The Euro and What it will do for Europe free essay sample

This paper takes a look at the Euro history, institution, pros and cons. An analysis of the new European currency, the Euro. The paper provides a history of previous attempts to institute such a change and how the process finally lead to the implementation. Details of economic changes in trade, taxation and personally are listed, as well as views for and against the Euro. Each countrys position is discussed. From the paper: European nations have recently adopted the euro currency, and this paper will provide pros and cons, and overall analysis of how Europe can benefit from it. Never before has a single currency been created across an industrialized zone. Exchange rate stability is what people are looking for with the euro. Some people hope it is such a success, that it will someday reach the shores of the United States and Japan. The euro is a financial innovation, and a common currency is the ultimate in stable exchange rates. We will write a custom essay sample on The Euro and What it will do for Europe or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A monetary union also provides the possibilities of a European political union linking.

Haniel Corporate Strategy And Corporate Responsibility Essays

Haniel Corporate Strategy And Corporate Responsibility Essays Haniel Corporate Strategy And Corporate Responsibility Essay Haniel Corporate Strategy And Corporate Responsibility Essay Corporate strategy is an important planning process within a company that links strategies with functions of corporation. Nowadays, social responsibility has developed rapidly and corporations are pressured to do their part in conserving social, economic and environment. Handel is now in the verge of integrating its social responsibilities into its corporate strategies for the group. Part of this process can be derived and analyzed from the case study which I have extracted to explain below. Handel is a family owned international corporation that has an ownership of ever 600 family members. Handel has Strong desire for low risk investment and had been looking for ways to diversify its current portfolio. At present, as a family run company, the family has decided to let outsiders to run the operation in order to be transparent on corporate governance and at the same time maximizing shareholder wealth. I think the management first challenge is to face Handels big group of diverse shareholders. Each shareholder will have different perspectives and references. As Handel employs external managers to run the business, the external team still needs o meet the shareholders demand from the shareholders meeting. Diversity of shareholders maybe resulted in many different objectives the shareholders wanted to deliberate, discuss or to be agreed and carried forward by the management. Sorting out the shareholders need and wants in accordance to priorities is already a huge challenge. : Engaging these shareholders to derive a clear policy on strategies is another challenge. Family members who are shareholders only meet at the shareholder meeting for briefing and finalizing several policies and time factor is the main constraint. Challenge can be observed from financial perspective. Handel commonly gives 25% of the Groups annual net income to family members. Family members are only accepted to sell or transfer Handel shares to each other to maintain the family owned corporation. This clause will under all circumstances plough away certain proportion of the profit from reinvestment in business. This clause also has made the matter worst when financial results showed reduction of profits and cash flow for the last few years. The financial overview as shown in the financial report highlighted poor performance from investments, dividends, profitability and cash flow etc. These challenges also lead to the management to seek diversification of its current projects to cut risks. Diversified and restructured portfolios are the aims given to its management. However, diversification will lead Handel to face another challenge for management as they need to source out for the right investment and business for entire Handel Group. This challenge is made more difficult in the poor global economic performance recently, and Handels team needed to handpick the right company for investment. As Handel now favors more small but innovative company who has yet to make its mark in the market, the worrying question is how many of them can really succeed. Handel is a family owned corporation, so it generally considers as safe investments and the managements have been avoiding venture capitalists. But in doing so, the management needs more attention to divest their investment in smaller investments and extensive monitoring, staffing and meeting may be required. Ill. THE ALIGNMENT OF HANDELS CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY STRATEGY AND CORPORATE STRATEGY Corporate responsibility and sustainability are both important roles for Handel to achieve higher competitive advantages in market. Corporate social responsibility seems a fundamental component of corporate strategy. It reflects that Handel focuses on its stakeholder and strategy. Through Handels survey, corporate social responsibility was regarded as a significant strategy for Handel Group where business life cycle Were observed, divisions played the importance of sustainability leading to an increase of media attention. Besides, Handel has five divisions that have different regional focus, business models and value chains. Each division also has individual corporate responsibility activities. Lately, Handel creates an umbrella function to take into account the new corporate responsibility for combine the adjustment of the business portfolio. The new corporate responsibility is a common corporate responsibility strategy and an explicit framework which can be aligned by adopting a common Handel value. Handel combined corporate strategy with corporate responsibility strategy rooted by Christian ethics and characterized by the representation of the respectable salesman. A common value will help to share common understanding between corporate strategic planning and corporate social responsibility planning. At the end of 2008 Handel created small team at the corporate center to align the corporate strategy with the development of the corporate accessibility strategy. This activity applied triple bottom line on Handels main corporation strategy which wanted the group to look into ups (product, planet and profitability), where product and planet belongs to corporate social responsibility. Handel harmonize the needs of environment, customers and company by applying corporate responsibility to corporate activities along the value chain and beyond the value chain. Handel Group Conference managed the corporate responsibility strategies reflected by the annual top management meeting. Finally, Handel has the Sustainability Council to ensure that corporate responsibility and corporate social responsibility are both aligned and systematically implemented. Handel is also aware of the understanding Of the sustainability strategy which gives benefits for stakeholders in order to align with its corporate strategy in long term goal such as expandable market consumption. IV. MEASURING INDICATOR FOR HANDEL Each division has different structures and roles but divisions can work together to focus on sustainable business. Handels corporate responsibility strategy follows people-planet-profit approach (UP). Therefore, I think this treated can be measured by the criteria of Global Reporting Initiative (GRID). GRID 3. 