Monday, September 30, 2019

Long-term Negative Effect of Breatharianism

A reason behind I became a breatharian is to maintain a slim figure, living healthy, and happy. Unfortunately, any of those my wish doesn’t come true. That’s why I decided to inform the vice squad for further investigation into the organization. The breatharian diet neither includes food nor water. However, after seeing several YouTube video and commercial on flyer, I was convinced by the specious way to live life. Once I enrolled, I came to know many things, for example, some of the main people of the organization not even follow their own instruction which is not to eat or drink. I would like to share my personal experience and that is I am completely unsatisfied with diet plan and even their promises. They said to me that, â€Å"if you live only on light and air, you became healthier and happier more than you are right now. † Nevertheless, just following there instruction I became ill. I had to visit an emergency room of hospital twice a month. Now, I am suffering from high blood pressure. That’s just my experience. One of my friends also enrolled in this program and she is suffering from renal disease. I want to submit this report against the organization, because I feel their only purpose is to make money out of people like us. They are making this money by enrolment and seminar fees. In addition to that, after one month experience of being part of their program, I feel that they not follow their own instruction. I saw one of them eating outside the Taco Bell. The diet plans they provide are dangerous and lead many lives in danger. After all it’s our moral duty to save local citizen. It’s my humble request to take a step towards the organization.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Business model

What has made Louis Vuitton's business model successful in the Japanese luxury market? The first step was to create a global brand and setting up a multinational corporation, but the most important point was to create an international image.Louis Vuitton in order to have success during the growth of the brand, they had used a different set of marketing strategies involving the marketing mix, and the success came because of the positioning strategies they used, the process was longer, onsidering to build an entire brand image characterized of class, luxury and elegance, defining Louis Vuitton like a fashion brand. But in the fashion world brands have to differentiate their products from the competition very well, this is why Louis Vuitton takes in consideration this important point.When they arrived to Japan, they had been following an aggressive marketing strategy, opening extravagant stores. This was possible by the integration of communication strategies and good team performance b rand. lt can be done through a combination of communication trategies and the product itself A world brand is defined as the world wide use of a name, term, symbol, design or combination of these concepts toIn a simplified table or chart, specify the opportunities and challenges for Louis Vuitton in Japan. Opportunities Challenges Adapt its strategy in the Japanese market, facing a weak economy and a shift in consumer preferences. Reducing its risky dependence on the Japanese market Fight against worldwide counterfeiting Face with the posible departure of Jacobs, their principle designer 3. How did the firm enter the Japanese market originally? 4.Explain how the brand can remain on top in an extremely competitive and changing industry. First i consider to divide in four concepts in order to explain how the brand Product: they focused on sell products with a hig quality, Place / Distribution: had stablished a strictly controlled distribution netwrok backed of an efficient structuring of the company that relied on continously increasing productiviy in design and manufacturing. Promotion / Communication: Price: 5. What are the specifics of the Japanese fashion luxury market? Business model What has made Louis Vuitton's business model successful in the Japanese luxury market? The first step was to create a global brand and setting up a multinational corporation, but the most important point was to create an international image.Louis Vuitton in order to have success during the growth of the brand, they had used a different set of marketing strategies involving the marketing mix, and the success came because of the positioning strategies they used, the process was longer, onsidering to build an entire brand image characterized of class, luxury and elegance, defining Louis Vuitton like a fashion brand. But in the fashion world brands have to differentiate their products from the competition very well, this is why Louis Vuitton takes in consideration this important point.When they arrived to Japan, they had been following an aggressive marketing strategy, opening extravagant stores. This was possible by the integration of communication strategies and good team performance b rand. lt can be done through a combination of communication trategies and the product itself A world brand is defined as the world wide use of a name, term, symbol, design or combination of these concepts toIn a simplified table or chart, specify the opportunities and challenges for Louis Vuitton in Japan. Opportunities Challenges Adapt its strategy in the Japanese market, facing a weak economy and a shift in consumer preferences. Reducing its risky dependence on the Japanese market Fight against worldwide counterfeiting Face with the posible departure of Jacobs, their principle designer 3. How did the firm enter the Japanese market originally? 4.Explain how the brand can remain on top in an extremely competitive and changing industry. First i consider to divide in four concepts in order to explain how the brand Product: they focused on sell products with a hig quality, Place / Distribution: had stablished a strictly controlled distribution netwrok backed of an efficient structuring of the company that relied on continously increasing productiviy in design and manufacturing. Promotion / Communication: Price: 5. What are the specifics of the Japanese fashion luxury market?

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Kinky and the Lost Tooth: A Book Review in Relation to Child Play

A Book Review in Relation to Child Play, Learning and Development Ask any child why they love to read, reread and sometimes even reenact their favorite book or story, and chances are you won’t get a response related to educational value. As expected, children will not see behind the magical characters and imaginary places they encounter with each story they choose to immerse themselves in. According to Whitebread and Jameson (2005, p.64), children are usually engrossed in what they are doing when they are at play. Of course, we adults know much better than that. We know that there is much more to fairy tales and children’s books than just their escapism or entertainment value. Research upon research has proven time and time again that children’s literature plays an important role in a child’s learning and holistic development. This is why authors of children’s books put much thought (and some, much research) into producing reading material that is educational without compromising its entertainment and marketing value. But what happens when the story is written or made up by a child? Does it accomplish more or less than what the average adult-written literature does? The main difference lies in how adults and children perceive stories, especially children’s literature. Children see stories as an extension of their play activities; almost everything is, for them. What exactly goes on when a child engages himself into a story? A very appropriate way to get a â€Å"behind-the-scenes† look at what happens when a child engages into literature is by studying a student-made story and its learning effectiveness. Just the fact that this came from a child all the more changes the dynamics in this research. The story chosen for this paper is Kinky and the Lost Tooth, written by V. Mansaray (2008): Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl called Kinky who lived in a town called Matotoka. One day she was playing with her friends Pikah, Krit and Kemzo, they decided to play a game called Koo-Koo! (hide and seek). As Kinky is running to hide under the Bao Bao tree, she fell down and lost her tooth. Kinky doesn’t realize that a new tooth would grow, she felt very, very sad because she had a party to go to and she cried all day and all night!! Suddenly she heard a loud voice calling her name. â€Å"Kinky, Kinky, K-i-n-k-y†¦ I am the tooth fairy. I am here to help you. Listen carefully. Stretch your hands, close your eyes.† Kinky did exactly what the tooth fairy asked her to do. †Now, can you open your eyes?† said the tooth fairy. When Kinky opened her eyes and looked in her hand she saw that she was holding a pink box. Guess what was inside the little box? When Kinky opened the tiny pink box she found her lost tooth. What do you think she will do with the tooth, now that she has found it? This story is a modern-day fairy tale, obviously because of the reference to the tooth fairy. The voice in the story is very simplistic and direct-to-the-point, making it clear and obvious that the words come from a child’s mouth (although this is a common approach and style that writers of children’s literature usually employ; more like stooping down to a child’s eye level to connect with them while communicating). The lines do not rhyme that much, but the proper names used are catchy & interestingly unique, for a kid (not much unlike Dr. Seuss’ famous characters). In addition, there is an evident pattern in how the proper names are coined; monosyllables repeated twice (Koo-Koo, Bao Bao, and even Kinky). This indicates that the author is of a young age. It is also noticeable that the most repeated word in the entire story is the protagonist’s name, Kinky. If one were to take this literary creation as an extension of the author’s playtime, then it would also be safe to assume that the protagonist could be the author’s actual self-projection. Tina Bruce (2001) has mentioned that in their play, children more often than not use the first hand experiences that they have in life. There weren’t that many descriptive words used to describe the plot settings, the protagonist, the fairy, even Kinky herself. This might imply that the child drew illustrations as he/she wrote this story, or even used his/her illustrations as his/her storyboard itself. Children are much more interested in visual and colorful images rather than in verbal imagery. A very visual book will be needed to pique the students’ interest, and there could be nothing more visual than a child’s active imagination. Considering the voice used, the language level employed, and the way the story flows in logical succession, this story would be best appropriate for children transitioning from the Concrete to the Formal Operational Stages. The question the author leaves for his readers at the end implies that the author is already capable of problem solving and inferencing, which are characteristics of a child around those stages (Piaget, 1954). Reading along the lines of Erik Erikson’s theory on psychosocial development, one can assume that the author/protagonist is at the School Age stage, since the protagonist shows that there is a basic conflict between Industry vs. Inferiority (Erikson, 1959). In this story, Kinky’s main problem was she had to go to a party but she couldn’t because she just lost a tooth. There was the social demand of going to a party (where it is assumed that everybody else is going), but then again missing a tooth (especially if it was a front tooth) would mean she would be somewhat inferior to the other kids. The eventual resolution of her problem, however, is still interestingly abstract; it took the tooth fairy’s magic to give Kinky a happy ending. The tooth fairy is one of the most popular characters children encounter in their young lives; and surprisingly, it can be a social tool in more ways than one. This story says a lot about how a child seems to cope with the stress and social repercussions losing a tooth brings in a child’s life. Kinky’s dilemma could or could not be reflective of the author’s real life struggles; but whatever the case may be, it is still a real issue many children face at this stage. Kinky’s story can be used to teach children of an appropriate age how to cope with their self-identities and with seemingly stressful situations that need their own decision and action. We can further examine Kinky’s story by comparing and contrasting it with a published book (presumably written by an adult). Taking for example Selby Breeler’s 1998 book Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions All Over the World, this book takes the focus away from the child and focus more on other children around the world. By depicting how other children around the world cope with losing a tooth, Breeler introduces the child to world geography and being conscious of other nationalities and customs at the same time. Breeler does not take away the magic by refuting the validity of the tooth fairy, but instead affirms the child by showing that some children in other countries also believe in the tooth fairy, or an equivalent entity. The author also assures the child that he/she is not alone in losing his/her tooth, that it’s normal. Breeler ends the story with reassurance, leaving the child reader with hope for renewed confidence: â€Å"Teeth fall out every day, all over the world. What do you do with yours?† Moyles (2005, p.9) discusses that â€Å"play in educational settings should have learning consequences.† In this light, every piece of children’s literature should have some educational merit. Mansaray’s and Breeler’s stories could be used within the class curriculum to stress several learning points, especially those related to reinforcing the child’s self-confidence and social awareness. In that way, these resources can actually be used to support children’s learning and development. The authors may actually consider extending their work into other literature by expanding these stories into series that tackle different issues and conflicts children face from day to day. A good way to implement these resources in the classroom setting is to allow each student read, analyze and interpret these stories in their own ways. Bettelheim (1989) theorizes that when children get to read about the problems, victories and failures experienced by the heroes and heroines of fairy tales (and in this case, children’s books),   they are given the chance to get a greater sense of meaning and purpose, and in effect prepare them for their own conflicts in their own lives. Bandura (1977) reinforces this by his theory on social learning: â€Å"Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.† This just emphasizes the need to lead children of operational age to learn how to analyze situations, identify the conflict/s, and then come to their own conclusions and solutions. Children find it easier to do so when they have a model (in this case, a symbolic one, found in the literary protagonists) they can relate to and follow. Another way one might employ these sample resources is to let the students have a chance to be able to relate or connect their own personal experiences with those of the protagonists’. Bowlby’s Attachment Theory (1969) comes into play here, revealing that if the educator or parent lets the child use a literary protagonist as their own attachment figure, then one can promptly use that attachment to direct or lead the student to the learning point at hand. Children, especially those in the operational stage, need someone with whom they can identify. Johnson’s treatise on the interrelation of child development with learning and literature backs this up in quoting that â€Å"knowledge cannot be given directly from the teacher to the learner, but must be constructed by the learner and reconstructed as new information becomes available† (Ryan & Cooper, quoted in Johnson, 2003). Johnson later on concludes that â€Å"learning is not the result of development; rather, learning is development.† By looking through Bandura’s â€Å"sociocognitive glasses†, so to speak, this interaction between the child and the literary protagonist plays an important role in the child’s intellectual development. This means that what a child learns socially is related to what he/she learns cognitively, and vice versa. What a child learns by interacting with other people adds to his/her own schema and thus increases his/her understanding in some cognitive processes. (Bandura, 1977) Mansaray’s story about Kinky and the lost tooth in itself has little educational merit; but if one would look at it by using sociocognitive theories, then the educator/parent can certainly use such output from the child as clues and tools for further sociocognitive learning. Using a story that uses the child’s own language and vocabulary, and that is based on the child’s own personal conflicts and issues, proves to be a very important tool in child development. Not only does the child get to learn about certain subject matter, but the educator/parent can also use it to teach very important life lessons as well. Bibliography Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall. Beeler, S. (1998) Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions All Over the World. New York, Houghton Mifflin. Bettelheim, B. (1989) The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. Vintage Books. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Attachment (Vol. 1). New York, Basic. Bruce, T. 2001, Learning through Play, Babies, Toddlers and the Foundation Years. Hodder and Stoughton. Erikson, E. H. (1959) Identity and the Life Cycle. New York, International Universities Press. Johnson, D.C. (2003) The Role of Child Development and Social Interaction in the Selection of Children's Literature to Promote Literacy Acquisition. Early Childhood Research ; Practice [Internet], Fall, 5 (2). Available from: ;http://www.ecrp.uiuc.edu/v5n2/johnson.html; [Accessed 9 April 2008] Mansaray, V. (2008) Kinky and the Lost Tooth [written by student]. Piaget, J. (1954) The Construction of Reality in the Child. New York, Basic Books. Whitebread, D. ; Jameson, H. (2005) Play, Storytelling and Creative Writing. In: Moyles, J. ed. The Excellence of Play. England, Open University Press, McGraw-Hill. ; ; ; ; ;

