Feasibility Report Essay

The company will sell custom-made cakes, cupcakes and coffee. The revenues from the business will come from the sale of decorated cakes and cupcakes, as well as coffee for customers who visit the shop. The business will raise revenue from service: cake decoration and creation of the centerpieces of many of the most remarkable occasions of the lives of clients. Service revenue will come from different customized cake designs, decoration and bake creations. The business will use many different designs as discussed by Graham (2007) and Wilson (2011). The major revenue source during the initial year will be service revenue, including drink, cakes, and cupcakes sales. The business includes walk-in service. It will have two ordering delivery channels; phone orders and via online ordering. In addition, parking bays will be provided at a fee. The projected revenue from parking bays will be $75000 per year. The revenue from the sale of cupcakes, cakes and drinks is projected to be $100000 yea rly. The revenue from custom-making service will be $50000 annually. Therefore, the total projected revenue will be $225000. Cost Drivers The business will consider the costs in order to stay in business (Marron, 2014); (Kidder, 2012 ). a) Upfront Costs Since the business is new, there will be several starting costs before  official opening. Upfront costs consist of the purchase of furniture and fittings (table, chairs, coffee machines, installation of EFTPOS (electronic funds transfer at point of sale) and computers, cutlery, and front decoration (Ilasco and Seto, 2012 ); (Spencer, 2010). Advertising expenses will consist of the advertising campaign in the initial year. The advertising drive will be geared towards increasing sales to cater for the other costs (Marquis, Demand Media, 2014). Materials for shop decoration will be used to attract new customers. The total cost will include the cost of employing an interior designer. In addition, the business will consider the bond for the rent. This is because the expense must be paid prior before the business is opened. There will be other upfront costs that will include the certificates and legislations required for the business opening (Department of Health, 2014). b) Fixed Costs Owing to the scenic area of Melbourne, the high cost of rent must be taken into account. Utilities like lighting, heating, telephone lines, internet router and air conditioning have to be considered before the official opening. The business will choose a cheap electricity supplier. There are many to choose from (Smart Utilities, 2014). For an attractive design of the display in the shop, an interior designer with experience will be sought once per year. The cost associated with this will be recorded as ‘expenses for design.’ Besides, the parking bays’ rental will be a yearly fixed cost paid to Melbourne City Council (Hamer, Currie and Young , 2011). The parking bays will be provided to increase revenue. The business will take legislations into consideration, because set annual fees will have to be paid to the relevant bodies to ensure business continuation. c) Variable Costs These are the expenses that will change with the output of the business. The main variable cost in the cake and cupcake shop is raw materials used in the production of cupcakes, coffee and cakes such as lollies, vegetables, fruits, flour, milk, coffee beans and chocolate (Leach and Melicher, 2014). The cost of vegetables and fruits will change depending on seasonal and weather changes. There will be other variable costs like package expenses: boxes, bags, staff wages and utilities. The workers in the shop will include 1 baker 1 decorator Junior casual staff Wages will be paid fortnightly. Additionally, the business will offer staff uniforms and training opportunities. There will be allowance of discount expenses owing to the high-inventory turnover and the need to supply fresh products. On special occasions, the business may have deals or offers that will reduce the unit profit. There will be other expenses like machinery maintenance, new fittings and insurance. These will be required as the business grows. Resource Requirements/Mapping Human Resource It will be very easy to get the key employees as it will only involve placing adverts on the street notice boards. There will be an added cost of interviews, as well as paying the Melbourne City Council (City of Melbourne, 2014). Physical Resource Property for lease is available in the area identified. Due to the scenery of the area, the cost of lease is high. However, the expected returns are high. The business premises will be gotten under a one-year lease. This will save the cost that may be incurred in paying monthly costs. Similarly, it will avoid the costs associated with monthly rent increases. Financial Resource The total startup cost is $130000. The business will raise $30000 and $100000 will be obtained from the bank as loan. Costs for maintenance will be catered for by the revenue from the business. Investment Size The business plans to raise $130000 to meet its startup cost. The funds will be used for: Developing the company’s cupcake and cakes store location Financing for the first year of operation Capital to buy baking equipment and ovens The company will contribute $30000 to the venture. The remaining $100000 will be financed by the bank as loan. Projected Startup Costs Initial Lease Payments and Deposits $20000 Working Capital $60000 Security Deposits $20000 Opening Supplies $10000 Company Vehicle and Lease Deposits $2000 Marketing Budget $10000 Miscellaneous and Unforeseen Costs $8000 Total Startup Costs $130000 References Aaron Marquis, Demand Media , 2014. The Average Profit Margin for a Cake Bakery. [Online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/average-profit-margin-cake-bakery-14214.html [Accessed 11 05 2014]. Department of Health, V. A., 2014. Starting a food business. [Online] Available at: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/foodsafety/bus/foodbus.htm [Accessed 11 05 2014].  Graham, J., 2007. The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook. Print ed. London: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated. J. Leach, Ronald Melicher, 2014 . Entrepreneurial Finance. 5 ed. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Kidder, D., 2012 . The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups from Their Founding Entrepreneurs. Illustrated ed. San Francisco : Chronicle Books. Marron, D., 2014. Cupcake Economics. [Online] Available at: http://dmarron.com/2009/11/28/cupcake-economics/ [Accessed 11 05 2014]. Meg Mateo Ilasco, Catherine Seto, 2012 . Mom, Inc.: The Essential Guide to Running a Successful Business Close to Home. Illustrated ed. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. Melbourne, C. o., 2014. Rates and valuations. [Online] Available at: https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/buildingandplanning/ratesandvaluations/Pages/RatesandValuations.aspx [Accessed 11 05 2014]. Paul Hamer, Graham Currie, William Young , 2011. Parking Price Policies – A review of the Melbourne congestion levy. Australasian Transport Research Forum 2011 Proceedings , 1(1), pp. 1-16. Spencer, P., 2010 . Start a Cupcake Business Today. London: InformationTree Press. StartupBizHub, 2014. Starting a Cake Business. [Online] Available at: http://www.startupbizhub.com/starting-a-cake-business.htm [Accessed 11 05 2014]. Utilities, S., 2014. Compare Electricity Rates in Victoria. [Online] Available at: http://www.smartutilities.com.au/electricity-comparison-victoria/ [Accessed 11 05 2014]. Wilson, D., 2011 . Baker’s Field Guide to Cupcakes. Unabridged, reprint ed. New York City: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Analysis of a news story Essay

The article that I am analysing shows how a newspaper presents a story. The article I am studying is about ‘The War on Terror’ the article, being about a man named Kerim Chatty, whom was caught, whilst under a routine security check, with a gun in his wash bag was published in The Sun paper. Kerim Chatty is believed to have been planning on hi-jacking the flight air-born from Sweden to England, Stanstead. The Sun paper is a tabloid, which is more suited to people who enjoy reading ‘dramatic’ and ‘over-exaggerated stories. ‘ The Sun is aimed at people who prefer ‘easier reading. ‘ By this I mean that the papers stories are short, too the point and simple. The newspaper has sensational stories, which attract readers between the age group of 16-30. The tabloid uses interesting pictures and eye catching headlines. Also by using emotive language, it grabs the readers’ attention. The headline consists of the title ‘War on Terror,’ as the reader I was attracted to this article immediately as I wanted to see what it is about. The sub-heading reads, ‘Face of Jet Hi-jack Thug’ this is where the story begins. A good publisher knows that you should never tell your audience what the piece of writing is about, in the headings because if you do then they may not want to continue reading your story. The first sub-heading is used to briefly tell the reader of what is going on. The following sub-heading leads you onto more information, but still doesn’t give the story up. ‘Violent Crook Obsessed by Weapons. ‘ By using emotive language such as; crook, obsessed and thug, the readers build a self image of Kerim Chatty as being even more of a criminal and horrid man, this is what the tabloid paper wants you to do. The first section of the article is based on the hi-jacker and what he had done and in the main picture it shows the scene of the crime. The picture has a lot going on it; you can see the hi-jacker with his weapon, walking towards the armed police who appear ready for any sudden action from the hi-jacker. Also in the background of the picture you can see the hi-jacked plane, from a leading company Ryannair. There is a smaller caption below with a clear face of Chatty; this is put there so the readers can see who the hi-jacker is. Analysing the Picture If I saw the picture of the man without knowing he had committed an offence, I wouldn’t look at him as though he was a ‘thug’ or ‘crook’ instead Id see him as being a perfectly normal guy, who could of maybe been in the paper having been involved in a racist attack.. Below the picture of Chatty is a caption stating: ‘Gangster†¦. Kerim Chatty’ Once you see this you start to imagine an evil side to him and then turn against him. Emotive Language & Formal Language The paper immediately wants the reader to turn against Kerim, even before they manage to read the whole article, so emotive language is used to slip in words such as Crook, Thug, Violent, Obsessed and Gangster to enhance the stories features. The Sun uses informal language such as; Cops and Common Nuts! The more informal the English is the easier the article is to read and understand. ‘Simple Reading’ is what I believe The Sun is known well for. Summary: The presentation of the story is smart and The Sun did very well to express and explain the story. It has done well on telling the story, using typical tabloid tools. I don’t think Kerim Chatty, would really appreciate how The Sun have spoke about him and no doubt some of it may not be true. The Sun is a good tabloid newspaper but the stories are exaggerated in a big way, although the exaggeration does bring excitement to the story, Kerim probably wouldn’t enjoy reading it.

Dismissal Meeting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dismissal Meeting - Research Paper Example ination or dismissal is inevitability despite how strong the firms’ recruiting, performance management, management practices as well as hiring effectively be. Dismissal of the employees results from behavioral misconduct such as theft, violation of standards of conduct and/ or policies, changes in business such as lack of work, new markets and contract ending as well as performance issues. It is importance to note that, before settling down to conduct a dismissal meeting, a firm should first consult with a counsel from an employment attorney to ascertain non-exposure to litigation. As noted by Martin Yate’s â€Å"Keeping the Best†, a firm that fails to strip-off chronic poor performers, is viewed by the best performers employees as having condoned lackluster performance and/or it fails to recognize the difference as the best performers will always long for associating themselves to the best (Yate, 1991, p. 65). It is therefore key for both small and large firms to dismiss employees when it is called for. This is because small business may not afford to retain unproductive employees since poor performance negatively affect the Company’s outcomes through demotivating best performers. However, firing of employee calls for proper handling of the dismissal process to curb the looming pitfalls such as reduction in morale and productivity with respect to retained employees. In addition, the image of the Company and recruitment of new staff are embedded on how dismissal process is handled. As noted by Richard S. Deems in his book ‘How to Fir e Your Friends’, â€Å"Do it the right way, and there’s no lasting negative effect on the company or the person who is existing. Do it the wrong way, and the fired employee may have a very difficult time finding a new job and you and your company may end up in court (Deems, 1989, p. 16).† The manager needs to set the tone as how the work group will react to the challenge or stress arising from the unwelcome change. The

Compare two ethical principles (Dawn) Assignment

Compare two ethical principles (Dawn) - Assignment Example As per (University of Washington,1998) â€Å"In the course of caring for patients, there are some situations in which some type of harm seems inevitable, and we are usually morally bound to choose the lesser of the two evils, although the lesser of evils may be determined by the circumstances†. When we think about the other ethical principle, it can be detailed as beneficence where in nurses are obliged to do good for their patients and have the duty not to do any harm to them during the course of treatment .As per (Pentilat,2008) â€Å"Beneficence is action that is done for the benefit of others. Beneficent actions can be taken to help prevent or remove harms or to simply improve the situation of others†. Interestingly enough, our duty to do good for our patients can also interfere with our duty to do no harm†. The application of these principles is to protect the patient and help them lead a comfortable life. As per (Runzheimer,2013) â€Å"All healthcare providers must strive to improve their patient’s health, to do the most good for the patient in every

Annotated Bibliography Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Annotated Bibliography - Research Paper Example Within that broad topic there is also the reality of women’s experience as they grow up and are socialized into a context where their appearance is problematized. Women are then doubly disadvantaged because they suffer discrimination in the workplace in terms of pay levels, and then they additionally feel compelled to adhere to an idealized body image in order to be successful in their lives. Conditions like anorexia nervosa and bulimia are connected with these social pressures. The topic which I would like to concentrate on is how these subtle gender pressures arise, and how they are manifested in the experience of younger adults. Schools are an obvious area where more research could be done on the multiple pressures on girls and it would be interesting also to explore cultural differences and how they affect body image. I am interested especially in the large scale unwritten assumptions of consumerist society and pressures that exists below our daily consciousness, especiall y in the way that institutions are set up, and in the hidden messages that exist all around us. Annotations. Biddick, Kathleen. â€Å"Genders, Bodies, Borders: Technologies of the Visible. Speculum Vol. 68, No. 2 (April 1993): 389-418. Kathleen Biddick is a professor of history at Temple University, Philadelphia and her article concentrates on the way that women’s history has been rendered invisible by the process of recording history, and then recreated in modern times in a way that is quite problematic. The example of Medieval women mystics is used to show how issues of gender and culture are closely related, and how dimensions such as multiple ethnicities and a dominant Christian religious world view make it difficult to unpack the reality of women’s experience in the distant past. Illustrations of medieval art are used to demonstrate certain points but the author does not make it easy for the reader to follow her arguments. At times there is more discussion in the footnotes than in the main text, and this adds unnecessary distraction to an already complicated theme. This article raises very interesting theoretical issues, but it is too abstract to be of much use in contemporary empirical studies. Bordo, Susan. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, Tenth anniversary edition, 2003. As the title suggests, this book approaches the issue of female body image from a feminist perspective. It is structured thematically around concepts which mostly relate to the cultural pressures on women to conform to a stereotype which preserves hierarchies of gender. Bordo sees conditions such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia as the â€Å"chrystallization of culture† (p. 139). This means that she interprets them not as disorders, or aberrations but as logical expressions of postmodern American culture, which she describes as being built on the systematic repression of women and girls. Bordo considers a diverse range of cultural forces, including pressure on African American women to be voluptuous, and the tendency to medicalize women’s bodies, especially during pregnancy. This is a wide ranging book that explores what is happening to women, and it is refreshing in its openness to multiple influences. It also usefully examines exactly how this is done through different communications media, and many aspects of society that are so deeply ingrained as to seem natural, despite their harmful effect on women. Evans, John, Emma Rich and Rachel

Seminar Contribution in Economy In UK Coursework

Seminar Contribution in Economy In UK - Coursework Example According to the research findings, housing or the place where they would stay is a concern of all international students studying in the UK.   I have thought that since I will be staying in the UK for a long time of about three years, it would be better if I would first acquaint myself with the real estate market before buying anything. So I chose this the topic of real estate market not only because I will be needing the things that I will learn in it in buying my own apartment but also because I am genuinely interested with the subject. I have been reading a lot that the real estate crisis started the global financial crisis and I also would like to find it out myself by choosing this topic. So I did some research. I initially carried out my research through online articles since it is very convenient to do so. Of course, I am aware that relying merely upon online information especially in real estate is insufficient. I also checked some trade journals pertaining to real estate and found some useful information there. And to complete my research, I attended a seminar about real estate. The seminar was fruitful because I learned a lot of things about real estate. It also made me more confident in investing or buying my own apartment in the UK. In addition to learning, I also gained some wonderful friends during the seminar. It was a wonderful experience. I would like to take a seminar before buying anything because I would like to familiarize myself with the market first before buying anything. Real estate in the UK is not cheap so I have to know first before shelling out any money. Just like any customer, I would also like to get a good buy and a good value for money for the apartment that I will be buying. After all, I will be using the apartment also and will not just buy it only to sell later.

