Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs free essay sample

Once upon a time in a great castle, a Princes daughter grew up happy and contented, in spite of a jealous stepmother. She was very pretty, with blue eyes and long black hair. Her skin was delicate and fair, and so she was called Snow White. Everyone was quite sure she would become very beautiful. Though her stepmother was a wicked woman, she too was very beautiful, and the magic mirror told her this every day, whenever she asked it. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the loveliest lady in the land? The reply was always; You are, your Majesty, until the dreadfulNight came, but the servant did not return. Snow White, alone in the dark forest, began to cry bitterly. She thought she could feel terrible eyes spying on her, and she heard strange sounds and rustlings that made her heart thump. At last, overcome by tiredness, she fell asleep curled under a tree. We will write a custom essay sample on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Snow White slept fitfully, wakening from time to time with a start and staring into the darkness round her. Several times, she thought she felt something, or somebody touch her as she slept. At last, dawn woke the forest to the song of the birds, and Snow White too, awoke.A whole world was stirring to life and the little girl was glad to see how silly her fears had been. However, the thick trees were like a wall round her, and as she tried to find out where she was, she came upon a path. She walked along it, hopefully. On she walked till she came to a clearing. There stood a strange cottage, with a tiny door, tiny windows and a tiny chimney pot. Everything about the cottage was much tinier than it ought to be. Snow White pushed the door open. l wonder who lives here? she said to herself, peeping round the kitchen. What tiny plates!And spoons! There must be seven of them, the tables laid for seven people. Upstairs was a bedroom with seven neat little beds. Going back to the kitchen, Snow White had an idea. Ill make them something to eat. When they come home, theyll be glad to find a meal ready. Towards dusk, seven tiny men marched homewards singing. But when they opened the door, to their surprise they found a bowl of hot steaming soup on the table, and the whole house spick and span. Upstairs was Snow White, fast asleep on one of the beds. The chief dwarf prodded her gently. But they warned Snow White not to open the door to strangers. Meanwhile, the servant had returned to the castle, with the heart of a roe deer. He gave it to the cruel stepmother, telling her it belonged to Snow White, so that he could claim the reward. Highly pleased, the stepmother turned again to the magic mirror. But her hopes were dashed, for the mirror replied: The loveliest in the land is still Snow White, who lives in the seven dwarfs cottage, down in the forest. The stepmother was beside herself with rage. She must die! She must die! she screamed.

conflict in romantic relationships essays

conflict in romantic relationships essays Spanking a child is a controversial issue. On one side of the debate are people who believe spanking is a necessary component of parenting. On the contrary are people who think spanking a child is destructive. Somewhere in the middle are people who believe spanking is legitimate only when used correctly. Part of the reason for the debate is that some parents and experts define spanking differently. To some, spanking means slapping a child on the rear-end, while others believe it is a form of corporal punishment that does not cause injury. By showing how each perspective of spanking supports their claim and defining spanking, one will be able to form an opinion. In order to conclude an argument, it is first necessary to define any vague or ambiguous terms. Spanking is an unclear term in need of explanation. To some spanking means to slap a child on the buttocks, while others believe it is a mild form of corporal punishment that does not cause harm to the child. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) defines spanking as "one or two flat-handed swats on a child's wrist or rear end" (Rosellini 52). The New American Webster Handy College Dictionary also agrees with the AAP when defining spanking as "[to] strike with an open hand." Spanking does not infer a sustained whipping from Dads belt, but a mild form of corporal punishment that does not cause injury. Spanking is alive and well today despite the anti-spanking prohibition. In a poll sponsored by Working Mother and the Epcot Center at Walt Disney World in Florida, 7,225 adults and 2,599 kids were surveyed (Hickey 48). When asked, "When should parents spank their children," 51 percent replied "When they think it's necessary," 30 percent said "Only in extreme circumstances," and only ten percent answered "Never"(Hickey 48). Twelve percent of young adults, ages 18 to 34, which responded to the poll, said spanking should not occur; in comparison with the seven percent ...

