Homeland Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Homeland Security - Essay Example The suddenness of the attacks on September 11, 2001, and the manner in which America was caught off guard, would shape our perception of the war on terror and frame America's response. Previous wars had unfolded methodically in the public's eye, such as the extended debate that preceded the Civil War. However, the War on Terror had no such incubation period to give the American public time to orient themselves to the new face of war. America was thrust into war "without any troops or plans in place to confront this particular enemy. Just as important, it occurred in a context of public indifference to or ignorance of the threat posed by terrorists" (Callahan, Dubnick, and Olshfski 555). The US had made few, if any, plans to deal with a terrorist arrack on US soil, and the discussion of terrorism was largely restricted to the law enforcement, investigators, and prosecutors that had confronted domestic terrorism such as the Unabomber and the attack on the Murrah Federal Building (Calla han, Dubnick, and Olshfski 555). The Congress took aggressive action and on October 4, 2001 introduced HR 3026 "To establish an Office of Homeland Security within the Executive Office of the President to lead, oversee, and coordinate a comprehensive national homeland security strategy to safeguard the Nation" (HR 3026). On November 25, 2002 George Bush signed into law PL 107-296, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which established the Department of Homeland Security (Gressle CRS-2, CRS-6). ... The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would consolidate intelligence efforts, provide for broad powers of investigation, and limit specific legal standards in regards to terrorism. The Homeland Security Act and the formation of the DHS gave the government sweeping new powers to patrol the US borders and took a more liberal approach toward domestic surveillance. The DHS was formed to consolidate intelligence and investigations when "The establishment of the Department of Homeland Security brought under one authority 22 federal entities with vital roles to play in protecting our Nation and preventing terrorist attacks within the United States (The National Security Strategy). Border patrol and customs has been especially challenged with 500 million people crossing our borders each year, and 21,000 containers entering the US through 350 commercial ports of entry every day (Bodenheimer). Bender reports that, "The Secure Border Initiative, costing more than $2 billion this year alone, is a major effort to increase Customs and Border Protection personnel, introduce detection technologies, and construct a fence along the border with Mexico". The DHS has also placed sp ecific priority on the increased use of 'tamper-evident' containers, biometric identification technology, and radiation, chemical, and biological threat detection equipment (Bodenheimer). In addition, there has been an increased level of domestic intelligence activity designed to weed out suspected terrorist cells. Marrin describes these increased efforts as: Additional controversial domestic intelligence programs include the Justice Department's proposed Operation TIPS for public reporting of suspicious activity, the modification of

Sherlock Holmes Essay Essay Example for Free

Sherlock Holmes Essay Essay Arthur Conan Doyle has written a number of short stories about a fictional character called Sherlock Holmes and his trusted work mate Dr. Watson. Together they solve mysteries using the art of the reasoner and imaginative thinking. I have recently been studying the adventure of the speckled band among other short stories. Holmes is portrayed as an intelligent crime solver, with quick thinking skills and a sharp mind. We find straight away in the story that Dr. Watson and Holmes are good friends as Holmes wakes Watson up early especially because he thinks he would want to learn about the case right from the start. Holmes has an eye for detail, which we realise near the beginning of the story as he can clearly describe how the woman travelled to meet him, by the half return ticket and mud splatters on her jacket. The crime is a murder; set it the mansion belonging Dr. Grimesby Roylott in Stoke Moran. Dr. Roylott was in great debt and rented out most of his property to gypsies. He was a very lonely, bitter, miserable man. The murder is described by the victims sister, Helen Stoner, she saw her sister just before she died and experienced some of the strange things that happened to her sister on the night of her death, afraid and worried she turned to Holmes for his help. There are many suspects in this story, such as the gypsies, or the animals that the doctor kept in the grounds. But the prime suspect in this scenario was the doctor himself, he had the motive, if his daughters should marry then the money from their mothers will, would go to them. Therefore if they were to die before they got married the doctor would keep the money. It is an unusual murder because the room in which it took place was locked, with the windows closed and metal bars put there. On visiting the scene Holmes finds some peculiar abnormalities with the room, there is a bell- pull, which isnt fixed to a bell, just the ceiling. Also the bed is nailed to the floor and there is an air vent between this room and the doctors. Holmes also looked in the doctors room and found a bowl of milk on top of a safe also a small dog lead hung on the corner of the bed and tied to make a loop of whipcord. Holmes finds these clues using the art of the reasoner and his imaginative thinking, to work out how the previous murder happened and when the next was about to happen. Holmes also uses the art of the reasoner in another short story- Silver blaze, where the prize racing horse is stolen and its owner beaten to death in Kings Pyland, Holmes works out that it cant have been anyone other than John Straker or his wife, as no-one else could have made it so that curried mutton was the dinner for the stable boys, so as to hide the taste of the sleeping drug put in it. So that Straker could take the horse out of the stable at night, in order to harm the horse and fix the race. The murder weapon was an Indian snake; the doctor kept it in a safe, but whenever one of his daughters was to be married, he would let it out. It would make its way through the air vent; down the dummy bell- pull and onto the bed to kill whatever was lying bellow it. It was then called back with a whistle, to the doctors room and put back in the safe. The red herring in this story could be the cheetah and the baboon, as they could have come into the house and killed the girl, also the gypsies as there were some around at the time of the murder, and the before the victim died she said the speckled band which could have meant the spotted scarves they are often found wearing and a band of gypsies. The tension is built up when Holmes and Watson stay in Helen Stoners room to find out what killed her sister and could possibly kill her. As they sit in darkness listening to the night sounds outside, waiting for what they dont know at this stage, then Holmes realises that a snake has just entered the room and scares it off with a light. The twist in the tale is right at the end, when, because the snake is scared back through the ventilator, it gets confused and bites Dr. Roylott. So his greedy and malicious plan backfires, and he is killed. I chose to write about this story because I think that it has a lot of good points to describe, and it is a great, gripping story. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Conan Doyle section.

A Computerized World :: essays research papers fc

COMPUTERS A Computerized World Computers play an important role in this modern society. All people around the world are forced the â€Å"computer age† nowadays. Since the first computer was made in the late 1950s, which I heard that was came from the Chinese Abacus, the technology has developed extremely. Computers are everywhere and control a great deal of our living environment. More and more areas are being taken over by the computer. Not able to use a computer is a serious handicap with ramifications in all areas of life. Therefore, if people do not know computers or do not know how to use them it means that they are not prepared for the future. They will fall behind our advancing society. Computers have been applied to industry, agriculture, political affairs, economy, military, science and many other fields; it is becoming more and more important. It is reason why I feel; I need to know more about computers such as why computer is useful, history of computer, and Internet. COMPUTERS ARE USEFUL IN OUR LIFE Nowadays, no matter what the professions, a mainstay of the companies prefers to hire employees who basically need to know how to operate computers. â€Å"Knowledge of computers† has become a basic requirement in job descriptions. As computers are capable of handling large amounts of data in a very short time, they are well suited for word processing. For instance, medical officers use computer to record patients’ data for finding them easier and more conveniently. Banks also use computers to store information for consumers to know their account conveniently and orderly, etc. The government agencies are the one who use computers most because they need to record confidential data, for instance, the military, and the U.S Census Bureau, etc. The business also use computer password system in the companies that to avoid other companies’ stealing their business secrets. Therefore, the secret data will not let out to other countries or companies. Since a small diskette can contain much more data than a written page, and it takes less place, I think it will not be too long all the paper-archives are replaced by magnetic tapes and diskettes. It is possible to get the American telephone book on just one diskette. HISTORY OF COMPUTERS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  About two hundred years before, the word â€Å"computer† started to appear in the dictionary. Some people even did not know what is a computer. However, most of the people today not just knowing what is a computer, but understand how to use a computer.