Alzheimer's Agitation Prevention Music Therapy Research Paper

Alzheimer's Agitation Prevention Music Therapy - Research Paper Example Moreover, caretakers are also in a happy mood while serving the food making a psychological impact on the patient. The present article highlights the chief themes of agitation as well as aims to examine how intervention of music could control agitation in Alzheimer's patients. Introduction Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating condition that affects the elderly population. According to Peng (2003), dementia is a condition that â€Å"affects problem solving ability, decision making, judgement, our ability to orient ourselves in space, and our ability to put together simple sentences and understand and communicate with words†¦Dementia is a permanent, progressive disease that affects mostly the elderly.† AD is also a kind of dementia influencing memory of the individual, difficulties in languages, gross motor co-ordination is severely affected, the cognitive abilities are influenced, the decisive power of the individual is affected and thus an overall personality of the individual is altered (Alzheimer's Association, 2004). Agitation is considered as an improper verbal or motor activities. Patients may display four kinds of agitation behavior which are expressed under different themes- * Non-aggressive Verbal Behavior: Under this category illogical jabber takes place. The patient may ask repeated questions, bringing irritation to the caretaker. * Non-aggressive Physical Behavior is displayed when the patient gets bored, frightened or confused and seek security as well as expression for pain. The patient display rapidity, drifting, boring body motions, hoarding or stakeout. * Aggressive Verbal Behavior- The patient may utter abusive words, may curse the care takers which could be awful for the loved ones. * Aggressive Physical Behavior- Patient may display aggression in the form of physical action such as beating, scraping or kicking the care takers. These actions could be sometimes dangerous for the loved ones of the caretakers (Management of Agit ation Behavior). Management of agitation is of paramount significance for Alzheimer's patients. Modification of environment could serve as an imperative step to reduce the agitation. Music is known to be an entertaining action therefore listening to music have positive health implications. Music is calming to ears, relaxes brain and removes gloom and stress. Numerous studies disclose that music has the power to help ailing, injured, physically challenged, mentally unsound individuals or elderly population. These studies indicate that the presence of music serves as a therapy for these cases. Playing patient's favorite music can diminish the agitation. Music enhances the uptake of meals, relaxes the body when played during bath or exercise, fill the individual with positivity and enthusiasm. According to Clark et al (1998), music provides mental strength to the Alzheimer's disease and those suffering with dementia. Their study indicate that music afford a positive advantage as it aid s in diminishing agitation. This is displayed through the behavior of the patient as the patient becomes less aggressive especially during bath time and they also display reduced requirement for physical control. Literature Review Various studies have been carried out across the globe to study

Case comment coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case comment coursework - Essay Example Through the privatization, the government was allowed to retain a special share. This entitled the government, according to the company’s constitution, to appoint two of the eight directors but with no voting rights (Patterson, 2001). History Belize privatized its telecomm network in 1989. Under the privatization, the government was to gradually sealed off its shares and, in the process, retained a special share (Redfem, 2004). According to the company’s constitution, 8 directors would be appointed as per the shareholding in the following manner: The special share holder can appoint 2 of the 8 directors. In this case the government had a special share which entitled it to appoint two directors. Class â€Å"B† shareholders comprising private investors could appoint two directors. Class â€Å"C† shareholders could appoint four directors. The government also owned Class â€Å"C† shares. A further provision for the election directors was made, stating t hat if a special shareholder possessed over 37.5% of the share capital in total, it would appoint two of the 4 Class â€Å"C† directors. The government in 2003 completed the privatization process. A law was passed to this effect to enable the completion (Richardson, 2004). In 2004, Belize Telecommunications bought the special share and the Class â€Å"C† shares from the government. To enable Belize Telecommunications to purchase the shares, the government changed its shares into a loan to enable Belize to finance the transaction. Since this was a loan from the government, it needed security from Belize. Belize gave the government a ‘pledge’ on the shares that it had just sold, i.e. the Class â€Å"C† shares, but not on the special share until the debt was repaid (Robertson, 2006). In February 2005, Belize defaulted in the loan repayment and the government’s pledge under the loan agreement was enforced. The government now had more than 37.5% o f the class â€Å"C† shares but without the special share. Belize now had less than 37.5% of shares. The main issue of the case is on whether the directors subject to appointment by the special shareholder with over 37.5% of class â€Å"C† shares could be removed. In this instance, there was no shareholder who held both the special share and over 37.5% of class â€Å"C† shares. Belize Telecommunications argued that the two directors were not removable whereas the Attorney General argued otherwise. The argument was that the articles of association regarding the appointment of directors should be made to provide that vacation of office by a director should happen if the shareholding specification that brought him there ceased existing. The Belize Supreme Court’s Chief Justice agreed with the government. With its 37.5% shareholding, the government should be given power to dismiss the two directors and recruit new ones (Olivelle, 2005). Analysis Court Analysi s. The Chief Justice in the Belize Supreme Court agreed with the Attorney General that the government may be allowed to remove the directors in question and appoint new ones. The Privy Council’s advice through Lord Hoffman came up with the principles of interpreting the company’s articles of association. The interpretation principles apply, whether it is an act of Parliament or company contract. A search for the meaning of the