Career Development Programs Support Retention

This paper attempts to explain the human resource best practices in a fashion company known as Pearl collections by analyzing the six stages of the employee lifecycle. These six steps include; recruitment & selection, orientation & onboarding, employee services, talent development & retention, performance management and transition. This essay will then examine how these cycle stages contribute to Pearl collections and also the implementation process.   Human resource best practices are one of the human resource management models pioneered by Pfeffer who advised when put into practice would improve the performance of an organization  (Pfeffer, 1998). Best practice according to Boxall and Purcell's, emphasizes the vitality of empowering an employee's ability through right staffing and training, offering strong financial incentives and providing an open and engaging environment where the employees can share ideas and participate.  (Purcell, 2003) It is important to understand that applying a few human resource best practices in one company, industry or corporate culture may not necessarily yield the same results or be the right practice in another. The methods highly depend on the demographic makeup of a company, size, resources available, socioeconomic factors, location, regulatory and legal environment. Understanding employees and what might engage them to perform better should is vital before implementing any strategy. The HR Reporter shares the culture of Zappos to be crazy in that they believe in having fun at work to the extent of asking employees to dress up as superheroes. The employees who are disengaged are paid to leave the company which may be a huge number as not everyone might be comfortable with it (Kreissl, 2013). At Carswell, a favorite activity that makes the workplace more fun is their annual ice cream day and this according to management is a fun little program that drives employee engagement. The culture at Zappos and Carswell when compared are entirely different, and various people might share both positive and negative feedback on them. These examples prove that not every policy, practice or program will work at every company hence the importance of internal and external analysis of the organization.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Recruitment and selection are the first stages of the employee lifecycle and are, therefore,     the foundations for human resource management. Pearl Collections pride itself to be an attractive employer that recruits locally whenever a boutique opens, one that cares about gender inclusivity, diversity, employee growth, health, and safety. During this stage the human resource manager analyzes the job, its role, creates a person specification which consists of the skills and qualifications required, experience, and comes up with a remuneration package. This process follows advertising, shortlisting and then selection of the preferred candidate while taking into consideration passion, attitude and behavior as the essential characteristics. To aid in recruitment, Pearl uses a few agencies who prescreen the candidates on the level of position, education, and skills. This process gives the company an upper hand regarding maximized exposure and increases the number of applicants for va rious positions. According to PRADA Group, the information collected during the selection process strictly relates to the authentication of the professional profile being sort, while respecting candidate's personal opinions  (PRADA, 2007). This open dialogue gives the applicant room to be open minded and share his/her views openly enabling the human resource department to get a comprehensive analysis. The second stage of the employee lifecycle is orientation & onboarding. PeopleAdmin shares that Onboarding is a process and orientation is an event and that a sound onboarding process spans from one to two years  (PeopleAdmin, n.d.). Pearl collections believe in carrying out successful orientation and onboarding processes as the transition ensures success on the candidate’s part which impacts on the company. Pearl is aware of the importance of enabling a candidate to reach his/her full potential hence carries out the orientation process accurately and concisely. The HR department issues the candidate with information on the company, appropriate forms, takes the candidate around to meet other agencies and promotes communication. The onboarding process conveys the brand, values, professional culture, product knowledge and sales techniques and expectations to the candidate and provides tools to aid in his or her productivity. To ensure employees are well taken care of, Rag & Bo ne has an HR team of six individuals which is fundamental to its growth strategy and research shows that they excel at recruitment with high-profit margins (Pike, 2015). Employee services as an employee life cycle stage are benefits offered to employees by employers to instill their loyalty and prevent them from leaving for greener grass. The fashion industry is known to rotate employees and to keep them from jumping ship; Pearl collections complies with the legal departments of all states, offers medical insurance, a life insurance plan, disability insurance, offer paternity and maternity leaves, holidays and sick leaves. As the company is keen on being relevant, it is planning to open a child care area in one of the spare rooms to enhance productivity and to also introduce a wellness program by offering reimbursable gym membership costs which could reduce health care costs through promotion of healthier lifestyles. At HUGOBOSS, healthcare is a significant factor, the company cafeteria follows a balanced nutrition plan, and the company has a fitness studio offering courses in back training and aerobics which increase staff retention rates (HUGOBOSS, 2012). Talent development & retention is the fourth employee cycle stage, and it is crucial to both engagement and the output of the company. Key elements of talent and leadership, development, strategies and best practices are key under