Worlds of History by Kevin Reilly :: essays research papers

Worlds of History by Kevin Reilly Response to: From Hominids to Human Beings, From Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman, Women and the Agricultural Revolution, From Hammurabi’s Code, From the Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation, and From the Upanishads: Brahman and Atman   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Societies of today are very different from the first civilizations. Pre-historic cultures depended on the cooperation of its people to live. Today, however, everyone is dependent on money. Even though the main focus of each story was distinctly different, they all had a similar view on society. They all felt that cooperation was essential to the survival of their community. From Hominids to Human Beings revealed how the people of pre-historic civilizations interacted. Pre-historic man was a forager, a hunter-gatherer. They traveled in bands of about twenty-five people and used only transient camps. â€Å"The band, not the nuclear family was the principal social unit.† (Matossian, pg 13). Every member of the band worked together to obtain food. The adults taught the children to be responsive to others needs and share the food with the group. Frans de Waal, a researcher at the Yerkes Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, traced this behavior back to chimpanzees. â€Å"Chimpanzee groups consist of caring, sharing individuals who form self-policing networks† (pg 13). Despite this fact, chimps share food only when it is to their advantage and cheat whenever they can get away with it. When the cheaters are identified, food is withheld in the next windfall. Nisa, from From Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman, feels extremely jealous of her newborn brother, Kumsa, and often makes him cry. Nisa felt she wasn’t being paid enough attention to and deprived her brother of milk by nursing. Nisa leaves to live with her grandmother after being berated several times for stealing. She thought that was what her mother wanted, but when she returned her parents told her they wanted her to be with them. â€Å"Yes, even your mother wanted you and missed you.† (Shostak, pg 28).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Later in the story, Nisa’s father arranges a marriage. At that time women were married when they were still young girls. As a result, they were often scared of their husbands and a woman would sleep between the newly married couple. A woman named Nukha layed between Nisa and Bo to show her that she had nothing to be afraid of. Nukha and Bo would bump in Nisa while making love, but Nisa didn’t say anything. Worlds of History by Kevin Reilly :: essays research papers Worlds of History by Kevin Reilly Response to: From Hominids to Human Beings, From Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman, Women and the Agricultural Revolution, From Hammurabi’s Code, From the Upanishads: Karma and Reincarnation, and From the Upanishads: Brahman and Atman   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Societies of today are very different from the first civilizations. Pre-historic cultures depended on the cooperation of its people to live. Today, however, everyone is dependent on money. Even though the main focus of each story was distinctly different, they all had a similar view on society. They all felt that cooperation was essential to the survival of their community. From Hominids to Human Beings revealed how the people of pre-historic civilizations interacted. Pre-historic man was a forager, a hunter-gatherer. They traveled in bands of about twenty-five people and used only transient camps. â€Å"The band, not the nuclear family was the principal social unit.† (Matossian, pg 13). Every member of the band worked together to obtain food. The adults taught the children to be responsive to others needs and share the food with the group. Frans de Waal, a researcher at the Yerkes Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, traced this behavior back to chimpanzees. â€Å"Chimpanzee groups consist of caring, sharing individuals who form self-policing networks† (pg 13). Despite this fact, chimps share food only when it is to their advantage and cheat whenever they can get away with it. When the cheaters are identified, food is withheld in the next windfall. Nisa, from From Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman, feels extremely jealous of her newborn brother, Kumsa, and often makes him cry. Nisa felt she wasn’t being paid enough attention to and deprived her brother of milk by nursing. Nisa leaves to live with her grandmother after being berated several times for stealing. She thought that was what her mother wanted, but when she returned her parents told her they wanted her to be with them. â€Å"Yes, even your mother wanted you and missed you.† (Shostak, pg 28).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Later in the story, Nisa’s father arranges a marriage. At that time women were married when they were still young girls. As a result, they were often scared of their husbands and a woman would sleep between the newly married couple. A woman named Nukha layed between Nisa and Bo to show her that she had nothing to be afraid of. Nukha and Bo would bump in Nisa while making love, but Nisa didn’t say anything.

Doing Business in Japan Essay

1) A large Japanese firm makes important decision by a so-called â€Å"nemawashi† consulting system which requires all internal stakeholders to review and sign the final decision. Research the concept online and compare the advantages and disadvantages of this decision making versus the vertical U.S. system. Describe specific situations when â€Å"nemawashi† could be advantageous and disadvantageous. The culture of the Japanese is to live in harmony with nature and others and they do this by avoiding debates and clashing positions by using a decision making system called Nemawashi. They value interpersonal connectedness and consensus which is the exact opposite of how Americans think and respond. This idea was developed in 1950 when American statistics professor, W. Edwards Deming, trained Japanese leadership staff in Science and Engineering on quality control techniques. David O’Gorman (2012) wrote, The techniques Deming introduced were very compatible with the cultural value of harmony. For example, Deming had 14 key principles for quality improvement. One principle is to â€Å"Break down the barriers between departments.† Deming’s perspective on teamwork, and his other teachings on quality improvement, fit perfectly with Japan’s cultural values of harmony and consensus. Nemawashi gets its meaning from a horticulture terminology meaning â€Å"wrapping around the roots.† When transplanting a tree from one place to another, preparing the root ball by wrapping it with fabric material and acclimatizing it to its new location before transplanting would make that tree grow healthier and stronger in its new environment. (Sakai, 2012) In practice, it means that the groundwork for a new proposal must be carefully prepared in advance if it is expected to take root, survive and prosper. (O’Gorman, 2012). Japanese managers are significantly more relationship-oriented and hierarchical than their U.S. counterparts, preferring consensus building, collectivist decision making, and risk avoidance. (FitzGerald, 2014) By informally communicating ideas to stakeholders, any issues planned for discussion in the larger meeting that might prove to be controversial are hashed out ahead of time so that they don’t create embarrassing snags. Any new ideas or proposals that are going  to be presented can be floated in the pre-meeting, in order to avoid any surpr ises during the main meeting. (Kopp, 2010) To avoid conflict and saving face, many of the discussions of an idea are done informally with all stakeholders prior to the actual formal meeting. There are advantages and disadvantages of this decision making style. The advantages of Nemawashi are: Nemawashi is a more disciplined business practice Nemawashi eliminates the element of surprise Nemawashi eliminates the likelihood of â€Å"whoever screams the loudest† getting their way Nemawashi eliminates ego and aligns interests to a common goal, focusing on the problem at hand with more input across the team or organization (Gordy, 2013). Consensus-building The disadvantages of Nemawashi are: It is time consuming Is not well suited to generating the innovated products and services that Japan needs to compete globally in the future. It suppresses innovative ideas. The nemawashi-ringi process can allow good ideas to wither and die. (O’Gorman, 2012). People are worried that decisions are sometimes made behind the scenes, instead of out in the open. It is therefore seen as an undemocratic process. (Abe, 2014). Those who hold a minority view do not express it to preserve harmony. Furthermore, decisions are flexible and open to change. As a result, decisions are vague, rarely written down, allowing various parties to implement the decision differently. (Anderson, 2009). An example where Nemawashi can best be implemented occurs when a decision does not have to be reached immediately. Japanese use it effectively when they are trying to improve a product such as Toyota. They have time to research, analyze, mull over, and share with all of the stakeholders and can flush out any inconsistencies or challenges prior to making the final decision. An example where Nemawashi is not advantageous is when a decision needs to be made rather quickly or when trying to be innovative. Because nemawashi is time-consuming, if there was a sudden decision that needed to be made, individuals who use this method of decision making would have difficulty getting everyone on board and in agreement in such a short amount of time. It may take months, perhaps years, for an idea  to work its way through the nemwashi-ringi process and be implemented. In the past, this did not pose much of a problem. But in today’s rapidly changing global environment there are increasing demands on companies to make faster decisions just to maintain their competitive position. (O’Gorman, 2012). An example of innovative products can be an idea such as the iPhone or self-driving tr ansportation. 2) Imagine that you are to welcome a Japanese delegation in your home-country. The delegation represents a potential business partner for your firm. Describe how you would prepare for the meeting and how you would decrease intercultural communication apprehension on both sides. I am welcoming a Japanese delegation in my home-country and because I am not ethnocentric, I have researched the Japanese culture and understand that they value hierarchy, status, social ranking, interpersonal relationships and nature. Japanese are polite, sensitive and have good manners and so it will be important to demonstrate those qualities, but not make an assumption because they possess these qualities that they will do business with my organization. I must prepare months in advance for the meeting because Japanese do not like to be taken by surprise. Japanese value commitment, dedication, excellent service, quality and reliability. I would send the itinerary to the Japanese delegation in advance along with any necessary paperwork for their review along with pictures of the executive members of the organization and their ranking. The professional portfolio would detail how long our organization has been in existence and our ranking in our industry. We would have researched their organization and identified their executives as well as their salaryman with whom we are engaging to do business. At the airport, a team of individuals would meet them and acknowledge the most senior member first on down to the salaryman. A business card held by both hands would be given to each one as each of us bow the formal bow and say ‘Watashi no namae wa Jones desu’. Although you do not need to become word-perfect Japanese speaker, many Japanese people really do appreciate foreigners who make the effort to learn at least a few Japanese words and business phrases. (Web) We would receive their business card and immediately study the card and place it carefully in our business card portfolio. We then would follow the itinerary explicitly. Instead of  taking them straight to the office, we would have tickets for the professional baseball team in our region in the loge with food and delicacies of their liking. Matsuzaki (2014) as a summer scholar states that Japanese people love sports, especially baseball. After the game, each delegate would receive a baseball hat with the team logo and a baseball shirt. After the game, a walk through the company and introduction to any senior managers would be done. We would go over our goals and objectives and discuss our portfolio in detail sharing information of how with an expanded business in Japan everyone could have a substantial profit. The most important thing to remember in dealing with the Japanese is to take a passive attitude and listen very carefully to those words that are spoken as well as those not spoken. Soft sell and use facts like â€Å"we sold over a million sets last year† rather than biased information such as â€Å"we’re better than them.† Be very careful not to overstate your case. Any kind of smooth talker or talking too much can rub the wrong way. It is much better to say too little than to say too much. ( Matsuzaki, 2014) Afterwards, at an upscale restaurant we would have an uchiage, (drinking party) which is a tradition Japanese have done after the end of a business transaction. Each business partner would be advised as to drink in moderation and if they do not drink, politely provide an excuse as to why they are not imbibing. The delegation would later be escorted to their hotel and in the morning escorted to the next planned event or to the airport by our executives with a parting gift of a company pen from Tiffany’s. 3) Access JETHRO’s website and other e-Global resources and describe the complexities of setting a Japanese representative office. What are the advantages and disadvantages when compared to other forms of business establishments in Japan? There are many complexities when setting up a representative office in Japan. According to Japan Management Consulting the Representative Office needs to have a Representative resident of Japan. The Representative Office needs to prove the reality of its existence by showing: a lease for office space in its own name a utility bill in the Representative Office name copy of the contract between the representative and the foreign country The Representative of the Representative Office needs to prove its good standing  with Social Insurance, Tax and Legal authorities by providing documents such as: registration with the local ward office â€Å"Juminhyo† registration with Social Insurance, typically a copy of Pension Book is needed proof of payment of resident tax and national tax and also individual enterprise tax if she/he was self-employed. The representative office also need to register with relevant tax office to report and pay the tax withheld on employees salary. (Japan Management Consult, 2011) The advantage of creating a Representative Office in Japan is to be able to carry marketing survey and information gathering activity in Japan before starting a full scale operation, without having to support the burden of full size company and especially keeping a Japan Yen General Ledger and paying taxes. The Representative Office can employ people in Japan and does not need to be registered with legal authorities like the Legal Affairs Bureau. The only registration needed is with tax office for payment of emplyees withheld income taxes. A representative office is often used by companies that wish to employ people in Japan for support activity or before starting a full scale activity. (Japan Management Consult, 2011) The disadvantage of a Representative Office is that it cannot engage in any for profit transactions that would raise Japan’s tax liability. It is only there to gauge the atmosphere of the environment through surveys and assessments. References Abe, Namiko. (2014). About.com Japanese Language. Nemawashi. Retrieved from: http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa080597.htm Anderson, R.V. (Mar/Apr 2009) Management World. The Online Journal for Certified Managers. Japanese and American Management: A Contrast of Styles. Retrieved from http://cob.jmu.edu/icpm/management_world/CMartMar09.pdf FitzGerald, L.A. (2014). Module 2: One World Many Cultures. In Jones International University, BC 607: Leading from a Global Perspective. Retrieved from http://courses.jonesinternational.edu/display.jkg?courseSectionId=33756&uid=105453&tpl=frameset Gordy, Bill. (Dec 11, 2013). The Solutions Group Inc. Implementing the Japanese Business Practice of Nemawashi. Retrieved from www.thesolutionsgroupinc.com/implementing-the-japanese-business-practice-of-nemawashi/ Japan Management Consulting (2005-2011)

