Revlon Case Study

Revlon is known as one of the best cosmetic companies of all time and is considered to be one of the worlds largest. The primary core products of Revlon are specialty skin products, salon-quality beauty and hair products to include its drugstore line of makeup. Revlon is based in New York and traded publicly. Their goal and vision has been to consistently provide quality beauty aids and products at a reasonable price. In the last few years Revlon has been struggling. With a debt almost at $2. 3 billion it has required the cosmetic giant to try and figure ways to reduce this debt.The research and development of Vital Radiance, a line of cosmetics for older women was announced on January 2006, this roll out was suppose to help revitalize sales and profit. The roll out of this product did not fare well and was not received by the market. The already existing competition had lower prices for their cosmetic products. These were being sold by major retailers like Wal-greens and Wal-mart, w hom already had other Revlon products on its shelves. This being the case the product line was suspended nine months after being introduced. It is projected that this set back is going to cost the company in the $100 millions.In addition to the Vital Radiance launch, there had been plans to release a new fragrance in 2006 also. This was delayed until the debt that was incurred from their cosmetic introduction could be restructured. After issuing a $185 million in stock to attempt to raise money to lessen the debt, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings agreed to purchase stock and also agreed to purchase any stock not bought by current stakeholders. The following paragraphs below we will discuss how the future of Revlon is going to be determined by changes in demographic changes, social trends and how the competition adjust to the urrent economy and the response of internal factors that contribute to the success of the company. The demographic composition of the United States has impacted the cosmetic and personal care industry. A couple of major changes which have occurred that need to be considered, are the aging population and ethnic and racial population changes which are responsible for a major shift change. The period between 1946 and 1964 approximately 75 million Americans were born in the U. S. this number is extremely symbolic for the cosmetic industry.These Americans are referred to as the baby boomers and the major dilemma with the baby boomers they do not like to spend money. Research has determined that the baby boomer generation have not changed how they spend money and the women from this era are working longer than in past years. A couple of other factors to consider is the U. S. teen market along with the ethnic and racial make-up. According to data collected the teen market is expected to be at around 20 million by 2010, this teen market consist of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 19.Along with this growth is the African Americans which is the larg est of the ethnic groups is quickly being surpassed by the Hispanic population and this ethnic group is expected to be the largest by 2010 and should surpass 40. 5 million individuals. In addition to this multi-cultural growth being experienced throughout the United States, the non-hispanic is expected to shrink 68% by 2010. If Revlon can take advantage of this growth and expand to the foreign markets where analysis has shown that there will be a lot of opportunities for potential sales of cosmetic and personal care products throughout the world.Obviously with when there are positive aspects in business, there is always some type of negative influence that could potentially affect the overall business climate and growth of a company. In regards to Revlon, people are more socially, morally and fiscal conscious more than ever before. Older people unfortunately are a negative affect because they typically have limited less disposable income and have a less desire for look good items, t hey are set in their ways. Gas prices affect how people spend also and lastly the industry has always been under scrutiny for the abuse of animals that are used in cosmetic testing.So companies like Revlon have to always be very aware that consumer watch groups are constantly monitoring what companies like Revlon are doing. Knowing this and maintaining social responsibility, will prevent companies like Revlon from being run through the courts thereby ruining their reputation and any potential growth to get out debt. Considering all these factors it behooves Revlon to really push the world markets so as not to limit themselves to U. S. sales, which currently is experiencing a recession which has decreased the dollar value throughout the world, so by taking advantage or global business and maintaining U.S. sales Revlon should be able to show a positive net income in the near future. Revlon like many other cosmetic and skin care firms face competition in this industry that is out of th is world. So many companies want a piece of this market, that it appear to be saturated with all types of cosmetic companies. Women, obviously the largest consumer in the industry with men now desiring to maintain their youth prefer to shop at local drugstores, super values stores like Wal-mart and Kmart.Additional companies like Avon and the internet have made it easier for the consumer to save time and money by using these types of sales. For Revlon, not only do companies, home shopping and door to door type cosmetic firms, represent competition, but the major competitors such Procter and Gamble, Avon, Estee Lauder and L’Oreal are significant, that capture U. S. sales and foreign market sales. Others like specialty stores Sephora and Body Shop to include Victoria Secret’s and the Gap to name a few represent additional challenges.To add to the challenges currently facing Revlon, there is competition for the African market. Famous models and singers alike have develope d their own brands and capturing portions of the African market and advertise to the African American community. By studying and analyzing the cosmetic market it is essential for Revlon to look to other avenues to make themselves more attractive to the consumer. By investing into the company increasing their visibility in the social realm will be significant in attracting a larger consumer base.Revlon invested a great deal of money on research and how to provide better services to women. More than $25 million dollars has been spent thus far. Additionally by using familiar faces to assist in amplifying Revlon’s commitment to social responsibility they are attracting more people. Singers like Sheryl Crow, who actively participates on a board for Revlon that is responsible for research cures for cancer in addition Ms Crow being associated with the National Breast Cancer Coalition, which is also supported by Revlon truly magnifies the maturity of the firm to help the ommunity. Re vlon is committed to events that sponsor fund raising opportunities to find cures in addition to supporting agencies like the National Council of Negro Women, and New York Women in film is indicative to the commitment to social responsibility. The reorganization of management to save money annually has been implemented by David Kennedy who is the CEO and was selected in 2006. His previous experience as Coca-Cola executive and the previous CFO for Revlon made him a perfect fit for a company under stress.His plan to cut 8% of the Revlon workforce, which equates to about 250 positions, which is intended to save the company approximately $34 million dollars a year. By consolidating different functions throughout the company and reducing middle management allows for eht reduction in personnel. However, without a doubt when a company plans to save money, they have to spend money to get there. It is estimated that it will cost about $29 million dollars to restructure but as previously stat ed it is intended to save the company $34 million dollars annually thereafter.Once implemented it is essential to go after the market by changing or reorganizing marketing techniques. Marketing and advertising are key to the survival of Revlon. Revlon primary customers are the large merchandisers and chain drug stores. Although the debt is high Revlon has still maintained the development side of its organization and is still is main objective. Without changing, developing and designing they would fall behind the major competitors. In 2006 Revlon spent a little over $24 million dollars on research and development, but most importantly hired 170 people to accomplish this.Even through trying times, advertising continues to be the way to go and promote the company. Investing in popular faces to be spokespersons such as Halle Berry, Julianne Moore and Eva Mendez, etc. , is attractive to the consumer and by using a variety of women of different ages markets their products to young and mid dle aged alike. The current manufacturing and distribution of Revlon has allowed the company to pull their resources and consolidate facilities.By reducing the amount of distribution facilities has allowed for spoke and hub operations, which allows a company to cover more locations from a single vantage point. With its current locations Revlon is well suited to manage its distribution points. The financial outlook during the restructuring period did not fare well with a net loss of $50 million dollars due to this the restructuring program is ongoing. Revlon’s commitment to build a solid brand and improve their organizational commitment abilities is their life line.

