The Defination of Music

Music. I spend more than two hours playing, singing, or listening to music everday. Almost everything I do involves music. I love it; it can lift my spirits, or tell me a story. But, what is music? Is it something you can dance to? Something that is played or sung? Is it something that has balance, or sounds pleasant? What is music? It is defined as â€Å"An art form consisting of sequences of sounds in time, including tones of definite pitch organized melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically. † To me, music means expression. When I was six years old, I acquired my first CD player.I didn’t get any CD’s with it, so I used my parents. One CD that I picked up was by Mindy McCready. I didn’t understand what the songs were about, but I knew I really enjoyed the â€Å"beat† of the songs, the instruments in each piece, and the sound of her voice. I would always be singing my own words to her songs and I wanted to learn how to make music like she did. Sh e influenced me in a way I didn’t understand at the time, but I knew I wanted to know more about the way her songs worked. I wanted to know how to make something that sounded similar to her songs, and how to make it my own.That CD is what made me fall in love with the concept of, and the idea itself, known as music. In third grade, only two years after I realized how much I liked music, I started piano lessons with the keyboard player from my church. His name was Larry, he was a great inspiration to me. Larry asked me on my first lesson if learning piano was something I really wanted to do, or if it was just something my parents were having me do. I told him, much more seriously than a third grader should be able to, it was something I needed to do to be able to more clearly understand music; and that I was looking forward to every lesson we would have.One week later, on my next lesson, I stared to learn my scales. Normally, it takes students months to learn and memorize all of the scales, but it took me only a few weeks. I was much more musically gifted then anyone realized and I quickly took on many other instruments. From third to seventh grade, I learned how to play the piano, guitar, bass, saxophone, french horn, trumpet, clarinet, and flute. I also took choir, training my voice to be the best it could be. The way I could express myself differently through every one of these instruments, made everyday a joyous adventure.I used the instruments as an outlet; when I was happy, the music would be loud and bouncy. Yet when I was upset, the music would be mournful, slow, and quiet. I conveyed my feelings through the music. The more I learned about music, the more open I became with choices. Before I became a â€Å"band geek†, I was quiet and refined. I didn’t talk to many people and I didn’t have any intention on changing that. After I joined two bands though, my life changed drastically. Both classes would result in a â€Å"differe nt me†.When I would play music in my jazz band, I would leave the class excited and ready to try new things. When I would go to symphony, my choices would be more thought out, longer, and with more depth to them. Every piece I played would change my day; depending on how much I enjoyed the piece, and who I was playing it with. The people in band are a big reason why I love music. If you’re sitting alone in a room, playing a keyboard, you are not going to be having nearly as much fun, or being as artistic with your musical choices, then if your with a few of your best friends, all who play instruments or sing.An instance of this is from a year ago, when I had a mentor in symphonic band. He was an amazing saxophone player who loved people. I was his second in command, and for being that, he taught me a few of his tricks on how he became such a beloved musician and person. He showed me how to play music with more expression in singular notes instead of looking at the piece as a whole. He helped me on improvisation and on making a piece personal. He also showed me how to fine tune a musical piece; how to make the different parts work together harmoniously, and how to then play it correctly.He was a great inspiration to me and I am sad he graduated, but overjoyed I had the opportunity to be taught by such a talented musician for our time. After learning so much from such a great mentor, I began to question how my music could be improved and how I could express myself better. I knew about harmony and melody, and how to balance them; I knew about all the different instruments in different kinds of bands. Yet, I wanted to push my boundaries and become a better instrumentalist.A great musician once said, â€Å"Then let us all do what is right, strive with all our might toward the unattainable, develop as fully as we can [with] the gifts God has given us, and never stop learning† (Beethoven). To me, this means you shouldn’t stop when you think you’re at your best. Always push forward, creating your own limits and don’t fall into society’s expectations. This is how I viewed music; it was something I could never put a limit on and striving for perfection was the only way to be successful with it. To this day, I try my best with music, I make it my own, and I love to play it.There is nothing else like it, for music is everywhere; all people know some type of music, and it affects every person in a different way. I enjoy music greatly, and hope I will be able to continue learning about it for the rest of my life. The expression used to create music is an unexplainable talent that anyone could utilize, and without it, the days of life would be dull and boring. The way I view it, and as my band director tells me daily, music equals life. SAU Library, + Beethoven, the Music and the Life. + by Lewis Lockwood. Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (December 16, 2002) + October 1st 2011

Dante’s Inferno: Sixth Circle of Hell

Dante’s Inferno: Sixth Circle of Hell â€Å"Every evil deed despised in Heaven has as its end injustice. Each such end harms someone else through either force or fraud† (Alighieri XI 22-24). In his divine comedy, The Inferno, Dante Alighieri cruises around the different circles of hell. Virgil, a poet and a good friend of Dante’s, becomes Dante’s guide in hell. Trough out the poem, the reader encounters certain moments of tension in which he or she is forced to choose a direction to follow. In Canto XI, Virgil and Dante find themselves in the sixth circle of hell: circle of violence. Virgil then explains to Dante that there are three inner circles: violence against others, violence against self, and fraud. In the second inner circle, the circle of suicide or violence against self, Virgil and Dante find a deserted forest with twisted weird looking trees. These trees are the people who reside in that circle. Here, the reader is presented with people who have committed suicide because of hardships in their lives. The reader is then presented with the opportunity to either feel sorry and justify their suicide or find their placement in hell a just punishment. In the second inner circle, violence against self, Dante and Virgil meet one of the residents. His name was Pier Delle Vigne, a former minister of Emperor Frederick II. Pier, then, tells Virgil and Dante that reason why he committed suicide was because envious groups schemed him, turned the Emperor against him, destroyed his reputation, and put him in prison; he was too ashamed and decided to take his life. Dante feels sorry for him, because he too understands the importance of a good reputation. At this point the reader is offered the chance to agree with Dante and feel sorry for Pier, or completely disagree. Life is one of the greatest gifts from God, keeping this in mind; suicide would be denying or not appreciating that gift. Everyone in hell is there because in one way or another they denied and committed a sin against God. Regardless of what others did to him, Pier denied God, so one can come to the conclusion that his positioning in hell is just. In the contrary, life or God does not give you more than you can handle. All the alse accusations made against Pier were obviously more than what he could handle, so one could feel sorry for him and justify his suicide. So it is up to the reader to choose one of the two possible opportunities that Dante the poet presents to us. In Dante’s divine comedy, The inferno, the reader is offered with many occasions where he or she is must choose a direction to follow. In the sixth circle of hell, the circle of violence, Virgil explains that there are three inner circles: circle of violence against others, circle of violence against self, and the circle of fraud. In the second inner circle Dante and Virgil meet Pier Delle Vigne. After listening to his story and explanation onto why he took his life, the reader had the option of agreeing with Dante and feeling sorry for Pier’s justified action or find Pier’s punishment just. Life is a gift of God, so taking one’s life is committing a sin against God; which will make Pier’s punishment just. This conclusion could be made if the reader believes in God.

Comare and Contrast Living in the Country and in the City Essay

Everyone has the different lifestyle. City lifestyle and country lifestyle are two different types of livings. There are some most different thing between living in the country and in the city are the environment, job opportunity, cost of living, and social life. The environment in the countryside and the city is very different. There are less pollution, fewer cars, and fewer factories in the countryside. Moreover, there are many trees while there are many buildings in the city. These entire make the environment is better, fresh, and more natural. In the city filled with cares and factories which are the important causes of noise and environmental pollution. People would prefer to live in the countryside far away from the noisy and dirty city. There are more the job opportunities in the city. The job market in the countryside is smaller than in the city. People in the country have their farms or field, and stores that they can make a living, so the jobs in the country are more relax than in the city. However, most people move to the city to find a job because it’s easier. People in the city are owner of a big company or work mostly in the companies. In the city, most of work requires a high class and people almost work with technology such as computer, printer, phone all day in the building. City is a gathering place of a large number of different professions. Industrialists, small business owners, job holders, people related to transportation like taxi drivers and rickshaw pullers, doctors, professors, garments workers and many other are found in a city. Working in the city make more money than in the country, but on the other hand, people get more stressed than working in the country. Therefore, the city life has more job opportunities but some people like living in country. The cost of living in the city is higher than the country. The goods are more expensive. In the country, most people have the sufficient economy. They can plant and breed animals so they have the cost of living that is lower and the goods are cheaper. The country life is simple and comfortable. The inhabitants of countryside are always bound by a sense of community, but they also suffer from being cut off from the exciting outside world. They have the advantage of knowing that there is someone to turn to when they need help and some ideal places to go when they need to be alone. The life is simple but cozy enough. But the inconvenient transportation and underdevelopment of economy deprive villagers the possibility of going to a new show or a latest movie, and make shopping a major problem. City life may breed a scaring feeling of isolation but it can also focus people’s attention. Living in the building, all people can see from the window is sky and the concrete building jungle. Gradually they tend to hide their feelings and do not even say hello to the neighbors or they too busy to care about people around; even though, they do not have time with their family. However, compared to the countryside, the city is a center of fashion and events, and an ocean of opportuni ties and material prosperity. Besides, the life in the city does not come to an end at ten at night like it does in the countryside. These reasons above shown very clearly. The country lifestyle is much better, simpler, and more relaxing than the city lifestyle. In the country, people make less and use less, but they enjoy their life with their family, have a peace life without competitive, noise, busy, crowded, and stressful.

The role of computers in teaching and learning Essay

The role of computers in teaching and learning - Essay Example A teacher can use a white board also to demonstrate and enhance learning experience. Another fact is if a student writes while he is studying the concept gets stored in his mind in a better way. The concept author is trying to explain here is that designed instructional media can only help and support a teacher in his teaching. This can be further explained by the fact that things said by a teacher are better explained and understood when pictures are used to illustrate them using designed instructional media. The final point raised by the author here is, the designed instructional media’s effectiveness depends upon the teacher meaning that how well the teacher is using all these accessories to achieve his objective. To make sure that the computer and its peripherals are in a good working condition the best way is to check up everything. The first step would be to make sure that the computer is not situated in an isolated place and the place is not very hot. Computers should be placed in places where cross ventilation is good. A checkup should be made to make sure all the hardware devices are in good working condition every wire is correctly plugged in. The compatibility of devices is very necessary or other wise a computer can have software problems while running. It should be made sure that all the jumpers are connected in their proper sockets. Every time the computer runs it should be properly booted and a proper procedure for shutting it down should be followed. Technology has given every field in the world a boost or a step forward. The same case is for teaching and learning. Technology gives us major support in learning and teaching things. Computer has revolutionized the world since it came into being. Computer has gone through evolution itself and made the human race feel its presence as well. People have started relying on computers a great deal which can be seen everywhere.

Isabella Linton, strong or weak character of the novel Wuthering Essay

Isabella Linton, strong or weak character of the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - Essay Example Her initial character weaknesses are naivety and childishness. These are manifest, later on, in her impetuous decision to marry. Of course, given her relatively tender age, eighteen at the time, these character traits are not as weak as they would be in an adult with more experience. Her experience, it must also be noted, does not extend much, if at all, beyond Thrushcross Grange. It must also be conceded that Ellen presents some positive attributes. Isabella, for instance, is naà ¯ve and a bit foolish, but she is not stupid. Quite the contrary, she has a clever wit and deep feelings. In short, Isabella is neither weak nor strong in the very beginning; however, her weaker traits, such as an infantile-like impetuousness, are dominant. These traits foreshadow a mistake in judgment. Indeed, with her marriage to Heathcliffe, this is precisely what happens. Later, when Isabella becomes infatuated with Heathcliffe, her foolishness becomes her dominant character trait to the exclusion of all other traits. Catherine teases and warns her about wanting to be with Heathcliffe. Isabella responds by stating that, â€Å"I wont be always sent off!†, and that â€Å"You are a dog in the manger, Cathy, and desire no one to be loved but yourself!† (Wuthering Heights). The facts are irrelevant for Isabella. She is jealous and desirous. Here, Isabella’s impetuous character speeds her demise and exacerbates her powerlessness. She concludes one particular rant by stating that, All, all is against me: she has blighted my single consolation. But she uttered falsehoods, didnt she? Mr. Heathcliffe is not a fiend: he has an honorable soul, and a true one, or how could he remember her?† (Wuthering Heights). It is true that Catherine is not disinterested in Heathcliffe; however, her advice and her warnings are sound and reliable. Isabella refuses to listen because she succumbs to the

