farmed sheep, lives cheaply and saves his money for Pip. Pip not knowing any thing about this or the grate amount of money he will receive in the future. Pip thinking that he will not have much of a future becomes Joes apprentice Miss Havisham a wealthy old lady who lives in a big and rather gloomy house called Satis House invited Pip to play at her house.

How Sunscreen SPF Is Measured

How Sunscreen SPF Is Measured SPF (Sun Protection Factor) is a multiplication factor you can use to determine how long you can stay out in the sun before getting a sunburn. If you normally can stay out 10 minutes before burning, a sunscreen with an SPF of 2 will let you stay out twice as long, or 20 minutes, before feeling the burn. An SPF of 70 will let you stay out 70 times longer than if you had no protection (or 700 minutes in this example, which would be over 11 hours or a full day). How Is SPFDetermined? Think SPF is a  calculated value or an experimental lab value, based on how much ultraviolet light penetrates a coating of sunscreen? Nope! SPF is determined using human experimentation. The test involves fair-skinned volunteers (people who burn most quickly). They apply the product and bake in the sun until they start to fry.   What about water resistant? For a sunscreen to be marketed as water resistant, the time required to burn must be the same before and after two consecutive 20 minute soaks in a Jacuzzi. The SPF factors are calculated by rounding down the time required to burn; however, you may get a false sense of protection from an SPF because the amount of sunscreen used in the tests is a lot more product than the average person uses. The tests use 2 milligrams of formula per square centimeter of skin. Thats like using a quarter of an 8-oz bottle of sunscreen for a single application. Still... a high SPF confers more protection than lower SPF.  How Sunless Tanning Works | How Sunscreen Works

Sustainable Tourism with Antalya Personal Statement

Sustainable Tourism with Antalya - Personal Statement Example The poor environmental management programmes that cause heavy damage to the natural resources are other set of issues that was brought to my focus following a review of literature and analyzing other articles on tourism. Further, a total refinement of the research took place after a discussion with my tutor who helped to stretch my imagination and comprehension. The basic approach suggested to me was to have a clear understanding about the term "sustainable development". I was asked to have a thorough analysis of book edited by Brundland that narrated what sustainable development should represent. This book, which turned out be the corner stone for all sustainable development practices across the globe, had given much needed impetus into the research process. This helped to identify the more specific aspect of the research like the impact on the socio-economic, cultural and ecological issues in the region of the study with respect to the tourism development. The reflective learning p rocess that I had with the tutor on the research process design was the important factor that contributed to the successful completion of the research activity. The research process undertaken has given a variety of learning experience besides the success that was achieved in the attaining the project objective. It varied from the realization of own capabilities, the approaches to improve my own information level, understanding the role of secondary sources for improving our conceptual understanding and equipping me to draw appropriate inferences and conclusion from any process. The research on Sustainable Development of Antalya had given me an opportunity to experience all aspect of cognitive - transformative learning and also learning from reflection (Moon, 6-7). The initial idea that I had from the intuition and imagination was the basis of the process. Though I was trying to design various courses of action in this manner, it was soon realized that that inadequate information levels caused severe problems on the design of the research structure. This was eliminated when I had discussion with the tutor and the reflection that I received from him changed the perception of the approach. It gave me more insight to the preparation of the initial road map for the entire process. Further, I soon realized that most of the interfaces that I would have made with the initial set of observation would have been more on my judgment rather than on real aspect of the fact. Similar set of experiences was also reported in the study related to the learning experience of medical students. It is reported that students who were more involved with the reflection based learning showed marked improvement in their learning skills (Andrew, 391-391, Yokawa, 44-49). Thus the reflective learning has helped me to understand the role of realty, values and action in the process of making judgments. The deep learning from discussion and experience from the other was another major learning experience that I had through this research. The importance of understanding the basis of any sustainable tourism initiatives was obtained from enquiry into reported literature on the theories proposed. Thus need for careful observation into the facts that are needed to supplement our observation and the importance

Bacteria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bacteria - Essay Example They help the bacteria to move away from the chemicals that can harm them. They play a great role in increasing bacteria pathogenicity because they enable them to move to the targeted locations and to survive. For any infection to occur, the pathogenic bacteria have contacted the target tissues. All organism whether plants or animal deal with flagellated bacteria. The main locations of most flagellated bacteria are the mucosal areas. Pathogenic bacteria have flagella that help them in attacking and colonizing the mucosa. The flagella attack the mucosa through the production of the virulence and adhesion factors (Wassenaar, 2009). Flagella increase pathogenicity through motility. The glycocalyx and mucus obstruct the pathogens. As a result, the pathogens have to counterbalance the upward movement of mucus in the bronchial epithelia and the intestines through motility in order to achieve colonization. Chemotaxis and motility enables the bacteria to aim the mucosal tissues. For instance, the motility of the bacteria like helicobacter pylori and the pseudomonas aeruginosa are responsible for the stomach and the lung infections. Additionally, the motility of the Vibrio cholerae enhances the infection of the intestinal mucosa. The infection of the rabbit appendix by the S. enterica also relies on their motility. Consequently, flagella plays a great role in enhancing pathogenicity since motility makes it easier for pathogens to interact with the hosts (Winn & Koneman, 2006). The structure also contributes to the increase in pathogenity though adhesion. Flagella enable bacteria to occupy a certain niche by acting as adhesin. For instance, the flagella of the Clostridium difficile stick to cecal mucus in mice through adhesion. Cystic fibrosis also occurs when the bacteria called the P. aeruginosa sticks at the airway lumen through adhesion. The bacteria cause infection when the flagella bind it to the mucin Muc 1 which is found in the airway mucus. In addition, the

