The Success of Judaism Essay - 2122 Words

Judaism has survived throughout history by being flexible and by admitting foreign influences into its practice. Its success in the 21st century depends on its ability to continue doing this in response to the pressures of modernity. Judaism has endured the challenges imposed upon it, by its ability to preserve deep-rooted traditions of the past. It is through maintaining customs from preceding times that defines the foundations of modern day Jewish practice, be it through observance, prayer or habit. In combination to this, its capacity to be versatile and incorporate outside influence has served to maintain its popularity as a major world faith. In order to continue its future religious success, Judaism must persist upholding the†¦show more content†¦It is through the participation of such traditions that identifies Jewish practice. Judaism has continued to exist through the desire to maintain tradition through historical descent. As Jacob Neusner states, â€Å"the Judaic religious tradition is shaped by the historical life of the Jewish people† therefore indicating how elements of Jewish historical significance have acted in forming and strengthening an attachment to the faith. This is evident when referring to various periods such as the destruction of the second Temple and the Holocaust. The destruction of the Temple led Jews to consolidate their beliefs through the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism and the tragedy of the Holocaust has stood for and continues to stand for an attachment to the faith. â€Å"Poll after poll of American Jews in the 1990s found that the Holocaust surpassed Israel, Judaism, or any other factor as the basis of the Jewish Identity.† Such moments of historical significance represent an increased strength of faith in times of adversity. In combination to the preservation of tradition to explain the survival of the faith, it is also evident that its continuing presence is determined through its ability to subject itself to change through time. This is evident through the emergence of various strands of Judaism that emerged after Jews were emancipated in Europe. As revealed through the surfacing of Reform Judaism with its popularity, in nineteenth century Germany, the religion has survived throughShow MoreRelatedParadigms Of The Jewish Culture967 Words   |  4 PagesParadigms in Jewish Culture Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Jewish religious movements, sometimes referred to as denominations, can be looked at in terms of paradigm shifts in the Jewish Culture. Jewish denominations include different groups of Jews that have developed since the ancient times. In the United States, these denominations took the form of three large groups known as Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. While each denomination keeps to certain core beliefs, thereRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, And Islam1052 Words   |  5 PagesAubrey Fletcher 3/9/15 Humanities Professor Michaud 417868 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam There are roughly 4,200 different religions in the world today, among them the largest are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religions are more similar then one would think. Christianity is the largest religion in the world with 2 billion followers and are called Christians. Islam is the second largest religion in the world with 1.3 billion followers. They are called Muslims, which means â€Å"oneRead MoreThe Role of Judaism in Family Relationships: Article Analysis1235 Words   |  5 PagesKrieger, Aliza. The Role of Judaism in Family Relationships. Introduction: According to Aliza Krieger, author of the article titled The Role of Judaism in Family Relationships, because Judaism plays an important role in a Jewish persons identity, Judaism should be incorporated into family-based therapy. Judaism itself is more than just a persons religious beliefs, it is also part of a Jewish persons ethnicity and culture as well. And because Judaism plays an important role in familyRead MoreJudiasm Essay638 Words   |  3 PagesJudiasm Judaism was a parent of Christianity, and we probably know more about it than any other religion, excluding our own, right off the top of our heads. The ancestors of the Jews, called the Israelites, established a kingdom in Canaan-the land of Milk and Honey. The Israelites first began to see themselves in a special relationship with their God at about 1000 B.C.E. God had selected them to be a Chosen People. God had offered the Chosen People a covenant, or special agreementRead MoreAnalysis Of Schleiermacher s On Religion1495 Words   |  6 PagesFrom this, one could argue that many other religions share this ‘higher meditation’, for example, Judaism which can see to do this through their prophets. Schleiermacher s response to this would be that these prophets are a key feature of being a successful reflection of religion, they are not in themselves divine and so the fact that Christianity has a divine prophet gives it standing over Judaism. By this one means that Christ is central to Schleiermacher’s appreciation for Christianity becauseRead MoreA Brief Biography of Ana Sokolow1470 Words   |  6 Pagesimportant for dancers and choreographers to speak up for what they believe in and disseminate their message throughout the world of the arts, and Sokolow was one of those who did this with great success. Through her unique style of movement, her eye-opening piece Rooms, and her own personal connection to Judaism, Anna Sokolow’s inspirations and works come together to address a powerful issue in Jewish society and culture during her time. Anna Sokolow was born on February 9, 1910, in Hartford, ConnecticutRead MoreThe Age Of Reason By Judaism1449 Words   |  6 PagesDuring the â€Å"Age of Reason†, Judaism was forced to re-evaluate its core values in response to acculturation and assimilation. The question of emancipation and participation in their new countries brought the Jewish community to a crossroads as they had to determine how far they would veer away from their Jewish values in efforts to fit into the new societies. Jewish philosophers were forced to offer options to the different sects of Judaism that correspond with those sects core values and ethicsRead MoreThe Origins Of Judaism, Christianity And Islam Essay1345 Words   |  6 PagesThe origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam happened within an area of the world that was the center of all nations; the Middle East. These faiths have a core religious belief system that includes religious writings, holy sites and figures. The religion of the Jewish people is referred to as Judaism and is considered one of the oldest religions, beginning over 4,000 years ago in an area of land called Mesopotamia. Abraham, known to the Jews as the father of their faith, entered the land ofRead MoreThe Gospel Of John Of Course866 Words   |  4 Pagesmere and meaningless abstraction. But was the Judaism of Jesus himself the same as the Judaism portrayed in the gospel of John? Moreover, was the relationship of Jesus to Judaism the same? Apparently not, but the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed the existence of a Palestinian Judaism with some affinities with Johannine theological language. Yet this fact, although important did not lead to immediate success in a situating John in or in relation to Judaism (Smith 3). Secondly, the literary issues in theRead MoreAnalysis Of Schleiermacher s On Religion1499 Words   |  6 PagesFrom this, one could argue that many other religions share this ‘higher meditation’, for example, Judaism which can be seen to do this through their prophets. Schleiermacher s response to this would be that these prophets are a key feature of being a successful reflection of religion, they are not in themselves divine and so the fact that Christianity has a divine prophet gives it standing over Judaism. By this one means that Jesus is central to Schleiermacher’s appreciation for Christianity as he