Learning and Assessing in Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Learning and Assessing in Practice - Essay Example It stated simply that; 'Practice must be sensitive, relevant and responsive to the needs of individual patients and clients and have the capacity to adjust, where and when appropriate to changing circumstances....the range of responsibilities which fall to individual nurses should be related to their personal experience, education and skill' (UKCC, 1992). However, coming as did between the publication of the New Deal for Doctors (NHSME, 1991) and The Calman Report, which respectively initiated reduction of junior doctors hours and shortening of specialist training, scope understandably created considerable tension within the nursing profession (Downie 2000, 1-7). Many were concerned about the 'medicalisation' of nursing and the loss of its intrinsic value. It was feared that in medical terms, the interpretation of 'good' may be to the advantage of medical care and the interests of the physician, but at odds with the interests of the patient and nursing. The scope of practice appears to give nurses more freedom in practice. Cahill (1996, 791-799) described how scope enabled nurses in one trust to move the boundaries of care in almost unlimited ways, for example, the setting up of nurse led clinics. With the removal of need for certification and the placement of onus on individual nurses to decide in what ways to expand their practice, certain legal and professional issues are raised. These will be discussed later in further detail.In accordance with scope, a range of new roles for nurses have since evolved in response to the major changes in UK healthcare and therefore service delivery, national policies and moves to more patient focused care. Indeed, nurses could be said to have a formal responsibility for exploring way in which quality healthcare can be improved under the auspices of clinical governance. More recently both 'Making a Difference' and the NHS Plan promote and encourage continued development of the nurses role. However, despite government and professional bodies continued promotion of expansion of nursing roles and support of advanced nursing practice, definition of advanced practice has not been forthcoming. Quinn (2000, 14-20) quotes the UKCC's failure to define advanced nursing practice as the reason for the diverse interpretation of these roles in practice. Bandura (1977, 21-35) bemoans the UKCC's refusal to be more explicit in defining the role of the advanced practitioner in the acute setting, though acknowledging their reason being not wishing to stifle potential development. Cahill 1996 (791-799) reject the notion of the medical model at the centre of specialist nursing and stress that the truly advanced practitioner focuses their efforts on their clients' and situations which enhance positive outcomes for the client. They are at once intuitive, reflexive and emp owering practitioners that use their expanded roles to foster a sense of the individual and focus wholly on achieving excellence in caring. Cahill 1996, (791-799) recognized two schools of thought regarding advanced nursing roles; one relating to the acceptance by nurses of roles previously considered to be those of doctors, and the other,

Empowerment and Organizational Effectiveness Essay

Empowerment and Organizational Effectiveness - Essay Example According to the paper, Â  human capital offerings in the form of their qualifications, skills, and experiences enhance organizational outcomes. Therefore, employee training, skill enhancement, and other expertise are given priority in strategic activities. With such level of commitment from organization, employees become even more committed and help organization to achieve its objective that results in an effective organization. Competitive markets reveal that all components of effectiveness are efficient in organization . Organization's excellence depends on its capability in achieving objectives by optimal use of its human resource, technology, and equipment. Experts believe that if empowerment results in better job satisfaction, it will also enhance employees' relationship with customers, suppliers, management, supervisor, and other colleagues.Therefore, empowerment directly influences organization's performance and effectiveness. This study discusses that there is a diverse body of literature on empowerment and its influence on organizational and individual performance. The paper explores empowerment background, the concept of empowerment, its strength, and reviews the works of some prominent scholars. Within a decade of its arrival, the trend of employee empowerment has reached to the status of a movement, but some consider it a fad depending on their approach. The core idea behind empowerment is the increased individual employee's motivation through giving authority to the lowest level of organization where an efficient decision can be made. The concept of empowerment has its roots inconsistent motivation, participative decision making, job design, self-management, and social learning theory. The literature on empowerment has both macro and micro perspective. Macro perspective concentrates on organization's structure and policies, on the other hand, micro perspective deals with empowerment as an intrinsic m otivation.

Essay assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assignment - Essay Example In order to overcome these disputes certain information is remained confidential to the shareholders. This paper briefs about the agency problems and discusses effects of conflicts on the shareholders. It further provides information about the shareholder management to minimize these conflicts. An â€Å"agency problem† may occur when the principle (shareholders) hires an agent (management) to perform business activities. This is because of the reason that the conflicts between the interests among between the management and shareholder (Clark and Marois). The main objective of the company’s management and stakeholders is to maximize its profits. Disputes among the managers and shareholders are created on the bases of their interests. Shareholders may object the amount of incentives that is being paid to managers (Clark and Marois). If the information regarding the incentives and pays to the management is disclosed to its shareholders, it may decrease the net profit margi n of the company. In certain cases it is ethical for the management to hide the internal information from its shareholders, mostly decision making, investment decisions (Clark and Marois). This is because of the reason that the shareholders are not aware of the internal issues of the management; this may involve the moral hazards, employment issues, suppliers matter etc. In case of agency problem certain information regarding the incentives may remain confidential with the shareholders in order to eliminate the possibilities of disputes. It is essential for the organization to maintain the interest its management and shareholders to pursue its objectives (Clark and Marois). Therefore, the management and shareholder shall work together to maximize its profits. The conflicts among the relationship between the management and shareholders may create obstacles to attain the objective and goals of the organization. Management is aware of the internal issues of the company, such as supplie rs’ choices, employment regulation, incentives, investment decisions etc. whereas the entire shareholders are not aware of these internal concerns of the management (Clark and Marois). If any of them is in conflict it may create an obstacle for the organization to pursue its objectives. Secondly, the conflicts may arise the problems in the attitudes of the management and shareholders to have different attitude towards their work (El-Shamy). Management plays the major significant role to attain objective of the organization therefore, conflict among them may result in different attitude in the work (El-Shamy). It is essential for the organization to work with the mutual consent of management and shareholder therefore the management shall carefully identify the issues and resolve in order to keep both of them satisfied. Shareholder’s hire management to pursue its goals, In order to render their services (management) the principle has to bear certain costs also known as a gency cost. Agency cost is paid by the shareholders pay to hire manager in order to act on its behalf (Clark and Marois). This is because of the reason that both have different interest, as the management has more information. These costs are inevitable within an organization, the cost may be spend to provide material incentives (increments, bonuses and stock options) and moral incentives for the management to execute their duties in interests of shareholders. Based on the

Organizational Analysis Groups and Leadership Case Study

Organizational Analysis Groups and Leadership - Case Study Example The teams are small from 3 to 16 members and are formed on a temporary basis as needed. The role of team leader rotates through the team members (Clawson 2005 p.7). FMC Green River is a task-oriented environment where employees are restricted by their job description. The manager of FMC Green River would like to begin utilizing the team concept to see if it can improve production and employee satisfaction. The leadership at FMC Aberdeen has seen a succession of delegated authority and empowered employees. The management style is relationship oriented and involves a great amount of trust. The FMC Green River plant has a larger employee base. Though the manager, Kenneth Dailey, feels he has an interactive style he would like to improve management's relationship with the employees. The scope of the operation is such that it limits relationship building. FMC Aberdeen has a solid communication network that can disseminate information very rapidly to the necessary people. FMC Green River would like to improve their company communications but face several challenges. The team concept used at FMC Aberdeen may not be able to be implemented at FMC Green River. Green River is a highly industrialized environment that works around heavy machinery that is spread out over a large area. They currently work in a group structure. Machine operation may be too specialized to be spread out over a team responsibility. Forming large teams simply for the sake of a 'team in name only' would not have any beneficial effect (Robbins 2003 p.263). However, administrative workers may be able to form teams and share responsibilities. Dailey has a small management team at the FMC Green River plant. This limits the time and amount of employee involvement they can have. FMC Aberdeen is a close knit organization that has an opportunity to see and talk to one another on a daily basis. FMC Green River does not enjoy this and has thus limited Kenneth Dailey's ability to empower the employees or delegate authority based on trust. He may have an unrealistic view of his interactive style. The close geographical environment at FMC Aberdeen makes it easy for quick communications between team members. Communications networks are well established. FMC Green River is more challenged in this area as the employees are spread out and separated from one another both geographically and technically. FMC Green River is also hindered by their computer system (Clawson 2005 p.22). Most employees do not have access to e-mail or the company Intranet. They have also never created or fostered an environment of open communications. Recommendations FMC Green River should begin to form teams in the administrative area as a way to introduce the concept to the facility. Training will need to be conducted to assure that the workers are skilled at team leadership as well as educated in regards to what is expected of the members. Rules will need to be implemented to prevent 'social loafing' and norms for the team will need to be enforced (Robbins 2003 p.269). As systems are replaced in the manufacturing area, they need to be designed with the team concept in mind. It will not be possible for Kenneth Dailey to undertake the management style at FMC Aberdeen. The employee base is too large and installing more middle managers that

What is political ideology, and why do you subscribe to it Essay

What is political ideology, and why do you subscribe to it - Essay Example e classic works of Althusser, Mannheim, Freeden and Bell are clarifying this term in terms of its connection to real practices, morphologic structure, and internal classification. So, in a given essay the definition of political ideology is stated and its internal power to influence minds in analyzed. To start with, the very appearance of ideology is caused by human nature. As Althusser (1969) assumed, the fact that human beings use their mental abilities in order to comprehend the world around them creates the very appearance of ideology. As the author summarizes it, â€Å"ideology is a ‘representation’ of the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence† (Althusser, 1969, p. 162). In other words, it is a specific way to imagine reality in general and political conditions in particular. Moreover, materialistic dimension is crucial for Althusser as he refers to the theory of Karl Marx in his determination of ideological thinking. In this case, ideology as a part of certain ideological state apparatus â€Å"always exists in [†¦] its practice, or practices† (Althusser, 1969, p. 162). So, each behavior in society is regulated by the way people appreciate and interpret the world around them. Consequently, their mental con structs impact the reality they live in. Finally, the continuous existence of ideological thinking evokes the fact that some people have more authority than the others. Hence, the phenomenon of ruling ideology appears. In this context, individual can be easily transformed into the agent of ideology by approving certain procedures of interpretation. Actually, each member of society has prescribed identity or â€Å"appointed as a subject in and by specific familial ideological configuration† (Althusser, 1969, p. 176). And so, the horizon of senses which is created by the human thinking on social unequal background enables the very appearance of ideology. Similarly, in the field of political struggle the way of

Project Management Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Project Management - Research Proposal Example However, the constructions of infrastructure projects are always encroached with project delays and increased costs. These projects rarely go to completion as a result of these project delays and increased costs. Infrastructure construction projects worldwide have been reported to encounter delays and increased costs. Stakeholders normally have an input into these delays and increased costs. The most common reason for project delays and cost overrun is design errors (Ambituuni, 2011). Project designs play an important role as it serves to achieve good technical input to aid in execution of the project. Errors in project design caused by the project owners and contractors means that there will be wrong or insufficient application of techniques thus achieving no results. Suppliers of materials also cause project delay and increased costs through late delivery of construction materials to the construction site. Late delivery can be attributed to shortage or unavailability of these mater ials in the market. Employees that work in the construction projects do not have the necessary skills that are suitable for the job. Shortage of skilled labour leads to substandard work which in turn contributes to project delays and increased costs (Kikwasi, 2012). Government actions or legislations sometimes cause delays in obtaining permit from the relevant authorities; discrepancies between design specification and building code contribute to project delays and increased costs (Fugar & Agyakwah- Baah, 2010). Infrastructure construction projects in the Transport for London is important in promoting national economic growth and competitiveness. In my opinion, effective transport system enables people to access essential services such as healthcare, education, travelling to employment places and the transportation and selling of goods. A country’s effective transport system ultimately leads to improved social development and economic growth. The construction sector plays an important role in the London economy as it generates a good percentage of the Gross Domestic Product and also in job creation. The construction sector is a major consumer of intermediate products such as raw materials, chemicals, electrical and electronic equipment among other related services. Transport for London construction sector could contribute to the creation of employment opportunities through extension of activities in areas such as renovation of buildings while also playing an important role in the delivery of Europe 2020 strategy on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The construction industry provides job seekers with extensive career opportunities with growth being projected from laborers to construction managers. The construction industry has also demonstrated a strong commitment to workforce development in that the key stakeholders including employers, trade associations and labor-management organizations are heavily involved in the apprenticeship programs. Thes e programs ensure that employees have the necessary

Crusades and Pope Urban Essay Example for Free

Crusades and Pope Urban Essay The Christian Crusades occurred around the 11th and the 12th century are very many and complex. The Christian Crusades has built a tense relationship between the Christians and Islamic. This essay will explain the causes and effects of the Medieval Crusades. The importance of the holy lands as stated in the Islamic bible, Koran, and the Christian bible is the most significant cause of the Christian Crusades. Religious rivalry between the 2 religions was caused by the fact that both of these religions believed in 2 different gods. The Islam’s thought that there god was the true god whilst the Christians believed that there god was the one and true god. The fact that the Islam’s believed there god was the one and true, brought anger to the Pilgrims who were on a quest to take back the Holy lands which were Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, which were controlled currently by the Muslims since 638AD. But as more and more pilgrims came to visit the Holy lands, Seljuk Turks, Saracens, took over the lands and denied more Pilgrimages to the Holy Lands. This brought great anger to Pope Urban II. Pope Urban II was responsible for the very first Christian Crusade. He started this by giving an extremely influential speech to all Christians in Europe and Medieval time saying that the Saracens were turning Christian Churches into Mosques which were Muslim churches. Pope Urban II then told all Christian men and European Christian Princes to go on a crusade to take back the Holy lands. The Pope also stated to these Christian men that by fighting in this holy war they would reach heaven. So the Christian Crusaders set their target on regaining one of the Holy lands which was Jerusalem. The result of the first crusade was not too good for the Muslims as 70,000 Muslims had died trying to flee from the city or fight to protect their city. A reason that explains the cause of the Christian Crusades, are the Christian men, the Knight class and Princes. Prior explains how Pope Urban II speech influences the Christian men, Knight classes and Princes of Europe to go on a crusade against their rivalry religion and to gain back the Holy Lands. Pope Urban II says to all these men that go on to their crusade, that if they do not fight back against the Saracens, god will not clear there sin. This was another reason for the Christian Crusade. Pope Urban II â€Å"blackmailing† these men to go to the Holy lands was a reason for why the Christian Crusades began in the first place. The Knight class were all men that wanted to fight. Since the age of seven, pagers, who were the first stage into becoming a knight, were taught special skills to fight. Every Crusader that was going on to gain back the lands had a sign on their tunics when they went to fight. This sign resembled St Johns Cross. The medieval Crusades have brought a strong intensity in these to religions that are still quite tense nowadays. Pope Urban II speech had urged men to go on this holy crusade and both the Koran and bible having two of the same holy places caused tension between these two religions. This essay has given the causes and effects of the holy crusades.