Friday, September 27, 2019

Assignment One Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment One - Essay Example As the utilization of ICT increases with the creation of new applications, the governments continue to adopt these services. The implementation of the ICT technologies by governments matches the millennium development goals (MDG’s) that focus on digitizing government services. Although embracing some of the ICT technologies strains the financial budgets of countries, all governmental stakeholders agree that it is immensely critical in facilitating public services. Evidently, there has been an evolution of modern communication methods. The methods through which citizens interact with the government have changed remarkably from counter transactions to digital channels, for example, government websites. Rwanda is one of the countries that are currently incorporating ICT technologies in their governance structures (Watkins, 2008). This entails public sector services such as healthcare, license acquisition, taxation and education. Due to this, the government will be able to provide better services. The adoption of ICT solutions by various countries is in coherence with the globalization objective of computerizing administration procedures. The digitization processes are within the millennium development goals (MDG’s) of developing counties. ICT enhancement addresses Rwanda’s MDGs. The Rwandan government acknowledges the rising utilization of ICT in daily lives of its citizens. Consequently, the enhancement of government services through the ICT will be highly beneficial. It will assist the governance process in achieving exemplary echelons of performance. Furthermore, ICT adoption will increase the interaction of the authorities and citizens, further enhancing responsiveness of Rwanda’s government to their citizens’ concerns. For example, the Rwandan health ministry can create websites that focus on the needs of the citizens (Watkins, 2008). This means the citizens can apply health services online and share information. Additionally, the

Thursday, September 26, 2019

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 30

History - Essay Example This ensured that the trade continued to grow as the growing demand for the goods could not be satisfied. Traders in the region realized the profitability of undertaking long distance trade, and this encouraged many to join it; thus, ensuring the further expansion of trade. From the east, especially China was a demand for products from further westward such as gold, ivory, and perfumes, which were extremely rare in that country. On the other hand, there was a demand for various eastern products such as silk and spices to the west, and these products fuelled the increase in the number of traders on the eastern long distance trade. This was not the case with the Western Hemisphere because this region was not thought of as being as developed as the East. Moreover, those who were involved in trade in this region only did it on a small scale because of the high insecurity within it. Bandits whose main aim was to kill and take loot to the trade goods that were being transported haunted most of the trade routes in the Western Hemisphere. The dangers involved in such trade discouraged it in the Western Hemisphere, and only few courageous people ever ventured into long distance trade. In fact, a majority of European traders preferred being involved in the long distance trade of the east because of safety that was guaranteed to them. In addition, the success of the long distance trade can be attributed to some of the powerful empires that developed along the trade routes. Some of these, such as the Mongol empire occupied almost the entire trade route, and because they derived taxes from the trade conducted, the Mongol administration ensured that all the trade routes were cleared of bandits. This immensely encouraged more traders to get inv olved in the trade because there was no fear of them being robbed or killed in the process of conducting their activities (Prazniak 177). Therefore, it can be said

Care of the patient having Cytotoxic Chemotherapy (GM50Z8) Essay

Care of the patient having Cytotoxic Chemotherapy (GM50Z8) - Essay Example To think that patients are already in a very critical condition, they still have to deal with problems of comprehension. Many are confused especially on the technicality of their disease or treatment. Not everyone can easily understand a doctor’s intellectual explanation. The emergent proliferation of Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) has become an immediate solution to this problem. Leaflets are free consultation take-outs from a trusted doctor; it is an instant consultation. Whenever you forget some details about a disease or a treatment, you can always refer back to your leaflet. The leaflet must contain answers to most frequently asked questions. It can save time and consultation fees. However, the issue at hand is, are they effective? Do patients/relatives/supporters do actually read them. The challenge is to make them read and understand leaflets. Specifically, the main question of this paper is, is the leaflet on Cytotoxic Chemotherapy a helpful guide and preparation for cancer patients and a good source of information for relatives and supporters of these patients? The following paragraphs will be a critical review of â€Å"A Patient’s Guide to Chemotherapy†. The leaflet is aimed to guide adult cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, their families and supporters as evidently mentioned in the first section of the leaflet. Definitely, they are the target audience of the leaflet and not the patients suffering with any other disease or illness. It would be useless to distribute leaflets to those who will not use them. It is very important that these leaflets must go to the hands of the target audience. Leaflets as mentioned earlier are answers to most frequently asked questions, and the leaflet on chemotherapy should answer a cancer patient’s questions on his or her own chemotherapy treatment. It should clarify any gray areas on the said topic. After reading it, the patient or the patient’s supporter must greatly understand the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Paper on Freeman Dyson's Technology and Social Justice Essay

Paper on Freeman Dyson's Technology and Social Justice - Essay Example As a matter of fact, he effectively counters the arguments of some sections of the society maintaining that technological sophistications have in fact led to a rise in social injustice and inequalities. Dyson elaborates this by coming out with a real-life example. He states that, the invention of diverse household appliances have enabled the advent of a scenario where, the need for servants was eliminated. In addition, sons and daughters of servants have been enabled to pursue higher education, and thus get elevated to middle class. (1) Dyson considers that as a vivid reflection of a key facet of social justice: the segment that was hitherto downtrodden has now been empowered by the knowledge gained through education. And according to him, that became possible solely because of the advent of the aforesaid technologies (domestic appliances). (1) Dyson emphatically argues that technology should be more focused on meeting the needs of the poverty-stricken people, rather than providing m ore luxuries for the affluent. He goes on to add that poverty could be eliminated by appropriately combining the technologies of genetic engineering, solar energy and Internet. In this context, he strengthens his argument by focusing on the fact that there is plenty of untapped solar energy in some zones of the Globe where, severe poverty is the order of the day.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Characterization of the Arabidopsis thaliana PM19 protein by Essay

Characterization of the Arabidopsis thaliana PM19 protein by functional complementation of yeast mutants - Essay Example This implies that PM19 compensated for the absence of trk1p, and thus it also acts as a high-affinity K+ transporter. In plants, since ABA, a hormone released in response to water desiccation, increases PM19 expression, the overproduction of the membrane protein allow the cells to imbibe the important K+ ion despite the low concentration in the environment. The DNA sequence of an organism remains constant throughout its life despite the multitude of processes it undergoes by preventing DNA mutations that might alter genetic information, and by ensuring the structural integrity of chromosomes and their orderly transmission to progeny cells. It is necessary to prevent alterations of DNA sequence that may change information encoded in genes because it may cause dysfunction of proteins that are important in the different physiologic activities of the organism. Proteins are the most significant class of molecules in biochemistry, although of course lipids and carbohydrates are also crucial for all living species whether eukaryotic or prokaryotic such as human, animal, plant and bacteria. Proteins organize and make the basics of life. They control of all actions in each known organisms, for example, the expression of the genetic code, transport of molecules, oxygen and minerals to in or out of the cells, therefore, proteins are responsible for controlling the machinery of cellular which is the phenotype of an organism (Lau, 2005). Moreover, the eukaryotic cell is surrounded by the membrane, which has the control for all substances that can enter in or out of the cell. Although the fundamental structure of membrane is made up by the lipid bilayer, the most particular functions of the plasma membrane are carried out by proteins and provides each sort of membrane a specific feature and characteristic, so under these circumstances the only part of cell that can

Monday, September 23, 2019

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show - Essay Example The paper "The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" explores the Fashion Show of Victoria Secret. People who are always attracted to Victoria's Secret Fashion Show are the middle class. One of the reasons as to why it is believed that Victoria's Secret Fashion Show can target both is that they are always entertaining. Victoria’s Secret knows exactly how they can be able to attract both men and women to their fashion shows. Aspects such as sparkling runway, unique fashion creations, and performances by artists are ways through which these fashion shows have been able to become irresistible to men. While men go to the show to watch the gorgeous models, women would go with the aim of catching up with some of the trends in fashion. The main objective of Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is to market products that are produced by Victoria’s Secrets. The company is well aware of the fact that the targeted market is always keen on fashion, fashion show is a way through which they can be able to showcase women of their new products so that they can enhance awareness or individual products and the brand at large. Through the use of some of the popular fashion models, the company is able to enhance the demand or their products. This is a more interactive way of advertising products as it has been observed to enhance brand loyalty. Even the men who are not always keen on fashion, especially women fashion can be introduced to the world of lingerie and nightwear because they will definitely be exposed some products.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