Book Report †Middle School Series Essay

Rafe Khatchadorian has enough issues around his family life, without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he’s got an incredible plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off. With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school’s Code of Conduct. Having gum in class scores him 5,000 points, running through the hallways, another 10,000 points and pulling the fire alarm, 50,000 points! But not everyone thinks that Rafe’s game is a good idea, especially the teachers, parents and other students at the school, so he’ll have to decide if winning is all that matters, or if he’s finally ready to face the rules, bullies, and truths he’s been avoiding. http://www.jamespatterson.com/books_middleSchool.php#.UWY9FFdstN4 Middle School the Worst Years of My Life is written by James Patterson and is a realistic fiction book that takes you through the journey of Rafe’s first year at middle school, dealing with the awkwardness of crushes, bullies, and family issues as he tries to break every rule in the school’s Code of Conduct. The book features many different pictures that tell you what’s going on as well, and is considered a graphic novel. Middle School the Worst Years of my Life received a critical acclaim from the most reviewers, it won the YALSA 2012’s Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers award and James Patterson got nominated for the Children’s Book Council’s Author of the Year award. James has written well over 50 books, a lot of them being in series, and has won many awards. Middle School the Worst Years of My Life is the first book in the Middle School series. The setting of the Middle School series is in middle school. There is no specific day or time that this book is set in, other than it being during middle school. A lot of the time the rules that are broken are broken within the school timing, but there are one or two rules that get broken out of school times. I think the setting has been chosen well, and believed it suited the book well. The novel starts with Rafe entering sixth grade at Hills Village Middle School. Beginning the new school year with a negative mindset means that Rafe starts the year bored and believes that ‘it was a prison Pilgrims back then, but not too much has changed. Now it’s a prison for sixth, seventh and eighth graders.’ Rafe quickly understands that he will be stuck in middle school for 3 years, and invents â€Å"Operation R.A.F.E.† with his best friend Leonardo the Silent. The plan was to break every single rule in the schools handbook. He also has to put up with the issues in his home life. His mum is always working double shifts at a diner and never gets time with her children, Rafe, and Rafe’s younger sister, Georgia. He has a verbally abusive stepfather (Bear) who looks after him when his mother is away. Then, there’s Jeanne Galletta, who Rafe is madly in love with. Jeanne is a doubtful of Rafe’s plan and wishes he would spend more time on school work then his games. Operation R.A.F.E’s consequences consists of many detentions with his English teacher, Ms. Donatello. This creates tension between Rafe’s family, and after having a fight with Bear about Leonardo and how he is a bad influence on Rafe, we discover that Leonardo is Rafe’s imaginary friend. Rafe’s actions eventually lead to bad grades, getting himself suspended, and then forced to be tutored by Jeanne, whom he had been trying to avoid because she doesn‘t like him. While the tension in the family gets stronger, Bear throws Rafe’s mother to the ground and moves out, Rafe gets expelled for spraying graffiti on the school walls, but Ms. Donatello see’s the potential artist within him and comes up with the idea to send him to art school. The final part of the book reveals that Leonardo is Rafe’s dead twin brother. An exciting part of the novel is when Rafe graffiti’s the school wall at four in the morning. ‘The next morning, I left a note for Mom saying that I had to go to school extra early to work on a project, which was basically true. I just left out the part about how early meant four in the morning and project meant highly illegal activity. â€Å"You’re not going to regret this,† Leo kept telling me. The way he saw it, the whole point of Operation R.A.F.E. was about breaking rules, so why should I let a little thing like losing the game stop me from doing the part I’d been looking forward to the most? Like I said before – genius†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦I unpacked my new flat black marker, a big old camping flashlight, and some of my latest practice sketches. I’d drawn these ones on graph paper, which is kind of like a brick wall, to show me how big everything would need to be. But Leo was feeling impatient, â€Å"You don’t need those anymore,† he said. â€Å"The clock’s ticking. Stop thinking so much and just go.† So I did. I set up the flashlight on a rock so that it was shining right at the wall. Then I picked up my marker and started. It was king of slow-moving at the beginning. I wasn’t sure what to draw first, or what order to do things in. But the more I kept going, the more I got into it, and then somewhere along the way everything started to flow†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.After a while I was running around like crazy, working over here, working over there and getting up on an old trash can to reach the higher parts when I needed to. The whole thing started to get so big that I felt like I was inside it, even while I was still drawing. It was like Leo had said – I wasn’t thinking anymore. I was just doing it, like the marker was just another part of me, and the lines and shapes and pictures were coming right out of my hand.’ After a while, the police show up, and are surprised that a kid had done all that work, but then again, it was illegal, so into the cop car went Rafe and Leo. I like this part of the novel because I felt as if I was in the actual scene. It was as if I was Leo and I was scared we’d get caught. This scene, although it’s short, it was intense. You didn’t want Rafe to get caught, but you wanted to know what would have happened when he got caught. I just believe that the way this chapter/scene has been written makes it believable and makes you feel like you’re there. The style of this novel is average pace. The novel begins out very slowly, and it doesn’t have much meaning, but once the novel gets a fair way into it, the drama begins, and the pace slowly picks up. At the end of the novel, things get more intense and more happens in a shorter amount of time, and by the end of the novel, so much has happened, that it takes a while to comprehend what has happened, but you realise that James wrote it that way for a reason, and to me, that reason was so that he could have a short book, that had a lot in it, and might eventually be able to make a movie, much like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. The Worst Years of my Life uses a lot of slang humour, but not so much that it’s over powering, it’s just enough that it creates the characteristics of the book. A genre is the category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. There are several genre’s the feature in this novel, some more than others. The genres that feature heavily in Middle School the Worst Years of My Life are: Comedy Humour Drama The genre that is featured in the book, but not as heavily is romance. Have you ever had a crush on someone and had them not like you back? Romance is a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love. Rafe Khatchadorian discovers his feelings for Jeanne Galletta on one of his first days at school. They were all sitting in the school gym and she was one of the candidates for the student council representatives and part way through or speech, she offers to buy Rafe fries later that day, and that’s when he knew he liked her. Towards the end of the novel, Rafe’s grades start to go downhill and the school as well as his Mum think it’s a good idea to get some extra help. Little did Rafe know that his dream girl Jeanne was going to be his tutor. Even though Rafe is a teenage boy who likes girls, middle school would not be any good without a sense of humor or a comedian mixed into the scene. The biggest class clown in the school is here, and his name? Rafe Khatchadorian. A class clown is the funniest person in the class who often gets in trouble. Rafe’s first year at middle school is spent trouble making and trying to make people laugh, but not everyone thinks that his plan to break every rule in the Code of Conduct. Miller the Killer was the school bully, and his new prey is Rafe. Throughout Rafe’s middle school year, he comes into conflict with Miller many times. The biggest thing that happens to Rafe because of Miller the Killer is when he discovers Rafe’s notebook with all the Operation R.A.F.E. (Rules Aren’t For Everyone) and makes Rafe buy each page back off of him for a dollar a page, but Rafe discovers Miller’s plan with the notebook early on, and it isn’t pretty. Miller the Killer enjoys making Rafe’s first year at middle school hell, but Rafe enjoys the humorous side of school. School is tough on everyone, so what’s the best way to get through? Have fun! And that’s what Rafe intends to do by breaking all the rules in the Code of Conduct and earning himself points. The catch is, he only gets given three lives, and if he breaks all three, the games over. All the seriousness aside, Rafe gives himself, and Leo a good laugh. The funniest scene in the book to me was when Rafe decides to break the schools dress code, and he was given the best chance to do this with Halloween just around the corner. Leo knew that it would only be a matter of time before Rafe was caught by a teacher, so Leo was giving him 10,000 points for every 50 yards of the school he covered in his costume. Rafe ran, as fast as he could in all black, with a pocket full of Cheerios as throwing stars, and nunchucks made from paper towel roles with rope knotted at either end. Yep, you guessed it. Rafe was a ninja. ‘I came tearing out of that bathroom at full speed and just kept running – through the first floor (10,000!), up the stairs (10,000!), down the second floor hall past all the lockers (10,000!), throwing Cheerios and swinging my nunchucks like crazy.’ Right before he got caught, Miller the Killer was right in his aim. ‘I made sure my mask was pulled down tight over my face. Then I took a big windup as I went by, and beaned him upside the head with one of the chucks (10,000!). â€Å"What the – ?† Miller turned the wrong way, just as I passed him. By the time he’d figured out where I came from and where I was headed, I’d already left him in the dust. He was twice as big as me, but I was twice as fast. Eat it, Miller!’ And then it happened. Caught right in the act. Yep, a teacher saw him†¦ Well, he ran into the teacher. Games over Rafe. ‘And then – splam! I ran right into Mrs. Stricker. Literally. Let’s just say, she wasn’t in the mood for wrestling.’ But Rafe had another plan and it was going to earn him double points. ‘I went into the bathroom and came out a minute later without my ninja costume, running just as fast as before. Some kids got out of my way. Some even ran in the other direction. A few of the girls screamed when I cam2 through, but I don’t think they meant it. And a few people even yelled stuff like â€Å"Go, Rafe, go!† and â€Å"Don’t let ‘em get you!† Because, like I said, I wasn’t wearing my ninja costume anymore. In fact, I wasn’t wearing much of anything at all.’ No, he wasn’t naked, but he wasn’t wearing much†¦ ‘Just sneakers, a pair of boxers, and a big old smile.’ Boy, did Rafe get in big trouble for that, but on the other hand, he did earn himself a lot of points! Rafe loves making people laugh, and I believe that the reason he does it isn’t for other people, but he does it to make himself feel good. I belie ve that the main theme in this novel is coming of age and growing up into a better person in a way. To me, I think this means that by using the resources that are around you (family, friends etc.) to become the person you are supposed to be. For Rafe, this is trying to get over his prank, funny, humorous stage, and into the more serious schooling stage. This can be hard for some people, especially when they don’t get along with their family, and when their only friend is in their imagination, but by the end of the book, Rafe has realised that even though he isn’t academically smart, he does have a gift with art, which sees him going to art school. Love is also in the novel, as Rafe discovers Jeanne Galletta, but it doesn’t impact on the story as much as growing up does. The main characters in the book are: Rafael (Rafe) Khatchadorian – Rafe is the trouble maker in the story who is in his first year at Hills Village Middle School. Rafe is important because without him, there is no story. I like this character because he makes the book fun. Even though he isn’t an actual person, this character has a funny personality and a childish sense of humour. I believe that James Patterson has described this character well. Georgia Khatchadorian – Georgia is Rafe’s annoying little sister who likes to be in everyone’s business and know what’s going on in Rafe’s life, especially when he is in trouble. She is also the family tattletale and always dobs Rafe in when she catches him doing something wrong. Even though Georgia annoys Rafe a lot, he also protects her, which is like all siblings love-hate relationships. I like her because I think I can relate to her because I am the younger sister in my family, and I like to annoy my older brother, but I also know that he will always be there for me. I think that Georgia is a main character in this story because she is a part of Rafe’s home issues because she never leaves him alone and always wants to know what’s going on in his life. Carl AKA Bear – Bear is Georgia and Rafe’s, abusive, rude, obese stepdad who can be found on the couch. Bear is often yelling at Rafe after school. He also argues with Mrs. Khatchadorian, Rafe and Georgia’s mum, and one argument let Bear to accidently push her down the front steps, and when the police show up, it doesn’t look good for Carl. I don’t like him at all! He’s so rude and obnoxious, and I would hate to have a step parent as bad as him. Leonardo (Leo) the Silent – Leo is Rafe’s best friend, who we later discover is in his imagination. We also later find out that Leo was Rafe’s twin brother who died when he was still a baby. I think that Leo is the glue that holds everything together. He helps Rafe with school, with home, and he gives him the motivation to keep going when things get tough. I really like Leo the Silent because even though he isn’t real, he is the perfect best friend. Jeanne (Jay-Gee) Galletta – Jeanne is Rafe’s crush. He is madly in love with her, but she is also the goody-two-shoes of the school, and she hates Operation R.A.F.E. I like her but I don’t. I feel like she tries too hard to be a good student, and doesn’t give herself enough freedom, which is why I don’t like her. I think that being a teenager, or getting to that stage means that you can manage school and social life, and to me, it’s like she has no social life. She’s important in the story because as we get older, we start to see people in different ways, and we start to like them, and I believe that Jeanne is important because without her, it’s not a real adolescent’s life. Ms. Donatello AKA the Dragon Lady – Ms. Donatello is Rafe’s English teacher, as well as his detention buddy. Even though she is strict and can get aggravated easily, she also has Rafe’s best interest at heart and wouldn’t help him if she didn’t believe he was better than what he shows. I like her because I have had plenty of teachers that are hard on me, but they do it because they want what’s best, and without that push, we wouldn’t grow and evolve as people. I understand why Rafe doesn’t particular like her, but teachers always want what’s best, and he will eventually see that. Miller AKA Miller the Killer – Miller is the school bully, hence the name ‘Miller the Killer.’ He is constantly giving Rafe a hard time throughout his first year at middle school, and without the school bully, school wouldn’t be school. There is always that one person that puts people down to make themselves feel good, although not a lot of bullies take kids lunch money, but hurt them mentally, or even physically. I don’t like Miller because I believe that he hurts people because he can and he needs to get disciplined. Without Miller, or a bully in the book, it wouldn’t be like school life, so I can understand why James Patterson included him in it. I’m not much of a reader, but I really enjoyed this book, and I found it easy to understand and comprehend because of the little sketches throughout the book. This book is much like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and I believe it is aimed at the same kind of age group. I think that I was too old to read this novel, but I didn’t find it so easy that I could just read it in a day, but not hard enough that it took me forever to read. It was a good balance, so I would suggest it for kids 13 years old and younger, somewhere between 9 and 13. To be honest, it was a good book, but it could have been made longer so not everything happened at once towards the end. In general, it was a good read, and I would recommend it to younger kids who enjoy having a good laugh and getting into trouble.