Trends and Challenges in Human Resource Management Essay Example for Free

Trends and Challenges in Human Resource Management Essay a.Discuss how a complete performance management system differs from the use of annual performance appraisals. The performance management cycle begins with objective setting where the appraisee ought to be oriented about performance expectations for the given performance period. Throughout the period, performance is measured officially through the performance appraisal exercise, where the appraiser is given the chance to give performance feedback through an interview. The performance management system subsumes the performance appraisal process, and is meaningfully linked to rewards based on outcomes or results. Following all these, modifications are implemented to objectives and activities, including the drafting of an individual development plan for closing competency gaps (Clarke, Rogers, Miklos, 1996). The following section describes the different types of performance appraisal systems, which, as emphasized, is only one part of the performance management cycle. The following discusssion is being made to reiterate the idea that performance appraisal is but one part of performance management. Trait-focused appraisal systems. A trait-focused system concentrates on employees’ attributes such as their dependability, assertiveness, and friendliness. Though commonly used, trait focused performance appraisal instruments are not a good idea because they provide poor feedback and thus will not result in employee development and growth (Kingstrom Bass, 1981). For example, in a performance review meeting in which the supervisor tells an employee that she received low ratings on responsibility and friendliness, the employee is likely to become defensive. Furthermore, the employee will want specific examples the supervisor may not have available (Kingstrom Bass, 1981). Behaviour-focused performance appraisal systems. Behaviour-focused instruments focus on what an employee does. Instead of rating them on personal traits, a behaviour-focused instrument would rate him or her on specific behaviours. For example, in the case of a bank teller, some behaviours that may be rated on are as follows: â€Å"Knows customers’ names†, and â€Å"Thanks customer after each transaction.† The obvious advantage to a behaviour-focused system is the amount of specific feedback that can be given to each employee. Further, the focus on behaviour rather than traits does not only reduce employee defensiveness but reduces legal problems (Kingstrom Bass, 1981). From a legal perspective, courts are more interested in the due process afforded by a performance appraisal system that in its technical aspects. After reviewing 295 circuit court decision regarding performance appraisal, Werner Bolino (1997) concluded that performance appraisal systems are most likely to survive a legal challenge if they are based on job analysis, if raters receive training and written instructions, if employees are allowed to review results, and if ratings from multiple raters are consistent. Following the performance appraisal process is performance feedback. In organizational parlance, this is frequently referred to as performance discussions. Perhaps the most important use of performance evaluation data is to provide feedback to the employee and assess his or her strengths and weaknesses so that further training can be implemented. Although this feedback and training should be an ongoing process, the semi-annual evaluation might be the best time to formally discuss employee performance. Furthermore, holding a formal review interview places the organization on better legal ground in the event of a lawsuit (Field Holley, 1982). Normally, in most organizations a supervisor spends a few minutes with employees every six months to tell them about the scores they received during the most recent performance evaluation period. This process is probably the norm because most managers do not like to judge others; because of this dislike, they try to complete the evaluation process as quickly as possible (Field Holley, 1982).   Furthermore, seldom does evaluating employees benefit the supervisor. The best scenario is to hear no complaints, and the worst scenario is a lawsuit. In fact, one study demonstrated that dissatisfaction and a decrease in organizational commitment occurs even when an employee receives an evaluation that is â€Å"satisfactory† but not outstanding (Pearce Porter, 1986). Finally, in the â€Å"tell and sell† approach to performance appraisal interviews, a supervisor â€Å"tells† an employee everything she has done poorly and then â€Å"sells† her on the ways in which she can improve. This method, however, accomplishes little. There are certain techniques that will make the performance appraisal interview more effective, and these are discussed in the following sections. Both the supervisor and the employee must have time to prepare for the review interview. Both should be allowed at least 1 hour to prepare before an interview and at least 1 hour before the interview itself (Pearce Porter, 1986). The interview location should be a neutral place that ensures privacy and allows the supervisor and the employee to face one another without a desk between them as a communication barrier (Rhoads, 1997). Performance appraisal review interviews should be scheduled at least once every 6 months for most employees and more often for new employees. Review interviews are commonly scheduled 6 months after an employee begins working for the organization. It is important to note that while formal performance review interviews occur only twice a year, informal â€Å"progress checks† should be held throughout the year to provide feedback (Rhoads, 1997). While preparing for the interview, the supervisor should review the ratings she has assigned to the employee and the reasons for those ratings. This step is important because the quality of feedback given to employees will affect their satisfaction with the entire performance appraisal process (King, 1984). Meanwhile the employee should rate her own performance, using the same format as the supervisor. The employee also should write down specific reasons and examples that support the ratings she gives herself (King, 1984). At the outset of the interview, the supervisor should communicate the following: 1) the role of the performance appraisal – that making decisions about salary increases and terminations is not its sole purpose; 2) how the performance appraisal was conducted; and 3) how the evaluation process was accomplished. It is advisable that the supervisor also communicate her own feelings about the performance appraisal process (Kelly, 1984). The review process is probably best begun with the employee communicating her own ratings and her justification for those ratings. Research indicates that employees who are actively involved in the interview from the start will be more satisfied with the results. The supervisor then communicates his ratings and his reasons for them (King, 1984). At the conclusion of the interview, goals should be mutually set for future performance and behaviour, and both supervisor and employee should understand how these goals are met (Cederbloom, 1982). In summary, a performance management system encompasses the phases of performance planning, performance monitoring, performance feedback, and performance development. In performance planning, the goal of the superior is to ensure that all objectives, key performance indicators, and even resources for performance delivery are clear and understood. In performance monitoring, the supervisor aims to keep track of whether the employee is delivering in accordance with expectations. This is done through communication and progress tracking. The performance appraisal exercise is only one practice subsumed in this whole system, particularly under performance feedback giving. Finally, in the performance development phase, performance gaps are addressed through coaching, classsroom training, and other individual development initiatives. b.Discuss the advantages of managing turnover in organizations. Turnover has been linked with affective and continuance commitment. Each of the three distinct dimensions to organizational commitment: affective, continuance and normative commitment are defined (Meyer and Allen, 1997). 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Affective commitment – means an employee’s personal attachment and identification to the organization.   This results in a strong belief in an acceptance of the organization’s goals and values.   â€Å"Employees with a strong affective commitment continue employment with the organization because they want to do so† (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 5) 2)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Continuance commitment – is a tendency to engage in consistent lines of activity based on the individual’s recognition of the â€Å"costs† associated with discontinuing the activity.  Ã‚   â€Å"Employees whose primary link to the organization is based on continuance commitment remain because they need to do so.† (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 5) 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Normative commitment – provides that employees exhibit behaviours solely because they believe it is the right and moral thing to do. â€Å"Employees with a high level of normative commitment feel that they ought to remain with the organization.† (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 5) In their findings, Parà © and Tremblay provide that affective commitment and continuance commitment are negatively related to turnover intentions (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 6).   In addition to these two distinct types of commitment affecting turnover intention, their studies also points to the factor they call Organizational Citizenship Behaviour or OCB.   OCB is considered as a key element in organizational effectiveness.   OCB is defined as â€Å"an employee’s willingness to go above and beyond the prescribed roles which they have been assigned† (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 6, quoting from Organ 1990). Based on Parà © and Tremblay’s findings, the stronger the citizenship behaviour, the more likely they are to stay in their company.   In effect, those with high turnover intentions are not as committed as those who intend to stay long with the company. The Job Characteristics Model of Hackman and Oldham (1980) show that the job characteristics of skill variety, task identity, task significance, task autonomy, and feedback   are likewise linked to management of turnover. The five core job characteristics are in continuous interaction with individual differences that evoke three critical psychological states in an employee.   These three states are: 1) when the job is structured by skill variety, task identity and task significance this could lead employees to experience meaningfulness in their work. 2) The second state, task autonomy, which leads to feelings of responsibility for the outcomes of work. 3) The third and last state is feedback, which leads employees towards knowledge of the results of their work (Douthit 2000; Huber 2000). These three critical psychological states lead to a set of affective and personal outcomes:   high internal work motivation, high growth satisfaction, high general satisfaction, high work effectiveness, and low rate of absenteeism (Mohamed 2004; Donovan and Radosevich, 1998). These affective and personal outcomes are the results of en employee’s job characteristics.   They are defined as follows: High internal work motivation – this is the degree to which an employee is willing to work and to consider the organizational objectives as part of his or her own goals (Mohamed, 2004). High growth satisfaction – this is the achievement of the employee in overcoming challenges, succeeding and growing (Steers Black, 1994) High general satisfaction – this the feeling derived from the overall satisfaction with the work itself. â€Å"This type of satisfaction is reflected mainly in decreased rates of absenteeism among employees† (Steers Black, 1994). High work effectiveness – this refers to both the quality and quantity aspects of work performance (Hackman Oldham, 1980). Low rate of absenteeism. In other words, in managing retention and in effect managing these characteristics of the job, the organization shall have more motivated, more satisfied, more effective employees (Hackman Oldham, 1980). c.Examine contemporary safety and health management issues in the workplace. Workplace Safety: Information (2007) defines workplace safety as an environment encompassing all the factors that may have impact on the welfare of the employees in terms of safety working conditions and the health of laborers. Aspects that are given priorities are the hazards found in the surroundings, workplace areas, conditions and workplace process flowcharts. Other issues among employees regarding grooming, drug and alcohol abuse, absenteeism, horseplay and tardiness, violence and work output submissions are also covered. If there is one organization monitoring the activities of the safety in the workplace, it is the Occupational Safety and Health Organization (OSHA). OSHA is focusing on three goals as its cornerstones in regulating safety practices in organizations. First, it improves the safety and health of the workers, from the top management to the bottom, to make sure that there would be less accidents, hazards, injuries, illnesses, and fatalities that will occur in the companies. Second, it operates by making changes in the workplace culture to heighten the awareness of both the employer and its workers in committing its involvement in the health and safety of the company populace. Third, it assures the security of public confidence in maintaining the delivery of OSHA’s programs and services. Looking at the federal guidelines, OSHA’s proposed programs are less tough and are user-friendly for different companies (Guastello, 1993). However, a common query among organizations is that the benefits of behaviour modification programs, such as incentives may not have lasting effects or may diminish over time (Guastello, 1993). Many agree that safety programs using incentives can be found in an existing and well-rounded comprehensive safety program. Based on OSHA, there are four elements of an effective safety and health program such as management commitment and employee involvement; worksite analysis; hazard prevention and control; and safety and health training. In all these elements of incentive programs employees’ participation can be recognised.   First, a number of employees can be heads of safety committees, worksite analyses, accident investigations and safety suggestions. Second, by assigning among them a supervisor hazard prevention and control may be strengthened since peers will follow anti-hazard rules in their workspace.Third, employees can be seen in the active attendance and participation in safety meetings through quizzes, interactive role-playing and roundtable discussions. Giving the employees the chance to participate and be recognised in effective safety programs, they would feel that it is a privilege to be part of the core group of safety culture in the family. At the same time the myriad of manuals and guidelines provided discussing safety workplace incentives will still be very useful in keeping the employees aware of the controls and measures that the company is undertaking for the welfare of the workers in general (Walker, 2007). Reduction in the number of accidents has been shown to be possible with the strict implementation of workplace behaviour modifications (Lund Aaro, 2004). Using safety incentives is just one of the ends to the ways of improving population’s safety behaviours. By introducing a safety culture scheme in the organization, individual and group motivational factors for safe behaviour, risk justification, and optimism in workplace are deemed to show great improvement (Williamson et al., 1997). In one way or another, these factors are crucial and are influenced by the reward system such as incentives by recognising the individuals who are putting their best efforts to their work and doing their jobs in a safe manner. Safety incentive programs generally have two categories: (1) injury/illness-based incentive programs and (2) behaviour-based incentive programs (Hinze, 2002). Injury/illness-based incentive programs are based on the number of times that an illness or injury is incurred and such occurrence will be the criterion in rewarding workers and crew members. The programs go along with the assumption that: (1) facilities and equipment used are in good condition and do not cause any accidents; (2) employees are given proper training and work knowledge in administering the use of office equipment; and (3) accidents are usually the results of worker’s negligence or compromise on safety (Smith, 1997). Meanwhile, behaviour-based incentive programs observe the workers in such a way that their attitude towards work is assessed. Previous studies have identified the means of measuring worker’s behaviour as a means for recognising safety performance (Duff et al., 1993). Examples of activities of behaviour that can be rewarded are active participation in safety meetings and training sessions, ability to give sound suggestions about the improvement of safety in the jobsite, proper use of personal equipment and other behaviour avoiding accidents (Geller, 1996). d.Also, include a discussion of future trends and challenges in HR management. Since the theories, approaches and practices for Human Resource Management can be traced back to Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management, trends can be expected. Some of the recent trends that are being observed are moonlighting, human resource outsourcing, and two of Charles Handy’s organizational models – Shamrock and Federal, respectively. Moonlighting is when an employee holds dual or multiple jobs at the same time. Many employees become moonlighters if they salary they get from their primary job is not enough. Moonlighting has its advantages too. It can reduce the rate of turnovers in industries where work is routinary and it can also be a means for a company to retain their employees. The downside of moonlighting is that the company risks losing confidential information to competitors. It can also lead to absenteeism due to exhaustion and burnout from both jobs (Tett Meyer, 1993). Outsourcing is one of the latest additions to the trends in human resource management. An organization seeks out sub contractual employees for either product design or manufacturing from a third-party organization at a lower cost. Outsourcing is good for small to medium-sized organizations that are growth oriented since it can provide the owners free time to focus on developing strategies to gain competitive edge (Ulrich, 1997). It can also help transform the business by increasing the flexibility of the organization to meet the changing conditions, demands for products and services and technologies. It also makes the experts available for you. By outsourcing experts, you are able to improve your risk management and control over the business. Your credibility can also be improved since you do have the best in the field working for you. You also gain a network by associating your organization to the provider. Charles Handy’s organizational models are being practiced by enterprises depending on the nature of their industry (Armstrong, 2003). With these models, organizations can be flexible with their organizational structure in order to ensure their competitive edge. The Shamrock model or clover model consist of three main levels that represent a different type of organizational objectives: the core, the contractual fringe, and the flexible workforce. The core is basically the thinking part of the model. They are the ones that possess the most knowledge about the field and are the most paid. The contractual fringe is the part of the model that provides materials and service inputs to the core. The flexible workforce is responsible for the workload itself. Though these three workforces or parts need to be managed separately and differently, the organization has three different parts with varying responsibilities and expectations and yet work to achieve the same goal. In the Federal model, power is distributed and it is about building high commitment, professional organizations. The federal is a bit complex. It is decentralized but at the same time centralized when the situations calls for it. It is a system of small core organizations with much focused core competencies sustained by many resources available to them. It is also believed that in order to improve productivity a strong social agreement between the organization and the union and a good social welfare system is a must. Although more and more trends come to pass to keep up with the changes, more and more conflicting issues arise too. Selecting who to hire is becoming a more complex task. Training and developments are hard to keep up with since more technological improvements are made and competition is getting stiffer by the minute. Maintaining current employees is proving to be one of the top human resource managers’ problems, since more organizations try to outdo each other in regards to the compensation and benefits they offer to their would-be and existing employees. Diversity within the workplace is posing to be a relevant issue for the human resource department (Chen, 2007). Motivation and loyalty of employees is a perennial contemporary issue for the human resource manager. Mergers, acquisition, turnovers, and consolidation happen more often, and throughout all these, strategic human resource management is necessary to ensure continued delivery of objectives amidst turbulent change. References Armstrong, M. (2003). A handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page. Cederbloom, D. (1982). The performance appraisal interview: A review, implications, and suggestions. Academy of Management Review, 7, 219-227. Chen, A. (2007). The challenges of human resource management. Retrieved April 9, 2008 from http://ezinearticles.com. Clarke, D., Rogers, V. Miklos, S. (1996). Upward appraisal: Does it make a difference? Paper presented at the 11th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, St. Louis, MO. Donovan, J.J. Radosevich, D. (1998). The moderating role of goal commitment on the goal difficulty–performance relationship: a meta-analytic review and critical re-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 83, 308–15. Douthit, M.W., (2000). Job satisfaction returns to human and social capital. Journal of behavioral and applied management, 2000, 1(1), 67. Duff, A. R., Robertson, I. T., Cooper, M. D., Phillips, R. and United Kingdom Health Safety Executive (HSE). (1993). Improving safety on construction sites by changing personnel behaviour (HSE Contract Research Report No.51/ 1993). Field, H. S., Holley, W. H. (1982). The relationship of performance appraisal system characteristics to verdicts in selected employment discrimination cases. Academy of Management Journal, 25, 392-406. Geller, E. (1996). The psychology of safety: How to improve behaviours and attitudes on the job, Pennsylvania: Chilton Book Company. Guastello, S. (1993). Do we really know how well our occupational accident programs work? Safety Science, 16, 445-463. Hackman, J.R. Oldham, G.R. (1980). Work design. Reading, Massachusetts, Addison–Wesley, 1980, 114–21. Hinze, J. (2002). Safety incentives: Do they reduce injuries? Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, 7(2), 81-84. Kelly, C. M. (1984). Reasonable performance appraisals. Training: Development, 38(1), 79-82. King, P. (1984). Performance planning and appraisal. New York: McGraw-Hill. Kingstrom, P.O., Bass, A. R. (1981). A critical analysis of studies comparing behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS) and other rating formats. Personnel Psychology, 34, 263-289. Lund, J. Aaro, L. (2004). Accident prevention: Presentation of a model placing emphasis on human, structural, and cultural factors. Safety Science, 42, 271–324. Meyer, J.P.    Allen, N.J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace. Sage Publications. Mohamed, A.H. (2004, May) Using the job characteristics model to compare patient care assignment methods of nurses, 10(3), 389-405. Parà ©, G. and Tremblay, M. (2000).   The measurement and antecedents of turnover intentions among IT professionals.   Scientific Series.   Ciprano.   September 2000. Pearce, J. L., Porter, L. W. (1986). Employee responses to formal performance appraisal feedback. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 211-218. Rhoads, C. (1997). A year-round schedule said to take sting out of performance reviews. American Banker, 162(28), 6. Smith, T.A. (1997) What’s wrong with safety incentives? Professional Safety, May, 44. Steers, R.M. Black, J.C. (1994). Organizational behavior, 5th ed. New York, Harper Collins. Tett, R. P., Meyer, J.P. (1993). Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover: Path analyses based on meta analytic findings. Personel Psychology, 46, 259-293. Ulrich, D. (1997). Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston, Mass.:Harvard Business School Press. Walker, J. (2007). ABCs of safety incentives: Positive consequences to behaviour. Facility Safety Management. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from http:// www.fsmmag.com/Articles/2005/12/ABCs%20of%20Safety%20Incentives%20Positive%20Consequences%20to%20Behaviour.htm. Werner, J. M., Bolino, M. C. (1997). Explaining U.S. Courts of Appeals decisions involving performance appraisal: Accuracy, fairness, and validation. Personnel Psychology, 50(1), 1-24. Williamson, A., Feyer, A., Cairns, D. Biancotti, D. (1997). The development of a measure of safety climate: The role of safety perceptions and attitudes. Safety Science, 25(1-3), 15-27. Workplace Safety: Information. (2007). Workplace safety: Information and much more from Answers.com. Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://www.answers.com/topic/workplace-safety?cat=biz-fin.

Landslide Limo Service Essay Example for Free

Landslide Limo Service Essay In regards to you request I have created a current employment compliance plan for Bradley Stonefield to ensure the process of starting a new business will be successful. Bradley Stonefield has explained his desire to start a Limousine company within the Austin TX area. Bradley Stonfield has indicated that his goal is to have25 employees within the first year of operation. The memo is to discuss and provide current employment laws and the consequences for non-compliance with said laws. Employment laws are created to protect the employer as well as the employee, failure to comply with any state or federal employee law could have an end result of complete failure, especially for smaller or new organizations. Non-compliance with employment laws can result in large or unaffordable penalties or severe actions. The memo will address 4 employment laws some are specific to Texas and the repercussion for non-compliance with said laws. The motor carrier safety improvement act of 1999, the equal employment act EEOC of 1972, employment at will for Texas, and Texas workers compensation act. The motor carrier safety improvement act of 1999: The Department of Transportation (DOT) established a separate administration with the Federal Motor Safety Administration on January 1 1999. (FMCSA, 2014) A limousine service has a standard set of regulations for smaller vehicles and larger capacity vehicles; the company must register with the FMCSA and have a current motor carrier identification report with the USDOT, must be current every two years. Each service vehicle must be insured with a minimum of the federal regulated minimum coverage in the event of a motor vehicle accident. The service driver must have and keep a current â€Å"C† class state driver’s license that includes a passenger endorsement. All drivers pre-employment must submit to a drug/alcohol test and must be willing to submit to random testing. Any service vehicle with the capacity to carry more than 9 persons and no more than 15 persons, the driver may not exceed a driving time of 10 hours. The driver/s must complete a safety inspection and maintain a vehicle safety and maintenance log before each trip prior to leaving the designated parking areas. All drivers must have a current driver’s license for the state and valid, and must either provide consent to have employer request driving records or provide current copies. Every vehicle that is used for service must be marked with a USDOT registration number and kept current. The company must keep and maintain all driving records/accident reports for drivers and vehicles for the past three years to current. (Federal limousine service and regulations, 2014) Failure to comply with federal regulations could result in a number of fees and penalties; Failure to maintain current DOT and license records can be up to or exceed $100.00 per violation, failure to maintain drug and alcohol records can be a fine up t0 $1000.00 per violation, failure to maintain current driving records can be a fine up to $2500.00 per employee, and any employee that is cited for using a vehicle during work hours for anything other than to transport a paying customer can result in up to a $10,000.00 fine. The equal employment act EEOC of 1972: The EEOC protect any persons from employment discrimination due to sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disabilities, political views, marital or family status, or sexual orientation. Failure to comply with EEOC laws can result in several lawsuits for discrimination, TSU woman’s basketball coach won a lawsuit in the sums of $730,000.00 for sexual  discrimination in 2011. She was originally hired in 2008 and then terminated shortly after, she had been threatened with a demotion and compared to a men’s coach Tony Harvey and this was terms for a lawsuit. Failure to comply with the current EEOC laws can result in a lawsuit as such and when an employee is terminated this example shows that no employee regardless of who they are should not be discriminated against due to personal feelings. Texas at-will employment â€Å"The general rule in Texas, and in most states, is that absent a specific agreement to the contrary, employment may be terminated by the employer or the employee at will, for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all.† (Employment at will Doctrine in Texas – Appellate case law 2010) Even though is a â€Å"at-will or right to work† state federal laws still apply, if an employee is on a contracted time they are exempt from the at will law. In an organization that embraces the â€Å"at will† employer law, the employer must also agree to that an employee will not be terminated unless it is for â€Å"good reason†, if an employee is performing satisfactory work of higher they are not exempt but they are also not at risk. Again failure to comply can result in a large and/or detrimental lawsuit to the company. â€Å"The supreme court recognized in Montgomery County that the courts must carefully distinguish between carefully developed employer representation upon which an employee may justifiably rely, and general platitudes, vague assurances, praise, and indefinite promises of permanent continued employment† (Employment at will Doctrine in Texas – Appellate case law 2010) Texas workers’ compensation act: The workers compensation act is designed to tentatively and temporarily replace the wages for a worker when employment hours are missed due to an on the job injury/injuries. The law only applies when an employee is able to prove that they were injured on the job/on the clock, they are entitled to a percentage of there regular earnings and medical care for said injuries. Texas is the only state that is able to choose not to offer workers compensation in Texas less than 40% will opt out of the workers compensation coverage. An employer that has chosen to enroll with the workers compensation, the threat of a law suit for not paying medical bills, or  paying a portion of wages is not a possibility, for the remaining 40% of employers who do not use workers’ compensation are suspect to possible lawsuits that could include coverage up to full wages for time missed. Texas employees are also able to decline to pay into workers compensation, and there are limitations to collecting of filing for workers compensation: If the employee is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, if the employee suffered from a self-induced injury, the injury was caused by a non-employee or was for personal reasons, or the injury was obtained while off duty. References: FMCSA. (January 1, 2014) retrieved from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission Federal limousine service and regulations. (2014) Retrieved from Limo service limousine service regulations: http://www.airportcommuter.com/worldwide/federal_limo_regulations.htm Employment at will Doctrine in Texas – Appellate case law (2010) retrieved from Texas opinions: http://www.texas-opinions.com/law-employment-at-will.html