I hate my job three signs you need to move on

I hate my job three signs you need to move on Everyone goes into a new job with a sense of optimism. New place, new coworkers, new responsibilities- what’s not to be optimistic about? After that initial buzz, however, you suddenly realize: I hate my job. It’s rarely in your interest to quit on the spot when you have that revelation, so how long should you stay? Let’s look at a couple of different scenarios. When seriously bad things are happeningIf you’ve discovered that there are illegal or harmful things going on at work, or your work is causing you serious physical issues, then you should seriously consider getting out now. It’s a safety issue.When you hate your boss, and your work is starting to sufferIf your work is making you miserable and you just can’t seem to get along with your boss, then it’s time to start thinking hard about your exit strategy. But if you can hold on for a few weeks or months while you start putting out feelers about a new job, then you should delay ha nding in that resignation letter.When you’re bored or mildly unhappyIf your job isn’t challenging you like it should or you have a general diagnosis of Over It-itis, then definitely start thinking about your next steps. Don’t quit just yet. Because this isn’t an emergency, you have some time to do some soul-searching about why you’re unhappy at work and what you can do to fix that. It may be that adjusting your workload or taking on different projects could make you happier and more fulfilled at work.Before you quit, talk with your boss (without issuing any ultimatums) and let him know you’re interested in taking on more opportunities, or changing up your role. If he’s receptive, then give these new responsibilities a try. If he’s not, or you’ve tried out this new regime and you’re still unhappy, then step up your efforts to find another job before you quit this one. Remember that fairly or not, it’s almost always easier to find a job while you already have one.Here’s what you need to consider before you quit, under any of these scenarios:What is my financial situation? Do I have enough savings to cover a potentially months-long job search?Do I have some good potential job leads lined up, or an interim plan (like freelancing or consulting)?Are there any skills I will need to build before I try to get a comparable job (or a step-up job)?Is there anything that I could do or ask of my boss that would make my job bearable again?It’s best to have a plan here; the last thing you want to do is quit your job in a huff, and then realize that you’ve made a mistake. Sometimes leaving is the right thing to do, and quitting can push you to move your career forward. But if you take that step before you’re ready, you could be opening yourself up to a period of stress and career upheaval unnecessarily.

teen anger essays

teen anger essays Aggressive Behavior in Children Today; Are We Safe? Aggressive behavior can alter the lives of many, it is evidenced by the horrific stories that propagate the media. Children randomly shooting in schools, fired workers retaliating on their previous place of employment, damaging property or even committing acts of violence not to mention road- rage, a term coined after certain individuals would resort to reckless driving tactics when frustrated behind the wheel, the lists goes on and on. Nevertheless, determining how these acts can be reduced and ideally eliminated, several factors should be taken into consideration. Initially, a parents attitude toward a childs behavior has a significant impact on how a child develops his/her own coping skills. Effects of parental involvement and monitoring of a childs activities often times define how a child interacts with others. Parents who enforce certain rules and encourage communication while providing appropriate feedback have lower instances of aggressive behavior conversely, a child of a parent who has very little parental supervision has more incidences of aggression toward others. What is more, a childs perception of his/her parents view towards an encroachment drives behavior, whether it is positive or negative. Nurturing the parent-child relationship through active participation, guidance, and other options than acts of violence for problem resolution spans the gap of communication. Ultimately, by investigating the various views on parental interaction, hormonal influences, and the biology of the brain, demonstrate significance in developing alternate solutions for coping with stressful situations to prevent aggressive behavior that threatens our safety, such as, violence prevention programs, social awareness and or drug therapy. Can the level of cortisol, a stress hormone secreted in saliva, affect behavior? According to some resear ...

The Dash Familys Roles

The Dash Familys Roles The Dash Familys Roles The Dash Familys Roles By Mark Nichol The en dash is the oft-neglected middle sibling of the horizontal-line family of symbols that serve to connect words and numbers for various reasons. The em dash (- ) is the dashing member of the brood, used somewhat sparingly to indicate a sudden break in syntax- either to signal a shift in sentence construction, as here, or joining with a twin to frame a parenthetical word or phrase (just as a pair of commas would be used in the midst of a sentence or two parentheses would be employed anywhere). The smallest, the hyphen (-), is the busiest, indicating connections between words, such as when the phrase â€Å"highest scoring† is hyphenated to signal its combined modification of the word that follows in the phrase â€Å"highest-scoring player† or to link two numbers in reference to a score or vote. The en dash (–), however, sometimes steps in to take the place of the hyphen: It is employed when an open compound is part of the phrasal adjective, signaling that the entire compound, not just the last word in the compound, is linked to the next word, as in â€Å"Civil War–era artifacts† (rather than â€Å"Civil War-era† or â€Å"Civil-War-era†) or â€Å"Los Angeles–to–San Francisco flight† (rather than in â€Å"Los Angeles-to-San Francisco flight† or â€Å"Los-Angeles-to-San-Francisco flight†). Note, however, that open compounds need not be proper nouns, as this quip about an advertising agency with a name consisting of a sequence of initials demonstrates: â€Å"This alphabet soup–named firm helps get clients on the gravy train.† If a hyphen were used in place of an en dash here, the reference would (confusingly) be to a soup-named agency of an alphabet nature. (Also, some publishers, presumably for aesthetic reasons, employ en dashes in place of em dashes.) The other major function of an en dash, by the way, is to replace to to indicate a number range, as in â€Å"Answer quiz questions 1–10.† (Remember that because scores are not number ranges, a hyphen is the correct symbol for linking two totals.) In both types of usage, a hyphen is often erroneously employed in place of an en dash (though for the sake of simplicity, some publications, especially newspapers, deliberately avoid use of the en dash). Also, note that although both hyphens and en dashes are employed as minus signs, the minus sign is technically a distinct symbol that in formal publishing is set using a distinct code. In informal usage, an en dash, more equivalent in size to plus and equal signs than a hyphen, is preferable. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should KnowEmpathy "With" or Empathy "For"?45 Idioms About the Number One

The Emergence of the Project of Development Essay

The Emergence of the Project of Development - Essay Example Scientific aspects of modernization emerged during the cold war, and applied in the decolonization period to change the world economy. Escobar (25) points out that technology emerged during the colonial period and during the world war. In the time of World War II, countries such as Germany engaged in reinvention of technology to support their armies during the time of war. The colonial government introduced technology in agriculture and this led to the change in agricultural style during the period of decolonization.In the advent of technology, colonized countries modeled their agricultural style, which formed a critical part of the project of global development. With improved productivity in agriculture, many continents including Africa and Asia developed and improved their economic independence. Briefly, the decolonization and post war period formed a critical step towards project development. However, a more interesting twist of events culminating to project development was the sp ecialization brought about by modernization. Technological advancement led to specialization in many facets of production. For instance, food processing industries focused on processing and hence able to develop at a higher rate. Likewise, all other facets were able to develop faster. In many countries, the post-colonial period became a period of political development and consequential socio-economic changes. Indeed, during the decolonization period, countries such as South Africa became conscious of identity politics.

