Was Germany responsible for the Outbreak of WW1?

There is much evidence to suggest that German Aggression was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. Both Sources 1 and 2 play on the idea that both the Kaiser and Bethmann Hollweg used its foreign policies to create tension within Europe which consequently led to a European war. Source 1 argues ‘Germany’s foreign policy aims were focused on annexation, and that she went to was to achieve these aims’ highlighting the forceful nature which Germany could have possessed in this era.However, Source 3 argues that infact the growing tension in Europe arguably led Germany to fight a defensive war and that it was infact Britain, Russia and France through Germany’s fear of invasion who stimulated the war; ‘The British were determined to maintain their naval superiority, whatever the financial and political cost’. This leads to the judgement that although there is some evidence to suggest that Germany did fight a defensive war to some extent, overall German aggression did lead to the outbreak of a general European war.Firstly, the idea that Germany did fight an aggressive war can be seen through Germany’s increasing desire for European Hegemony. The fact that Germany was slowly but surly disabling European peace in its quest for Weltpolitik shows how Germany were looking for confrontation. The Moroccan Crisis’ of 1905-11 highlights the Kaiser’s desire to expand the German empire into other continents as well as just Europe. The consequences of this crisis furthermore increased the bitterness between the Germans and the French; showing how the idea of Weltpolitik played a large part in the why Germany had an aggressive attitude to war.Both Source 1 and 2 follow the line of argument that the aggression had led to war, and that ‘Germanys foreign policy aims were focused on annexation, and that she went to war to achieve these aims’ shows that Germany had had every intent ion to go to war. That, in conclusion with the latter emergence of the Schlieffen plan suggests how Germany were prepared to go to war highlighting that the idea they were fighting an defensive war could be hard to believe. Source 2 furthermore states that Was Germany responsible for the Outbreak of WW1? There is much evidence to suggest that German Aggression was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. Both Sources 1 and 2 play on the idea that both the Kaiser and Bethmann Hollweg used its foreign policies to create tension within Europe which consequently led to a European war. Source 1 argues ‘Germany’s foreign policy aims were focused on annexation, and that she went to was to achieve these aims’ highlighting the forceful nature which Germany could have possessed in this era.However, Source 3 argues that infact the growing tension in Europe arguably led Germany to fight a defensive war and that it was infact Britain, Russia and France through Germany’s fear of invasion who stimulated the war; ‘The British were determined to maintain their naval superiority, whatever the financial and political cost’. This leads to the judgement that although there is some evidence to suggest that Germany did fight a defensive war to some extent, overall German aggression did lead to the outbreak of a general European war.Firstly, the idea that Germany did fight an aggressive war can be seen through Germany’s increasing desire for European Hegemony. The fact that Germany was slowly but surly disabling European peace in its quest for Weltpolitik shows how Germany were looking for confrontation. The Moroccan Crisis’ of 1905-11 highlights the Kaiser’s desire to expand the German empire into other continents as well as just Europe. The consequences of this crisis furthermore increased the bitterness between the Germans and the French; showing how the idea of Weltpolitik played a large part in the why Germany had an aggressive attitude to war.Both Source 1 and 2 follow the line of argument that the aggression had led to war, and that ‘Germanys foreign policy aims were focused on annexation, and that she went to war to achieve these aims’ shows that Germany had had every intent ion to go to war. That, in conclusion with the latter emergence of the Schlieffen plan suggests how Germany were prepared to go to war highlighting that the idea they were fighting an defensive war could be hard to believe. Source 2 furthermore states that

Launching a new business

Apex International Ltd is a health care product company. The company is about to launch a new product in the market. The health care segment of this company is well renounced with products ranging from medical devices to surgical apparel including sterilization wrap, surgical gloves, surgical drapes and gowns and other medical devices. In an over all sense their products are targeted towards general health and hygiene. Therefore the vision statement would be a logical conclusion to launch a product in alignment with general health and hygiene.At present the mission statement of the company is to expand and occupy global market with a new and ingenious product. This is because to mark an impact in the global market the company must employ a strategy in the parameters of product selection that would enable the company to stand at a distinctive position. This distinctive position would help the company to attain a better market segment. For the purpose, along with a new and effective pr oduct, the company needs a group of motivated employees who would be able to execute the laid down strategy by the top management. The company is confident about its present group of employees and is certain that the motivated workers would be able to execute the planning without much specified difficulties.Thus the employees should1. Follow the laid down principals and strategies closely2. Understand the need of the potential customers clearly3. Understand the preference of the potential customers4. Provide customer service at the highest levelBusiness descriptionThe company is set to launch a new product in the line of its existing item but in an updated and creative mode. The business would be spread over a large amount of markets around the world, and would venture into the markets of Asia, especially China. This would be well supported by market segments of other continents like North and South America, Europe and Australia and Oceania. The business would be controlled by the c entral headquarter situated in each of the countries of operation which would controlled by the Continent Head Office. The supreme negotiations would be done from headquarter situated in New York as it is a predominantly New York based company.Operation requirements   Operation requirements for this project are vivid and intricate.Firstly the management has to development a perfect schedule in terms of production in the line of future market potentials.Secondly, it should be looked upon that every aspects of the potential market segment is evaluated and measured.In the third phase of the operation requirement it should be noted to understand the need and priorities of the targeted customers.Lastly, a core unit should be developed to look into the motivation factors of the employees in the long run.2. Vision StatementAs the general consumer durable health and hygiene related products of Apex International Ltd includes mostly fabric related products or versatile materials that are d eveloped from synthetic fibers it would be a logical conclusion to include a product like a fragranced panty liner for white discharge in this context.At present Apex International Ltd deals in products of personal care such as feminine pads, incontinence products and diapers it would be favorable for them to include panty liners for white discharge in this list of products specifically when the base material of the panty liner for white discharge is aligned with the base material of the other mentioned and related product which is non-woven fabrics. In the context of non-woven fabrics it would be interesting to mention that Apex International Ltd themselves is responsible for manufacturing non-woven fabrics in huge number of grades that are numbered around hundreds.As these grades of non-woven fabrics are already operational for various purposes like spill control, car covers, industrial fabrics, home furnishings and flexible packaging making room for an additional product like fra granced panty liner for white discharge would not include any further fixed or capital cost to the company.As for the market segment part the new product i.e. fragranced panty liner for white discharge would become a market leader world wide when a support system of a company like the Apex International Ltd is applicable.To begin with it would be applicable to mention the need of panty liner for white discharge with a brief detail of white discharge as an ailment. White discharge is regarded as a vaginal discharge that is considered as normal during and after the menstrual period and it varies from woman to woman. It has been estimated that during the period of ovulation the mucous products increase and it has been reported that after the interval of ovulation the amount of white discharge increases by about 30 times. The material is elastic and watery in nature and therefore it is prescribed by the doctors to use panty liners during this time frame of the cycle. One of the most dif ficult propositions of this material is that it has a very bad odor.Thus to access this market with a significant product the company needs to introduce a product that is1. Well Fragranced2. Extremely Hygienic3. Highly dependable4. Cost effective3. Sales, Marketing and Finance management planExecutive summaryThe marketing strategy of the Apex International Ltd would be to develop a fragranced panty liner for white discharge. Developing a healthy and attractive fragranced panty liner for white discharge would never prove to be very difficult for the company as it is already in operative stage with relative products.Situation AnalysisThe potential, if the assumable market of this fragranced panty liner for white discharge is taken into consideration, could be substantially huge. It has been estimated that without the use of a normal panty liner for white discharge various symptoms may arise like discomfort, itching or even pain due to formation of fungal infection due to the amount of white discharge. Therefore, panty liners are essential and as it is consumer durable in nature therefore there is no chance of market being exhausted. Moreover, with a better campaigning with the focal point mentioning the betterment and advantages of a fragranced panty liner for white discharge would certainly help the company to occupy the existing market of panty liners by a huge margin.Marketing strategyAt present the market segment of the world of panty liners are segregated among numerous companies of which a bulk of the companies represents China. These Chinese companies would be the prime target once Apex International Ltd takes over the manufacture of this new fragranced panty liner for white discharge and makes the product operational. The major reason of targeting China as the premium competitor would be the reason that these companies are basically marginally equipped to compete in the international market. Therefore they should be the primary concern as being the softe st targets of all.Secondly, the advantage of the Chinese companies to be able to penetrate into low market segment could well be nullified with the campaigns concerning health issues. Once this has been done a bulk of the customers would be diverted towards the Apex International Ltd’s product of fragranced panty liner for white discharge as there are hardly any individual who would compromise in terms of health issues. This would have an additional advantage for the company. Once penetration is possible within the market occupied by the Chinese companies it would also be possible to inflate the market with other products of the Corporation. This would be a double advantage and a scope of further optimization of revenue.Thirdly, the other plus point enjoyed by the Chinese companies is the ability to penetrate into the markets of different nations all at the same time.Financial projectionsThe amount of customers for this fragranced panty liner for white discharge would be by n o means negligible. It has been estimated that about 9 million women visit the gynecological department or the general practitioners each year. This is just the estimation of the United States alone. It would be quite interesting to find out the actual number of potential customers for this new fragranced panty liner for white discharge world wide. That would mean a titanic amount of potential customers waiting for the fragranced panty liner for white discharge if marketing and campaigns are well executed by the Apex International Ltd. (Dollard, 2005)Implementation ControlThus once China is marginalized from the basic market of the fragranced panty liner for white discharge the rest of the market would fall in place with competition on the equal ground with other European, Australian and US companies. Here the main advantage of the Apex International Ltd would be the application of the fragranced panty liner which would drive away other potential competitors from the market and by t he time any other company is able to formulate something new like the fragranced panty liner for white discharge the battle for supremacy over the market would belong won by the Apex International Ltd. Therefore it is obvious that a brand new product by the Apex International Ltd would be resulting into a clear winner not only in the local or national level but it is a cut made up for the international level and thus should be treated as a cut above the rest.Reference:Dollard, John & Robert R; (2005); The White discharge Syndrome; New University Press; 21-25