Retail Marketing Master Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Retail Marketing Master - Case Study Example It also is a multi-billion pound food retailer. Most of its shops sell both of these categories. Marks & Spencer also has a third product line related to home wares such as bed linen, but this is far smaller than the other two. For much of the 20th century M&S was regarded as the leading retailer in the United Kingdom, and an icon of British business. In 1997 it became the first British retailer to make a profit before tax of over 1 billion, though within a couple of years it plunged into a crisis from which it has not yet fully recovered. It is now less than one quarter of the size of the UK's largest and most profitable retailer, Tesco(http://www.marks-and-spencer.co.uk) Marks & Spencer unlike most of its rivals didn't instantly jump into the television advertising for its marketing and to draw customers. Marks & Spencer launched its first advertisement as late as in the mid 1990s. By selling British-made goods Marks & Spencer made their reputation. They entered into long term relationships with British manufacturers, and sold the goods under the "St Michael" brand (trademark registered in 1928), which was used for both clothes and food (Wall Street Journal,2006). Initially Marks & Spencer accepted the return of unwanted goods, with no time restriction, giving full cash refunds if the receipt was shown. Now it has changed that policy and has adopted a 90-day returns policy. This act made many loyal customers of Marks & Spencer to refrain from buying. The company's main prominence is of quality, but initially it also had a reputation for offering a good value for money. When this reputation began to waver, it encountered serious difficulties. It is a fact that M&S has historically been an iconic retailer of 'British Quality Goods.'(http://www.marks-and-spencer.co.uk) In 1988, Marks & Spencer acquired an American clothing company and a US food chain, naming Brooks Brothers and Kings Super Markets respectively. Marks & Spencer profits were maximized during 1997-98. But these profits were short term due to the rising cost of using British suppliers. Customer loyalty eroded quickly as rival retailers increasingly imported their goods from low-cost countries. In addition, it also lost its fame in the young generation who were reluctant to shop with it. These factors further plunged Marks & Spencer profits into a sudden slump, which took every one by surprise. The company's share price fell by more than two thirds, and its profits fell from more than a billion pounds in 1997 and 1998 to 145 million in the year ended 31 March 2001 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram). In 2001, with changes in their business focus such as the introduction of the "Per Una" clothing range designed by George Davies, accompanied by a redesign of their underlying business model, profits recovered somewhat and M&S recovered some of its market share but this these profits were also short lived(Karen Barth, 2001). Place: Marks & Spencer have adopted an indirect marketing channel i.e. it maintains distribution channel as follows Producer Retailer Consumer Marks & Spencer usually have its own retail stores Promotion: Advertisement:

Overview of Qualitative Research Study-Terence Essay

Overview of Qualitative Research Study-Terence - Essay Example This research method answers the how and why of decision making. It goes further than quantitative research method which only answers the where, what, and when? This paper aims at dissecting qualitative research to gain an understanding on the characteristics of the research design and to know when and where it is appropriate for use. A sample size refers to a subset of a population that gets selected for a given study. Sample size is a vital aspect of any research study. It provides for a basis from which inferences about a population can be determined. It refers to the number of observation used to calculate or determine the characteristics of a given population (Barbour, 2013). When undertaking sample size determination for qualitative studies, it is vital to know that there are no fixed or fast rules. However, it is important to give at least two considerations when coming up with the sample size. The first consideration should be how large does the sample need to be to enable the identification of consistent patterns. The sample size should be large enough to leave the researcher with nothing left to learn or no emergent trend. The second consideration should be how large the sample should be to provide a reflection of the target population. The sample size must be large enough to help assess an appropriate amount of diversity represented across the target population. Under qualitative studies, the researcher may estimate the sample size base on his or her data collection methods or the approach of their study. For example when undertaking a case study approach in a qualitative study, the researcher selects one case or one person. Another example can be when using focus group discussions as a data collection method. The researcher gets to create groups that average 5-10 people each (Silverman, 2013). The researcher also has to consider the number of focus groups that will be