this stage. Pearl endeavors to involve itself in talent development by continuously grooming and upgrading the employees by attracting the right staff, providing the latest technology, sensitizing them on how to excel, use of rewards and incentives, motivation, empowerment and offering career advancement opportunities. The company understands that high employee turnover is a problem hence the strategies aid in developing a sense of loyalty by investing in the employees. Rag and Bone has an employee-led development scheme which enables the employees to take charge of their development by providing tools and resources to get their employees thinking ahead about their careers and not waiting for their managers to develop them  (Pike, 2015). Performance management as the fifth employee cycle stage is strategic with the aim of ensuring employees are contributing positively to the objectives of the business using a range of HR activities and processes. Pearl has customer care indicators that are used to gauge employee performance standards. These indicators have a collection of customer surveys, focus group discussions and customer complaints. Pearl recognizes it gets successful when the relationship between managers and employees is one of fairness, trust, good communication and contains an open door policy to enable generation and utilization of ideas. Pearl is keen on fostering good performance management because it helps every staff; understand the path of the business and what it wants to achieve. The standards of performance required, everyone's role in helping the company accomplish its goals. Understand how they can develop their performance and contribute to the growth of the organization and also where there are performance problems and how to handle them. The PRADA group encourages management and employees to take up responsibilities, to work, win challenges and achieve corporate objectives. This entrepreneurial culture recognizes, promotes and rewards the pro-activeness of the individual and teamwork. This cultural contribution aid in the achievement of the company's strategy and adopting consistency and responsibility traits  (PRADA, 2007). The sixth employee life cycle is transition which is the process when an employee leaves a company on retirement, better opportunity, getting fired, being laid off or due to personal reasons. It is, therefore, the work of the HR to manage the transition process by ensuring the following all procedures and processes. Pearl's HR department has an employee development plan in place to aid in the smooth transition. This plan contains a list of the employee's pending projects with a step by step process detailing actions this individual will take to finish the tasks. The HR follows up with the employee in the days following the day of departure. A form is shared with the employee for him/her to share honest opinions on their views about the company, reasons for leaving and areas for improvement. The HR delegates the tasks that cannot be completed before the employee's departure to other employees either do it or manage it until they hire a replacement. According to Forbes, Ron shares an e vent where a senior manager, unannounced and fired his employee and directed all his questions to the HR who at the time was ill prepared. This manager had for the last six months given the employee positive feedback and claimed his firing grounds on the lack of teamwork. This behavior as Ron further explains probably generated a major lawsuit and he calls it an extreme example (Ashkenas, 2013).  Ã‚   In conclusion, human resource best practices are one of the most dominant ways for a business to ensure the creation of value for the customers especially at Pearl collections and our profitability. The apparel industry is highly dominated and competitive, and by putting into place the six stages of the employee lifecycle, our relevance reinforces our strategic position. Pearl's measurement of success relies on low employee turnover, employee satisfaction, enhanced performance, career growth, increased responsibility, high levels of customer service, competency, high profits, improved morale, access to information, communication, self-improvement and existence of development programs just to name a few. In the future, Pearl collections are determined to continue offering fashionable items at quality prices and expand by opening more boutiques in various countries as our profitability and growth are on track. Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2003).  Strategy and human resource management  (1st ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan Education. Code of Ethics  (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.pradagroup.com/documents/governance/code_of_ethics_en.pdf Fashion Companies Need to Rethink Their HR Function.  The Business of Fashion. , from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/the-strategic-importance-of-hr Forbes Welcome. (2013).  Forbes.com. , from   https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronashkenas/2013/03/11/if-you-have-to-fire-an-employee-heres-how-to-do-it-right/#3c954ad0151f Gomez, M. (2014).  How Career Development Programs Support Employee Retention.  Td.org. from https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Career-Development-Blog/2014/10/How-  Ã‚  Ã‚   Career-Development-Programs-Support-Employee-Retention Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), AN HRM CASE STUDY. (2009) (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://colbournecollege.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/7/9/23793496/5385hrm_case_study_0.p  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   df How to manage performance | Advisory booklet | Acas.  Acas.org.uk. Retrieved from https://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2927 Kreissl, B. (2013).  What exactly are HR best practices? | Canadian HR Reporter.  Hrreporter.com. , from https://www.hrreporter.com/columnist/hr-policies-  Ã‚   practices/archive/2013/04/22/what-exactly-are-hr-best-practices/ MANAGEMENT REPORT. (2011) (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://group.hugoboss.com/files/HUGOBOSS_GB2011_Lagebericht_En_AGAbschluss.p  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   df Pfeffer, J. (1998).  