A Study of Ethics in Relation to Business Practices

A Study of Ethics in Relation to Business Practices Combining ethics and business can be difficult at times, for every business’ goal is to make profit and certain ethical issues might be overlooked in order to avoid complications that might obstacle the company’s activities and jeopardise its revenue opportunities. The relationship between ethics and business has been discussed by many experts, such as Friedman (1970), who argued that a manager’s decisions should be driven by money, however they should not ignore the basic rules onto which every modern society is based. This may sound like a good solution to the ethical issues most companies have to deal with nowadays. A number of practical solutions to the ethical problems encountered by leaders who manage a group of individuals was given by Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who certainly didn’t run a company, yet analysed and discussed the duties of a leader, placing great importance on their morality and virtues, as every leader should be virtuous to deserve the name, as the pointed out in his Nicomachean Ethics. In the first place, it would be useful to analyse the meaning of the adjective â€Å"ethical† before applying it too liberally. Ethics comes from ancient Greek â€Å"ethos†, which means â€Å"character†, intended as the common belief that guides and determines the actions, behaviours and thoughts of a community. Ethics are not â€Å"absolute†, as different communities can have different opinions as to what is ethical and what is not, so before conducting a critical study on the relationship between ethics and business, it should be clarified that when it comes to business, western countries are the ones which dictate and set the standards for what is ethical, as Miriam Schulman (n.d.) correctly observed. Now, ethics and law do not always go hand in hand, as law can sometimes be unethical and a good action which may seem morally right could be deemed illegal by a country’s code, e.g. when Hitler ran Germany, the holocaust, albeit unethical, was permitted by the law, whereas helping a prisoner escape was considered illegal, even though arresting someone and forcing them to work without giving them a salary just because of their religious beliefs or nationality is absolutely unethical. Every manager should be able to distinguish between what is legal and what is ethical as to make decisions that do not simply conform to the law, but are also ethically â€Å"right†. Ethics, in fact, has to do with what concepts such as good, bad, right, wrong, fair and unfair. German philosopher Marx described the whole production process, explaining how the worker alienates themselves when manufacturing/creating something, whatever this is, emphasizing the importance of equality as opposed to meritocracy. That is the main reason why Marx’s theories have been questioned many times, for it is not easy to tell whether equality is ethically correct, seeing as people who possess qualities that others don’t and work harder than others deserve to be given more responsibilities and rewarded accordingly, as Michael Young (1958) observed. Human society and business alike are dynamic, which means that they tend to change alongside with people and governments’ needs, expectations and actions. It is their complexity that makes corporate ethics such an interesting, yet critical subject that every human resource manager should understand in order to make decisions that might benefit the company without damaging their employees in any way. In the following paragraph, a few cases will be analysed and discussed as to show what kind of issues may arise when business ethics are violated and determine whether Human Resource Management is compatible with them. Psychological implications in human resource management Managing an organisation’s employees is no easy task and requires specific skills, without which a manager might severely damage the company they work for. In fact, because employees are not to be seen as mere workforce, but also and mainly as individuals who have ambitions, needs, expectations, problems and feelings, a human resource manager, in fact, should know that when it comes to managing people, theoretical issues, as well as practical ones, are faced. Therefore, a deep understanding of the human psyche and behaviour is required, which is why psychology plays a very important role in human resource management, as Suraj Kumar (2011) pointed out. Job dissatisfaction is not to be underestimated, for all humans tend to adapt to new situations and, when they find themselves in unpleasant ones, research has revealed that they do whatever they can to reduce dissatisfaction. These defensive mechanisms may negatively affect a company, leading to bad performance, absence, low productivity, withdrawal behaviours and, last but not least, lack of loyalty, in the sense that employees will leave the company as soon as given an opportunity to do so, damaging the company, which will have to invest time and money in the finding and training of new employees. (Rosse, J. G., Saturay, S. L., 2004) O’Toole (n.d.) argued that Aristotle’s theories on leadership and ethics could be adapted to modern times and used by managers to make fair decisions that will benefit the companies they work for and the employees they supervise. To do so, they should ask themselves what they would want if they were in the employees’ shoes, how they would like to be treated, what kind of treatment and incentives would help them express their potential, whether they would like their opinions to be kept in consideration when important decisions that might affect their careers are made and so forth†¦ Moreover, Aristotle, as well as other thinkers, such as Socrates, maintained that a leader (and mankind in general) should not be enabled to rule other people unless they know themselves and are virtuous. According to Socrates, self-knowledge is an ability that prevents failure from happening. In light of such enlightening observations, it would be useful to analyse a few contemporary cases. Western companies and ethical issues Nike and forced labour Nike Inc. is a popular and successful sportswear brand and equipment supplier whose net income, as of 2010, was over US $1, 900 billion (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2010). The company has been harshly criticized for manufacturing their products in countries such as China, Vietnam, Mexico, Cambodia, Pakistan and Indonesia, where, according to Locke (2002), not only adult employees underpaid, child workers are used especially in stitching centres. Even though Nike’s code of conduct says that the company provides healthy and safe workplaces for all their workers, ensures that nobody below the age of 18 can sign a labour contract with them, does not use any form of forced labour, respects their employees, does not practise discrimination and commits to providing their employees at least the minimum wage plus benefits (Kochan, A. T., Schmalensee, R., 2003) , Australian Channel 7 News (2008) revealed numerous cases of forced labour involving the American company and a few years later Associated Press (2011) published an article reporting cases of forced labour and employee abuse at some of Nike’s plants in Indonesia. Are forced labour, abuse and child labour ethically correct? Obviously not, seeing as freedom is not just a privilege, it is a right for the simple reason that everyone is born free, even though many factors contribute to shaping humans’ judgement and choices throughout their lives. According to English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1651), a person is free when they can decide to do something even though they could have done otherwise. That is what free will, intended as liberty, is. Gap and child labour With regards to child labour, the employment of people below a certain age, which is not always 18, is seen as a form of exploitation in most western countries, for, ethically speaking, children are weaker than adults and should not be made to work hard, especially considering that several western companies, such as Nike and Gap (The Guardian, 2007) have been criticised for collaborators with contractors which employ children, force them to work under horrible circumstances and treat them nearly as slaves, in terms of minimum wage and abuse. It goes without saying that these practices are unethically correct, as we are all born equal and a person should not exploit and abuse of another one. As reported by The Guardian (2007), after the child labour scandal, Gap confirmed its code of conduct, promising to put an end to its collaboration with those contractors found guilty of child labour and abuse and to withdraw thousands of products which had been manufactured by children. Two other interesting cases are those of HM and Zara, two popular clothing retailers which have been accused of using cotton which might be picked by children in Uzbekistan and Bangladesh, where they are forced to work under horrific conditions. They both responded to these accusations stating that their codes of conduct banned child labour, however ensuring that raw materials are not picked by children is a very difficult thing to do, for most underdeveloped and developing countries fail in guaranteeing that unethical practices, such as slavery and child labour, are removed. (Independent Television News 2009) Nowadays, ethical behaviour and commitment to moral values (non-economic ones) are often used by companies to promote their services and/or products. However, Adam Smith (1952) argued that businesspeople’s ultimate goal is to make the public believe what they want to believe as to raise prices. That is why sensitivity to ethical issues is often included by companies in their marketing strategies. Try as they might, governments can not monitor corporations’ sensitivity to ethical issues, as ethics regulates details of human actions and behaviours which governments can not control. (Berle, A. A., Means, G. C., 1932). Utilitarianism and business Utilitarianism is a philosophical trend initiated by Jeremy Bentham (2005) and John Stuart Mill (2009), who spoke thoroughly about ethics, their relationship with business and human rights, maintaining that a right action leads to a good consequence, therefore, the ethical worth of an action can be gauged by its outcome. Unlike other philosophers, such as Hume (1975) or Locke (1997), who simply maintained that every action has a consequence without giving recommendations as to what is the most ethical thing to do, Bentham and Mill argued that, when faced with a decision, everyone should carefully consider their options and the consequences implied by each of those options and finally choose the one that will generate the greatest felicity. Only by going through this specific decision-making process can one be certain of being making an ethically correct choice. According to Richard Mervyn Hare (1981), most people tend to use intuitive, instead of deductive, moral thinking to make de cisions, as in doing so, happiness is maximised. However, when it comes to more delicate matters, such as human rights, managing and supervising other people and ensuring that employees are treated fairly not only because employee dissatisfaction is known to increase the likelihood of failure, but also and mainly because it is right to treat employees fairly, a more deductive and critical thinking method is required. Applying the utilitarian principle to business and human resource management in particular, a manager should consider their various options, asking themselves what the various courses of each action might be, what costs, risks and harms they would imply, not only for the company, but also for its stakeholders, employees and themselves and all those who might be somehow affected by their decision. The main problem managers are usually faced with is to avoid potential conflicts of moral rights. In order to do so, a manager should ask themselves what choice they have the moral right to make in relation with the current circumstances, what moral rights the other party have and whether there is a conflict of moral rights between themselves and the other party. Should there be a conflict of any kind, the manager should whether their rights or those of the other part deserve precedence. Job enrichment and employee motivation While ethics are often overlooked especially during negotiations, when information that might jeopardise the success of a merger, just to name one, is withheld, managing employees is a completely different matter. In fact, keeping account of ethics when making decisions that involve employees, elaborating strategies that will affect them or simply assigning tasks is essential to the creation of a stimulating and productive working environment. According to American psychologist Hertzberg (1993), job enrichment is the best method to motivate employees, ensure their loyalty and cooperation whilst letting them express their abilities and fulfil themselves. In order to create a pleasant working environment that stimulates employees and benefits the company, a manager should make sure that each employee is given the opportunity to perform different tasks of varying difficulty, faces challenges and receives constant feedbacks. Communication is key to the encouragement of ethical behaviour and motivation, as through it, a manager can provide merit recognition. Among the other things, a manager should provide their employees with adequate resources to perform their assigned tasks well, give clear instructions, let employees know what the corporate mission is and make them feel involved in the decision-making process, provide them with enough freedom, rewards, incentives and encourage them and, last but not least, ensure job variety so that every employee can express their abilities and feel self-fulfilled. (Mione, P. ) Now, in order to create a positive working environment where the manager takes actions that display their virtues, instead of their vices (dishonesty, greed, laziness, selfishness, neglect†¦), ethical behaviour should be motivated. Therefore, it is important that the manager should set the example among employees and develop a programme that rewards good behaviours and penalises bad ones through penalties and sanctions. Rules and expectations that define what is acceptable and what is not should be written down and communicated to employees, as to anticipate bad behaviours. At the same time, good behaviours should be rewarded through incentives and praised. Participative management techniques should be used to motivate ethical behaviour and, in order to assure justice when it comes to disagreements and conflicts, these should be handled impartially and formally. The company should also create an effective method for employees to file complaints and report unethical or illegal behaviour so that they won’t have to go to the ombuds office every time a workplace issue arises. Regardless of the efficiency of its method, which might also include an ethics hotline and website, the company should use an ombuds office to investigate complaints with confidentiality, ethics and objectivity. Conclusion Ethics differs from country to country, being a framework of rules which define what is right, wrong, good, bad, acceptable and unacceptable. Corporate ethics in China is different to corporate ethics in France, which does not mean that one of them is wrong, whereas the other one is right, since ethics goes hand in hand with culture. Therefore, a relativistic approach is sure to be the most appropriate one to study ethics without letting personal prejudices and opinions influence the course of the analysis. Ethical norms evolve and, nowadays, consumers are sensitive to ethical issues, such as forced labour, diversity, discrimination and child labour, which is why western companies such as Nike (Associated Press, 2011) and Gap (The Guardian, 2007), which have been accused of violating basic ethical norms, have had to revise their codes of conduct and reassure consumers that their products, despite being manufactured in underdeveloped and/or developing countries, where governments still find it difficult to eradicate slavery, forced labour and other unethical practices. Now, when it comes to human resource management, ethical behaviour is strongly recommended for research (Hertzberg, F., 1993) has proved that it plays a very important role in creating a productive working environment. While ethical norms are often overlooked during negotiations, it is crucial that a manager should be virtuous, set the example among their employees and take actions that will produce the greatest benefit f or the company, its employees and themselves. In this regard, three principles should be applied in order for the manager to make decisions that display their virtuous traits and benefit those around them: the utilitarian principle, the right principle and the care ethics principle. In other words, before taking an action, a manager should ask themselves whether that action will do the greatest good for those who will be affected by it and evaluate all the different options, then, they should ask themselves what action they have the moral right to take and, finally, whether their choice â€Å"cares† for their needs and those of the people with whom they have working relationships (coworkers, stakeholders, supervisors, suppliers, employees and so forth†¦) That is why every working environment should be regulated by ethical norms and employees should be encouraged to obey them through incentives and rewards, which will ensure their satisfaction and loyalty, which have been proved to greatly contribute to the enhancement of employee performance, hence to the corporation’s success. (Judge, T. A. et al., 2001)