How Ot Manage Stress

How to manage stress When it comes to how to manage stress, there are loads of methods to deal with this problem. Today, with the increasing number of people getting overwhelmed pressure on their study or job, more and more people are paying their attention to how to solve stress problem more effectively. In this essay, we are going to talk about how to manage people’s stress physically and emotionally. 1. How to manage stress physicallyEngaging with people’s pressure in physical method means to do some regular physical exercise or sport in order to reduce stress, such as yoga, walking, gardening or any other physical exercise that people like. The purpose is to make people have time and space to release themselves into a peaceful relaxation. The following method will show that. 1. 1Regular Exercise Doing some regular exercise such as Yoga, gardening, working, jogging or any other physical activities that people like after work or study are able to lower people’s heart rates, blood pressure and oxygen consumption (Treven, Treven, Zizek, 2011).In addition, it also will let your physical body into a state of peaceful relaxation. 1. 2 A Deep Breath This is the simplest method to deal with stress that people have. All people need to do is climbing a top of the mountain, then have a sit, try to get rig of all the trouble inside your mind. 2. How to manage stress emotionally 2. 1 Release of Emotions The reason why a plenty of people who are suffer from the overwhelmed pressure is that they always keep their stress inside mind instead of pouring it out. So at this point, people need toâ€Å"letting off some steam†(Donvan, 1991), which means expressing emotion to others.Communication with closed friends or colleague is a good way to heal issue of pressure, on the other hand, people are also able to chat with parents and family relatives, who are understand each other easily than anyone. Under this circumstance, people would put themselves in to harmony surroundings, so the pressure will disappear immediately. 2. 2 Getting assistance from the social support Firstly, people could search help from the professional institution which focus on studying on stress. In this manner, people will find out their original issue of pressure as soon as possible, and then listen advises from the professional experts.In addition, marriage is also a way to deal with manage, according to the survey from a double who all earn money, women with spouse will heal quicker from the daily stress than the woman who don’t have one(Novotney,2008 as cited in Treven, Treven, Zizek,2011 ). 2. 3 Letting go Mostly, people will feel stressful because of the heavy workload, Andrew Weil, the natural health guru, said thatâ€Å"individual should get rid of what he can spare†(Wei, 1997 as cited in Treven, Treven, Zizek,2011 ), which means people should throw away the unimportant things, people should make their life more simpler and easier inste ad of being complicated.Conclusion In general, it is divided into two separated section about how to manage stress, physically and emotionally. Taking a deep breath at a high place and engaging some regular exercise belong to physically section. Releases emotions, getting help from professional and throw away the unimportant things belong to emotional section. People should select the proper technique for managing stress wisely according their own needs.

Segmentation and Targeting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Segmentation and Targeting - Research Paper Example According to the book entitled â€Å"Principles of Marketing,† the primary method of evaluating a company’s marketing strategies is by way of SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). According to the article entitled â€Å"Marketing at McDonalds,† the company’s strengths lies in its brand and the extensive marketing research that the company performs (â€Å"Marketing at McDonalds†, 2011). Additionally, the company’s main opportunity is the continued population growth which provides more customers (â€Å"Marketing at McDonald’s,†2011). The weakness of the company is the brand maturity which means that as the company ages, they still need to make important changes in order to keep up with the competition (â€Å"Marketing at McDonald’s,† 2011). Finally, the threats to McDonalds include the growing health awareness and the connection between fast food and obesity as well as competition from other fast food establishments (â€Å"Marketing at McDonald’s, †2011). Perhaps the genius behind McDonalds lies in the fact that there does not appear to be a specific target market when it comes to advertising and marketing. The book â€Å"Principles of Marketing† defines a target market as a â€Å"set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve†(Kotler and Armstrong, 2010). For some companies, there is a very specific target market that they are trying to reach. McDonalds, on the other hand, markets to all different types of races, languages, and lifestyles. The only common need that the consumers all appear to share is that of wanting affordable, tasty, and quick food. Therefore, these are the elements that McDonalds must play up within their marketing mix. According to the article entitled â€Å"Marketing at McDonald’s,† the company utilizes four main compo nents for its marketing strategy: product, price, promotion, and place (â€Å"Marketing at McDonalds,† 2011). The company has an overall objective of setting itself apart from its competitors by effectively meeting the goals for the marketing mix. For product and price, the company must look at what they are providing and determine what needs to be revamped and what is performing at expectations. Additionally, price must come into play as the company determines how much value the customers place on the product that McDonalds sells as part of the restaurants popularity is associated with low prices. Determining the physical positioning of the McDonald’s restaurant takes a lot of research as locations must be scouted in order to find the one with potential consumers and less competition. Finally, promotion involves the media advertisements that the company puts out in order to draw in consumers. The company must position itself in such a way as to make their ads stand ou t and apart from the multitude of other advertisements that people are bombarded with on a daily basis. Currently, McDonalds has been in the midst of changing their product line in order to secure their position as one of the top fast food restaurants in the world. According to the article entitled â€Å"McDonald’s adds oatmeal to the menu,† in the beginning of 2011 McDonalds began adding healthier breakfast items to their menu such as oatmeal, yogurt parfaits, and fruit salads in order to help combat some

History islamic art Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

History islamic art - Term Paper Example In this paper we will discuss the history of Islamic architecture and different styles of Islamic architecture like Persian, Azerbaijani, Turkistan, Ottoman architecture etc. Islamic architecture began to spread soon after the advent of Islam. Initially mosques were required form Muslims to pray and from that the earliest form of Islamic architecture emerged. The oldest piece of Islamic architecture is The Dome of Rock, which is a shrine in the Old City of Jerusalem built in 691. The Dome of Rock is inspired by influence of Byzantine. When Muslim rulers invaded Spain Islamic architecture expanded to all corners of the world. The main reason for expansion of Islamic architecture was building of mosques. Muslim rulers built mosque wherever they went in order to pray and these mosques became the symbols of Islamic Architecture. Muslim rulers hired local engineers to build their mosques so shades of local art styles can also be seen in Islamic architecture. Islamic architecture therefore sprang through the union of existing art forms and Islamic culture. Calligraphy was also very famous in ancient Islamic times. The use of calligraphy can be seen on walls of mosques and forts that were built by Islamic rulers. Muslims used to write Quranic scripture in different forms and from that sprang the art of calligraphy in Islamic culture. Many famous buildings, forts and mosques have Quranic verses written on walls in beautiful styles. Umayyads were the first to officially introduce religious architecture in their time. They started to introduce new concepts of architecture through the help of existing buildings. The courtyard and other important buildings, for purpose of governance, served as an official start to Islamic architecture. In buildings of this time functionality seems to be an important aspect which tells that buildings were not built for artistic reasons rather they were made for performing services of the