James Otis s No Taxation Without Representation Essay

England s introduction of the intolerable acts upon American colonists created a ripple effect which they did not anticipate, which completely changed the views of many colonists. These colonists went on to become the voices that fueled the American Revolutionary War and spread the messages of liberty, freedom, and a new way of life. Some voices stood out more so than the rest, their names became etched in our history books their thoughts and beliefs paving the way for the Revolution. One such colonist is James Otis wrote a series of patriotic pamphlets outlining his views on the colonies state of affairs , one of those pamphlets is The Rights of British Colonies Asserted and Proved written in 1763. In The Rights of British Colonies Asserted and Proved James Otis outlines his perspectives on government s rights and the rights of the people , these perspectives revolutionized colonial opinions and made famous the quote† no taxation without representation.† James Otis was born in 1725 and died in 1783 during that time he lived an eventful and meaningful life. James Otis graduated from Harvard in 1743 and became a successful lawyer in Boston, his experience in law played a large role in his understanding and opinions of the events leading up to the American Revolution. He became a representative to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and was famous for his argument against the renewal of writs of assistance in 1761(1). He was a strong opponent ofShow MoreRelatedStamp Act of 17651867 Words   |  8 PagesTaxation without Representation Ryan Vote March 8, 2010 U.S. History It can easily be said that the Stamp Act of 1765 was the beginning of the revolution for the colonies of North America. Before the Stamp Act, there were other failed attempts to tax the colonies by the British parliament. Each attempt to gain money from the colonies was unlawful because there was a lack of representation from Parliament. The Stamp Act of 1765 was very detailed and expensive for the colonists. The Stamp Act wasRead MoreAnalysis Of The American Revolutionary War 943 Words   |  4 Pagesabout, especially to a patriotic citizen, sadly it is full of myths and exaggerations and at times outright lies. The very motive for the war has been twisted through the years to make the fight for independence a more beautiful story. In the late 1770’s several important people â€Å"found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire. In the process, th ey could hold back a number ofRead MoreEssay on American History 1411 Words   |  6 Pagesit. After all, the war provided the colonists with greater protection from the natives, and now had more land that had been conquered from France. Colonists in the early 1700’s were English subjects. As Englishmen, they were entitled to certain rights. One of these rights was there was to be â€Å"no taxation without representation†. Due to the vast distance England was from the colonies, it was impossible to have a colonist represent the colonies in Parliament; therefore they should not have to pay taxesRead MoreEssay about Birth of the Republic1560 Words   |  7 PagesBirth of the Republic Edmund S. Morgan Notes James Otis – 1765 â€Å"Were these colonies left to themselves tomorrow, America would be a mere shambles of blood and confusion . . . . there would soon be civil war from one end of the continent to the other.† 20 years later these same people united to create a government that has had a longer continuous existence than that of any Western country except England. P. 8 - Colonial governors helpless to take action without the assistance of the representativeRead MoreBoston Tea Party Book. . . Chapter 1: Revolutionary990 Words   |  4 PagesPatriots would lose. Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre was a shooting in boston by the British soldiers which happened in March 5, 1770, The British while attacked by a mob without order and shot at the crowd killing 3, 2 more people died later by wounds caused by this. The men that were found guilty of shooting the citizens without command were sentenced to a branding on there hand. (Branding is to mark someone hand with an iron and it is very painful). Battle Of Lexington and Concord The Battle ofRead MoreOrder Of Colonization Of The Colonies1807 Words   |  8 Pagesnatives and and allowed religious freedom, was joined by Anne Hutchinson who believed that salvation required more than good deeds Pennsylvania: the Quakers were seen as radicals because of their pacifist and equality beliefs, they believed that a person s soul is responsible for religion, not a bible, etc., were persecuted for their beliefs; William Penn’s father was an admiral for the king, and left his son incredible wealth, and because the royal family owed the Penn’s a large debt, they paid it inRead MoreCauses Of The American Revolution1344 Words   |  6 Pagesthat shapes the individual. Thomas Hobbes s belief that kings govern by divine power was rejected by Locke. He believed that every human being was born equal and that the surroundings in the environment was what molded everyone. 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This way, the colonies would be connected through their written works that argued for their independence. They shared pamphlets, newspapers, updates on the situation with Britain, and suggestions on how to respond to each of the new acts and taxations the British issued on the colonists.With the colonies more involved and collectively organized, more and more people became a part of the patriot cause. Samuel Adams admitted that â€Å"colony communicates freely with colony†¦ the whole continent is notRead MoreThe Founding Leadership Truly Caused America s Independence1981 Words   |  8 PagesArielle Devorah Mrs. McCall AP US History 19 October 2014 Although there are debates on whether the founders leadership truly caused America s independence, or they were simply a group of elitist liberals with personal interests, without the unparalleled leadership of the Founders in the Revolutionary period of America, we would not have the America we live in today. We owe the preservation of our rights, the constitution, the branches of government, and the whole notion of independence to the