Letter of Interest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Letter of Interest - Essay Example My Case Study Project revolved around a woman with sickle cell anemia who exhibited deteriorated eating habits. Despite encountering challenges when handling patients, the spirit of ‘patients first’ kept me grounded throughout. It was with such motivation that I devotedly engaged nurses, doctors and his parents by constantly communicating with them in a bid to unveil his nutritional needs and enable him attain skills on how to contain his insatiable appetite so that he could significantly gain weight and eventually enhance his eating habits. I believe that this experience best serves to demonstrate how my education, persistence, passion, devotion and expertise have modeled me to be of assistance to others. Besides my dedicated work in the Dietetic Internship, I recently graduated from New York University; Steinhart School of Culture, Education, and Human Development’s, masters program in Nutrition. I attained my undergraduate degree from United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in Dietetics and was more than fortunate during the four-year B.S. degree to clinch tremendous knowledge from my professors and colleagues. Moreover, during my undergraduate years, I interned in various clinical nutrition departments in different hospitals in Dubai and Sharjah under which I had experience with different cases and patients. I was selected by food and agriculture faculty as 2009 Chair of the student-governed association and assisted in tutoring students in DPD courses. Following my educational background and extensive hands-on work experience, I was modeled into a well-rounded clinician, who will be an asset to the diverse clinical setting of your

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 48

Case Study Example As a function of this, if I were a recruiter seeking a job applicant, a differential between SAT scores that the applicants exhibited would not necessarily be a fundamental determinant in helping me to make an informed decision. This is due to the types of individuals that firms seek as well as the particular type of job that is being filled. Ultimately, unless to get really high level of stress is placed upon reading or writing or a particular high level of skill is placed upon being able to do complex calculations rapidly, such a score does little if anything with regards to helping determine of the overall suitability of the candidate. In addition to SAT scores, the potential employer could seek to measure GPA, certain technical skills, expertise and interpersonal communications, complex problem-solving skills, or literacy. Many of these can of course be understood and realized within the interview process itself. Others may require the employer to ask the potential employee to submit to a particular round of testing in order to determine to what degree they possess these skills. Ultimately, this is merely a question of what the tickler job is being interviewed for and what particular skills might be required for this job. The traditional interview process is mainly concentric upon the degree in which the individual can rapidly and logically respond to the employer’s questions as well as exhibit their overall level of interpersonal medication and technical skill. The first thing to do in such a situation is to realize that the SAT ultimately measures to particular aspects of the individual. The first of these is naturally their ability to understand the complexities of the English language. The second is with regards to understanding the complexities of certain branches of mathematics. Due to the fact that not all individuals have taken the SAT and/or were in the United States prior to attending university, it would be necessary for such an

Effective Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Effective Advertising - Essay Example   Ã‚  Ã‚   Although marketers and creative directors may be thoroughly familiar with the rational approach and may have learned much about mnemonics and long-term memory, many are still in the dark regarding the unconscious side and motivation. What is presented here is the integration of all three aspects of advertising, leading to a totally integrated three-dimensional approach to advertising and marketing.   Ã‚  Ã‚   It is imperative to examine three-dimensional advertising and marketing in detail, especially with reference to the second dimension: motivation.    The First Dimension of Advertising and Marketing: Logic, Rationalizations, and Justifications   Ã‚   Logic and rationalization are the first dimension of advertising and the one that is the most familiar. They also are the most exploited dimension in advertising. That is because most marketing approaches are based upon traditional market research, and traditional market research asks people logical questions. Henc e, consumers respond accordingly: with logic and the left side of their brain. Since humans want to appear logical and rational, they give logical and rational answers. They respond not only to other people, but also to themselves. These are rationalizations. They may be true or untrue. They are what the consumer wants to believe, and they are what the consumer wants others to believe. Rationalizations are the most common form of advertising. They work either on the front end or as reinforcers, after the decision has been made. Rationalizations influence the emotions.... Hence, consumers respond accordingly: with logic and the left side of their brain. Since humans want to appear logical and rational, they give logical and rational answers. They respond not only to other people, but also to themselves. Typical of the answers and rationalizations that are given are: "I bought it because I'll never see it at that price again." "When these are all gone, there won't be any more." "These coupons cut the price nearly in half." "I really needed it." "The salesman offered me a deal I couldn't resist." "I bank at First because it's so convenient." "I like the people at the Apple Tree Restaurant; they're friendly and go out of their way to please." "Even though I have a two-hour commute to the city, the taxes are much lower out here." These are rationalizations. They may be true or untrue. They are what the consumer wants to believe, and they are what the consumer wants others to believe. Rationalizations are the most common form of advertising. They work either on the front end or as reinforcers, after the decision has been made. Rationalizations influence the emotions. They are obvious, and they are powerful. They are motivating.The problem is that at some point before the sale is made the consumer has to deal with emotion. Also, rationalizations do not feed into brand loyalty, positioning, unique selling, and marketing propositions. That is why people buy ABC instead of XYZ, and what has to be done to change them. Consumer decisions are based primarily on emotion and not reason. Even so, rationalizations are an important part of the purchasing process.Kowata and Buck ( 1995) illustrate the relationship between rationalizations and emotions (affect) in a cross-cultural study. According to these investigators,

Is an understanding of culture beneficial to organisations Essay

Is an understanding of culture beneficial to organisations - Essay Example Days when organizations used to succeed even after overlooking cultural aspect are past us and either the hard way or the easy way (Punnett, 2010), organizations now understand that they no longer operate in closed systems nor do they have the same bargaining power (Martin, 1992). Customers and employees of today are not only more informed and educated but they also have much more options (Bond & Hwang, 1986; Luthans & Doh, 2008). Therefore, it is imperative for businesses to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the term organizational culture in which they are operating or else their workforce would not think twice before rejecting them ruthlessly (Punnett, 2010). In this regard, it is very imperative that organizational leaders must be aware about their own organizational culture that is a mixture of assumptions, values, artefacts, beliefs, principles, and customs in an organization (Alvesson, 2002). In addition, it is also important to understand that organizational cultur e takes time to spread or disseminate in the organizational culture, and at the same time, success of that culture relies heavily on the way culture disseminates downward or upward in an organization. One of the major reasons of such assumption is due to the fact that at many times, only inefficient dissemination of effective organizational culture results in failure (Brenton & Driskill, 2010), and thus, while it is important for organizations to have an understanding of its organization culture, it is also vital to ensure efficient implementation that is often missed out by the leaders in an organization. The fact is that we are living in a globalized world and never before in the human history has so many people from diverse cultures, traditions, customs, nationalities, ethnicities, races, colours, creeds and religions been brought together (Mullins, 2007). The only possible way to operate and succeed within this diverse globalized business environment is to gain an understanding of the local cultures and develop respectful attitudes towards them in own organizational culture (Luthans & Doh, 2008). There are several arguments in favor of organizations needing to understand culture but all of them, in one or the other, focus on the magnitude, on these differences and their implications on the workplace (Bond & Hwang, 1986). Perhaps, Hofstede conducted one of the most credible researches in this regard, highlighting these cultural differences amongst different countries in four dimensions related to workplace (Hofstede, 2001). These dimensions are of individualism vs. collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity vs. femininity but only the former two are discussed here (Luthans & Doh, 2008; Edfelt, 2009). The notion of individualism talks about the inclination of individuals to put their family members on priority in comparison to needs of the society; while on the other hand, collectivism is the notion that involves alignment of oneâ₠¬â„¢s needs in accordance with needs of the society (Mead & Andrews, 2009). In collectivism, it is more about societal exchange and social advantage in an interdependent manner rather than in isolation (Edfelt, 2009). Moreover, it has been observed that individuals in collectivism rely on their associations, as well as on decisions made by the group members. Unlike