History Vs. Hollywood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History Vs. Hollywood - Essay Example This paper depicts the comparison of history and Hollywood. An emphasis will be given to selected Hollywood movies, which have played a significant part in illustrating the historical events, as well as the significant contributions of Hollywood. 2.0 Historical Events In the fall of the nineteenth century, historical films became interesting as demand for these productions proliferated. In the inception of the twentieth century, historical films were among the numerous genres that were successfully made (Hall and Neale 2). Historical events gained more interest in the world today. History had once dominated the world of television when viewers demanded more of television series showcasing past events (McConville 8). This will tell how interested people are to better fathom the history of the world despite the significant changes in the environment today. Moreover, Hollywood did not have a good standing as an interpreter of history. American movie creators sometimes associated with th e manipulative schemes such as supplementing inventive scenes in the history; thus, rewriting a new set of events or even called â€Å"rape of US history† (McCrisken and Pepper 1). Historical events shaped the records straight to the next generation through numerous approaches such as contextualizing through books, films, and many other means. History tells people about how the world did a long time ago before everything becomes smooth. History is full of warfares, conflicts, struggle, success and suffering. Hollywood is one of the many facets why history becomes more tangible and memorable to the present generation. 3.0 The Filmmaking Industry In the world now, historical events are not just present in readings, but also visualizations. Moviemakers now are adopting primitive stylistic facets to develop the entertainment value, as well as the return of investments from these productions. A paradigm of this kind of act is the adaptation of a true-to-life story films. However, creators of films exclude some historical characters, shorten the series of events, concentrate on only a few turmoil situations, and crash out a huge amount of minor information. The stories focus on the important characters, and not on the significant concerns, concentrating on the lives of the late heroes and heroines, and warfare has become a favorite formula. Filmmakers concentrate on the poor and humble, romance, social status and the villains, who are sometimes emerged as powerful in terms of earthly possessions (Toplin 10). Movie creators have manipulative proofs on their productions. They commenced to produce inventive events conveyed in the story, and riveted dramas into the scene to capture the interest of the audience. These panoramas have introduced ambiguity into the minds of the viewers, which leads them to scan books from libraries and do research (Toplin 15). 4.0 Hollywood’s Interpretation of Historical Events History itself has many revelations that cannot a fford to buy someone’s beliefs. However, a lot of interpretations of historical events have been made by Hollywood. One of this paradigm is the movie Apocalypto, which is an action epic film regarding the ancient Maya. The director of the movie, Gibson, firmly stands by himself about the movie as though, some of the events did not really happen in the past or somehow, might happen but has no physical evidence. The production was thought to

Experiential Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Experiential Marketing - Essay Example Based on the two definitions and in relation to the concept of marketing it is correct to state that experience is an opportunity that enables the audience to get firsthand knowledge on the facts associated with a certain event, product, and or service.The integration of experience to marketing practice led to the emergence of experiential marketing, which is described by Addis and Holbrook as â€Å"a form of advertising that focuses on helping consumers experience a brand.† Experiential marketing is different from the traditional forms of advertising since it engages all the critical senses of a targeted consumer with a particular product or service, thereby giving the targeted consumer a firsthand ‘feel’ of the product or service.This present essay seeks to critically review the nature, role, and development of experiential marketing, evaluate its drawbacks, and discuss its potential contribution to theory and practice. Relationship between stimulus and reaction is a process that led to the notion of experience within the field of marketing, which acknowledges the marketing knowledge that consumers or the target audience already have. It is because of the marketing knowledge that consumers have, that it became necessary for marketers to engage their consumers in a manner that is memorable unlike the traditional forms of marketing. Grundey stated that through this memorable experiences, marketers are able to engage the audience from various fronts that include spirituality, socially, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Through this engagement Grundey (2009 p137) stated that marketers are able to create sensual perception among the target audience, which guarantees them reliability on their observations and/or the facts that they have read. Therefore, it can be argued that because of the marketing knowledge that consumers currently have, it has been impossible to build a trustworthy relationship with them because of their rational behavio r and skepticism on adverts that are purely one-side i.e. mainly communicate about the benefits or advantages of a particular product and/ or service (Katona (1953, p 307-318). By providing an experience in order to communicate to the target audience about the benefits/ advantages of a particular product and/ or services, marketers enable the audience to have an independent view that is devoid of any forceful persuasion (Lee and Overby, 2004, 54-67). This result in the audiences building trust on the business organization and its associated products and/ or services, as it was not in a hurry to influence their purchasing decision but rather it focused more on providing a memorable experience to the audience that can be used to make a rational purchasing decision. Affirming the previously mentioned argument, Shmitt (1999, p 23-54) developed a framework that contained key elements of experiential marketing. One of the elements is sense of which Shmitt (1999 p 58) stated that sense, wh ich is offered through experience is important in differentiating a product/ service and consumers will develop a sense of value on the aforementioned product or service. The second element is ‘feel’ of which Shmitt (1999, p 34) stated that a clear and positive feeling on a particular service or product is capable of influencing its consumption. The third element is ‘think’ and Shmitt (1999, p 41) on this element stated that experiential marketing, accord the target audience an opportunity to conduct a critical and logical thinking on a company and its associated products/ services. The fourth element is ‘

Risk in the business world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Risk in the business world - Essay Example There are four basic ways in which a CFO can handle risk; avoid, reduce, assume, or transfer the risk (Silverman, n.d.). A CFO’s attempts should be directed at managing risk in the very order as mentioned here. Personally, a CFO handles risks by collaborating with and influencing the CEO, and also by maintaining independence (Egon Zehnder International, 2008). The challenge for a CFO is to focus on controls, and at the same time, on business partnering. Being able to balance the two conflicting claims enables a CFO to deliver business results. Professionally, a CFO handles risk by trying to assess it in advance and informing the concerned authorities so that it can be managed in time and effectively, if encountered. The best source of risk assessment is historical records and past experiences coupled with expert opinion. In addition, various software like Primavera Risk Analysis can be used to assess and manage risks involved in a

Research paper that will explore the resiliency of elders of the Asian

That will explore the resiliency of elders of the Asian cultrue - Research Paper Example Conversely, recent indication is provoking the supposition that elderly people are solely recipients of support, or that they obtain more assistance from their adult children than they give to them. Older people though are crucial sponsors of assistance to their children as well as their grandchildren, together with providing financial aid, baby-sitting assistances, housing, advice, and emotional support. Older people nowadays are more probable to afford accommodation for their sons and daughters, than they are to afford accommodation for them. This tendency has developed in recent years as older folks have turned out to be more financially secure while their children are less stable. Most lately, the fact of "boomerang" children -- going back to the parent nest because of unemployment and divorce -- is somewhat accountable for this development. An outline of give-and-take exchange where aging parents obtain more assistance from their adult children than they offer to their adult children--or responsibility reversal--naturally upturns with age, yet it cannot be assumed a characteristic of older parents in general. Findings have revealed that older parents are essentially net suppliers of assistance up to their 80s. Additionally, when responsibility reversal ensues, the swap tends to ensue for contributory more than responsive types of assistance. Several viewpoints on the elderly family indicate that getting too much assistance (over-support) from children or getting assistance from children, which cannot be countered may trigger distress amid older people. Most African American older people choose to stay functionally independent for as much as it is conceivable before depending on children for assistance. Findings display that the aging generally anticipate less assistance from their own children than they (children) are eager to offer. Certainly, at high points of strength, intergenerational social