1 is the current tool for guidelines in preparing the report for sustainability. The criteria of GRID 3. 1 are used to evaluate Handels corporate responsibility strategy performance. I detect the ups strategy above will link to employees (appendix 1), added value chain (appendix 2), innovation (appendix 3) and charitable efforts. According to Labor Practices and Decent Work in GRID 3. 1, Handel improves internal education options introduced by an international management system. This system provides for employee raining (LAB, 10). Environmental and safety standards are also to be raised. Handel identifies potential sources of risk to avoid accidents (49). Next, Handel gives benefits of pensions for employees in order to make a good work-life balance (ALAI). Additionally, environment is an important issue nowadays; therefore, Handel understands to protect resources. The holding company provides a green car policy to reduce CA limitation (KNEE). Employees who take company car not only save money for yearly railways ticket but also contribute to their private pension. Green car policy is friendly tit environment (EN) in order to decrease fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emission (EN 18). Through Handels innovation, it optimizes sustainable balance and business model on service logistics, the recycling of raw materials, expansion of green products and transparency in the supply chain. These innovations support Handel to get customers satisfaction by reducing service trips. Handel also promotes human environmental awareness by recycling scraps. Handel focuses on global technical solutions (I. E. The product category of fish) by working with industry partners to prevent illegal behaviors (I. E. Legal fishing). Besides, Handel has contributions to society and economy (SEC 1 Handel has donations to schools and hospitals (I. E. In Disturb-Router). Handel also provides voluntary social benefits (I. E. Workers housing estate and company health insurance). Furthermore, Handel has collaborations with universities to offer practical courses. Handel suppor ts regional education projects by awarding scholarships (OSI These are some contributions that Handel should sustain these activities to raise its corporate responsibility strategy. Final, Handel should refer on criteria of GRID 3. 1 to enhance corporate sustainability responsibility. V. HANDELS SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD In 2010, Handel focused on sustainable business associated with MA activities may require to find a new tool to measure sustainability. A new tool should measure whether Handel has fulfilled then necessary criteria Of the UP model. At that time, the project team mentioned a public value scorecard that links UP model into five dimensional frameworks (instrumental, financial, economic, political-social, moral-ethical and hedonistic-aesthetic values). Handel used sustainability scorecard to address internal and external perspectives from different stakeholders. Here, simple questionnaires are provided to stakeholders to collect viewpoints in order to improve environmental sustainability. In addition, sustainability scorecard can measure the value of financial contribution. Handel estimates risks and costs in product lifestyle to eliminate waste in the supply chain. Scorecards are used by employees and customers to evaluate Handels performance footprint. Moreover, sustainability scorecard is a measurable instrument with regard to political, moral, hedonistic and utilitarian aspects. Handel uses scorecards such as surveys, assessment or codes of product to understand social perspectives. Thus, Handel can make suitable decisions with corporate responsibility strategy. Sustainability scorecard is a significant part of corporate social responsibility. In recent years, multinationals and government organizations are using sustainability scorecards to focus on both quality management and environmental change as both are becoming a serious issue. Hence, supplier scorecards have been issuing in accordance with quality management and social compliance. Handel can apply the scorecards as a sustainable tool to achieve community engagement and fair labor practices. The scorecards are seemed to provide feedbacks and can also be used as source for data collection from stakeholders to assess energy use and other emissions. Handels sustainability scorecard is a suitable tool to measure sustainability for elaborate comprehensive corporate strategy. VI. THEORIES ABOUT CORPORATE ATTITUDES TO CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORTING Charles Handy emphasizes two main points concerning environmental and individual well-being. A business not only makes a profit but business is also expected to do something more and better. This activity becomes the actual justification for the business. Next, a company will get worse when it normally considers its employees as costs (not assets). The regularly purpose of a company is trying to minimize costs and grow assets. A good business is a community with a purpose, and a community is not something to be owned. According to Charles Handy. There are a lot of highly skilled employees, so they should be treated as assets. A good business should maintain and attract these employees to raise an efficient performance. Otherwise, Charles handy claimed that employees have contribution in production by their skills whilst stockholders have undistributed investments by their funds. Thus, a company is just fair when it pays dividends for both employees and stockholders. In fact, the company does not pay any dividends for employees and only provides more benefits of dividends for shareowner. A good company should create wealth community in workplaces to improve its performance. The company also base on the individual needs to engage its stakeholders. According to Muhammad Yuans, the purpose of social enterprises is trying to provide social responsibility to poor people who are in need of help, including revision of cheap price goods and services for poor people. A social business does not focus on profit minimization. It just serves products to everyone can use. Social enterprises provide products with cheap price to raise poor people at the bottom of the pyramid. This is also a strategy to branding and increase market consumption behavior (I. E. Deanne provides yogurt in Bangladesh). Besides, a social enterprise can reinvest what it earn in social business to increase facilities in order to provide jobs for employees in where it operates. Hence, poor people can improve their income in order to raise life level. Social business is not charity. It creates a system chain of making profits, reserving and recycling profits respectively to sustain its operation in meeting the objective of social responsibility. From Muhammad Yuans model to Charles Hands model, a corporation needs a social enterprise for balance in order to create new objectives. Social responsibility provides skills to employees organization as well as increases customers.