American Revolution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Revolution - Research Paper Example The protests to these laws were initiated by a group calling itself the sons of liberty, who in their bid to show their concerns against the law, infiltrated a ship in the Boston harbor, destroying 342 chests of tea in the year 1773 (McCullough, 27). In response to these protests, the British Empire imposed a series of punitive laws, referred to as the intolerable acts in 1774. In 1774, the American patriots suppressed all loyalists, and took control of each colony, establishing new government. The British Empire responded by sending troops for purposes of establishing royal control in the year 1775 (McCullough, 26).   The war ended in 1783 with the surrender of Britain, making the colonists establish the federal government of United States, with each of the 13 regions having a governor, and a parliament.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     During, and after the war, one of the most important and notable figures was Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin is regarded as on e of the founders of America, having played a great role convincing the 13 colonies of America to stay united (Prelinger, 5).   Benjamin Franklin is also credited as being the only person amongst the founders of America to sign the three documents that freed the American colonies from the colonial rule. These documents are the Treaty of Paris, the American Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence (Prelinger, 9). It is important to understand that the role of Benjamin Franklin in assisting Thomas Jefferson to come up with a formal document.

Project Propozal ( What motivete oversea student come to study in the Coursework

Project Propozal ( What motivete oversea student come to study in the United Kingdom) - Coursework Example Apart from this, the current oversea students can also benefit through this research. The aim of this research paper is to identify and analyze the factors which influence and motivate oversea students to come to study in UK. I have chosen this topic for my research because I am also an oversea student who was pretty much motivated to study in UK since very beginning but this did not proved to be something very easy for me. I had faced my obstacles in my way to achieve this highly reputable degree and now I believe that motivation is not only required at the initial stage but it is required throughout the process therefore I am working on this project with an objective to motivate students who are willing to study in UK but are unable to do so for any reason and to keep the current oversea students motivated and focused. English language was developed in England and it is their mother tongue. All everyone speak English there accent is slightly different for the foreign students but once you get here it becomes easy for you to understand their accent and speak the language fluently. There are many factors that motivates and influence students to come and study UK in which the peaceful and committed environment of the UK plays the most important role. UK promises it students to give them the quality exposure along with an everlasting exposure and it really fulfills this promise. Motivation is basically a stimulus that drives a need to be fulfilled (Robbins 25). Not only major decisions and task are performed successfully because of motivation but also the smallest achievements are made due to motivation. For instance, you cannot perform well on a quiz if you were not motivated enough to gain good marks. There are two main components of motivation which actually encouraged a person to achieve something they are intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. As the name indicates intrinsic

American Revolution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Revolution - Research Paper Example The protests to these laws were initiated by a group calling itself the sons of liberty, who in their bid to show their concerns against the law, infiltrated a ship in the Boston harbor, destroying 342 chests of tea in the year 1773 (McCullough, 27). In response to these protests, the British Empire imposed a series of punitive laws, referred to as the intolerable acts in 1774. In 1774, the American patriots suppressed all loyalists, and took control of each colony, establishing new government. The British Empire responded by sending troops for purposes of establishing royal control in the year 1775 (McCullough, 26).   The war ended in 1783 with the surrender of Britain, making the colonists establish the federal government of United States, with each of the 13 regions having a governor, and a parliament.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     During, and after the war, one of the most important and notable figures was Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin is regarded as on e of the founders of America, having played a great role convincing the 13 colonies of America to stay united (Prelinger, 5).   Benjamin Franklin is also credited as being the only person amongst the founders of America to sign the three documents that freed the American colonies from the colonial rule. These documents are the Treaty of Paris, the American Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence (Prelinger, 9). It is important to understand that the role of Benjamin Franklin in assisting Thomas Jefferson to come up with a formal document.

International Trade Essay Example for Free

International Trade Essay Why has international trade become less risky, less costly and even less time consuming then the past? Will business confidence likely grow even more in the future? There are multiple reasons for these common questions. Firstly, international trade has become less risky because traditional trade was regulated through bilateral treaties between two nations. For centuries under the belief in mercantilism most nations had high tariffs and many restrictions on international trade. Now most international trade among developed nations is based on Free Trade. Currently, the regulation of international trade is done through the World Trade Organization at the global level, and through several other regional arrangements such as MERCOSUR in South America, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the European Union between 27 independent States. Secondly, international trade has become less risky because of falling trade barriers. Trade barriers are often criticized for the effect they have on the developing world. Because rich-country players call most of the shots and set trade policies, goods such as crops that developing countries are best at producing still face high barriers. Trade barriers such as taxes on food imports or subsidies for farmers in developed economies lead to overproduction and dumping on world markets, thus lowering prices and hurting poor-country farmers. In addition, international trade has become less time consuming because humans have more resources then the past did. We have planes, trains, cargo ships, pipelines and even transport trucks that haul massive trailers. Example, my father owns an automotive recycling company, if he orders a part from anywhere in Canada or the U.S. He can receive it within two days. A week at the max if things are ordered from china. Lastly, I think business confidence will grow in the future. With the new business opportunities, more jobs will be open and people wont have to get laid off of work! More income will be brought into the families home. Children will have the necessary education to consume a career. And hopefully the world will stop hiding terrible crisis’ and become balanced. This is why I think international trade has become less risky, less costly and even less time consuming than in our past.