The Principals And Benefits Of Ecotourism Tourism Essay

The Principals And Benefits Of Ecotourism Tourism Essay According to the world tourism organization tourism encompasses the activities of people traveling to and staying at places outside their normal environment for not more than one consecutive year for relaxation, business and other objectives not related to the exercise of an activity paid for within the place visited. Ecotourism as a word is short for ecological tourism. As the name suggests ecotourism is conscientious travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the well-being of the local people (TIES, 1990). This therefore means that ecotourism is primarily about bringing together conservation, communities and sustainable travel. Tourism as a whole accounts for $ 3.6 trillion in economic activities and 8 percent of all jobs worldwide. Within this industry, ecotourism is by far the fastest growing sub-sector; it is expanding by 20-34 percent per year since the early 1990s. Its considered more environmentally sustainable than the other sectors of tourism. This means that it is viewed as a form of tourism that can maintain ecological balance: it exploits natural resources without destroying the ecological equilibrium of an area (Fennel, 1999). Principals of ecotourism To unite conservation, sustainable travel and communities those practicing ecotourism should follow the principals of ecotourism. The first is that ecotourism has to do with travel to natural destinations. These places/ destinations are more often than not remote areas and can either be inhabited or uninhabited. Usually these areas are under environmental protection of some kind at international, national, communal or private level. Ecotourism should strive to minimize impact. This is because tourism as a whole causes damage. To minimize impact, ecotourism endeavors to minimize the harmful effects of hotels, trails, along with other infrastructure by making use of available local building materials or recycled materials, renewable sources of energy, safe disposal of waste and recycling, and culturally and environmentally sensitive architectural designs (Font Buckley, 2001). Ecotourism is meant to enable or encourage environmental awareness. This means that ecotourism should provide education for both residents of communities living in the neighborhood and the tourists. Before departure, tour operators should provide travelers with reading materials concerning the environment, its local people and a code of conduct- both for the tourist and the industry itself. This information serves to prepare the traveler to minimize their negative impact as well as learn about the places and people visited. Ecotourism projects should help educate members of the neighboring community, schoolchildren and the larger public in the host country. To do this they should offer reduced entrance and lodge fees for nationals as well as provide free educational trips for local students and those living near the tourist attraction (Honey, 2008). Ecotourism should provide direct financial benefits for conservation. This therefore means that ecotourism should help raise funds for environmental research, protection and education. This should be done using a variety of means which include: park entrance fees, hotel, tour company, airline, and airport taxes along with voluntary contributions. The tourism should afford financial benefits and empowerment to the local people. For their survival, national parks and other conservation areas, should strive to have happy people around their perimeters. To do this the local community should be involved with along with receiving income and other tangible benefits from the conservation area and its tourist facilities. This means that lodges, campsites and other concessions should be run by or in partnership with the local community. For ecotourism to be viewed as a tool for rural development it should aid in shifting the political and economical control to the local community. This is difficult and time consuming but must be observed by foreign operators (Hudspeth, 2005). Ecotourism should show respect for local culture. This means that it should be less culturally intrusive than conventional tourism. It strives to have a minimal effect on both the natural environment and the human population of the host country. Part of being a responsible ecotourist is learning the local customs, dress codes and social norms beforehand and respecting or following them. Ecotourists should also not intrude on communities unless invited or as part of a planned tour. Ecotourism should support human rights and democratic movements. It demands its participants to respect, learn about and try to benefit both the local environment and communities. Giving economic benefits and showing cultural understanding to local communities cannot be separated from appreciating their political circumstances. Benefits of Ecotourism Ecotourism has its advantages and these can be as an impact to the tourist, the local community or even the host country. Ecotourism is educational to the tourist. By traveling to new places the tourist learns about local plants and animals that hed otherwise not have encountered. The traveler also gets to get a deeper understanding of the local culture this ensures that one learns to appreciate and respect other peoples beliefs. Ecotourism brings the tourist closer to nature, open up the tourists mind to new ideas along with new perspectives on life and other people. It takes them to places less traveled and gives them a wonderful new experience without harming the environment (Newsome, Moore Dowling, 2002). Ecotourism benefits the local community as it enables the provision of employment and infrastructural development. The locals surrounding the national parks or whatever conservation project can benefit from them as the government or foreign investors require services which can be provided by the locals. This in turn also ensures that fewer people migrate to the cities. The local population gains new skills which guarantee that they are not totally dependent on the limited natural resources. Some of the areas may be remote and tourism ensures that infrastructure facilities like water supply and schools are provided in order to keep the locals happy and ensure good services. Ecotourism offers new opportunities for small-scale investments and also increases national responsibility in the protection of biological resources. It therefore acts as a means of socio-economic and environmental uplifting especially in developing countries for which the ecotourism acts as a major source of foreign exchange.Visiting the protected areas such as national parks and reserves contribute towards maintenance of the parks or reserves. This is possible by the collection of entrance fees and other charges which go towards paying for improvements and salaries for the staff taking care of the facilities. Sufficient amounts of revenue are therefore re-invested in protecting natural habitats (Sindiga, 1999). Disadvantages of ecotourism Ecotourism may lead to an increase in population around an area; there may also be excessive building of resorts in areas where park popularity is very high. While this ensures high revenues, it also increases pressure on land, reducing opportunities for local people to make a living off the land. This is because things like energy sources can be depleted so as to accommodate the hordes of tourists visiting an area. When putting up facilities such as resorts and camp sites, people may be displaced in an example being the Maasai community of Kenya. Habitats may also be destroyed to clear the way for this tourist facilities. Local peoples land may also be expropriated at inequitable prices because of deals made between governments and multinational companies (Newsome, Moore Dowling, 2002). Overcrowding in tourist venues may endanger protected areas. An example of this is instances where excessive viewing of wildlife can disturb animals feeding along with their breeding. Unusual species of plants can also be trampled on or picked by tourists and since vehicles and planes do pollute, the micro climate may change leading to death of various plants and in some instances animals. One of the major reasons why local communities do not support ecotourism in developing countries is the human-wildlife conflict. 70% of wildlife live outside protected areas and feed on peoples livestock and land Honey (1999). This can be the case due to marking off of incomplete ecosystems for protected areas. As a result, wild animals have been responsible for deaths of people and destruction of property. On the other hand, due to this conflict death of some animals has been as a result of people being fed up and killing them (Honey, 2008). Demand for rare birds, animals, animal parts or for souvenirs can promote trafficking of endangered species. This is because sometimes locals do not benefit very much from the reserves leading them to poaching a good example is the elephant tusk trafficking from Kenya to china which initially involves killing the animals illegally (poaching). This can also be as a result of unemployment in the local communities in cases where the staff is brought in from overseas. Ecotourism as in all other forms of tourism may lead to degradation of local culture. This is because locals through interaction with foreigners may adapt some of their behavior and practices leading to a disintegration of their own. Outstanding Issues in Ecotourism Inadequacy of information is one of the issues plaguing ecotourism. An increased amount of quality information is needed about actual and potential economic contributions from nature tourism ventures and practices. The risks associated with ecotourism are also issues that plague it, these risks include poor management which may lead to unregulated nature tourism which may in turn corrode local culture and damage the environment. The perception of locals is also a problem facing ecotourism. The locals in developing countries are sometimes afraid that their parks and protected areas become a playground for tourists instead of benefiting them through farming (Font Buckley, 2001). Conclusion Activities involved in ecotourism are therefore those activities that while making use of natural resources ensure a minimal impact on the ecological balance of an area. Examples of such activities are visiting national parks and reserves, bird watching, hiking through conservations among others. In conclusion, the role of ecotourism is to promote and preserve natural environment and both large scale and small scale attractions play an important role in the economy of the surrounding area. It involves the preservation of natural areas, environmental education, and cultural tolerance all geared towards economic growth. It should therefore be encouraged as it is designed to benefit the tourist, the host population and the environment.

The Psychological Effects of War Exposed in The Sniper by Liam O’Flaher

The Psychological Effects of War Exposed in â€Å"The Sniper,† by Liam O’Flaherty War can destroy a man both in body and mind for the rest of his life. In â€Å"The Sniper,† Liam O’Flaherty suggests the horror of war not only by presenting its physical dangers, but also by showing its psychological effects. We are left to wonder which has the longer lasting effect—the visible physical scars or the ones on the inside?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this story the author shows how location plays a big part in how physically dangerous a war is. Gunshots heard throughout the city are a sign of how close the fighting between the â€Å"Republicans and Free Staters†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is to innocent citizens (this is most often the case in civil war). The sniper’s positioning â€Å"on a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge† is very dangerous, for he can see everyone who enters the town, but they cannot see him. â€Å"†¦Machine guns and rifles†¦Ã¢â‚¬  are the weapons of choice in this story; very dangerous, for they are very strong guns that are â€Å"true† war weapons. As evidenced above, location plays a big part in how dangerous a war is.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bullets, of course, are another big danger in war. The author shows with bullets how close you are to death in a war. In the event where the sniper lights his cigarette, he is twice almost killed with the â€Å"enemy† sniper’s bullets! The sniper’s own bullets are quite dangerous, too, as seen when he easily kills the tank commander and citizen woman informer. After shooting them, the â€Å"enemy† sniper sees him, and â€Å"His fore...

A Sense of Justice :: Law College Admissions Essays

A Sense of Justice "It's midnight, and I'm standing in "the yard" after a powerful speech at Memorial Church just a few hours ago. The night is chilly, and I unravel the sweater from around my waist and place it upon my shoulders. As I stand freezing in the yard, a steady stream of friends and associates pass by me offering "congratulations". A short time before, I had delivered the introductory speech for our Black History Month campus guest speaker, Johnny Cochran. As I stood freezing in the yard, I was humbled. Cochran's message that night was that vigilant and systemic protest has profound power and can help deliver social justice. His message rang as true as Malcolm X's call to social action from the same podium more than thirty years before. And, now, as the stars lit the yard electric, Cochran's words took me back to the first time I understood what "protest" meant to me and my sense of justice. It was my first year at the most venerable institution in the world, and my high-school dreams had been achieved. Yet, that fall, I was feeling empty inside. As I drowned my sorrows in a latte at Au Bon Pain near the "T" entrance, I noticed a large crowd gathering outside. I later learned that a short time before, an undergraduate running to the co-op had carelessly knocked a homeless man to the ground. As I looked up from my latte, I saw a homeless man crawling around the sidewalk, yelling something about being unable to see and cursing profusely. Nearby, I saw a woman I recognized as a senior, crawling around on the ground with him. Finally, she stood up, with a pair of broken glasses in hand. "You bastard!" she screamed at the retreating undergraduate. I didn't know what to think. I had never seen a white homeless person before, and certainly not one being helped by a black woman. I approached the woman and told her my name. She was still clearly flustered and angry, her brown eyes flashing amid an expanse of curly hair. "They just don't get it!" she grumbled angrily. I silently looked down. Suddenly, she turned to me. "Sometimes, we've got to sit down and stand up for the dignity of human kind. Sometimes, we've got to do what's right." Silently, I nodded my head.

Effects Of Mercury On The Enviroment

LA Gear and other shoe companies have been using mercury to make the switch active in their shoe that light up when a person walks. The shoes should return to the company after the user is done with the to be recycled. Since LA never advertises this, people just thrown them away like any other pair of old shoes. Eventually the shoes end up in a land fill and the mercury can leak out into the environment. Mercury is a highly toxic substance and is the cause of the Minamata Disease in the 1950’s. On the top 20 toxic chemical list, mercury rates 3rd. Mercury bioaccumulates in the body and has difficulty eliminating it. It may reach dangerous levels over time and causes sever damage to the central nervous system. Mercury’s Effect on the Environment and People Mercury is one of the biggest environmental problems that exist because it is hard to get of once in the environment. In the past, mercury was used to make things like paper, put in paint and thermometers, and as an agricultural pesticide. The Minamata Disease is a good example of what could happen if mercury enters into the environment. In the mid 1950’s, more than 100 Japanese were poisoned by fish that contained methyl mercury. The mercury came from industrial waste that had been dumped into the bay where the fish were caught. The mercury bioaccumulated up the food chain. The cats the were eating the fish showed the symptoms first. They began to act very strange; running into walls and acting like they were â€Å"in a trance. † The people in the village developed mental retardation, insanity, and birth defects from eating the poisoned fish. Fifty people died and 150 people suffered from these disorders. Another example of mercury’s effect on people and the environment comes from the saying â€Å"mad as a hatter. † In the 1800’s, hats were made with mercury to stiffened the brim. The hatters that made the hats worked with mercury all the time. The mercury was absorbed into their skin and caused them to develop neurological and physiological disorders. People just assumed they were going crazy. From then on, when someone thought another was going out of their mind they would say they were â€Å"mad as a hatter. †

Interpreter of Maladies Essay

Secrecy is a recurrent theme of Interpreter of Maladies. With reference to at least three stories, what are the causes and effects of this trait on the lines of the characters? Secrecy is the act of hiding information from certain individuals or groups. Secrecy is often controversial, depending on the content of the secret, the group or people keeping the secret, and the motivation of secrecy. Jhumpa Lahiri’s anthology, â€Å"Interpreter of Maladies†, explores this theme through several characters in different stories. In the story Interpreter of Maladies, A Temporary Matter and Sexy, the characters hide their emotions and do not express themselves. Due to this, the relationships that they are involved in become dysfunctional. Mrs Das’s infidelity in Interpreter of Maladies puts a strain on her marriage. The secret affair she had with her husband’s friend causes her to hide behind her sunglasses and disengage with her family. She is selfish and self-absorbed, that she doesn’t realise how her actions would affect the others around her. This is demonstrated by her, when she refuses to share her food with her children, reluctantly taking her daughter to the bathroom and refusing to paint her daughter’s fingernails. She has not revealed her unfaithfulness to anyone apart from Mr Kapasi and as a result of this she feels the strain in her marriage only as her own pain. Mrs Das fails to recognise, the impact her affair takes on her husband and children. She openly mocks her husband’s enthusiasm for tourism and illustrates her lack of love for her husband. The puffed rice that Mrs Das scatters across the trail in India, represents her mistakes and careless actions. Physically Mrs Das is young and attractive, but she is spiritually empty. She does not love her children and husband and is caught in the boredom of her life as a housewife. This is evident, when monkeys surround Bobby and terrify him; she refuses to take responsibility to the situation, just as she refuses to acknowledge the affair with Mr Das’s friend. If Mrs Das’s secret is ever revealed, Bobby would be the true victim. Conceived out of anger, boredom and spite and lied to about his father, Bobby is surrounded by deceit. Lahiri shows that, lack of communication leads to misunderstandings and breakups in relationships. As their electricity gets cut off from 8pm for a few days, Shoba and Shukumar play a game. A game where they tell all their secrets. Every night they played the game, Shukumar would feel Shoba getting close to him, as they used to be before their child passed away. Since the death of their child, Shoba and Shukumar have had less communication. On the last day, Shoba told him, how she desired to move out of the house and has already found an apartment. Looking at the fact that Shukumar was not there, when their child passed away, gets Shoba angry along with the fact that his still a student and hasn’t got a job annoys her. The relationship ends when Shoba confesses that she had been ‘looking for an apartment’, and has now found one. She thought they had been ‘through enough’, and that it was ‘nobody’s fault’. Shukumar is both ‘relieved’ at the release and yet ‘sickened’ that she had played a game all along while knowing that their marriage was only a ‘temporary matter’. At the end Shukumar reveals that he was actually at the hospital when their son passed away. You would never be too late to realise your mistake. In the story Sexy, Laxmi always tells Miranda about her cousin’s husband who had cheated on her. Miranda has a similar story that she never told anyone. She had an affair with a married man named Dev. Miranda was attracted to Dev, because he is different to her. When Dev’s wife went overseas, they got together and went out to many places. Miranda preferred to keep Dev a secret from Laxmi, but she didn’t realise how Laxmi’s cousin’s life was similar to hers. When Miranda had to babysit, Rohin (Laxmi’s cousin’s son), she realised what her relationship with Dev was like. She realised the point that she was affecting Dev’s wife and his kids.