Business Organization Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business Organization - Assignment Example One of the benefits of an LLC is the limited liability characteristic of a corporation. Another benefit is that the LLC can negotiate in its own terms how the profits are distributed among the owners. Limited liability companies do not endure double taxation like corporations. A partnership is an agreement between two or more people in which the members contribute capital, knowledge, time, and resources towards a business venture. One of the best attributes of partnerships is that the business has multiple owners that can contribute in different manners towards the organization. Partnerships are often used in professions such as law, medical practices, and business consultants. A fourth type of business arrangement is sole proprietorship. A sole proprietorship is a business that is owned by only one person. These types of businesses are often small and on many occasions there is no separation between ownership and management since the owner has the dual function. The majority of businesses in the United States are sole

Should American Soldiers have Invaded into the Irak War Essay

Should American Soldiers have Invaded into the Irak War - Essay Example activities to religiously aggravated 'jihad.' There is currently a self-governing Iraqi regime, and a contract in place to get rid of a considerable number of US military troops from the state. President Bush argued all through the two terms of his administration that the warfare in the country Iraq was a front procession in a war in opposition to global violence and terrorism. This belief was contemplated annually in special foundational addresses, and brought about substantial debate in the U.S and around the world. This essay will cover up the reasons as to why the American soldiers shouldn’t have invaded into Iraq. At the present it is finally recognized that there were no organic associations between Al Qaeda and Iraq in 2003, nor were artillery or weapons of mass obliteration and destruction ever found. So the question which arises is that should American soldiers have invaded into the Iraq War? A number of people think that the war was a fair and just route, while on th e other hand many believe that it was an intended endeavor by the American government to guard their economic wellbeing. This essay will draw attention to the two aspects of the debate that have been carried out in recent times. Individuals that defended this confrontation, particularly those that admire George .w. Bush state that if Iraq is not calmed down or stabilized, it could turn out to be a ground for terrorist breeding and a secure location for Osama Bin Laden or one more Saddam. The truth remains that the American armed forces that marched into Iraq failed to present the weapons they declared Hussein had his hands on. If the government of the United States truly planned to get rid of leaders who crush or trample upon the rights of humans or of their nation, Saddam must not have been the single target while at the moment of the attack. In my own opinion, American attack on Iraq was established on economic motives. US administration had the oil in mind which is abundantly fou nd in Iraq, and that was the purpose for execution the attack even without the complete agreement or support of the UN Security Commission. An attack on Iraq for the intention of "government transformation" would not be an officially authorized war if one considers the international law. As stated by Mohammad Taghi â€Å"Article 2(4)  of the UN Charter states that All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations." Random assassinations, use of grenades, dozens of aggressive groups, and an intensified feeling of insecurity and depression troubles Iraq. The proof of enveloping and relentless chaos is all over the place, from the official figures of mortality to extended approximations of numerical results, from the news of families abandoning hazardous areas by the amount of tens of thousands to the demolishing of governance. As stated by Thomas G. Manken â€Å"The lethal fighting is all-pervading, but without an evident front or a visible strategy and for those reasons, among others, it is poorly understood.† Bombing of nationals population is a type of violence and terrorism  even more repugnant comparative to low-tech terrorism street killing and bombing of innocents. Opponents of the attack argued that it lead to the loss of hundreds of Iraqi nationals and military in addition to

THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY Essay

THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY - Essay Example According to Hauer and Young (1998), â€Å"On one point, devout Christians were obdurate in their resistance to Roman policy which encouraged the cult of the divine emperor. The cult of the emperor was more popular in the Roman provinces than in the Rome itself. It was also highly admired in the provinces than it was in the divine kingship of the eastern Mediterranean† (pp. 338). The Romans were initially threatened by Christianity because leaders who stood and believed in the status quo did not encourage any shift of power from one social group to another. In fact, a shift in power would amount to quite big problems. It all boiled down to money. Without enough people to make sacrifices at the temple cultus, people who worked in the temples and made money as moneychangers in the temples did not make money off to Christians, who refused to participate due to the new wave of thinking brought in by Christianity; Christians were viewed as overly exclusive and hence dangerous to the society in general and public order. Christians had no respect for other gods and they therefore refrained from public festivals that were meant to honor public deities. In fact, they never worshiped state gods and the imperial cult. They neither worshiped nor recognized the emperor as the leader of religion. This turned out to be unfortunate for the Romans, who wanted to stay powerful. Therefore, were treated with suspicion and regarded as stubborn and somewhat subversive to the State solidarity. Christianity and Graeco-Roman humanism share many common elements: For instance, they both focus upon fellowship and humane treatment of people and animals. However, Christianity is not as cultic as much as the Graeco-Roman humanistic religious perspective. Christianity is also much more religious in terms of being focused upon the deity of Jesus than the Graeco-Roman humanism was focused upon any particular deity, although several deities were