FMCG Industry In India Commerce Essay

FMCG Industry In India Commerce Essay India can boast of being the fourth largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Sector globally (India Brand Equity Foundation, n. d., p. 2). The estimated size of the FMCG sector of India is Rs. 1,300 billion (Gnimoline, n. d.). It has shown further growth of about 11 percent in the recent times. However, the FMCG sector of India is not like that of the developed markets, which are only dominated by few major players. It is defragmented and comprised of large number of sellers who conduct business in both organized and unorganized markets. Among 12-13 million retail stores, about 9 million stores belong to the FMCG segment. The population of the country is over one billion, so it has a strong customer consisting of about 300 million middle class buyers. It is considered to be among the largest economies because of the large purchasing power of the people (Sharma, and Bakshi, 2012, p. 472-474). India is considered to be the fastest developing countries in the world now, so the disposable incomes of the people are increasing and even the standard of living of the rural people has gone through drastic change. The Indian FMCG market is flooded with goods and services and the consumers have access to innumerable products based on their needs and requirements. The major players in the FMCG sector of India are Britannia Industries, Dabur India, ITC, Nestle India, Palmolive, Marico Industries, Tata, Amul, and many more (Sharma, and Bakshi, 2012, p. 472-474). It was derived from a research that an average Indian spends around 40 percent of their income on products like grocery and about 8 percent on the personal care items, as can be seen in Figure 1 Figure Source: (India Brand Equity Foundation, n. d., p. 4) In order to understand the usage of ERP and its pros and cons in the supply chain of the FMCG sector, it is very important to first segregate the segments of the FMCG industry because the different companies selling diverse products utilize ERP based on their convince, business strategies and goals of the company. The major segments in the FMCG sector of India are household care, food and beverages, and personal care. There are few minor segments too. 1.2 India Competitiveness and Comparison with the World Markets Due to the diverse climatic condition and different landscapes, wide range of food processing companies has the opportunity to do business and generate revenue in India. India is regarded as the largest supplier of milk, livestock, coconut, cashew, spices, and sugarcane. It is also the second largest producer of vegetables, rice and wheat. The country also has ample supply of caustic soda, and the soda ash which is the raw materials required for the detergents and soaps. Tata Chemicals is the largest company in the world, which produces the synthetic soap ash. The Indian companies also have a significant presence in the global FMCG value chain, which ranges from raw materials to the finish and packed products. Amul is the most popular company in India which deals in dairy products. Apart from the advantage of having raw material in abundance, India also enjoys the huge resource of low-cost labour resource, among all the Asian countries, as can be seen in Figure 2. Figure Source: (India Brand Equity Foundation, n. d., p. 7) Two major resources are there in adequate amount in the country. Many multinational companies have set up factories or manufacturing units in India to minimize their cost of production. For example Unilever a global giant sources a huge part of their product requirements from the Indian subsidiary called Hindustan Lever Limited. Unilever has outsourced about US$218 million products from HLL, which are mainly the personal, home care, and food products. Even Procter and Gamble has outsourced an Indian company in Hyderabad to manufacture Vicks Vapourub, so that Procter Gamble can export them easily to Japan, Australia and the other Asian countries (India Brand Equity Foundation, n. d., p 9-10). India has always tried to compete in the world market and allowed internationals or multinationals to trade in the country. With this idea, the policies were developed to attain international competitiveness, such as by reducing the excise duties, lifting the restriction on the quantity, eco-friendly food law formulation, and by permitting the brand names of the foreign products in the country. 1.3 SWOT Analysis of the FMCG Industry in India According to Bohm (2009, p. 2) SWOT analysis is a strategic management tool which can be utilized to evaluate the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats of the supply chain of the Indian FMCG market. SWOT analysis can assist in designing an effective plan that would capitalize the opportunities, utilize the strengths, by neutralizing the threats and minimizing the effects of weaknesses. Strengths All the major brands around the world are present in the FMCG market due to the strong supply chain framework in India. Even the base of the raw materials in the country is adequate for the procession of food products industries. The raw materials for the agro-based industries are also available and this is because of the diverse climatic condition which supports the growth of different crops in different parts of the country. Apart from these things, the production cost, delivery cost and the labour cost is also low, so this acts as a major advantage for not only domestic manufacturers, but also for the international manufacturing companies (Soundarapandian, 2002, p. 50-54). A good aspect of the supply chain in India is that it is uniformly spread in the urban as well as the rural areas of the country (Krishnamacharyulu, 2011, p. 404). Technological advancement in every parts of the country is also reflected in the supply chain segment too. IT enabled supply chain has high demands i n the Asian markets, which also includes India. In India the FMCG countries provide ample assistance to the rural sector and the agricultural industry too. That is why increasing usage of technology in agriculture is seen these days (Ferrell, and Hartline, 2010, p. 122-124). Weaknesses The major weakness is the growing market of fake products of popular brands. The Me-too products are sold less that their duplicates in the rural markets and also in the semi-urban markets (Kashyap, and