Establishment Notions of Englishness Essay Example for Free

Establishment Notions of Englishness Essay In what ways did the iconography, the music, the lyrics and the performances and behaviour of punk rock acts present a challenge to ‘establishment notions of Englishness’ in 1976-77? The early roots of Punk rock were appearing in the form of The Velvet Underground in 1965, closely followed by The Stooges and MC5 in 1969, but it wasn’t until the early 1970s that punk began to globalise, hitting Australia in 1972 with The Saints. Within a year, legendary Punk club CBGB’s opened it’s doors for the first time, becoming a constant dwelling for the up and coming acts of the 70’s, and more importantly, providing a regular crowd of punk kids to listen to them. Britain in the early 70s, according to Spicer, was filled with ‘political frustration, surging unemployment and a gag-reflex to the patriotic froth generated by in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee, giving punk’s raw noise a particular spice and vigour. The UK had either been in decline, recession, stagflation or worse since the end of the swinging sixties.’ (Spicer, 2006: 3). ‘Eight years later when the idealism of the 60s had well and truly faded, the strategies and rhetoric of street protest were still going strong. So when mainstream politics wouldn’t even listen to what was driving the kids insane, the Sex Pistols’ cry of â€Å"Anarchy in the UK† seemed like a viable alternative.’ (Spicer, 2006: 5) ‘Punk came with a philosophy that was influenced by the anti-establishment turmoil reverberating from the 60’s.’ (Spicer, 2006, Page 4), so in a time when the youths of Britain were so ignored and undervalued as a part of society, it seemed like a natural outlet to make the government and the authorities stand up and take notice of what they were saying. Renowned Manchester based punk journalist and singer John Robb stated that ‘Punk Terrified the establishment’ (Robb, 2006: 3), suggesting this outcry for non-conformism was having an impact and the message of challenging the government was being heard. Despite this, however, critics are still divided about whether the punk phenomenon was in fact a significant cultural shift. ‘Was it just another youth craze (with a hairstyle calculated to drive the parents crazy), or did it offer a real challenge to the  complacency of the times? A Challenge that was more than just musical and sartorial, but p olitical as well?’ (Spicer, 2006: 2). Hebdige stated that ‘the punks were not only directly responding to increasing joblessness, changing moral standards, the rediscovery of poverty, the Depression, etc., they were dramatizing what had come to be called â€Å"Britain’s decline† by constructing a language which was, in contrast to the prevailing rhetoric of the Rock Establishment, unmistakeably relevant and down to earth (hence the swearing, the references to â€Å"fat hippies‟, the rags, the lumpen poses). The punks appropriated the rhetoric of crisis which had filled the airwaves and the editorials throughout the period and translated it into tangible (and visible) terms’ (1991: 87). A significant part of the construction of the punk rock movement in the British media was the fashion of the stars, which was later emulated by the fans, with the iconic style quickly becoming a obligatory staple of â€Å"being punk†. According to Paul Gorman, speaking in Punk: The Whole Story, ‘Almost every element of punk’s style, attitude, politics, musical tastes and even personnel emanated from two tiny clothes shops on Chelsea’s King’s Road 30 years ago.’ (2006: 84) These two shops were Acme Attractions and SEX, both in London. Don Letts, ex-employee of Acme, and later member of Big Audio Dynamite said in Punk: The Whole Story, ‘Acme was more than a shop. It was a club, a lifestyle, a forum for talent. It reflected the way London was going – it was about multi-culturism’ (2006: 84). I think this really exemplifies the importance of the fashion and self-representation of the punk movement, even at the beginning. Robb recalls, ‘I saw photos of punk rockers in the papers, and I knew instantly what they sounded like. Never had a music and its threads been so closely associated’ (2006: 2). Hebdige also observed, ‘The various stylistic ensembles adopted by the punks were undoubtedly expressive of genuine aggression, frustration and anxiety. But these statements, no matter how strangely constructed, were cast in a language which was generally available – a language which was current’ (1991: 87). I feel this rings true in a big way, especially when you contrast another artist of ’74 with the way, for example, the Sex Pistols presented themselves. In image one, we see the Sex Pistols wearing typical punk style  clothing, however, in image 2, The Who, another British band making music in 1974, are seen to be sporting a much more reserved fashion, that could be classed as smart/casual, due to the tailored trousers, tucked in shirts and sports jackets, and even be called patriotic, with the presence of a union flag jacket. In contrast, while the Sex Pistols are also wearing union flag attire, however, it seems to be done so in a satirical, ironic way. The flag is cut into and is covered in holes, which could suggest the way that the punk youth saw the state of the government, or at least what they thought of it. Similarly, there is also a sports jacket being worn, however, it is teamed with a punk print T-shirt, which could easily be seen as a rebellion against the notion of looking presentable and dressing in your Sunday best. Ruth Adams discusses Hebdige’s notion of punk fashion being a bricolage, and states ‘Bits and pieces of both officially sanctioned and popular English culture, of politics and history were brought together in a chaotic, uneasy admixture to form a new culture’ (2008). I feel this accurately describes the way punk took what it wanted from English culture and used it as a way to challenge the established notions of â€Å"Englishness†. Icons such as swastikas were often wore as a fashion statement , however, ‘for punks like Siouxsie and Sid Vicious it became just one more ingredient in the imagery of offence – not devoid of meaning, but mainly a way of getting up the noses of the straight and the narrow’ (Spicer, 2006: 4). You can imagine that this explicit and in your face approach to fashion and iconography would starkly contrast with the dreary fashion of the 70’s. Spicer states that ‘as the decade that saw beige, brown, orange and gold recommended as a desirable colour scheme for the home, the 70’s had little going for it stylistically either’ (2006: 3). I feel that this contrast in style would have made punks even harder to ignore, insuring that someone was always looking at them and listening to what they had to say. ‘Punk rock lyrics are typically frank and confrontational; compared to the lyrics of other popular music genres, they frequently comment on social and political issues’ (Laing, 1985: 27). An obvious example of this would be â€Å"God Save The Queen† by the Sex Pistols (1977, Sex Pistols). At the time of  release, the song was highly controversial, mainly for the fact it was explicitly ‘anti-monarchy’, implying that the Queen was a part of a fascist regime, as shown by the lyrics ‘God save the queen, the fascist regime’, and also for quite blatantly writing England off as being bleak and without any hope, shown in the lyrics ‘There is no hope in England’s dreaming’ and ‘There’s no future, no future, no future for you’. This contrasted significantly with the jingoistic ideals that were being put forward in the wake of the Queen’s silver jubilee. Savage stated, ‘â€Å"God Save the Queen† was the only serious anti-Jubilee protest, the only rallying call for those who didn’t agree with the Jubilee because [†¦] they resented being steamrollered by such sickening hype, by a view of England which had not the remotest bearing on their everyday experience’ (2001: 352-353). Laing speculated that ‘Punk was a total cultural revolt. It was a hardcore confrontation with the black side of history and culture, right-wing imagery, sexual taboos, a delving into it that had never been done before by any generation in such a thorough way’ (1985: 27). I feel this really sums up the ideology at play with ‘God Save The Queen’, as it was a total revolt of the dominant ideology at the time it was released. Punk rock is not known for its musical ingenuity, its creativity, or even its skill. John Robb described punks as ‘The DIY brigade fumbling with musical instruments, trying to make sense of the world with three chords learned last week on second hand guitars’ (2006, Page 3). I feel this expresses the rebelling of the establishment in a way that goes above lyrics or fashion. Here we can see that punk was not about pleasing people or making everyone happy, it was about doing what you wanted because you could, and not caring if people liked it or not. This directly challenged the English ideology of the 1970s, which was predominantly all about keeping a stiff upper lip, being polite, and being, for lack of a better word, nice. Rock journalist Caroline Coon wrote about the Sex Pistols live performances, stating that ‘participation is the operative word. The audience revels in the idea that any one of them could get up on stage and do just as well, if not better than the bands already up there’ (1982: 98). This again draws on the angry, challenging, do-it-yourself attitude attached to the punk genre. Machin describes the discourse of the melody of â€Å"God Save The Queen† by the Sex Pistols in a way that epitomises the ideology of the genre. ‘Here [image 3] we can see that much of the melody remains on the first note. There is therefore very little outward giving of emotion or positive energy. This means that there is something very contained about the way it is sung. In fact, the vocalist sings the song generally at a high pitch which conveys emotional intensity. Yet in this intensity there is no emotional outpouring or pleasure. There are only short sharp occasional outbursts on the 4th note. This is fitting of the punk discourse of nihilism and cynicism.’ (Machin, 2010: 105) Philip Auslander proclaimed that ‘we may not usually think of musical performance, apart from opera and musical theatre, as entailing characterisation in the conventional dramatic sense. Nevertheless, we must be suspicious of any supposition that musicians are simply ‘being themselves’ on stage’ (2004: 6). Auslander goes on to quote Frith, who states that musicians are ‘involved in a process of double enactment: they enact both a star personality (their image) and a song personality, the role that each lyric requires, and the pop star’s art is to keep both acts in play at once’(2004: 6). I feel that this observation directly applies to the punk rock era, as it exemplifies the explicit and hyperbolic style of the genre. This can be exemplified by Sex Pistols front man, John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten). In the public eye he is an anarchist punk rebel who is not scared to speak his mind and does not care who he offends, however in real life he is a man who was bullied as a boy for having an English accent while at his grandparents’ home in Cork, Ireland. This performance persona is a prime example of the way that punk challenged the notion of Englishness, as everything about â€Å"Johnny Rotten† was anti-establishment. This is typified with the quote from Rotten himself, stating Id listen to rock n roll, but I had no respect for it. It was redundant and had nothing to do with anything relevant†. Here, he is dismissing everything that already exists in England as not being relevant or influencing him in any way, suggesting that he was the change that England needed. Auslander later goes on to discuss that ‘both the line between real person  and performance persona and the line between persona and character may be blurry and indistinct, especially in the case of pop music performers whose work is heavily autobiographical’ (2004: 7). Again, I think this is extremely relevant to the analysis of the performance of John Lydon as Johnny Rotten, as punks felt this allegiance with him through his work as he was them while he was on stage. He was also a working class, angry young person with no money who resented the royal family and the government. Al Spicer asked the question, ‘was it just another youth craze (with a hairstyle calculated to drive the parents crazy), or did it offer real challenge to the complacency of the times?’ (2006: 2) and I think the answer to this would have to be that they really did challenge the system, in every possible way. Punk as a movement intended to shock and defy the norm of 1970s England, to rebel against the complacent and austere ideals of the time and radically confront the patriotic notions of Englishness put forward by the royal Jubilee, and I think that they succeeded. Instead of merely writing protest songs, punk bands were a protest. Every fibre of their existence protested, whether it was scandalous lyrics, deplorable fashion choices or unrestrained, extroverted stage personas who would say what they thought, and never care about the repercussions. Punk was one vast protest across England and the notion of English ideals. Bibliography Machin, David. (2010) Analysing Popular Music: Image, Sound, Text, London: Sage. Spicer, Al. (2006) A Rough Guide To Punk, London: Rough Guides. Blake, Mark (Editor) (2006) Punk; The Whole Story, London: Dorling Kindersley. Sabin, Roger (Editor) (1999) Punk Rock, So What?, London: Routledge. Robb, John (2006) Punk Rock; An Oral History, London: Elbury Press. Adams, Ruth (2008) â€Å"The Englishness of English Punk: Sex Pistols, Subcultures and Nostalgia.†Popular Music and Society, 31.4, P. 469–488. Hebdige, Dick (1991) Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge. Savage, Jon (2001) England’s Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, London: Faber Faber. Laing, Dave (1985) One chord wonders: power and meaning in punk rock, Milton Keynes: Open University. Auslander, Philip (2004) Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol. 14, London: Routledge. Boyd, Brian (2010), The Making of a Rotten Public Image, The Irish Times: 08 Aug 2010 Issue. Coon, Caroline (1982) The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion, London: Omnibus Press. IMAGE 1: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/12/30/1230675664257/Sex-Pistols-in-1978-001.jpg IMAGE 2: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoSKJmvQaFtFFxVTHtbjeyxKIhS6Q8RSGvrr5Qk5ChwrCVOnVCS43t-PHoNX889iMFGyw7-onoXgpDVnA0uWMOi0l267upcwPe4iT8Gz6bA4noVfF1xsEPKNuwPG-y0iYFzKGgoNxtYQ/s1600/The+Who.jpg IMAGE 3: Machin, David. (2010) Analysing Popular Music: Image, Sound, Text, London: Sage. Page 104.