Consumer Buying Decision Process Marketing Essay

Consumer Buying Decision Process Marketing Essay Behavior is defined as any activity, physical or mental, performed by an individual. Studying consumer behavior can help enterprises understand what consumers need, so they can create, develop, and improve their products and marketing strategy. The basic questions that the marketers have to understand about the consumers are what products they want to buy, where they buy, when they buy, and how much they want to buy. Moreover, they would understand what factors that impact to consumer behavior and their buying decision (). Purchasing goods and services depends on the consumers needs, preferences and purchasing power (Kahn, 2007). According to Solomon (2004), the consumers also buy products as an experience (emotive or aesthetic reaction), as an instrument of integration, as a classification scale (how we are ranged in the society), or as a game. Voice of the customers is very important because businesses do not know all what consumers want to get from their products and services, and it can lead products fail. So product research would help businesses improve existing product and to identify gaps in current products (). However, the businesses need to concern in the long term, because the opportunity of today for a trend is not necessarily than tomorrows (). 2.5 Consumer buying decision process The decision-making process starts from the mind of consumers. This process includes the consumer first understanding what they need. Then, they will search for information while considering internal and external factors. Next, they will have an evaluation and make a selection, and eventually make a purchase (see figure 1). The post purchase behavior can give companies information about whether or not their products are successful. Sales and after sale services can also have an effect on consumer satisfaction and lead to repeat purchases (see figure 2). It shows that the purchasing process starts from the consumers needs and finishes with their satisfaction. The marketing strategies will be successful if they have the best solutions to solve the consumers problems (Kahn, 2007). Companys total product Competitors total product Consumer decision process Superior value expected Sales Perceived value delivered Consumer satisfaction Fig. 2 Creating Satisfied Customers (Source: Kahn 2007) Problem recognition Information search External and internal Evaluation and selection Store choice and purchases Post-purchase Behavior Fig. 1 Decision Process (Source: Kahn 2007) Consumers have different shopping behaviors. There are many stores and many goods and services that consumers can choose from while they are shopping. The places to buy products are different, and consumers choose where they want to buy based upon what kind of products they want to buy. Some consumers are loyal to certain stores, while others are considered store switchers because they are willing to buy similar products in more than one type of store. There are many factors that can affect the consumers decision to select where to buy products. Price is one of the main factors that influences buying decisions with some consumers preferring to shop in stores that have everyday low prices (EDLP), and others that like promotion prices (HILO) (Bell, Bucklin Sismeiro, 2000). Stavkova, Stejskal, and Toufarova (2008) studied about the factors that influence consumer decision to buy various products. From their study, they found the most important factors that influence consumer behavior for 10 different types of products. Each of the product types showed different factors. For example, for food and non-alcoholic drinks, the most important factors are necessity of need, quality, and former experience. For clothing and footwear, the factors include quality, products characteristics and parameters, and design of product. For transport, the important factors are necessity of need, price, and quality. Lorinczi, Bacs, Nagy (2009) studied about factors that influences consumer decision on carbonated soft drinks consumption, and the result of their study showed that, flavor is the most important factor that influences consumer decision. Trademark and price are also important factors, but health and speed of purchase are not really important for them. Basically, food and drink are related to what is important to the consumers such as their survival, health, life expectancy, personality, lifestyle, and family (European Commissions, 2009). According to the (), there are 3 factors that influence the consumer food choice decision making-process; Properties of the food, person-related factors and purchasing environmental factors, while communication is related with all these factors. It is highly influence by social factors and increasingly motivated by necessity (European Commissions, 2009) However, we can still assume that consumer food choice is influenced by prices, quality, and income, but quality of consumers perception today are impacted from sensory, heath, process and convenience (Grunert). Sensory are taste, appearance and smell. However, the consumers would know taste of products only after purchase, so they use signals from brand, price, and quality to predict the taste experience. Health is related to information communication, signals, and learning history of the consumer. The consumers are interested more in process of making products such as GMO-free and Organic. And convenience is related to saving time and energy of consumers. 2.6 Factors influence consumer behaviors Consumer behaviors influence by socio-demographic characteristics of the individual consumer or marketing activities (). According to Kotler Armstrong (2009), there are external factors and internal factors that influence consumer behaviors. External factors are cultural and social, while internal factors are personal and psychological (see figure) Cultural Culture Sub-culture Social class Social Reference Groups Family Roles Status Personal Age life cycle stage Occupation Income Life style Personality Psychological Motivation Perception Learning Beliefs Attitudes Buyer behaviors Source: Kotler Armstrong (2009) 2.6.1 Social and Cultural Factors Each market may be unique in term of social norms and tradition. Culture is a key determinant of the consumer behaviors (Wallance, 1965; Jung Kau, 2004). Culture provides us with what we know to be true and knowledge of how things are (p.25). They are usually support by learning from generation to generation, changing only slowly over time. According to Jung Kau (2004), brand loyalty and decision making are found difference in consumers across sub-cultures. Food products are particularly sensitive to sub-cultural influences, it cans differences between nations or groups of nations. Difference cultural and countries might influence difference in knowledge, information, and attitudes on acceptance of foods (14). A group is defined as two or more individuals who share a set of norms, values, or beliefs (p.199). Reference groups influence consumer behavior by their information of knowledge, experience, recommendation, communication, and word-of-mouth. According to Riedl et al. (2002), word of mouth promotion leads to successful and high margin of consumer products. Primary group are friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family (e.g. family size and age of children) while secondary groups are more formal such as social and sports clubs (p. 199). According to (p.299), the family is a major influence in the learning process for young people. It also can be comparative influence such as teenagers want to accept to peer groups and to be a part of their groups (). For teenagers, it is also comparative influence that they want to accept from their peer groups or wish to be a part of them. Stead et al. (2011) found that young people used foods and drinks choices for judging others, accepting friendship and peering norms. According to Sylow Holm (2009), more than its nutritional and calorific content, food also can be a socio-cultural product. In many groups and cultures, choosing or rejecting foods and drinks depends on their individual, status, society, and image (eg Fox Ward, 2008; Tivadar Luthar, 2005). Society influences healthy eating (Stead et al, 2011). The respondents of their research cared about their image and peer groups. One group of respondents who play sport said that healthy eating can increase their sporting ability. Most of groups know that if they become obese it would damage their image. So it lead some of them have unhealthy behavior like skipping meals. However, some of respondents showed that healthy eating did not important for their image, because they prefer junk and other unhealthy foods. They also found that some respondents think that people who selected healthy foods such as fruits, yoghurt, and water in their meal are untrendy. 2.6.2 Personal factors According to Kotler Armstrong (2009), personal factors which influence consumer behaviors are age and life cycle stage, occupation, income, lifestyle, and personality of the consumers. In this study we will focus on the consumer lifestyles. Lifestyle is the way an individual choose and uses possessions (p.23) (Engle, Kollat Blackwell, 1973) or also means personals pattern of living as show in their opinions, interests, needs, activities, and value which can show who they are, and also can show their self image and their culture (Reynolds Wells, 1977). Lifestyle is closely related to consumer behavior. It is as motivator of consumer behavior and basic source of the information (p.23). The consumers consume products which can respond their needs and it also can change to their lifestyles. Socio-demographic impacts to consumer behaviors ( ), According to (), age is related to buy of different kinds of functional foods and difference in consumer views(6,7,8). For gender, men and women tend to buy different types of products and use different criteria when choosing want to buy. They found that women are willing to pay a higher premium of products with health benefits. Also they found that age, gender, education, occupation, and income, can show purchasing pattern. For example, young-single spend more on clothing entertainment, fast food than other groups, while couples, families paying for food. According to research of Safe food (2009), they found that smoothies were more popular among women, younger age group and higher social classes. 