Lord of the Flies: The best leader “Ralph, piggy or jack”

The lord of the flies began by a plane crash near the Pacific Ocean during an unnamed war in which a group of English schoolboys are lonely on an island, under no adult control. They are left on the island to feed themselves and fight their own battles. The boys started to make rules and laws in which everyone had to follow, but they tended to have arguments with each other when deciding rules. They collapse from their friendships because they didn't agree with the decisions or rules they made. The story starts off with a young character called Ralph. Ralph is a very organised person, making the reader becomes inclined to think that he is also an intelligent individual. He seems certain throughout the book that his father, a commander in the Navy, will come and rescue him and his peers. He was eventually chosen to be a designated leader of the group by the others. This is most likely because he is a polite character and he also carried the advantage of being one of the older members of the group. Piggy was Ralph's best friend; this is largely due to the fact that he listened to what he said and didn't hesitate to follow his rules. Eventually, as time passed by, piggy developed into a father figure towards the younger boys. ‘Lord of the flies' has become a widely known story over the years, due to the unusual idea of the famous ‘conch.' The boys took to the idea of using this conch to grant one another the power to speak-out without being interrupted in the many assemblies they had. With Ralph as the leader, it was inevitable to the reader that a device of this kind would be thought up, as Ralph, being a sensible youth, seemed to appreciate the great importance of being able to sustain order within the temporary community. This is why he came up with the idea of using a conch. In doing this, the element of fairness in Ralph's character is also demonstrated to the reader. Ralph began to find rules and limits in which they could remain safe on the island. Ralph, Jack and Simon explored the island and began plans for shelters from the weather. Simon was a young lad, although he was still granted respect from the elders, and likewise he respected them. Ralph also made the decision that a fire should be lit permanently on the mountains as a constant smoke signal. This was a very pragmatic idea, again demonstrating to the reader the great leadership skills that Ralph possessed. Ralph then decides to have a meeting about lighting a fire on the mountains and Jack also decides to make a hunting party to hunt for pigs. A small boy claims to have seen a serpent-like beast, but the idea is quickly discarded after Ralph and Jack convince the group to collect wood. The group hurriedly rushes to the mountain and collect wood for a fire. At first they didn't have anything to light the fire with. Then jack uses Piggy's glasses as a magnifying glass to make sunrays as heat. Although there was only a little amount of fire created, the rest of the boys put some green branches on the fire, so they could have more fire. When the next meeting happened Ralph decided to make more regulations or commands to set people on specific tasks like building shelters and putting the fire on. From now Ralph and Jack start to make different decisions and start to ignore Ralph's rules. Jack got more into hunting and started to forget his to goal of being rescued. Everyone started doing there own kind of activities, while Ralph and Simon were the only ones who were building shelters. The younger children started to help less and got more into playing games on the beach. Later on, a ship sails past the island but unluckily fails to notice the boys because Jack's choir had let the fire out completely. Jack and his boys had lost attention in the fire and had gone off hunting. Jack and his boys caught a pig and told Ralph about all the things that had happened during his absence. However, he wasn't interested as he was much more concerned over the fact that they'd failed to keep the fire going. â€Å"There was a ship out there, they might have seen us and we could have gone home. Your stupid ideas about hunting let everything down.† Jack lights the fire again by using Piggy's glasses and prepares pigs meat for a little feast. By reading this phrase proves that Ralph cared about him self and others to be rescued. Later on in the story situation had changed from fire into beast situation because the young children's were scared at night and told Ralph and jack that there is a beast on the island. Jack didn't bother about Ralph rules and started to protect little children's from beast. One night when piggy and Ralph were sleeping, the twins rushed to them and told them that they saw a beast with huge claws and teeth's. Ralph then made a little assembly in the morning and told the rest of the children's about what Sam and Eric saw last night. Jack and Ralph went to explore the island with some other children's but they didn't find anything. Ralph told the group to keep the fire going as well, while we are searching for the beast. The group started to ignore Ralph rules and joined Jack to hunt for the beast. Ralph still hanged around with jack for a little while. Jack told some of the children to come along with him so they can check if there is a beast living on the top of the mountain. Ralph volunteered to come along as well. They claim to see something which they were influenced as if it was the beast. They ran away from the living thing and came down the mountain to protect their self. Ralph had planned a feast at night. They invited everyone to come and eat with them. They all were chanting and started to become louder and louder. Roger pretended if he was a beast and everyone slowly tried to attack him. Piggy stood in one place looking at them. While they were enjoying the festival, â€Å"Simon† went up to the mountain to see if there was really a beast living up there. He walked through the woods and ended up on the mountain. When he saw the beast he stepped back and got scared. Then he went to take a closer look at the beast and he found out that it was only a person made out of parachute which always got blown by the wind and makes it move. It pretended that if it was a real beast. Simon went running down the mountain and ran through the forest to tell everyone that there is no beast. While he is returning the boys saw that there was figure coming down. Someone shouted out that it's a beast. Everyone rushed towards him and stabbed him several times until he can't move. Then they stopped stabbing it and found out that the dead body was Simon. Ralph was in tears about Simon death. Now there were only piggy and Eric left on his side. Ralph told piggy that this was a murder. Piggy replied that it was too dark to see, it was also raining with thunders. It was accident said piggy. We couldn't see who it was. It could have been anyone. Jack had stolen piggy glasses and their fire place. They had fort near the cliffs. Ralph and piggy went to the castle to collect piggy specs from jack, because they needed the specs to light the fire so they can be rescued of from the island. Piggy told jack that he has got the conch and he has got the right to talk. during his speech, he says â€Å"that you lot are acting like a bunch of kids with your faces painted like Niger's†. Jack wasn't even listening to piggy, than Ralph took the conch of piggy and called jack a thief and they both got into a fight. Everyone started to chant. Then eventually the pair stopped, and Piggy spoke. His long speech was interrupted when one of the savages rolled a huge rock down the cliff which struck Piggy and pushed him forty feet down the mountain and ended up falling on top of the pointy rocks. Jack showing no signs of remorse threw a spear which hit Ralph in the ribs. Ralph ran to the forest to save his self. All of the boys were gone, Ralph thought. Only cruelly children have remained. While Ralph was in the forest, he saw Sam and Eric. They told him that he should run and hide because Jack and Roger were going to hunt him soon. Suddenly Roger came to see if the twins were keeping guard. Ralph hid in a grove. When Roger left, Ralph ran away and thought about the best course of action. The island was on fire. The whole group was looking for Ralph. Jack spotted him and the whole group was soon chasing after him through the forest. Ralph was humiliated and ran out of the forest, and fell into the sand, in front of two shoes. The shoes of a sailor whose ship was waiting to take them home. Ralph told him about the deaths and then broke into tears. The sailor said â€Å"he wasn't suspecting like this kind things from English boys†. Diary based on two characters, â€Å"which I consider may have become the selected leader†. Piggy When i was first crashed on an island, I was so scared, because there was no one to look after me or the rest of the group. I met a boy called Ralph. I told him what they used to call me back at the school time. Ralph started to have a little laugh. We carried on walking by the beach, when both us came across a shell. Ralph picked it up and asked me what you exactly do with this. â€Å"You blow it from underneath the hole and it makes a loud noise†, piggy replied in a gentle voice. â€Å"In olden times people use to take this has a symbol of justice, to speak out in assemblies†. As they we were walking and talking to each other, we saw a group of boys walking towards us; they were singing a song. Jack was one of the boys in that group. He asked our names, and then sat down and starts talking about how did they both met each other. When they were in middle of their conversation Ralph said that â€Å"they should have a leader who will give rules to everyone about how they are going to live, eat and do other things†. Jack and Ralph were both chosen to receive votes. Only a few people voted for jack, but quiet few of them said that Ralph should be the chief. Then at last I slowly raised my hand up voting for Ralph. Everything was going great. The entire group was following Ralph's rules, later on things started to collapse because jack and Ralph didn't agree with each other decisions. I was Ralph's best friend and I didn't like jack because he didn't treated me in the same way like he did to everyone else. He called my names and said that I am too fat to do anything good. They all ways leave me behind with the little children's because I was like their father figure. Jack always has wondered off to hunting and the fire would always go off. Our main advantage of the fire was the smoke, which was their signal of proving that someone or something is on the island and they need their help. Ralph When I was crashed on the island, I felt a bit scared because there was no one on the island to look after me. There were a lot of different sounds coming from the trees, like if something was looking or hunting for something. When I was walking beside the trees the first person I met was piggy. I told him my name and a bit about my self. Piggy was so kind and didn't raise his voice above mine. When we were walking down, we saw a group of boys coming down. They were singing a song. A group of boys from them was called jack, he asked our names and then started talking about what's going to happen on this island. I said, â€Å"That. There should be a leader who is going to tell everyone what to do, what to eat, what's there jobs† e.c.t They both agreed with each other decisions. Then jack said to everyone to put their hands up who want me to be the chief. Only a few people voted for him but when it was my turn nearly everyone said that he should be the chief of us. Slowly, slowly my friend piggy raised his hand up at last. I told them that I am the chief, I will tell you lot what to do and what not to do. I structured everyone some fundamental things and told my group to follow some crucial regulations so we can be rescued of from the island. My main rule was to maintain the fire going so we can be noticed on the island and then can be capable of being rescued. Later on jack stopped listening to my rules because he said that I don't do anything for hunting or I don't feed the little children's. From then jack never listened to me and always wondered off to do hunting or to have fun on the beach. During jack's hunting, he killed a pig and became so excited to tell this news to me. I wasn't bothered if they had killed a pig or not because I told them that there was a ship out there. If you lot didn't have gone off to hunting we could have gone home. Your stupid plans to go for hunting had failed me the group, also let out the fire. I was disappointed of being a leader of my group. My worries are that I wish that everyone had worked in a group and then we can have been rescued off from the island soon as possible. Everyone didn't do as i told them to, except from my best friend piggy.

Psychological Approach – Wuthering Heights

According to Freud, there are three different kinds of mental processes that result in three kinds of personalities. These are Id, Ego and Superego. These three parts in Freud’s model of the psyche help explain mental maturity and development. In Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights, Catherine symbolizes the impressionable ego and was pulled between Heathcliff, which represents the id, and Edgar, which represents superego. Her struggle between these two opposing forces and inability to choose between them is what ultimately lead her into delirium.The id in Freud’s model of the psyche is related to the man’s instinctive attitude and desires. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people seek to meet their physiological and safety needs before moving on to fulfill their desire for love and belonging. As a child, Heathcliff was far more occupied with trying to survive on the streets of Liverpool than emotional development. After being taken in by Mr. Earnshaw, and thus freed from these more basic desires, Heathcliff was allowed cultivate these feelings of love and belonging in Catherine.Conversely, because of Hindley’s abusiveness, especially in the wake of the death of their father, Catherine had to turn to Heathcliff to fulfill her desire for love and belonging. Perpetually, Heathcliff became representative of the fulfillment of these desires to Catherine. On the other hand, the superego is representative of society and focuses on balance, proper behavior, and goodness. Obviously, Edgar is the archetypal example of this idea. As the Linton siblings were born into privilege, both Edgar and Isabella had their physiological and safety needs fulfilled very early on.They were raised to be sophisticated, independent, and developed members of society. During her stay at Thrushcross Grange, Catherine recognized these more developed traits in Edgar, and instinctively tried to gravitate towards developing her own superego in his presence. This was demonstrated in Catherine’s desire to become more womanlike and cultured and her subsequent transformation at her return five weeks later from her stay at Thrushcross. Thus, as the result of her development of her id with Heathcliff and uperego with Edgar, Catherine is heavily entwined in her relationships between both of these characters. The ego of Freud’s model aims to keep a balance by negotiating with the id and pleasing the superego, and Catherine is the prime example of this as she tried to balance her life between Heathcliff and Edgar. Though Catherine intuitively gravitated to Edgar because of his more advanced psyche, she couldn’t bear to leave Heathcliff, whom she believes is more representative of herself.In fact, both Heathcliff and Catherine grew to be so emotionally intertwined that Catherine professed to Nelly, â€Å"I am Heathcliff,† indicating that she put much more devotion and significance in her relationship wit h Heathcliff over Edgar. Therefore, this pull in her psyche between what she should be drawn to and what she actually desires is what ultimately makes Catherine spiral down into madness. Though there were other factors to take into consideration that lead to Catherine’s descent into insanity, ultimately it is her ambivalence between her id (Heathcliff) and superego (Edgar) that pulls her into two.