A Market Economy And In A Command Economy Economics Essay Free Essays

string(115) " old ages at a bank where involvement rate is 7 % per annum\? A = F { i/ \[ \( 1 \+ I \) n-1 \] } A = 500,000 { 0\." Construction Economics is a nucleus topic to Quantity Surveyors which will use the cognition of it for future profession judgements. Quantity Surveying is besides known as Building Economist. Therefore, application of Economics is compulsory in building sector specially to be a qualified Surveyor. We will write a custom essay sample on A Market Economy And In A Command Economy Economics Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now base replies larning will assist to cover important sum of capable country which I believe more effectual. The format of this assignment will follow the same inquiry order as given in the appraisal standard and some subheadings were added to presentation intents to better the quality of the reply. 1. Question ONE Q1.i – Briefly explicate how scarce resources are allocated in a Market Economy and in a Command Economy. A market economic system is an economic status in which the production and distribution of goods and services takes topographic point through the mechanism of free markets led by a free monetary value system. It is reciprocally good and exchange between consumers and Producers. Market economic system is besides known as free market economic system and free endeavor economic system Typically a bid system is connected with a socialist or communist economic system. Largely, scarce resources are owned by authorities or province of the society. The authorities allocates sets resources, rate of growing and marks of production inA to people ‘s wants.A The authorities will make up one’s mind the distribution of concluding income and wealth. The market monetary values are minimum alteration and queuing rations for scarce goods can be expected from such a system. Scarcity is kind of tenseness between our limitless wants A ; demands and the limited resources in the planet. Insufficient production from limited resources to carry through the human wants and demands are take a firm standing for this planetary issue. Production of goods, ingestion of goods and services in return for money is the basic construct of an economic system. Scarcity of resources shall non depend with the type of the economic system. In a bid economic system if a commercial value of such resources can be pre determined, it would be low-cost to everyone. However, the monetary value of such resource would be really high in a market economic system. Q1.ii – See the undermentioned demand and supply informations of Product X. Price ( Rs. ) Demand Quantity ( Units ) Supply Quantity ( Units ) 10 900 80 20 800 180 30 700 280 40 600 380 50 500 480 60 400 580 70 300 680 80 200 780 Table 1 Use a graph paper to pull the demand and supply curves for Product X and find the followers Market equilibrium monetary value – Rs.51.00 Market equilibrium measure – 490 units Graph 1 Q1.iii – Explain the consequence of subsidies and revenue enhancements utilizing the demand and supply curves Effectss of subsidies: – Price $ /unit Supply Curves Consumption Demand Curves S Sub P s ‘ Phosphorus P s Q s ‘ Q Second Graph 2 Supply curve will switch to the right in Subsidies on production until the perpendicular distance between the 2 curves is equal to the per unit subsidy. This will diminish monetary value paid by the consumers and increase the monetary value received by the manufacturers, when other things remain equal. Otherwise, demand curve will switch to the right a subsidy on ingestion. This will diminish the monetary value paid by consumers. Besides it will increase the monetary value received by manufacturers by the same sum as if the subsidy had been imposed on the manufacturers, when other things remain equal, Although in this instance, the new market monetary value will be the monetary value received by manufacturers. The terminal consequence, once more, is that no affair who is subsidized, the monetary values manufacturers and consumers face will be the same. The analysis of the consequence of a subsidy is basically similar to enforcing a revenue enhancement. A subsidy is simply a negative revenue enhancement. Subsidy consequence will switch the supply curve downward by the sum of the subsidy. Efficaciously this causes an addition in supply. Effectss of revenue enhancements: – Impact of a 50 cents Tax Levied on Buyers Supply – S1 Monetary value of Ice Cream Cone Measure of Ice Cream Cone Equilibrium without revenue enhancement Equilibrium with revenue enhancement $ 3.30 $ 3.00 $ 2.80 Monetary value purchasers pay Monetary value without revenue enhancement Monetary value Sellerss receive 0 90 100 D1 D2 Graph 3 Taxs are used to raise money for the authorities Taxs are discourage market activity When a good is taxed, the measure sold is smaller Buyer and Sellerss portion the revenue enhancement load Who bears the load of revenue enhancement the most Q1.iv.a – Briefly explain the undertaking appraisal method of Net Present Value ( NPV ) method The Net Present Value of a undertaking is the amount of present values of discounted benefits and costs ( A negative value can anticipate as the cost here ) In general it is the difference among hard currency flows in present and future. Once the all future hard currency in subtraction, present hard currency out of the undertaking, the terminal consequence would give the NPV. NPV is a cardinal tool in discounted hard currency flow analysis to measure long-run undertakings and besides it is a standard method for utilizing the clip value of money. 56bdc7353b83add5f8b9bf9ab910465e.png When, t = the clip of hard currency flow, one = price reduction rate, Rt = net hard currency flow Q1.iv.b – A building company wishes to put aside adequate money today in an involvement bearing history to hold $ 100,000 five old ages from now for the purchase of a replacing piece of equipment. If the company can have 12 % involvement on the investing, how much should be set aside now to accrue the $ 100,000 five old ages from now? F = P ( 1 + I ) N P = F / ( 1+i ) N P = 100,000 / ( 1+0.12 ) 5 = $ 56,742.69 Q1.iv.c – What is the one-year sedimentation that has to be made at the terminal of twelvemonth if Rs. 500,000 is to be accumulated after 15 old ages at a bank where involvement rate is 7 % per annum? A = F { i/ [ ( 1 + I ) n-1 ] } A = 500,000 { 0.07/ [ ( 1 + 0.07 ) 15-1 ] } A = Rs. 19,897.31 2. QUESTION TWO Q2.i – Briefly explain the four market constructions you have studied. There are four classs of market construction exist in an economic sciences. Perfect Structures Monopolistic Competition Oligopoly Monopoly Perfect Structure This is a conjectural economic system in which no consumer or manufacturer has any market power to take a firm stand the monetary values described perfect construction. This sort of market based on six premises. Atomicity. Homogeneity. Perfect and complete information. Equal entree. Free entry. Individual purchasers and Sellerss act independently Monopolistic Competition Monopolistically Competition house acts like a monopolizer. The house will be able to act upon the market monetary value of its merchandise by altering the production rate of the merchandise. There are four sub features of a Monopolistic Competition market. Many consumers and manufacturers in a given market Non-price differences among the rival ‘s merchandises can be preserved by consumers. Barriers to entry and issue to the market. Degree of control over monetary value to manufacturers The features of monopolistically competitory market are about the same as in perfect competition, with the freedom of heterogenous merchandises, and that monopolistic competition involves a great trade of non-price competition. Oligopoly Market or industry is dominated by a little figure of Sellerss in an Oligopoly market. The determination of one house influence, and are influenced by the determination of other houses. This involves higher hazard of collusion in markets and industries. Monopoly Monopoly exists in an economic system when a specific person or endeavor has sufficient control over a peculiar service or merchandise. That will do to find the footings on which other persons shall hold entree to it significantly. Largely, in monopoly economic system, the authorities statute laws restrict to come in in to the monopoly market. In Sri Lanka, there was a period, where Shell gas had a monopoly control over domestic gas monetary values which the demand side suffers lot due to monetary value hiking. Q2.ii – Do you believe a monopoly is good for the society? In what peculiar state of affairs a monopoly would be appropriate? Discuss Monopoly economic system will non give a competitory monetary value for clients for a good or service. This happen specially the control over the monopoly Markss retain with private sector. Therefore, clients largely suffer if the monopoly is under private sector control. However, an economic system over public sector control would do different status towards clients. Such organisation will stand as none net income organisations. The purpose is established towards public satisfaction. Railway section, postal service, toll roads are illustrations for monopoly services provides by the authorities for the low-cost value. Q2.iii – The undermentioned tabular array gives the labor input per twenty-four hours and the end product per twenty-four hours of a certain undertaking carried out by a Contractor. Complete the following table demoing the contractor ‘s economic costs. Assume the day-to-day pay rate per worker is ?50 Labour per twenty-four hours Output per twenty-four hours Fringy Merchandise Variable Cost Average Cost Fringy Cost 0 0 1 5 5 50 10.00 50 2 12 7 100 8.33 50 3 20 8 150 7.50 50 4 31 11 200 6.45 50 5 40 9 250 6.25 50 6 46 6 300 6.52 50 7 50 4 350 7.00 50 8 52 2 400 7.69 50 Table 2 Pull the graph of variable cost curve Graph 4 Pull the graph of fringy and mean cost curves ( on one graph ) Graph 5 3. QUESTION THREE Q3.i – In what manner does the building industry differ from the fabrication industry? Explain your reply with appropriate illustrations. Manufacturing tends to do the same merchandise over and over called as line production. But building makes a alone merchandise, one at a clip. Soap Manufacture would bring forth 100s of soaps per twenty-four hours and it would go on. But building a edifice is alone and a one end of 100s yearss attempt. Once the building work is completed, it moves to following location in a certain clip period. But Manufacturing is go oning in a lasting topographic point like mills, workshops or paces which will non alter the location clip to clip under normal fortunes. Builder will travel to new site after passing over the old undertaking to its proprietor. A undertaking for today could be in Galle whilst the following undertaking in following twelvemonth in Kandy to the same contractor. The building merchandise would devour a long clip before it reaches to concluding result. But fabricating is required short clip. To finish the southern freeway it took 12 old ages from Galle to Colombo. But to fabricate vehicle suites to go in main road may merely take few hours in a large Fabrication pace in Japan The building industry is more consequence oriented. The client concern and ever insist to keep the consequence in to his demand. In fabrication industry, the client or end-user engagement is really rare. The fabrication industry is more with procedure oriented. The workers purpose is to keep the procedure, efficiency and efficaciously towards what they produce. Construction of a land grade edifice, client will name his squad to do certain the undertaking is being delivered in to his demand. But in fabricating a computing machine, no 1 knows who is the terminal user or who is traveling to have it. So the quality is fixed and end-user must follow with available quality. Potential change can be happened during building. But in fabrication is pre defined. So no alterations would go on unless otherwise, bring forthing a new merchandise with different marks. Typical house contraction, the proprietor may wants to alter the original design clip to clip. But in fabricating paracetamal tablet will ne’er alter its ingredients. Manufacturing points are off the shelf but building is non. An point which has been manufactured can be purchased from a store. But building undertaking would non be available due to mainly the cost of making so. Q3.ii – Explain the importance of authorities intercession in the building industry with appropriate illustrations. Government intercession to the building industry is more of import due to Nemours grounds. In Sri Lanka, Institute for Construction Training And Development ( ICTAD ) has been established as the regulative organic structure for Construction Industry. So it will do a clear image how Sri Lankan authorities has intervened to the industry. To do certain the building would non harm the environment and pubic: – As a consequence of improper building behaviours and Acts of the Apostless, it would potentially foul the environment and injury to the public public assistance. To supervise or to modulate such from building activities, it is compulsory engagement of authorities for building industry. To do certain the building is suite with town program: – As a consequence of hapless planning, the metropolis country would be supplying best service choices to public convenience. Therefore, it is of import the building site to follow with town program. To avoid corruptness and to do certain the terminal user or client gets the best value for his money Construction is the most reasonable factor behind a development of a state. In the manner for development, the positive influence to promote the building by a authorities will do a important part towards a developed state. To do certain the authorities is gaining due revenue enhancements: – The chief income for a authorities is revenue enhancements. Every different industry, merchandise, or services, authorities will hold its ain part of income as revenue enhancements. To do certain the authorities is acquiring due revenue enhancements for the contraction, the intercession is of import. Particular grants: – In Sri Lanka, as an action to promote the building industry, authorities has non charged revenue enhancements against the contraction vehicles. Government ever to do certain the cement monetary value of the state to remain in a low-cost zone for the populace. Education degree and Construction Professionals: – By bettering the instruction system and increasing the Construction Profession in university plan is besides a good intercession by authorities to do the industry live in the state. Duties of Regulatory Body: – Contractors are registered in the ICTAD to make the trust on building clients. Price bulletin publish by authorities besides help to cipher the sum of existent monetary value escalation within a concern period. 4. Decision This appraisal was significantly enhanced my cognition towards the Construction Economics topic. Some countries are really of import like for Net Present Value non merely merely for a Quantity Surveyor or Economist, but for any sensible adult male who make investing or do any minutess with a bank to set up or be after the investings efficaciously. I strongly believe that I will be able to use the cognition on the topic to confront future challenges on the profession. The all inquiries were answered and provided all sufficient information as required. . 5. Recommendation The inquiry base reply format will be given a more specific testing of pupil ‘s cognition. The inquiries were asked in this appraisal have been covered more of import country of jurisprudence and contract. Knowledge and minimizing on some of import theories are of import to any profession. Therefore, I suggest adding the Economicss topics to other suited professional instruction systems. How to cite A Market Economy And In A Command Economy Economics Essay, Essay examples