Raut, 2005, p. 150-151). Though the usage of technology is growing, yet the scope of investment on technology is still limited. The risk is high and companies are reluctant to take risk (Mukherjee, and Patel, 2005, p. 124). Moreover, the export level is also high due to the increasing level of competition in the market. Though the raw materials are getting cheaper, but the FMCG companies are raising the prices of the products, and due to the vast market size, companies have become more interested in earning profit and creating power brands. Opportunities The Indian FMCG industry now has many suppliers who have identified ways of decreasing their cost and have introduced innovative ideas to enhance and improve the supply chain. Efforts should be made by the Indian companies to improve the quality of the supply chain. The population of the domestic market in India is 1.2 billion. The growth possibilities of the Indian companies are immense especially in the rural areas, as about 12.2 percent population of the country stays in rural areas (Euromonitor International, 2008). Apart from this the increasing focus and initiatives of the government towards the FMCG companies also depicts a growth prospect for the companies. Globalization and liberalization has also opened fresh horizons for the FMCG companies of India. Healthy products such as eco-friendly goods are gaining popularity in the world market; similarly Indian FMCG market should also utilize their resources to cash such an opportunity. Threats The rural India includes 627,000 villages (IIM Ahmadabad, n. d.). So challenges are faced by the supply chain companies in distribution networks. Problems related to IT sourcing, professionals and procurement activities for involving more and more members in the supply network can also be faced. Moreover, lack of investments for the technological advancement, lower level of computer literacy, and low penetration of internet facilities in the rural areas. The complex framework of the supply chain in the country may also make the distribution of products difficult. 1.4 Supply Chain in FMCG Sector In order to succeed in the highly competitive markets, companies should align the supply chain along the market demand and serve accordingly. The performance of the supply chain provides an edge to the company over its competitors. Supply chain management involves the right co-ordination of location, production, transportation, inventory, and information. Indian FMCG industry is ranked as the fifth most eye-catching and budding markets in the world, in case of supply chain management practices. It has also been graded second in the GRDI (Global Retail Development Index), which included a comparative analysis of 30 different developing countries (Munjal, Kumar, and Narwal, 2011, p. 156-162). The Indian FMCG sector is characterized by the stiff competition between the unorganized and the organized sector, and also among the highly established intermediaries and distribution networks. Even a strong presence of the multinational companies can be seen in the value chain of the entire FMCG sector of India. Though the performance of this industry had been inconsistent during the phase of 2000-2003, and even the investors in this sector could not derive any profit, but in 2005 and so on, the FMCG sector has seen a demanding growth. Further, in the year 2006, the FMCG industry not increased the disposable income but also improved the economic health of the country. The FMCG sector has grown further by 60 percent till 2010. The rural segment and the middle class of the country are considered to be the most promising segment of buyers in India. This also gives the brand makers the opportunity to convert these FMCG products into brands (Munjal, Kumar, and Narwal, 2011, p. 156-162). 1.5 ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) in Supply Chain Over many years the companies have started embracing new style of resource management and planning software structure in order to integrate the different processes, manage the resources in a better manner and enforce the integrity of the data. The systems which contain all these qualities intact can be termed as an ERP solution or system (Davenport, 2000; Boykin, 2001, p. 99-100; Sadagopan, 1999, p. 179-181). Before ERP was introduced, the supply chain segment used to enjoy the advantages of material requirement planning (MRP) in case of delivering performance and inventory turnover (Schroeder, Anderson, Tupy, and White, 1981, p. 1-4). Though statistics speaks that 80 percent of the companies implementing ERP have failed (Sarkis and Sundarraj, 2003), Cliffe (1999) revealed that about 65 percent of the executives have a belief that the ERP solutions can be harmful, and these perceptions further lead to the failure of the ERP system or poor implementation of the systems that even lead to the bankruptcy of the companies (Appleton, 1997). However, it goes without saying that those evidences of failures are there, but benefits of ERP are also innumerable. The top management of the FMCG companies having clear vision regarding the implementation process and its results can utilize it for the success of the company (Holland and Light, 1999). A new perspective in the supply chain can be seen nowadays due to which companies are opting for ERP systems for the FMCG sector. Due to rising pressure of implementing green systems, and utilizing green resources by increasing on the manufacturers and marketers, the usage of ERP solutions specially designed to support green or eco-friendly supply chain have been launched in the market. Indian FMCG sector took like that of other countries has welcomed this initiative. Though the penetration level of such specific ERP system in the supply chain is less, but it is slowly gaining momentum (Wu and Wang, 2006, p. 882; Leedale, 2010, p. 1-3). 