Cadbury India

CADBURY(the marketing strategies of Cadbury India Ltd. ) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The satisfaction and euphoria that accompany the successful completion of any task is incomplete without the mention of people who made it possible. So I take this as a great opportunity to pen down a few lines about the people to whom my acknowledgement is due. It is with the deepest sense of gratitude that I wish to place on record my sincere thanks †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. , my project guide for providing me inspiration, encouragement, guidance, help and valuable suggestions throughout the project. I would also like to thank all my respondent for giving me their valuable time and information. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Page No. 1 Part I Chapter 1 Abstract Page No. 2 Chapter 2 Introduction Page No. 6 Chapter 3 Agency Profile Page No. 19 Part II Chapter 4 Research Design Page No. 29 Chapter 5 Servicing Analysis Interpretation Page No. 34 Chapter 6 Data Analysis Page No. 68 Chapter 7 Finding, Conclusion Suggestion Page No. 81 Part III Chapter 8 Appendices Annexure Page No. 6 Chapter 9 Bibliography Page No. 89 PREFACE The success of any business entity solely depends on how effectively does it utilizes its optimum resources and how soon does it make arrangements for the removal of the customer’s grievances. Moreover, the company should always be ready to make necessary changes according to the requirements in order to attract more customers so as to maintain a substantial growth in the market. The topic given to me was: â€Å"JOURNEY TO ZENITH OF CADBURY† I have tried to put my best efforts to complete this task on the basis of skill that I have achieved during my studies in the institute. I have tried to put my maximum effort to get the accurate statistical data. If there is any error or any mistake in collecting the data, please correct it in the best way as I am still learning. CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION Introduction The Cadbury’s Inc has taken the opportunity to offer us a broader view of chocolate category. The Cadbury India’s no. 1 Chocolate is able to share with their market insights based upon unparalleled breath of chocolate experience. Cadbury has grown from strength to strength with new technologies being introduced to make the Cadbury confectionary business, one of the most efficient in the world. The merge in 1969 with Schweppes and the subsequent development of the business have led to Cadbury Schweppes taking the led in both, the confectionary and soft drink market intech UK and becoming a major force in the international market. Cadbury Schweppes today manufactures product in 60 countries and a trade in staggering 120. The Cadbury story is a fascinating story of a family business that grew in one of the biggest, most loved chocolate brand in the world. A story that you will remember as the story of â€Å"The taste of life†. CHAPTER-2 OBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT My main objective of the study on this project is to demonstrate the marketing strategies of Cadbury India Ltd. And to arrive at my findings, I have done few analyses:- (a) SWOT Analysis (b) PEST Analysis And also 5 P’s of Marketing:- †¢ Product †¢ Price †¢ Physical Distribution †¢ Promotion †¢ Positioning CHAPTER-3 RESERCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Achieving accuracy in any research requires in depth study regarding the subject. As the prime objective of the project is to compare Cadbury with the existing competitors in the market and the impact of Nestle on Cadbury, the research methodology adopted is basically based on primary data via which the most recent and accurate piece of first hand information could be collected. Secondary data has been used to support primary data wherever needed. Primary data was collected using the following techniques Questionnaire Method Observation Method The main tool used was, the questionnaire method, observation method has been continuous with the questionnaire method, as one continuously observes the surrounding environment he works in. Procedure of research methodology # Target geographic area was Delhi. NCR and Aligarh. # To these geographical area questionnaire was given. # Finally the collected data and information was analyzed and compiled to arrive at data the conclusion and recommendations given. Sources of secondary Used to obtain information on , Cadbury and its competitor history, current issues, policies, procedures etc, wherever required. # Internet # Magazines Newspapers CHAPTER-4 ABOUT CADBURY THE LEGEND CALLED CADBURY 1824 – A business was opened in 1824 by a young Quaker, John Cadbury, in Bull street Birmingham was to be the foundation of Cadbury Limited, now one of the world’s largest producer of chocolate. 1831 – By this year the business had changed from a grocery shop and John Cadbury had become a manufacturer of drinking chocolate and cocoa. This was the start of Cadbury manufacturing business as it is known today. A larger factory in Bridge Street Birmingham was rented in 1847, John Cadbury was joined by his brother Birmingham and the business became Cadbury Brother of Birmingham. 861 – John Cadbury resigned his business and handed over to his sons, Richard, 25 and George, 21 who after 5 difficult years almost shut down the business to take up other vocation. Fortunately for generation of chocolate lovers, they didn’t. 1866 – Saw a turning point for the company with the introduction of a process for pressing the cocoa butter from the coca beans. This not only enabled Cadbury Brothers to produce pure coca essence, but the plentiful supply of coca butter remaining was also used to make new kind of eating chocolate. The essence was advertised as ‘Absolutely pure, therefore best’. 1879 – Business prospered from this time and Cadbury Brother outgrew the Bridge Street factory, moving in 1879 to a ‘Greenfield’ site some miles from the center of Birmingham which came to call Bourneville. The opening of the Cadbury factory in a garden also heralded a new era in industrial relations and employee welfare with joint consultation being just one of the introduced by the pioneering Cadbury Brothers. 1899 – In this year the business private limited company – Cadbury Brothers Limited progress since the start of the century. Chocolate has moved being a â€Å"luxury† item to well within the financial reach of everyone. 1905 – Cadbury has many famous brands with one of major success story being Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate launched in 1905, today Britain’s favorite moduled chocolate bar. Cadbury today is the market leader in the U. K chocolate confectionary market, employing the most advanced processing technology and management information and control techniques. The company is the confectionary division of Cadbury Schweppes plc which is major force in the confectionary and soft drinks international market. World wide Cadbury is one of the pre – eminent names in confectionary with impressive range of famous brands. Quality has been the focus of the Cadbury business from the very beginning as generations have worked to produce chocolate with that very special taste, smoothness and snap, so characteristics of Cadbury’s chocolate. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Design Development Milk chocolate for eating was first made by Cadbury in 1897 by adding milk powder paste to the dark chocolate recipe of cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar. By today’s standards this chocolate was not particularly good as it was very coarse and dry and was not sweet or milky enough for public tastes. At that time there was a great deal of competition in the U. K from continental manufactures, not only the French with their fancy chocolates but also from the Swiss, who were renowned for their milk chocolate. Led by George Cadbury junior, the Bourneville experts set out to meet the challenge. A considerable amount of time and money was spent on research and new plant design to produce the new chocolate in much large quantities. A new recipe was formulated fresh milk and new production processes were developed to produce milk – chocolate not merely as good as Swiss chocolate but better than the imported milk chocolate. Four years of hard work were invested in the project and in 1905 what was to be Cadbury’s top selling brand was launched. Three names were considered Jersey, Highland Milk and Dairy Maid. Dairy Maid became Dairy Milk and Cadbury’s Dairy Milk with its unique flavor and smooth creamy texture was ready to challenge the Swiss domination of the milk chocolate market. By 1913 it had become the company’s best selling line and in the mid twenties Cadbury’s Dairy Milk gained its status as the brand leader, a position that it has held ever since. Today more than 250 million bars of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk are made every year and sales reach over 100 million Pound in value. While advertising and label design have changed with fashion and considerable strides have been made in manufacturing technologies, the recipe for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk its ‘glass and a half of full cream milk in every half pound produced’ is still basically the same as when it was launched. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Story Chocolate has been enjoyed by successive generation since the manufacturing process was developed in the Victorian Times. Good chocolatiers is an art form depending on recipe traditions, which have grown over the years. Chocolatiers have use their skills to make balanced recipe in which all the ingredients combine to produced chocolate with all the characteristics that enable full delicious taste to be enjoyed by the consumers. By today’s standards the first chocolate for eating would have been considered quite unpalatable. It was the introduction of the Van Houten cocoa press from Holland that was the major break through in the chocolate production as it provided extra cocoa butter needed to make a smooth glossy chocolate. Cadbury’s Milk Tray – 1915 Milk Tray has maintained its popularity in the changing world since the milk chocolate assortment made with the famous Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate was first introduced in 1915. The name ‘tray’ derived from the way in which the original assortment was delivered to the shops. Originally Milk Tray was packed in five and as half pound boxes, arranged on trays from which it was sold loose to customers. The half pound deep – lidded box with the traditional purple background and gold script was introduced in 1916, followed by one pound box in 1924. With its stylish, without frills presentation Milk Tray was the assortment for everyday, not just special occasion and it represented the best buy in the chocolate for millions of people. The pack design has been regularly updated and the assortment itself has changed in line with consumers taste and preferences. By the end mid – thirties the Cadbury’s Milk Tray assortment outsold all its competitions and today it is still one of the most popular boxes of chocolates in this country. Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury Schweppes plc, a global beverage and confectionary giant with annual sale of Rs 20,000 crores ,is the worlds number one non – cola soft drink company having bottling and partnership operations in 14 countries and franchises of its brand in a further 86 countries around the world. Its Hundred Percent subsidiary in India named Cadbury Schweppes Beverage India (private) Limited (CSBIL) started operation in March 1995. The first brand was launched was Crush which was later followed by Canada Dry, Schweppes Tonic Water, Schweppes Bitter Lemon. CSBIL with its franchise agreement with 19 bottling plants throughout India proposes to be a household name. It has a policy for FOBOs (Franchise owned bottling operations ) unlike Coke and Pepsi which prefer COBO,s (Company owned bottling operations). In FOBO the beverages company only supplies the concentrate and the marketing support to build brand equity. The other aspects like machinery, bottling line, land and distribution is the responsibility of the bottler. As its CEO Mr. Ashok Jain says, â€Å"we are the software, they are the hardware†. PRODUCT PROFILE CHAPTER-5 SWOT AND PEST ANALYSIS OF CADBURY SWOT ANALYSIS Strength 1. Very strong brand equity in India. 2. Due to its 54 years presence in India – has deep penetration – 2100 distributors; 450,000 retailers, 60 mid urban (22%) customers. 3. Three sectors; Chocs (70% share), Confec (4%), food drinks (14% leader in brown segment). 4. Low cost of production due to economic of scale. That means higher profits. Better market penetration. 5. Second best manufacturing location throughout Cadbury Schweppes. Weakness 1. Poor technology in India compared to current international technologies (Godiva, Mozart, Fazer, Dint, Naushans, etc ) 2. Ltd. Key products, only one central brand (CDM). Pralines range totally wising in India. 3. â€Å"Make in India† tag once the economy opens up wore and imports rush in. Opportunities 1. Tremendous scope for per capita consumption (160 gms of 8 – 10 kg) 2. Increasing per capita national income resulting in higher disposable income. 3. Growing middle class and growing urban population. 4. Increasing gifts cultures. 5. Substitute to â€Å"Mithais† with higher calories/cholesterol. 6. Increasing departmental stores concept – impulse @ at cash counters. 7. Globalization: optimal use of global Cadbury Schweppes. Threats ) Major :- Due to low cost and highest brand equity, it is success in India. b) Minor :- Globalization will bring in better brands for upper end of the market (Liest, Monarch, Godiva, etc†¦). Conclusion:- Will lose market share with globalization but will remain brand leader. Pest Analysis P: Since the budget range is decontrolled, no political e ffects are envisaged. E: 1) Increasing per capita income resulting in higher disposable income. 2) Growing middle class/urban population – increase in demand. 3) Low cost of production – better penetration. S: 1) Per capita consumption expected to increase – fashion. ) Increasing gifts culture – increase in demand . 3) Lower cholesterol than â€Å"mithais† (sweet meat) subsbstitute demand. T: Will have to reinforce technology to international levels once India is a â€Å"free† economy. CHAPTER-6 AN INSIGHT ON 5 P’S OF MARKETING (CADBURY) 5 P’S Of Marketing 1 PRODUCT The average company will compete for customer by conforming to his expectation consistently. But the winner will surpass them by constantly exceeding his expectation, delivering to his door step additional benefits which he would never have imagined . Cadbury’s offer such product. The wide variety products offered by the company include: I. Chocolate Confectionary 1) Dairy Milk 2) Fruit Nut 3) 5 Star 4) Break 5) Perk 6) Gems 7) Eclairs 8) Nutties 9) Temptation 10) Milk Treat II. Beverages III. Food Drinks 1) Bourn vita 2) Drinking chocolate 3) Cocoa 2 Pricing Make no mistake. Second P of marketing is not another name for blindly lowering prices and relying on this strategy alone to increase sales dramatically. The strategy used by Cadbury’s is for matching the value that customer pays to buy the product with the expectation they have about what the production is worth to them. Cadbury’s has launched various products hich cater to all customer segments. So every customer segment has different price expectation from the product. Therefore maximizing the returns involves identifying right price level for each segment, and then progressively moving through them. Dairy Milk Rs. 15 Perk Rs. 10 5 Star Rs. 10 Friut and Nut Rs. 22 Gems Rs. 10 Break Rs. 5 Nutties Rs. 18 Bournvita (500 gm) Rs. 104 Drinking chocola te Rs. 50 3 Physical Distribution – â€Å"Place† Distribution Equity:It takes much more time and effort to build, but once built, distribution equity is hard to erode. The fundamental axiom of Indian consumer market is this: You can set up a state-of –the-art manufacturing facility, hire the hottest strategies on the block, swamp prime television with best Ads, but the end of it all, you should know how to sell your products. The cardinal task before the Indian market in managing is to shoe-horn its product on retail shelves. Buyers are paying for distribution equity not brand equity and market shares. Why does the company need distribution equity more in India? With technology and competitive pressure slash in it is becoming increasing difficult for marketers to retain a unique product differentiation for long period. In a product and price parity situation, the brand that sells more is the one that reaches the highest number of customers. India – 1 billion people, 155 million household has over 4 million retail outlets in 5351 urban markets and 552725 villages, spread cross 3. 28 million sq. km. television has already primed and population for consumption, and the marketer who can get to the to the consumer ahead of competition will give a hard – to – overtake lead. But getting their means managing wildly different terrains-climate, language, value system, life style, transport and communication network. And your brand equity isn’t going to help when it comes to tackling these issues. Own distribution network consist of clearing and forwarding (CF) agents distribution stockiest. This network of distribution can either contact wholesalers and which in turn retailers or the distributors can contact to the retailers directly. Once the stock product reaches retailers, the prospective customers can have access to the product. Cadbury’s distributes the product in the manner stated above. Cadbury’s distribution network has expanded from 1990 distributors last year to 2100 distributors and 4,50,000 retailers. Beside use of TI to improves logistics, Cadbury is also attempting to improve the distribution quality. To address the issue of product stability, it has installed visi colors at several outlets. This helps in maintaining consumption in summer when sales usually drops due to the fact that the heat affects product quality and thereby off takes. Looking at the low penetration of the chocolate, a distribution expansion would itself being incremental volume. The other reason is arch rival Nestle reaches more than a million retailers. This increase in distribution is going to be accompanied by reduction in channel costs. Cadbury’s marketing costs, at 18% of total costs, is much higher than Nestle’s 12% or even pure sugar confectionery major Parry’s 11%. The company is looking to reduce this parity level. At Cadbury, they believe that selling confectionery is it like selling soft drinks. 