How death penalty can prevent repeat offenders

How death penalty can prevent repeat offenders Sentence to death penalty seldom arises in criminal cases like murder, robbery with violence, forgery amongst others. This paper shall look into: How death penalty can prevent repeat offenders, how it provides justice, how it acts as deterrent when properly implemented, the costs associated to the victims and the offenders; and finally how the long justice process associated with it affect or help the offended. Origin of death penalty This is dated back to 18th century, in the code of king Hammaurabi of Babylon that involved death penalty of 25 different cases. Death penalty was as well part of 14th Century B.Cs Hittite Code, this made death penalty as the punishment for crimes, and such were done through beating, stoning, and burning alive and other crude methods  [1]  . This was later replaced with hanging. The cases that led to death penalties included marrying a Jew, failure to confess sins and treason; these mainly took place in Britain. In Britain, this law was reformed due to severity of the death sentence; this took place in1823 to 1837 by allowing a number of offenders free. Britain influenced America to adopt the capital punishment even for the slightest crime like stealing the grapes .Though in US it varied from state to state. A leading Case of death Penalty In Clark Circuit Court, a case involving a 23 year old Christian and her 11 month baby. These were allegedly murdered by Zachariah the husband and the father of the victims. He stuffed the two in a plastic bag. Autopsy revealed the wife was strangled to death and the child died out of suffocation. Meanwhile Zachariah was out on supervised probation on charges of burglary  [2]  . He admitted to have committed the crime; pled guilty of three counts of murder, and was sentence to life imprisonment with no parole on count, life imprisonment with no parole on count, and 65 years of imprisonment on a fixed term on count. Death Penalty prevents future offenders or murderers The society must lead in fighting for the fundamental rights and freedom of people and this include right to life and hence anyone trying to take this away should be capitally punished to avoid those prospecting to commit the same  [3]  . According to a report by Michigan State University Lab and Death Penalty Information Centre, 2000 -2004.The rates of murders reduces with more convictions of murderers. Though the slow process of justice delays determination of the case affecting the outcome; death penalties need to be fast to be a sure way of deterring the criminals. Ironically, some states do not have death penalties and still record lower criminal cases, but this should not be used as an argument for this vice. This, if allowed for example in the U.S; things can be worst; in that even with death penalties crime rates are still high. Generally, this report concludes that most people fear death and hence death penalty can be used to prevent further criminal acts in the society. Death Penalty does not prevent future offenders or murderers In the above report, it is believed that the society isnt happy with death penalties, and hence its practice may increase the likelihood of more murders. In America, states that do not apply the death penalties have generally lower crime rates including murder cases. Besides, in most European countries and in Canada there are fewer cases of murder compared to the America yet; they do not use the death penalty as the capital punishment for murder. Most of the offenders normally do not consider the death penalty before the actual murder because they commit this out of anger or through drug influence. In America it is reported that most the murder related cases are link to substance abuse. Infact, most states in America have adopted the sentence of life in jail without parole, and hence the offenders will never be released thereby; the security of the society is assured, most of whom tend to settle down in life as prisoners and are rarely a threat again to the community, as opposed to d eath penalty that society perceive to be brutal and in human. Alternatives to death penalty The death penalty has been an issue of great concern among most of the Americans and policymakers have been trying to devise alternatives. The various alternatives have been contested heavily by both the proponents and the opponents. However, there is an overarching concern among most of the America and that the death penalty must be dispensed with and this emanates from both the moral and legal platforms. According to opinion polls carried out in America today there a strong support for the abolition of the death penalty and most of the Americans are advocating for its abolition. The death penalty has been blamed for being used as a tool of racial injustice in the criminal justice system. Alternatives to death penalty include: life imprisonment without parole and restitution, this is less costly than death sentence an keeps the offender away from the society. Restitution, the prisoner will be working while in jail and all the money made goes back to support the family of the victim. Another solution though, controversial is allowing the offenders after serving the jail term to go back to the society where they continue working in the community to support victims family post-release restitution. Rehabilitation or reformatories can also be put in place, this has been used to reform young offenders under the age of twenty; turning their lives around  [4]  . It is as well suggested to be applied to reform the older offenders. Costs of death penalty Privately appealing a capital offence is expensive and hence the poor may not be able get justice, tax money is also used to keep offenders in jail of whom some may be innocent. Most of the offenders and their relatives suffer emotional stress during the slow justice process  [5]  . The death penalty is regarded as an excessive to law and is socially and morally degrading. Recommendations Life is regarded extremely sacred in the society, this does not matter how one kills another. Hanging one in name of crime, however much it could be legal sparks debate. The alternative death penalties described in this paper should not be used by offenders as a gap to commit crime. I still recommend stiffer penalties that could help deter further criminal activities. The rehabilitation and reformation recommendations is a good idea because in most cases under -age offenders involved in such crimes may have acted oblivious of the outcome or accidentally; and hence this opportunity can be used to mould their character other than throwing them to jail; on the contrary , this should not used as a correction tool to adult murderers. Life imprisonment without parole and restitution may be another noble alternative; but it may present a lop-hole in post-release restitution; where the offenders if not supervised well could revert to their usual criminal act. Conclusion This paper has generally discussed death sentence and its results in the society in broader terms. The main issue that, compromises this situation is the enaction of the idea in some countries or states while others do not see it as a good way for correcting a criminal. The option taken by a nation to deter murder should not go against the social ethics or believe; that life is God given. Both schools of thoughts against or for death penalty; should try to reach a common ground to avoid escalarating criminal activities or increasing mortality rate by; either failing to create measures to curb illegality or hanging the murderers respectively.However one fact stands out from the debate, that the death penalty has failed to achieve the intended results that it was intended to and as a result there is a general need for its complete abolition.