Seven Practices of Successful Organizations  (2nd ed.). California. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeffrey_Pfeffer/publication/265114424_Seven_Practices_of_Successful_Organizations/links/56cbb52b08aee3cee54192bc.pdf Thompson, S.  Human Resources Life Cycle.  Smallbusiness.chron.com. Retrieved from   https://smallbusiness.chron.com/human-resources-life-cycle-62078.html Types of Employee Services.  Smallbusiness.chron.com. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/types-employee-services-2802.html What is employee transition planning?.  Reference. Retrieved from   https://www.reference.com/business-finance/employee-transition-planning-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   46898c77ac071e75 What is Onboarding Exactly? - PeopleAdmin.  PeopleAdmin. Retrieved from https://www.peopleadmin.com/2013/01/what-is-onboarding-exactly/

How to Improve China's International Trade Essay

How to Improve China's International Trade - Essay Example International trade in China nowadays is the most developed form of international contacts. The Chinese international turnover during the years of reforms has grown from $10 billion in 1978 to $325 billion in 1997 (the positive balance equals to more than $40 billion). By the international trade volume China now takes the third place in the world, with its export and import in 2005 equaling to $1422.1 billion. (Lloyd 2006, p. 389) More than 220 countries have international trade relations with China, among which are USA, Japan, European Union, Korea, Taiwan, Russia, Australia and Canada. On July 1st, 2004 China adopted a new law 'About International Trade'. With the aim of stimulating the international trade, this law has replaced the regime of considering and registering the right for carrying out external economic operations for the simple system of registration, and there have been created strict regulations, relating to import and export of goods and technologies, international s ervice trade, international trade order, as well as the protection of copyright according to the abovementioned order. (Garnaut & Song 2005, p. 27) The dependence of Chinese economy on the international trade has grown significantly, which witnesses about its deep involvement into the world international ties and processes. Though China takes the third place in the world economy by the international trade volume, its weight in it can still become higher. The main obstacle for this is the low quality of the bigger portion of the goods, produced by the processing industry, which don't survive the rivalry of the similar products on the world market, and the absence of possibilities for increasing the raw materials export. The main task of the Chinese export policy is the providing of import financing, which is built with the account of the international conjuncture. The main efforts are directed at stimulating predominant growth of finished goods' export with the growing portion of science-heavy products; these processes are accompanied by achieving the quality of goods, which will correspond to the international quality standards . Considerable growth has been achieved in the total volume of finished goods' export, which by the beginning of 90s constituted already 2/3 of the Chinese export. The first place in export (50%) belongs to the consumer goods, among which clothes, shoes, toys, etc. An important place in the international trade of China is taken by the raw materials processing with the further export of the finished products - it constitutes about 50% of the total country's turnover. China is the leader in exporting textiles and silk. Textile industry is the main source of foreign income for China. (Kent 2002, p. 344) Less than 20% of export accounts for machine building and electro technical products. The growth of the specific gravity of these products in the world export is being restricted by the fact, that their quality is not competitive with that of other suppliers. The portion of Chinese machine building in the world export does not exceed 0.3%. (Manilla Bulletin 2005, p. 12) The structure of the international trade in China was described here to decide, what challenges are set in front of Chinese economy and foreign trade as the essential part in its development. The definition and determination of challenges will lead us to the definition of

Judgement in Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Judgement in Accounting - Essay Example Secondly, accounting follows a framework popularly known as â€Å"The Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting†. In addition, the overall accounting structure and basic formation of reporting, assists in conceptualizing accounting better. The knowledge of accounting principles, procedures, and rules is valuable to business and its eventual success in any given financial period. Financial records are made numerically and any accounting analysis on them should be numerical (Anthony, 1993). The â€Å"International Public Sectors Accounting Standards Board† sets standards and Recommended Practice Guidelines in accounting. They are used by government agencies in the national, regional, and local governments. According to this board, the Conceptual Framework for Financial Accounting is mainly used for preparation and presentation of general purpose financial reports (Needles & Powers, 2012). The Conceptual Framework also extends its authority to public sectors social secu rity funds, trusts, statutory authorities, as well as, international governmental organizations. However, the general purpose financial reporting has the main objective of providing financial information about a business that comes in handy when looking for current investors; reports to creditors when requesting for loans; and decision making regarding purchases, sales, equity holding and debts in line with the profits or returns. There are two types of financial reports. They