4 Promotion Effective advertising is rarely hectoring or loudly explicit†¦. It often both attracts and generates arm feelings. More often than not, a successful campaign has a stronger element of the unexpected a quality that good advertising shares with much worthwhile literature. To penetrate into the inner recesses of customer memory, communication must first ensure exposure, grab his attention evoke his comprehension, grab his acceptance and then extract retention competing with thousands of other units of communication trying to do the same. Finding showed that the adults felt too conscious to be seen consuming a product actually meant for children. The strategic response addresses the emotional appeal of the band to the child within the adult. Naturally, that produced just the value vacuum that Cadbury was looking to fill. Thereafter it was the job of the advertising to communicate ustomer the wonderful feeling that he could experience by re-discoursing the careful, unselfish conscious, pleasure – seeking child within him – and graft these feeling onto the Ad campaign like â€Å"Khane Walon Ko Khane Ka Bahana Chahiye† for CMD and â€Å"Thodi Si Pet Pooja – Kabhi Bhi Kahin Bhi† for Perk have been sure shot winner with the audience. Whirl with the new launched temptations with the slogan â€Å"Too To Share† the communication resolves around the reluctance of a person who’s got their hand on a bar of temptation to let anyone else to have a bite. As well as outdoor and radio ads, ad agency contract has created communication for cinemas and even ATM machines for the brand. All ICICI’s ATM a message flashes on the screen as soon as customer inserts his ATM card. It tells the customer that this would be good time to get out of his temptation since he/she is bound to be alone. Something familiar is planned for phone-book as well. In cinemas, Cadbury has a message on-screen just before the lights are dimmed to give them a chance to get their temptations. There will also be after dinner sampling in restaurants – to begin with, 30 catteries in Mumbai have been selected. The next round of activity will include the wafer-chocolate Perk and the Picnic bar, which has faced problems with its taste, because of the peanut it contains. Milk treat has also been launched in a module bar form, just in time of Diwali gifting market. Eclairs has got potential for much wide distribution, in a small sweets that airlines, hostels, and up market retail outlet offer to guest and customers. Ad spend in 2000 was about 14% of sales and the management said that plans to maintain as spend at this level in the current year also. Ad since any discussion today would be incomplete without mention ‘e’ word, the management plans to tap this new channel of marketing. Beside three company website(i. e. www. cadburyindia. com,wwww. bourvita. com,www. cadburygift. com) that the company has launched, it had also entered into various marketing relationship with other portals, specially targeted during festivals and events such as Valentines day , etc†¦. It’s a combination of spiffing up its key brand, researching and improving the newer products that haven’t taken off, supported with high ad – spends that Cadbury hopes will see it emerges stronger after the current slowdown, as well as expand the market. 5 Positioning In the 1970s consumers were ready to pay â€Å"more for more†, and luxury goods flourished. In the 1980s, consumers began to demand â€Å"more for same†, and the discounting era grew strong. Today’s consumer demanding â€Å"more for less†, and the winner will be that super value marketers†¦. Some of today’s most successful companies recognize those customers are more educated and able to recognize true customer value†¦ Positioning is simply concentrating on an idea – or – even a word defines that company in the mind of the consumer. It is more efficient to market one successful concept to one large group of people than 50 product or service ideas to 50 separate group†¦ repositioning is a must when customer attitude have changed and product have strayed away from the consumer’s long standing perception of them†¦ Cadbury’s is an anchor in sea of confectionary products. As a variety of competitive claims assails her senses, today customer uses complicated decision making process to assess the alternative before making a purchase. Since Cadbury’s is more clearly associated with a particular set of attributes in terms of benefits and prices, the quicker becomes her search process. Positioning of individual product: 1) CMD: is and always remain flagship brand. The punch by the company for advertising this product life. ‘Real taste of Life’, itself defines the positioning of the product. The chocolate is meant for all age groups. It symbolizes fun, enjoyment, good items. It has goodness of milk, taste and appetite appeal. 2) 5 star: although positioned internationally as an energy bar, 5 star was positioned on an emotional platform in India during the late 1980s. Symbolizing togetherness, 5 star was originally targeted at teenagers. In June 1994, the company reworked the strategy for 5 star to make it a source of energy. In fact, before the launch of Perk, 5 star’s energy bar positioning made it a snacking chocolate. 3) Eclairs: competing in the chewable toffees segment. Eclairs was re-launched during the mid-nineties with a new name, Dairy Milk Eclairs. 4) Gems: broadcasting Gems, though, didn’t prove to be feasible proposition for Cadbury. Targeted at children under 12 years with ‘Gems Bond’ advertising. Cadbury decided to sell it to teenagers with the ‘Smart Very Smart’ campaign. But now, the company is retargeting children with its animated commercial. â€Å"Gems are the best brand to speak to children. Colorful chocolate buttons appeal most to children and that is why Cadbury is re-targeting children.    5) Crackle: it was the first Cadbury’s chocolate to have crunch in it. It was targeted as a funky chocolate to add spark to life. 6) Perk: in September, 1995, Cadbury preempted the launch of Nestle’s Kit-Kat by rushing a new brand, Perk into the market. Positioned much further on the functional scale of 5 star, Perk was meant to be light snack-product for subduing the first pangs of hunger. 7) Bo urnvita: positioned as tasty health drink. While its competitors concentrated only on health aspect, Bournvita combined the nutritious value   with taste. CHAPTER-7 MARKET SEGMENT AND MARKETING STRATEGIES OF CADBURY Cadbury’s Market Segment Market place for any product is comprised of many different segments of consumers, each with different needs and wants. Markets segmentation can be defined in a number of ways such as: Demographic variables (e. g. Consumers age groups, gender, material states income etc†¦)( The lifestyle of consumers (i. e. their interests and activities) the benefits which consumers look for in a product or on the occasions when the product might be consumed. Cadbury takes into account all these factors when producing a range of products. It targets different segments within the market, such as the. ( Break segment – products which are normally consume as a snatched break and often with tea and coffee, for example Cadbury’s Perk and snack range. ( Impulse segment – these products are often purchase on impulse, eating these and then. They include product such as Cadbury’s Dair y Milk. ( Take home segment – this describes product that are normally purchased in supermarkets, taken home consumed at a later stage. The Real Taste of Rejuvenation (transformation) It was the market – leader, but sales inched along. It focused firmly on its target segment, but the real buyer lay beyond. For seven long years, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate suffered stagnancy even as other consumer products boomed. Just how did the company rejuvenate an old brand to create the marketing megs-hit of the 1990s? It Stand First Among Second coming. And it wasn’t so much a re-launch as it was a process of rejuvenation. Over a period of 12 months, starting February, 1994, the Rs. 14 crore confectionery makers Cadbury embarked on the most outrageous repositioning exercise in the recent history of Indian marketing. For, it systematically dismantled the franchise that the company had built over 30 years of its flagship brand, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (CDM)-Cad bury’s Milk chocolate until 1986-destroying the very fundamental of generic association that had made million of Indians refer to a bar of a chocolate as a â€Å"Cadbury†. More proof of the chocolate is in the eating: two years into process, CDM’s market share at 25%, with sale rising by an average 40% per annum. The Diagnosis Today, The Real Taste of Life campaign, which served up chocolate in general, and CDM in particular, into the consciousness of adult, has already become a classic of advertising and marketing. By 1993, Cadbury was desperately seeking growth for the brand†¦ â€Å"With a market share of 70%, trying to win away customers from competitors in this stagnant market wouldn’t help. They had to find new customers, people who’d never bought chocolate before. Or, they had to increase consumption levels†. The obvious solution, in a peculiar predicament. Despite low penetration, both the brand and the category were displaying symptoms of age: faltering growth, high recognition, and lack of excitement. The market research revealed the cause of the graying: chocolate wasn’t a snack in India. â€Å"In mature markets, chocolate straddle a continuum, from boutique product – packaged raw indulgence – to a casual food†. So, Cadbury whipped up a growth solution that involved associating the brand with snacking and functionally, which inevitably go together with high consumption rates in the Western markets. The next step: identify the barriers preventing consumers from chocolate as a snack. A battery of test, both quantitative and qualitative, comparing chocolate consumption to a basket of competitive products revealed an unmistakable answer. â€Å"Cadbury’s Was Caught In Its Own Trap† How? The company had, over decades, created a context of chocolate consumption that was now chocking growth possibilities. â€Å"The baggage of the past was so overpowering that people didn’t get influenced by minor shifts in the message†. In fact, the behavioral and attitudinal patterns conveyed by the communication to build the brand were proving restrictive. For, Cadbury had, using the traditional demographic variables of age, socio-economic groups, and usage intensity, positioned CDM as a product that elders – typically, parents – bought for children – typically, their own. But admittedly – enduring values of love and sharing, parental affection, and reward that Cadbury had labored to associate with the brand, which had helped it forge a relationship with customers, had relegated it to being a special – occasion item, ruling out increased individual consumption. After all, special occasion item, ruling out increased individual consumption. After all, special occasion were meant to be a rare. A typical Ad would show parents bringing home chocolate for their child. It would never, ever, show the child, or the parent, buying it for himself or herself. The punch line – Sometimes Cadbury’s Can Say It Better Than Words, and Nothing But The Best Will Do – reinforced the notion, with an unwelcome side – effect: adults, as research showed, felt distinctly guilty and embarrassed about eating chocolate, whether alone or socially. â€Å"Not only were adults not indulging in chocolates, but they were also actively curtailing child consumption† solution? Forget children as the core consumer. Universalize the product, targeting the parents. The Tests Despite the Need To Clear The residual memory of CDM’s former association, caution prevented a big break with the past, forcing Cadbury to experiment with a combination of continuity and change. The process entailed understanding the foundation of the brand, since it was these that would support the new structure†. Out went the caring and sharing element, but the family context stayed. â€Å"Cadbury had two pillars, so it made sense to change one†. Chocolate should be eaten whenever you feel like. It was an impulse item, so why shouldn’t it be sold as one? The first of the two commercial focused on functionality, purging the emotional element. The first commercial storyline, the father watches TV, engrossed, gnawing away at a bar of CDM. The children enter, followed by the mother-but, by that time, the father has completed the distinctly unpaternal act of devouring the entire bar. The children are shocked, where upon the produces another bar for them-only to eat that up too. Finally, the mother brings another bar out of her bag. The last shot more CDM bars strew around casually. The second commercial conveyed the same message, depicting four member of a family doing their own thing on a Sunday afternoon, and each casually munching away on chocolates. The less than – subtle message: eating chocolate’s just an everyday affair, without special occasion or relationship coming into play. Despite their strategic intent, both ads failed on pre – airing tests. Why for stators, children were outraged at the idea of a parent consuming chocolate, while adults were down right angry at the notion of the father depriving his children of chocolate bar. Just as important, consumer rejected the idea that chocolate-eating could be equated with mechanical activities like combing one’s hair. After all, chocolates were about feelings. There had to be magic, romance, love and emotion. These elements had been ripped away from the advertising. It has sans emotion†. â€Å"Parent Are Different From Adults† Even as the ad failed, however, they generated a valuable byproduct, in the form of a new insight, into adult behavior. â€Å"Using transactional analysis on response, Cadbury’s found that adult as parents behave very differently from adults as adults. People forbid their children from having chips, but gorge themselves. â€Å"The implication†:- â€Å"The moment the adult was shown in the context of his role as a parent, all his cognitive preconception about the product would come to the fore. He’d think about the reasons why, and the block would automatically come up†. Tap child-ego state within the adult, stimulating desire, spontaneity, and the craving for instant gratification. The Prescription The crucial question that Cadbury was confronted with: what strategy should it deploy to rejuvenate CDM in a way that would appeal to the child lurking within the adult? To inject a modern flavor into CDM, they chose to create a new brand identity, borrowing a leaf from marketing guru David Aaker, who decrees that brand identity should establish a relationship between the brand and the customer by generating value proposition involving functional, emotional, or self-expressive benefits. â€Å"The Ads Had To Be Linkable† â€Å"The consumer will always tell what his current belief system is, not what it should be Cadbury’s job was to mould his habits and behavior in a way that would increase consumption for product and brand†. â€Å"Impulse Drives Chocolate Sales† One of the tools Cadbury’s used was Jean – Neal Kapferer’s Brand Prism model to examine whether contemporary value systems offered a peg on which the brand could be judge. The study disclosed, interlaid, a distinct shift from collectivism to individualism, with the pre – 1990’s sacrosanct values of filial and family love being overshadowed by the manifestation of a larger need for self – expression. â€Å"There was a definite yearning to be free child†. Therein lay the opportunity for both unshackling consumption and creating all-new association for CDM. The Breakthrough Having decided to barter the distinctly use selfish values of sharing and caring for the suspiciously self-centered one of self-expression, Cadbury’s people insisted that the rejuvenate be enriched with compensation – and equally enduring – positive values: universal truths, enduring human values, and universal moment of joy. To translate the brief into the commercial, they decide to simply portray occasion of childlike-but not childish-behavior from adults, without explicitly identifying adults as the target customer. They left the connection to be made by the customer† â€Å"In the process they were able to get viewer involvement and high levels of empathy. Nowhere did they actually say, you’re an adult, you can eat it. Because nobody wants to be told†. Thus it was that, the montage of the child in the man-the old man kicking the football; the pregnant woman carving a chocolate; young girl breaking into a spirit; the young m an tossing a bar of chocolate at his sweet-heart departing in a bus-was created. That the consumption had to be liked before it could penetrate the cultural resistance to chocolate consumption by adults was obvious. Taking a contrition stance, Cadbury decided to test the commercial being devised by OM’s creative team not for the tire battery of likeability, comprehension, credibility and behavior modification – but only for the first two. â€Å"If asked upfront, the consumer was hardly likely to consider the dramatically-different idea credible. Nor was there much chance of his announcing an immediate change in behavior†. But why likeability and comprehension? Simple: the first was meant to be the vehicle on which the daring idea-that adults should enjoy chocolate-would ride into the consumer’s psyche. In other words, the commercial was meant to make him smile at first-and only then realize the import once of the message, which is where the comprehension had to be tested. â€Å"What was clear in this case was that likeability would have to include identification and feeling warmth. † Thodi Se Pet Puja, Khabi Bhi Kahin Bhi! The Real Taste of Life Campaign The very first ad in the campaign in 94 was ‘block – Buster’. It depicted the essence of one and a half glass of milk pouring in to a boy Dairy Milk unique glass and half in to a chunk icon shows the glass and a half of full cream milk flowing in to the chunk of dairy milk conveying the deliciousness and taste appeal of the gooey, creamy, smooth chocolate inside the pack that children like. The mnemonic of 1 ? glass reached to consumer through every magazines, poster, T. V, newspaper. The second ad was montage of vignettes from every day lives of young and old which focused on showing a series of emotions. The ad created on bringing out the child in the man . The old man kicking the football, the pregnant women craving chocolate, young girls breaking into a spirit, the young man tossing a bar chocolate at his sweet heart departing into a bus. The common refrain linking them was the adult in a free child mode – spottiness, impulsive and carefree. The ad was protested among adult’s trough focus groups. The ad received an overwhelming response. It was high on likeability, evoked a great degree of empathy and identification consumers’ response were those me†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"Feel like that†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. . â€Å"Every feels like this†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Brand usage was perceived to cut across all age groups and accessions. Consumers described dairy milk as â€Å"†¦ of all ages† â€Å"Eat, when ever you feel like it†¦you do not have to wait for an occasion. † Dairy Milk had successfully enabled the free child in the consumer subsequent adv erting used the same communication strategy. Kya Swaad Hai Zindagi Ka! The next ad featured an on going match in the field. Think of a match India batting against Pakistan. The score, 6 runs to win with 1 ball left and India wins the match. The ad shows a girl dancing with jubilation on the cricket field when her hubby hits the winning stroke. The award winning campaign, designed by O M was intended to rid the Indian chocolates eater of that guilt complex. The advertisement suggested, through not in so many words, that it was ok to be seen including in a chocolate in public. You could relate the sweetness of success of chocolate. The ad draws attention to the actual eats experience. The fourth in this series was the girl with on her hands. The ad focused on showing how the girl relishes the