Competitive Advantage Of Vodafone Over Other Telecom Players Marketing Essay

Competitive Advantage Of Vodafone Over Other Telecom Players Marketing Essay INTRODUCTION A Company is said to have a competitive advantage if it can sustain a profit that exceeds the average of the industry .According to Michael Porter there are two basic types of competitive advantage:- Cost Advantage:-when a company is able to deliver the same benefits as provided by their competitors at a lower cost. Differentiation Advantage:-when a company delivers benefits that exceeds the benefits provided by their competitors. There are 4 generic business strategies in order to gain competitive advantage over others. The four strategies are described in the figure shown below. Differentiation Cost COST LEADER DIFFEREN TIATION LEADER leader Broad DIFFERENTIATION FOCUSER COST FOCUSER Narrow Strategy Differentiation In this strategy one or more criteria used for selection by buyers in a market are chosen and then a business plan is used to uniquely meet those criteria. Mostly companies come up with plan that associates with charging a premium price for the product that often reflect the higher production costs and extra value-added features provided to the consumer. Differentiation is about charging a premium price that more than covers the additional production costs, and about giving customers clear reasons to prefer the product over other, less differentiated products.(David Jobber) Vodafone came up with differentiation strategy when they launched I phone service, even though they were charging their customer more than their competitors but they still got the edge over others by offering free Vodafone to Vodafone calls for life time calls and better network strength compared to other competitors. Strategy Cost Leadership In this strategy companys main objective is to be lowest cost producer in the industry. If the achieved selling price can be at least equal (or near)the average for the market, then the lowest-cost producer will (in theory) enjoy the best profits. This strategy is usually associated with large-scale businesses offering standard products with relatively little differentiation that are perfectly acceptable to the majority of customers. Occasionally, a low-cost leader will also discount its product to maximize sales, particularly if it has a significant cost advantage over the competition and, in doing so, it can further increase its market share. Vodafone has started Home Cell tariff for its Metro Digital service. In this offer off-peak calls from a specified location (such as office) for 5 pence (8 cents) a minute were provided. By launching this they have clearly scored a cost advantage over others like O2,3,orange. Strategy Differentiation Focus In this strategy company aims to differentiate within just one or a small number of target market segments. The special customer needs of the segment mean that there are opportunities to provide products that are clearly different from competitors who may be targeting a broader group of customers. The important issue for any company adopting this strategy is to understand that what customers really needs and wants in other words that there is a valid basis for differentiation and that existing competitor products are not meeting those needs and wants. Vodafone introduced One Net, a hosted fixed and mobile voice service for SMEs . this move is regarded as to be very effective move for Vodafone as Vodafones model is to charge per user, per month and claims the total One Net solution can be 15%-20% cheaper than SMEs pay for typical services currently. Strategy Cost Focus In this strategy a company seeks a lower-cost advantage in just one or a small number of market segments. The product will be basic perhaps a similar product to the higher-priced and featured market leader, but acceptable to sufficient consumers. Out of these 4 strategies differentiation and cost leadership strategies operates in broad range of market to get a competitive advantage over other competitors .By contrast, differentiation focus and cost focus strategies are adopted in narrow market to gain edge over others. Why do so many people choose Vodafone? First of all Vodafone operates in all 3 segments of market i.e they have targeted low level ,middle level and high level market which not only make it open to large market but also gives a competitive advantage over the other major telecom players . Secondly they have put in large investments on strengthening their network so that their customers can make more calls more places and there on they can have an advantage over others by winning costumers confidence over quality and reliability of their services . Thirdly they have reduced their effective cost by approximately 5 times in last the 3 years so that they can provide better value for money to their customers which in turn gives them a edge over other telecom giants. And of lately they have kept a focused on customers services in order to maintain high standards of customer satisfaction. In addition to above points Vodafone understands the change in market requirements with time and have always tried to come up with new innovative idea to attract more and more costumers for example:-of lately they have understood the need to penetrate in business organizations for which they have started 3 new plans which are as follows:- For small business:- This plan concentrates at those costumers which are sole traders or those who are running a family firm or those who are working in a growing enterprise because it offers business phone and accessories at great value price for calls ,e mail and mobile broadband. For medium sized and large sized business:- This plan concentrates at organization more than 100 to 1000 employees .This aims at providing low call cost and flexible working with in a integrated network. This plan also aims at transforming the business communication with solutions that makes communication more agile and more productive than ever before. For Public Sector:-Vodafone has been working with public sector for more than last 20 years as they are approved supplier in OGC(Office of Government Commerce) frame work. Vodafone has transformed the public service delivery by providing more flexibly and efficient working solutions. Besides targeting the business sector they have also started new services on which none of their competitor has focus on yet, like disability services .They were quick enough to notice the increasing complexity in technology and introduced new phone which are easy to use which in turn has opened a all new market for them ,for those who like their things to be simple or are disabled this offer by Vodafone is very lucrative. VODAFONE MARKET SHARE v NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS 2005 2006 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total United Kingdom 67,680,000 67,437,525 68,066,300 70,626,527 74,375,797 76,067,605 3 (Hutchison) GBRHU 3,358,000 3,473,925 3,386,000 3,633,527 3,883,597 4,410,105 O2 (Telefonica) GBRCN 15,981,000 16,340,600 16,814,300 17,751,000 19,075,200 20,416,500 Orange GBROR 14,858,000 14,958,000 14,951,000 15,097,000 15,756,000 15,850,000 T-Mobile GBRME 17,158,000 16,361,000 16,730,000 16,734,000 17,124,000 16,675,000 Vodafone GBRVF 16,325,000 16,304,000 16,185,000 17,411,000 18,537,000 18,716,000 Contract United Kingdom 22,100,360 22,113,120 22,546,152 24,096,237 26,883,502 30,578,828 3 (Hutchison) GBRHU 1,880,480 1,945,398 1,953,462 2,164,714 2,435,002 2,993,888 O2 (Telefonica) GBRCN 5,502,000 5,686,200 5,873,800 6,298,000 7,015,000 8,698,500 Orange GBROR 4,977,430 4,891,266 4,731,000 4,970,000 5,722,000 6,298,000 T-Mobile GBRME 3,439,000 3,248,000 3,611,000 3,821,000 3,861,000 4,109,000 Virgin Mobile (Virgin Media) 435,700 712,300 Vodafone GBRVF 6,301,450 6,342,256 6,376,890 6,842,523 7,414,800 7,767,140 Prepaid United Kingdom 45,579,640 45,324,405 45,520,148 46,530,291 51,243,295 51,306,777 3 (Hutchison) GBRHU 1,477,520 1,528,527 1,432,538 1,468,814 1,448,595 1,416,217 O2 (Telefonica) GBRCN 10,479,000 10,654,400 10,940,500 11,453,000 11,388,000 11,718,000 Orange GBROR 9,880,570 10,066,734 10,220,000 10,127,000 10,034,000 9,552,000 Tesco Mobile 1,800,000 T-Mobile GBRME 13,719,000 13,113,000 13,119,000 12,913,000 13,263,000 12,566,000 Virgin Mobile (Virgin Media) 3,987,500 3,305,700 Vodafone GBRVF 10,023,550 9,961,744 9,808,110 10,568,477 11,122,200 10,948,860 Vodafone has second largest market share in UK telecom market .As per the details shown in the table above total number of connection provided by Vodafone(19,114,000) are second largest, next to O2 (21,299,300).Vodafone is planning to buy T-mobile which would give them sole market share of around 40% after which they will be the market leaders by far leaving O2 behind(financial times).Table shown below compares all the network provider on basis of number of connections provided in last 5 years of time spam .From which we can easily interpret that Vodafone in UK is second largest network at the moment and as per their plan if the T-mobile take over by Vodafone takes place they are going to the largest network in UK market leaving other telecom players far behind them.

Discrimination and Liberty Essay -- Definition Essays Race Prejudice P

Discrimination and Liberty How much should we care if people discriminate? In answering this question, maybe it's a good idea to say what we mean by discrimination. The most internally consistent definition is that discrimination is the act of choice. Thus, discrimination is a necessary fact of life - people do and must choose. When one selects a university to attend, he must non-select other universities - in a word, he must discriminate. When a mate is chosen, there is discrimination against other possible contenders. In the first instance, we call it university discrimination and in the second case mate discrimination. Thus, when the term discrimination is modified by words such as race, sex, or university and mate, one merely states the criterion upon which choice is being made. Is there a moral distinction to be made when one makes a selection based on arbitrary distinctions when he chooses a university as opposed to making similar arbitrary distinctions when selecting a mate, employee or any other object of desire? In mate selection, people routinely discriminate by race. How does that act morally differ from choosing employees by race? We know that social sanction is granted when race is used in selecting a mate but not granted in the case of selecting employees. Some people might offer that when people select mates by race there is no private or social harm done whereas in the case of race discrimination in employment there is private and social harm done. On further thought, it can be easily shown that such a proposition clearly does not hold. At the private level, when a black male indulges his racial preferences by marrying a black female, that act reduces the opportunity set of white females that might ha... ...ence. Other ways are through taxes on profits, economic regulation and occupational licensure. In general, preference indulgence is subsidized whenever government dictates the terms and conditions of exchange. While many of us, including me, find some aspects of racial discrimination morally repulsive, we must at the same time recognize that freedom of association should be our overreaching value. Valuing freedom of association does not mean that we are helpless in registering revulsion to various forms of discrimination. There are private social sanctions that can be exercised similar to those exercised when people behave impolitely, use vulgar language, or disrespect elders. But the largest contribution to racial harmony is for us to keep government limited to its legitimate or moral functions; namely, preventing force, fraud, theft and initiation of violence.

Borders :: essays research papers

Borders are concepts which encompass and exclude. They exist everywhere. Some are literal visible physical lines whereas others go beyond sight and exist in terms of characteristics such as monetary wealth, or even humanity. Over time these boundaries are redefined and in turn change the flow of daily life for the individuals they effect. In many cases it is the powerful governments which are in control of the pen which outline these symbolic and physical lines. However as history can prove even though it is these powerful governments which give definition to these borders, it is very often them (the governmental officials) who are the ones who cross them. This hypocritical characteristic is blatantly apparent in regards to Central America. Both the ruling elite and the United States government has infringed upon the many levels of borders which exist in this part of the world. Numerous atrocities have been committed, thousands of lives have been shattered, countless victims have suffered all due to lack of respect for the borders which exist. All levels have been touched; political, economic, and even human. No outline is safe from being infringed upon or even shattered in Central America. While many of us may point fingers it is indeed our very own United States government which has not respected the political borders present in this part of the world. We have stepped into territory in this area that we have no business being involved with. Under our government’s supervision, the CIA carried out a coup in Guatemala in which it installed a self-perpetuation pro-American gang of military criminals who have held power for almost forty years. Their reproductive mechanism has been murder of hundreds of thousands of Guatemalams. After this unnecessary interaction of the CIA, US national security planners saw "Cuba as a highly inflammable element which unchecked, could spread communism - now interchangeable with revolution" (Landau 30). In response to this President Eisenhower ordered the CIA to repeat its ‘success’ in Guatemala. "Throughout the continent, US police and military advisers worked with torturers, murderers and Fascists to repress not only revolution, but all forms of democracy" (Landau 31). Our government officials have such extreme fears of the uprising of the poor in these nations that it did not care out of place it was to get involved. Their economic investments and trade guided our foreign relations. They would enter and cross the borders of this seemingly innocent third world section of the continent and intervene regardless of the fact that they did not belong there in the sense that it is not thier country and should not be involved.

College vs High School Essay

A major part in someone’s life is going away to college and can be a frightening time for some people. Some say that college and high school are very common; I have found them to be very different in many ways. I enjoy college more than I did high school. I have more control over my education in college. I noticed that freedom, the amount of work, and responsibilities have changed since I’ve been in college. The freedom of a high school student is unfortunately limited. The curfew of a high school student is usually set during the weekends. By law a child under the age of eighteen has to be in the house by midnight. For example, my mother would set me a curfew and if I did not obey it, I would be grounded and not be able to do anything for a couple of weeks. I believe a high school student does not have any freedom because they live with their parents’ and have to follow the guidelines that were made. A college student has a ton of freedom. Most college students do not live at home with their parents so they are able to do whatever they want, whenever they want. They have the choice to decide if they want to attend class that day or not. Unlike high school students, college students do not have classes for eight hours a day consecutively. They are able to decide what they are going to do with the rest of their time off for the day. The amount of work in high school was not as much as there is in college. For example, a high school student is tested bi-weekly. Therefore there are plenty of grades that make it easier to have a better grade in that class. I believe high school was easier and more lenient due to the fact the teachers were more personal with their students. For example if I needed help with a math assignment I could go to my teacher after school each day if I needed it. In college a student would go to their academic support center, email the teacher or ask a friend. In high school you were told what classes you had to take and only got to choose a couple classes that you wanted. In college you can choose to take any class you want as long as it doesn’t interfere with your prerequisites or the class is not full. Now that I have been able to choose the classes I have wanted I found that I am much more interested in them. In high school I would always dread going to that one math class or social studies class because the subject didn’t interest me. The hardest thing so far about college is trying to manage my time. Now that I have more freedom I also have more bills. Finding time to work, go to school, do homework/study, and trying to find time to hang out with friends has become more and more difficult in the past few months since I have started college. In high school you would go to school go home and do home work for a hour or two and leave the house for the rest of the night. If you ever needed money your parents would just hand it to you and now if you need money from your parents it can take a week to get to you. Although college has been a huge change to my life and I have had a couple rocky parts on the way I have found it to be an exciting new experience.