Organisational Change Management Management Studies

Question: Discuss about theOrganisational Change Management for Management Studies. Answer: Case Background The case reflects on a decision undertaken by an Australian University for merging three departments viz. Economics, Accounting Finance and also Management Studies for forming a separate Business School. The setting up of the Business School was carried out by the Australian University for covering up the annual deficit of the university. The annual deficit that was quite low during the formation of the Business School is currently recorded at around $200k. The economics departments current deficit amount is recorded at $750k. The growing deficit amount of the Economics Department is observed to account for specific reasons like the staffs bearing an unrealistic opinion about their own that affects the incorporation of new and effective teaching methods. Further, maximum of the experienced and effective staffs operating in the Economics Department are observed to be effectively promoted to higher grades in the Australian University thereby making the stated department suffer from sho rtage of trained and potential staffs. Only six members of average age 58 years are observed to be the long-serving category staffs but are evaluated to be unproductive in nature. All the above factors thus potentially contribute in making the Economics Department as the source of the annual deficit faced by the University. The teaching practices continued at the Economics Department were carried out by the staffs in a committed fashion. However, the staffs declined to follow the formal review and quality assurance practices carried out by the University authorities and rather focused on adhering to their informal practices regarding management and student affairs. The staffs of the Economics Department restrained from meeting the standards by the Universitys quality assurance department in that they viewed the practices to be bureaucratic in nature. Adherence made by the Economics Department to non-standardised and informal practices contributed in generation of low scores by the University Review Team regarding the aspect of student support and quality teaching. The gaining of low scores by the Economics Department also affected the situation of the other two departments like Accounting and Finance and also Management Studies. The staffs belonging to the Accounting and Finance Department though tend to reflect increased morale and commitment in generating quality teaching services yet they fail to work in an integrated fashion with other staffs operating across other departments of the Business School. The same tends to limit their scope of performance within the Business School. The Accounting and Finance Department compared to the Economics Department tends to reflect a culture for carrying out essential research in the respective field. The staffs of the Accounting and Finance Department reflect increased commitment on conducting research activities rather than focusing on rendering of teaching services. At the very outset, the Management Studies Department reflect a shortage of manpower resources such that where the academic staffs record a growth from 13 to 16 the number of students on the contrary reflect increased growth from 265 to 318. The mismatch recorded between the levels of supply of management teachers compared to the increased flow of students in the Management Unit tends to generate increased pressure on the academic staffs operating in the stated department. The staffs operating in the Management Department increasingly complain of lack of needed motivation and encouragement from their Department Heads. The staffs of the Management Department further complain that revenues generated by the teaching services provided by them are generally used by the business school authorities for recruiting new appointees associated with the Accounts and Finance Department and also in meeting the deficit generated by the Economics Department. The above facts tend to significantly affe ct the morale of the staffs and thus cause a decline in the performance and productivity parameters. The Management Department of the Business School though reflects existence of effective teaching and research potentials yet the same tends to suffer from the problem associated with retention of quality researchers for lack of potential financial opportunities. The Management Department observes that owing to the lack of quality teaching staffs in the Management domain it would not be possible to transfer the teaching staffs from the teaching to the research wing of the business school. Analysis Case Issues The study of the Business School case reflects on potential issues faced by the B-School as a whole and also the three main departments like Economics, Accounting and Finance and also the Management Studies constituting the B-School. The Business School as a whole reflect the problem associated with increased deficits that rose from a nominal amount from the period of its inception to $200k during the current period. The Economics Department of the Business School is identified as the potential contributor to the increased deficit amount of the management institution. Further, the B-School also reflects other holistic issues like the failure of the different departments in generating cost-effective innovation strategies for enhancing the quality of the teaching provided by them. Further, the academic staffs associated with the different departments in the B-School increasingly complain that owing to the lack of effective support staffs they are required to be potentially involved with activities concerning admissions, examination, setting of timetables and also with other types of administrative activities. The lack of potential integration among the different departments and units in the B-School requires the in dividual units to focus on the development of internal administrative offices that would cater to the admission and other official requirements. Further, the lack of integration between the different departments affects and limits the scope of development of educational programs related to the amalgamation of two units like Economics with Management, Management with Accounting and Finance and also Economics with Accounting and Finance. The lack of existence of the above programs thus fails to attract considerable number of students to the B-School. It thereby affects the potential of the B-School to earn needed revenue and develop an effective presence in the educational industry. The Economics Department of the Business School is identified with gross issues like lack of experienced, committed and productive staffs and also the adherence to their traditional informal approaches associated regarding management of student and teaching affairs. The lack of needed support and conducts from the Economics Department staffs for getting effectively prepared to be reviewed by the Quality Assurance Team of the University happened to generate low scores both for the Economics Department and also for the B-School as a whole. The low quality management scores associated with teaching review and student support also affected the position of the other two departments like Accounting and Finance and also the Management Studies. The Accounting and Finance Department of the B-School reflect potential issues associated with the lack of effective integration with the other departments like Economics and Management Studies. The failure of the accounting and finance staffs in carrying out effective integration with the other departments tends to affect their productivity and potential in generation of effective teaching guidance and support to the students. The Management Department of the Business School reflects potential issues associated with the lack of needed morale owing to lack of effective recognition by the B-School authorities regarding the teaching activities generated by them to the students. The staffs also complain of another issue where the revenue generated by the teaching services provided by them is mainly used in meeting the deficits incurred by the Economics Department. Further, the Management staffs also reflect of another potential issue associated with potential mismatch related to the limited number of teaching staffs compared to the growing number of students on an annual basis. The lack of the number of effective teaching staffs in the Management Department of the Business School is also observed to significantly reduce the chances and interest of the academic staffs in pursuing research in the management field. The above issue thereby significantly affects the productivity and performance of the staffs. Problem Analysis and Justification The lack of quality and potential teachers in the different academic departments like Economics, Accounting and Finance and also Management is identified as a potential problem in that it affects the reputation of the B-School in the greater market and thus reduces the scope for gaining of quality students (Rolstadas, 2012). Similarly, the lack of effective regulatory mechanisms for reviewing the quality and performance of teaching staffs and also support mechanisms in place tends to contribute in retaining and enhancing the fear of the academic staffs regarding rigid guidelines of the universities(Hessle, 2016). The existence of proper quality guidelines and conducts would help in enhancing the productivity of the teaching and support mechanisms (Cardy Leonard, 2014). Alternative Solutions Different types of alternative solutions can be undertaken by the B-School for attracting of potential students from the market. The management of the B-School needs to effectively focus on the integration of the three different departments like Economics, Accounting and Finance and also Management such that it would help in the development of a common support unit catering for admission and exam related activities(Rolstadas, 2012). The generation of the same would not only help in reducing the need for academic staffs to be involved in administrative activities but also in reducing the cost of the institution relating to the appointment of administrative staffs (Momba, 2014). The management needs to focus on the development of effective codes of conduct and administrative policies that would require the staffs of the accounting and finance department to honour and follow the university directives associated with the evaluation of the quality review of the teaching and student suppor t programs (Cardy Leonard, 2014). The development of an integrated framework would potentially assist the B-School authorities for involving the staffs of the different departments for generation of the right kind of policy framework to generate review mechanisms as required by the University (Rao, 2016). Gaining of higher scores related to the quality review would effectively help the B-School as a whole for gaining educational grants and funds. The management of the B-School is also required to focus on the enhancement of academic staffs through appointment of new and effective staffs along the three main departments(Pulakos, 2009). The inclusion of new and effective academic staffs would contribute in enhancing the educational productivity of the institution. Further, the B-School management is also required to effectively focus on the development of a novice program including all three or any two of the different departments. The new academic program visualised needs to be effe ctively implemented and promoted through the use of multichannel marketing and promotional channels both traditional and digital in nature. The same would help the B-School in promoting and marketing its presence in the management educational market (Chew, 2012 ). Recommendations Out of the different solutions enlisted above the management of the B-School is needed to give increased priority to the aspect of integrating the different departments and functional units (Marr Gray, 2012). The same would not only contribute in generation of a new academic program reflecting increased social and business value but also in reducing the cost of the educational institution relating to the requirement of appointment of new academic staffs (Osman, 2013).. Implementation The above recommendation can be potentially implemented by the Business School through development of formal training programs such that the same would help in enhancement of the cross-functional potential of the different staffs (Mone London, 2014). Training programs are required to be developed for helping the academic staffs related to the Economics Department to gain working knowledge of management subjects associated to marketing and human resources and also accounting and finance while for the Accounts and Finance Department Staffs to be acquainted with the aspects of Financial Management (Marr Gray, 2012). Development of Train the Teacher program would ideally contribute in generation of effective modules to enhance the cross-functional know-how of the academic staffs (Ashdown, 2014). References Ashdown, L., 2014. Performance Management. United States : Kogan Page Publishers. Cardy, R. Leonard, B., 2014. Performance Management: Concepts, Skills and Exercises. New York : Routledge. Chew, E.K., 2012. Knowledge Driven Service Innovation and Management: IT Strategies for Business Alignment and Value Creation: IT Strategies for Business Alignment and Value Creation. United Kingdom : IGI Global. Hessle, S., 2016. Human Rights and Social Equality: Challenges for Social Work: Social Work-Social Development, Volume 1. New York : Routledge. Marr, B. Gray, D., 2012. Strategic Performance Management. New York : Routledge. Momba, J., 2014. Zambia Social Science Journal Vol. 3, No. 1 (April 2012). United Kingdom : Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Mone, E.M. London, M., 2014. Employee Engagement Through Effective Performance Management: A Practical Guide for Managers. New York : Routledge. Osman, I.H., 2013. Handbook of Research on Strategic Performance Management and Measurement Using Data Envelopment Analysis. United Kingdom : IGI Global. Pulakos, E.D., 2009. Performance Management: A New Approach for Driving Business Results. United Kingdom : John Wiley and Sons. Rao, T.V., 2016. Performance Management: Toward Organizational Excellence. New Delhi: SAGE Publications India. Rolstadas, A., 2012. Performance Management: A business process benchmarking approach. United Kingdom : Springer Science Business Media.