Importance f Pronunciation

Importance f Pronunciation According to the Oxford Dictionary pronounce is defined as make the sound of (a word or part of a word) in the correct or a particular way. The way in which a word is pronounced is known as pronunciation. Pronunciation can be defined as a way in which a language is spoken, especially the way in which it is generally accepted or understood. Pronunciation means production and utterance of sounds of a language. English pronunciation has various components such as sounds, stress, and variation in pitch, and the learner needs to understand the function of these as well as their form, (Kenworthy, 1987). Once the learners are aware that English words have a stress pattern, that words can be pronounced in slightly different ways, that the pitch of the voice can be used to convey meaning then they will know, that to pay attention to can build upon this basic awareness, (Kenworthy, 1987: 27). Sounds are the part of a code in a language. These particular sounds make a language. Due to this code we can distinguish between different sounds and different languages. In this sense pronunciation can be defined as production and reception of sounds of speech. According to Dalton, et al. (1994), language is a speech act. Its code joins hands with other factors to make sense of communication. In this study researcher has tried to explore the pronunciation of diphthongs with special reference to the physical features of diphthongs that is of prominence to the English language learners. Since all second language learners belong to one or other group of language, their pronunciation of second language is very different of their origin. The teaching of a foreign language always deals with changing of learners pronunciation as learners find it difficult to pronounce the diphthongs. The pronunciation of one person depicts his geographical identity; hence a persons pronunciation reveals his complete personality including origin and his social background. The pitch of the voice, the speed and the utterance all indicate the background and the linguistic knowledge of that person. It is an acknowledged fact that the speaker of the second language utters the sounds through the basic knowledge that he has built up in his mother tongue. It is through the pronunciation that we distinguish between American, British and Cambridge speakers. Although all these use a Standard English accent yet they are different from one another in terms of their accent and pronunciation. Therefore what is needed and what we are concerned within Pakistan is the achievement of a comfortably intelligibility. It is very important for second language learners to pronounce correctly and follow a particular accent. There is a need to train the second language learners to pronounce the phonemes correctly. In teaching correct pronunciation we shall be able to draw inferences to determine and overcome the factors that hinder our speech. Joanne Kenworthy (1987) states, Learner needs to develop concern for pronunciation. They must recognize that poor unintelligible speech will make their attempts at conversing frustration and unpleasant both for themselves and for their listeners. Vocal cords become hardened by speaking the native language. It needs proper training to speak the second language as the learners grew older. Unfortunately despite it being a language of teaching, English is very seldom used as a medium of speech in our day-to-day transaction. Despite that teachers do not know how to produce acceptable sounds hence learners also speak what they hear. Therefore we need to concentrate our efforts in teaching an acceptable pronunciation to our learners who ultimately might seek admission in the English speaking countries. Attitude and motivation shall intermittently guide the learner to produce the sounds, which are acceptable to the native Learners. That is why the teachers of English Language must have the knowledge of phonetics of English and they should know different techniques to teach pronunciation so that the learners pronunciation would be nearer to the Received Pronunciation and also having characteristics of a distinctive Pakistani pronuncia tion of English. Certainly this is an uphill task. Since Urdu is the mother-tongue, the learners are in the habit of using Urdu sounds. The sounds of Urdu and English are certainly different from each other. The Pakistani speakers mix up the sounds of English with that of Urdu sounds and try to shape their speech organs according to sounds of Urdu while pronouncing English. The teacher of English language in Pakistan needs to build a uniform system of speech, which should be closely and implicitly nearer to the Received Pronunciation. Ur (2000) explained the following pronunciation errors: A particular sound may not exist in the mother tongue, so that the learner is not used to forming it and therefore tends to substitute the nearest equivalent he or she knows. A sound does exist in the mother tongue, but not as a separate phoneme: that is to say, the learner does not perceive it as a distinct sound that makes a difference to meaning. International Phonetic Association On the international scene, after 1950s, when new superpowers emerged the problem of pronunciation came to surface. There was no standard variety of English. Australia and New Zealand were fully colonized so the problem of accent also increased. In 1886, in Paris, a small group of language teachers formed an association to encourage the use of phonetic notation in schools to help children acquire realistic pronunciations of foreign languages and to have a common accent. But this was not an easy task since English-speaking people themselves were spread in Europe, America and Australia, not to speak of the persons using English language in thickly populated countries of Asia and the British colonies in Africa. This naturally diversified and proliferated the problems with regard to the IPA since each local language has its own ways of articulation which are hardened with the passage of time and therefore make it doubly difficult for the second language learner to imitate successfully th e accent of native speakers. This and such lie problems further accentuated the problems and pitfalls in pronunciation more so in the area of diphthongs. For this difficulty, language teachers should know how to use IPA symbols and how to teach English language by using IPA symbols. Teachers should help students to become aware of the correct pronunciation. If IPA symbols are introduced to the English language learners at the beginners level, they would not have the pronunciation problem as much as they have. Phonetic transcription It is a noticeable difficulty in pronunciation that there are many letters and combination of letters which produce numerous sounds at different places. According to Hornby (1978) the students of English are aware of the problems created by the English alphabet, unlike the oriental languages where each alphabetical letter stands for a distinctive sound, not all the English alphabets represent the phonetic sounds. For example letter c sometimes gives the sound of s as in ceiling while on the other occasion it stands for the sound of k as in class. ch gives three sounds, sound of ch as in chain, sometimes it gives sound of k as in choir and sometimes it gives sound of sh as in chef. Sometimes we combine two letters to form a new sound as th in thin gives the sound of th o ;while in the word then it gives a new sound of d. The sound sha is obtained by joining sh as in she and the sound cha is formed by combining ch as in chin. Therefore the phonetic transcription is of utmost importance . The experts in English language all agree on International System on Phonetic Alphabet IPA which assigns each English sound a special symbol. Phonetic transcription is usually given in brackets, like this. Stage /steidz/ Ich dien /ixdi:n/ Bulge /b^ldz/ Special attention shall therefore be paid to provide correct forms of transcriptions. Diphthongs Diphthongs are regarded as a sequence of two vowels within the nucleus (Bernhardt Stemberger 1998). Bernhardt 1992 suggested that diphthongs have two Root nodes. Writing on diphthongs Roach, P. (1983), goes on to say that diphthong in the BBC pronunciation are the sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one vowel sound to another. The most common mistake in pronunciation that is visible in the speech of learners of English is the production of pure vowels where a diphthong should be pronounced. Roach (1983) further writes that in terms of length, diphthongs are like the long vowels. In diphthongs the first part is much long and stronger than the second part. A common example of a diphthong is formed in ai (as in bite) where we noticed that the vowel a is uttered loudly and a glide from ai to i results in a decreased loudness. Foreign learners must remember that the last part of the English diphthong must not be uttered too strongly. According to Roach (1983) there are eight diphthongs which we divided in three groups as shown in the following diagram. Tree diagram Roach, (1983) P 21-23 http://www.tuninst.net/Eng-phon/Eng-diphth/PIX/eight-diphthongs.gif There are several varieties of diphthong: wide and narrow; closing and opening; centering; falling and rising. A wide diphthong has a marked change in quality: in RP, the vowels in high, how, which move from open to close. A narrow diphthong has less movement: in RP, the vowel of day, which moves from half-close to close. The vowels of weave, groove are narrow diphthongs, because they move slightly within the close vowel area, but this movement is usually disregarded and they are treated as monophthongs. A closing diphthong ends closer than it begins, while an opening diphthong ends more open than it begins. The diphthongs of English tend to be of the closing type: in RP, say, sigh, soy, so, sow. A centering diphthong moves towards schwa: in RP, here, there. A falling diphthong is stressed on the first element, and a rising diphthong is stressed on the second. The diphthongs of English tend to be of the falling type, with the exception of the vowel sound in view, which can be interpr eted as rising. Eight diphthongs in English Connor (1967) says, Vowels are made by voiced air passing through different mouth shapes; the difference in the shape of the mouth are caused by different positions of the tongue and of the lips. He further says that, English speakers vary quite a lot in their vowel sounds i: sound used by an Australian, an American and a Scottish are all different, but they are all recognized quite easily. English language does surely have many vowels, the sounds of which are not very much different from those of the Urdu vowels. The following chart explains our argument. According to Connor (1967), all the English diphthongs are divided in three groups. Their respective positions are File:RP English diphthongs chart.svg THE first three diphthongs ph16.gif, http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph17.gif, http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph18.gifhave the neutral shwa vowel sound http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph07.gif, which occurs in grunting noises and the weak forms of the and a, as the FINISHING POSITION. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph16.gif as in beer (the drink), pier, hear. The starting position is http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph01.gif as in if or pit with tongue front and high and lips relaxed. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph17.gif as in bear (the animal), pair and hair. The starting position is http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph02.gif as in egg or bed with tongue in mid position at front of mouth. To make the diphthong, using a small controlled movement, pull your tongue slightly back from mid front to the mid central position in your mouth. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph18.gif as in tour, poor, and moor. The starting position is http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph06.gif with tongue pulled back but small mouth aperture as in hook, book or look. To make the diphthong, this time the small controlled tongue movement goes from the back position to the mid central position, losing the lip rounding and relaxing your mouth from the tight starting position. 2. THE next three diphthongshttp://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph13.gif, http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph14.gif, http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph15.gif have the vowel sound http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph01.gifin pit or if as the FINISHING POSITION. To make this sound, the tongue has to be high and towards the front of the mouth and the lips kept relaxed. a. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph13.gif as in day, pay, say, lay. The starting position is http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph02.gif with tongue in mid position at front of mouth as in egg, bed or Ted. Therefore the tongue is moved up to make the diphthong. b. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph14.gif as in sky, buy, cry, tie. The starting position is http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph03.gif, the same sound as in cat. To make the diphthong there is a need of big jaw movement, moving the tongue from front open to and front close. c. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph15.gifas in boy, toy, coy . The starting position is http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph10.gif, the sound in door or or. The tongue needs to be low, but there is a need to pull it back and make the mouth round. To make the diphthong, relax the lip rounding and move the tongue forward and up. 3. The last two diphthongs http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph19.gif, http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph20.gif have the back vowel http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph06.gif(tongue pulled back but small tight mouth aperture as in hook, book or look) as the FINISHING POSITION. a. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph19.gif as in oh, no, so or phone. The starting position is the neutral vowel sound, also known as shwa http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph07.gif, which sounds like a grunt, as in the weak form of the or a. To start in this way, the tongue should be fixed in mid central position in the mouth with lips relaxed. To make the diphthong, it is a short controlled movement in the opposite direction from the centre to the back moving the relaxed lips into a tighter small round aperture. The cheeks should move in a bit. b. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph20.gif as in all the words of How now brown cow!. The starting position is the vowel sound http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ph03.gifas in at bad or rat with tongue front but also low (i.e. mouth open). To make the diphthong the journey for the tongue from front low (mouth very open) to back high (small tight mouth aperture) is a very long excursion. The jaw will move a lot too. Importance of diphthongs As diphthongs are vowels the main difficulty lay in the production and adjustment of the vowel length with special emphasis on diphthongs. The learners and the teaching community both belong to the same social class; they produce and commit uniform and similar mistakes in uttering diphthongal sounds. Both English and Urdu languages have diphthongs, whereas English vowels have different articulations system, nearly all the Urdu vowels are lax and unstressed. It is here that we notice the main difficulty for the Urdu speaking learners to understand and produce the exact phonetic realization of the English phonemes. As Urdu does not have the vowels that English has so it is very difficult for the Pakistani learners of English to articulate English diphthongs. When they pronounce English diphthongs they articulate it the way they use their speech organs in the articulation of Urdu diphthongs. Hence, the pronunciation of diphthongs is almost incorrect. The listeners find it difficult to c omprehend this incorrect pronunciation of diphthongs and hence the meaning is hampered. Along with various other considerations our main attention was therefore focused on diphthongs the main consideration was to evolve and try to bring about a Pakistani way and style of pronunciation, which is properly proliferated in the country, shall be universally accepted and understood.