2.6.3 Situational influences Situation is defined as set of factors outside of and removed from individual consumer as well as removed form the characteristics or attributes of the product (p.58). Managers and marketers should beware about consumer situation also. There are many kinds of situations that can influence consumer behaviors. According to (), situation variable are physical surrounding, social surrounding, temporal perspective, task definition, and antecedent states (p.58). For example, generally consumers prefer low price of products but sometime they want what is more convenient and willing to pay in higher price. The table below shows the sample of situations in nonalcoholic beverage consumption, they show that in different situations they might consume different kinds of drinks. For example, during the summer, they would prefer water-based waters which sour and can quench their thirst. Situations Context-specific ideal beverage clusters Desired Attributes During the summer Water-based drinks Not relaxing Sour Thirst quenching During the winter Hot adult drinks Served very hot Good for my health Energy giving For breakfast Juices Primarily for children Good for my health Energy giving For lunch Hot adult drinks Served very hot Best with food Not thirst quenching When friends com for dinner Hot adult drinks Primarily for adults Sour Light When you are thirsty Water-based drinks Not relaxing Sour Thirst quenching When you wish to relax Water-based drinks Relaxing Sweet Not thirst quenching When you need a pick-me-up Milk-based drinks Served very hot Good for my health Energy giving Source: Hustad, Mayer, Whipple (1975); Hawkins, Coney, Best (1980) 2.6.4 Psychological Factors Psychological factors that influence consumer behaviors are motivation, perception, knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes. (See figure). Studying about consumers helps businesses improve their marketing strategies by understand consumer psychological that how the consumers think and feel. Consumer knowledge and information influence decisions. Knowledge and interested about health and nutrition is very important. () show that level of consumer knowledge about food ingredients and consumer understanding of relationship between nutrition and health are important to consumers attitude towards of functional foods. Studied of () showed that tendency to read the nutrition information on food products was found to be important factor affecting the purchase of omega-3 products (9). Learned in their lives, personal experience, experience of others, this opinions lead to beliefs can lead positive or negative attitude which can be difficult to change. Beliefs and attitudes believe in benefits of functional foods was found to be the main positive determinant of acceptance of functional foods (15). Moreover, Perception of healthiness products and health and nutrition claims found in positively influence purchasing choice (). Perception of information consists of facts estimates predictions and generalized relationships that are used by consumers to recognize and solve problem (p. 264). 2.7 Consumer Motivations Motivation is viewed as an inner force and refers to wish, feeling, and need (p. 305). Consumer motivation is known as a driver of behavior that brings consumers to purchase the products (Kim Jin 2001). Consumers are motivated to buy products when they believe that those products will satisfy their most immediate (). Consumers start to look for more than just basic functions from their product differentiate by adding value. They can add value to their products by changing or transforming their products from their original to more valuable state (Coltrain, Barton Boland, 2000) to reach more consumer satisfaction. They also can increase the products value by services. Consumer motivation and decision making process are influenced by products and services, level of importance or interest ().Motivation is an important factor that impact to consumer buying decision of certain types of products especially healthy food (). According to Hoo Munusamy (2008), there are four factors that can influence consumer motives: social factors, situational factors, psychological factors, and marketing mix. (see figure) However, this research the researcher will only study about marketing mix factors. 2.8 Factors influence consumer motivations Social Culture Sub-culture Social class Reference groups Families Situation Physical features Social features Time Task features Current conditions Psychological Product knowledge Product involvement Marketing mix Products Price Place Promotion People Consumer Motives Figure: Factors influences Consumer Motives 2.8.1 Marketing Mix The marketing mix in this study is defined as 5 Ps which are products, prices, places, promotions, and people. Each element of the marketing mix can affect to consumers in many ways (Peter Donnelly, 2007). Marketing mix uses in company to deliver marketing purpose and control variables in a market target (Kolter, 2000). The businesses need to create a successful mix of the right products, sell in right place, right price, and the most suitable promotion. Product Product is defined as everything that the businesses offer to the consumers in an exchange process can be in a form of physical good, service or both ().According to Borden (1984), product is about quality, design, features, brand name, and size. Service are closely relates and will both contribute to consumers satisfaction, for example, buy food in super markets quality of service provide by super market will also affect their level of satisfaction and purchasing decisions. Health and nutrition claims become important factors that influence consumer buying behaviors of foods and beverages (16). Branding does not necessarily mean food products would taste better to those not used to the brand but the brains of those who recognize a brand tell them other wise. However, taste is very important for them also. According to Lorinczi, Bacs, Nagy (2009), they found that if the consumers like the flavor of products such as carbonated soft drinks, they do not care about health, even they aware that it is unhealthy, and aware of its potential and negative physiological impact. Safe food research (2009) agreed that most of people drink smoothies because they like the taste more than healthy and increase their fruit intake (Safe food, 2009). The businesses need to concern what product means to the consumer. Physical appearance, packaging and labeling information of product also can motive consumer buying decision. Moreover, Peter Donnally (2007) show that differentiate their products from competition and create consumer perception that product is worth purchasing. In term of specific products, consumer motivations seem highly dependent on the situation (p.325). Adding value to products can enhance famers businesses (). The consumers concern more about nutrition of products and convenience, so it is an opportunity for businesses to create or improve their goods and services. One of the samples of adding value from fresh fruits and vegetables is transform them to other kind of products such as jams, jellies, and other preserves, cut and frozen vegetables, including dried herbs which made for medicinal. The businesses need to concern about consumers needs in quality, packaging, and variety of products which are more important than price (Connor et al.; Benny, 2005). Branding and packaging also can increase value and market development for businesses. Benny (2005) agreed that value added goods provide better handling and results, he studied about value added products from green tea extracts and found that the standardized extract of green tea can reduce obesity and prevent the disease and it can change in a form of capsules, but it has a bitter taste and can consume not much. However, they can expand the green tea extracts by transform it to a component of cosmetics, ice-creams, and others and can add some vitamins and herbal to have more value and nutrients. Value-added also can be production methods such as organic, grass-fed, hormone free and others. It showed that creative, knowledge, and differentiate can motive consumer interest and buying decision. However, value-added products can fail if the products can not respond to consumer needs and consumer satisfaction. Price Price is related to satisfaction, brand loyalty purchase frequency of the consumers (Kalyanaram Little, 1994). The consumer become more knowledgeable as to its quality and value (Zeithaml, 1988), consequently when the consumers better understands the value of the product, they are more sensitive to changes in value (e.g. if the price were to increase) which may affect the intention to purchase (Chang Wildt, 1994; Lodorfos, Mulvana, Temperley, 2006). According to Lin, Li, You (2011), a profitable price made by businesses to match segmentation target, create enough attraction and competition. Effect of price can increase on consumer behavior (Klaus et al., 2009; Lin, Li, You, 2011). The higher price is, the less we want to buy it in case of normal goods (Lorinczi, Bacs, Nagy (2009). Perception of the price determines what the consumers are willing to buy (Lin, Li, You, 2011). However, consumer Place Place or distribution channel is a set of interdependent institutions , for delivery of good and services to the consumers. Promotion Marketing and advertising managers should strategically place their product prominently in promotion in order to guarantee the desire impact (Van Der Waldt et al., 2007; Lin, Li You, 2011). According to Pedraja Yague (2011), the consumer use information from advertising, and information provided at the restaurant when searching for external source of information, used information and advertising as a source to reduce perceived risk and uncertainty. Kasikorn Bank (1997) studied about consumer behavior of supplement foods. They found that, the factor which influence in choosing supplementary food consumption is advertisement. At first the consumers might consume supplement foods just because they want to try. But after they concern that it is good for them, they would retain to purchase. However, the respondents of this study comment that most of the businesses advertise the products more than their properties. Sale promotion such as discount, special offer, can act as short term to motive consumers to choose (Mill, 2007). According to Jackson, Titz DeFrance (2004), high price restaurant, benefited from coupon promotions to a greater extent than low price restaurant (Sriwongrat, 2008). According to European Commissions (2009), free trial and price promotions can help the businesses promote their food products, and trying to take up healthier food is likely to be more effective than trying to convince them to give up unhealthy food. Sometimes a persons awareness and preference for product can result from repetitive brand advertising (European Commissions, 2009). People