Reflection on Teaching Essay

In order to challenge my theory of teaching I first need very briefly to define it. When I was taught science it was mostly through direct teaching. Any experiments performed were deductive in nature with very little input from me. When I got to college and I started performing experiments then I suddenly started having little epiphanies where facts I had learned off by heart were unexpectedly connected in ways I hadn’t understood before. So I came to think that this was what was lacking at secondary level, the experimental experience that allowed people to physically test the ‘how’ of the world around them. To put it simply people are innately curious and that exploiting this curiosity is the way to teach. From the moment they learn to talk, children constantly ask questions about everything, from â€Å"where eyebrows come from?† to â€Å"what do worms eat?† Asking questions is the way they find things out and this really is just one small step away from learning. From personal experience of teaching I think that Arnstine (1967) was correct when he said â€Å"the arousal of curiosity can lead to learning†¦for learning to occur, curiosity must be guided†. Designing lessons in such a way as to tap into the natural curiosity of students and to connect the topics on the curriculum with their everyday experiences is surely the best way to teach science. I find enquiry / constructivism extremely interesting as it encapsulates the whole get their attention approach but I think it’s misused by an awful lot of people. I think that analogies and real world examples need to be reflective of the scientific concept yet simple enough that the student can grasp it. Also it requires that the student be actively involved, activities must provide the opportunity to demonstrate learning.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"To instruct someone†¦ is not a matter of getting him to commit results to mind. Rather, it is to teach him to participate in the process that m akes possible the establishment of knowledge. We teach a subject not to produce little living libraries on that subject, but rather to get a student to think mathematically for himself, to consider matters as an historian does, to take part in the process of knowledge-getting. Knowing is a process not a product.† (Bruner. J, The Process of Education: Towards a theory of instruction 1966: 72) So in approaching this assignment I realise that I am an ardent supporter of teaching through enquiry. I agree with Bruners theoretical framework of building on pre-existing knowledge by presenting new material in a logical manner at a level the student can understand, revisiting topic in stages and building layers of ever increasing complexity. I find the concept of a spiral curriculum to be a sensible one, but also to be at odds with the way in which individual schools plan the teaching of science. There is far too much relience on the text book, with strict adherence to the material inside. I prefer to leave the text book at home, for the student to be assigned reading and questions from it for homework so that it is new and different and provides a slightly different aspect to the same topic. At the very least it will provide the same information as was covered in class in a slightly different manner and provoke recall instead of boredom. A consequence of supporting enquiry is an aversion to direct teaching. Those who support direct teaching say that it is a highly effective method of teaching. The basic components are careful content analysis, sequencing of information and use of appropriate examples, specific instructional formats where both teacher and student responses are scripted and testing to mastery. The part that receives the most criticism is the scripted responses. Here is an example I found at Brainsarefun.com http://brainsarefun.com/Teachtk.html EXAMPLE 1. All: Teacher and students touch the answer to be learned. 2. Teacher: â€Å"The answer to this question is, 1492.† 3. Teacher: â€Å"When I signal I want you to answer, 1492.† 4. Teacher: â€Å"The answer is 1492.† 5. Teacher: â€Å"What year did Columbus discover America?† 6. Teacher: â€Å"Get ready.† Watch the students to make sure all participate. 7. Teacher: Signal by pointing or snapping fingers. 8. All: â€Å"1492.† 9. Teacher: â€Å"That’s right, Columbus discovered America in 1492.† 10. Teacher: Reward. â€Å"Good job saying 1492.† Make eye contact with individuals. Smile. 11. Teacher: Next answer, or repeat until everyone is participating and firm. If any student is unable to participate or answer correctly, start at the top of the sequence again. Most teachers believe that this type of teaching is too restrictive and prevents the students from developing critical thinking skills. I have to say that on my first reading of this example of direct teaching I was horrified at the way the students were indoctrinated. I knew that this method of teaching was not for me and I continued to develop my lesson plans along the constructivist enquiry model. I researched guided discovery and found that discovery learning is described as an inquiry-based, constructivist learning theory that occurs in situations where the learner draws on their existing knowledge to discover facts and comprehend relationships. Students interact with the world by manipulating objects, wrestling with questions or performing experiments. As a result, students are more likely to remember concepts and knowledge discovered on their own (in contrast to a transmission / direct teaching model). Proponents of discovery learning say it has many advantages, including encouraging active engagement, promoting motivation, autonomy, responsibility, independence, aiding the development of creativity and problem solving skills and is a tailored learning experience that helps minimize classroom management problems. Detractors point out the amount of time needed to teach a topic and that students do not always achieve the intended outcome of the lesson. That is they may draw erroneous conclusions about the investigation they are engaged in. My action research Now that I have explored my theories on teaching I need to test those theories by comparing the outcomes of direct versus enquiry teaching. Ideally in order to compare the two methods I should keep the conditions of the lessons the same and only change the method of instruction. Rigor would  dictate that I teach two groups of students that have been randomly segregated. The students would be in the same year of secondary school and assumed to be at the same academic level. Ability within each group would be expected to mimic normal distribution with some students excelling and some struggling with the curriculum content. Unfortunately in my teaching practice placement I have one class of first years and one class of second years. I am also following a subject plan laid down by the science department in the placement school, which further restricts my research topic. Hence rather than directly compare and contrast two sets of lesson plans that differ in instruction but not content, I shall attempt to make my methods of instruction the subject of the action research. My intention is to design a number of lesson plans along the guidelines of both approaches and to deliver these lessons as independent of personal bias as possible. I shall assess the success of each lesson plan as a measure of student value and under a number of points such as participation, motivation to learn, interest of students, as well as proficiency in summative tests. Bearing in mind my own learning, I will also be critically examining something about my ability to deliver a constructivist lesson; do I do as I say? In assessing participation of students I will make reference to number, frequency and relevance of questions asked. Time spent on-task will be used to measure motivation and interest as will content of questions asked. In line with standard research methods I established a baseline of knowledge on the topic of energy by giving the students a questionnaire which was designed to probe existing conceptions. (more here on the results of the questionnaire) From my understanding of enquiry teaching there seems to be a number of activities that should feature in my lesson plans and I have tried to incorporate these in the enquiry based lesson plans. I have included a list of these activities here and have also identified them in the appropriate lesson plans. Enquiry activities †¢ Think about scientifically orientated questions that are at an appropriate level and ask ‘how’ rather than ‘why’ (teacher provides questions at first) †¢ Gather and consider evidence using the tools of science †¢ Make explanations based on prior gain fact and ‘new’ knowledge gained through the process of enquiry / evidence gathering †¢ Compare  conclusions to currently scientific understanding and account for differences †¢ Communicate and negotiate their findings and explanations with others After the brainstorming session I jotted down as many of the words and phrases as I could during class. Light, wave, geothermal, heat, renewable, sun, plants, photosynthesis, comes from food, plants make it, atomic bombs, it keeps you moving, you are tired without it, it can change, there’s energy in batteries, joules, oil. Then I asked a series of questions designed to clarify facts that they needed to know (3A6 Energy, 3A7 Energy conversion: Junior Certificate Science Syllabus). From the answers it was clear to me that the students could not distinguish between forms of energy and sources of energy. Because the discussion section of the enquiry lesson plan is open-ended I was able to direct questions and highlight information on the board that students could use to ‘discover facts’. I tried to give minimum guidance but I found that the students were floundering and unsure of what they were trying to accomplish. This was a recurring theme during the discovery lesson plans and it seems to me from my readings that this is the main detracting feature of enquiry instruction. Those who oppose constructivist / enquiry instruction such as Kisherner, Sweller and Clark (2006) argue that minimum guidance during instruction does not work and Clark (1989) goes further to suggest that his data shows that ‘lower aptitude students’ show a loss of learning on post instructional testing. My Conclusion It is essential that the teacher do research work, i.e., he should comb the subject of chemistry from end to end for facts and for methods of exposition that will make such facts live and real to his students. (Patrick, W. A. (1924) What kind of research is essential to good teaching? J. Chemical Education, Volume 1, Issue 1, p16.) I have come to the conclusion that there is a need for direct teaching in the classroom in order to build up foundation of facts in long term memory to provide wellspring of knowledge which can be used to provide data when needed. Enquiry or discovery learning encourages the use of this knowledge so that students can put facts together to think critically. Dewey supported inductive teaching as the way to improve scientific teaching for a better educated society and said science lessons should include learning the process of science not just the facts, (Dewey, 1903). By this I believe he meant that the two methods complement each other and need to be used in tandem. But direct teaching cannot be taken as an excuse for unimaginative lessons recycled every year with minimal input from the teacher needed in the delivery. If investigatory activities are designed deductively, ie have only one conclusion, need more here about factors to consider when designing lesson activities.