Immoral behaviour: Punishable Under Law?

Immoral behaviour: Punishable Under Law? In this essay I will look at behaviours and acts that are considered immoral by the general population and whether they are liable to be punished by the law. It will focus on moral principles and its affects and views on society. I will focus on key immoral behaviours and actions that are legalised or criminalised differently to the UK and see whether certain legislations have help to shape the view on morality of the public or whether it is the publics attitudes that have changed the laws. For example it is immoral as well as unkind to walk by a person in need, on the continent this is known as the Bystander law whereby if there is a person in danger where you could be of assistance and do not help and that individual dies then you could be liable for prosecution. This law does not exist in the UK; which suggests that although an obvious immoral action or behaviour, is still legal. Before addressing this statement, a primary question must be asked: What is morality? Morality is defined by Strawson (1961) as rules or principles governing human behaviour which apply universally within a community or class; it is a code of behaviour that is innate and classified by a higher being. Morality is how groups of individuals interact with each other to create a society in which everyone can live freely and amicably. Breaking these rules set by this higher figure is doing wrong and thus being immoral so creating and environment with a lack of harmony or unity. There is also a definition of morality based on the norms and values set by a religion or individual that must be adhered to. Catholicism for example believes that God is the Supreme Being that has set down the rules and regulations of life within the Ten Commandments. Followers of this religion believe that breaking any of these Ten Commandments would deem you a sinner and be sent to purgatory at death. In the light of religious morality, should an individual breaking these moral codes be punishable under criminal law? However, it is evident that many moral codes either from an innate or religious background are enshrined within the Law, be it Civil or Criminal. The Harm Principle states that an activity cannot be criminalised simply because it is regarded as immoral Herring (2008: 28) Many however, have argued with this prospect in relation to the interests of society. Fox hunting is a widely acclaimed debate; with activists stating that it is immoral to purposely kill an animal for recreation and the hunters stating it is natures hierarchy. However aside from these two main view points, is another in terms of Social immorality, whereby allowing this crude sport diminishes society, creating a less civilised one which condones barbarianism. Lord Devlin has argued that the state can use the criminal law to protect a society from losing its sense of unity and solidarity; thus an immoral act should be punishable if it is in the best interests of society and the people in it. Throughout the last century, laws have changed and acts have been passed to keep up with the changing moral compass of society and to keep in conjunction with human rights. The Suicide Act of 1961 is an important legislation that has help to shape the Criminal Law we have today. Before this Act was passed, a person who committed suicide would not receive the life policy necessary. After the abolition of suicide as a crime, any life insurance payment would be made as long as the policy had been taken out 1 year prior to the death. This act came about due to the changing attitudes of society on Suicide. Homosexuality is another moral offence that was once criminalised under UK law but now isnt. The Homosexuality Act of 1967 stated that homosexuality was legal as long as the participating individuals were over the age of 21, had provided full consent and was in the privacy of their own homes. This change came about, again due to new societal beliefs, and evidence provided by the Wolfend en Report. The report found that homosexuality was not a disease and did comply with full and able mental health. Both homosexuality and suicide are still considered widely immoral by religious sectors and individuals committing either of these acts should be punished by criminal law as well as on a spiritual basis by religious Super- beings. In accordance to Lord Devlin and Societal morality, neither of these actions is creating chaos in society, so should not be criminalised. Religious morality has very specific regulations that are generally followed by those that practice that religion, an individual who is not of that religion or who is not religious in any shape or form should not be punished under their rules. An act that is harmless to society such as homosexuality should not be given an imprisonment sentence because it does not follow the regulations set by Allah or God. From when these deeds were illegal pre 1960 to now the 21st century, there has been greater knowledge and acceptance by society, and the individuals outlook is no longer confined to religious beliefs. A highly ethical as well as moral topic that is not criminalised under any form of the law is Abortion. A mother may legally choose to abort her unborn child up to week 24 of the pregnancy as long as it has been signed off by two doctors. The Abortion Act of 1967 did not legalise abortion but merely create a defence for those wishing to have one. This act has been updated once through out the years, bringing the maximum limit down from 28 weeks to 24 weeks. Legally, a foetus inside the stomach is not yet deemed a child or a human being until he/she is born and thus can be protected under the Law. Under social morals, abortion is not immoral; it is the decision of a mother up to 6 months of pregnancy as to whether she wants to terminate. The guidelines state that abortion can be carried through regardless of the mothers or childs health whether it is good or bad, and it has to be done in a qualified and suitable establishment. In terms of religious morality, the termination of life is murder. As soon as the egg turns into a foetus life has began and terminating it prematurely and unnaturally should be criminalised. There are statistics to show that at 23 weeks, 44 of 283 children survived and at 24 weeks 198 of 474 of babies survived. Of the 201,173 abortions in England and Wales in 2006, 1,262 were at 22 weeks or more. A study at University College London Hospital found that only 33% of babies born between 22 and 25 weeks survived in 1980 whereas ten years later there is 71% of survival (Kirkup 2008). Two major questions that need to be asked is should abortion be under any form of the law e.g. civil law and if so, should it be criminalised. In my opinion, this immoral act should firstly be punishable under criminal law as well as civil law, whether an individual holds any sort of belief on this topic; it is immoral to murder an unborn child up to 6 months of pregnancy because they dont want it. The law should be changed to firstly lower the maximum abortion l imit to the 1st trimester, secondly to only allow abortion up to 6 months if either the mothers or childs health is in serious danger, and thirdly any individual not complying with these regulations to be punished under a criminal law. Moving on are actions that are considered immoral and wrong by the majority of any population that are punishable under civil law but not under criminal law in the UK. Adultery is an example of this, whereby it can be used for grounds of divorce but in Europe is a not ground for imprisonment or any other form of punishment. From a piece in the British Journal of Sociology, it shows that many British females have strong views on infidelity believing that it is immoral to cheat on her spouse. Even with these strong beliefs, the majority of the females with this view have had at least one adulterous liaison. In the US however, 94% of Americans disapprove of adultery. In the US, adultery is punishable under criminal law, an individual found guilty of infidelity can get up to two years of imprisonment. In many Muslim countries however, the price of infidelity is far greater, where women are stoned to death if caught cheating on their husbands. If adultery were criminalised the percentage of individuals committing the knowingly immoral act may decrease, thus providing a more harmonious and moral society. Adultery is a widely acclaimed immoral act that needs to be punished as not only does it breaks the sacred bonds between husband and wife but also dissipates the meaning of marriage in society. Torture is deemed immoral and in fact is illegal. Anyone proved guilty in any country of the world will be subject to imprisonment of over 18 months. The focus of this immorality is the difference between Sado masochism and the torture performed by individuals or groups of individuals at Guantanamo Bay prison. There seems to be no consistency in how torture seems to be punished under the same law. Kelman (2005:8) states that torture is considered illegal and immoral by the international community; that it is a crime under the U.N. Convention against Torture which has been adopted by the General Assembly in 1984. Even though this law seems to be clear, any official in the Guantanamo Bay prison torturing a terrorist suspect is not punished under the law, whereby a group of individuals are imprisoned for being Sado-Masochists in the privacy of their own home; seen in Reg V Brown. An article in the New York Review, written by Anthony Lewis shows evidence from a draft report to the Secret ary of Defence which states that Americans who torture captives can escape punishment if they can prove they did not have an intent to cause sever physical or mental pain or suffering (Lewis 2004). Looking at this quotation in relation to the Reg V Brown case where the defendants willingly participated in the commission of acts of violence against each other, including genital torture, for sexual pleasure which stimulated the giving and receiving of pain. Here the so called torture received was consensual, and all acts were performed private locations, yet were still convicted of Actual Bodily Harm contrary to Section 47 and Unlawful Wounding contrary to Section 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. Both torture for sexual pleasure and torture as an interrogation technique are immoral yet are not treated similarly in terms of the law. Officers who treat suspects in such a vile way should be imprisoned for Actual Bodily Harm as there is intent to harm and Unlawful Wounding just as the males who were Sado masochists. It is difficult to state whether all widely immoral issues should be punishable under the criminal law; however what we have found is that certain actions such as adultery and abortion are criminalised in other countries around the world apart from the UK and the view of the public regarding its moral status is different to those of the British. It is evident to state that actions that are solely immoral in the eyes of a religious person cannot be and should not be punishable as it does not protect the individuals human rights and individual decisions. From this account we have seen that even immoral as well as illegal acts for example torture are not punishable in the same degree according to who the participating figures are. Before asking the question: should all immoral acts be punishable, the punishment for the already illegal and also immoral actions needs to be consistent and fair.

Mediocrity of Teacher Recruitment Essay -- Teachers Education Employme

Mediocrity of Teacher Recruitment Some teachers are better than others. This is a simple and, I hope, obvious fact. But the culture of American schools is not friendly to it. Particularly in our hiring of public school teachers, we tend to avoid notions of serious discernment, of picking the very best in our society to become our teachers, and we accept that the most talented of our young people will gravitate to other fields. Overcoming this acceptance of mediocrity in teacher recruitment and retention represents the greatest opportunity to bring a quantum improvement to our schools. To focus on the elite among new teaching recruits as a matter of method is, in fact, the radically democratic way to give our society's most valuable resources to our poorest and neediest children. That simple fact should trump any concerns about the ill effects of meritocracy on job applicants. The work of educators is to educate young people. So long as we have the courage to make the very best possible experience for those young people our highest goal, we must attend to fairness for teachers only after we have attended to excellence for our students. And we have yet to do that right. Today, the best teachers in many schools are in a way the dissidents, the people who stand out, who attract criticism as well as praise for being remarkable educators, and they resist a strong pull toward mediocrity in the professional culture of too many schools. We must recognize that this is a problem, and we must fix it. The solution is not difficult to imagine. New teachers must come to know that there is an early-career, merit-based threshold to cross, similar to what doctors, lawyers, and many business professionals face in their first few years of professional work. If we can make this a reality, the most talented and most effective among them will be able to earn their place in a truly elite, dedicated corps of teachers. We will keep the very best of the new teacher recruits, and we'll attract large numbers of people in other professions who today don't sign on to become teachers because they believe that American schools haven't fostered a culture of achievement and haven't been able to make the profession of teacher as respected or respectable as many other professions. In many school systems today, new teachers are, officially, on some kind of probation for a period... ...s job security. A district that wants to fire a tenured teacher must typically undergo a lengthy process of hearings and appeals. One purpose of tenure laws is to protect teachers from being dismissed because of political or personal views. Opponents, however, argue that tenure makes it difficult for districts to fire unqualified teachers. On a similar front, several studies are also now being conducted to examine ways to dramatically overhaul the entire teacher-compensation system--not just change a bit of it here or there. Undeniably, much remains to be done. A major report issued in September by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future offered a scathing indictment of current practices, including inadequate teacher education, bureaucratic hiring procedures, and the placement of unqualified teachers in classrooms. The report set the price tag for remedying these problems within a decade at nearly $5 billion a year in new federal, state, and local money which should be spent on upgrading teacher education, subsidizing people to teach in high-need fields and locations, reforming the licensing and induction process, and better professional development.

social engineering Essay -- essays research papers

Pedophilia in short is the desire of an adult for sexual contact with children. Pedophiles have been known to molest children only hours after being released from a lengthy prison sentence. In some instances, they kill their victims in order to cover up their crimes. Over the years, society has implemented many attempts to contain pedophilia including such measures as incarceration, therapy, and even castration. Few of these have proven successful. Pedophilia poses an alarming problem for society, particularly the children who are the victims of the sexual abuse. According to Bertrand (2005) â€Å"In the United States, up to 500,000 cases are reported each year, and many more go unreported. In 1990, this crime cost over $2 billion -- and this figure does not include psychotherapy for the child... social engineering Essay -- essays research papers Pedophilia in short is the desire of an adult for sexual contact with children. Pedophiles have been known to molest children only hours after being released from a lengthy prison sentence. In some instances, they kill their victims in order to cover up their crimes. Over the years, society has implemented many attempts to contain pedophilia including such measures as incarceration, therapy, and even castration. Few of these have proven successful. Pedophilia poses an alarming problem for society, particularly the children who are the victims of the sexual abuse. According to Bertrand (2005) â€Å"In the United States, up to 500,000 cases are reported each year, and many more go unreported. In 1990, this crime cost over $2 billion -- and this figure does not include psychotherapy for the child...