1.6 Outline of the Study It can be well understood that when the country has such massive establishment of FMCG industry, then supply chain would be surely playing an important role in this sector. Keeping in mind the significance of supply chain in FMCG sector in India and the increasing use of technology in the retail and FMCG sector, this study aims to thoroughly analyze the significant and the challenges of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in the supply chain of the FMCG sector of Lucknow, India. ERP plays an important role in the supply chain of the FMCG sector because the motto of supply chain segment is to deliver the goods at the right time, in the right place and to the right people. The study is designed to include the both the secondary data and the primary data. Secondary data signifies the past research and literature that are available on the usage of technology based ERP solutions in the Indian supply chain segment of the FMCG sector, and primary data on the other hand would be collected thr ough questionnaire survey that would be conducted. Since the primary research that would be conducted would be specifically based on the FMCG industry and its supply chain in Lucknow, India, the research study begins with an overview of the nuances of the FMCG industry, the role of the supply chain and the significance of the ERP solutions in these sectors in India. This would give the readers a clear view of the country as a whole. The next section would be a literary analysis of the supply networks in India, especially in the northern parts where Lucknow is situated, the penetration of technology, especially solutions like ERP, and also a brief overview of the supply chains of the companies in Lucknow chosen for this research study. Further a research would be conducted and results drawn would be analyzed to suggest recommendations. 1.7 Research Objectives The objectives of this research study are stated below: To comprehend the notion of ERP in supply chain management, in the FMCG sector and focus on the significance and relevance. Analyze the importance of ERP by studying the past literatures available, so as to evaluate the theories of other researchers in this regard. To scrutinize the activities in supply chain management and understand the operation functions of major FMCG companies of India, which are also based in Lucknow. To study the activities and functions of ERP in the supply chain of these companies. To analyze the results of the findings and throw light on the similarities and differences of ERP usages of these companies in their supply chain management. 1.8 Problem Statement The study would investigate the responsibility and the challenges of ERP in supply chain segment of the FMCG sector in Lucknow, India. The issues which the supply chain companies face due incorrect ERP implementation or inadequate training would also be discussed. Further, instances of breakdown of the supply chain services in the FMCG sector due to ERP problems would also be discussed. 1.9 Research Question Q1: What role does supply chain play in the FMCG sector of Lucknow, India? Q2: What improvements can be seen in supply chain after extensive usage of ERP? Q3: What challenges supply chain departments or companies and the FMCG companies face specially due to ERP? Q4: How the major FMCG companies in Lucknow, India utilize ERP for their supply chain? CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Supply Chain Sector in India The traditional boundaries are the things of past. The new horizons of technology have introduced an array fresh business opportunities and also infused various challenges that needs to be mastered or trapped. In order to maintain a significant position in market nowadays, companies have to concurrently manage the efficiency of the various business activities, such as distribution, manufacturing, and services, effectively. Competitive advantage is governed by innovation, visibility, customerization, velocity, scalability, and cost governance. The future of business depends on serving the customers properly, and maintaining a trustful relationship with the suppliers, and partners. In order to attain all these criteria and objectives, organisations apply the concepts of supply chain management (SCM) (D. Simchi-Levi, Kaminsky, and E. Simchi-Levi, 2000; Sahay, 2000; Derocher, and Kilpatrick, 2000). The concepts and theories of SCM can be traced back to the ages of Forrester (1958, 1961), who recognized the dynamics of several response to the changing demand in the various situations that arises in supply chain. Forrester had acknowledged that dynamic complexities create distortion in the patterns of demand by shifting the demand from the end users to the manufacturers, and the raw material suppliers. One of the major implications in SCM is that all the participants are interdependent, which is both the strength and the weakness of this system. The interest in SCM has increased since 1980s after globalisation and free flow of trade and commerce. Organisations started viewing the benefits of collaborative trade relationships. Though management concept has vast scope for growth in India, but the proliferation of the variety of products and the reducing life cycles of the products have forced the Indian companies to think beyond the boundaries of just maintaining collaboration with the supply chain partners (Vrat, 1998, p. 10-24). The dramatically changing environment has made the Indian organisations realise the effect of competing unnecessarily without the assistance of the supply chain associates. The requirements for adaptation of collaborative methods are high because of the recent deregulation in the global economy and also due to globalisation and its effects on the Indian economy. The traditional defensive industrial, organisational and economic boundaries have now been demolished (Saxena and Sahay, 2000). However, new and emerging markets bring in new opportunities, as well as new rivals too. The rules of trading relationships and economy are now ascertained and re-defined by technology and information networks. This is the reason why it has become mandatory for the Indian organisation for look out for such SCM methodologies and process which can maximise their efficiency not only beyond their operation, but also make them eligible to compete with the top FMCG brands of the world (Sahay, 1999). Many Indian companies have not operated in the open economy system. So working with appropriate business partners, developing mutual trust, designing a flawless SCM system, etc are altogether an alien ball-game for them. It has been studied that the Indian industry spends about 14 percent of the GDP on the logistics, and about $25 billion is attached to the inventories or stocks in the supply chain system around the country. Though India is one of the fastest developing countries with more than a billion