include general Purpose Financial Reports and Special purpose Financial Reports. General Purpose Financial reporting refers to a central component of enhancement and support, of the financial reports by public sector entities. The intentions of these reports is to satisfy the information requirements, for users who may be in a position that lacks enabling factors for preparation of financial reports that are tailor-made, to meet their information needs. They also contain a number of reports each of which gives a response that is within the scope of financial reporting, with respect to the objectives of financial reporting. However, the scope of financial reporting also includes guidelines on how other various events and activities can be reported in the financial report. On the other hand, Special Purpose Financial Reports (SPFRs) are financial reports whose sole purpose is to respond to specifications for users that bear authority, to make such requirements and for a specific purpose (Piper, 2013). There are characteristics that guide the qualitative nature of important financial information. These characteristics include comparability, timeliness, verifiability and comprehensibility. However, the basic qualitative characteristics include relevance and faithful representation. For financial information to display relevance, it should influence the decision made by the user (Balakrishnan & sprinkle, 2008). Failure to consider the importance of the relevance of the information will create a niche, even after the decision is made. However, the financial information must display a predictive value and a confirmatory value to attain relevance. Moreover, the confirmatory value should either confirm or differ with the evaluations that were previously made. On the other hand, financial information that exhibits a predictive value must also exhibit a confirmatory value because these two values are interrelated. For instance, a company’s financial report can be used to project future earnings for the company (Gupta, 2009). However, it should also be verified that the method of prediction

Marketing Management Assignment-Smu Essay Example for Free

Marketing Management Assignment-Smu Essay Q.1 A. Explain the six criteria for effective market segmentation * Identity The marketing manager must have some means of identifying members of the segment i.e., some basis for classifying an individual as being or not being a member of the segment. There must be clear differences between segments. Members of such segments can be readily identified by common characteristics as they display similar behavior. * Accessibility It must be possible to reach the different segments in regard to both promotion and distribution. ln other words, the organisation must be able to focus its marketing efforts on the chosen segment. Segments must be accessible in two senses. First, firms must be able to make segmented customers aware of products or services. Second, they must get products to them through the distribution system at a reasonable cost. * Responsiveness — A clearly defined segment must react to changes in any of the elements of the marketing mix. For example. if a particular segment is defined as being cost-conscious, it should react negatively to price rises. If it does not, this is an indication that the segment needs to be redefined. * Size The segment must be reasonably large to be a profitable target. Lt depends upon the number of people in it and their purchasing power. For example, makers of luxury goods may appeal to small but wealthy target markets whereas makers of cheap consumption goods may sell to a large but relatively poor target markets. * Nature of demand — lt refers to the different quantities demanded by various segments. Segmentation is required only if there are market differentiation in terms of demand. The marketing manager should not only be able to find out the total demand and the differences in demand patterns in each of these segments. * Measurability — The purpose of segmentation is to measure the changing behavioural pattern of consumers. For example, the segment of a market for a car is determined by a number of considerations, such as economy, status, quality, safety, comforts, etc. B. Discuss the types of target marketing strategies. * Undifferentiated marketing strategy or mass marketing strategy In the absence of a proper mechanism to classify the market into a number of markets segments and analyse their potential, many firms decide on the mass marketing strategy. In this case, the marketer goes against the idea of a differentiated market and decides to sell the product to the whole market. Here the marketing manager ignores the idea of segment characteristics and differences, and develops a unified marketing programme for the entire market. This strategy keeps the overall marketing costs low and makes it easier to manage and track the market forces uniformly. The marketer tries to find out commonalities across various segments rather than focusing on the differences between segments. * Concentrated marketing strategy In the second alternative strategy, the marketing manager decides to enter into a selected market segment instead of all the available market segments. When resources and market access are limited and the company has to face intense competition, the marketing manager has to stretch the budget for market coverage. In this case, the company is likely to follow the concentrated marketing strategy. * Differentiated marketing strategy Many marketers choose to target several segments or niches with a differentiated marketing offer to suit each market segment. Maruti is the leading automobile company, which has the distinction of having different products for different market segments. Q.2 Explain the consumer buying decision process. * Problem recognition A buying process starts when a consumer recognizes that there is a substantial discrepancy between his/her current state of satisfaction and expectations in a consumption situation. A need can be activated through internal or external stimuli. The basic needs of common men