Overuse of Caesarean section free essay sample

Over the past 20 years the rate of Cesarean sections (C-sections) births has risen. In these past years the rate of women having C-sections is one out of three. And they are not all due to a medical reasons. The question that comes to my mind is why? Well there are several factors that play a part in answering this question. To touch on just a few; First, I believe that we have become a society of convenience. Women want to plan their deliveries so it can be worked into their schedules instead of natural childbirth. Some research suggests that the labor interventions that are widely used make a C-section more likely. Another factor would be high risk women, many women are not seeking the prenatal care they need to deliver healthy babies, they are either from low income families, or are very young and aren’t aware of the prenatal care that is required while pregnant. We will write a custom essay sample on Overuse of Caesarean section or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In either case the lack of care to the mother and unborn child causes health issues for both of them. Which leads to having a caesarean section. While these issues can cause an over worked medical staff it is also miss use for a medical procedure that puts the mothers and unborn child at high risk for future health risks. Such as: life threating complications can include excess bleeding, blood clots and can even cause a future pregnancy to develop outside of the uterus. Babies born by C-sections have a chance of being cut during the procedure, they are less likely to latch on to the mother for breast feeding, or the mother may not be able to breastfeed due to the drugs used during the C-section. While there are definitely some medical advantages for having C-section. Such was the case for myself. While pregnant with my first child I was very healthy during the beginning of my pregnancy and followed my doctor’s orders, it wasn’t until my doctor on a routine checkup realized that my reflexes were extremely slow to respond and my blood pressure was on a steady rise. I was at 361/2 weeks at the time of this diagnosis and was put on bed rest and a diet of no salt. I was schedule a follow appointment within 3 days. I met with my doctor three days later during my checkup they discovered my reflexes to be non-responsive and my blood pressure to be extremely high. I was admitted to the hospital that afternoon with a condition called Toxemia,  and was schedule to have a C-section first thing the next morning. There was no other option for me as my liver and kidneys were on the verge of failing and my unborn child was in distress. Having a C-section was an advantage to me and the medical staff. The team of nurses and staff of the hospital were aware of my condition before I arrive and were well prepared for me. Which I believed helped in giving me and my child the best care possible. I believe that if women are having C-sections for legitimate health reasons there are many advantages for the patients and the medical staff that will be treating them. However C-sections should not be used for the convenience of one’s own personal gains and reasons. It puts a burden on the hospitals and the medical staff that works in them.

Environmental Costs of Hydrofracking

Environmental Costs of Hydrofracking Natural gas drilling with high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (hereafter referred to as fracking) has exploded onto the energy scene in the last 5 or 6 years, and the promise of vast stores of natural gas under American soil has prompted a true natural gas rush. Once the technology was developed, new drill rigs appeared all over landscapes in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Texas, and Wyoming. Many have worries about the environmental consequences of this new approach to drilling; here are some of those concerns. Drill Cuttings During the drilling process, large amounts of ground up rock, mixed with drilling mud and brine, are pulled out of the well and transported off the site. This waste then gets buried in landfills. Beside the large waste volume that needs to be accommodated, a concern with drill cuttings is the presence of naturally occurring radioactive materials in them. Radium and uranium can be found in drill cuttings (and produced water – see below) from a proportion of wells, and these elements eventually leach out of the landfills into the surrounding ground and surface waters. Water Use Once a well has been drilled, large amounts of water are pumped into the well at very high pressure to fracture the rock in which the natural gas is located. During a single fracking operation on a single well (wells can be fracked multiple times over their lifetime), on average 4 million gallons of water are used. This water is pumped from streams or rivers and trucked to the site, bought from municipal water sources, or is reused from other fracking operation. Many are concerned about these important water withdrawals, and worried that it may lower the water table in some areas, leading to dry wells and degraded fish habitat. Fracking Chemicals A long, varying list of chemical additives is added to the water in the fracking process. The toxicity of these additives is variable, and many new chemical compounds are created during the fracking process as some of the added ingredients break-down. Once the fracking water returns to the surface, it needs to be treated before disposal (see Water Disposal below). The amount of chemicals added represents a very small fraction of the total volume of fracking water (around 1%). However, this very small fraction detracts from the fact that in absolute terms it is rather large volumes that are used. For a well requiring 4 million gallons of water, about 40,000 gallons of additives are pumped in. The greatest risks associated with these chemicals occur during their transportation, as tanker trucks must use the local roads to bring them to the drill pads. An accident involved spilled contents would have significant public safety and environmental consequences.   Water Disposal A large proportion of the prodigious amounts of water pumped down the well flows back up when the well starts producing natural gas. Besides the fracking chemicals, brine that was naturally present in the shale layer comes back up, too. This amounts to a large volume of liquid that is released into a lined pond, then pumped into trucks and transported to either be recycled for other drilling operations, or to be treated. This â€Å"produced water† is toxic, containing fracking chemicals, high concentrations of salt, and sometimes radioactive materials like radium and uranium. Heavy metals from the shale are of concern too: produced water will contain lead, arsenic, barium, and strontium for example. Spills from failed retention ponds or botched transfers to trucks do happen and have an impact on local streams and wetlands. Then, the water disposal process is not trivial. One method is injection wells. Waste water is injected into the ground at great depths under impermeable rock layers. The extremely high pressure used in this process is blamed for earthquake swarms in Texas, Oklahoma, and Ohio. The second way fracking waste water can be disposed of is in industrial wastewater treatment plants. There have been problems with ineffective treatments at Pennsylvania municipal water treatment plants, so that practice has now ended and only approved industrial treatment plants can be used. Casing Leaks The deep wells used in horizontal hydrofracking are lined with steel casings. Sometimes these casings fail, allowing fracking chemicals, brines, or natural gas to escape into the shallower rock layers and severely contaminating ground water that may reach the surface of be used for drinking water. An example of this problem, documented by the Environmental Protection Agency, is the Pavillion (Wyoming) groundwater contamination case.   Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change Methane is a major component of natural gas, and a very powerful greenhouse gas. Methane can leak from damaged casings, well heads, or it may be vented during some phases of a fracking operation. Combined, these leaks have significant negative impacts on the climate. Carbon dioxide emissions from burning natural gas are much lower, per quantity of energy produced, than from burning oil or coal. Natural gas would then seem to be a reasonably good alternative to more CO2 intensive fuels. The problem is that throughout the entire production cycle of natural gas, a great deal of methane is released, negating some or all of the climate change advantages natural gas seemed to have over coal. Ongoing research will hopefully provide answers as to which is least damaging, but there is no doubt that mining and burning natural gas produces great amounts of greenhouse gases and thus contributes to global climate change. Habitat Fragmentation Well pads, access roads, waste water ponds, and pipelines crisscross the landscape in natural gas producing regions. This fragments the landscape, reducing the size of wildlife habitat patches, isolating them from one another, and contributing to detrimental edge habitat. Peripheral Aspects Fracking for natural gas in horizontal wells is an expensive process that can only be done economically at high density, industrializing the landscape. Emissions and noise from diesel trucks and compressor stations have negative impacts on the local air quality and overall quality of life. Fracking requires large amounts of equipment and materials which themselves are mined or produced at high environmental costs, notably steel and frac sand. Environmental Benefits? At the local scale, the land footprint from fracking operations, especially once the well has been established and the drill rig is gone, is smaller than that of coal strip mines, mountain-top removal mines, or tar sands fields. The footprint of thousands of wells and pipeline right-of-ways over an entire region do add up, though.Natural gas from Marcellus, Barnett, or other North American shale deposits allows us to rely on a domestic source of energy.   That means less energy spent transporting fossil fuels from overseas, and more importantly maintaining the ability to have stricter environmental controls over the entire energy production process. Source Duggan-Haas, D., R.M. Ross, and W.D. Allmon. 2013. The Science Beneath the Surface: A Very Short Guide to the Marcellus Shale. Paleontological Research Institute.