Tradition step to get married Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tradition step to get married - Essay Example As such, I find it reasonably important to share and describe the concept of marriage among the Alqemzi community and the UAE in general. As a custom in the UAE, marriage is first sparked by the setting up of the wedding date by the families of the bride and the groom. Even though during the preparation phase of the marriage the groom is required to do a series of arrangements, the bride is usually engaged in even more time consuming and elaborate preparations. Generally speaking, marriages in the UAE are such a glamorous occurrences since they are highly cultural and follow numerous traditions. In many UAE nations, marriage celebrations mostly last for a period of up to one week and they can present a stimulating as well as an exhausting experience for both the bride as well as the groom. Notably important, the women, whether they are getting married or not are always proud in how they appear during weddings. To illustrate, most of them uphold their traditional dressing mode, that is, they are mostly dressed in their shelas (headscarf) and abayas (cloak) throughout the wedding ceremony. Furthermore, they engage in ex cessive make ups and regularly visit salons and beauty shops in order to beautify themselves. More importantly, months before the marriage day, the bride is subjected to a certain diet by her family in order to maintain a good body and weight. Equally important, all through the wedding week, relative and friends of the bride and groom assemble in both homes, even though it is highly uncommon to find both families socializing and coming together before the wedding day. Basically, Laylat al Henna, a traditional name for the Henna Party, is the introduction of the wedding ceremony. Here, the bride, women and other ladies apply the Henna, a colorful substance, on their hands in order to intensify their beauty. Usually, during this occasion, all the female friends and

Functional Systems Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Functional Systems - Case Study Example Basically, the Lynx Company is using the sales information system. In this scenario, this system collects sales data to help the company monitor sale transactions and to help the management understand the status of their organizations, whether their business is running in profit or in loss (Shah, 2009; Beaubien, 2013). The system has been a great success for the company and some of the reasons behind this success are outlined below: 1. The system is designed for a particular purpose (e.g. Sales system). So it specifically deals with sales functions and minimizes confusions with other departments. It is easy for the sales department to understand the functions and carry put tasks effectively using this system. 2. As discussed above, this system is an isolated system. In this scenario, it is not connected to any other system such as human resource system or decision support system. So it is much easier for staff members to operate it independently without requiring the data from other departments. 1. In view of the fact that this functional system is based on a particular function (e.g. sales system) so the flow of work and information between other departments can suffer. For instance, it can be difficult to connect this system with other systems such as decision support system or human resource systems. Or in some cases there can emerge various data integration issues (Beaubien, 2013). 2. Since this functional system operates over the Internet so information security can be a serious challenge. The system can face security attacks from hackers. In addition, the system can also face virus attacks which can destroy the entire data (Henderson, 2013). 4. In order to perform accurate working there would be need to train the staff members. Since this system deals with money matters so a small error can cause serious loss for the company. In this scenario, they must train their staff members so it is an extra burden on the company (Henderson,

An analysis of google ( or apple , amazone) & cloud computing Research Paper

An analysis of google ( or apple , amazone) & cloud computing technology - Research Paper Example Cloud Computing with the virtual setting of softwares and hardwares, provides a effective IT network or Information system (IS) to the business firms, thereby even making their own network slightly redundant. Because of the growing potential, many more firms including Amazon are jumping into this field by setting up their own Cloud Computing environment and then commercially renting it to other business firms and clients. So, this paper will focus on the IS of Cloud Computing, discussing how it impacts Amazon’s, and how it has various applications, although there are some challenges while implementing and running it. The world of today is being ‘run’ mainly with the aid of technology, as it having applications in various facets of human life, starting from day to day activities to key applications in organizational or business environment. Technologies have evolved in various sectors, particularly Information Technology (IT) or Information Systems (IS) have evolved optimally aiding existing business firms in running, expanding, improving and even transforming their operations. Sizable numbers of business firms in various sectors are integrating IT in every aspect of their operations. From carrying out simple operations like opening a door or even authorized entry door to aiding in the accomplishment of complex processes, IT or IS are becoming an all-pervading entity in many of the business firms. The key fact is that emerging technologies or IS has many capabilities to optimally aid the business firms in improving their data storing, sharing as well as communication, which can aid t hem in carrying out all their organizational processes effective, providing them higher productivity and profits. Among the many emerging ISs, the technological or virtual concept of Cloud Computing can provide optimum benefits to the business firms who are using that concept, or if aptly said, are part of the â€Å"Cloud†. At the same time, this Cloud Computing is also positively

Nike Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nike Inc - Essay Example According to the report in terms of behavioral segmentation, the product is target to the loyal customers. The product is priced at $149, which makes the product a luxury product. The product would therefore not greatly appeal to the price sensitive consumers and they may look for the same product offered by cheaper brands. Since the product is more of a luxury than a necessity, the price sensitive consumer would be generally not attracted towards the product.This paper discusses that  product development strategy is best suited. This is because the product is new, with a few modifications from the first generation Fuel Band but the market remains the same. With this product, Nike is and should continue to target its existing consumers which are sports loving people who live and enjoy an active lifestyle. They are mostly high-end sophisticated consumers to frequently and even occasionally consume luxury products such as the Fuel Band.  In terms of the environmental uncertainty Ma trix, the product is positioned as high uncertainty. Products positioned in this area of uncertainty have the following characteristics: dynamic and unpredictable market; involves many components; requires high skills and knowledge.   Since the Nike Fuel Band fits in all these areas, it faces high uncertainty in the market.  In terms of competition, the company faces competition from mainly three other products: Jawbone UP, Fitbit Flex and Basis.... This is because the product is new, with a few modifications from the first generation Fuel Band but the market remains the same (Kelion, 2013). With this product, Nike is and should continue to target its existing consumers which are sports loving people who live and enjoy an active lifestyle. They are mostly high-end sophisticated consumers to frequently and even occasionally consume luxury products such as the Fuel Band (Sherman, 2013). The product, Fuel Band, in this case is a relatively new product. Nike had released the first generation of Fuel Band in the beginning of 2012 but a more modified version was developed in the end of 2012 known as the Nike + Fuelband (Nike Inc., 2012). Environmental Uncertainty In terms of the environmental uncertainty Matrix, the product is positioned as high uncertainty. Products positioned in this area of uncertainty have the following characteristics: dynamic and unpredictable market; involves many components; requires high skills and knowledge. Since the Nike Fuel Band fits in all these areas, it faces high uncertainty in the market (Robbins and Coutler, 2007). Competitor analysis In terms of competition, the company faces competition from mainly three other products: Jawbone UP, Fitbit Flex and Basis. A general comparison of the features of these products is shown below: Feature Fuel Band Jawbone Fitbit Flex Basis Price 149 130 100 200 Battery Time (in Days) 1-4 10 5 4 Compatible Applications 3 10 27 0 Blue Tooth Yes No Yes Yes Water Proof No No No No Water Resistant Yes Yes Yes Yes Unique Features Calories, Time, Steps, Nike Fuel and Daily Progress Vibrating Alarm Vibrating Alarm Pulse, Sweat and Temperature Compatible With iOS and Web iOS and Andriod iOS,

An analysis of google ( or apple , amazone) & cloud computing Research Paper

An analysis of google ( or apple , amazone) & cloud computing technology - Research Paper Example Cloud Computing with the virtual setting of softwares and hardwares, provides a effective IT network or Information system (IS) to the business firms, thereby even making their own network slightly redundant. Because of the growing potential, many more firms including Amazon are jumping into this field by setting up their own Cloud Computing environment and then commercially renting it to other business firms and clients. So, this paper will focus on the IS of Cloud Computing, discussing how it impacts Amazon’s, and how it has various applications, although there are some challenges while implementing and running it. The world of today is being ‘run’ mainly with the aid of technology, as it having applications in various facets of human life, starting from day to day activities to key applications in organizational or business environment. Technologies have evolved in various sectors, particularly Information Technology (IT) or Information Systems (IS) have evolved optimally aiding existing business firms in running, expanding, improving and even transforming their operations. Sizable numbers of business firms in various sectors are integrating IT in every aspect of their operations. From carrying out simple operations like opening a door or even authorized entry door to aiding in the accomplishment of complex processes, IT or IS are becoming an all-pervading entity in many of the business firms. The key fact is that emerging technologies or IS has many capabilities to optimally aid the business firms in improving their data storing, sharing as well as communication, which can aid t hem in carrying out all their organizational processes effective, providing them higher productivity and profits. Among the many emerging ISs, the technological or virtual concept of Cloud Computing can provide optimum benefits to the business firms who are using that concept, or if aptly said, are part of the â€Å"Cloud†. At the same time, this Cloud Computing is also positively

PEACE Domestic Violence Agency Description Assignment

PEACE Domestic Violence Agency Description - Assignment Example The two grant programs run by the National Foundation under which it can provide a grant to the PEACE are the Small Grants Program and the Investor Program. Both programs have different budgets. The Small Grants Program offers a one-time grant of $5,000 to registered charities and Investor Program offers a grant of $150,000 a year for 3 consecutive years for any of the program objectives through Supporting Families Program. The program is built on firm footing by PEACE; it has analyzed the needs of the end users for whom the welfare program has been initiated. It has specifically outlined the geographical area where the needs of the affected people match with that of the National Foundation programs to rehabilitate the affected community members and support the relatives of the victims of domestic violence. PEACE has been providing such services for a long time and has a reputation for its clear vision, strong leadership, and solid financial footing. PEACE is well aware of the needs of the Portland community. Members of the community have been involved in social crimes like domestic violence against women and children. The focus of the agency has been on educating the Portland community against such wrong social practices. In the last five years, there have been many incidents of road rage implicating community members in criminal cases. Needs of the affected community are identical with the mission and visions of both the organizations, the National Foundation, and PEACE. These needs are reflected in the aims of PEACE – to improve the standard of life of such families that have one of their family members in prison. The National Foundation’s program, Supporting Families, also supports young people involved with the criminal justice system through a rehabilitation program designed to provide the skills, create confidence in the community, and establish personal support networks to help them in leading a normal life.