The Politics and Policies of Three U.S President from the Post World Essay

The Politics and Policies of Three U.S President from the Post World War II - Essay Example Through peaceful cooperation as a result of a countries foreign policies, a country is able to protect its national interest, economic prosperity and more importantly national security. The United States has for long experienced a split personality when it comes to matters regarding foreign policy. Other policies exemplify a pragmatic nation which requires that the nation respond to facts as they relate to the situation at hand and hence application of a rational decision making process to the problem (Brinkley 2011). On the other hand, we have an idealistic side which has for long gotten the United States into trouble. This is attributed to the loss of sight on the fact that the resources at our disposal are limited. Additionally, the resources which are in most cases are measured both in terms of financial, economic and military in addition to political will which must at all times match the objectives of the country so as to ensure success. Since the end of the Second World War, t he country had been demobilizing and was also characterized with the public reverting to its traditional isolationist character (Brinkley 2011). This made containment only limited to where the military strength was greatest which was in Western Europe. The entrance of China into the Korean War on the 26th day of November 1950 resulted into a retreat by U.S. troops being below the thirty eighth parallel and consequently resulting into a stalemated war. It is in line with this that Eisenhower with a promise of ensuring the war in Korea is rapidly and successful conclusion was elected into office as president. Come the end of 1952, Eisenhower had already concluded that it was not prudent for the united states to needed to engage in a conventional war on the Asian mainland, a decision which we can trace to the fact that the cabinet was made up of businessmen who as a matter of fact were extreme fiscal conservatives who placed more emphasis on having a balanced budget (Brinkley 2011). Ad ditionally, the present who had been a general understood the need to the resources of America and their foreign policy commitments. Amongst remarkable attributes that can be associated with him include the realistic approach to foreign issues and the ability to recognize the limits of the capabilities of the resources. Additionally, he ushered in a pragmatic foreign policy through redefinition and limitation of the goals of containment. He is best remembered for negotiating for a ceasefire agreement between the North and the south at thirty-eighth parallel on July 1953. He additionally redirected support for French efforts in Indochina and subsequently promising economic aid to the Diem government. We can also note that he relied more on other countries resources mainly acquired through alliances like the Baghdad Pact and the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization as tools for countering threats posed by communists (Brinkley 2011). It can however be noted that Eisenhower failed to off er the needed support to Hungarian Uprising with the main excuse being that he believed that the United States lacked the requisite military resources to challenge the Soviet Union especially when it is in its sphere of influence. Additionally, due to his administrations fiscal conservatism the size of the armed forces was significantly reduced and subsequent development of the strategic doctrine of the massive retaliation (Brinkley 2011).

Moral Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Moral Issues - Essay Example Also, engineering is increasingly required to satisfy continuing education requirements in order to keep their professional status. The ethics integrity is based on the principle of fairness and moral rules. This ethics integrity moral and social responsibility issues, fair attitude towards customers and colleagues. Clients served by engineers have no choice but to rely upon their lawyers for expert advice. Engineers are assumed to have a command of a complicated and changing subject matter; that is why they have been hired. But this also means that clients are rarely able to assess the engineering professional's competence. This is true in engineering as well as in the other professions. In engineering profession, this is a more complex notion because of the issue of third parties (Bentham, 2000). Engineering ethics integrity is based on the Judeo-Christian ethic. This ethics generally considered to be the foundation of Western ethical and moral principles. "In performing professional services for a client, a (structural engineer) has the duty to have that degree of learning and skill ordinarily possessed by reputable (structural engineers), practicing in the same or similar locality and under similar circumstances" (Kardon 1999). In engendering, like duties of justice, "the standard of care" does not arise because of any culpability on the part of the organization. "The standard of care" rests upon the mere fact that there are other beings in the world whose condition can be made better. If the organization recognizes these beings and is able to improve their condition, then a "the standard of care" arises. The fact that "the standard of care" is recognized by managers of organization is demonstrated by the fact that they cause the corporations to make charitable contributio ns. One is hard pressed to swallow utilitarian way of thinking that such contributions may in the long run improve profitability by the formation of goodwill. In fact, the best arguments against such action are utilitarian in nature (Mill, 2002). Ethics integrity involves duties of self-improvement which are the most difficult duties of engineers to translate to an organization. Duties of self-improvement rest on the issue that one can improve his/her own condition with respect to good value or intelligence. An example is the practice of organizations paying the cost of sending managers to universities to improve their skills and knowledge. Utilitarians would undoubtedly argue that such achievement is taken to improve profits through lower costs generated from the better management the organization expects to receive from better-educated managers. Organizations would undeniably justify this practice on such utilitarian grounds. Though, the ethics must truly be stretched to translate an individual manager's education to the bottom line. A more credible explanation for such things as classes in human relations might be found in the desire to fulfill a duty for self-improvement. For example, one could argue

Breakdown the misconception of toys Essay Example for Free

Breakdown the misconception of toys Essay Is toy world totally belongs to boy and girl world? Adults probably have their own toys but they are just borrowing from the world which is not belongs to them. The only connoisseurs of toy are children? Toys is any object that can be use to play. And it is majority associated with kids. Toys play a very important role in our growing stage and it related to everyones childhood memories. However when we grow up, we have to draw a line towards toys, because toy represent childish inside the world of an adult. We shouldnt let peoples point of views stopping us from playing toys. Whatever age we are, inside our heart toys will always be a part of us. According to the book written by Woodrow Phoenix (2006), â€Å"the power of toys is not about a return or a childish behaviour. It is the recognition of possibility.† Toys are not childish, toys are symbols that have a metaphorical power to express thoughts and emotions that may have their origins in childhood. We can know parts of ourselves, our secret, our wish, our desire in toys world. A toy can touch our inner part, which is our unexpressed and dreaming self. Toy assimilates and act out secrets, wishes, and desires, it becomes an extremely important part of the owner, toy holds of a relation with owner and gives an extraordinary personal experience to the owner. Toy has built a memory palace in our heart. We can see this clearly in the attachment of people with their toys. As companions on the emotional voyage from childhood to adulthood, toys have for their owner an emotional value that is far greater than anything. This prove that toys hold a very important place in everyone childhood, therefore we should breakdown the misconceptions about toys, and let our inner child run wild again.