rise to a particular level and become a drive. From their previous experiences, they know how to satisfy these needs like hunger, thirst, sex, etc. This is a case of internal stimulus. A need can also be aroused by an external stimulus such as sighting a new product in a shop while purchasing other usual products. * Information search After need arousal, the behaviour of the consumer leads towards collection of available information about various stimuli. ln this case, information about products and services are gathered from various sources for further processing and decision-making. The first source of consumer information is the internal source. This means the consumer first search the information regarding the relevant product from his/her inner memory. If the information is not available from internal source for making a purchase decision he or she may collect information from external sources. A External sources for desired information can be grouped into four categories. * Personal sources (family, friends, neighbors, and peer group) * Commercial sources or market dominated sources (advertisements, salesmen, dealers, and company owned sales force) * Public sources (mass media, consumer rating organisations, and trade association publications) * Experiential sources (handling, examining, and using the product) The marketer will find it worthwhile to study the consumers’ information sources when: * A substantial percentage of the target market engages in the search * The target market shows some stable patterns of using the respective information sources. * Alternative evaluation Once interest in a product(s) is aroused, a consumer enters the subsequent stage of evaluation of alternatives. Evaluation leads to formation of buying intention that can be to either purchase or reject the product/brand. The final purchase will however depend on the strength of the positive-intention, which is the intention to buy. * Purchase decision Finally the consumer arrives at a purchase decision. Purchase decisions can be any one of the three no buying, buying later, and buy now. No buying takes the consumers to the problem recognition stage as their consumption problem is not solved and they may again get involved in the process as we have explained. A postponement of buying can be due to a lesser motivation or evolving personal and economic situation that forces the consumer not to buy now or postponement of purchase for future period of time. If positive attitudes are formed towards the decided alternative, the consumer will make a purchase. * Post-purchase behaviour Post-purchase behaviour refers to the behaviour of consumers after their commitment to a product has been made. It originates out of consumers’ experience regarding the use of the product and is indicated in terms of satisfaction. This behaviour is reflected in repeated purchases or abstinence from further purchase. A satisfied product-use experience leads to repeated purchase, referrals from satisfied customers to new customers, higher usage rate, and also brand advocacy. Q.3 A. Discuss the Henry Assael model on buying decision behaviour. Henry Assael has come up with an explanation to analyse why consumers buy the goods they buy. He explained the relationship between the level of involvement by the consumers in the purchase of goods and services and the level at which diverse goods or services differ from one another. High involvement Low Involvement Signiï ¬ cant differences Complex Variety Seeking between brands Buying Behaviour Buying Behaviour Few differences Dissonance Reducing Habitual Buying between brands Buying Behaviour * Complex buying behaviour — Consumers are highly involved in a purchase and aware of significant differences among brands. This is usually the case when the product is expensive, bought infrequently, risky, and highly self-expressive. Typically the consumers dont know much about the product category and have more to learn. Example: personal computer. * Dissonance-reducing — sometimes, the consumer is highly involved in a purchase but sees little differences in the brands. The high involvement is based on the fact that the purchase is expensive, infrequent, and risky. Example: carpet. After purchasing the carpet, consumers might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain disquieting features of the carpet or hearing favorable things about other carpets. * Habitual buying behaviour Many products are bought under conditions flow consumer involvement and the absence of significant brand differences. Considering salt, consumers have little involvement in this product category. They go to the store and reach for a brand. If they keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit and not strong brand loyalty. * Variety-seeking buying Some buying situations are characterized by low consumer involvement but significant brand differences. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. Consumers do the brand switching for the sake of variety rather than dissatisfaction. Example: wafer potato chips. B. Explain the five stages of Adoption Process. * Awareness During the first stage of adoption process, the product innovation is explained to the consumers. This process gives information about the new product or service. * Interest When consumers develop an interest in the product or product category, they search for information about how the innovation can benefit them. * Evaluation The evaluation stage represents a kind of ‘mental trial’ of the product innovation. Only if the consumers’ evaluation of the innovation is satisfactory, they will actually try the product. In case the evaluation is unsatisfactory, the product is automatically rejected. * TriaI- ln this stage- consumers use the product on a limited basis. Their experience with the product provides them with the critical information that they need to adopt or reject it. * Adoption -In this stage, consumers decide to make full and regular use of the product. Q.4 Describe the components of the micro environment of marketing * The company Some company factors that affect the marketing decisions are: Culture and value system — Organizational culture can be viewed as the system of shared values and beliefs that shape a company’s behavioural norms. A value. is an enduring preference as a mode of conduct or an end state. The value system of the founders of the organisation has a lasting impact on it. The value system not only influences the working of the company and the attitude of its people but also the choice of its business. 