On the Quantum Mechanics of the Human Intellect and the Stories It Crea

On the Quantum Mechanics of the Human Intellect and the Stories It Creates If human beings are to explore those distant and wished for lands, we must first come to grips with some of the perplexing conceptual issues that have dogged quantum physics since its inception. These riddles dance around the enigma of quantum observership. Its contemplation brings us back from the realm of the multiverse to the intimate confines of our own skin, where we ask what it means to say that â€Å"we† â€Å"observe† â€Å"nature.† - Timothy Ferris, The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report During the crisis of modern science in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the postulates of early scientific discoveries had been refuted. In one of science’s most defining moments, an undisturbed photon of light was found to exhibit both wave-like and particulate qualities. The relationship between these two qualities would later be termed complementarity by Niels Bohr, one of the scientists at the forefront of this discovery. As Thomas S. Kuhn notes in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, â€Å"Before [the theory of quantum mechanics] was developed by Plank, Einstein, and others early in [the twentieth] century, physics texts taught that light was transverse wave motion† (12). So staggering was this discovery that in his autobiography, Albert Einstein recounts, â€Å"All my attempts to adapt the theoretical foundations of physics [to the new quantum knowns] failed completely. It was as if the ground had been pulled out from under one, with no firm foundation to be seen anywhere upon which one could have been built.† Not surprisingly, this arrest of the fundamental postulates of classical physics sparked a reevaluation of the â€Å"world view† by the ... ...e and the nature of things to help us to connect ourselves to stories of the past and present while trying to do exactly what Petrus Camper and the scholars of the eighteenth-century were so capable of—the same privilege the wave-particle theory gave to the pioneers of quantum mechanics: to understand the multiverse of intellectual disciplines together. Works Cited Ehrlich, Gretel. Islands, the Universe, Home.New York: Penguin, 1991. Ferris, Timothy. The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Gould, Stephen Jay. Bully for Brontosaurus.New York: W.W. Norton, 1991. I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in Natural History.New York: Harmony, 2002. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.Chicago:Chicago U, 1996. Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind.New York: Ballantine, 1991.