populations, it should think of integrating highly advanced SCM theories and approaches for sustainable economic growth (Korgaonker, 1999a, 1999b). The significance of supply chain in organisation is being recognised in at the corporate level. The Indian supply chain plays a significant role for the growth and development of the FMCG sector. With the motive of overcoming the challenges that the retailers face and also to develop new systems and solutions for the organisations in India, the Supply Chain Council was formed (Supply Chain Leadership Council, 2012). Supply chain assist in organising the business activities in the FMCG by establishing a shelf-centric partnership between the manufacturers and the retailers. The nature of the supply chain in India is relatively fragmented because of less availability of fresh produce. This reveals the requirement of more advanced and organised supply chain in the country. The supply chain networks play significant role in India because they assist the customers to purchase variety of products at affordable prices. It is because of the supply chain the customers can get various offering that the company has designed for the customers based on the changing taste and preferences of t he customers. The Indian Infrastructure in terms of rails, roads, and air transportation are not sufficient. In these cases warehousing play a very important role in the operations of the supply chain system. In order to overcome these issues the retailers in India are trying their level best to decrease their transportation cost and are also outsourcing their supply chain system to the specialized companies for best logistics. Supply chain is required for the development of cost effective collaboration in order to survive in the competitive environment. India has a diverse economy which ranges from village farming, handicrafts, agriculture to technologically advance modern industries, and other diverse services. However the major source of economic growth of India is the Services offered to customers. It has been analysed that approximately 60 percent of labours or work force are into the agriculture (Hirway, 2008, p. 1-14). This compels the government of the country to improve the standard of living of the rural citizens of the country by developing the basic infrastructure for them, making available the resources such as education, medicines, health care facilities, or food, etc for the overall development of the country. The reduction of control on FDI is an initiative to welcome foreign investors so as to encourage free flow of trade and commerce and improve the economic condition of the country. The Indian logistics and supply chain had played an important role all through these years and still evolving for the better. Constant improvement of the supply chain framework has made India the global hub for auto ancillaries, manufacturing of sophisticated products like luxury cars, pharmaceuticals, electronics, textiles, food processing, etc. It also has a significant role to play in the service sector through BPOs, tourism, health services, and education facilities. SCM has occupied a value spot in the corporate level. This is the reason it is studied by young entrepreneurs in business schools to implement an organised supply chain framework in the new emerging India. Companies nowadays directly focus on reducing cost and reaching out to the customers in the shortest possible time. For this reason the objective to design and develop the best supply chain system for increasing the profitability is the best solution. 2.2 Role of Supply Chain in the FMCG Sector of India The FMCG industry follows a simple strategy that is to keep the price margins low, and volume of products high. In order to continue business in this manner FMCG companies in India need to plan the entire operational functions and the different value chain actions to the last details, so as to ensure guaranteed profit. Branding assists in differentiating the products, while supply chain or distribution system would determine the faith of the FMCG companies in the long run. The diversity of the Indian market and the huge opportunities in the vast untapped rural market of India provides opportunities to the FMCG companies to explore these areas and connect them through effective supply chain networks. Though the level of competition, and changing business environment has transformed the significant of each elements in the supply chain, but the major elements remains the same. The activities, level of performances, resources utilised and the approaches of utilising the resources have ch anged with requirements and time. There are five specific factors on the basis of which the supply chain of the FMCG sector in India functions. They are stated below: Combined scheduling, forecasting, offering customer services, and building relationships: The supply chain system has the duty to reduce the lead-time and deliver the goods per performance on time to the customers for building a strong relationship with them. It must possess a strong demand and supply forecasting structure for correct supply chain arrangement and movements. Responsiveness of the supply chain is also necessary towards the customers and is regarded as the most critical factor for success. The forecast for collaboration with the customers is prepared by taking into account the sales figures of the past and a project figure for the future. An effective mechanism for customer care and services is prepared so as to offer customized services to them and provide value based services. Point of sales, inventory and real time demand like concepts are given importance and data related to such approaches are collected from retailers for survey or research in order to improvise th e supply chain system (Gentry and Vellenga, 1996, p. 37-44). Establishment of operational system with the suppliers and formulating provisions for logistics services: The agreements at service level with the transporters assist in providing the reliability and the effectiveness to the logistics framework. The requirements of the customers are analysed and accordingly designs are developed. The feasibility of producing those designs are also checked steps involved in developing a new product is followed to develop the idea into a product and float it in the market. Networking and clustering with the