Hector Berliozs Contribution To The Symphony Music Essay

Hector Berliozs Contribution To The Symphony Music Essay The French composer Hector Berlioz (1803 1869) does not belong to any school. Because of his difference in style he has been criticized by critics, and his contemporaries about his works melodies and formal structures. Berliozs work could not be influenced by critics, because of the originality and vitality of his ideas as an orchestral innovator; it allowed expression that affected the fundamental elements of the symphony and the instrumental changes themselves. The misunderstanding between Berliozs work and his critics may be excused, because of the ideas he used in his works, he used it in an unusual extend that unified with literature themes. The themes determined the manner of each work so that there is no defined development from any period. From his early to late style he never repeated inventions, harmonic and melodic nor formal of his predecessors. (Alexander 1989: 143; Hicks 2001: 387; Slonimsky 2001: 314 315; Whittall 1987: 55.) BERLIOZS CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYMPHONY Berlioz reconceived the symphony as a programmatic work and allowed it to be in an unconventional form to fit the program. Influenced by Beethovens Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, Berlioz shaped his Symphonies around a series of emotions that tell a story. Berlioz was not a pianist and was not influenced by thinking harmonically like a pianist, but was harmonically influenced by guitar playing that was overstated by those who criticized him. (Burkholder 2006: 639; Longyear 1988: 138.) In 1826 Berlioz entered the Paris Conservatoire; he composed Herminie in 1828 for the Prix de Rome and won the second prize, Berlioz used the idà ©e fixe (fixed idea, a medical expression of the new psychology that Berlioz made into a musical term) of Herminie in his first symphony, the Symphonie fantastique. (Downes 1978: 150; Hicks 2001: 386.) Berlioz was a twenty-six year old conservatorium student when he composed Symphonie fantastique. It was his love for the Irish actress Harrieth Smithson that inspired him to compose the Symphonie fantastique. He based the story on his own personal experiences with the actress. The Symphonie fantastique is much unrelated to the works contemporary with it or the past. It is seen as one of the biggest works that helped developing the symphony to new heights, it gave its listeners an experience to listen to, until Stravinsky composed Rite of the Spring. (Alexander 1989: 146; Burkholder 2006: 639; Downes 1978: 147; Einstein 1957: 163 164; Hicks 2001: 386 387; Slonimsky 2001: 315; Whittall 1987: 63.) The Symphonie fantastique is not operatic but is seen as a drama. Berlioz decided to integrate the music with a recurring melody known as the idà ©e fixe which he used in each movement to represent the image of the heros beloved to fit the mood and situation of each point of the symphony. After this work Berlioz and the rest of the Romantic Movement struggled to get along with the leitmotif. (Alexander 1989: 146; Burkholder 2006: 639; Einstein 1957: 134; Slonimsky 2001: 315.) Berlioz made sure that the people who listened to the Symphonie fantastique would understand the inspiration that inspired him to compose the Symphony, by giving it the subtitle Episode in the Life of an Artist and providing it with an autobiographical program, which is being read silently by the listener while the symphony plays. The Symphonie fantastique became a musical autobiography. There are no words sung or read aloud during the performance. The autobiographical document that was provided explained each movements expressions and moods. (Alexander 1989: 146; Burkholder 2006: 640; Slonimsky 2001: 315.) The Symphonie fantastique is divided into five movements: I. Dreams and Passions; II. A Ball; III. Scene in the fields; IV. March to Execution; V. Dream of a Sabbath Night. The first movement describes a musician that falls in love with a woman he sees for the first time, but his mind cannot stop thinking about her, causing the idea fixe to keep on recurring in the movements of the symphony. The first movement have a slow introduction followed by an allegro that has the same characteristics as a sonata form, but the development section is interrupted by an three-measure pause announcing the main theme in the dominant, which he keeps doing until tutti fortissimo appears in tonic. (Alexander 1989: 147; Burkholder 2006: 640; Downes 1978: 150 154; Slonimsky 2001: 315.) In the second movement the musician goes to a ball, but is troubled because he keeps on seeing images of his beloved in his head. Berlioz replaced the minuet with a waltz, describing the musician at a ball with the idà ©e fixe describing the images of the beloved recurring in his head. The third movement is a slow movement which takes place in a country, where he walks and then he hears in the distance two herdsmen piping to their flocks as his mind is distracted by thinking of his beloved. (Alexander 1989: 147; Burkholder 2006: 640; Downes 1978: 150 155.) In the fourth movement the musician is troubled by his rejected love and poisons himself with opium. But instead of the poison killing him he receives dreams that he killed his beloved and is condemned to death. In the end of the march the first four bars of the idà ©e fixe returns like a last memory of his beloved. (Alexander 1989: 147; Burkholder 2006: 640; Downes 1978: 150 155.) In the last movement he sees himself at a Sabbath where beasts and witches gather for his burial. The idà ©e fixe with two other themes are transformed, first alone then combined. The Dies irae is a chant sequence from one of the themes, which is part of the Mass for the Dead. (Alexander 1989: 147; Burkholder 2006: 640; Downes 1978: 150.) Berlioz hoped for an orchestra of over 200 for the premiere, but never had more than 130 players. The variety of orchestral colours was normally achieved with the list found in the printed score: 2 flutes, 2 oboes. 2 B-flat clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 cornets, 2 trumpets, 2 tubas, 3 trombones, 4 horns, piccolo, E-flat clarinet, kettle drums, bass drum, bells, and the strings. (Downes 1978: 155.) Berliozs next important work was Harold en Italie, with a viola as a solo instrument and orchestra. This was his second symphony. The title was drawn and inspired by Lord Byrons poem; Childe Harold. Paganini commissioned it but refused to play it because of the viola part that does not have enough to play. (Burkholder 2006: 641; Downes 1978: 130; Slonimsky 2001: 315.) Harold en Italie is a picturesque symphony. It does not have a program, but it only has specific titles for each movement: I. Adagio Allegro Harold in the Mountains: Scenes of Sadness, of happiness, and of Joy. II. Allegretto. March of the Pilgrims Singing Their Evening Prayer. III. Allegro assai Allegretto. Serenade of an Abruzzi Mountaineer to His Mistress. IV. Allegro frenetic. Brigands Orgy; Memoirs of Past Scenes. (Alexander 1989: 152; Downes 1978: 132.) A reappearance theme in the viola reappears in every movement of the symphony and is combined contrapuntally to each movement. The first movement has an Melancholy opening section that anticipates the principal melody, which represents Harold. It is first presented in a minor key, then the viola takes over playing the melody twice, very soft the second time. The accompaniment is played by the harp. The live part of the movement has an idà ©e fixe symphonic-ally developed in fragments. (Burkholder 2006: 641; Downes 1978: 132.) In the second movement the strings play a melody, soft at first then it crescendos as if the pilgrims is approaching, the it fades away as the idà ©e fixe returns slightly transformed. The third movement after the fast introduction the serenade melody is related to the idà ©e fixe and played by the English horn. Berlioz added colour to this movement by imitating the pifferari. (Allexander 1989: 152; Downes 1978: 132.) The final movement recalls the themes of the first three movements almost like Beethovens ninth symphony, but does not end with a chorale. Between the episodes are rapid modulations, and the viola remains active, so that the work inverts the heroism of Beethovens symphonies. Throughout the first three movements a double idà ©e fixe accurse: in the first both where in the solo viola and melody, in the second and third instead of becoming the mood it is combined with the music. (Alexander 1989: 152; Burkholder 2006: 641; Downes 1978: 132.) The printed score has a piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 4 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, ophicleide or tuba, triangle, kettledrums, cymbals, harp. the solo viola part was conceived for Paganini. And the string section: 15 violins, 15 second violins, 10 violas, 12 cellos and 9 double basses. (Downes 1978: 132.) Berlioz conducted Harold en Italie near the end of 1838 in front of an audience. After the performance Paganini bowed on his knees and clamed Berlioz as the successor of Beethoven, the following day Paganini send Berlioz money, enabling Berlioz to reduce his journalistic commitments and devote himself to composition. By the end of 1839 he composed and performed Romà ©o et Juliette. (Alexander 1989: 153; Downes 1978: 141.) Romà ©o et Juliette is central to his achievements, it is also the first large-scale work that is based on a major work of art. His symphony played its part in the development of the musical language appropriate to the symphonic poem. It influenced Liszt and Wagner, who were at one of Berliozs performances. Berlioz called this symphony the dramatic symphony, he combined the orchestra, soloist and chorus into an concert drama. (Alexander 1989: 153; Burkholder 2006: 641; Downes 1978: 140 141.) CONCLUSION Hector Berlioz was criticized about his works, but because of his unique style he developed the symphony to a new standard that was beyond those of his contemporaries. Berlioz is seen as the father of the symphony, and was influenced by Beethovens Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. His harmonic influence was developed by guitar playing. (Alexander 1989: 143; Burkholder 2006: 639; Hicks 2001: 387; Longyear 1988: 138; Slonimsky 2001: 314 315; Whittall 1987: 55.) Berlioz invented the term idà ©e fixe and used it in his symphonies to showcase a recurring theme that keeps on returning reminding the listener of a previous event. This is an example that Berlioz was indeed an influence on Wagner when you go look at Wagners works such as his music dramas that contains leitmotivs that is a theme that recurs the whole time reminding the listener of something, like the ring leitmotive in The ring of the Nibelungs. (Burkholder 2006: 639 641, 693 694; Downes 1978: 150; Hicks 2001: 386.) The Symphonie fantastique is just not just an introduction to making a symphony into a narrative or autobiographical purpose, but also Berliozs skill to compose emotional content for communicational purposes. Berlioz unified the symphony by introducing the idà ©e fixe in all five his movements of the Symphonie fantastique and in the four movements of Harold en Italie, extending the ideas Beethoven had in his fifth, sixth and ninth symphonies. (Burkholder 2006: 641) Berlioz created a variety by changing his themes by using different instrumental colours that gave a character to each passage. Examples were muted strings, harps, English horns, offstage oboe, snare drum, cymbals, tubular bells, and by letting the violinists play on the wooden side of their bows. Berliozs creativeness is seen everywhere in his compositions. (Burkholder 2006: 641) Berliozs Symphonies made him the leader of the Romantic movement, all composers of program music would be indebted to Berlioz. He introduced the orchestra with new resources of harmony, colour, expression and form. His orchestration created a new era in which instrumental colour could be used as an expressive tool for composers. (Burkholder 2006: 641) SOURCES Alexander, L. Mc Culloch, D. 1989. Heritage of Music: The Romantic Era. New York: Oxford University press. Burkholder, J. P., Grout, D. J., Palisca, C. V. 2006. A History of Western Music. London: WW Norton. Downes, E. 1978. Everymans Guide to Orchestral Music. London: J. M . Dent and Sons. Einstein, A. 1957. Music In The Romatic Era. New York: Norton Company. Hicks, A. 2001. The New grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol 3. London: Macmillan. Longyear, R, M. 1988. Nineteenth-Century Romanticism in music. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Slonimsky, N. 2001. Bakers Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Volume 1. New York: Schirmer Books. Whittall, A. 1987. Romantic Music: A Concise History from Schubert to Sibelius. London: Thames and Hudson. Downes, E. 1978. Everymans Guide to Orchestral Music. London: J. M . Dent and Sons.

Essay --

There has always been rich and poor in Spain but never like in recent years, the distance between them is very significant, as well as the difference in relation of incomes. The unemployment rate has taken a toll on the family income. More than 1.7 million households, according to the latest Labor Force Survey, have all members unemployed, and only 67% of those registered in employment offices receive any assistance or provision of the state. As a result, Spain is one of the most troubled positioned countries in statistics that measures social inequality and has the biggest distance between high and low incomes. In Spain the economic gap has always exceeded the average of the euro partners, at least from the start of Eurostat statistical series in 1995. It was stable, until the crisis aggressively attacked the economy and the gap began to grow five years ago. The GINI coefficient, which measures the difference in income of a country, is a clear example of that change. If the statistics shows a zero means that in that country there exists perfect equality, if it shows a 100 would mean an absolute inequality. Spain pulled out in 2011 34, the highest level since records. Latvia is the only country that exceeded Spain with 35.2. In the opposite side is Germany, with 29 and Norway with 22.5. The Spanish families have until mid-2012 a loss of wealth of 18.4 % over the previous year, representing the sharpest decline recorded between the economies of the euro zone, especially harmed by adverse economic conditions resulting from the crisis sovereign debt and the appreciation of the dollar against the euro, as reflected in a report on global wealth produced by Credit Suisse. In absolute terms, the aggregate amount of the impoverishment of... ...jobs due to reduced capital inflow, as it is riskier to invest in Spain's market. Since investing is so risky, the interest rate that investors have to pay for loans and investment projects in Spain are higher in comparison with other countries from Europe. Because of the increase of the public debt and economic deterioration, Spain has no option than to ask for help. Spain calls on members of the Eurozone for a rescue plan of up to 100,000 million for banking. In July of 2012 it reaches the 7% with a premium of about 650 basis points in respect to Germany. As well, the ECB announces a bond program plan for countries with problems, to generate a positive effect and calm the markets. In the third quarter of 2013, the GDP growth shows the end of the longest recession in decades. From 2013 the country risk premium starts decreasing reaching 186 basis points in 2014.