Concert Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Concert - Essay Example For sure, today they are gender and race neutral. Moreover, it is their race and gender neutrality that has resulted into its popularity in urban areas. Hip hop music is rap music. Hip hop consists of stylistic rhythm music. This is usually accompanied by a chanted rhyming and rhythmic speech, rapping. Hip hop genre, like any of the music that developed as part of the hip hop culture, has got four distinct stylistic elements. These include, graffiti writing, scratching/DJing, break dancing and rapping/MCing. In addition, its styles include beat boxing, synthesis and instrumental tracks. Hip hop stylistic origins include dancehall, talking blues, performance poetry, dub, disco, rhythm and blues, funk, spoken word, toasting, the dozens, reggae and scat singing. Its styles also originated from the Bronx, New York (Hess, 78). The typical instruments that are synonymous with hip hop include, drum machine, beat boxing vocals, synthesizer, piano, guitar, turntable, DAW, rapping, sampler, bass guitar and drums. The derivative forms like old school jungle, break beat hardcore and trip hop. Hip hop is a very engaging type of genre. Usher was able to directly engage his audience. Indeed, the young audiences prefer solo artists like Usher. This is because as he solo’s they feel involved and sing and dance with him through the song. In addition, the choice of his message was highly timed thus contributing to the direct participation. Moreover, Usher performances are usually race neutral, and they are never controversial. Thus, the audiences often feel respected, and this drives them to join in the movements with the solo artist. The performance took place in a well lighted stage. This was consistent with the plain dressing style of Usher. With a blue jeans trouser, white T-shirt and a grey jacket, Usher delivered his message. In addition, he adopted for a quite movement coupled with mellow style. This visual imagery, together with the soft movement style adopted by

Biology of health and illness - the digeative system Essay

Biology of health and illness - the digeative system - Essay Example Digestion starts in the mouth where digestive juices are produced to convert the different types of foods (Garrow, Ralph & Philip 2000). The relaxation and contraction of the wall muscles in the organs enables the easy movement of foods as well as mixing the contents of the food. The food is then stored in the stomach and blended with the digestive juice produced by the stomach walls and it’s later transported to the ileum. Here, the foods are mixed up and dissolved in the digestive juices produced by the liver, pancreas and the intestines. The final process the nutrients are absorbed by the walls of the intestines while the undigested food proceeds to the large intestines where stored and later released as feces. The transportation of nutrients to the other parts in the body is enhanced by the blood and nerves (Smith & Morton 2001). There are however some factors that have a negative effect on the process of digestion, one of these factors is malabsorption. Malabsorption is t he condition where the nutrients are not absorbed in the intestinal walls during digestion. After the breaking down of the foods, they are blend with the digestive juices to produce nutrients which are then absorbed by walls of the small intestines to generate energy. The various types of malabsorption include sugar malabsorption for lactose, fat malabsorption for which is mainly caused by a fault in either the bile ducts, small intestines or the pancreas. Nutrient malabsorption is caused by failure in transportation of nutrients such as iron and minerals. Malabsorption is mostly caused by disorders in the walls of the small intestines. The intestinal walls are made up of the villi and microvilli that are responsible for providing a large surface for absorption of nutrients. Therefore a fault in any part of the small decreases the surface for absorption. Faults in the intestinal walls are mainly caused by diseases such as celiac and Crohn's. However, some faulty intestinal walls are due to infections by bacteria, parasites, virus and certain drugs such as alcohol and antibiotics. Some of the external symptoms of malabsorption include loss of hair, swelling of some body parts and dry skin. Malabsorption causes illnesses such as anemia, heart failure, gallstones, rickets and Osteoporosis which affects the bone strength. The other condition that affects the process of digestion is malnutrition. Malnutrition is the situation where the diet that a person takes is not sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements in the body (Sizer & Whitney 2010). For digestion to take place efficiently the body needs adequate quantities of various nutrients which include minerals, fats, carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins. One of the reasons for malnutrition is due to lack of food due to hunger. The other cause of malnutrition is when a person’s diet is limited to foods with no nutrients (Brynie 2002). Malnutrition may also be caused by situations where the body requires mo re energy than the body is generating. These factors lead to the lack of essential nutrients in the body. Malnutrition may also be caused by certain medical conditions that affect some organs of the digestive system. The lack of different nutrients in the digestion process cause different types of malnutrition thus varying symptoms (Sizer & Whitney). However the general symptoms of malnutrition are fatigue, loss of weight and fainting. The treatment to malnutrition is replacing the nutrients so

Insurance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Insurance - Essay Example r and further step was to expand the consultation procedure to other difficult areas of insurance law, for example post contractual good faith, insurable concern and compensations for the delayed payment of claims, with the publication of a different discussion paper in 2008.The objective of the Law Commissions is to put up a final Bill to Parliament for endorsement in 2010. Though, the Law Commission’s intended legislative improvement did not materialize as the insurance industry persuaded the administration that the case for legislation was prevailed over by the benefits of self-regulation. It is a fact that customers find it complicated to know their lawful rights and responsibilities under insurance agreements in isolation contracts are regulated by an intricate patchwork of rule, policies and plans. Consumer protection is one of important agenda among the European Communities and there is a likelihood that the Community may proceed to harmonize the law across Europe or perhaps make a European rule of insurance contracts. Several have the opinion that the law does not defend rational prospects of business patrons disheartening confidence in the market place. Bearing in mind the fast evolving of fresh financial centres, if not attended to, endanger the level of London Market as a most important global insurance centre. The intention of this paper is to study the improvement suggestions prepared by the Law Commissions on re-contractual responsibility of utmost good faith when considering various fiscal hypotheses those have been powerful over the years in the progress of different values in insurance law. It is thought that fiscal hypotheses have lot to give not merely in offering particular insight regarding potential outcomes of planned modifications while as well in foreseeing unplanned consequences that could effect from such suggestions. Suppose the recommendations of the Law Commissions accepted, in terms of pre-contractual responsibility of utmost