Importance of Foreign Market Entry

For a business organization to grow, it has to constantly find new opportunities to exploit. Globalisation is a large driving force that has led to the trend of the rising number of business organizations operating beyond their home country. As with globalisation,there is now a decrease in trade barriers which makes doing business abroad easier. Likewise,there is also an increased in the number of competitors in the local market and many a times, a organisation has to expand into a new foreign market so as to achieve a higher market share. One major pushing force for a organisation to go abroad is the limited opportunities in the local market which could either have no need for the organisation’s offerings or the market could be quite saturated. A global market,on the other hand,offers endless possibilities and a bigger market. Consider a small country like Singapore which only has a population of close to 5 million, a business organisation can do so much more with an expansion overseas whereby the population size is many times the local population. Local companies like Eu Yan Sang (traditional chinese medicine) or Prima Taste have their products located in different parts of the world where there are definitely a demand for it. Consider the Chinatown in London where many Chinese nationalities are currently residing/studying at. Chinese products that are found in their home countries are bound to appeal to them due to the brand familiarity as well and if there is a demand for such products,business organisations can reap from the benefits by supplying these products. This is also the case for many agriculture industries whereby the production of the products are far much more than what the population can consume. The amount of coffeebeans that are harvested in Latin America are more than sufficient for its population and organisations can make a profit out of it by actually selling the excess. The importance about a global expansion is also the competitive advantage the organisation is able to to reap. Firstly, the organisation may become more fficient due to the larger market size. Economies of scales which was previously not attainable due to the limited population size can now be realised as the number of markets and customers increase. Underutilised machinery can also be put to fuller use as the number of orders increases. For another class, we actually visited the Manner production plant in Vienna and we noticed that many of their machines were not running at full capacity. By exporting overseas and increasing the demand for Manner products,this can actually help increase the production and make better use of these machines. Besides achieving economies of scale, the organisation may be able to reap the benefits of an experience curve and this can further bring cost of productions down or making the organisation a more efficient one. Another advantage of a foreign market entry is that it can actually increase the product life cycle when it is sold in less developed countries. For a product with a short life cycle(especially technology gadgets),exporting it to other less developed countries can prolong its cycle as the level of sophistication and technology that is demanded might be lower. Consider the case of cellphones in a developed country like Japan. New models of cellphones are constantly introduced and it will not be long before a model is phased out. Manufacturers of the older model can then find a new market in a less developed market (for example, India) that does that require the newest technology but just require the cell phone for its basic functionality.

Research Synopsis Format Essay

Savings form an important part of the economy of any nation. With the savings invested in various options available to the people, the money acts as the driver for growth of the country. Indian financial scene too presents a plethora of avenues to the investors. Though certainly not the best or deepest of markets in the world, it has reasonable options for an ordinary man to invest his savings. One needs to invest to and earn return on idle resources and generate a specified sum of money for a specific goal in life and make a provision for an uncertain future. One of the important reasons why one needs to invest wisely is to meet the cost of inflation. Inflation is the rate at which the cost of living increases. The cost of living is simply what it cost to buy the goods and services you need to live. Inflation causes money to lose value because it will not buy the same amount of a good or service in the future as it does now or did in the past. The sooner one starts investing the better. By investing early you allow your investments more time to grow, whereby the concept of compounding increases your income, by accumulating the principal and the interest or dividend earned on it, year after year. The three golden rules for all investors are: †¢Invest early  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Invest regularly †¢Invest for long term and not for short term This project will also help to understand the investors facet before investing in any of the investment tools and thus to scrutinize the important aspects of the investors before investing that further helped in analyzing the relation between the features of the products and the investors’ requirements. Who is investor? An investor is a person or entity that purchases assets with the objective of receiving a financial return. The assets an investor may buy range widely, but include stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, and collectibles (e.g. art). The portfolio of an investor commonly includes a variety of assets that balance the rewards and risks of each investment. An investor is distinguished from a speculator, who seeks to make quick, large gains from price increases on risky assets. Generally, an investor has a longer time horizon for achieving a return, which may include regular cash payments from the income the asset generates, capital appreciation from the rise in the asset price, or bo Standing on the threshold of the economic revival of the Indian economy where the recovery and growth are already knocking at our door to usher the new order with a note of optimism. The potential of India as a market and as a manufacturing base continues to attract more and more interest of the world at large. Undoubtedly, lot of development is taking place in the investment pattern of the economy and its multiplier impact would be there to be witnessed over a period of years. Investment scenario is changing very rapidly. Emergence of modern instruments of investment like Mutual Funds, Systematic Investment Plan, RBI Bonds, and Infrastructure Bonds proves to be a better option for the investors in comparison to the old instruments of investment such as fixed deposits, savings, recurring deposits etc. This project deals with the thorough study of these modern instruments in respect of their returns, liquidity, and tenure & safety aspect etc.

Drawing the Line on Political Correctness Essay

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is funny how over the years, humor had changed tremendously. Television networks do not intend to offend anybody, except for the ego-driven celebrities and politicians as well as constant draws which satirize church people and family driven values.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is not because some things are now regarded revered. The viewers have also changed. They cannot express amusement at themselves to any further extent. One concrete example is the old sitcom, titled Murphy Brown, which over ten years ago, has been the center of contention on the subject of political correctness. The show on October 11, 1993 was aired and was regarding a series of comments made on-air made by Murphy and Peter which all got gashed up, and had the entire staff production required to attend a session on political correctness (Tucker 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That particular episode exposed much of the irrationality of how people can get easily offended by the least thing said, such as: â€Å"I’m not black, I’m African-American† as one character protested. Another beamed up â€Å"I’m not African†¦I’m black†. â€Å"I’m not black†¦I’m brown!† Networks have determined that it is impossible to say anything without getting anyone offended by someone, so they have principally decided not to pronounce anything (Tucker 1). Political Correctness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In 1980’s, political correctness or PC emerged as a communal tyranny. It was an impulsive or unprompted statement of specific expressions, behavior and ideas considered legal but must be outlawed and those who disobey will be imposed with punishment. It began with little influence and later on had grown to such popularity till it then started written and unwritten law in the community. By way of those declared in the public as not being politically correct fitting the subject of state or mob prosecution (Atkinson 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the effort of pointing out the detestable background of political correctness is to reiterate the vital significance of freedom of speech, freedom of voice and plain speaking; such are the safeguards of the community against the nuisance of tyranny, the absence of these factors indicates having no tyranny. For that reason, any form of expression prohibition or those summoned by the slander, libel and public decency laws, are considered matters of severity subject by methodology of common law and not by mob dictations (Atkinson 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The affirmed coherent of this oppression is to avert people from getting offended; to coerce each one to stop the use of   behaviors or words which can displease women, non-whites, homosexuals,   the fat, the stupid, the ugly or the crippled. This exposes not only its irrationality but its stimulation. The set of values which are not accepted are those apprehended by the earlier generation, for such reasons, the terms dagos, wogs, niggers, coon, sheilas,   poofs, spastics and   have turned out to be profanation, because, in an action of infantile rebellion, their issue have develop as well-regarded by the latest generation (Atkinson 1).   Political correctness is simply the antipathy of spoilt children bound for against their values of the parents (Blazquez 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A decline in the community takes place at the time the greater part of its people turned out to be self-centered, and beneath this power it gradually takes apart all the manacles in the lead of decadence brought about by customs, law, manners, tradition and beliefs. As each succeeding generation of self-centered people accede to be in command of the community, it grabs its chance to desert further of the exasperating fetters that wisdom and genius had instilled. The social annihilation and its proponents attain their unfounded principle by openly taking on irrationality by means of slogans at the same time as defaming those who do not sustain their standpoint (Atkinson 3) .As part of the social decline due to political correctness it makes each generation by another one crafts public behavior less rational and less restrained.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the present day we face up to a problem of political correctness which is the direct opposite of the liberal tradition. Wherein liberalism promotes challenging political ideas, political correctness, by language, conduct or law, tries to find how to hold back the expression of the ideas.   The fundamental nature of social equality is the preference of opinions and ideas, and the liberty to convey the ideas.   However democracy is not all about choice, it is moreover about majorities. The values and ideas of the greater part are capable to succeed over to other choices.   The politically correct pay no attention to the autonomous ideal in terms of both the majoritarism and choice.   It is their objective to have the institutions of the state captured and mould them to reveal their outlooks.   The reality that their thoughts may not mirror the thoughts of the majority, or certainly are particularly conflicting to views of the majority, is of no importance.   It is the views’ imposition that matters.   Hence this is the deep-seated predicament with political correctness (Hanan 1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are three features in political correctness. The first is that, political correctness is a set of beliefs and attitudes which are separated from conventional values.   Next, the person being politically correct has a narrow outlook on how people ought to sense and what they are allowed to talk about.   Third and mainly significant, political correctness is rooted in institutions of the public, which comprise a lawmaking support, and which have compelling powers.   It is this third feature that provides political correctness its influence.   The absence of this confine of power the outlooks of the politically correct will merely be an additional view in the arena of ideas (Hanan 2). An institution, government is or a person is politically correct when they stop to correspond to the welfare of the preponderance, and become concentrated on the concerns and cares of sector groups of minority.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Political correctness and its origin does breed confusion.   This is for the reason that political correctness has its beginning in equality campaigns, specifically the racial equality campaign, which has regularly been motivated by politics and its liberal side.   The existing result is that the more raucous adversaries of political correctness plunge into the corner of involving, for instance, that racism is acceptable, basically since it is not politically correct.   Doing the contrary to what is politically correct is not the base to be in opposition to political correctness (Hanan 3). This ensnares, on the other hand, point out why it is imperative to evaluate the predicaments emerging from political correctness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retorts about Vice Presidents are a revered custom on TV. But the issues of Dan Quayle in an Emmy Awards ceremony bear a resemblance to a Rodney King thrashing by the elites of Hollywood. Quayle is television’s superior beating guy ever in view of the fact that he made campaign issue on Murphy Brown; it was a ram of what appeared like every onstage joke. Diane English, the creator of Murphy Brown, topped the evening with an argument of single mothers that traversed the line into adherent nastiness. â€Å"As what Murphy has said to herself, ‘I couldn’t possibly do a worse job raising my kid alone than the Reagans did with theirs.’ â€Å" The viewers applauded and laughed on lines such as these. However the reaction was extra troubled and concerned. At a campaign rally Quayle used the Emmy volley to stress his point that â€Å"Hollywood doesn’t like our values.† Numerous parties in the industry of television approved that the entire flaunt was, at the semantically criticism like values of religious faith, marital fidelity and patriotism. Quayle writes that â€Å"Tens of millions of Americans now see the entertainment industry as an all-powerful enemy, an alien force that assaults our most cherished values and corrupts our children† (Zoglin 1). The Republican-political episode in which Murphy reacted to the Vice President, while hurriedly nursing to her new born; she heeds his remarks on television and responds with disbelief: â€Å"I’m glamorizing single motherhood? What planet is he on? I agonized over that decision.† Afterward, she emerges on her television show to respond to the charges of Quayle: â€Å"Perhaps it is time for the Vice President to expand his definition and recognize that whether by choice or circumstance families come in all shapes and sizes. And ultimately, what really defines a family is commitment, caring and love.† (Zoglin 1) Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What can be done to deal with political correctness and its problems is to eliminate the encouragement role of such seen on televisions.   They should be apprehensive with the arbitration of rights, not disseminating the politically correct ideologies.   Their backing character roots from their lawmaking permission.   It is the point to eradicate this permission which does slight more than allow misinformation (Hanan 4).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In these modern times, many people are amused with how funny lines are thrown in television shows, especially when the icons make fun of prominent people using politically correct terms which are perceived to be satirical and insulting. Political correctness does not happen only in the industry of television, each individual may encounter such lines which can cause annoyance and getting offended. For instance when one is told that â€Å"she does not wear too much makeup, she is cosmetically oversaturated† or when one is told to be â€Å"afraid of commitment then he is monogamously challenged†. It can be very much insulting indeed. Political correctness is something that should be eradicated in the society. There should be lines drawn as to when joking or entertaining goes, it should not go beyond the point of insulting and degrading someone’s character, because no person has the right to insult nor hurt their sensible beings. The television industry is such a great means of influence; hence they should realize the sensitivity with which their messages affect their audiences. Works Cited Atkinson, Phillip. Political Correctness. 2000. A Theory of Civilization. 3 February 2008   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Blazquez, Augustin.April 8, 2002. Political Correctness: The Scourge of Our Times. Newsmax. 3 February 2008 . Path: Archives; Articles; 2002. Hanan, Ralph. The Problem with Political Correctness. June 22, 2005. National. 3 February 2008 . Tucker, Jamey. Politically Incorrect Humor. April 11, 2005. Jamey Tucker’s Blogsquat. 3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   February 2008 . Zoglin, Richard. Sitcom Politics. Sep. 21, 1992. Time Magazine in parnership with CNN. 3 February 2008 . Path: Time; Magazine; Article

Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory

Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 1 Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory John Smith Nyack College Life is so busy these days that sometimes we don’t stop to think how we got to this point or realize some of those key factors that played a role. I think it is fair to say that most people take a lot of things for granted but when you pause and analyze life’s events it can be an eye opener and really get you thinking about how certain career decisions have created a pathway for your career and at life-space. Gets a little scary when you think back on how one or two decisions could have really swayed your career. I think we can all think back to an event in our adult development that either went our way or one that didn’t that. I think back to my first few years as a working adult and how some of those early influences really set me on a path forward I spent a good amount of time reviewing Donald Super’s theory of career development and the life-span/life-space theory. I am naturally a skeptic, especially when it comes to most of these types of theory’s I read about but I feel that Super was Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 2 right on and it is hard to find areas of disagreement. I especially agree with the point that career decisions are not isolated from other aspects of our lives. When you talk about career development it starts off as a very broad subject and people take all kind of different paths to develop their careers. In my case I started working at UPS right out of high school and it was just a â€Å"job† at first and that is all I expected. The word â€Å"career† never entered my thinking, alls I knew is that I had graduated high school and my Mother old me that I had to get a job so off to UPS I went. That decision was the first major influence in my adult life, what I didn’t realize back then was that going to UPS instead of, let’s say getting a job at a small business was a huge factor in my career development. UPS is obviously a very big company and they tend to hold onto the one’s they want to develop which was very important to me. If I decided to work for a small family owned business as my first job things could have been very different. I am always very thankful for that decision I made and the people at UPS who took me under their wing and helped develop my career at UPS. A major factor in one’s career development is to put themselves in a position to grow and or be surrounded by good people or good companies that will help you grow. Easier said then done, when you are young sometimes you don’t realize or are not looking into the future but for me that a critical decision which started my career. My first couple of years with UPS I was still just a kid, but by the time I turned 20 Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 3 I was what they called a part-time supervisor which was another critical decision/influences in my career. I can remember back to that day when I almost turned down the job because I had long hair and didn’t want to cut it off. UPS had a, no hair past you collar rule for men and I really almost turned down the position because of this. Once got past the long hair issue things really started taking off the next few years as I moved around in different management roles to build my skill set. The most influential director I ever worked for was a lady by the name of Mary Finnigan, I still remember her name, she use to hound me all the time about school and when am going to enroll in college. That is what I mean by good people around you, good companies have good people and they will give you that extra push when you need one. Not sure I ever would have gone to college if she wasn’t all over me about it all the time. Again, she was looking at the big picture regarding developing my career and I was still just looking at it as a job. All of this was happening during Super’s Exploration stage of career development. I was trying to understand what I wanted to do as far as a career. I was part of the union for year which I did not like very much, I was part of management for about four years during this period and really enjoyed the challenges of the job but still had a hard time with the style of management and people telling me what to do all the time, looking over my shoulder all the time, and just the overall â€Å"The beatens will Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 4 continue until morale improves† management style. UPS use to have something called MBO’s which was â€Å"management by objectives† but the joke was that it was really MBI, â€Å"management by intimidation†. As I moved toward the end of my exploration stage I realized I had to make a career decision/change. Although I very much enjoyed the high pressure atmosphere and the thrill of success I knew that I didn’t respond well to that sort of management style as it was very draining for me and started having a negative effect. As I moved into the establishment phase of Super’s theory I made a bold move and agreed to start college as per Mary’s request. Once I finished my second semester UPS granted my approval to move from the operations to sales which was huge for me and where I excelled. For the first time I started thinking of UPS Sales as a career and not just a job. I also got married, bought a house, and had a child in the first few years of this stage. As my career in sales got going it create a lot of stability in my live, somehow in operations you never had the feeling of security do to the management style but now I did. Career and personal lives are very much integrated together, the feeling of a career and not just a job somehow settles you down and you start looking at live in a different perspective. Although I owe a lot to UPS and people like Mary I made the decision to leave UPS and to join FedEx. That was the hardest but most important career decision I have ever made. With UPS I had 10 years in, I was doing well, had security, things were going well. I Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 5 I also had a lot of responsibilities including a mortgage and family. Making career changes not only affected me but all affected my family and it was scary leaving something you knew was there for something unknown. But it all worked out very well, FedEx is a much younger company, a sales driven company, which fits my style better. I have not entered the maintenance stage yet and won’t for another 5 years but if I had to disagree with any of Super’s five stages this would be one that I would disagree with somewhat. If your goal is to just holding onto an achieved job I think you are going to fail in today’s world. The world is very different today and if you are past 45 in corporate America sitting still and just holding onto a job that means you are going backwards. Maybe when you hit 60 I could understand that thinking but not in your mid-40’s or 50’s. Corporations are very aggressive these days and wouldn’t allow someone to just to hold onto an achieved job. Maybe this is where a smaller company would think or act differently then a large corporation who has to answer to shareholders each quarter. There are many different roads people travel, for the last twenty years mine has been in corporate America working for Fortune 500 companies, I expect that I would continue down this road hopefully with FedEx. For me personally, I would belief that I will not settle into a holding pattern once I enter my mid-forties. I still feel very young in my career and am still learning new things everyday and I think that will continue for some time to come. With my position there are always larger corporations to sell to or manage Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 6 and as I continue to move my career forward I will work with larger and more complex corporations which will keep me moving forward and not settling. Understanding and Applying Adult Development Theory 7 References Bjorklund, B. , & Bee, H. (2008). The Journey of Adulthood, Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall

What Are the Three Levels at Which a Product Can Be Seen?