Columbian Exchange Essay Example for Free

Columbian Exchange Essay The term Columbian Exchange refers to the large-scale exchange of animals, plants, goods, diseases and people between the Old and New Worlds. This event is one of the more significant events of all-time as it marks the beginning of the modern era of history. Not only were Native Americans greatly impacted by the Columbian Exchange as it brought them devastation and catastrophe, but the Europeans were also affected as they benefited from the precious metals and agriculture they received. This exchange helps to explain why Europe was able to rise, prosper and go on to become a super power. The devastation of the Natives led to a great demand for labor which was met with the enslavement of approximately 12 million Africans over a 400 year period. While Africans were being sold as slaves and the Native Americans were being decimated by diseases introduced to them from the Old World, European nations took advantage of the depopulation and weakening of various cultures and more than likely had an easier time conquering this New World because of the diseases they spread. The exchange of foods and spices to Europe introduced foods like potatoes, tomatoes, and maize which became staples in European diet. These foods helped improve nourishment and vitamin intake and in turn led to an overall higher level of health amongst European people. â€Å"..This happened in no place that we could learn, but where we had been†(Thomas Hariot, 1589). The transfer of disease from the Old World significantly affected the Native Americans of the New World. For one, Native Americans began to become so desperate for a remedy that they began to convert from their cultural beliefs to Christianity as they believed that would bring an end to the disease as is evident in this quote; â€Å"†¦Some of the [Indian] Counselors were of the opinion, that by embracing Christianity the contagion would cease†. (2) Conversions to Christianity of course did little to curve the debilitating effects of disease on the Native American people as their population continued to drop at an alarming rate. Around 90% of the Native Population was depleted within a century and a half after the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492.(Faragher, 37) The ravaging of these Native American people by diseases does much to explain the incredible success of the Spanish as they conquered the Aztecs and later on the Inca civilization of the Andes, and Europe’s rather quick rise to success overall. It basically paved the way for the conversion and destruction of Native American traditions and culture. 1. John Mack Faragher, Out of Many ( New Jersey: Pearson, 2012), 37