1. Mission and objectives — The mission and objectives of the company guide the priorities, direction of development, business philosophy, and business policy. 2. Management structure and nature Structure is the manner in which the tasks and sub-tasks of the organisation are related. Structure is concerned with the hierarchical relationship and the relationship between the management of different functional areas like the structure of the top management and the pattern of share holding. 3. Human resource This concerns factors like manpower planning, recruitment and selection, compensation, communication, and appraisal. * Intermediaries intermediaries are independent business units and they carry the company’s products and services to the customers. Prominent intermediaries include wholesalers, retailers, merchants, selling agents, brokers, etc. Their objective of being in business is different than being in a firm, so the intermediaries will be interested in maximizing their profits. Any trade promotion scheme will motivate them to push competitors’ product deeper and faster. * Public Positive and favorable public opinion is crucial to marketing success since the public is the authority that permits the existence and operation of competitive marketing systems. This environmental factor includes the general public, its support, the government, and the set of public who have a direct bearing on business. These public can be classified as welcome public, sought public, and unsought public. As a marketer, one must understand that the general public grants the license for conducting business with an expectation that the company will practice fair play. Lack of this supportive framework as evidenced by declining sales or adverse public opinion can lead to eventual failure of the firm as well as the marketing system. * Competitors Success or failure of an offer largely depends on how competitors react to the company‘s offer. Godrej was a successful refrigerator manufacturer. Once competition intensified, the company started losing market share. Today, though there is a growth in refrigerator industry, Godrej as a brand is not growing as fast as its competitors. Through the years, marketing systems have become increasingly competitive. Traditional economic analysis, views competition as a battle between companies in the same industry or between substitutable products. Marketers, however, tend to accept the argument that all firms are competing for a limited discretionary buying power. Though we can say that Maruti as a car manufacturing-company is facing competition from other car manufacturers, ultimately it is the consumers disposable income for which shampoos, soaps, and scooters are also competing with Maruti. A customer is expected to allocate his disposable income optimally and in the process a category also competes with another category to be in the active consideration set of customers for such an allocation. Industry has found numerous new uses for existing products, with the whole arena of competition being expanded. While this forces business to reassess long-established marketing practices, it also opens new avenues of business opportunity. Emergence of computers with multimedia as a tool of infotainment and knowledge sharing device has challenged traditional products in the entertainment market. * Suppliers Increase in the price of raw materials will have a bang on effect on the marketing mix strategy of an organisation. As a result, the prices may be forced up. This is the impact that the suppliers can have. Closer relationship with suppliers is one way of ensuring competitive and quality products for an organisation. * Customers Organisations exist because of customers. No customer means, no business. Organizations on how they meet the needs and wants of the customers and provide them with maximum benefits. Failure to do so will result in a failed business strategy. Q.5 A. Explain the types of Marketing Information systems MIS supplies three types of information, which are: * Monitoring information Monitoring information is the information obtained from scanning external sources which include newspapers, trade publications, technical journals, magazines, directories, balance sheets of companies, and syndicated and published research reports. Data are captured to monitor changes and trends related to marketing situation. Some of these data can be purchased at a price from commercial sources such as market research agencies or from government sources. * Recurrent information — Recurrent information is the information that is generated at regular intervals like monthly sales reports; the stock statements, the trial balance, etc. ln MlS, recurrent information is the data that MIS supplies at a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual interval, which are made available regularly. It can also provide information on customer awareness of company’s brands, advertising campaigns, and similar data on close competitors. * Customized information   Customized information is also called problem-related, which is developed in response to some speciï ¬ c requirements related to a marketing problem or any particular data requested by a manager. B. Discuss the different components of MIS The overall Objective of an Ml IS to provide inputs from marketing environmental factors like target markets, marketing channels, competitors, consumers, and other forces for creating, changing, and modifying marketing decisions in the formulation of relevant and competitive marketing strategies. * Internal record systems — Internal record systems are available within the company across various departments and provide