System Analysis Design Essay Example for Free

System Analysis Design Essay This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, the objectives of the study with its two type’s general and specific objectives, hypothesis of the study, scope and delimitation of the study, the significance of the study and the definition of terms. INTRODUCTION In part of human life, there are occasions that are traditionally being celebrated by people. Occasion’s that serves already part of them like for example birthdays, debut, weddings, reunion, conference and many more. This occasion’s or celebrations represents important for once life but it would be look more astonishing if this bunch of event were be held simple but with glamour and elegance as how the celebrant or the event wanted to see or look forward to by the people who are involve with it. That’s why there are these Organizing Companies who are out in the Market to serve people to make those events look more even better and possible. World are now getting technologically progressing and there are this Internet’s and gadget’s nor devices make people work easy and faster. This very much useful and helpful for the Companies to advertize their business throughout Internet and serve as advantage for those who are in online businesses especially for those Event’s and Organizing Companies to publish such very accommodating, friendly and unique website for the company but most importantly is how this website work in for your business if how this can serve people to satisfy not just for your business but as well to the costumer who are inquiring to you. Handling such particular event and organize it is not an easy work it took a lot of effort, time but most importantly the preparation. And well, it will cost you fair enough. Booking are very particular to us, it is also look like a reservation if the customer is willingly wanted to hire you’re company to serve them. But what can make it better if you can do it booking systematically and technologically oriented? Well, there are big differences between manual and systematic approach especially the part of how it works.  And that this study serves to look out what can this do to make your Event and Organizing Company productive, demanding and knowingly unique, accommodating but also industrious. And through that we would like to introduce to you the Online Booking System with it’s freely way. Online Booking System can help to keep transactional record of the client orderly and safe, manage it wittily by the person who has the direct access with the system. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Originated on year 2010, Event Avenue is an event organizing company that caters multiple events in any type of, it would be for corporate, debut, wedding and etc. their office located right at Pioneer, General Santos City beside near Rosver. Event Avenue has this virtue â€Å"we can work within your budget† will it very true by just your budget it come out to like elegant. By the way, it has three (3) staff working on field and one (1) left in the office. However, they are small in numbers of employee but the company was very rich having the complete equipment for any events that they venture. Event Avenue was founder by two (2) siblings Jhoanna Jane and Nerisa S. Javier. The sisters live somewhere in Lagao, Generaal Santos City. The sisters were raise by a Christian Family. The Business could be affected having a Christian owner to establish a very trustworthy company to dwell by the customer. One thing one the Event Avenue they not very particular of the profit they could gain in the business. They believe honest and trustworthy could lead them more into success for just being appreciated by their customer through their hard work. This would be make a difference having a great virtue in them believing things you do right can make an output of righteous also. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The study will be directed towards the end of the result which solves the following problems, impediments and difficulties encountered with the manual approach: Can the proposed system manage the record of the clients? Will the proposed system able to secure and keep the records of client transactions? How reliable and accurate was the proposed system compared to manual service of booking? Will the proposed system able to generate hard copy reports? OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The main point of study is to create a system which can give specific recommendations of the clients and also to have manageable and organized systematic reference of transactions table. This will enumerate in the following general and specific objectives. GENERAL OBJECTIVE To develop an online systematical system that can organized booking with ease which prove the beneficial in safekeeping of customer records and suits the need of the users. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES The study’s main point is the following: To create a unique commercialized system that let the employees manages and organized the transactions event and put into timetable. To create instant retrieving of transaction regarding through the registered client. To create online booking system that market the products show off the menu packages online with possible descriptions. HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY These are the following Alternative and Null Hypothesis of the proposed system which intended to be made. Alternative Hypotheses In conducting the study, the proponents would like to show how the system works and resulted to: That the system can be good at accommodation and easy to manage and very productive for the company. That the system brings organize output transaction and keeps records orderly. That the system contributes descriptions of specified want/need of the client. Null Hypotheses The proponents differentiate and find evidence to the result of the system consistency to the following: The system can be inoperative if the internet connection is slow and the same with computer used if it’s lagging; it may unsatisfied the client. The specification of output data is just based on what given information but this will be conflicted whether the client backing on the terms or give incorrect information. The system will gone out productive, particular if the client is minimal. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY The following below are the scope and delimitation regarding the proposed system, if how does will work regardless any limitations. SCOPE The following are scopes of the study: It focuses on the online booking of the customer. It covers the manageable timetable and presents the transaction at once. It only focuses to managing and saving transaction of registered client. DELIMITATION These are the following delimitations of the study: Only the administrator or else the person in-charge could see the transactions, can manipulate the any transaction regarding the registered client. The study does not cover the other department such as stock inventory or the user payroll system. Outside from the procedure propose the system cannot operate the other needs of the user. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The study goal is to have a manageable and organize transaction regarding by the event that the company will catered. This is to build a wise and strategic marketing plan to attract customer, quite easily to interact with the client and produce upgradable system as the benefit of the company. To give a categorize transaction of record for company which be materialize by them, helping to contain transaction without difficulty and can easily to determine the ways and need depends the ways the client demands. This is for  the innovation of the company processing on the events giving them system to be use and the same time knowledgeable impartation of others gaining the idea and skills to use with. DEFINITION OF TERMS The following terms below help you to understand more regarding the study. 1. Online Booking System It is a web base system which helps to store data given by the client. 2. Administrator Refer as â€Å"watchman† of the system whom have the full access of the system, person that can only can see and manipulate the transact data of the system. 3. Client Also called as the secondary user, the person who give the data regarding the services given or offered and whom the system is mainly expected to use system. 4. Wamp Software application serve as our database server that loads the entire client transact data. 5. Hosting It is a web internet application helps us to publish the system to the web. 6. Php It is a web language helps us to develop the structure and the design of the system. 7. Dreamweaver It is a web developer application where we used to edit the whole design and form of the system. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter presents various articles, write-ups and other related case studies that will serve as guide to the proposed study which is Booking System for the Organize First; an Events and Organizing Company. These concerned about the indulging and forming of the proposed study. FOREIGN LITERATURE Building system needs paraphernalia’s to modulate and equip the system functions and to understand how it goes. That’s why we need references for any kind of research. However, there is system function in different industries. The following are foreign literature and this will help us to understand more often our study. Wherever, there are technological advances for individual who in the networking market industries are very much popular and beneficial as well very useful. CHECKFRONT INCORPORATED Check front Inc is an emerging global leader in e-business tools for schedule based businesses. They strive to build smart, intuitive and powerful cloud based tools that help organizations centralize their business, improve customer engagement, market and sell their services online. Operating in 22 countries, their customers cover a wide range of service based businesses with the majority in the tourism, hospitality, event and rental industries. Many of their customers have come to them to replace legacy technology, or when looking to scale an existing business. Since their earliest release, or customers have driven our development road map, and continue to shape the product today. In June 2010, after a very successful beta, we launched version 1.0 of their booking platform. Checkfront utilizes the best of cloud based technologies to offer a state of the art, powerful and flexible application. They has secure back-office management application allows you to manage your business anywhere, and our self-service booking system integrates seamlessly into any website. There are a favorite among development and design agencies due to their ease of integration, adaptable configurations and extendibility. (http://www.checkfront.com/) BOOKINGBUG CORP. The Team behind BookingBug are experienced developers and designers who want  to help businesses make the best use of the internet. BookingBug was founded by Glenn Shoosmith who is based in the UK and Gregory Bockenstette who is based in the US giving us a cross-atlantic founding team. They built BookingBug to help the hundreds of thousands of small service businesses who need to manage their time and to reach their customers more efficiently. By building BookingBug as an embeddable and affiliate driven system from the outset, theyve allowed many directory sites, social networks, portals and community sites to not only help service-orientated businesses, but to also helps themselves, creating content and potential revenue. They are always pleased when clients contact them to talk about their specific requirements. If BookingBug cannot already meet your needs, then they would be happy to discuss a customized solution to suit your business. They are always looking for new features that could benefit the widest range of customers. http://www.bookingbug.com/ Direct Commerce Technology Co., Ltd. (DCT), The owner and operator of Calypso System, has established itself as the Distribution Network of the Travel Industry. As the technology backbone for all travel related business, Calypso System connects travel operators to distribution partners, handling and processing the supply chain using e-commerce, including e-distribution, e-payment gateway, and online reporting system. The company started business on January 1st, 2000. Their management and their talented customer service team have vast knowledge in the hospitality travel industry. Their professional technical team has comprehensive experience in network computing, programming, the Internet and e-commerce industry. Their Mission: Bring the most benefits to the travel industry and the travelers. As a hub for travel products, Calypso System provides powerful interface, instant online reservation system, and international distribution channel.  Portal and travel websites earn benefits from our user-friendly instant online reservation system. Hotel and chain hotels can greatly leverage our sophisticated state-of-the-art technology designed for back office as well as for website visitors. Agents and tour operators benefit from being in e-marketplace where potential buyers have access to them in anywhere at any time. Calypso System is not a virtual provider. They have their own hardware, software, and networks and the manpower to support the entire system on a global basis. Their professional Technical Support team will ensure that your operation is constantly performing at its best. Their dedicated Customer Service team will cater to your need and provide you with detailed information on all aspect of their system. (http://www.calypsosystem.com/) LOCAL LITERATURE The following are other set of various local literatures. Likewise, to the foreign literature this also serves as reference to determine and scrutinize the ideas between different parties of dignified literature an industry. TNT EXPRESS PHILIPPINE In the Philippines, TNT Express Worldwide remains the only undisputed business-to-business express service provider. The company began its seminal operations in 1982 with a small office situated in the country’s financial district of Makati. In 1997, the company moved to a 4,300 square meter prime cargo centre adjacent to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The current office has an available warehouse of 1,200 square meters, more than 300 employees, 83 vehicles and at least 115 flights per week. TNT Express Philippines has 2 satellite offices in Makati and Shaw. MANILA, Philippines — TNT Express Philippines’ innovative online import booking system has expanded its worldwide coverage and now allows regular importers to conveniently and quickly arrange the collection of a document, parcel or pallet from over 170 countries in the TNT network. Previously, the online service that enables importers to directly control how  their shipment is collected, delivered and billed covers 168 countries. The expanded Express Import service, which also allows importers to choose the exact hour or day of delivery based on his budget to control shipping cost, now covers 99 percent of the global economy. Importers can use the market-leading tool just by enrolling in the service at TNT’s website (www.tnt.com) for free. Express Import is live for receivers in 57 countries and is available in 55 languages. The delivery can also be tracked online – and in real-time. Complementing the online import booking service is TNT Express Philippines’ flexible billing scheme. The importer does not need to send money directly to the supplier abroad to pay for the pickup. Instead, TNT bills the importer in the Philippines in local currency. Aside from billing in the importer’s own currency, communication in the customer’s preferred language and visibility of cost up-front, the Express Import system provides users only one account number for import and export. The exclusive account is accessible only to importers ensuring confidentiality of import details. Furthermore, Express Import users do not need to deal with different time zones, unlike in the traditional cross border booking or over-the-phone booking. All messages are relayed directly to the sender and receiver via e-mail and not dependent on TNT acting as a third party. The introduction of the new service shows TNT’s commitment to the Philippines’ export-import foreign trade. (http://www.tnt.com/express/tl_ph/site/home.html) (http://www.mb.com.ph/node/316173/tnt-online-booking-) PROVAB TECHNOSOFT COMPANY PROVAB, an organization providing value to business, realizes the importance of customization of web services with respect to the client’s requirement. By providing best in class web services in the area of website design development, web application development, ecommerce solutions, portal development and search engine optimization, PROVAB also strives to improve  the client’s capability, thereby helping them achieve their objectives. Being a leading travel technology company, we provide