Assignment No. 9 Rome Business School Q1 What are the three levels at which a product can be seen? In response, use a concrete example of product. The product is defined as a â€Å"thing produced by labor or effort or the â€Å"result of an act or a process†and stems from the verb produce from the Latin ‘produce' which means to lead or bring forth'. The first economic use of the word was by Adam Smith, known as the father of modern economics. -Kotler et al (1989) For marketers, it is useful to divide the product into three main categories, being the Core Product ( Also known as Core Benefit), the Actual product and the Augmented Product.You can see them in the diagram below with some examples of what they encompass. -Kotler et al(2006) I shall use the example of the Adidas Sports apparel, a product line which they have used heavy societal marketing to promote. Adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world. The 11% increase in sales in 2011 thanks to their new marketing efforts has meant an income of around 634 million euros. Out of this, they invested about 136 million euros in Marketing. About 1/6th of their income. -Adidas annual report (2011)The strategy behind selling their sports apparel, has been to differentiate the offering from their competitors like Nike by providing more customization for the customers. They say their key strategic pillars are: Gaining sales and market share with key growth categories such as running and basketball within Adidas Sport Performance Leading the industry in the fields of customization and interactivity across categories Expanding Adidas Sport Style in the fast-fashion business with the Adidas NEO label It is obvious here, that Adidas has invested heavily in developing all three layers of their product.The Core Product: this is the part of the product which satisfies the basic need of a consumer by providing a basic benefit. For Adidas apparel, it provides a com fortable clothing in which to do physical exercise. Adidas, how started producing the standard type apparel shirts we see today in the 1980s when they had their largest boom in sales. The core benefit, does not however distinguish the product from competitor's offerings, but it is useful to know in order to give the company a clear idea of exactly what need they are fulfilling.The Actual Product: This is the physical product into which the core benefit is translated into, but at this stage, the marketer has to make it physically and cognitively different from the competitor's offerings in order for it to sell and retain a unique position in the customer's mind. Kotler (2006) states that this can involve deciding on the quality level, product and service features, styling, branding and packaging. It is not the same as the 4Ps of marketing, because those include place and promotion, which are not direct product attributes.I shall describe each of these so as to give a full idea of wha t Adidas has done to define and perfect the actual product. a) Product Lines: In the 1990s, Adidas subdivided their apparel to appeal to three types of customer segments: the sportsmen ( for which they opened Forever Sport), this was based on the original concept of the brand by founder Adi Dassler . He made Adidas to help athletes perform at the peak of their ability, and this goal continues to drive the brand’s activities today. Adidas performance is focused on meeting the performance needs of all athletes.Forever Sport products are â€Å"engineered to perform†, bringing high-level, performance-oriented products and innovative technologies to the market. Forever Sport is structured into five main sports categories: running, basketball, football, tennis and training for sport. The brand-followers in the lifestyle market- or which they opened the style-focused Adidas Originals . The originals line includes the brand NEO. The Label focuses on more accessible price point s, maintaing a premium to competitors. From a geneder split point of view, adidas NEO is targetting primarily the girls who account for two-thirds of the business.The Original division allows adidas to increase its reach into the lifestyle market, without losing sight of its long heritage as the original performance brand. The Original division is geared specifically toward consumers who may be less active sports participants, but who are style setters and style leaders. It is these people who set the trends which are later adopted by the mass market. Originals speak to the needs and values of the lifestyle consumer with concepts that are smart, cool, positive, modern and alive. Adidas Originals are the perfect fusion of heritage sport authenticity and global street style.Lastly, for the sports-elite Adidas opened Adidas Sports Style . Adidas defined the last one as the â€Å"Future of sportswear, which includes the labels Y-3 , Porsche Design, Adidas SLVR and Adidas NEO. Their pos itioning statement was â€Å"Style your life† . The overall marketing statement that ties these three product categories is â€Å"Adidas is in all†. They made these product lines for the general public, but the main focus was on supplying the sports wear of the major sports , focusing on football, tennis, basketball, cricket and athletics and rugby. ) Manufacturing level: Adidas owns four factories in China, the US, Germany and Japan, as well as sharing manufacturing with 863 other factories worldwide, 60% being in Asia. For the Y-3 product lines, they have used expensive materials at times such as kangroo leather ( football shoes with kangaroo leather were worn by david bechkam in 2006) , and many shoes in the SLVR style, also have camel fur and the softest of fabrics available on the market ( which inevitably drives the price up) .Most of their apparel, especially for the sports shirts is made of a polyester/cotton blends. c) Quality level and Pricing: Adidas strives to â€Å"Make athletes better† , therefore the quality of their apparel has been produced to mirror that statement. The fact that their shirts are worn by the best athletes ( and celebrities) in the world such as Rafael Nadal in tennis, David Beckham in football and Suresh Raina in Cricket only prooves the quality of the apparel they sell. In their own words Ensures Adidas material quality meets or exceeds customer expectations Ensures Adidas takes a leadership role in the industry in terms of material quality and color management Leads material quality in the pursuit for continuous product and process improvement† -Adidas (2011) In regards to pricing, Adidas is still adopting a price skimming strategy on their new products. For example, shoes in the Y3 and SLVR line cost about 300-700 USD. The price decreases with more economical brand ranges such as the Adidas originals, but still remains higher than the competitors like Puma and Nike.They do also have used however p enetration pricing, especially in their new strategic markets like central Russia and china, to ensure their products stay competitive at the point of sale. d) Styling level : The style of Adidas has been focused around being a â€Å"young† for the type of customers which were the main users of the apparel: upcoming sports men , or people who want to be in shape ( therefore feel younger). They say the design of their clothing should be â€Å" elegant, timeless, honest, inspiring and courageous†.To ensure they recruited the best designers, they opened their own design academy with schools in Tokyo, New york and London, as well as hiring what is probably the world's best youth designer, Japanese Yohji Yamamoto . e) Branding: One of the biggest marketing achievements I think has been that of Adidas’s brand management, where they established almost unparalleled brand identity. They say their brand mission was to â€Å"be the leading sports brand in the world† and they described their brand values to be â€Å"Authentic, passionate, innovative, inspirational, committed and honest.Adidas believe that consumers want choice. Therefore, the group implemented a multi-brand strategy, which allows them to capitalise on opportunities from several perspectives, as both a mass and a niche player. According to that, the brand is able to keep a unique identity and focus on its core competencies, whilst simultaneously providing the group with a broad spectrum of products. International marketing is crucial for the group in its quest to generate substantial profits; as survival depends on their established presence on the global world market.Their strategy was to concentrate on specific customer needs and wants. As they put it â€Å" Only by identifying and understanding consumers’ buying habits, their fitness level, their motivations and goals for doing sport and their individual lifestyle, can we create meaningful products, services and expe riences that build a lasting impression† To do this , they divided each product segment e. g the Adidas originals into various brands which focused on target-specific wants as as to generate greater customer loyalty.Each brand is responsible for the execution of it's own strategic focus ( DE-centralized management approach) by creating a constant stream of innovative and inspiring products and generating communication strategies that represent each brand and category in an engaging and compelling way. Their major brands are: NEO, SLVR, Y-3( high price range), Reebok ,Adidas originals, Adidas golf and CCMHockey. Reebok is an especial success story of their brand because it didn't stem rom them, but was acquired as part of a global expansion strategy in It occupies a specific market which then support's Adidas's brand strategy instead of cannibalizing it. It's market is similar to that of the Adidas Originals, Reebok is suppose to make the consumers â€Å"fit for life†. I nnovation at the brand is rooted in developing technologies and concepts that enable consumers to train at their best every day, whether they are running to keep fit, exercising in the gym or participating in other fitness activities.Reebok Classics leverages the fitness attitude and roots of the brand into the lifestyle segment. Reebok thus focuses in-between the two ends of the consumer spectrum as you can see in the diagram below To give the product a brand identity, the focused on getting Brand ambassadors within sports as well as sponsoring many team shirts and events. For example, they teamed up with FIFA, clothing most of the world's football teams including Manchester united, Barcelona, Argentina, and recently signed up Manchester united winger Nani as their new brand ambassador.It is to be noted, they do not only have one, but several brand ambassadors for their different apparel product categories. For example, they hired NBA's champion Kobe Byrant to reinforce Adidas†™s support of the â€Å"best of the athletes† and also their design credentials. f)Packaging – Adidas helps customers distinguish between the fakes and the originals with the help of it's packaging. Most clothes bought even in the shops have several tags with manufacturing details, composition, designer information, history of the item, washing guidelines and a hologram with the logo that can be seen clearly.The packaging also helps to communicate the brand value's of sustainability. The packaging for the shoes for example comes from 100% recycled material, and to save on fuel costs, the weight on packaging has decreased by 33% since 2006. g) Service Features – Adidas tries to help it's customers find the right product for them, and most of their service is centered around this. In-store they have trained staff that can consult customers what is the best product depending on the sport they do, or what they want to achieve fitness wise.They also have stylists w hich in their major stores can help a person re-define their style. Lately, they set up a VFW( a Virtual Footwear Wall) . It's the first in the world and can be found at its flagship store on London's Oxford Street, which uses advanced touchscreen technology and real-time 3D rendered products to allow customers to find out more about products before they buy. They can rotate footwear, view it from multiple angles, zoom in to see details, etc. The Augmented Product: this part of the product is the non-physical part of the product.It usually consists of lots of added value, for which you may or may not pay a premium. It may include the warranty, the customer service support offered , Installation, delivery, financing help and after-sales service. The augmented product is an important way to tailor the core or actual product to the needs of an individual customer. The features of augmented products can be converted in to benefits for individuals. For Adidas, the augmented product of th eir apparel is that it provides a complete solution for the exercising needs of the individual.Through their marketing efforts, they have created an Adidas sports community to make the customer really feel as past of a group when they purchase the apparel. Adidas provides the customers it's brand as a way of definition of the self, as one aspires to have the brand personality. It therefore can be used as an group identification tool , for the group that one belongs in, and one that they aspire to be. To help in this, Adidas offers heavy customization of the product as well as the possibility of designing and ordering team shirts.In their websites miteam. adidas. com , they really try to create a sense of â€Å"team spirit† with their brand, and often those who have bought their shirts get invited to events such as their catwalk openings. Apparel is also waranteed for 6 months after purchase, with the possibility of returns if the client is not satisfied with the product. Q2. Provide examples of the four types of consumer products and how varies the way in which they are marketed. The United States Consumer Product Safety Act has an extensive definition of consumer product, which begins:Consumer Product-The term ‘‘consumer product’’ means any article, or component part thereof, produced or distributed (i) for sale to a consumer for use in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, a school, in recreation, or otherwise, or (ii) for the personal use, consumption or enjoyment of a consumer in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, a school, in recreation, or otherwise; but such term does not include— (A) any article which is not customarily produced or distributed for sale to, or use or consumption by, or enjoyment of, a consumer,Kotler et al(2010) describes five main types of customer products as you can see bulleted below 1) Convenience Products are those that customers buy frequently, i mmediately and with a minimum of comparison and buying effort. e. g candy, magazines and fast food 2) Shopping products are less frequently purchased and it is those that customers compare carefully on the basis of suitability, quality, price and style. Examples are furniture, clothing, used cars, hotel and airline services. ) Specialty products are those with unique characteristics or brand identification for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special purchase effort . 4) Unsought product are consumer products that the consumer either does not know about or knows about but does not normally think of buying. Most major innovations are unsought until the consumer becomes aware of them through advertising. Classical examples are funerals and blood donations to the red cross. These products require a lot of advertising, personal selling and marketing efforts. ) Industrial products are those bought by individuals and organizations for further processing or for use in conducting a business. The three main groups are materials and parts, capital items and supplies and services. I have chosen four customer products, starting from the cheapest to the more expensive. I shall describe the marketing for these four consumer products: 1) Pink lady apples. ( Convenience Product) The Pink lady apples come from a variety called â€Å"cripps apples†, originally bred by John Cripps which made them an especially crisp and fruity variety.The apple variety is owned by the DAFWA( Department of Agriculture and Food,Western Australia) and run by IPLA ( International Pink lady alliance) which is a large collection of apple farmers that have special rights to cultivate the apple worldwide. Pink Lady brand apples must meet certain trade mark quality specifications. Criteria for the specifications include sugar content, firmness, blemishes and color. Inspections are regularly performed to ensure both the quality and traceability of the apple from the orchard to the shop.This is part of their marketing as the Origin is an important point of product differentiation. It brand started when one of the producers offered the apple to his wife for valentine, thus came the idea for the romantic theme of the apple and it's main slogan â€Å"Pink Lady-so much more than an apple†. Product: The main product features (part of the actual product) are : It's s elegant : with its characteristic glow and perfect complexion†¦ It’s good enough to eat ! It is sensual :with its voluptuous charm, subtle fragrance, delicate and juicy flesh, it is the most glamorous of apples.It denotes pleasure :its crunch combined with the subtle aromas of wild strawberries, vanilla, litchi and rose give this fruit a unique and long lasting taste! It is the perfect balance of sweet and slightly tart. -Pink apple. Com Their marketing campaign was aimed at increasing the apple's sales and positioning it as an apple of better taste and higher quality than comp etitor products . They succeeded, especially in Italy where 97% of the customers thought it was a higher quality apple than the others.They also highlighted the product's attributes, and marketed it for it's nutritional quality, having high amounts of Vitamin C, antioxidants and fiber. An initial campaign featuring Audrey Hepburn, heroine of cool girls the world over, propelled Pink Lady toward becoming the most popular girl in school. Marketing campaigns revolved around female-centric holidays , Valentines Day, mothers Day, and worthy, trendy causes (breast cancer research). To market the apple they have done the following: ) Branded it with appealing heart shaped stickers: Most competitors have products with round poorly visible stickers, but Pink Lady has put larger pink heart shaped stickers to attract the customers to buy the product in-store b)Promotion: Television campaign: One of the few apple companies that launched a very successful television commercial to highlight the r omantic nature of the apple . Their main target market is obviously women who care about their bodies and want to eat healthy nutritious but also great tasting apples.They also released a couple of arty Posters, featuring people eating the pink apple in Paris, worthy of bedroom decoration. Pink Lady has undertaken also a wide range of initiatives to boost the brand and consumption in the U. S. , forming alliances with other groups such as the American Cancer Council and Sherwyn Williams. The latter has been an important promotion strategy called ‘paint it pink’. Where the customers were encouraged to paint something pink in their life, and then they could submit the picture to the Pink company via their website and win cash prizes.They have also been involved in flash mob dances and enlisted Biggest Loser celebrity Ali Vincent as a Pink Lady spokesperson. It is hoped that other initiatives including pre-mix cocktail development and branded sliced apples could also boost the brand in the future. They have also aligned with Walt Disney companies to produce â€Å"Pink-Kids†, that will in the future not only sell apples that have a higher sugar content than the ones for adults, but also make pre-packaged snacks .Pink lady also uses heavy occasion-marketing , offering customers discounts, apple recipes, gift bouquets with roses and apples as well as cards with pink lady cartoons as a part to boost sales for occasions like Valentine and Mother's day. Online, through their website Pink lady offers many , recepies, competitions like the food photography award, customer opinion blogs. They use other websites such as facebook and twitter to promote awareness of the brand.They also organize and take part in events such as the Vitality show ( wellness and fitness exhibition in the UK), The Virgin London marathon and the Valentine's day bonanza, where the winner this year won a new FIAT 500. c) Elite Pricing: Pink Lady apples cost on average 3. 20 Euros per kilo, which is about 1. 50 euros more than their competitors. They distinguish their product through this, thus appealing to the more wealthy health-conscious customers. They target the generation X and baby boomer females, who have more disposable income on luxuries.As John Reeves, the CEO Says â€Å"The Pink Lady is high priced even when it’s on promotion† d) Place: Pink lady apples are not sold directly by the company but via upmarket retailers such as Coop supermarkets in Italy, or Waitrose and Sainsburys in the UK . Their marketing campaign recently has been aimed at increasing sales in developed countries of the world. Here, is an example of a couple of countries. They have started marketing with retailers in Brazil, India, China (giving import licenses in Shanghai and Shenzhen)and Russia.They do this by organizing B2B exhibitions and meetings, with potential wholesalers and retailers who then push the product to the customer through in-store promotions. For their direct customers, Pink lady applied the concept of Experiential marketing . They opened many kiosks on the high streets of the big cities like London, gave free apples away at offices, talked face to face with the customers and went into schools to tell the romantic foundation story. This really encouraged the customers to try the apple and then buy it. )Customer Relationship management : This was designed for email marketing to the 8,000 strong Pink Lady Club database to engage with Pink Lady loyalists, to promote the weekly competition www. pinkladysunshine. co. uk/your-sunshine-moment/ and encourage them online to enter the main competition. It also kept track of online poles, customer surveys and general comments posted about the apple online. Overall, the Pink lady has differentiated itself from it's competitors by positioning itself as an apple for women who was both nutritional and sensual to eat.The augmented product included the membership that one could have to the Pink club, the competitions one could enter, as well as the information one had on it's production and origins. The mainly societal marketing approach aimed to increase sales in the Northern hemisphere before moving onto the southern hemisphere worked incredibly well, letting them be the no. 1 favored apple of Europe by 2012 and providing them with a sustainable competitive advantage. 