The Central Question of Hamlet Essay -- Essays on Shakespeare Hamlet

The Central Question of Hamlet  Ã‚      Hamlet's tragedy is a tragedy of failure-the failure of a man placed in critical circumstances to deal successfully with those circumstances. In some ways, Hamlet reminds us of Brutus in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." Hamlet and Brutus are both good men who live in trying times; both are intellectual, even philosophical; both men want to do the right thing; both men intellectualize over what the right thing is; neither man yields to passion. But here the comparison ends, for though both Brutus and Hamlet reflect at length over the need to act, Brutus is able immediately to act while Hamlet is not. Hamlet is stuck "thinking too precisely on th' event-". Hamlet's father, the king of Denmark, has died suddenly. The dead king's brother,Claudius, marries Hamlet's mother and swiftly assumes the throne, a throne that Hamlet fully expected would be his upon the death of his father. Hamlet's father's ghost confronts Hamlet and tells him that his death was not natural, as reported, but instead was murder. Hamlet swears revenge. But rather than swoop instantly to that revenge, Hamlet pretends to be insane in order to mask an investigation of the accusation brought by his father's ghost. Why Hamlet puts on this "antic disposition" and delays in killing Claudius is the central question of the play. But Hamlet did not swear to his dead father that he, detective-like, would investigate. Hamlet swore revenge. And he has more than enough motivation to exact revenge. Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon- He that hath killed my king, and whored my mother; Popped in between th' election and my hopes, Thrown out his angle for my proper life, And with such cozenage-is't not perfect cons... ...play that is flawed, not our understanding of it. The central question of the play is, then, a question without an answer if one is seeking the answer within the play. Shakespeare was supposed to supply us with an answer, or at least with a reason why there is no answer. He offers us neither. Instead, this most celebrated of Shakespeare's plays offers us a literary mystery which has captured the attention of all who have come into contact with it. It's time to file the question under "Unsolved Mysteries." But for those who persist in analyzing the plot of the drama, or Hamlet's psychology, or both in order to explain this particular enigma, I suggest that you're looking in the wrong place. Try history.    Works Cited    *A. C. Bradley, "Shakespeare's Tragic Period-Hamlet," Shakespearean Tragedy, MacMillan and Company Limited, 1904, pp. 70-101   

SEC :: essays research papers

The Internet has transformed the computer and communications world like nothing before. The Internet is also known as the world-wide web, which has the capability of gathering information, and can communicate between individuals and their computers no matter where the geographic location. The Internet started some thirty years ago; it has been one the best investments that researchers have spent their time and commitment on. Today millions of people use the internet. The Internet is a widespread information infrastructure. Its history is complicated and its influence reaches not only to the technical fields of computer communications but throughout society as we move toward increasing the use of online tools to accomplish electronic commerce, information acquisition, and community operations. The Internet History The original name of the Internet was the Arpanet. The internet was based on the idea that there was going to be more than one independent network, with the Arpanet as the ground-breaking packet switching network. The Arpanet would soon include ground based packet radio networks, packet satellite networks, and other networks. In this approach, the choice of any individual network technology was not dictated by particular network architecture but rather could be selected freely by a provider and made to work with the other networks. Up until that time there was only one general method for federating networks. This was the traditional circuit switching method where networks would interconnect at the circuit level, passing individual bits on a synchronous basis along a portion of an end-to-end circuit between a pair of end locations. 1   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. Cerf, Vinton Pages 10-20 In 1961 Kleinrock showed that packet switching was a more efficient switching method. Distinctive purpose interconnection preparations between networks were another possibility, along with packet switching. While there were other limited ways to interconnect different networks, they required that one be used as a component of the other. As an open-architecture network, individual networks could be designed separately and developed so each can have its own distinctive interface which it may offer to users and other Internet providers. Each network can be designed in accordance with the specific environment and user requirements of that network. There are typically no constraints on the type of network that can be included. Open architecture networking was introduced by Kahn in 1972, after his arrival at DARPA. This work was originally part of the packet radio program, but then became a separate program in its own right.

Theme of Feminism in The Women Who Walked into Doors

The Women Who Walked Into Doors The Feminist lens allows us to view a piece of literature from a different perspective. It applies the perspective of feminism to a certain piece of literature. There are a large number of feminism literary theories and all with a different angle of viewing the literature. Some theories look at the way words and symbols in the book are gendered. Other theories show the difference of writing between male and female authors.Many theories also focus on stereotypes and inequalities of women's ights and how they are symbolized in a book. Basically the feminist lens helps you analyze a book based on the philosophies and views of modern day feminism the any piece of literature. The Women Who Walked into Doors is a book about a woman named Paula and her struggle against her abusive husband that spent the 17 years of their marriage beating and abusing her. I am pretty sure that everyone who has read this book agrees that it is really a feminist novel with Roddy Doyle, the author, really trying to explore the life a woman's mind under abuse.The first signs of feminism come early in the book. Paula seems to be attracted to a guy named Charlo Spencer who is considered to be a â€Å"ride†, a term used to define an attracting looking person. We see the idea that women are into â€Å"bad boys† demonstrated by Paula when she falls for Charlo. She states how he looks sexy with his cigarette, a leather jacket, and blue denim Jeans. This was a typical description of a â€Å"bad boy' in the 90's. She also stated that he had a criminal record as if it were a good thing and rather attractive.As the novel progresses a lot of feminist theories are presented such as the audacity is young women in the 90's and even in current times. Paula is a risk taker and likes to explore around and not really afraid of consequences. This again touches on the feminist theory that women tend to be irrational decision makers in their late teenage hood. A p erfect example from the book is when Paula ignored her father's view on Charlo when he made it obvious he hated Charlo and said he is a criminal.However later in the novel as she grows older she realizes her father was right and only trying to protect her. This again supports the idea that during a stage of their life, women tend to make stupid decisions that they will regret later on in life. After Paula gets married to Charlo and the abuse and beatings start Roddy Doyle really starts to push some strong feminist theories through. One of the most important being the reliance that a woman has towards a man and really takes this idea to its peaks.This is portrayed by Paula throughout most of the novel, even though Charlo beats, rapes, and abuses her she still says she loves him and she can't leave him. For the sake of her own safety and well being she was not willing to let go of the man who she loved yet who abused her. This is supposed to show how women are dependent on men and bei ng beat by a man is better than not having one. Finally he most important theory being presented I believe is the imbalance of power between men and women and the breaking point ot a woman's tolerance towards abusive behavior.Throughout their marriage Paula has been powerless by not being able to make any choices or have any say in how things are done, because if she were to speak up she would likely get beaten by Charlo. This shows the imbalance in power and inequality in women's rights in the 90's when this book was written. Also even if Paula wanted to leave Charlo she did not have the power to on her own. However the idea presented is that women behave only like this is the problem is etween husband and wife, in the novel, when Charlo looks at Nicola, his oldest daughter, in a dirty way as if he wants to harm her is when Paula's breaking point is reached.She takes a frying pan and beats him down in the kitchen then kicks him out of the house for good. This brings us to the idea that when women's will not stand up for themselves but when their children are targeted they do the unthinkable to protect them. The fact that this book was written by a male author is really impressive for how he constructed the book from a females perspective and make it so effective in sending its messages and impacting on the reader.

Importance of reflective practice Essay

A load of research has been done on learning and reflective practice and its effectiveness on the practitioners and one of the first people to research reflective Practice was Donald Schon in his book â€Å"The Reflective Practitioner† in 1983. Schon was an influential writer on reflection and had two main ways of identifying reflection and they were reflection in action and reflection on action. â€Å"The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation†. (Schon 1983) Reflective practice has been described as ‘paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday actions, by examining practice reflectively and reflexively. This leads to developmental insight’. (www.wikipedia.org, 3rd Jan 2011). Reflection is an important part of the learning process and is needed for effective learning. Reflection is a form of self-awareness and learners that can reflect are better able to understand themselves and the learning process. Reflection can help us control over our own learning and achievements. Reflection leads to learning from experience and outlines strengths and weaknesses; by completing action plans to work on weaknesses will lead to continued learning and improvement. Rogers (1996,) states â€Å"Reflection on experience to action forms a large part of the learning process†. The process of reflection helps the practitioner to assess, understand and gain knowledge through experience leading to poten tial improvement and change. This is a positive process that lets me go over and examine and then evaluate so I can develop as a learner and a youth worker. The ability to reflect on practice helps me to consider my needs and then I plan to meet those needs so I can develop my innovative and learning skills. To assist the learning process, reflection can be a powerful tool to help identify strengths and weaknesses. To develop new skills as a learner I must reflect upon experience to access my own performances and plan for my future needs. Reece and Walker (2000, p.7) states â€Å"What is not so natural but very important is that reflection takes place to ensure learning from experience takes place†. To reflect upon  my own experiences and to develop my own needs I have evaluated as a learner and as a youth worker. First I must identify my own preferred learning style as everyone learns in different ways. There are many ways to establish your preferred way of learning and as supported by Reece and Walker (2000, p.9) â€Å"All students are individuals and no two students learn the same way†. It is important to indicate my l earning style in order for me to achieve my highest potential. To identify my learning style will outline my strengths and weaknesses. Rogers (1996, p.116) states that â€Å"Learning takes place in a number of different domains and different strategies are called into play to cope with different types of learning†. Identifying my strengths and weaknesses is important so that I can reflect on the outcome and then improve my skills† Kolb (1984) provides one of the most useful descriptive models available of the adult learning process. He suggests that there are four stages in learning which follow on from each other. Concrete experience is followed by reflection on the experience on a personal basis. This may then be followed by the application of general rules describing the experience, or the application of known theory to it and hence to the experimentation, leading in turn to the next concrete experience. All this may happen in a flash, overnight, over days, or over weeks and months, depending on the topic, and there may be a wheel within wheels process at the same time. (http://www.learningandteachin g.info/learning/experience.htm) By reviewing my progress and continuing to aim at my targets I am progressing through the learning cycle, which is important for me to improve on my self-assessing from experience, reflection, learning styles and development of skills. As I am relatively new to this area of work it is also important to reflect as a youth worker in order for me to be effective and capable within my job. It is necessary for me to reflect on my experiences so far from the year and a half I have spent in college and it’s important for me to continually highlight areas for development while I am on placement. First I must identify the strengths and skills I have acquired and then to plan my development needs. My role requires me develop plans to suit the service users; I feel my current qualifications and experience will develop after my placement. I also feel it is essential to enhance my current knowledge of youth and community work and monitor my progress. I think the important thing to remember is that I am reflecting for my own  development. Learning from class mates and lectures has also been an important method for change in professional practice. Current educational work in this area emphasises the need for safe learning frameworks where the voices of learners and professionals can be really heard and personally responded to. This has brought mutual learning and benefits for the professional and learners’ experience. (Taylor 2009) I feel that talking and thinking together about what is going on can make a big difference to my experience on placement and in the learning environment. Reflection is a way that I can make sense of experiences I have had, either with service users and/or colleagues. When I reflect I begin to make out the main points in detail of an experience, what it tells me about my own skills, why it happens perhaps, what I did well and a plan for what I might do differently in future. Reflective practice involves thinking about how I preformed and analyse my actions with the aim of improving professional practice. I reflect to identify learning needs; this is that we may not meet the needs of our clients’ needs due to poor knowledge base. Reflective practice also helps identify new opportunities for learning. Identify ways in which we learn best, personal development professional development. It helps us be aware not to get into a set routine, for every clients case is different to the next. Develops awareness of consequences of our actions for example what we say in response to a client may make the situation worse. Regular reflection helps us build theory and most of all it allows us to access what worked well and what doesn’t work well, and to learn from our mistakes and successes. Critically reflective practice is important for the student on work practice. If a student did not use critical reflection while on practice placement one would have ba d quality of practice. Critically reflective practice looks beliefs and assumptions one may have that they did not know of. This is important on practice placement as it deals with discrimination. Racism, sexism, and ageism. It is also important for students as it helps one become more self-aware, on the grounds of a social and political context. It is important as it ‘tunes in’ the student to issues clients face, provides answers and solutions. (The critically reflective, 2008). Reflective practice is important on work placement for  many reasons. The adaption of a reflective approach helps the development of a professional. Continuous professional development is adapting an approach in which the person uses their creativeness, and also uses a critical eye. (People’s skills, 2009). Reflective practice is also important as the student can use professional accountability during practice placement. This means workers are accountable for their decisions. They are responsible. Practitioners need theory to back up their decisions and choices. They make and also justify them. Professional accountability requires theory based arguments to account for the practitioner’s action. Inappropriate responses are consequences of not using reflective practice properly. Inappropriate responses cannot be used using ‘common sense’, as it may cause misinterpretations. Inappropriate responses also increase the chances of the practitioner to react in a way that does not help the client in any aspect. It also worsens the situation. Reflective practice consists of a proactive approach, and using theory and ones knowledge as a framework for effectiveness. Reflective practice is important for the student on practice placement for these reasons. (People’s skills, 2009). In conclusion, I found the importance of critical and reflection in any practice and it is an approach to professional practice that emphasizes the need for practitioners to avoid standardised, formula responses to the situations they encounter. Reflection is a window through which the practitioner can view and focus self within the context of their own lived experience. References Thompson N. â€Å"People Skills second edition† Hampshire and 175 Fifth Avenue New York, Palgrave Macmillan (2002) Thompson S. & Thompson N. â€Å"The Critically Reflective Practitioner† Hampshire and 175 Fifth Avenue New York, Palgrave Macmillan (2008) Redmond, Bairbre. (2004) Reflection in Action Developing Reflective Practice in Health and Social Services. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Share, P. & Lalor, K. (2009) Applied Social Care (2nd Ed). Dublin: Gill & Macmillan http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/experience.htm http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/whatisreflectivepractice.pdf