innovative solutions like online booking system and travel booking system to customers across the globe. By providing best in class web development services seo services, we also strive to improve the clients capability, thereby helping them achieve their objectives. Global Distribution System, as GDS is called, connects millions of providers to provide a common platform for bookings (flight, hotel, packages and cars) to users across the globe. As a leading Sabre GDS integration company, we work on GDS systems and low cost air carriers to provide our clients the comprehensive flight booking system. Whether you have signed for with Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo, Travelport or you don’t have IATA agency and want to work with GSA’s or published fares, we offer the best of the solutions to our clients. After GDS integration with B2B, B2C and Admin modules in place, client would have a robust online travel booking system and would be able to do live bookings of flights, hotels, holiday packages, cars and would also be create agents as well. IAWEB INTERNATIONAL PHILIPPINES IT and Hospitality professionals from 5 different countries founded IAWeb in 1997 to emphasize on the Internet solutions for the Asian Hospitality Travel Industry. The company now has grown to include offices in Hong Kong, the Philippines and China. This melting pot of experience, fresh ideas, unconventional approach to challenges, and an understanding of your hospitality business needs gives us the competing edge to assure your success with IAWeb International. This is frequently referred as Global Distribution System (GDS). Our service is an enterprise-wide central reservation system, which maintains a single  real time database environment, accessed through all Reservation Channels, may it be Travel Agent, Hotels website, Partner websites and other Online Distribution Channels. It is driven by the originating source within the Channel, and is easily managed by the hotel management via the Internet. GDS connectivity lists your hotel with the worlds travel agencies, online via the Internet or directly on the Travel Agent terminals. Customized listing on all 4 GDS (Galileo, Amadeus, Worldspan and Sabre) and as well on the Pegasus online data distribution. Your hotel will have the best booking potential. The fastest and most reliable CRS available rates and availability update in seconds. Our support team completes initial set up of your hotels GDS listing with industry approved descriptions and rate plans. We custom load your photos and ensure that your rate plans and room codes match the requirements of each GDS channel. Once live, your reservations staff can easily manage the database via the Internet with easy to use menus. Our support team is as well available to assist during business hours. The Global Distribution Systems (GDS) have long been the main tool for travel agents bookings in the world. Today these systems do much more than supply content rates and hotel inventory to thousands of On-line Travel websites (OTA). When you visit a Travel Agent you will see consultants working at their PCs finding and booking flights, hotels, resorts, car rental and much more. All from the one computer screen. Distribution systems (GDS) continue to be the backbone for travel agents, in-house corporate travel departments, and many of the Internet distribution systems like Travelocity. They deliver rates and availability information for travel covering air, hotel, car rentals and many other travel products. The information is delivered to the travel agent, so that it appears on their desktop computer using special software to search, display rates and book. (http://www.iaweb.net/) (http://www.iaweb.net/global-distribution-systems/central-reservation-system.html) CHAPTER III MATERIALS AND METHODS This chapter presents the explanation of the research method that are used; the research methods and instruments, the procedures of how it will conducted and gathering all information data needed in the case study, and the respondents of the study. This may also present the system Data Flow Diagram (DFD) and Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). RESEARCH AND DESIGN The Research and Design is consists of information from the company we proposed in. As the completion of the study to apply in our proposed system we’ve interviewed the staff to get information using the methods given through surveys and interview. Prior to the development of the system, we conduct research through online, planning, brainstorming; sharing the ideas we have in mind to determine the best and effective idea to use for the development of the system. RESEARCH METHODS AND INSTRUMENTS The researcher used several of following methods and instruments in gathering the information data for the study: Brainstorming – the method that we use to gather the information and ideas from the other people who have knowledge and ideas regarding about our system. Choosing title, we bit confused of what title we should choose but prior to all prospected themes of systems we come up to choose car wash inventory and online booking. Yet we fall out in online booking system; the system approved by. Letter – for able to invite the prospected company to be the subject of the case study and able to have the approval of the prospected company, we use letter to make it formal and perfectly proper just to show respect but among other things is to be responded also by through letter. Interview – this way conducting interview to the prospected company for the sake of proposed system will be beneficial to the researcher to gain related informational data that can be used t o the proposed system. The researcher bought with him a pad which contained questions talking about the company’s history that will soon serve as bases in designing the study. Online Research – these serve as the main source of  gathering information data in constructing the making of the system because along the way of creating the system we need other references that will give bases and that are related in the study. Survey Questionnaire – it is a chain that full of questions used and given to several individuals who has direct connection to the company; this will help gather information data that will serve as guide to meet the satisfaction of the prospected company of the proposed system. Documentary Analysis – The proponent studied the transactional records of the company, the preceding records and the performances of the active employees. RESEARCH PROCEDURE The following are the step by step procedure in conducting our research: First, the researchers discussed by sharing their own ideas to make title proposals. Second, the researchers deliver it to the teacher and make him choose the made titles. Third, the selected title must have a prepared proposal letter and to be submitted to the companies related on the study and wait for their response that they are approving. Fourth, the researchers must prepared some guide questionnaires and survey questionnaires as a tool to gather initial data to a company that will approve the proposal. Fifth, the researchers must start doing the documents about the company that was approved with them. Sixth, the researcher must start designing the system forms and windows according to their objectives. Seventh, the researchers starts putting a codes to the design for it to function well and can store data that the hospital neede. Eighth, the researcher tests the proposed system if it runs well or has a pro blem. Ninth, if the system experiences an error the researchers must start debugging the program and start testing again until there were no more bugs in the system. RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY On our study, they were four respondents that approved our study. First, the respondent whom is the person-in-charge in the operation of the company and so the person we’ve explained about the goal, objective and other concerns of the system studied, followed by the other three staff which are the people in-charge in the field operation like person in-charge in technical, production and designing which are the persons we asked through surveying  and interviewing them, introducing to them the proposed system. We start conducting our interviews and surveys the things about what are the things we need to do and the things which are they suggest to put on the system just to be effective. DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION This chapter talks about the design implementation of feasibility of the study, operational feasibility, technical feasibility, economic feasibility of the propose system. The benefit of this design implementation is to impart knowledge to all the users to aware the software and hardware capability implementations of the propose system. This system implementation could help the Events Avenue to have their transaction upgrade and manage orderly. FEASIBILITY STUDY The feasibility of the study is all about online booking process introducing it through the company Event Avenue bringing upgrade their transactional process manual into systematic approach to how it will do manages and organize their any transaction. OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY The main objective of the study is to develop a system which can give a big benefit into the Events Avenue in terms of their services through making their transaction become systematic by keeping their data manage orderly and can be helpful to the clients and the same time to the employee of the company having a transaction online and keep the record safely without hassle to input it manually. TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY These are the factors that could affect and relates the performance of the system that must be considered. The hardware and software were the main consideration for the functionalities of the system to avoid such difficulties and malfunction of the system. The following technical requirements must be met in order for the effective work of the system and the error may be lessened: PROPOSE HARDWARE SPECIFICATION Recommended Requirements Processor Intel – Core 2 Duo – 3.0 GHz Hard Disk SATA 500GB RAM 2GB DDR3 Video Card Mobile Intel ® 4 Series Express Chipset Minimum Requirements Processor Intel – Core 2 Duo – 1.0 GHz Hard Disk SATA 250GB RAM 1GB DDR3 Video Card Ati radeon PROPOSE SOFTWARE SPECIFICATION Software Requirements Software Name Specification Operating System Windows 7 or any OS Front End Firefox or Google Chrone Back End MySQL Server 5.5 Server Cpanel ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY The Economic feasibility of the study is to estimates the corresponding and possible amount that should state while implementing this proposed system while working out on it from the designing, documenting and to implement it in the company chosen. COST AND BENEFITS ANALYSIS The cost of the system was simplified based to the resources while making the project and the benefits identifies that using this computerized system it can give options of services and cater multiple user/client using the internet and could initialize transact records easily that may help the employee identify their suppose task ahead. Both can help the client and employees; for the client may just use its internet to access and the employees it can lessen their work and effort. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS CASE MANUAL COMPUTERIZED Meeting with the clients. 5 hours consumed 1 hour consumed Search for the recorded files. 15 minutes consumed 5 minutes consumed Closing with the deal with the clients. 10 minutes consumed 5 minutes consumed COST ESTIMATION Particulars Cost Estimate Web page design/coding/debugging(42days) (42x 500) Php 21,000.00 Finalization of site(22 days) (22500) Php 11,000.00 Total Php 32,000.00 PROSPECTIVE USER This part of the proposed study discuss about the prospected user of the project which later may use the simple online booking with its transactional data usage, to perform to managing and organized transactional event. There are two distinct prospective users and that are the following stated below: Prospective Client User. – The prospective Client User it is refers to the client whom will register for the service of the company. Administrator –The Administrator it is refers to the person who is in-charge to the position to update the transaction form and can have the full access to manipulate in the website. IMPLEMENTATION For enable to produce an effective and very useful product implemented to Event Avenue pioneer, General Santos City, the proponent put up a various procedures to let this study successfully implemented. The proponent considered the internet which it was acted the main point or the main base of this study and network connection which this study will work. PROGRAM SPECIFICATION In order for the system to run, it needs WAMP acted as the database of the system or the system memory and as well the back end of the system and also Dreamweaver a web developer application where we edited or made our system design using the PHP language and also hosting to publish the system in the internet. TESTING The testing is the process where you could check your system before its implementation. Through this kind of process we could identify the flaws of the system. This is one of the requirements needed to specify for a quality output of the project. PERFORMANCE TESTING Testing is very important securing the implementation of the study to  checking up looking for various threats of errors. And scrutinize it if the program runs as it is which it base is was in the internet before it being uploaded and use. MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT We strictly suggest and are reminded about the hosting of the system for it will run online and check up your computer for viruses and you must back up the file of the transaction of events for the safety proper of not losing data to secure transaction from malicious malware or any viruses. Curing is better than prevention and to cure failure and other future and other difficulties always check your data print it and back up it for avoiding the record lose. CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY The proponent conducted interviews, surveys, went to research, surfing to internet to gather data information regarding to the information must need by making the study. Also, proponent takes some advises and suggestions from the adviser added to the needed data for the study. On the way of planning the study, we undergo so many stages of steps and methods such as the background of the study, statement of the problems, objectives, importance, significance, scope and delimitation of the study. As well, taking some related literature regarding about the proposed study. After all of this methods the testing are followed for the implementation of the system thereby for if the study is whether successful to implement. The proponent used Dreamweaver PHP and WAMP machinery for the making of the study. Upon after installing the various systems, we abruptly build the form of the study and the needed attachment for the implementation. This will be the basis of the proponent to determining succ essful implementation. And also, the proponent not just talks about the outcome of the study but also the possibility of encountered errors by implementing the study successfully. As the proponent trying our best to produce a better outcome for even though it  is not that quite easy. CONCLUSION In regards to all the data that gathered especially from the data surveys along with the questionnaires in the respondent Event Avenue – Pionner, General Santos City, therefore, we conclude that the Study can give the Administrator an easily operation and knowledgeable outcome of better manageable transactions, that the study can give the Event Avenue a better and convenient work regarding to how the operation going for newly approach of systematic process that the technology can give, that the study will give Event Avenue a profitable and beneficial process that certain IT industry can modify and upgrade. We as the proponent want that this online booking system become upgradable and well develop so many can benefit through this kind of system and so many will be satisfy by it works and lessen the hardship regarding the manual transaction with the clients. However, it should need the personal interaction with the clients. RECOMMENDATION As the proponent of the system, we intend to have a system which is beneficial to the users and helpful in terms of transacted records. To improve the quality and performance of the system and as well the security and the reliability of the system can give to the users. This propose system can be improve by developing its features and its transactional data recorded, creating more sequence regarding the design and transaction handle or catered by the system letting the user enjoy the capability and fullness of the system.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The Effects of Sexism in Schools