A Marketing Plan For The Company Apple

A Marketing Plan For The Company Apple Apple Inc has been very successful especially when it revolutionized its business and customer-focus by providing an operating system which was specifically designed with graphical user interface, even when it has been experiencing rigorous competition in both software and hardware marketing. Out of Apples major visions are its marketing strategies such as differentiation, unique design, own-store retailing, complete solution and brand loyalty that in turn have helped the company achieve sustainable competitive advantage and create its very own market with long-term profitability. Apple has been amazingly impacting the technology, society and the world at large and it continues to innovate to the date. Computer and digital music machines have long been presumed to be high-tech devices reserved for scientists, mathematician, intellectuals and professional musicians, but Apple, with its technology and innovation, has turned them into an essential tool of everyones daily lives. Framing of the Research Issue The main issue being discussed in this paper is the retail store marketing strategy adopted by Apple Inc and its impact on Apples overall business. This piece of research work is an attempt to explore and answer what is Apples retail-marketing and why Apple Inc has chosen this strategy? The paper will interpret the advantages of implementing the own store retailing strategy to Apple Inc and analyze how this has contributed to its business success. Apple Inc is one of the large multinational companies of today and its marketing strategies, that have helped it achieve this success, have gained increased popularity and attracted attention of academic and business experts. Companies use different strategies at different times. Some of them may turn to be highly useful while others may not be so. Due to a number of factors like globalization, fierce competition between firms, technological advances and changing consumer behaviour, business contexts have become increasingly complex (Grover and Kettinger 1995, p. 58 ) and companies therefore require adopting effective strategies to survive these challenges and complexities. Apples retailing strategy has been thus an effective ideology it used to survive competition and other marketing challenges. As Pearce and Robinson (2004, p. 6) stressed, strategic issues usually have multi-functional and multi-business consequences. Decisions regarding strategies like customer mix, competitive emphasis, organizational structure and customer focus necessarily involve a number of firms strategic business units, divisions and programs. These strategies will yield positive outcome when they are well structured and effectively managed. When it comes to Apple Inc, a number of marketing strategies it adopted has been found to be extremely beneficial to the companys success. This research paper relates to one of its strategies- own store retailing. Research Contexts, Scope and Limitations No area of marketing and economic development has perhaps been more popular than retailing. Retailing has long been a critical pillar of a strong economy (Findlay, Paddison and Dawson 1990, p. 21). Similarly, retailing has been found to be a powerful marketing element that contributes much to the economic and financial well-being of a company as well. Many large multinationals operate retail stores, may be as part of its Supply Chain strategy or to promote direct marketing of their goods or services to the customers, with an aim to seize enormous opportunities of retailing. Large scale retailers like Wal-Mart, Sainsbury, TESCO and others have been studied extensively to assess their effectiveness and find the secrets behind their success. Their marketing techniques and how their retailing helps them maintain long-term profitability have been studied by a number of researchers. But, the significance of retailing as a strategy being implemented by a particular large-scale company is seldom explored, except that some of the researchers have indentified retailing or own store retailing only as a strategy with no extensive research on its importance and contributions to the company. Rather than generally talking about the importance and benefits of retailing strategy adopted by Apple Inc, this paper aims to explore literatures regarding the same and articulate specific factors that explain why it is important to adopt retailing strategy to a company like Apple Inc and what are the major benefits of it. The researcher would like to learn different aspects of using retail marketing to a large-scale business, Apple Inc, and for this purpose, researcher would review and evaluate the literatures and examine how customers respond to this marketing facility, what consequences of such retail marketing can have on the reputation and customer satisfaction of the business. The researcher will review literatures to find relations between retail marketing of Apple Inc with a number of marketing variables like customer satisfaction, brand building, brand loyalty, customer relationship, value proposition etc. By reviewing the literature about Apples Retail-marketing, the researcher would establish the importance of using retail-marketing as a marketing strategy to enhance greater long-term profitability and gain sustainable competitive advantages. This research is merely about Apples retail-marketing and therefore the findings and conclusions of this research may not be directly applicable or closely comparable with other businesses or manufacturing firms. Statement of Research aims and objectives This research paper aims to illustrate the benefits of retail-marketing to Apple Inc and find out how retail-marketing has contributed to Apples unique success stories in recent years. The main objectives of the study are: To define and explain retail-marketing with relation to its implementation by Apple Inc. To study and interpret the literature review of the importance and benefits of using retail-marketing as a business strategy, To ascertain what literatures talk about Apples retail-marketing strategy and how this has helped the company achieve its organizational goals like gaining sustainable competitive advantages, To examine how retail-marketing is closely related with various other marketing variables like customer focus, customer satisfaction, better servicing, direct marketing, brand loyalty, brand equity and customer relationship marketing etc, To suggest some successful measures and techniques that can be used along with retail-marketing strategy in order to help the company achieve its business goals. To establish what results can bring a retail-marketing on the competitive advantages of a firm, from the case of how Apple has successfully used it. Structure of the dissertation The introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the structure of the research paper and an introduction in to the main issue being discussed in this paper- retail marketing of Apple Inc. The framing of the research issue, the scope and limitations of researching retail-marketing in relation to Apple inc, and statement of objectives of the research are detailed in the introduction. In order the research to be clearer, it is highly important to have an outlook into Apples business and its various marketing strategies. Second chapter will briefly examine Apples business overview, market-share, market strategies, competition rivalry and value propositions it delivers to its customers. The researcher considers various literatures to be reviewed in chapter 3 and discusses previous works and studies in retail marketing of Apple Inc. Chapter 4 provides an overview in to the theoretical framework and methodology that this research uses for studying retail marketing of Apple Inc. The findings and results of literature review will be discussed in chapter 5. The researcher will summarize and list out major findings, results, suggestions and recommendations, based on the research in the conclusion chapter. Chapter 2 APPLE INC: MARKET OVERVIEW In todays highly rigorous competitive market landscape, Apples hot selling of iPod, iPhone, 3G phone, and digital music players, directly or through its own-store retailing, promises to revolutionize the market opportunities of digital entertainments as well as to meet varying customer needs for advanced technology. Brand loyalty, unique hardware and software design, differentiation and own store retailing have been some of its strategies that helped the company gain greater competitive advantages. Porter (1998a, p. 29) emphasized that an effective marketing strategy take either an offensive or a defensive action in order to create a defendable position against major competitive forces. Apples marketing strategies, especially its retail-marketing and unique hardware design were more or less capable of establishing strong defense against major competitive forces like Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Microsoft etc. Walker (2003, p. 4) found that Apples management has guided the company to create a focal point for effective decision making which in turn has been extremely useful for the company in certain ambiguous and uncertain situations. Basically, a strong marketing vision, with support of certain effective strategies has helped Apple Inc maintain a very strong profitability and ever-increasing sales figures, as accounted to be $42,905 million in financial year ending of 2009 (Datamonitor 2010). Company Profile Apple Inc is a multinational company, headquartered in Cupertino, California, that is engaged in designing, developing and marketing of personal computers, severs, communication devices, network solutions, portable music digital players and relate accessories (Datamonitor 2010). It delivers its hardware and software products and services through its own-retail stores, online stores, sales force and third party sellers (Sander and Slatter 2009, p. 81). Apple Inc has always been prospering on innovation. It has ignited the personal computer revolution in early 1990s with the development of Apple-II, reinvented the personal computer within the next decade by the development of Macintosh and gained a very successful and deeply routed brand loyalty with its iMac by 1990s (Kerin, et al, 2005, p. 395). Finally, it identified vast opportunities for very new technologies that the market until then was less aware of them and developed new markets with iPod, Apple i-phone, and 3G i-Phone in very recent years. Apple Inc, through out its plants, offices and retail stores, employs 34,300 employees around the world and offers a wide range of products and services including iPods line of portable digital music and video players, iPhone handsets, iPad portable multimedia and computer machines and software like Mac OS, iLife, iTune, iWork, and internet applications such as Safari, Quick time etc (Datamonitor, 2010). The companys inexorable efforts on ease of use, utility, customer value, simplicity, efficiency and fun have helped Apple Inc make iPhone, 3G iPhone, and other products seem to be a very different species from that of the competitors. These newer products have recently turned to be more approachable and ultimately very desirable that many or almost all brands in the market (Newsweek, 2007). Apples major competitors are Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard company, IBM, Lenovo group limited, Microsoft Corp, Motorola Corp, Nokia Corp, Oracle Corp, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba (Datamonitor, 2010). Apple designed a number of marketing strategies to compete with these large companies and grab a better slice of the highly competitive market pie. Market-Share Analysis Latest reports show that Apples share in the worldwide PC market is constantly surging, as more and more customers have continuously been preferring Mac PCs even when there were rumors of iPad and iPhone that have grabbed news-headlines. According to Gartners report, Apple has become the fifth largest PC seller in the US market for the first three months quarter in 2010. Around 1.398 million Mac computers were shipped by Apple inc and thus it stands just behind HP, Dell, Acer and Toshiba (Tilmann, 2010). Apple sold 1.4 million Macs in the first quarter of 2010 which remains to be highly impressive and has been recorded to be a very healthy 34% year on year growth. With 8% market share, Apple stays to be fifth largest in worldwide PC market (Kahney, 2010). The company has recorded a total revenue of 42,905 million US Dollars during the financial year ended in September 2009, showing an increase of 14.4 % over 2008 figures. The increase in sales has been mainly due to the growth in sales of iPhones handsets and third party digital contents and other utilities, through its online as well as own-stores. iTune stores too played an important role in its increased revenues in 2009. The operating profit of the company during 2009 has been accounted as $11,740 million, showing an increase of 41% over the same of 2008. The net profit also has been recorded to be $8,235 million, with an increase of 34.6% over 2008 figures (Datamonitor, 2010). Gartners (2010) research reported that Apple is the third largest Smartphone marketer in the world just after Symbian and Research in motion. In worldwide cell-phone marketing, Apple holds 2.7 % market share, being the seventh largest worldwide cell-phone marketer. It is observed that Apples share in worldwide cell-phone market has been growing with a 112.2% increase in mobile device sales. iPhone OS release and Apples focus for the new communication service providers in UK markets increase its opportunities and to gain greater competency in its markets (Gartner, 2010). Chapter- 3 LITERATURE REVIEW Company-Owned retail marketing Large-scale companies implement a number of different marketing strategies like its-own retailing, franchising, merger and acquisition and so on. Company-owned retailing is not a new marketing strategy, but has first been used by IBM in early 1980s. Mohr, Sengupta and Slater (2009, p. 326) found that IBM opened its first product centre and own-store retailing for the personal computer in New York City in April 1982. By 1986, the number of IBMs own stores had grown to 84. Gateway expanded aggressively in to its own stores retailing during the PC industry boom, but it had to shut all 188 stores in 2004. Sony also launched its own-stores retailing in United States to showcase its products to the customers and expanded them in 1996, and reached 57 stores by June 2008 (Mohr, Sengupta and Slater 2009, p. 326). Manufacturers own retailing thus has long been considered to be a strategically powerful tool to enhance better marketing. Many of firms adopted own-store retailing has found success where as many other failed to continue retail-operation. Gateway and IBM failed and others like Apple Inc succeeded with this direct retail channel strategy. Companies found it successful were able to cut middlemen costs and middle men profits and thus to make its products quite cheaper to the customers, to establish closer relationship with customers, to deliver quality services directly to the customers and create brand loyalty to enhance long-term profitability. Marketing mix and Companys own retailing Company-owned retail marketing strategy is closely related to the place element of the Marketing-mix concepts. Out of the four Marketing-mix Ps, namely product, price, place and promotion, place or distribution is a very critical element that determines the extent of businesss success. The channels a marketer chooses for marketing its products always largely influences its marketing effectiveness. The above depiction illustrates how theoretically and strategically Apple designed its marketing-distribution strategy through its own-store retailing. As Hill, OSullivan and OSullivan (2003, p. 243) emphasized, distribution addresses the issue of how to establish an appropriate and more profitable relationship with the maximum number of relevant customers at the minimum cost to the organization. A well-designed and developed distribution strategy can lead to coverage of a wider audience, accessing more numbers of customers and enabling existing customers to have a more satisfactory expedience. When it comes to Apples case of retail-marketing, there are three factors to be highlighted, a) profitable relationship, b) with maximum number of potential customers and c) at the least costs being possible by eliminating all middle-men involvement. It thus not only attracts wider audience but also delivers all those that can increase satisfaction of the existing customers. For a manufacturer, choosing own-stores for retailing is generally justified on the ground that it eliminates middle-men costs, reduces risks of handling inventories, enables closer relationship with consumers and delivers maximum satisfaction to them. But, Raysman (2002, 4- 4) argued that the most effective form of retail distribution is likely to be through third party distributors who are well-established in the market place and have a strong distribution infrastructure, though it is possible for technology product producers to sell directly to their own retail outlets. He justified his argument that selling through third party established firms can help the producer relieve from significant logistical concerns, and third party distributor will give the producer easy access to markets which may otherwise have been time-consuming and helps reduce the producers overhead expenses (Raysman 2002, 4- 4). Apple has virtually been integrating different distribution channels. It not only used third parties for sale, but also online stores and its own retailing stores in order to grab the maximum potential opportunities from the existing market. Third part sellers helped Apple spread of its valuable information over regions and countries, its won store retailing helped it maintain closer relationship with customers and deliver direct services to them. Retail marketing / Own-store marketing strategy of Apple Inc Apple Inc used a number of different distribution channels including own store retailing or retail marketing, online store, sales force and third party sellers. Among these channels, retail marketing remains to be a very specific and unique marketing strategy that helped the company overcome difficulties associated with big-box sellers and their staffers who are ill-informed of Apples products. More over, this marketing strategy helped the company establish stronger relationship marketing in order to create customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Apple opened its first own-store retail-marketing in McLean, Virginia in 2001. By June 2008, with phenomenal records of greater success throughout its stores, Apple operated 215 retail stores in six countries, they are USA, Australia, UK, Japan, Canada and Italy. By 2008, these 215 stores were able to contribute nearly 20 % or more as growing of Apples total revenues (Mohr, Sengupta and Slater 2009, p. 326). Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz (2005, p. 395) found that Apple has been thriving on innovation from Apple- II to Macintosh, to Apples PCs and iMac, but its step forward to starting its own store retailing in 2001 was merely a better promise to revolutionize its market landscape. As Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz (2005, p. 395) noted, beginning with one or two stores in 2001, Apple Inc has been able to launch more than 25 stores per year. By 2004, about half of the US population were residing within 15 miles of an Apple store. These stores created an atmosphere where consumers were able to experience the thrill of owning and using Apples complete line of Macintosh computers, wide range of entertainment equipments and utilities like digital cameras, camcorders, and the entire iPod family devices. Apples retail-stores were selling its products and services exclusively, targeting tech-savvy customers within its store-products presentation and workshop. These stores facilitated displaying of a full lines of its products, software and accessories and Genius Bar staffed by an Apple specialist (Kotler and Keller 2006, p. 485). These stores were friendly places where all of its customers, especially Mac and PC users are freely allowed to play with and explore Apples technology-lines and get software or useful utilities (insidecrm.com, 2011). Rationale Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2009, p. 339) found that Apples management has been dissatisfied with how third part distributors were selling the computers and others products of the company and this has been the main reason behind Apples thought of starting own-store retailing. Apple observed that some third party distributors buried Macintosh displays inside major retail stores, surrounded by PCs running the more popular Windows operating system by Microsoft. This brought their attention to hire a retail executive to develop a retail strategy. Mainly due to the disappointment regarding Apples resellers, the company announced that it would begin opening and operating its own Apple stores. Steve Jobs conveyed his major concern that most resellers had been unsuccessful in making the products of Apple stylish and more appealing at customers level (Gitman and McDaniel 2008, p. 345). Most of the literatures, apart from the two mentioned above, stressed that Apples thought to start retail marketing has been mainly driven by its findings that third party resellers didnt deal with its customers in a way Apple expected how it should be. The retail stores not only must be able to sell the products to the final customers, but also, these stores must be able to deliver quality services, valuable information and facilitate customers entertainment etc. Apples stores were designed by considering all such important factors. What was predicted about Apple-stores? When Apple Inc first opened its retail-store in May 19, 2001, there were rumors and many experts and media predicted the failure of its specialty stores. They argued that Apples users already knew where to buy Apples products and therefore Apples investment in establishing retail-stores would bring nothing more that higher fixed costs (Gitman and McDaniel 2008, p. 345). Such specialty stores might increase Apples expenses and its products will be more expensive to the customers, as Apple might like to cover its costs by increasing the prices and this ultimately cause less-appeal to the mass consumer. Knowing Apples attempt to launch of retail stores in 2001, Business Week wrote Sorry Steve, Here is Why Apple Stores Wont Work. The street.com opined Its desperation time in Cupertino, Calif. Well known retail-consultant David Goldstein predicted I give (Apple) two years before theyre turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake (Jerry, 2007). A number of business experts and media were looking Apples retail stores quite surprisingly as an attempt for no use. They found nothing more than just add costs to the company and to the customers. But, the story was surprising to them that its design, outlook, services offered in-store and amenities being provided to the customers were extremely appealing to them and it finally added greater share of its total revenue. Those who predicted failure of Apples store might have generalized what was known about CompuAdd, IBM, Gateway and Microsoft. Dvorak (2010) stated that the retail-marketing has been tried by a few computer companies before Apple tried it out and they all except Apple failed for obvious reasons. CompuAdd, once a head-on-head competitor with Dell and IBM, rolled out a number of stores which in turn bankrupted the company. IBM opened few stores, even before CompuAdds stores. IBM aimed at more professional market and therefore had to shutter them all at once. Gateway opened many stores called Country Stores, but stores themselves were boring and ominous and they too created almost same story. Microsofts stores opened in 1999 were not up to the mark due to that there were no buzz or energy in the place. Apples experience of unique success with Retail-marketing Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak didnt realize that they were establishing one of the most multibillion-dollar PC industry of all times when they invented the Apple-I in a garage on April 1976 (Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz, 2005, p. 247). The same story repeated for its retail-marketing as well. Apples retail-marketing, despite predictions of experts and media about it to be failure, has become one of its greater achievements to be unparalleled as a wise move. These stores achieved $1 billion revenues faster than any retail business in history, just taking three years to reach that success-point. Around 40 % of the people purchasing items from Apple stores are new customers (Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz, 2005, p. 395). Gitman and McDaniel (2008, p. 345) found that Apple Inc, just three years after opening its retail stores, was attaining around one-seventh of its total revenues from its stores alone. More interestingly, customers attracted to these stores were not just current Mac or other Apples products users, but rather, half-of the Mac sold in these stores were to first time Mac buyers. Though Apples launch of a line of new retail stores in 2001 was met with major skepticism around the US, Apple has been able to turn its retail-stores to be one of the crowning achievements of the resurgence (OGrady 2008, p. 14) that many other large retailers failed to achieve. When Gateway announced closure of its line of retail-outlets in April 2004, Apple reached its retail-market growth by opening its 53rd store. OGrady (2008, p. 14) identified that this great success has been the result of effective strategic planning. Apple built a prototype store in one of its warehouse near the Apple campus to test the concept and possibilities and it arranged a combination of photos, videos, music and kids. By October 2007, it announced completion of 200 retail-stores throughout USA and other five countries. The Fifth Avenue location in New York was able to attract more than 50,000 customers per week. Apples store sales has become the top in the industry, with an average earning of $4032 per its square foot (OGrady 2008, p. 14). Twice (October, 2008, p. 28) reported that, TWICE was awarding Apples retail-stores the Award of Excellence in Retailing in the Best Vendor Retailer category in 2008. It opined that Apples retail stores, from just one in 2001 to reach 200 by 2008 is an excellent and rather a very unique success in retailing history itself. Twice (2008) found that Apple has been providing consumers a hands-on way to experience its products which are displayed in a variety of specific-categorized areas that encouraged customers to test and play with Apples products. These stores have also carried third-partys accessories and software titles that are compatible with Apple products. Twices (2008) observations about Apples stores designs, customer attraction, revenue-generating capacity and customer feedback have led it decide to give its award to Apples stores. As Twice (2008) observed, The Genius bar facilitated in Apples retail stores and moreover its sales growth of 40.5% in 2007 from the sales of 200 6 have been some other very significant factors that are highly impressive about Apples stores. Most amazingly, Apple stores have won Twices Excellence in Retailing Award four times from 2006 to 2010. Olenick (2010, p. 30) reported that Apple continued to pipe up TWICE retail awards as Apple took home the Best Vendor Retailer trophy, which was the fourth time it gained since 2006. As Olenick (2010) opined, Apple was able to take this award home due to its ongoing ability to operate unique destination stores and because of its merchandising excellence, store designs, customer service and retail innovation etc (p. 30). Apples retail-store design Apple always thrived on innovation. When it comes to its products, unique design created the brand Apple. When it comes to its retail-stores, design played pivotal roles in its success, even when many large-manufacturers own retail stores created failure-stories. For no doubt, Apples innovative store design has been one of the very powerful tool it strategically used to make its retail-stores winning. As Davis (2009a, p. 340) evaluated, Apple-owned retail stores have been designed and facilitated in a way that it has become a cultural phenomenon, with their bright lighting, clean layout, easy access to products and almost museum-like zeal for captivating its products-displays. Customers are automatically encouraged to play with its products and all of its stores have arranged an in-store Genius Bar which offers customers a place to ask questions and get answers for their doubts and troubleshoots. Jones, Comfort and Clarke-Hill (2009, p. 243) found that Apples stores, for instance one of its store opened in 2004 on Londons Regent Street, offer a variety of programs for customers. the 24,000 square feet store offers free basic getting started workshops, including showing customers how to set up a new Mac, connecting to the internet, sending e-mails, downloading or uploading photos and transferring music and television shows to an iPod etc. Apple stores have facilitated a Personal Shopping program which the company claims as new way to shop which is intended to give customers attention and allow them to take all the time they need to test drive the products they are interested in. As Danziger (2006, p. 12) noted, Apples retail-stores are clearly revolutionary in todays increasingly cluttered retailing environment and its very specific layout is the key to a unique shopping experience. the sparkling contemporary design showcases each computer and piece of peripheral devices, with minimum of products on displays. Customers are always welcome to get hands-on with computer machines, check their e-mail, use networking, and make test drive of the computer machines. This very different store design and layout is intended to guide the intellectual and emotional experience of the customers through the store (Danziger 2006, p. 12). Apple consistently listens to its network and customers at large. One of the very significant point in its store is Genius Bar, a tech-support station, which answers customers questions and deal with their troubleshooting and thus serves as Apples commitment to superior customer service. Superior customer service comes to life in the form of problem solving and helping build bigger loyalists out of Apples customer base (Davis, 2009b, p. 98). There are many strategic elements that the company planed carefully about the effectiveness of its retail store in any new location and carefully considered how each floor space can be converted in to long-term profitability. Floor (2006, p. 206) stressed that Apple opened its stores only when it expected them to be profitable within a short period of time itself. As Apple believed, using a computer is as simple as buying one would be. The store layout was so simple and logical and its design and fixtures are kept as simple as possible. Apples stores were white box with a lot of lighting, being equipped with materials like stone, metal, glass, transparent synthetic and beech-wood. Large pictures and glasses are used to differentiate departments within its stores. As the image above illustrates, Apple has designed its store in a way it can maximize net profit per square foot of the available space. Customers enter or exit the store from cashwrap area and all varieties of Mac and iPods are located in the