Inditexs Zara: An Analysis

Inditexs Zara: An Analysis The overall focus of this dissertation will be the Spanish organization Inditex, in particular its clothing brand Zara. More specifically it will concentrate on Inditexs past and current performance and its unique business model. In order to effectively write this dissertation it will be split into five sections. In the second section a brief overview of the company, operational and financial performance will be described as it is vital to establish an understanding of Inditexs background before commencing on further analysis. The third section will provide an industry analysis in relation the organisations business environment which will include a PEST analysis and Porters Five Forces model analysis. This will allows for an understanding of Inditexs external business environment which can then be used to analyze the marketing strategy (PEST) and an understanding of the industry in which Inditex is located (Porter). The next section involves an evalutation of Inditexs business strate gy through all stages of business process; design, manufacturing, distribution and marketing stages. The fifth section consists of the business model analysis and a SWOT analysis of Inditex. The business analysis explains why Inditex use a vertical integration model and the SWOT analysis allows for clear evaluation of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization. The final section offers a series of recommendations that I will put forward based on my research and analysis carried out in the preceding sections. The company overview 2.1 The company profile Inditex ( Industria de Diseno Textil) is a global fashion retailer and has expanded rapidly to become one of the largest fashion retailers in the whole world. The company designed, manufactured and retail apparel, footwear and accessories for women, men and children through its seven apparel retail chains: Zara, Bershka, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Skhuaban. Each of these brands targets varied market segments in terms of age and disposable income. The group owns more than a hundred companies involved in different textile, manufacturer, infrastructure and distribution businesses. At the end of the 2009, the group operated 4607 stores around the world. At the beginning, Inditexs operations were mainly focused on its domestic market in Spain with the first Zara shop was opened in 1975. Following on the company has expanded internationally quite quickly within clothing sector. History of Inditex In 1963, Amancio Ortega Gaona, Inditexs founder, founded confecciones Goa to manufacture products such as housecoats. As the demand increased, the company integrated forward into retailing, then the first Zara store was opened in 1975. Zara stores expanded quickly within Spain market. In 1985, Inditex was founded as the holding company of the group of businesses operating at the time. In 1988, Zara opened its first store outside of Spain and began to expand internationally. In 1991 , Pull Bear was founded, and Inditex bought 65% of the Massimo Dutti Group in 1991. Shortly afterwards, Inditex acquired 100% of Massimo Dutti Group and launched its first shop in 1995. Inditex launched the Bershka chain and then acquired Stradivarius respectively in 1998 and 1999. Soon after, the group launched Oysho chain in 2001 and Zara home in 2003. Zara home was introduced as Inditexs first online store in 2007. Exhibit 1 Timeline of Inditex Picture 1.png 2.3 Products Mix Over past few decades, Inditex has built its own multi-brand portfolio, which has allowed Inditex to target various market segments more effectively. The group uses a multi-brand name strategy to diversify their seven endorsed brands and one extended brand. Zara is the flagship brand of Inditex . Although Pull and Bear and Massimo Dutti are both fashion brands for women and men, their target market is different. The former brand targets a younger group with more leisure and sports based design, while the latter one targets men and women from 24 to 45 providing a higher quality. Bersha and Stradivarius provide elegant and latest fashion for only young woman. Exhibit 2 Inditexs brand portfolio 2.4 Financial Performance and comparison Exhibit 4 Total revenue Exhibit 5 Net profit margin Operating profit margin and return on capital employed  ¼Ã‹â€ ROCE ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° are two indicators used to evaluate profitability of the firm. The comparison of net profit margins between Inditex and its main competitors over the same period is another indicator to show how effective a company is at cost control and profitability. Net profit margins are calculated from the Net profit divided by net revenues. The net profit margin is a good measure to compare companies in the same industry due to similar business environment all companies confronted. The higher the net profit margin is, the more profitable the company is. To put it in another way, the more effective the company is at converting sales into profit . According to exhibit 4, we can see that HM have strong capacity to consistently convert around 22% of its total revenue into profit; Inditexs net profit margin is similar. However, when compared with Inditex and HM, GAP has lowest net profit margin. Exhibit 6 Return on capital employed Exhibit 6, above, demonstrates return on capital employed (ROCE) demonstrating how much profit a company can earn from the investments of its shareholders have made in their company. It basically is used to show how much a company is gaining from its capital. In figure 6, GAP underperforms in this measure, not just due to low profit levels, but also because of huge amount of capital in order to generate profit. However, GAPs return on capital employed ratio is increasing gradually. On the other hand, Inditex requires higher capital per unit of profit than HM. there has been a decline in its ROCE ratio since 2007. HM vastly outperforms all other firms. Inditex invests more than HM in fixed assets dues to its vertical integration. Inditex has 5371 million euro in assets, plants and equipment ¼Ã‹â€ Inditex Annual Report, 2009 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °, while HM only has 661 million euro. This is the main reason that HM has much more higher ROCE ratio than Inditex. Inditexs business model focuses mai nly on vertical integration and in-house production. While at the same time outsourcing is becoming a popular trend in clothing industry. Inditexs closest comparable competitors had narrower vertical scope than Inditex but outsourced all productions. In todays competitive business environment, more and more companies choose to send out non-core operations or their manufacturing sections to a supplier in order to reduce the cost by specializing and making the firm focus purely on its core operation. This is due to the low labor cost in some developing countries such as China and Vietnam. On the other hand, there are some companies that constantly try to gain control over as many sections as possible within entire value chain, usually by in-house production. 3. Industry Analysis The culture of fashion has been changed from haute couture and ready-to-wear to fast fashion. Generally, fast fashion retailers do not heavily invest in the creation of fashion trend and designs, but instead are inspired by the most attractive and promising trends spotted at fashion shows and by cues taken from mainstream consumers (Agins, 1999; Reinach,2005). They are able to keep up with these new fashion trends and add them into their products that can be provided on the market almost immediately with relatively lower price. Fast fashion is dominating the industry on the premise of several conditions. Firstly, short lead times and life cycles are two of key precondition of fast fashion. Secondly, considerable number of retail stores can reach potential customers. In addition, a very fast supply chain is required to connect customers demand with upstream operations from design, manufacture to distribution. Nowadays, more and more fashion retailers across the world engaged in this kind of fast fashion race. They make every effort to minimize the time in which they respond to fashion trends and the speed of their supply chains. For examples, Spanish Inditex (Zara), US GAP, Swedish company Hennes Mauritz (HM). British Topshop and Next, all focus on a fast fashion model. This fast fashion retail can be divided into two categories: some with factories to produce its products represented by Zara (Inditex); some without manufacturing competencies of their own such as HM and Gap, which therefore means they outsource production to labor intensive countries. 3.1 PESTEL Analysis Political factors Since 2005 the global system of quota has phased out, textile and apparel industry entered the global free market. In the meanwhile, the textiles and apparel market has become more competitive than before and has also become more intense for the small and marginal players due to such intense competition. It seems that large fashion companies such as Inditex, HM, can dominate the fashion industries due to economy of scale, which gives big companies lower cost per unit resulting from increased production. Also, the remove of all import quotas in clothing industry gives Indiex access to a larger market to operate with greater geographical reach and then generates more sales. Economic factors The world is facing global economic recession. Consequently, the business environment is difficult to operate within, which in turn has a huge influence on textile industry and fashion industry. This due to rising unemployment, the so-called credit crunch and reduced disposable income forcing changes in consumers spending habits. Many consumers have become more price-sensitive and cautious. Consumers are more likely to cut budgets on apparel and fashion accessories. Such a change allows Inditex to attract more consumers shopping at its chain stores. Social factors Strong brands play a significant role in sales, because consumers prefer branded products as oppose to generic products. Most consumers value highly good branded products or services. Even though many companies went to bankruptcy in economic recession, most Brand fashion retail still managed to remain profitable. In the international fashion retail market, strong brand identity is very important. This is not only a precondition to attract customers, but also is a foundation of global expansion. Inditex not only provides fast fashion with relative lower price, but focus on brands building as well. Technological factors Technology is not only limited to companies within the software and computer industry such as Microsoft and Intel. Currently, technology plays a very important