The Effects of Sexism in Schools The theme about stereotypes and prejudice is really important in our society. Walter Lipmann is the man, who defines first the term stereotype in his book How society thinks (1922). He says that stereotype is something that helps us live in the reality easily. That is the positive said, the negative is, that stereotype thinking stops us from out of the box thinking and open mind. Walter Lipmann also defines the term stereotype à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾ stereotype is a commonly held popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals, standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions. Prejudice is a term, which defines our tendency for judging someone before we know him. These terms have a positive said too- they make communication easy for us. But I think that the negatives about stereotypes and prejudice are more than the positives. There are many stereotypes even in the education system. One of the most common stereotypes is sexism. It affects every said of our lives. Almost every men and woman have same stereotypes about the gender roles. The really important aspect of this problem is that sexism is well known in education system and many kids are suffering from it. It begins in elementary school and continues till graduating from college, sometimes even after that. Little boys and girls are constantly told about their gender roles and how they should react and behave, because of those roles. They are given no choice they should behave as expected and no other way. There is another aspect of the problem. In schools and colleges, teachers and professors expect different results by boys and girls. The boys are considered with less potential and everyone expects lower grades by them. Girls are considered as good in some things, but awful in math, physics and other science like that. Those opinions can make things really difficult for the children, because they cant show their real abilities and skills. Sexism, which entered the lexicon in 1970 as an analogue to racism, connotes a fundamental and pervasive institutionalized bias on the basis of sex, with discrimination usually directed against woman ( Frazier and Sadker 1973).The rationale for sexism is the biological difference between males and females that dictates differential social roles,status, and norms ( Sleeter and Grant 1988). From Sexism in single-sex and coeducational independent secondary school classrooms by Valerie E. Lee, Helen M., Marks and Tina Byrd. In thos pharagraf of theyre study, they explain the term sexism. The study begins with explanation that sexism begins way back in the history. Likek other socializing institutions, the family and the church ,have inevitably transmitted sociocultural sexism, so did the schools. Classrooms, where the process of schooling largely occurs, are primary sites for sexist socialization. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾ In an ideal world, children would be raised in a society free of gender stereotypes. Such freedom from these stereotypes would allow children to exhibit behaviors and acquire skills based solely on their personal preferences devoid of the constraints of the societal norms that surround their particular gender (Bem 1983). However, in the real world, from the moment of their birth, children are placed into either a boy or girl category (Bem 1983; Fagot and Leinbach 1993; Kimmel 2004). This seemingly fundamental physiological distinction is automatically surrounded by a system of societal expectations that determine which behaviors are appropriate for boys and which are appropriate for girls (Fagot and Leinbach 1993) and facilitate the creation and maintenance of gender role stereotypes (Ridgeway and Correll 2004) in Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract Eaglys social role theory (Eagly and Steffen 1984). From this paragraph, we can make the logical conclusion, that something in our society and educational system is wrong. We raise our children in a world, in which these stereotypes are very common. These categories that we put kids in have an effect o n their entire life. In school, boys and girls come with some ideas how to behave. They learn that from their family direct, or by coping models of behavior. Since the first grade, everyone continues to expect from children to act as they are told to- like a girl or a boy. Girls cant play with cars and toy soldiers, because they will become women, and this is not good for a woman. The woman should we nice and tender. If the boys are sometimes a little rude- this is not a problem, because from them this is expected. If they want to play with dolls this is not write, because they can grow up feminize. This is something that reflects really hard on children psychic. When they grow up, they continue to follow that models of behavior and that is cosign a lot of problems. In the education is the same- the boy should we really good in math, but if he can write, this is a little strange. A girl should write beautiful, but nobody would belief, that she knows a lot about physics. This is a h uge problem, because it makes communicating, growing up, developing a hard and intense process, which is put in frame and cant go out of it- other way the kid is consider as strange. As an example for that frames may be considered situation of gender and mathematics in England and Wales. Teresa Smart wrote an article on that mater, which is explains why girls abandon science before leaving school Gender and mathematics in England and Wales. In the article, Smart explains, that the stereotype- boys are good in mathematics is putting girls under pressure and they prefer to focus on other sciences. The difference between boys and girls are also discussed in the study Gender differences in mathematical achievement related to the ratio of girls to boys in school classes by Terje Manger and Rolf Gjestad. This study discuss the importance of the number of boys and girl in the classroom. The authors are analyzing a research, done in 3 grade in classes with many boys and less girls, many girls and less boys, and a class with a balance. The results do not support the single-sex teaching theory. That theory clames, that single-sex school gives an opportunity for developing to both sexes. In that study, authors also prove, that there is a difference between boys and girls in mathematics: The differences in mathematical achievement between boys and girls are well documented in the educational and psychological literature. While the differences in general samples are decreasing (Feingold 1988) disparate proportions favoring boys are well-known in mathematically gifted samples,(Benbow 1988 ; Benbow and Stanley 1983; Hyde, Fennema and Lamon 1990).The differences also vary according to mathematical subskills. Boys seem to perform better than girls on tasks requiring application of algebraic rules or algorithms, as well as on tasks in which the understanding of mathematical concepts and number relationship is required (Mills, Ablard and Stumpf 1993). The newest researches on that matter are proving something different- every one of us has different part of the brain developed more than the other. People, who have more developed write part, are with better achievements in mathematics and other sciences like that; people, who have more developed left part of the brain are good in history, literature and other. That is a prove, that the difference is not coming from the gender. From grade school to graduate school to the world of work, males and females are separated by a common language. This communications gender gap affects self-esteem, educational attainment, career choice, and income. But its hidden lessons generally go unnoticed. Sexism in the classroom: from grade school to graduate school by Myra Sadker and David Sadker. Myra and David Sadker are researching classroom interactions in elementary and secondary schools. Their article is focusing on four of their conclusions of the research. The first conclusion they made is: male students receive more attention from teachers and are given more time to talk in classrooms. The second conclusion: Educators are generally unaware of the presence or the impact of this bias.. The third conclusion: Brief but focused training can reduce or eliminate sex bias from classroom interaction.. The four conclusion : Increasing equity in classroom interaction increases the effectiveness of the teacher as well. Equity and effectiveness are not competing concerns; they are complementary. Myra and David Sadkers first study is proving, that male students are involved in more interaction than females. Teachers are talking more to them and allow them to talk more in class. The teachers observed in this study were both male and female; they represented both white and minority groups; they taught in the areas of language arts, social studies, and mathematics. This proves, that the teachers were affect mainly by the sexism stereotype in classrooms. The educators are not aware of the impact of sexism in the classroom. They dont realize, that their behavior in not adequate. They dont understand, that this way they are stopping females developing, and lowing their chances for receiving good education. This unawareness of the educators is a big problem in schools. Sexism cant be removed, when nobody realizes that its there. All it takes, to removing sex bias from classrooms is to train the educators. They need to know, that sexism has to be removed from the classrooms, that this is cosign problems to females not only in school, but also later, when they are working. When there is sexism in the classroom, the education process cannot be effective. When teachers are not realizing the problem and cant remove it, they cant be useful to the children. If there is equity in the classroom, the process will be effective, this will increase the chances of children to have a good education. In her paper : Gender freedom and the subtleties of sexist education, Barbara Houston is discussing the idea of gender-free education. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the following three distinct meanings. In the first sense, the strong sense, a gender-free education would be one that made active attempts to disregard gender by obliterating gender differentiations which arose within the educational sphere. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.Another example of this approach is the elimination of activities, such as wrestling, in which there are thought to be significant gender differences in achievements due to natural and ineradicable biological differences between the sexes. In her paper, Houston is focusing on the education, that eliminates gender and its ignoring it. The idea is, that gender should be no longer used as a criteria, that boys and girls should not be separated and not be given instructions how to behave, judged by their gander : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ gender-free to mean freedom from gender bias. On this un derstanding, a gender-free education would eliminate gender bias. From this sources, discussing the theme about sexism in school, can be made several conclusions. Sexism, as sociological and culture understanding of the gender differences, exist in schools of all kinds. Sexism is the separation between boys and girls, based on their biological differences and affects a lot their education. Male student are given priority, females are underrated- they cannot show their real potential. This is big problem in classrooms, because sex roles are putting educational process in frames, they stop boys and girls to develop, learn everything they want to, not what they supposed to. Teachers sometimes are not aware that there is sexism in their classroom and they dont know how to eliminate it. The good education is one, that is gender-free, which is not focused on the gender differences and is removing this as a criteria for educating.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Public Transportation | Construction Essay