The Use of Mixed Narrative in Anthills of the Savannah

Explore the uses and effects of mixed narrative in Anthills of the Savannah By Emmanuel Sunil Anthills of the Savannah is set in the fictitious West African country of Kangan, a country which has been overrun with political instability ever since becoming an independent state from British rule. The novel centers on the lives of three civil servants, Christopher Oriko, Ikem Osodi and Beatrice Naynibuife, and all three serve three separate narrative voices in the novel, each sharing his or her own point of view. This provides the reader with a 360 degree picture of the situation by offering multiple points of view as well as enabling the reader to make judgments for him/ herself rather than relying on a narrator or a single character to supply descriptions of people and events. In this essay I shall consider detail the narrative roles of all three characters of the novel. Christopher Oriko is the Commissioner of Information in the cabinet of His Excellency, Sam. His duties bring him to close proximity to Sam and thus we obtain an insiders account of the political situation in Kangan. Chris informs us in the very first chapter of Sam’s frequent mood swings. In fact he goes as far as to say that â€Å"days are good or bad for us now according to how His Excellency gets out of bed in the morning†. Here, Chris indicates the dictatorial nature of Sam thus setting a stage for the instability in the government. Chris also has a very realistic opinion of the situation and he is careful in pushing for reform than his close friend Ikem, who he thinks is far too sensitive to the danger of angering Sam. A topic which is often considered in Chris’ narrative is the futility of Ikems editorials which makes Sam consider him as treacherous. Chris often defends Ikem; however he is getting â€Å"tired â€Å"of doing so. This difference in opinion and the fact that Ikem has more freedom leaves Chris with growing resentment towards Ikem, and the two seem to be drifting further apart as the novel progresses: â€Å"I can’t talk to Ikem any more. I am tired. And drained of all stamina†, says Chris in chapter eight. Ikem Osodi , who has replaced Chris as the editor of the state controlled National Gazette, feels that â€Å"the situation in Kangan can only be improved hrough reform†. The editor often writes sharp and editorials full of criticism towards the government, giving insights to the problems in Kangan (for example public executions). Ikem states that the best weapon against ineffective government is passion: â€Å"Passion is our hope and strength†, so mething that he feels immensely strong about and also reflects in his work, for example â€Å" Hymn to the Sun†, where Sam is compared to the sun as a metaphor to something that is immensely powerful yet equally destructive. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, His editorials often put him in conflict with Chris, who is now Ikem’s boss, however Ikem refuses any interference towards his work: â€Å"as long as I remain the editor, I shall not seek anybody’s permission to what I write†, however he still acknowledges that â€Å"there is a big danger doing this†. Despite the fact that he is an extremist, Ikem also adds humor through sarcasm ( â€Å"following a leader who follows his leader would be quite a circus†), and thus making the novel quite amusing at times. Beatrice Naynibuife is Chris’ girlfriend and also works in the government (in the ministry of finance). She has been intimate with Ikem, Sam and Chris at some point in her life and even though she is engaged in a relationship with Chris, she still gives us an unbiased outsider’s opinion about the situation between the three of them. For example in chapter five, she claims that â€Å"all three of you, are incredibly conceited. The story of this country, as far as you are concerned, is the story of the three of you. Although much of her narrative concerns her own past, she also tries to bridge the ever developing gap between Chris and Ikem; in chapter eight she tries to persuade Chris to talk to Ikem and work together to solve the mounting crisis of Sam’s power hunger ( trying controlling power similar to Idemili). Apart form these three; an unknown narrator also exists in the novel. While he does not give us any personal opinions like the other narrators, he give s details into African traditions such the story of the goddess Idemili. The different narrators of the novel give us different opinions about the same events that occur, and this as stated in the introduction gives a full and accurate picture of the current situation in the country. It is surprising that despite the novel being about the political instability and the unfortunate condition of the people; it is only the upper class that has a voice in the novel; a kind of metaphor indicating the division in the society and proving that it is only the upper class that has the power to bring about reform. Also, the mixed narratives do not follow a chronological pattern, which could symbolize the general state of confusion in the country. Achebe's use of multiple narrative voices indicates that history is more than a set of events in the past to be told; it is also the feelings and ideas that different people have about the events and at the same time focuses on the community rather than on the individual

How To Streak a Bacterial Culture

How To Streak a Bacterial Culture Bacterial culture streaking allows bacteria to reproduce on a culture medium in a controlled environment. The process involves spreading bacteria across an agar plate and allowing them to incubate at a certain temperature for a period of time. Bacterial streaking can be used to identify and isolate pure bacterial colonies from a mixed population. Microbiologists use bacterial and other microbial culture streaking methods to identify microorganisms and to diagnose infection. What You Need: Culture plate with microorganismsInoculating loop or sterile toothpicksAgar platesBunsen burner or another flame producing instrumentGlovesTape Heres How: While wearing gloves, sterilize an inoculating loop by placing it at an angle over a flame. The loop should turn orange before you remove it from the flame. A sterile toothpick may be substituted for the inoculating loop. Do not place toothpicks over a flame.Remove the lid from a culture plate containing the desired microorganism.Cool the inoculating loop by stabbing it into the agar in a spot that does not contain a bacterial colony.Pick a colony and scrape off a little of the bacteria using the loop. Be sure to close the lid.Using a new agar plate, lift the lid just enough to insert the loop.Streak the loop containing the bacteria at the top end of the agar plate moving in a zig-zag horizontal pattern until 1/3 of the plate is covered.Sterilize the loop again in the flame and cool it at the edge of the agar away from the bacteria in the plate that you just streaked.Rotate the plate about 60 degrees and spread the bacteria from the end of the first streak into a second area using th e same motion in step 6. Sterilize the loop again using the procedure in step 7.Rotate the plate about 60 degrees and spread the bacteria from the end of the second streak into a new area in the same pattern.Sterilize the loop again.Replace the lid and secure with tape. Invert the plate and incubate overnight at 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).You should see bacterial cells growing along the streaks and in isolated areas. Tips: When sterilizing the inoculating loop, make sure that the entire loop turns orange before using on the agar plates.When streaking the agar with the loop, be sure to keep the loop horizontal and only streak the surface of the agar.If using sterile toothpicks, use a new toothpick when performing each new streak. Throw all used toothpicks away. Safety: When growing bacterial colonies, you will be dealing with millions of bacteria. It is important that you follow all lab safety rules. Precautions should be taken to ensure that you dont inhale, ingest, or allow these germs to touch your skin. Bacterial plates should be kept closed and secured with tape while incubating. Any unwanted bacterial plates should be disposed of properly by placing them in an autoclave to kill the bacteria before discarding them. Household bleach may also be poured over the bacterial colonies to destroy them.