Business Proposal :: essays research papers

General company description â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† it’s a company that will provide dogs clothing and accessories using the Internet as a selling distribution. Mission statement: â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† aim to retail and distribute unique customize dog apparel at affordable prices. â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† always has that perfect gift for your own or someone else’s four legged friends. Don’t let your dog be wagged behind. Company goals and objectives: Our goals are to grow in this niche market thus aim to attain a high market share, doing so, will help the company achieve the main goal which is to be a market leader in this field. Our objective is to obtain our annual sales targets and to increase the company’s profit margins; this will help us achieve our goal. Another important objective is to meet customers specific needs in order to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty. Business philosophy: In this business what’s important is to stay positive and to liaise together as a team in order to solve any problems that may occur and to make important business decisions. Target market: The target market would be dog owners of all ages. The products will be set at affordable prices for customers that are seeking the lifestyle of the upper class person. (to be continued†¦ this time next week) Products and services Products & Services  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wholesale Cost  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Selling Price   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   T-Shirts (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £8.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Vest Tops (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £8.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Polo Shirts (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £13.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £22.99 Hooded Tops (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £11.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £21.33   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Name Tags (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £1.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £5.99 Crystal Band Collars (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £15.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £25.99 Sparkling Collars (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £19.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £10.99 Leads (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £29.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boots (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £30.00 Bags (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £17.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Necklace (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £24.99 Silver Necklace (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £54.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £75.00 Hair Accessories (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £0.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.00 Tiara  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £7.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Banadana (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £2.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £12.00   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All-In-One Bathrobe (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £15.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £24.99 Bathrobe (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £17.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £26.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shampoo & Conditioner  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £4.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99 Perfume  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.00  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £7.50 Dental Kit  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Beds (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £20.00  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £55.00   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Customisation (Various Design)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From  £5.99 Engraving  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £2 Per Letter Marketing plan Market Overview: Market size The UK market for pet accessories was  £296 million in 1999. An increase of 36% since 1995 but in 2003 the market size is over  £400 million. Business Proposal :: essays research papers General company description â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† it’s a company that will provide dogs clothing and accessories using the Internet as a selling distribution. Mission statement: â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† aim to retail and distribute unique customize dog apparel at affordable prices. â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† always has that perfect gift for your own or someone else’s four legged friends. Don’t let your dog be wagged behind. Company goals and objectives: Our goals are to grow in this niche market thus aim to attain a high market share, doing so, will help the company achieve the main goal which is to be a market leader in this field. Our objective is to obtain our annual sales targets and to increase the company’s profit margins; this will help us achieve our goal. Another important objective is to meet customers specific needs in order to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty. Business philosophy: In this business what’s important is to stay positive and to liaise together as a team in order to solve any problems that may occur and to make important business decisions. Target market: The target market would be dog owners of all ages. The products will be set at affordable prices for customers that are seeking the lifestyle of the upper class person. (to be continued†¦ this time next week) Products and services Products & Services  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wholesale Cost  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Selling Price   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   T-Shirts (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £8.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Vest Tops (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £8.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Polo Shirts (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £13.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £22.99 Hooded Tops (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £11.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £21.33   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Name Tags (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £1.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £5.99 Crystal Band Collars (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £15.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £25.99 Sparkling Collars (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £19.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £10.99 Leads (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £29.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boots (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £30.00 Bags (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £17.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Necklace (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £24.99 Silver Necklace (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £54.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £75.00 Hair Accessories (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £0.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.00 Tiara  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £7.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Banadana (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £2.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £12.00   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All-In-One Bathrobe (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £15.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £24.99 Bathrobe (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £17.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £26.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shampoo & Conditioner  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £4.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99 Perfume  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.00  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £7.50 Dental Kit  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Beds (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £20.00  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £55.00   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Customisation (Various Design)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From  £5.99 Engraving  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £2 Per Letter Marketing plan Market Overview: Market size The UK market for pet accessories was  £296 million in 1999. An increase of 36% since 1995 but in 2003 the market size is over  £400 million.