Public Transportation | Construction Essay Public transportation is an essential service that must be provided by the government to its citizen. Yet, it still an issue faced by most of developing countries all over the world including Malaysia. As it begins to transform itself to become a developed country in 2020, it is a crucial to have comfortable, reliable and affordable world-class public transportation system to meet the target. According to Ministry of Transportation (2012), by having efficient transport network, several main transport issues faced by urban populations such as high traffic congestion during peak periods, cancellations and frequent delays of service and poor access to public transport services and network can be solved immediately. As part of government commitment to develop better system for public transportation, Malaysia has invested in many public transportation planning and development program over the years. For example under 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), RM 31.8 billion was allocated to improve the public transportation performance. (Government of Malaysia, 2006). An additional RM 35 billion was further allocated under Budget 2009 (2009 2014) to enhance the public transportation services in Malaysia, for the allocation of new buses and provision of better infrastructure facilities (Bernama, 2008). However, the utilization rate of public transportation is still poor and the use of private vehicles is continuously rising. This scenario indicates that there are probably several flaws within the previous and current approach (PEMANDU, 2012). Since public transportation is very important to the social and economic life of the citizens, a new plan of massive improvement under Government Transformation (GTP) Program, the National Key Result Area (NKRA) has been launched in November 2009. There are 6 initiatives under this program and one of them is UPT-NKRA. It stands for NKRA Urban Public Transportation. The objective of UPT-NKRA may different based on the phase of its implementation. Below are several objectives that need to be achieved in 2010 and 2012. Improving the public transport modal share from 11% to 15% by the end of 2010 and to 25% by the end of 2012 during the morning peak period of 7am to 9pm in the Klang Valley and will subsequently adapt and apply successful initiatives to Penang and Johor Bahru; Improving reliability and journey times;   Enhancing commuters comfort and convenience; and   Improving accessibility and connectivity so that the percentage of the population living within 400 metres of a public transport route increases from 63% to 80% in 2012. (Source: Ministry of Transport Malaysia 2012) In the real world, government policies may not achieve the target and the actual needs. Most of developing countries have contributed so many efforts towards providing better public transportation. However, the implementation always faced with many difficulties. In Pakistan for instance, it was found that, factors like overstated role of the private sector, lack capacity among public transport organizations, negligence in the development of high-capacity public transport, failure to use existing land and integration difficulty had been identified as major problems led to the unsuccessful of their policies (Imran, 2009). The continuous failure to serve the demand of citizens to enjoy better public transportation service is not good for a developed country to be. In Malaysia, proper planning and significant improvement only had been seen in several main cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley and Penang. On the other hand, Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah that is experiencing rapid population growth and tremendous economic activities still have to depend on bus to bring them into their destinations. This research will try to analyse the impact of public transportation policy on public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. Government policy at federal, state and local level will be analysed together with several issue in public transportation. Besides, the feedback of various stakeholders mainly from the government and respective authoritative body, private bus-operators as well as the public users will be taken into account. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN MALAYSIA Kota Kinabalu and its Public Transportation Kota Kinabalu is the capital city of Sabah which is populated by people from various ethnics, races and religions. It is located within the rapidly developing West Coast Division  [1]  . Over the years, this city is experiencing several infrastructure developments. Many shopping complexes and commercial buildings had been erected and these have encouraged more business and trade activities. Kota Kinabalu is considered as an urbanizing city due to its economy and population growth. In 2010, the total estimate number of population in Kota Kinabalu is 452, 058 (Statistics Department, 2011) with average household income RM 2487 per month (Economic Planning Unit, 2011). Apart from becoming a centre for education, business and social activities, Kota Kinabalu also have a number of attractive destinations for the local and international tourists. It was reported that, domestic and foreign visitors entered Sabah through Kota Kinabalu is 100,000 in 2004 and increased to 600, 000 in 2010 ( Sabah Tourism Board). To date, bus (includes express bus, minibuses and vans) still served as the main mode of public transportation to the local residents of Kota Kinabalu. The public bus system is operated by various private companies featured with variable quality. They provide travelling network and service in the urban, sub-urban and intercity areas. The main terminal is located in front of Wawasan Plaza Building where the urban and suburban buses pick and drop their passenger all over again. Another terminal is located in Inanam provides intercity buses service towards long distance travels such as Kudat, Ranau, Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Semporna. Taxicabs also still operate in this city but the service focus at the several main areas only such as at the airport, hospitals and terminal bus. Besides, a railway system known as Sabah State Railway also operated in this city. However, the destination coverage is limit to several areas where it connects Kota Kinabalu with Tenom and several other to wns in between this railway it provides daily services for commuters, travelers, as well as for cargo transportation. Players in Public Transportation: Government Entity Government entity is the important stakeholders in public transportation. Any policy formulated by the government will affect the whole public transportation system in our country. Based on the interpretation provided by Land Public Transport Act 2010, government entity defined as the federal government, or any state government, state authority or local government; and any ministry, department, office, agency, authority, commission, committee, board, council or other body, corporate or unincorporate, of the Federal Government, or of any State Government or local government, whether established under written law or otherwise. In Malaysia, federal government is most responsible party to ensure the better performance of public transportation throughout the country. Only this level of government able has the power to approve and grant funding to any plan and project suggested by the subordinates governments. This is clearly mentioned in the Laws of Malaysia (1997) where the responsibilit y for financial allocation to regional authorities or local authorities lies with the central government (Vigar et al, 2000). Not only responsible in allocate money to be distributed to the subordinates government but also federal have the power to approve or disapprove any project and program proposed by the lower governments. As transport matters are a federal listed responsibility under the Constitution of Malaysia., the improvement of the public transport system can only be carried out with central governments approval since the Transport Ministry holds absolute power over transport planning (Laws of Malaysia, 1997). There are several department and unit under the federal administration works for public transportation namely Land Public Transport Commission, Road Transport Department Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board in Sabah and Sarawak and many more. Land Public Transport Commission (LPTC) Land Public Transport Commission is established on 3 June 2010 after the formulation of Land Public Transport Commission Act 2010 by Parliament in May 2010. This commission gained its full powers under the Land Public Transport Act 2010 and coming into force on 31 January 2011. By the establishment of this commission, the functions of Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board, Department of Railways and the tourism vehicles licensing function of the Ministry of Tourism in Peninsular Malaysia have been made inapplicable. However, LPTC only have jurisdiction power over peninsular Malaysia. The commercial Vehicles Licensing Board, Department of Railways and the Ministry of Tourism still continue to exercise their respective powers in Sabah and Sarawak. The table shown below summarize the power description of LPTC. Powers Descriptions Planning Master plan to ensure comprehensive, integrated and sustainable infrastructure development. SPAD shall propose policies and plans in relation to or affecting land public transport, and develop strategies in line with the approved policies and plans with a view to achieving a safe, reliable, efficient, responsive, accessible, planned, integrated and sustainable land public transport, while ensuring the provision of affordable services for the carriage of passengers and competitive services for the carriage of goods.(The Land Public Transport Act 2010) Regulatory Monitoring and regulate standard of performance of operators through licensing. Regulating all matters pertaining land vehicles such as train, bus and taxi services as well as road and rail-based freight transport Enforcement Enhanced powers encompassing powers to audit, investigate, suspend/revoke license, seize vehicles, and penalise operators. Carry out with close cooperation with other enforcement agencies such as the Royal Malaysian Police and the Road Transport Department. Source: Land Public Transportation Commission Official Website, 2012 Road Transport Department This department is established on 1 April 1946 with the purpose to synchronize all aspects related to transportation all over the states. In line with the establishment of this department, various acts relating to land transportation had been formulated for example Road Traffic Ordinance 1958 and Land Transportation Act 1987. Both aim to uniform and standardize the national transportation law as well as to provide guideline to the department officers in exercising their duties. This department is under the Land Unit of Ministry of Transportation in Malaysia. It is responsible to provide counter service for vehicle and driving licensing as well as to enforce Land Transportation Act 1987 to ensure well behaved drivers and safety of the roads users. Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board Sabah (CLVB) Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board in Sabah is established under Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board Act 1987. As stated in the act, the member of the board in Sabah must be appointed by the Minister and shall consist the a chairman, a deputy chairman, a representative of the State Ministry charged with the responsibility for transport, a representative of the Road Transport Department, a representative of the Federal Ministry charged with the responsibility for matters relating to the licensing of commercial vehicles and not more than six persons who in the opinion of the Minister have had wide experience or special knowledge in matters relating to transport. CVLB is set up to assist the development of commercial transport industry by establishing policies to ensure a sufficient and efficient commercial transport service (ww.malaysia.gov.my) Local Government The position of local government in Malaysia is stated in Federal Constitution. By virtue of items 4 and 5 of Ninth Schedule of Federal Constitution, local government outside the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya is a subject under the State List. All local authorities outside the Federal Territories will be under the exclusive jurisdiction of States Government. There are 146 local councils in Malaysia made up of city councils, municipal councils, district councils, and special authorities and Kota Kinabalu City Hall is among of them. KKCH is only responsible to provide bus terminals, provide road lighting in their territory Problem Statement Since the last three decades, government at the federal and state as well as at the local level had created various policies and plans to improve public transportation especially in urban areas. To date, significant improvement on public transportation had only been seen in several main cities such as Kuala Lumpur. The difference of this city from the others is that, apart from having various mode of modern transportation such as Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Monorail System, Kuala Lumpur also have an integrated public bus system namely RapidKL which is characterized with attractive appearance, safety, standardization and reliable schedule of journeys. Kota Kinabalu, one of the developing cities in Malaysia relies predominantly on buses for public transport since the past until present time and it will likely to continue to be so for years. However, it is still not well-developed and people still perceived it as inadequate, less comfortable, less physically-attractive, non-punctual an d unsafe. The only noticeable changes is the introduction of city bus service in 2009 which is still not give big implication to the performance of public bus transportation. As an effort to make continuous improvement on public transportation, UPT-NKRA is then launched in 2009. After almost 3 years of its implementation, certain cities begin to show the improvement on their public transportation services. Based on the GTP Annual Report 2011, 470 RapidKL buses were introduced, which increased the frequency of buses across the Klang Valley. As of 31 December 2011, up to 4.04 million more passengers used the RapidKL bus service in comparison to the preceding year. According to the prime minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, results of the NKRA of improving urban public transport have been promising as more people are taking the bus as their mode of transport (Bernama, May 18, 2012). Recently, the coordinator of the working group on public transportation in Malaysia, Mr. A. Sivarajan urged the government to re-evaluate national public transport policy in order to provide a more effective and efficient system to consumers (Bernama, October 25, 2012). According to the working group, several main problem as the concentration of bus service within Kuala Lumpur, the unsafe locations of bus stops, the non-passing of bus at certain bus stops area and poor network connectivity had been identified. The above-mentioned scenario convinced the researcher of the need to analyse the government public transportation policy. Based on the assumption that the public transportation policy is vague and implicit to the other states and cities, there is a need to critically assess the policy in the context of public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. In trying to critically analyse the policy, it is equally important to explore the issues in public transportation and to examine the feedback of the various stakeholders regarding government effort to improve public transportation though its policy implementation. Research Objectives To analyse the public transportation policy regarding the public busin Kota Kinabalu To scrutinize the public transportation policy at federal, state and local level To examine the feedback of main stakeholders regarding government policy and public bus improvement in Kota Kinabalu To explore the issues associate with public transportation To recommend solutions for policy improvement purpose Research Questions In respond to the listed objectives, several questions had been formulated and will be answered through the research. The questions that take into account are: What are the government policies regarding public transportation in Kota Kinabalu? What is the position of bus in public transportation policy? How public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu develops from the policy implementation? What is the stakeholders feedback towards the implementation of public transportation policy in Kota Kinabalu? How the issues affect the implementation of public transportation policy in Kota Kinabalu? Scope of Study This study will be conducted in Kota Kinabalu. The focus is to analyse how the government policy affects public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. For the purpose of policy analysis, it will cover the period since 1990 to present. The respondents of this study will be the representative from government and other authoritative bodies such Kota Kinabalu City Hall (KKCH), Road Transport Departments, Commercial Licensing Vehicle Board (CLVB), and private bus-operators as well as public bus users. This study would be conducted from February 2012 to June 2013. Limitation of Study The first obstacle that will be confronted by the researcher is limited accessibility to the desired data. Since this research employed