The Power of Fuel Cells essays

The Power of Fuel Cells essays As the scientific world progresses and the over-consumption of fossil fuels continues, scientists, environmentalists, and businessmen alike seek alternate forms of energy production and usage. One such alternative is viable through fuel cells. Fuel cells can power cars, trucks, and buses without emitting harmful tailpipe emissions. Such vehicles will be cleaner and more energy efficient than those powered by an internal combustion engine. Fuel cells also may provide energy to factories and homes without creating smokestack pollution. They offer significant improvements in energy efficiency as they remove the intermediate step of combustion and mechanical devices such as turbines and pistons. Unlike conventional systems, their high efficiency is not compromised by small sizes. Fuel cell cogeneration plants have demonstrated unprecedented reliability and durability that is significantly better than conventional competitive equipment. The absence of combustion and moving parts means tha t fuel cells can run continuously for long periods of time before servicing and that they are far less prone to breakdown or forced outages. A number of fuel cell systems operating in "real world" commercial conditions have run continuously at full power for more than a year and over thirty have exceeded six months. One of the most exceptional qualities about fuel cells is that they promote energy security as they can use hydrogen derived from a variety of sources, including methane, propane, coal, and renewables such as biomass or, through electrolysis, wind and solar energy. In fact, hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element in the universe, most commonly found on earth as H2Owater. Hydrogen is also the fuel of choice for energy-efficient fuel cells. Furthermore, hydrogen boasts many important advantages over other fuels: it is non-toxic, renewable, clean to use, and packs much more energy per pound. In a fuel cell, hydrogen gas from the fu...

The Internet, Freedom of Expression, and Terrorism Assignment - 6

The Internet, Freedom of Expression, and Terrorism - Assignment Example Professor Pape claims its purpose is strategic in nature when seen not from the perspective of the individual suicide bomber but from the perspective of the terrorist organization. When seen this way, suicide terrorism is a bit logical since it is aimed at achieving a specific political purpose (such as forcing a government to change its policies, to entice new recruits into joining their terror organization, and to mobilize both local and domestic financial support. In this regard, there is the method to their madness, so to speak, what Thomas Schelling termed as the â€Å"rationality of irrationality† (Pape, 2003, p. 344). A modern liberal democracy will be forced to make territorial concessions so that suicide bombers will no longer enter their own territory, forcing a state to improve its homeland security instead of taking offensive military action in another territory as a coercive instrument by the state. The significance of using female suicide bombers is an escalation and act of desperation. However, there is also logic in using females for this purpose because it increases the threat of success since females are generally not suspected as capable of doing suicide terrorist attacks, a female attacker will not likely be frisked for bombs and is likely to accomplish her mission, the female attacker can easily conceal weapons on her body and garments, she can easily make last- minute adjustments, and is much more able to infiltrate heavily-guarded targets (ibid. p. 346). Freedom of expression is one of the basic human rights; this freedom extends to all forms of media such as individual verbal expression, on the radio, in the newspapers, and on television. As such, freedom of expression is a basic foundation of a functioning democracy, and this kind of freedom has no limits except on the issues of libel and the corresponding obligation to use this basic freedom in a responsible manner.  Ã‚  

Location, location, location Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Location, location, location - Essay Example are universal factors that influence the location of a business, including availability of raw materials, transportation costs, land, labor, safety, waste disposal, government regulation, and proximity to market (Pellebarg and Wever, 2008). However, technological developments have made some of these factors less significant in determining the location. For a company that specializes in software, the choice of location would largely depend upon the availability of a skilled labor force, educational resources, and connectivity to the global network, recreational opportunities, and proximity to computer-manufacturing industries, government regulations, and communication system. In North America, the three strategic locations would be the United States (California, Texas, or New York), Canada (Toronto, Ottawa, or Vancouver), and Mexico (Mexico City, Acapulco, or Monterrey). These three locations meet the ideal conditions that a software company requires to operate optimally and become successful (Brun, 2007). The three locations seem to fulfill requirements that make a software company, including close proximity to computer-manufacturing industries and their subsidiaries, available and sound connectivity to the global network, vast educational resources, and a well-endowed communication system that encompasses the globe. The US has numerous educational resources that specialize on software development, include excellent institutions and research centers such as the Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo laboratories. Additionally, the US has a large high-skill labor force that the software company needs. Furthermore, the US is home to the largest computer-manufacturing industries, including Dell Inc headquartered in Texas, Apple Inc headquartered in California, Hewlett-Packard Company subsidiary, and Toshiba America Inc subsidiary, among others (Pellebarg and Wever, 2008). The technological advancement in the country will also be an added advantage for the company. Canada