Putting Children First: Guidelines for Divorcing Parents Essay

Raising children presents challenges. When parents live in separate homes, the challenges are greater because relationships become more complicated. Sometimes parents disagree about how much time children should spend with each parent. Unless special circumstances exist, preserving a healthy and ongoing relationship between children and both parents after divorce or separation is of greatest importance. Positive involvement with both parents furthers the child’s emotional and social development, academic achievement, and overall adjustment. The following guidelines are helpful to remember when divorced or separated parents interact with children. Children benefit when parents: †¢ Keep predictable schedules †¢ Help the child have regular contact with the other parent by phone, letter, audio and video, Skype, e†mail, and other forms of communication †¢ Are on time and have the child ready when it’s time for the child to go with the other parent †¢ Exchange the child without arguing †¢ Support the child’s relationship with the other parent †¢ Let the child carry â€Å"important† items such as favorite clothes, toys, and security blankets with them between the parents’ homes †¢ Follow similar routines for mealtime, bedtime, and homework time in each home †¢ Handle rules and discipline in similar ways †¢ Support contact with grandparents, stepparents, and other extended family so the child doesn’t lose these relationships †¢ Are flexible so the child can take part in special family celebrations and events †¢ Give as much advance notice as possible to the other parent about special occasions or necessary changes to the schedule †¢ Provide the other parent with travel dates, destinations, and places where the child and the parent can be reached when on vacation †¢ Establish workable and respectful communication with the other parent †¢ Plan their vacations around the child’s regularly scheduled activities. Children are harmed when parents: †¢ Make their child choose between them †¢ Question their child about the other parent’s activities or relationships †¢ Make promises they don’t keep †¢ Drop in and out of the child’s life †¢ Are inconsistent in using their parenting time †¢ Argue with or put down the other parent in front of the child or where the child can overhear †¢ Discuss their personal problems with the child or where the child can overhear †¢ Use the child as a messenger, spy, or mediator †¢ Stop or interfere with parenting time because child support hasn’t been paid †¢ Don’t show respect for each other

Late Bloomers

At the first hint of labor, she is rushed to the hospital with fear and excitement. Hours of painful contractions take over her body but the knowledge of soon meeting her unborn child keeps her hanging on. After delivery she holds her newborn son in her arms. She does not know until years later how dependent upon her this child will become. Josh does not respond well to sounds or faces but the doctor's test his hearing and find nothing wrong. A few years later this mother notices that her son is a â€Å"late bloomer† when he has not yet learned to walk or attempt to talk. His appearance is like other children his age but his abilities are limited. Josh is unable to point to objects or hold his arms out for love. He pushes away from affection wanting to be left alone to play with his toy cars. Josh finds fun in flapping his arms and laughing, usually at inappropriate times. School has come but still Josh does not speak. When he begins to speak, he talks in a repetitive babbling manner that is impossible to understand. He fears school and unknown faces. When he arrives home from school, he is repetitive in movement and activities. Josh paces the floor in circular motions and at times bangs his head on the floor. Josh does poor in school because he fails to pay attention. He has poor eye contact and is often seen with his hands over his ears. By this time, his mother has realized that he is not a â€Å"late bloomer†, something is wrong with her child. After many tests and observations, Josh is diagnosed with autism, a disease that is not curable. He will live with this social disability for the rest of his life. Josh's mother is concerned that she is to blame for his disability. She consults her doctor about the cause of this disease. It is possible that viruses and genetics have a role in Josh's autism but neurological damage is most likely. Depending upon the severity of Josh's disability he may or may not be able to care for himself in the future. He is totally dependent upon his mother for his basic needs in life. The above story is a typical scenario of a child with autism. â€Å"Autism is a severe developmental disorder characterized by profound language delay and extreme social withdrawal (San Jose Mercury News). Autism affects normal development of the brain having to do with social interactions and verbal skills. Autistic people usually have a hard time relating to the outside world. They are often described as being in an ice block. The cause of autism is still undetermined but, researchers from all over the world are devoting time and energy into finding the cause. Neurological damage can occur in any child for any number of reasons. This is why autism is so hard to diagnose and treat. This disease can affect anyone and any race. Neurological damage can be caused by many things part of the everyday life, such as vaccines. Due to a 273% autism increase in the last ten years in California, the U.S. Department of Education launched a research study. â€Å"It was decided to target mothers who had received a live virus vaccine after the age of 16, whether or not they had an autistic child.† (Yazbak, F. Edward, MD, FAAP 1999) The conjecture was that antibodies which the child had received from it's mother had some how mixed with the vaccine to create autistic results. Mothers received the vaccine to meet requirements for higher education; work related vaccines, or failure to react to previous vaccines. Two hundred forty parents of autistic children and mothers who had received vaccines were studied. Seven studies are discussed in ‘Autism: Is there a vaccine connection?' â€Å"Six out of seven children (85%) who resulted from these pregnancies were diagnosed with autism, and the seventh, (case 1) whose mother received a measles vaccine, exhibits symptoms which suggest autistic spectrum† (Yazbak, F. Edward, MD, FAAP 1999). Research is still being conducted on vaccines given to pregnant women and how the vaccines effect the unborn child. Other cases of autism are being researched, as neurological technology is becoming available. Genetics, for example, are being scanned for flaws and pictures are being taken of the brains in progress. â€Å"Phenylketonuria (a brain disease) is a purely genetic disease that can cause mental retardation† (Cook, Jr., Edwin H. 1999). If it is found early in childhood, dietary therapy can prevent this disease. It is possible autism may be treated the same way, but because this theory and many others are new, funding and research just begun. Secretion is also a therapy that can help with autism. â€Å"It is one of the hormones that controls digestion† (Lloyd, John Wills 1998). Secretion is emitted into the empty stomach by cells in the digestive system to stimulate the liver and stomach to produce enzymes that aide to digestion, and fluids that neutralize the acidity of the intestines. Pituitary adenylate cyclase activation polypeptide (PACAP) is also used. PACAP, a peptide that is used to medicate disease such as ulcers, but has a side effect of suppressing membranes which cause autistic children to act abnormal has been found. When given to rats, delayed reactions were seen in response to loud noises and open spaces. When children received secretion, their eye contact improved and alertness and expressive language were seen (Horvath, Stefanatos, Sokolski, Wachtel, Nabor & Tildon, 1998). The Tomatis Method is a much different approach. The aim of the Tomatis Method is to develop or reestablish communication when it had been lost or impaired using the ear and its various functions (Sollier, Pierre 1996) Tomatis treats the child not the disease. This treatment is not a cure; it is only used to improve the lives of autistic children. Sixty percent of the children treated show improvements, such as clearer speech, more eye contact, and interaction with other children and teacher. Parents have been reported that Tomatis Method speeds up other therapies and makes life easier. Like all treatments, there are good and bad days. Some days the children revert to their own world and again become recluses. Tomatis has found a new way to retrieve these children. To reestablished communication, Tomatis focuses on the vestibule, the inner part of the ear. â€Å"There is not one single muscle of the body, including the muscles of the eyes, that is not under control of the vestibular system† (Sollier, Pierre 1996). When the sensory input does not run smoothly the child becomes bombarded with information. The confusion of the information causes the child to withdraw into his own world to protect himself. Tomatis points out that hearing and listening are two different things. Autistic children cannot focus on the correct information coming into his senses. All of us hear background noise, but choose to focus on bits of information that are important to us. An autistic child does not have the ability to listen, he may hear cars pass by on the street below and all the other back ground noises. Autistic children ‘space out† or enter into their own world to escape the confusion of the outside world. By creating an easier way for autistic children to decipher information, the desire to speak is found. To do this, conducted research in which children listen to their mother's voice. â€Å"He electronically filtered her voice, to match the sounds heard in the womb† (Sollier, Pierre 1996). The children began to bond with people around them. It is known that a mother's voice sooths children, and since autistic children live in fear its natural that Tomatis uses the mother's voice to sooth those fears. As technology becomes available many therapies will be created to improve the life of autistic children, but the best way to improve the child's life is to educate their care providers. Autism is an incurable disease estimated to occur in 1 in 500 people (Centers for Disease and Prevention 1997). Learning the symptoms and signs of autism is the first step in education and improved care for autistic children. Signs of autism may be detected as soon as infancy. Some signs include: 1. Arching his/her back to avoid touch 2. Failure to anticipate being picked up Years ago parents did not live the burden of with autism. Most children were put away in asylums to be left in their own world, because they were not understood. These children spent their lives not knowing any other world than their own. Today with the technology we have, we can enter into the child's world and bring him back to our own. This can all be done with education and technology.