historical method, the access to some existed data may not be granted. For example, government documents such as budget and policy plan that is perceived consist of confidential information will not be easily given. Besides, some of required data may not be available due to poor record system such as ineffective newspaper cutting service. The absence of these sources creates difficulty in tracing the chronology and meaningful trend of the public transportation policy and progress in Kota Kinabalu. Therefore, in order to get sufficient information, the data findings will not focus to one single area only. Several places need to be visited and more key actors need to be interviewed. The second obstacle is the availability of the key person (respondent). In qualitative research that used interview method to collect the data, difficulty will arises when the respondents cancel the interview appointment due to other commitments. Some of the respondents especially those at the top level management usually busy and often going outstations. This situation will possibly caused the problem to collect and analyse the data within the time framework. Therefore, the researcher must always follow up with the respective respondents and plan the interview schedule in organized manner together with the backup plan. Significance of Study The finding of this research is important for future planning purpose. It acts as a feedback to the current public transportation policy. The policy makers will be able to decide whether to change or to maintain the status quo of the policy based on the information provided. Besides, it also will contribute to the body knowledge of public transportation literature especially in the context of Sabah. It was found that here were few studies done to analyse the public transportation policy and none of them found to discuss the topic in regards with the public bus transportation. Thus, it creates difficulty to the researchers to find convincing and strong statement to support the findings. At the same time, it will serve as a source of reference to the future researchers who seek information regarding this topic. The findings also will offer valuable information to public users as they will get cleared pictures and more understanding about the policy progress and how to improve the public bus transportation in Kota Kinabalu. Definition of Terms and Concepts Policy According to Dye (1984), public policy is defined as whatever government choose to do or not do. Dye definition is too broad to be really meaningful but by defining policy in such a way, it is possible to determine the actual or working policy of a government based on what government do or not do (Gunggut, 2006), As for him , it is not enough to look at the written documents such as laws and cabinet decisions but what is actually being done or not being done by the government. In this paper, policy refers to any action and effort the government want to do and not to do including any program, plan and project that being formulated to serve the public interest. Policy Analysis Dye (2000: 4) defined policy analysis as the description and explanation of the causes and consequences of government activities. For him, an analysis of a public policy should be exhibit a primary concern with explanation rather than prescription which is means the policy analyst should attempt to develop or test general propositions about the causes and consequences of public policy and to accumulate reliable search findings of general relevance. Public Transportation Public transportation is defined as transportation by a conveyance that provides continuing general or special transportation to the public (Tran Kleiner, 2005). It excludes school buses, charter and sightseeing service and includes various modes such as buses, subways, rail, trolleys and ferry boats (Ibid) Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT INTRODUCTION: There are many kinds of business everywhere; where there are many issues related to the growth of the company and Different strategies will enable different companies to reach those goals. Unilever is a company started in 1930 formed of Dutch Margarine Company and British based lever brothers. Unilever holds a wide range of products which include food, personal care, beverages, canned foods, ice creams and many more which are worlds best consumer brands. The case study describes a lot of information regarding Unilevers business strategies, key elements of Unilevers path to growth, how they rejuvenated and restructured the companies slow moving performance to wide range of brands across the world. BRIEF CASE STUDY: Unilever was created in 1930 as an outcome of merger with dual chairpersons and headquarters one in Netherlands and other in United Kingdom. This is of one the giant and best competitors in the industry which holds wide range of products. The two chairpersons have launched a strategy in early 2000 to recover the companys performance which was said to be lackluster. With the new strategies the company showed a significant progress and has gone through many dealings over the next years, this made the company to open 20 new acquisitions worldwide and increased the sales of the company. Thus the companys business was restructured, renovated and improved through its acquisitions. Then their came companies likes nestle which effecting the growth of Unilever. Unilever then started efforts to attract and motivate young, talented and innovative managers from outside its company. TASK 1: SWOT : A planning technique which is used for summarizing the key issues and evaluates the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) in any business is called an SWOT analysis. Analysis is the brief study of any case how they are going to be obtained, who are responsible for causing it and solving it by planning which involves internal and external factors of a business or an organization; internal factors are classified as strengths(S) or weaknesses (W) and external factors are classified as Opportunities (O) or Threats (T). Strengths are those characteristics of a person or a company that are useful to achieve the goals. Weaknesses are the characteristics of a person or a company that is destructive to achieve the objective. Opportunities and threats are the external factors that are helpful in achieving and damaging the business performance respectively. The figure1 show the illustrative diagram of SWOT analysis. The internal factors include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, etc and the external factors may include technological changes which may cause changes in products and processes that is inventing a new product or making the product better which include quality of the product and the consumer desire, market influences due to unemployment rates effect the company and price factors is one of the important thing to keep in mind , market place is one more thing which is very important that is the company or a business should be located in a convenient environment to the consumers to attract and the product should be user friendly. Another important factor is that its external appearance the packing and the name of the products should be eye catchy. At last he customer relations should be friendly and consumer satisfaction is very necessary. Other than these there are some more factors which may be changing due to econ omic and social factors and competitive positions which may create new opportunities or threats. SWOT analysis is useful in decision making when most wanted these include nonprofit organizations, individuals. It is the only method for classification and has its own weaknesses. A SWOT which produces no strategies is of no use whereas which generates important strategies is useful. Unilever had a very tough competition during that time when it was bringing about the changes it was probably at this stage that these companies had moved forward with there various strategies. Skills, assets, finance, facilities are the resources which are used in any business to compete in the industry. In the same way Unilever used their own resources to grow as giant company. They have implemented SWOT analysis and implemented new business strategies and rejuvenated their company from lack lust to significant progress in sales. It has concentrated on marketing and advertising its business and gained increased pricing with supermarket vendors. Unilever was lagging in sales when compared with nestle, Procter Gamble, Kelloggs etc its path of growth strategy which met considerable uncertainty which made Unilever to undertake a series of actions by cutting the companies profile to reach corporate goals and introduced 20 new acquisitions worldwide and restructured the company into two divisions one includes all food products and other household and personal care. Then started other two new businesses across the world. The external market factors such as technological changes, social factors, and other companies growth made a very big impact on the consumer preferences and Unilever had to cut its revenue growth. Later it continued to obtain more products across the world and these products gave managers to make their own decision making to set priorities by introducing new initiatives. Unilever has even motivated and attracted young talented managers from outside the company to join their company. According to Unilevers SWOT analysis the strengths of the company are recognized as it is a global company with strong brand profile with worlds best brands and maintains strong relation with its retailers. But coming to its weaknesses it has insufficient management of brands and doesnt not connect with customers. And inability to maximize acquisitions has reduced spending for R D. Thought it has got many opportunities by introducing many products by changing customer preferences and increase in productio n of quality goods. There are threats equally which cause decrease in revenues with high market competition, increasing the number brands and exchange rates. There are many growth expectations, risks, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is composed of many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customers preferences with challenging rival firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins. For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the profits of the company not only included shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs. There were three factors which worried in 2000, the consolidation pressures in food industry which bothered were slower growth rates in food industries, rapid consolidation among grocery markets that is between branded manufactures and private manufactures for good self space in the grocery stores. In the United States for several years the food industry was miserable and was expected to continue for few more years due to more women working and decreasing house hold sizes, single parents and singles. But the food industry in Europe, Asia, Africa and other less developed countries were attractive. Thought the competition between branded and private manufactures was a never ending issue, private manufactures improved their quality of products by growing market shares. Then there came many giant super markets and gave an opportunity for private brands with attractive prices below branded products and even provided checkout scanners to help the customers know price difference which tempt them to BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS OF UNILEVERS CASE STUDY STRENGHTS WEAKNESSESS Global company. Reduced spending for R D. Best Brands. Inability to maximize acquisitions. Strong relation with retailers. Insufficient management of brands. Dual Leadership. OPPURTUNITIES THREATS Increasing in need of quality products. Decrease in revenues. Changing customer preferences. Strong competition. Increase in brands. shift to the private brands. Due to the heavy competition among them manufactures had to cut down the costs of the products, number of versions of the products and weed out weak brands and concentrate on those brands which were popular among the customers and those could develop into global brands. Introducing dual headquarters by dividing the food industry which consisted of 6 categories and household industry which consisted of 8 categories there were many benefits such as improving food and household industry by focusing more on them regionally and globally. Accelerating decision making and successful integration of R D though there were some critics that Unilever has been paying more for some of its acquisitions such as acquire Amora Maille. Unilever as of then in 2003 had been seen as a growing organization which probably had all the necessary requirements to make it a force to recon with, during the Path to Growth strategy many aspects of the company had come out some of them included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths, probably the biggest strength that the company had at that time was the correct selection of the brands and the products it had in store unilever had done many researches and had to make many decisions to get the right combinations products that where to be sold it also had the right ideas to increase the sales and all the leading brands to help its cause. Unilever was very good at that time even if the financial aspect was taken into consideration it could experiment with various aspects of its store cause had the financial backup which was required at that time to help it implement various ideas and deal with the market pressures, for any company to improve its sales marke ting always plays a very important role this was probably there biggest strength as the marketing strategy applied by them managed to grab peoples attention as they easy to be connected to and much more simplistic and realistic. Unilever did manage all its clients very well considering that during a phase when they where cutting on the brands it would have been a risk to out anything at that time but it was very well managed by the company. Mainly the fact that unilever was now looking to make the higher range or the brands which where more famous as there core brands which made it much easier for them to advertise considering that it is much easier to promote a very well known and a trusted brand rather than a normal or new brand to increase the sales. Weaknesses, though unilever had a very good policy and all the right objectives to make a difference in the industry it couldnt happen basically due to the lack of proper organization, it was actually much like a bureaucratic organization where things where divided between too many people and it had become difficult to get the ideas moving due to the lack of proper organization, it probably all started with the fact that the company had to deal with too many brands in the first place it would obviously have the impact when the Path to Growth strategy came up cause of the then 1600 brands only 400 brands where retained and rest all where either removed or replaced, that shows that due the lack of proper organization and too many brands being part of it didnt help it in making the changes it wanted to in a better and quickest way. The organization was probably one field in which the company was lacking because it was felt that at the top of the company as there were too many people mak ing decisions and these decisions had to be put forward and this delayed the process of improvement for the company. Opportunities, during this phase of development and renewing it content and upgrading of the stock it turned out to be very fruitful as it provided many working opportunities for people it was at that time that many people where starting to get full time work, during this phase a lot of acquisition also took place with the major brands which resulted in some alterations in plans to that which were planned. SlimFast which is a private company is another acquisition of Unilever after implementing path to growth strategy in 2000 the company bargained an agreement to purchase slimfast diet foods. It had strong sales and network and has a special space in every super market and drugstores these products were made from natural ingredients and added vitamins and minerals to provide good nutritional profile. It also maintained a very good relationship with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. Unilever has concentrated more on this Slimfast since the company was growing fast and attracted the customers to buy more of it for healthier and long living life .Management of Unilever utilized the opportunity to globalize the product in other countries like Europe, Australia due to increase in the percent of obese. According to the world health organization percent of the obese was increasing gradually. UNILEVERS TOP COMPETITORS ? Figure: Competitors Performance Comparison http://finance.aol.com/company/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors Ben Jerrys acquisitions which produces one of the finest ice creams anywhere in pint cartons and wholesale at groceries. Their sales slogan was Vermont finest All Natural Ice cream. They never use any artificial flavors thought the cost is little more it is worth the price. According to the time magazine Vermont makes the best ice cream in the world with 29 flavors in pint cartons and 45 flavors in bulk cartons. There products were distributed throughout the world. On demand Ben jerry operated three manufacturing plants where Vermont plant produces super premier ice cream and frozen yogurts where as spring field produces ice cream, lot fat ice creams in bulk, pint cartons and half gallons. Dreyers and Haagen-Dazs were the two major competitors of Ben jerry and