Gardner’s Theory on Seven Intelligences

Gardner’s intelligence theory comes from a book he wrote and published titled Frames of Mind (1983). Gardner’s theory on the seven intelligences was quickly adapted by the educational and training fields to help educators and trainers to understand personalities, intelligence, and learning styles. This has enabled educators and trainers to narrow in on how to teach and grasp the attention of all their students and trainees. Whereas encouraging and motivating them by understanding how they learn and the best way to teach them. Gardner’s theories and concepts are aids to understanding overall personalities and strengths. These theories and concepts are all easily understood and can be incorporated into almost any educational or training situation, to better assist in the education and training process. Sometimes combining more than one intelligence helps in finding the best way to educate and train individuals all over the world. Linguistic Intelligence is the intelligence of language or words, when you learn by writing the information down, or when you absorb information my hearing words this is all a form of Linguistic Intelligence. When you form images in your mind when learning or you have to picture what is being taught in your head this is part of the Spatial Intelligence. When you learn by listening to music or if you absorb information better when music is playing this is the Musical Intelligence. Now when learning comes when you actually do what is being taught, hands on so to speak this is called the Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence. Interpersonal Intelligence is happening when a person can learn about a person or situation by the vibe they get from another person in the situation. Also when you learn better through interactions with others like group projects or having a study buddy this can be considered Interpersonal Intelligence. When you rely on self to learn, by understanding your own feelings and interest this is the Intrapersonal Intelligence. People that use Intrapersonal Intelligence are usually independent learners. Now with Logical Mathematical Intelligence you learn by patterns and reasoning, often needing facts to solve problems, also with learning things need to make sense or be logical. Out of the Seven Intelligence Theories produced by Howard Gardner I believe that Linguistic and Bodily- Kinesthetic are the two that are most dominate in my life. When I learn or am trying to absorb information. I have to hear the words and follow along with the written words when possible. So I download audio files of my text books and take good notes, and when I go over my notes I always read them out loud. As with the Bodily- Kinesthetic Intelligence, I see this come through when I write information that I am trying to learn this ties into my Linguistic Intelligence, because I not only need to see and hear my work, I have to physically write it down. The motion of the writing and picturing the words in my mind, I always find it easier to retain information. In studying Gardner’s theories on intelligences I have so much about helping myself to learn more effectively and efficiently.