Dairy Milk when she has mehandi on her hands. The idea behind this advertisement was to show the nature of chocolate as an impulse – driven product. Post campaign saw a great turn around. Dairy Milk transformed in to a young full brand full of zest. It came to be recognized as an expression of spontaneity and in pulse. The campaign succeeded in softening attitude towards chocolate and lifting then out of the ream of kiddies / special occasion only. It embraced a wide range emotion all build around them that chocolate means different things to different people at different times, but most importantly chocolate is Cadbury. The New Campaign And finally, with the launch of the new colloquial advertising campaign ‘Khaannein Wallon Khaannein Ka Bahana Chahiya featuring MTV VJ Cyrus Broacha, Cadbury India aimed to ‘substantially’ increase penetration level of the chocolate category in the next few years. ’ The new campaign is worth noting as it clearly differ from the earlier one in terms of rectifying the consumer perception about chocolate being an up market impulse – driven product. The attempt now is to change the image, to make chocolate eating a regular habit. The current estimated penetration level of the chocolate category is 19% in the urban market. The objective behind tne new communication on Cadbury Dairy Milk is to make the chocolate category more socially and culturally relevant and drive penetration in the process. The new campaign has been launched in tandem with the old one Winning ‘Kuch Khass Hai’ campaign and the media strategy is to let the two co – exist towards a common vision â€Å"providing a Cadbury in every pocket†. Thodi Se Pet Puja, Khabi Bhi, Kahin Bhi! Chocolate Market Share The Indian chocolate market is getting bigger and better. While on one hand, the premium segment (composing imported varieties) is opening up on the other, companies like Cadbury India are launching indigenous product made to international standards. Of the 20,000 tonne chocolate market worth about   Rs. 400 crore, Cadbury account for about 70% followed by Nestle, with a share of around 20%. Amul has about 5% of the market, with minor player taking the rest. The battle, though, is between Cadbury and Nestle. Though with a much smaller portfolio, Nestle is putting up a tough fight. From a treat for kids, chocolate are now being positioned near meal substitutes, thanks to the initiative taken by the Cadbury India during early nineties. The market itself has become broader based, in the sense adults are an important target segment now. The reposting of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk in 1994 as the ‘real taste of life (through the Slice of Life and Cricket commercial by Ogilvy and Mather) grew the entire milk chocolate by 20%, and gave the Cadbury’s range – 5 Star, Gems, Eclairs, Fruit Nut, Crackle, Nutties, Butterscotch Tiffns – a new lease of life. In other words, it facilitated the repositioning of Cadbury’s sub brands in the basket. Some of the strategic clicked, while other did not quite take off. The company is pushing the gifting segment, through occasion linked gifts. Chocolates contribute to 64% of Cadbury’s turnover. Confectionary sales accounting for 12% of turnover is contributed largely by Eclairs. The company attempted expanding its confectionary product portfolio, with launch of sugar based confectionary goodly and fruits, without much success. Cadbury also has a strong brand bornvita in the malted health drink category which account for 24% of turnover. There exists an even larger unorganized market in the confectionary segment. Cadbury has 4% of the market share in this segment. Leading national players are nutrine, Pary’s Ravalgoan, Candico, Parle, Joyoco India and Perfetti, the MNCs such as Joyco and Perfetti have aggressively expanded their presence in the country in the last few years. Malted food drinks category consists of white drink and brown drink. White drinks accounts for almost two third market of the 82,000 for market south and east are large market for drinks, accounting for largest proportion of all India’s sale. Cadbury’s Bourn Vita is leader in the brown drink coca based segment in the white drink segment Smith Kline’s Horlicks in the Nestle Milo , GCMMF nitramul and other Smith Kline brand Boost, Maltova and Viva Cadbury bold 14% market share in food drinks segment. Despite tough market condition and increased competition Cadbury managed to record a double digit (11%) top line growth in 2000. The company achieved a volume growth of 5. 2%. This was achieved through innovative marketing strategies and focused advertising campaign flagship brand Dairy Milk. Net profit rose sharply by 41. 8% to Rs. 520 million. Reduced material and energy cost and tighter control over working capital over working capital and capital expenditure enabled the company to improve the profitability. Company added 8 million new consumers and saw its outlets grow to 4. 5 lakhs and consumer to 60 million. In the food segment, Britannia is the leader brand with 21% among those who expressed an opinion saying that they like advertising for the brand Cadbury was clearly No. 2 with 18% to which CDM throw in its weight with 13% and perk with 4%. For the Chocolate Company, Khane Walo Lo Ko Khane Ka Bhanna and the Karwa Cauth, Sports are clear winners. Tied for the brand place are Amul, Parle and south based Arun Le Gram with 5% each. Disappointment among bid brands Kissan and Maggi and Kwality Walls (1%) each. Cadbury’s Temptation Cadbury’s Health Drink Cadbury’s Creamy Bar Fruit Nut New Launch Cadbury target kids with Milk Treat: It is a product that talks directly to the target consumer. The product benefits have been defined as â€Å"The goodness of milk to the fun of chocolate†. it combines both good health, multinutrition value of milk along with the pinch of fun and excitement. The kinds formally associate with Cadbury chocolate offering. Temptation :- It is aimed at the niche â€Å"international chocolate â€Å" segment of the chocolate market a segment upgraded from brands such as Cadbury’s to premium international offering such as Tolerance, Lindit and Hersheys. Roughly 5%of the total domestic consumption expected to grow to some 10%. This segment is too good to miss out on. ThePreviousCadbury’s range available in India did not offer consumer an option to upgrade to international chocolate within the Cadbury’s fold. Temptation is an attempt to lug niche, priced Rs. 30. Future Strategy In the branded impulse market, the share of chocolate in 6. % and Cadbury’s share in the impulse segment is 4. 8% factor like changing attitude, higher disposable income, a large youth population, and low penetration of chocolate (22% of urban population) point towards a big opportunity of increasing the share of chocolate in the branded impulse among the costly alternative in the branded impulse market. It appears that company is likely to play the value game to expand the market encouraged by the recent success of its low priced ‘value for many packs’. Various measures are undertaken in all areas of operation to create value for the future. New channel of marketing such as gifting and child connectivity and low end value for money product for expanding the consumer base have been identified. In terms of manufacturing management focus is on optimizing manufacturing efficiencies and creating a world class manufacturing location for CDM and Eclairs. The company is today the second best manufacturing location of Cadbury’s Schweppes in the world. Efficient sourcing of key raw material i. e. coca through forward purchase of imports, higher local consumption by entering long term contract with farmer and undertaking efforts in expanding local coca area development. The initiatives in the terms of development a long term domestic coca a sourcing base would field maximum gains when commodity prices start moving up. †¢ Use of it to improve logistic and distribution competitiveness   †¢ Utilizing mass media to create and maintain brands. †¢ Expand the consumer base. The company has added 8 million new consumer in the current year and how has consumer base of 60 million although the growth in absolute numbers is lower than targeted, the company has been able to increase the width of its consumer base through launch of low priced products. Improving distribution quality by addressing issues of product stability by installation of visi coolers at several outlets. This would be really effective in maintaining consumption in summer, when sales usually dip due to the fact that the heat effects product quality and thereby consumption. †¢ The above are some steps being taken internally to improve future operation and profitability. At the same time the management is also aware of external changes taking place in the competitive environment and is taking steps to remain competitive in the future environment of free imports, lower barrier to trade and the advent of all global players in to the country. The management is not unduly concerned about the huge deluge of imported chocolate brands in the market place. It is of the view that size of this imported premium market is small to threaten its own volumes or sales in fact, the company looks at the tree important as an opportunity, where it could optimally use the global Cadbury Schweppes portfolio. The company would be able to not only provide greater variety, but it would also be more cost effective to test market new product as well as improve speed of response to change in consumer preference through imports. The only concerns that the company has in this regard is the current high level of duties, which limit the opportunity to launch value for money products. Changing Product Mix Contributing to turnover 1994 Contributing to turnover 2000 Chocolate 59% 64% Sugar Confectionary 9% 12% Food Drink 32% 24% Current Market Share Chocolate 69. 2% Sugar Confectionary 4. 0% Food Drink 14. 2% Expanding Distribution Reach 2001 + Distribution 450000 Retail Outlet 60 Million Consumers CHAPTER-8 CADBURY SUCCESS STORY The Cadbury Story Cadbury’s success story In 1984, John Cadbury founded U. K. company with one aim: to create the highest quality chocolate. By1969, when Cadbury merged with the soft drink giant. Schweppes, Cadbury brands were already famous all around world. Today Cadbury’s production are enjoyed in 120 countries, with 40 chocolate confectionary brands, Cadbury dominated markets as far as the U. K. and Australia that’s why Cadbury have been dubbed â€Å"The world’s master chocolate makers†. The secret of Cadbury’s success What is the secret of Cadbury’s continuing success first there’s the careful selection of the finest coca beans from West Africa, as well as tasty hazel nuts from Turkey and the fine sheet and choicest natural ingredient available to us anywhere. Finally there’s skillful marketing Cadbury always takes extreme care in selecting and marketing the right range of product in every cause. The right product, the right partners, the right marketing, the promotional back up and the right employees. These are the ingredients in Cadbury’s latest recipes for success. Right from the stand Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate success has been based on these factors:-   Quality( Value for money( Advertising( Case Study Prior to deciding on the communication strategy for Cadbury Dairy Milk it was important to understand the habits and mindset towards chocolates. A large scale usage and attitude study was conducted among adults. The research revealed that: Adults were primarily purchasers, and not consumers of chocolates. However, as for most children’s product, they exercised a strong influence on the children’s consumption behavior. Adults acted as gatekeepers of sorts when it came to food items. Considering the advertising history, it came as no surprise that chocolate were perceived as â€Å"kiddy† product and certainly not part of the repertoire for products consumed socially. Chocolate consumption among adults evoked feeling of self indulgence and guilt. Chocolates seemed to offer virtually no significant positive and certainly no overt psychogenic benefits. Food and nutritive values associated with chocolates were low. And, in fact they were categorized as a hazard, being responsible for obesity, dental and respiratory problems. Brands images were undifferentiated and the category had low saliency, â€Å"can do without†. Purchase was almost always planned and triggered by motives ranging from celebration, bribing and reward to gifting. For an impulse product category such as chocolates, this was likely to limit market growth. This conditioning and social learning about chocolates was restricting consumption among adults as well as driving them to restrict children’s consumption. There was evidence to suggest the need for shifting focus from child as chocolates consumers to adult’s communication, hitherto, had always addressed adults as purchasers rather than consumers. Communication had positioned chocolates for specific situations, thus imposing boundaries for the growth of the market. Emphasis on casual everyday situation could help promote core consumption opportunities. For low involvement product categories like chocolates which offer emotional and sensory benefits, it is suggested that communication is most effective with repeated likeable ads promising unique and authentic emotional benefit a shift from portraying everyday moments as an opposed to special ones. The radical change however was focus on bringing out the spontaneity in adults. And, finally CDM a symbol of manipulation was henceforth to symbolize fun, enjoyment and good times. The mnemonic of a glass and half milk was to reinforce the goodness of milk and cue physiological benefits. The only variation was in the Rituals, where communication had shifted from, and special occasion to every moment. A strong volume growth was witnessed in the early 90’s when Cadbury, repositioned chocolates from children to adult consumption. The biggest opportunity is likely to stem from increasing the consumer base. Nutties Roast Almond Picnic The Outlook The Cadbury management has cut down on its growth target by setting a 10% average volume target for next 3 years (as against previous growth) coupled with price increases, this could translate into top line growth of 14 –15%. This target also appears difficult to achieve given the consumer slowdown and the fact that company is dependent on a single category chocolates to drive growth. Effect in expanding confection any portfolio have also not yielded desired results. The management has declared its intention to focus only on Eclairs (which forms a major position of its 4% share in the confectionary segment) for the time being in this category. In chocolates too ones remain on the 2-3 key brands as CDM, Perk claims which have supported growth in the past. While new launched such as milk chocolate and Perk slims have been doing well, the management expects that dairy milk would continue to be the central driving force in Cadbury’s growth and that all other brands would remain peripheral to this central brand. Few Concerns Which Come To Mind With a market share of 70% in the chocolate category and with the free availability of international brands that you see in the market today, it is only natural that Cadbury’s market share will move down from here marinating a 70% market share in a closed environment may have been easy, but it certainly won’t be easy in liberalized environment of free imports. And whatever be the anomalies of taxation or low, the consumer is surely going to have a wider choice. And it is going to be shared with other brands too in future. There is additional challenge of Cadbury’s brand just aiming market share when the consumer has a wide portfolio of brand to choose from. While there would be new chocolates launch towards the end of the year, the company has ruled out a real big chocolates launch in the current year. And it is too early yet to comment on the long term response to the new launch temptations. They say chocolates are mostly am impulse purchase. Therefore consumer would prefer smaller, low cost packs to bigger higher priced ones. The growth trend of the brands therefore clearly indicates that the only brand that has grown is the one that has received tremendous marketing and advertising support Dairy Milk withdraw support for any brand and growth loses momentum. In such scenario, for how long and how many brands can the company continuously support? POSITION OF THE VARIOUS BRANDS IN THE MARKET HAS BEEN LISTED BELOW Cadburys brands Positioning Nestle’s brands Positioning Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit n Nut Creamy bar Roast Almond Crackle Bournvita â€Å"The Real Taste of Life† Position as adults as an impulse any time purchase – self expression values attached Classic Milk Chocolate Bar One Positioned as an affordable enriched milk chocolate Positioned as Trendy, Cool, any time snack. 5 Star / Perk/Break Perk – Positioned as Snacking consumption â€Å"Thodi si Pet Pooja†Ã‚   5 Star Energy bar Reach for the Stars. KitKat Positioned as a snacking consumption â€Å"Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat† CHAPTER-9 DATA ANALYSIS FINDINGS AND SURVEY 1. Do you eat chocolates? 2. Which brand of chocolates do you use? 3. Where do you buy chocolates from? 4. Are you aware of any campaign of the above brands? 5. Which cadbury’s product do you usually prefer or use? 6. Do you think Cadbury’s chocolate is easily available in market ? CHAPTER-10 RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS †¢ Maintain dominance in chocolate, confectionery and market leadership in brown drinks. †¢ New channels such as gifting, child connectivity and value for money offering to be the key growth drives. †¢ Grow volume of sales at least 20% p. . over the next years. †¢ Achieve the goal of best manufacturing location in Cadbury Schweppes world for Dairy Milk and Eclairs. †¢ One new major product launch every year. CONCLUSION This company project has demonstrated â€Å"CADBURY’S MARKETING AND COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES† that has proved to be extensive through, and of great benefit to the company in furthering its competitive advantage. In this project it possible to see the success of Cadbury’s in its indorse its strong potential to continue to do well. CHAPTER-11 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bibliography †¢ A L Ries (1996), â€Å"Focus† Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. †¢ David A. Aaker (1991), â€Å"Managing Brand Equity†, The Free Press. †¢ David A. Aaker (1996) â€Å"Building Strong Brands†, The Free Press. †¢ Philip Kotler (Eighth Edition) â€Å"Marketing Management†, Prentice Hall of India Ltd. †¢ Advertising and marketing Magazine †¢ The Economic Times – â€Å"Brand Equity† †¢ Company Literature †¢ Market survey and questionnaires †¢ Web site: www. cadburyindia. com †¢ Web site: www. Cadbury. uk. com Business World †¢ Business Today ANNEXURE QUESTIONNAIRE 1. Do you eat chocolates? No( Yes ( 2. Which brand of chocolates do you use? Cadbury’s( Nestle( Amul( Others( 3. Where do you buy chocolates from? Super stores( Retail Stores( Restaurants( Movie Halls( Others( 4. Are you aware of any campaign of the above brands? No( Yes ( 5. Which cadburyà ¢â‚¬â„¢s product do you usually prefer or use? 5 Star( Dairy Milk ( Fruit( Perk(Nut Temptation( 6. Do you think Cadbury’s chocolate is easily available in market ? No( Yes (