2) Zara Clothing: (Shopping Product) Zara is owned by the Inditex Group.Inditex Group is a large company based out of Spain running around one hundred stores dealing with textile design. Inditex operates over 4,350 stores worldwide with brands like Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Zara, Zara Home, Uterque, and Stradivarius(History of Zara, 2008) Zara is present in 71 countries, with a network of 1,475 stores located in major cities throughout the world. The group also has a distribution center in Zaragoza, called Plataforma Europa, which distributes to all the Zara stores within Europe. â €  Marketline France Apparel retail industry report, 2008, pg. 20) Zara's marketing strategy has been centered around creating Zara clothing, not as a â€Å"fad† but more as a lifestyle choice for the independent working woman. They seek to bring the major catwalk models into the ordinary life by making the design more practical and economic. To do this, they had to understand the â€Å"psychology† of their customer needs. Including, what makes the customers re-buy Zara products and how they feel when they are wearing them. They discovered that 1/3 women don't like the way their clothes fit them.To overcome this, Zara recruited a team of designers that completely revolutionized the Product, making them â€Å"look beautiful† on almost every body. They did this by accentuating the style and neutralizing the body contours beneath the body. Now, the customers who wear Zara have an immediate â€Å"self esteem† boost, which is why the company boasts an incre dible growth of about 18% per year. 1) Place . Zara's target market is the Euro-chic crowd who wants more fashionable clothes with a shorter lead time. Zara produces lower quantities of clothing, therefore the supply of their items are very scarce.Zara relies more on location of a retail establishment rather than advertising to attract customers. Only . 3 percent of sales are spent on advertising for the company compared to that of its competitors who spend around 3. 5 percent. Zara is more concerned with finding the exact retail site that best suits the company rather than spending the extra money on luring customers into the store . They usually book the bottom floors in large shopping malls, so they are the first stores which a customer visits, and they also ensure that their spot on the high street Is in the most visible areas and install very large windows in their shops.The inside of their stores is usually moderately lit, with a minimalistic furniture and decor, and a definit e â€Å"professional† vibe. This matches with Zara's brand personality . 2) Pricing: Zara has often adopted a market penetration pricing strategy by positioning itself cheaper than most of it's competitors as you can see in the diagram below: c -Slideshare(2012) They give many coupons, online discounts and do frequent bargain offers in their shops. They seek to keep the prices fairly low and to provide quality. as can be seen in the diagram above). The pricing ties in with their logistics strategy to have a high turnover of clothes. Louis Vuitton's Fashion Director Daniel Pietter has described the brand as â€Å"the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world. Zara has a reputation of disrupting the market wherever it goes. A clear brand proposition has been crucial in the brand’s success. This is a great example of a brand built on a simple idea that is delivered ruthlessly and at a good price† –Daniel Pietter ,New York times(2010) ) Promotion: Zara, compared to her competitors in the haute fashion world has never been a big fan of using television commercials, but rather celebrity endorsement. The most chic considered stars like Angelina jolie, Scarlett Johanesen and Nicole Kidman have all been famous supporters of the Zara brand. To reinforce this celebrity image, all of their marketing material like their brochures glossy, expensive looking and glittery. However, they never make adverts on large billboards nor use posters. Because they do not use a lot of TV advertising, they are spending relatively little on their marketing campaign( about 0. % of total revenue). Therefore, their marketing strategy is focused around Zara's presence in the world and rapid expansion and distribution of it's stores. With more than 1,500 stores around the world in over 70 countries, they open around 150 new stores every year. With the brand becoming world renown, the company is also focusing on sustainable marketing by opening stores whic h consume 30% less energy compared to the average conventional store. The new stores also save 50% of water consumption and maintains their CO2 emissions below 150 toms a year.With this said, I have to add that Zara does however organise fashion events to attract it's clients. They are present in almost every international fashion show from Ethiopia to Finland. This presence not only promotes their brand amongst the elite, but also gives their designers plenty of inspiration for the constant innovation they have to deliver. 4) Product : On-top what I have already mentioned in my opening paragraph , it should be noted that Zara produces most of it's clothes in-house, and rarely outsources to ensure major quality control.If they do decide to outsource, they move their factories to places like Romania and the Czech republic rather than the developing world. This way they also spend less on transportation and can implement a Just-in-time manufacturing approach which guarantees there is a lead time of 2 weeks between the design of the clothing and it's appearance in the retail shops. It should be also noted, that Branding is not a big part of Zara's marketing like Adidas. They never place their logo on any of the clothing they make to avoid competition from imitator products.Instead, they train their customers to have a ‘good eye' on what is the real Zara product and what is a fake. Overall, with minimum marketing effort, Zara is an interesting company because they have demonstrated to the world you can still have customer loyalty and grow rapidly by offering a great value proposition instead of investing heavily in marketing campaigns. In the end, it is the customers through their own word of mouth that promote Zara the most. 3) ING Direct Online Banking:(Specialty Product) ING Is the world's biggest online bank, founded in 1991 and the fastest growing bank in UK history.It's main target market is the Generation X and Y who know how to navigate the internet very well , who do not have time because of their busy schedule to go to a regular bank, because of their restricted opening ours and also who are interesting in saving the money they have. Regular bank accounts make it easier to take out money, but online banks are more geared to saving money, which is why they usually do not have a minimum deposit requirement. a) Product: ING direct offers banking services and support 24/7 for wherever you are in the world.The service aspect of their product ( the augmented product) is their biggest competitve advantage and biggest source of differentiation. Unlike other online banks and investment groups like Ally bank and Perk Street, they assign every customer to a bank representative which stays with you for as long as your relationship may last in the bank. This is part of their CRM efforts ( Customer relationship management) and it has proven to be a big success because people feel less afraid of being just another face in the crowd, and kno w there is a person in the bank who knows about them and can serve them faster.The customer does not have to pay service fees as well, as in a regular brick and mortar bank and they offer low interest rates to borrowers and high rates to savers. All of this does great word-of-mouth marketing for the bank, who being online relies on it more heavily than a traditional bank , due to the fears of online scammers. Another big source of marketing for them and differentiation comes from their customer-specialised products.They have accounts for kids ( Kids Savings accounts), Business Accounts and for Pensioners that are more flexible than traditional banks and offer more benefits, and also a cash prize everytime someone opens an account : major way to attract clients. b) Promotion: ING Direct brands iself as the â€Å"Forward thinking† bank. It tries to deliver innovative marketing campaigns, mostly in the form of billboards, posters and television commercials to it's clients. It ma kes an effort to associate it's brand with all the number one achievers in the sports and business world.For example, has recently signed a contract with Ferrari and Formula One to become the major sponsor of their events. They invest also in the promotions at Football games, large billboards and Tennis championships. Recently, they launched a new brand positioning campaign which should make clients see them as â€Å"the most convenient way to do everyday banking†. For this sey made a 60 second youtube spot, which was then viewed on select tv finance and news channels like CNN, CBC, CTV, Global and TVA, as well as specialty channels including HGTV, History, TSN, RDS, Series+ and Canal D .However, a huge aspect of their marketing efforts still is Viral Marketing . They are heavily dependent on website advertising space, you-tube video clips, facebook and twitter online presence to increase brand awareness. They also partnered with application builders to be part of the increas ing app market. Now, if you download Sharebuilder app on your smart phone, you can use money directly from your online ING account to invest in the market. The CEO Jim Hemmer says â€Å"†ING Direct's mobile banking and trading apps are innovative and reflect the personality of the brand,†Overall, ING's financial products have succeeded because it understood it's customers. The money ING saved from not building physical establishments, they passed these cost-savings directly onto the customers who now get cash prizes when they open an account, very good rates and no service fees. The marketing has been mostly online for them, even if they still do sponsor many sports events, but most importantly it's a bank who has thrived like Zara on word-of-mouth, and based it's biggest advertising on the actual products it offered-being more price competitive, more personalized and more appealing than the competitor's offerings. ) Nomenus Quarterly ( Unsought product). This magazine is the most expensive in the world ( about 2200 pounds sterling) and came out as a limited edition of 50 published pieces. It was created by the German artist Erik Madigan Heck, as an attempt â€Å" to create something of lasting real beauty†. It's publications show photographic spreads of fashions by Azzedine Alaia and Ann Demeulemeester (shot by Heck himself), as well as works by some of the art world's greatest figures, including Lucien Freud and Anselm Kiefer.It has to be noted that all art in the magazine are one-off exclusive and original pieces, therefore the product offering appeals not to those who are interested only in art, but also photography and art collectionists. Price: Of course, with the price tag of over 2200 pounds, it is a magazine for the 1% elite of the society who are interested in alternative art forms represented through painting and photography. The price does quite a bit or word of mouth marketing for it, as it is the most expensive, and because of this, boasts quite a few online publications solely on its pricing strategy.Erik comments directly on the price saying â€Å"Let people pay the highest price, because you know what, we have the best product out there and it's worth it. And it works. It sells out before it even launches. † Packaging: The product comes in a unique black box-set laced together with a silver silk ribbon , in which inside there is the magazine. It is not only to protect it, but also to introduce the publication. Please see the picture below, from their own website. Place: The product sells online, through its own website, or you can view it for free online! Erik calls it the Robin Hood deal of marketing, that is give it for free†. He understands that the real customers buy the work to treasure the collection of art which is inside, not to merely have a flip-through. The magazine can also be found at exclusive book clubs like Damien Hirst and stores around mostly London and New York. Then, t here are many magazines and televison shoes who quote from the magazine, or use part of it's contents, giving it free publicity. For example, Vernissage Tv-an exclusive art and fashion channel is notable for citing Nomenus quaterly and showcasing it's work in a couple of short documentaries.Promotion: The magazine promotes itself through the business network of it's founder, Erik, who basically does not spend anything on promotion he claims, apart from the website expenses. All of the clients of the magazines are mostly designers who know him, or connected interested peoples like Kevin Roberts , C. E. O of Saatchi & Saatchi. As a way to promote the magazine itself, its pages feature exclusive photographs of celebrities and major art figures. For example, the latest issues had photos of the supermodel Mary Katrantzou and Tilda Swinton. In conclusion, Nomenus quaterly has demonstrated that passion does pay.It breaks away from the other examples I have used, because it plays in a very niche market of the cream of the high-class, who have very specific and complex wants-especially if they need to pay that kind of price for the product. It's marketing is almost purely word-of-mouth, and has worked extremely well for this magazine that delivers beautiful original work and has in it's own market no direct competitors. A completely original, innovative and eccentric consumer product that has demonstrated that via differentiation and quality, it has occupied a very specific market niche and gained a loyal customer base for the long-term. . What is a brand? Why are there many people willing to pay more for branded products than non-branded? A brand is a â€Å"name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. â€Å"Branding† began as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp, and today it's still doing the same thing- differentiating products fro m each other. -The American Marketing Associations Dictionary (2011) â€Å"Brands may be the most important tools for creating value and profitable customer relationships.Marketing is about building brands that connect deeply with customers. † -Kotler et al(2010) People are more wiling to pay for a branded product than for a non branded because of the concept of Brand Equity. Brand equity is the differential effect that knowing the brand name has on the customer response to the product and it's marketing. To explain this further, I shall use the example of a couple of Iconic brands. These are defined as having aspects that contribute to consumer's self-expression and personal identity.Brands whose value to consumers comes primarily from having identity value are said to be â€Å"identity brands†. Some of these brands have such a strong identity that they become more or less cultural icons which makes them â€Å"iconic brands†. Examples are Apple, Nike, Mc. Donal ds and Harley Davidson. People pay more for these brands because of the deep connection these brands have been able to make with their customers. Holt (2004) identifies four main elements to creating iconic brands, which will create a bond with the customer and justify the higher prices than non branded products. Necessary conditions† – The performance of the product must at least be acceptable, preferably with a reputation of having good quality. â€Å"Myth-making† – A meaningful storytelling fabricated by cultural insiders. These must be seen as legitimate and respected by consumers for stories to be accepted. â€Å"Cultural contradictions† – Some kind of mismatch between prevailing ideology and emergent undercurrents in society. In other words a difference with the way consumers are and how they wish they were. The cultural brand management process† – Actively engaging in the myth-making process in making sure the brand mainta ins its position as an icon. Kotler et al(2010) also adds that if the brand is going to be successful, differentiation from competitors is not enough. It needs to be relevant to the customers needs. The more there is a tight fit between the what the customer wants and what the brand gives and stands for, the greater chance of attaining a long term competitive advantage. To summarize, the branding done by companies makes people pay more for them because : )They have an Emotional connection to the brand- like McDonald people associate It with fun and tasty food. -relating somehow back to their childhood and family bonding. 2) It gives them a way to Express their identity through the brand image or personality. For example, buyers of Harley Davidson are usually men who want to feel more masculine and ‘rebellious'. 3) They are guaranteed a certain degree of quality and security as with the case for Parmigiano cheese, customers repeat purchases because they know what to expect in t erms of taste, thus it's part of a dissonance-reducing buying behavior. ) It gives customers a greater Self Esteem, for example, women who buy Fendi apparel get an immediate self-esteem boost from the purchase because they feel they are a step closer to their aspirational group, and feel they have ‘rewarded' themselves in making that purchase. In conclusion, for a brand to remain successful, it must rely less on the product's tangible attributes and more on creating surprise, passion and excitement surrounding a brand. It must also make sure that it's brand image and personality does not suffer as the business extends it's product lines or invests into new products. Q4.What are the four characteristics that affect service marketing and the additional marketing considerations for this sector? The service sector is one who's grown is increasing greatly. They not account for about 79% of USA's gross domestic product. There are two different types of services; the public ( offered by government and non-profit organizations, and the private ones ( offered by all business organizations). Kotler et al (2010) state that there are four main characteristics that define and affect services. They are: Intangibility: Services are intangible and do not have a physical existence.Hence services cannot be touched, held, tasted or smelt. This is most defining feature of a service and that which primarily differentiates it from a product. Also, it poses a unique challenge to those engaged in marketing a service as they need to attach tangible attributes to an otherwise intangible offering. Heterogeneity/Variability:Given the very nature of services, each service offering is unique and cannot be exactly repeated even by the same service provider. While products can be mass produced and be homogenous the same is not true of services. g: All burgers of a particular flavor at McDonalds are almost identical. However, the same is not true of the service rendered by the same coun ter staff consecutively to two customers. 3) Perishability: Services cannot be stored, saved, returned or resold once they have been used. Once rendered to a customer the service is completely consumed and cannot be delivered to another customer. eg: A customer dissatisfied with the services of a barber cannot return the service of the haircut that was rendered to him. At the most he may decide not to visit hat particular barber in the future. 4)Inseparability/Simultaneity of production and consumption:  This refers to the fact that services are generated and consumed within the same time frame. Eg: a haircut is delivered to and consumed by a customer simultaneously unlike, say, a takeaway burger which the customer may consume even after a few hours of purchase. Moreover, it is very difficult to separate a service from the service provider. Eg: the barber is necessarily a part of the service of a haircut that he is delivering to his customer.The additional marketing considerations for this sector are that a company must realise that increasingly what drives customer satisfaction is the level of services and the extra services offered compared to competitors, even if a company is selling a physical tangible product. E. g Sky-tv offers free installation when a customer purchases a good. This is part of the augmented product, but it also gives them an advantage point over their competitors. This said, companies must realise that the point of service devliery is when the employees ( representatives) of the firm meet the customers.Successful companies must focus their attentions on both the employees and the customers in order to achieve a satisfied client. This is part of the Service profit chain, that is the chain that links service firm profits with employee and customer satisfaction. For it to be successful it needs Internal service quality- superior employee selection and training to support them when dealing with customers Satisfied and productive service e mployees- the ‘extra smiles' are always passed onto the customer and adds more value to the overall service deliverySatisfied and loyal customers- if people had good service, it is more likely they will repeat purchase and give out a positive word of mouth Healthy service profits and growth: this is the final stage of the link which gives superior service firm performance. To ensure that this chain works well, marketers need to keep their employees happy and keep a good communication from the front-line employees to the top management. To ensure it all foes well, they have to employ a degree of Internal Marketing. Kotler et al(2010) say that internal marketing means that the service firm must orient and motivate its customer contact employees and supporting service people to work as a team to provide customer satisfaction,infact internal marketing must precede external marketing. An Example is the Four Seasons hostel , that invests on their human resources to motivate, reward and correct their employees when necessary , empowering them with the right motivation tools. They give a constant training in order to contentiously improve the service.This in turn, improves the quality of Interactive marketing , being the satisfaction the customer gets after being delivered with a certain quality of service. If this is successful, the customer will repeat purchase and spread a positive word of mouth. REFERENCES Kotler, Philip; Gary Armstrong (1989). Principles of Marketing, fourth edition (Annotated Instructor's Edition). Prentice-Hall, Inc.. pp. 639 Kotler, Philip. , Armstrong, G. , Brown, L. , and Adam, S. (2006) Marketing, 7th Ed. Pearson Education Australia/Prentice Hall. Kotler,Philip. ,Armstrong,G. (2010) Principles of Marketing 13th Ed.Pearson education. Australia/Prentice hall. History of Zara. (2008). Retrieved November 3, 2009, from Zara-Clothing: http://www. zaraclothing. net/history-of-zara/ MarketLine. (2008, July 8). Zara company profile. Retrieved from http://www. marketlineinfo. com American Marketing Associations Dictionary. Retrieved 2011-06-29. 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