relevant, routine information for making marketing decisions. The most evident internal record system is the purchase and payment cycle systems. It records the timing and size of orders placed by consumers, the payment cycles followed by consumers, and the time taken to fulfill the orders in the shortest possible time. * Marketing intelligence system A marketing intelligence system is the system of collecting and collating data. This system tries to capture relevant data from the external environment. It collects and manages data from the external environment ab out the competitors’ moves, government regulations, and other relevant information having a direct impact on the marketing environment of the firm. *Analytical marketing systems Analytical marketing systems are also known as Marketing Decision Support Systems (MDSS). A MDSS is a coordinated collection of data, systems, tools, and techniques with supporting software and hardware. Using this collection, an organisation gathers and interprets relevant information from business and environment and turns it into a basis for marketing action. lt involves problem-solving technology consisting of people, knowledge, software, and hardware integrated through the information technology platform into the sales management process of the organisation. * Marketing research systems Marketing research systems are based on systems and processes that help marketing managers to design, collect, analyse, and report data and ï ¬ ndings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the company. It also involves analysis of information, which includes a coordinated collection of data, systems, tools, and techniques with supporting software, and hardware by which an organisation gathers and interprets the relevant data and turns it into a basis for marketing action and tactics. Q.6 Describe the factors to be considered while developing an Effective marketing mix. To develop an effective marketing mix the company should consider the following factors and then choose the most appropriate mix of elements (7Ps) to target the customers: * Company’s resources These are one of the prime factors affecting the company’s marketing mix. The financial, human, and technological resources available with the company affect the composition of the marketing mix. The firm needs to conduct a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis for the business unit. * Demographics — It implies to the changes in the composition of the market, the demand of the population, the opportunities in the country, etc. that affect the marketing mix. Current and projected economic conditions It connotes the economic factors like inflation, employment, taxes, and other economic factors that influence marketing mix decisions. * Market potential Analysis of market potential for new products considers market growth, prospects need for your offering, the beneï ¬ ts of the offering the number of barriers to immediate use, the credibility of the offering and the impact on the customers daily operations. * Competitors They are important considerations that affect the marketing mix of a firm as the potential for competitive retaliation is based on the competitor’s resources, commitment to the industry, cash position, predictability, and status of the market. Porter’s Five Forces Model * Supplier power- The power of suppliers to drive up the prices of inputs. * Buyer power- The power of customers to drive ‘down products’ prices. * Competitive rivalry — The strength of competition in the industry. * Threat of substitution The extent to which different products and services can be used in place of a particular product. * Threat of new entry — The ease with which new competitors can enter the market if they see that a product is making good proï ¬ t and then drive your prices down. By thinking about how each force affects a product and by identifying the strength and direction of each force, you can quickly assess the strength of a product’s position and ability to make a sustained proï ¬ t in the industry.

Irony in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Poem, Richard Cory :: Richard Cory Analysis

In Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem â€Å"Richard Cory,† things are not what they seem. People saw that Richard Cory had wealth, power, education, fame and good looks. They thought that all this brought Richard happiness. They all wanted to be like him . No one got to know who he was but only knew him for what he had. It seemed that he had everything yet it was not enough to make him happy. His wealth did not give him happiness nor did it bring him friends. Richards’s loneliness is what makes him kill himself. What seems to be true is not actually true underneath it all. In the beginning of the poem, Richard Cory is described as a person who seems to have everything: â€Å"And he was rich†¦/ And admirably schooled in every grace:†(9-10) so he was wealthy, powerful and good-looking. These are things that everyone wants to be. It is thought that money can buy happiness but it can not. It seems as if Richard would be happy with the things that he has but it was not as it appeared. The people and Richard Cory have their differences. While Richard was â€Å"richer than a king-†(9) the people â€Å"went without meat, and cursed the bread:†(14). The people were too poor to afford meat and despised their lives. They wanted to be like him and wished that they â€Å"were in his place.†(12) They thought they would be happy if they were rich like Richard. The â€Å"people on the pavement looked at him:†(2) as if he was above them. The pavement showed that they were below him and it emphasized the next line that he was like a king. The people seemed to keep their distance from Richard because of their differences. This makes him lonely, which leads him to his death. At the end of the poem, it is bluntly stated that Richard Cory kills himself because he was unhappy with his life. â€Å"And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, / Went home and put a bullet through his head.†(15-16) He shot himself because he was lonely having