other competitors were Colombo frozen yogurts, Kemps ice cream and star bucks. Ben Jerry produces a wide range of ice creams products like sticks, bars, frozen yogurt pops etc. Though Haagen- Dazs was the global market leader followed by Ben jerry it had an insignificant market share in United States where as Haagen- Dazs was more significantly sold in foreign markets. Both Ben jerry and Haagen-Dazs produced ice creams with cookies and candies in it. Bestfoods was a global company across the world almost in 60 countries which was busy in manufacturing and marketing the food products. Bestfoods profits are almost from outside of the United States that is almost 60 percent of its profits. It is one of the best managed food companies among United States who has much number of employees working with in their company in which half of them were at non US locations. The company increased payments for 14 successive years has its revenues grow by7.8 percent annual rate and suddenly slow downed during the period of 1997 and 1999. Then the company introduced a strategy with four core elements. Globalization of the companys core consumers: Products which are new in the market are needed to be globalized that is the products which are less popular among the consumers, are needed to be advertised and market those products to increase its sales and profits of those products. Few such products are knorr product line, salad dressing and food service operations. The advertising of such kind of products was done very well in order to get those products globally recognized and be accepted among many big brands and soon they became household names. Improvement in cost effectiveness: With changing customer preference the quality of the products must be improved and therefore there should also be improvement in cost effectiveness as the quality improves cost increases. Cost effectiveness is nothing but it is a way by which you show to a customer that a certain is product is worth using or is better than other product or the money u spend on it is worth it. Cost effectiveness in simple would be defined as showing the worth of the product. Looking for new market opportunities: Extending the product sales all over the world via new product introductions and extending sales of the products which are existed in the market. It is very important for any company to be always alert and look for opportunities to extend the business to a large scale and see it in a bigger picture based on the opportunities it gets. Using free cash to make new acquisition: With expanding the products and brands company has created 60 acquisitions in the global market. After struggling a lot in June 2000 best foods agreed to be acquired by Unilever. Best foods were the largest acquisition undertaken by Unilever by as far as concerned and which makes a largest combination of food companies in 12 years. Management of Unilever believed that combining and assimilating bestfoods would result in pre tax cost saving, better efficiencies in business process, synergy in distribution marketing, reformation of general and administrative functions and improved economies of scale. By creating robust business in United States market, increasing strengths of Unilever and best foods in Europe, building of best foods in Latin America to speed up the growth of Unilever brands, by distributing strengths in Asia- pacific to grow and sped up Bestfoods brands and increasing the sales of Unilever products by food service channel of Bestfoods. The work culture was so casual to make the atmosphere fun and lively with communication between the management and employees. The company respected the employees suggestions and respected them even paid the employees a reasonable salary Finally Unilever has announced sale of Bestfoods Backing Company to Canadian food and super market group known as George Weston for $ 1.76billion though Unilever declared to divest Bestfoods Baking Company and Unilever other products and bakery products does not exit any more at Unilever. Bestfoods has 19plans across the United States with a strong management team and was entirely US based. It was one of the best distributing for delivering the baked products which are really baked fresh and sent directly to the retail stores. With its dedication and hard work Bestfoods sales has increased its profit margins by 8 percent. Later again Unilever announced to sell 19 Bestfood brands across North America to ACH food companies which is a supplementary of Associated British Food. By successfully combining the operations of bestfoods with Unilever by the year end of 2003 the two companies had been merged in 63countries across the world TASK 2: Path to Growth: Path to growth strategy was initiated in 2000 and was restructured for several years for better and significant results. The key elements of this Unilevers path to growth strategy were cutting down its brands from 1600 brands to 400core brands to achieve top line sales and increase profits by advertising the brands which are more popular and leading brands across the world and concentrating on R D. Another important key element was divesting underperforming brands and theirs companies and introducing more innovated things to enhance the internal development of the organization and making new acquisitions. Unilevers years of slow performance and its lack of corporate strategy in the competition industry with low number of brands and ordinary performance in growing markets with a little global presence made to create a path to growth strategy which was a 5 year growth plan which made them to concentrate on more brands and product innovations for internal and external growth of the company. And made the company to grow with acquisitions. According to FitzGerald and Bergmans path to growth strategy they predicted to manufacture double digit wages per share growth and superior positions. Focusing on the key brands by advertising and marketing made business grow higher and build brand value and increased brands prices. The case study shows Unilever as a global company according to SOWT analysis after introducing the path to growth strategy the company had really increased its sales and with introducing more number of acquisitions and cutting down the cost of revenues. As the acquisitions like Slimfast, Ben jerry and best foods were rapidly growing their market across the world building a very strong profile and providing customers attractive products and offers. Slim fast has 20%anual growth rate with strong sales and distribution all over the world and also maintained good customer relation. Where Ben jerry was worlds giant ice cream products and yogurt maker with strong brand equity. Bestfoods was USs 10 largest foo d products company with a strong global position. The two key elements of the Unilevers new business strategy was to cut down on the number of brands that were being sold or being marketed by the company, at that time Unilever was operating with as many as 1600 brands and much more products due to this the cut down on the number of products and brands was considered, the 1600 brands that where part of the company were cut down to as many as 400 core brands, the core brands mostly included all the famous and popular brands which are generally very popular among people, this idea came up as to make sure that the products where sold and by doing this it would not be much of a problem for the marketi8ng of these products as most of these brands where already day to day and very famous brands which people would generally prefer buying, which would mean that it would take much less an effort to connect to the people and more over the marketing was also done in such a way that people where able to connect to it very easily, the other key e lement of the unilevers strategy was to remove all the underperforming companies or brands and introduce some other new brands or companies in order to enhance the internal development of the organization and make new acquisitions which would enhance the sales of the company and make it more likable for the people this strategy was designed to increase the sales of the company and get rid of the companies which where not much in demand . Weaknesses according to SWOT analysis showed the company has dual leadership, insufficient management of brands and reduced R D after all this slow performance and small global presence the management has introduced path to growth strategy, which increased the company sales with cutting down it costs and introducing more acquisitions resulted in globalizing the company. As a result there were few expectations to achieve a double digit growth and securing a better position in global market for food and household products by increasing the quality of the product to gain pricing power and attract more customers. But according to the strategy plan the targets which were set was really high that is top line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually, increasing profits, and plan to complete by the end of 2004. If we look and analyze the path to growth strategy we can tell whether the strategy is working or not, we can say that it is working by its success rates and increase in profits and increase in brands and acquisitions that is the consumer preferences have changed due to which the products quality has changed and prices have changed the leading brands sales have increased from 75 percent to 93 percent. Food and personal care industry have increased its profits consistently. Operating assets have also improved by 9 percent. Acquisitions like slim fast, Ben jerry and best foods have gradually improved its growth and established its acquisitions all over the world. But the other side it is completely not yes, Unilever was gaining profits significantly after introducing new strategies but it was losing too yes it reported a net loss of $318M as the competitions was increasing and new brands were coming in to the market and rivals were introducing new strategies to compete Unilever. In th e year 2004 sales grew only by .4 percent leading brands by .9 percent so this proves that Unilever was lagging behind competitors in terms of innovation and advertising. Unilevers lack of advertising and marketing failed to improve sales. The company was small and not globalized. In this case Unilever attracted the new young talented manages to join their company with innovated ideas to increase its company profits by new methods of advertising and marketing. To justify Unilever strategies it maintained dual headquarters and dual chairpersons which reduced effective thinking and slow downed the decision making. Unilever is divided into Unilever Plc and Unilever NV. This made Unilever to focus on the needs of the customers and increase its sales profits in various industries like food, personal case, and household industries all over the world. As customers demand the products which are of the best quality and branded but at the same time convenient, cheap and attractive. The market for household products have been decreased its profits as the numbers of single parents have been increased and the rate of females working out have been increased and the demand for the healthy and high quality food has been increased. The consumers preference of the products such as its look, quality of the product and nutritional values has been increased by providing a strong competition against its giant competitors and private manufactures. This allows Unilever to focus on the need of its customers by increasing its sales. In 2003 Unilever executing its path to growth strategy by increasing its operating margins to over 15percent, but the sales of the leading brands growth as slowdown and raised questions among the investors and retailers that whether company brands could deliver some 5-6 percent of growth in revenues in the next coming years. TASK 3: Unilevers current business Strategies: Ever since the ‘Path to Growth strategy ended in 2005 there has been a 15% increase in the sales and development in the overall progress of Unilever. After the ‘Path to Growth came to an end a new process was developed by Unilever called as the Brand Imprint which helped the marketing teams in understanding how the business could face risks as well as opportunities from the social, economic and environmental issues. In this process each brand was scrutinized by a team looking into various aspects of it such as the direct as well the indirect impacts of the product, it also checked how the brand would go ahead in the future looking at the products possibilities of growth both from a customer and a stakeholders point of view. The outcome of the Brand Imprint is that the process has helped in making important decisions for the company keeping the future in perspective it also developed in addressing social missions, social and environmental issues. The Brand Imprint provided a perfect experience to find some systematic and measurable ways to explore different brands and improve the brands by addressing social issues, helping people the product well and reducing the environmental issues. When the S.W.O.T analysis was done on the ‘Path to Growth strategy many different aspects of the strategy where scrutinized using the SWOT analysis in which it dealt with many aspects such as the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats that are being faced. After the analysis it came out that it had been very useful to determine the various aspects attached to it. Unilever for years had been a slow developing company, though the company had the right infrastructure and the capital but it couldnt utilize it properly that was basically the reason why the path to growth and various other strategies where starting to come up to help the company to increase the sales of the products and improve the business. Path to growth played a major part in the development of the company. The Path to Growth strategy did prove to be quite a useful thing considering the fact that during this period almost all of the unsuccessful brands where removed or replaced and the brands which where trusted and kept managed to increase the sales by 75% to 93%. Unilevers growth was considerably slow during this phase because the company was at that stage making very drastic changes and for these changes to come up and make a difference was something unexpected but the companys growth was obvious in certain fields thanks to the new strategies that had come in to improve the sales of the company so as to improve the business of the company. It was due to the fact that the company probably took way too much time u started and implement its plans that it caused the success to be not as higher as expected. Many business analysts and commentators felt that most of the strategies of the path to growth where working fine but there was always a speculation that what ever progress was talking place was happening too slow considering the competition the market was in with at that time, it was also felt that as the basic functionality of the business was spread among way too many people made the management way to complex and it would have been better off if it was simpler. It did work out fine when it came to the advertising of the product and getting it known to the people as it was more public oriented and it used the sources to the full extent to connect to the people. It did experience a drastic growth during that period as the analysis had proved that the company had the highest growth percentage as compared to any other company during that period it did bring in high profits to the company but looking at the whole picture it did prove to be a huge loss for the company considering the fa ct that they faced a countable loss in the revenue margin and that proved to be the difference, though it did have the right amount of sales and customers due to the slowness of there analysis to sort out and remove or replace the stuff did make a difference to analysis in the larger picture. But the company did grow during that time which might as well have effected the revenue cause many new store where started and large number of employees where starting to be employed on a full time basis. It did do quite well on the international market as well. By looking at the way the company had grown during this stage is quite remarkable many business analysts and commentators had felt that they probably had the right scheme of action because during that time they where handling 1600 brands and which was way too much and among those were quit few brands which hardly made any diff to the company so then the whole idea of brands cut based on the market outlook and sales reports was looked into to classify as to which of the products or brands where fast selling and which had the scope to sell more. It was that idea to cut down on the number of brands and start promoting only few brands which where much easier to be marketed and which where more likable by the people by which it would increase the sales and also make the marketing of these products easier cause when you are promoting bigger brands which are often very well known to public would mean that u don have to spend much on the marketing. Did the company experience growth during this period? Yes, would be the right thing to say voiding the minor things which might effect the outcome but it did see the light of success though slowly and there process and ideas where starting to get implemented in a better way and in a more successful way to deal with the growth of the company, the process of cutting down on the under selling companies was probably the decision that started to turn the tide for the company as it was when the losses where starting to be covered and it was mor