Marketing Analysis for Samsung Essay

INTRODUCTION Samsung was founded by Byung-Chull Lee on March 1, 1938, in Taegu, Korea, with 30,000 won. Initially his business focused primarily on trade export, selling dried Korean fish, vegetables, and fruit to Manchuria and Beijing. In little more than a decade, Samsung-which means â€Å"three stars† in Korean-would have its own flour mills and confectionery machines, its own manufacturing and sales operations, and ultimately evolve to become the modern global corporation that still bears the same name today. For over 70 years, Samsung has been dedicated to making a better world  through diverse businesses that today span advance technology, semiconductors, skyscraper, plant construction, petrochemical, fashion, medicine, finance, hotels and more. The flagship company, Samsung Electronics, leads the global market in hightech electronics manufacturing and digital media. Samsung move to partner with Google for their Android OS and the recent series of Smartphone has tremendously brought their revenue to greater heights. In 2011, the stellar Samsung GALAXY S II sold more than 10 million units worldwide, achieving the No. 1 global market share for smartphones (2011 Samsung Electronics Annual Report). Approx 94.5% of Singapore household has a hand phone in 2008.   Likely the percentage should be higher now. The functions of a hand phone have evolved greatly in this decade. From means of communication via SMS and calls, hand phone or rather Smartphone serves consumers a far range of functions today. A Smartphone offers more advance computing ability and connectivity then conventional mobile phone. Generally the established Smartphone brands in Singapore are Apple, Samsung, Nokia, HTC & Motorola. The rapid growth and success of Samsung are the reasons why our group chose this brand. We hope through in-depth research and analysis can we better understand the success factors behind this rapidly sprang brand, particularly in the Smartphone industry. 2.  SURVEY RESEARCH Survey research approach is done via questionnaire targeting general public. It can be used to gather information about people’s knowledge, attitudes, preferences, or buying behaviour for Smartphones. Basha and Harter (1980) state that â€Å"a population is any set of persons or objects that possesses at least one common characteristic. Through our survey, we sample a population which we hope can be representative of the Singapore consumers. This approach is selected by the group because it is the most widely used method to collected primary data to meet our research objectives. Through the primary data collected, we hope to draw certain information through analysis on consumer behaviour on the purchase of smartphones. Research Objectives The purpose of this survey is to understand our responders behaviour and attitude towards smartphone. We segmented the questionnaire into 4Ps namely product, price, place and promotion. We hope that with this survey finding we can better understand the needs of smartphone users, why they will or will not be using and also the reason why others are not using Samsung smartphone and the likelihood of them using Samsung in future. With the findings, we hope to draw conclusive data and make recommendations. 2.2  Contact Method We personally gave out the survey forms as shown in Appendix 1 to the general public at Ang Mo Kio Hub and Nanyang Polytechnic. We have given out to 41 respondents and used 30 of them for analysis (11 were deemed as void due to insufficient information or non completion) 2.3 Sampling Plan & Survey Questions A segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole. The survey is to be conducted with a sampling size of 30.The questions were limited to 10 to avoid being too lengthy resulting in fatigue respondents. First part of the survey included information pertaining respondents’ background such as gender & age which then we proceed to gathering information like consumer preference. Five point Likert scale was used to measure few variables. 3.  CUSTOMER We will further describe the customer segment for Samsung smartphones using demographic, psychographic and behavioural factors. 3.1  Demographic factors The targeted segment is for both male and female, probably age between 14 and 55, skewed more towards the Gen Y. The country or area should have good network (Eg: 3G, 4G, wireless connection) to ensure optimal usage of Smartphone features. 3.2  Psychographic factors There are basically three segments of users broadly in which Samsung wishes to target; entertainment focused, communication-focused and information-centric users. The entertainment-focused users are generally younger group which see a mobile device as a lifestyle choice, and they’re willing to pay extra for a device that’ll help keep them entertained. Entertainment can also include things like social messaging with friends, facebook and networking. The communication-focused users are extroverts who live to communicate with others. They’re often in people-facing jobs like sales. They’re willing to pay extra for a mobile device that lets them keep up with others in multiple ways. E-mail, SMS, voice, conferencing, video calling — basically, anything communication-related is compelling to them, and they will pay extra for a device that does it well. The information-centric users are more introverted. Rather than focusing on their dialog with others, they tend to do a lot of thinking on their own, and want their mobile device to be a  memory supplement and a means to capture new information. They’re will ing to pay extra for features that help them capture and remember ideas and information. 3.3  Behavioural factors Past users of Samsung (Be it handphone or other appliances) will likely purchase Samsung again due to familiarity and if they have had pleasant experience with the phone, the likelihood of repurchase is high. 4.  MARKETING MIX 4.1  Product a.  3 Levels of Product A product is normally defined as the physical items that consumers purchase. But actually the nature of a product can be further explored in 3 levels. They are The Core Product, The Actual Product and The Augmented Product which are further explained in Appendix 3. Smartphone industry is growing rapidly with many new brands coming in for a slice of market share each fighting towards fulfilling consumer growing wants. Understanding the 3 levels of product can better enable Samsung to position itself. Based on Kotler’s Three Level of Product Framework, the Samsung smartphone core product is giving consumers tool of communication. Through product  differentiation of smartphones, consumers are given a variety of choice for the actual product as illustrated in Appendix 3. Samsung’s strategy will ensure it is already at the finishing line when consumer tastes change hence it produces a wide product range for every taste and demand. b.  Consumer Product Samsung smartphone is categorised as a Shopping Product. Consumers will compare on the price, style, function, quality and suitability of the smartphone due to the multiple brands and model available in the market. Having achieved unmatched global competitiveness in hardware, Samsung has been focusing on enhancing its software capabilities in user interface, user experience, and design and brand awareness. To remain competitive, Samsung must continuously develop quality and innovative smartphones to stay in the lead. c.  Brand Development Strategy The most difficult step in developing a marketing plan is normally the process of developing a brand strategy. It’s often the biggest challenge face by most businesses but it is an important step in creating the company identity. In the smartphone market, Samsung branding still falls behind Apple. However Samsung in recent years has been very aggressive and rapidly gaining market share. We will move on to discuss Samsung brand development strategy. ‘While many companies that sponsor events are focused on boosting their brand awareness, Samsung Electronics looks at things a little differently. The Korean giant – a major sponsor of the recent Youth Olympic Games (YOG) – says that â€Å"brand preference† is a better indicator of whether its investment has paid dividends.’ (The Straits Time, 13 Sept 2010) Samsung sponsorships in Youth Olympic Games (YOG) and the upcoming London 2012 Olympics will certainly provide strong profile and brand power. Through sponsorship in the Olympics, Samsung seeks to, through user experience boost up their brand. d.  Survey Result on Target Segment Perception (Product) From our survey findings, 94% of the respondents are smartphone users with with 2 respondents one non-smartphone user and one unsure. We have checked with the unsure respondent and respondent was using a smartphone bought to her by her daughter. The strong percentage of smartphone users 94% as per survey results showed a strong And 60% of the respondents responded they are likely to purchase Samsung for their next phone. 4.2  Price a.  General Pricing Approach Price will always be the key concern of consumers’ before making any purchasing decision (Smith and Carsky, 1996). The level of price is found to positively affect behavioral intentions mainly because price establishes image of the brand in the eyes of the consumers (Aaker, 1991). The price set for any product including smartphone is crucial as it directly impacts on consumer purchase. The company’s range of low- to high-end smartphones caters to almost every budget. Based on client perceived value and market offerings, Samsung adopts  a value based pricing strategy. ‘If there is a consumer for it, we will offer the product, says Younghee Lee, senior vice-president of sales and marketing for Samsung’s mobile business.’ (The Business Time, 17 March 2011) b.  Price Compared to Competitors Samsung stays on a competitive price and with its vast product line; every price range is met with a product. We have used the recent launch of Samsung S3 Smartphone with its competitors as illustrated in Appendix 4. Samsung S3 smartphone is considered the high end product series in the smartphone market and we have chosen close competitors mainly Apple iPhone 4S and HTC One. From the comparison, though Samsung S3 is the latest product launch amongst the three phones, it still stays at a less than $100 price difference with competitors. The price Samsung offers is very close to its competitors giving it an edge over them. c.  Product Mix Pricing Strategies The product mix is the collection of products and services that a company chooses to offer its market and pricing strategies based on what objectives the company had set for them. Samsung’s product strategy is to create Android devices across varying price points and flood the market through as many carriers across the world as possible. The original Galaxy S was sold through about 240 different global vendors. Product-line pricing involve setting price for different products within a product range at different price point is the strategy Samsung applied for smartphone. For example, Samsung had a lot of smartphones products with different design and feature at different prices as shown in Appendix 5. The greater the feature and benefit obtain, the higher the consumer have to pay. d.  Price Adjustment Strategies A set of strategies used by companies to adjusted their basic prices to account for various customer differences and changing situations. The  commonly use strategies are Discount and Allowance Pricing, Segmented Pricing, Psychological Pricing and Promotional Pricing. In the smartphone industry, discount and allowance pricing adjustment strategy is commonly used. This strategy allows companies to adjust their basic price to reward customers for certain responses, such as early payment of bills, volume purchases, and off-season buying. This strategy can come in many forms. Seasonal discount is a price reduction to buyers who buy merchandise or services out of season. For example, when Samsung Galaxy S3 is launch, the price of Samsung Galaxy S2 was reduced. In this scenario, older model of smartphone is the same as off season products. Seller will offer discount to encourage the buyer to purchase off older models. Allowances are another type of reduction from the list price. For example, trade-in allowances are price reductions given for turning in an old item when buying a new one. Trade-in allowances are most common in vendors selling smartphone. e.  Survey Result on Target Segment Perception (Price) Through our survey findings, most respondents rated price as ‘most important’ factor to consider when buying a smartphone. An interesting thing to note is 40% of the respondents mentioned they will pay up to $300 for a smartphone and 30% mentioned they are willing to pay more than $1500 for a smartphone. It is therefore important to draw specific data to understand the needs and wants for those segmented clients. 4.3  Place a.  Number of channel levels Place is also known as channel, distribution or intermediary. It is the mechanism through which goods are moved from the manufacturer to the consumer. We have analysed Samsung smartphone distribution as shown in Appendix 6. Samsung practises indirect channels using selective distribution. The channel contains one to two intermediary levels. Through the major telcos and authorised dealers, Samsung distribution in Singapore is very intense, and this is exactly what Samsung wants. One can purchase a Samsung Smartphone at every neighbourhood in Singapore. All authorised distributors were given product training & support whenever needed. All telco (SingTel, M1, Starhub) also have dedicated staff to provide training & desk support to consumers should they require assistance on how to use the smartphones. b.  Channel intensity From the Appendix 6, the distribution channels are intense diverting to over 300 outlets making it easily accessible for consumers. The wide and broad channels are one factor for Samsung success. c.  Number of outlets, location The outlets for Singapore are estimated to be over 300, with at least one outlet in every neighbourhood and the availability to buy online with free delivery. d.  Survey Result on Target Segment Perception (Place) From our survey results, 99% of the respondents bought their phone through the various channels with 49% through telco and dealers. Consumers prefer buying phones with contracted lines and this might suggest Samsung can consider giving a better incentive to telcos and dealers to further boost up their sales. 4.4  Promotion a.  Marketing Communications Objectives Marketing communications objectives is paramount to marketing success. If there is no objective, than there will be no way to measure the marketing success. After all, an objective is the goal intended to attained, which should be attainable and can be measured. Understanding the Product Life Cycle (as illustrated in Appendix 7) of each product can enable the company to respond with the marcom objectives. Though Samsung started its Smartphone in 2008, in our opinion the stage for Samsung smartphone is at its maturity stage in the Singapore context. During launch of a new smartphone, the objectives will be more informative like: Telling market about the new product Explaining how a product works Suggest new uses for a product Marketing effort by Samsung is normally conducted for launch of new products. As for their existing products, it is conducted together with their vendors like IT fairs and Electronic fairs. The marketing communication objectives for these efforts will be different from a new launch. The objectives these efforts are: Encourage brand switching Persuading customers to purchase now Build brand preference Keep product in consumers’ mind Maintain top of mind awareness Promotion Mix Attractive prices of good products are not enough for a business to generate maximum sales and profits. The benefits of products have to be communicated to customers. In marketing, this is commonly known as â€Å"promotion†. The total marketing communications programme is called â€Å"promotion mix†. Elements of promotion mix include Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public Relations, Personal Selling and Direct Marketing. The elements of promotion mix used by Samsung smartphone are: 1) Advertising Deliver marketer’s message using any paid form of mass media outlets, it involve non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. The 3 purpose of advertising are Informative, Persuasive and Reminder. Samsung has been using all three purposes for their advertising campaign in different occasion. Let’s look into Samsung individual advertising purpose and objectives. Sales Promotion Sales promotions normally refer to encouraging customers to respond or undertake some activity using some form of incentives through special short-term techniques. Some of the sales promotions technique used by Samsung smart phone is: a)  Joint promotion with Major Telco Samsung smartphone often had joint promotion with major telco to boost up the sales of the smartphone. For example the  promotion that was in the Starhub official site that offers  Samsung Galaxy S3 at different price depending on the plan  sign up or the Samsung Galaxy S2 at a low price with 2 years plan. (As shown in Appendix 8) b)  Joint Promotion with Major Electronic Mega Store Samsung always conduct joint promotion with major electronic mega store during ad-hoc promotion fair. Premiums like additional SD card, screen protector, casing or 0% interest instalment plan is often used during such fair. This promotion is used to enhance the sales by offering some perks and also to clear stock for the older model smartphone. (As shown in  Appendix 9) Survey Result on Target Segment Perception (Promotion) Through our survey findings, respondents rated ‘current mobile plan expired’ as the most important factor which influence their purchase of smartphone. This might be an important indicator for Samsung to have intense tie up promotions with the telcos to offer consumers attractive rates for those plans that have expired. A significant percentage of respondents also mentioned the launch of new  smartphone is influential in making the purchase. These are likely the consumers who are willing to pay a premium price for the latest launch of smartphone. Samsung can utilise this and through advertising for example; television commercial, newspaper advertisements, internet announce the new launch in a tasteful manner to attract this segment of consumers. 5.  CONCLUSION Constantinides (2006) emphasizes that marketing mix is a framework of the dominant marketing management paradigm to identify market development, environmental changes and trends. Several studies confirm that the 4Ps is indeed the trusted conceptual platform of practitioners dealing with operational marketing issues (Romano and Ratnatunga, 1995; Coviello et al., 2000). The wide acceptance of the 4Ps among field marketers is the result of their profound exposure to this concept during college years, since identifying the 4Ps as the controllable parameters is likely to influence the consumer buying process and decisions (Brassington and Pettitt, 2003; Soekartawi, 2005a). We conducted the survey to evaluate different segments of customers’ attitude toward 4Ps. It is expected that with this survey findings with the primary data we have collected can we better understand and provide recommendation for Samsung  to develop greater understanding of how to serve existing and potential customer based on 4Ps concept for a basis to meet profitability of their business. Through our survey, we realised a very important trend; almost 94% of the respondents carry a smart phone. Assuming the latest data from Singstat stating 95% of Singapore household having a handphone, and with that equate to 94% of them having a Smartphone, the total volume of smartphone market is estimated to be minimum 3-4Million in Singapore alone. Current users of Samsung are generally satisfied with the features and functions of the phone. However as Samsung faces close competition with its competitors, Samsung needs to continuously come out with new innovation and technology to stay in the lead. As Samsung is in its maturity stage of the product life cycle, Samsung needs to differentiate itself from competitors. However the tricky part is to position products across different, yet overlapping, market segments. It is important to note, however, that since some consumers may belong to both segments, positioning claims for a product should never conflict. To avoid confusing consumers, it may be necessary to make a broad appeal to both segments and then change the positioning slightly within each segment. As Samsung smartphone do has many variations, approximate 24, the positioning within each range should be unique and clear to consumers. Overall we feel that Samsung has done well to come this far and stay in the lead. The advantages Samsung has over competitors are the wide distribution channels and the vast product variations. Samsung must continue to ensure its distributors and telcos are given attractive incentives which in turn can bring in non Samsung users. 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