intermediaries and the suppliers for deciding the location of the firm is important, so that the location may act as an advantage for the company. Nowadays outsourcing partial activities of the company proves to a cost and time saving step. After this the selection of a dynamic route for the distribution of the product is selected. The suppliers are selected keeping in mind that the product reaches the customers on time and also large accumulation o f stock in the shop is not there. So the approach of Just-in time is preferable in such cases (Mathur, 2010, p. 391-395). Lean approach for operational improvements in the supply chain is also an intelligent initiative. Companies also develop transport rating systems for tracking and enhancing the performance of the distribution system and logistics, while the suppliers evaluate the cost, but not the unit prices of the products or the services. Cross Functionality through establishing collaborative activities with the dealers and suppliers: The immediate demand is shared and information assists the supply chain to smoothen the flow. Though previously the suppliers were reluctant to use technology or IT services, but now IT is welcomed and deeply integrated in the supply chain system of India. The activities in which the company does not have much experience or competency, is usually outsourced now to save cost and time. Organisation, especially FMCG companies in India have now realized that working in close relationship with the suppliers, intermediaries and the supply chain is critical for the success of the company (Lambert, Stock, and Ellram 1998, p. 3-28). Strategic Partnership and the practice of outsourcing to survive in the competitive environment: The organisations in FMCG sectors prefer to have strategic partnerships with selected well established suppliers. This is the reason why the competition among the suppliers is also increasing. The suppliers are encouraged by the organisations to offer cost effective and quality services. The modularity of the supply chain system is also beneficial for the successful establishment of SCM. The organisations share the rewards and risks associated with the suppliers and the supply chain as the market is volatile and changes in the market negatively affects the suppliers. The selection of suppliers strategically, evaluation and development: The preference for selecting the suppliers depends on the flexibility and customization of the volume of goods. It is the suppliers who should involve in the development of new product so as to deliver the new products to the customers in no time. The suppliers balanced scorecard should be made so that the performances of the supply chain can be assessed (Lambert, Stock, and Ellram 1998, p. 3-28). 2.3 Usage of Technology in the Supply Chain Segment Supply chain management (SCM) plays an important role in companies for the creation and maintenance of sustainable relation with the customers and the suppliers. According to the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF), SCM is the incorporation of the major business practices to the customers with the help of the suppliers that assist in transfer of goods, services and relevant information and add value to the offerings offered to the customers and other stakeholders. The process of supply chain management involves all the activities from transporting raw materials to manufacturers to supplying finished products to point of purchase and also to the point of storage (Hanfield, and Nichols, 1999, p. 143-156). SCM includes all activities that are associated with the achievement of competitive advantage and sustainability of the business. In this sphere internet is affecting the process in which nowadays goods are distributed and bought. The advent of Internet has changed the ways of conducting business. Companies are injecting technology in various departments of the organization to discover new ways of earning revenue, finding new customers, and managing the supply chain of the company. E-commerce is one of the parts in the technological environment (Bushry, 2005, p.87-88). It enables the marketer to sell the products and services through a virtual marketplace and the payment for the product is also done online through the use of internet services. In large manufacturing companies, the supply chain segment has to manage multiple suppliers and vendors at the same time and also regulate the flow of goods to the different target markets. Technology is now treated as agents who help in solving the major problems of management or information overload. The collaborative information agents play very significant roles in SCM. The pressure of global competition is increasing day by day, so the requirement for streamlining the supply chain in order to make it responsive and flexible is also increasing. The traditional ways of distributing the product led to the inaccurate assumption of demand and exact supply figures. The suppliers and the marketer also faced problems in the maintenance of records in the warehouses and while production. Due to these issues, the whole supply chain infrastructure started evolving and moving towards the electronic transfer of data, and electronic supply chain systems. There are few characteristics which can be seen in the present day supply chain and its philosophy, such as sharing of information, management of inventory, adopting flexibility readily, cost minimising strategies, coordination of all the intermediaries in the pipeline. The business environment of all the industries is becoming more dynamic, so the product life cycles are becoming shorter, and the demand of produ cts and services are uncertain (Sheth, and Sharma, 2000, p. 55-60). The supply chain environment has changed in the recent times as the warehouses have reduced in number, competition level has increased, third-party services have increased, channel integration, etc. The traditional supply chains are reactive rather than being proactive, uncertain, extensive lead times, deficiency of flexibility in operation, etc. The next generation of supply chain system should be customer centric, have scalability, flexible, open, integrated, capable of functioning autonomously, optimization and negotiation capability, etc. It must have the capability to forecast accurately, and it should be compatible with the manufacturing process (Anderson, and Lee, 199