role on the fashion industry. With the increased competition, companies are taking advantage of IT to improve its Supply Chain Management (SCM) and using it to ensure a competitive advantage is gained. Many fashion companies are relying on the technological capabilities to add value to their products. More and more companies have adopted an online shopping platform to enhance their service and increase sales. Legal factors The fashion industry has been calling for stronger worldwide copyright protection and intellectual property protection for fashion designs because they fear major losses to their competitors. Fridolin Fischer pointed out that a dynamic interaction between innovation and imitation can be seen as a competition. Indeed, new innovation creates superior products; imitation makes these products more available to a greater number of consumers. Therefore, a lively imitation process is crucial for dynamic competition. It is true in reality, but it is not fair to the designer. At present, more developed countries expand their copyright Law to include fashion designs, fashion design owners would be granted the exclusive right to place their design on the marketplace. These copyright Act will limit the development of some fast fashion retailer, such as Zara. Environmental factors The environmental impact of the textile and apparel industry stems from its consumption of energy and toxic chemicals. The apparel industry contributes to climate change indirectly through the burning of fossil fuels to create electricity which is used to produce chemical materials which are then used as raw material to take place of cotton. Other major energy consumed involves using fuel for agricultural machinery and for distribution. Toxic chemicals are used widely in cotton planting and in many manufacturing stages such as pre-treatment, dyeing and printing. The volume waste from the fashion industry has become higher because of the advent of fast fashion. It is undeniable as regard to the current situation that the Fast fashion is causing a pollution issue due to shorted clothing life cycle, which has more negative impacts on environment. 3.2 Five Force Analysis Fashion apparel is a highly competitive business industry that is completely internationalized and posses no boundaries to its operations. The fashion retail industry is a large, mature and highly competitive industry. The annual growth rate of the market was about ** in the past decade. In 2009, total apparel sales were 362 billion. However, high fragmentation gives rise to intensive competition and price pressure in this market. Porters Five-Forces Model will be used to illustrate business environment of apparel industry. Threat of entry The apparel industry has very low entry barriers. Entry does not require huge amount of capital, workshops can be set up with workers with relative low skills. However, the economy of scale in production has significant impact on the entrant. It forces the entrants either to accept cost disadvantage or produce in a large scale. On the other hand brand identification and production differentiation plays the significant role, because brand identification creates a barrier to entry. Threat of substitutes The threat of substitution in this market is very high. The threat comes from other apparel retailers, designer retailers and tailor houses. On the other hand, Generic substitution is more likely to present a threat by offering products at lower prices. Power of buyers Todays buyers have more purchasing power than ever before. Customers demand high quality, a large variety and more frequent changes in the choice available to them. They want the exact garment they require when they want it and accessories in their preferred color and size in same store. This is the reason that retailers differentiate its product in order to satisfy the consumers needs. This is done by ensuring there are alternative sources of supply available for consumer and the cost of switching is almost zero. Inditex exactly meets the these customer demand by offer most fashionable clothes to cover various target markets at inexpensive price. Power of suppliers Power of suppliers in apparel market is low because most of fashion retailers outsourced the production section to developing countries, switching costs are low, buyes brands is powerful enough to get strong bargain power. There existing fashion retail brands command strong enough bargaining power to attain low costs. Therefore, the possibility of forward integration and suppliers customers are not fragmented. One the other hand, Inditex has more bargain power due to its vertical integration business model. Competitive rivalry The apparel industry, due to its low barriers of entry and declined obstacles to trade among nations, is one of the most highly competitive industries in the world. Hennues and Mauritz (HM) and Gap are Inditexs major competitors in terms of size and sales. Hennes and Mauritz ( HM) Hennes and Mauritz, was founded in Sweden in 1947, is another high performing fashion retailor. Today HM has expanded to 2000 stores acorss the world with more than 76,000 employees(HM Annual report,2009). HM offers similar product mix with Inditex in the same market, such as clothes, accessorise, nightwear and underwear to women, men and children. While HM is considered as the closest rival to Inditex, there are many key differences. First of all, HM outsourced all its production section. Moreover, HM tends to offer prodcuts at a slightly lower price than Zara by outsourcing it production. Beyond store-based retailing, HM also ventured into online shopping and Internet retailing. Inditex has been relatively slow to develop its online selling. However, HM has relied almost exclusively on only one brand. Inditex has broader brand portfolio, which is made up of eight brands in order to reduce risk and refine the companys targeting of specific consumer groups Gap The second biggest clothing retailor, Gap, is American fashion retailer founded in 1969. The company has five brands: GAP, Old Navy,Banana Republic, Piperlime and Athleta. At the beginning, Gaps merchandise consisted of other brands such as Levis and LPs. After Gap continuing to expand rapidly across the United States, Gap started to sell its private label products in its stores. Gap is a famous fashion retailer with a distinct marketing campaign consisting of mainly primetime television adverts which target the fashion conscious 15 to 35 age old women and men. The company operates over 4000 stores all over the world. Gap was well known for extensive collections of T-shirts and jeans which is simple but stylish. However, since 2001 the pace of development became slow due to lack of a clear fashion positioning and failing to meet consumers fast fashion demand. More than 90% of its products are outsourced, which has meant the supply chain is too long and they have therefore a slow resp onse to fashion. Also, Gaps core customer base has aged. Gap needs a reposition for its brand and design, but the chain has struggled to attract a younger generation to its stores. The company lacks an effective approach to deal with it. Gap is suffering from a plummet in sales and its competitors such as Zara and HM have consequently profited from Gaps downfall. In 2008, Inditexs fashion chain Zara overtook Gap to become the worlds largest clothing retailer. Inditexs Business Strategies 4.1 Design-Fashion follower, industry leader The process of Inditexs product development design programme is constantly working in order to adapt to new fashion trends . Designers and managers attend high-fashion fairs and exhibitions to obtain fashion information and then convert the latest fashion trends of the season into their designs. Other sources of design inspiration come from TV, Internet, film content or trend spotters. product development teams focus on venues such as university campuses and clubs around the world to capture fashion trends and customer preferences. Zaras product development teams have frequent dialogue via their internal IT system. Inditex gave significant autonomy to each store manager in deciding the quantity of product needed by each store. Moreover, the store manager is able to decide which product to display in their stores and which product is to be sold at a reduced price. The managers responsibility is to make these decision based on market research and sales trends. Moreover, by employing yo ung and fashionable member of staff ensures that employees also contribute by helping to report the sales analysis, the product life cycles, and the store trends to the designers. There are specialized teams in headquarters to analyze feedbacks and information from each store, then design and produce their products. These sales analyses allow the designers to develop the right products to meet consumer Demand. Design team issues up to approximately 12,000 new design styles per year. Such a design concept obviously depends on the regular creation of new design. For example, Zaras designer team came up with approximately 40,000 new designs per year, from which only slightly more than one-quarter of them for production. Zara often follows the fashion trends of the high-fashion houses and offers similar products at much lower prices by using less expensive fabric. It also attempts to offer more colors and larger range of sizes to meet the need of consumers. After a prototype of new design was selected, a computer-aided design system is used to refine colors and textures. Limited number of new items were produced and presented in certain stores for a trial period and large volumes of the product are produced only if customers reaction is positive. As a consequence, failure rates on new products is only 1% which is less than the average rate of 10% of other fashion retailers. 4.2 Manufacture process Inditex has been able to obtain excellent financial record due to its vertical integration and fast fashion business strategies which provide Inditex with a competitive advantage over traditional fashion retailers in the industry. Generally speaking, apparel retailers always try to keep slower costs by outsourcing production to developing countries where the lowest labor could reduce its manufacture cost. On the other hand, Inditexs subsidiary retailing chain adopted a successful diverse method of doing business by working through the whole value chain. Highly capital intensity and vertical integration is a distinctive feature of Inditexs business model. From the upstream value chain, a subsidiary of Inditex company, Comdietel, funnels fabric and other input supplied by external suppliers. More than half of the fabric was undyed which provide maximum flexibility to produce in-season clothes. Comdietel is able to dye and process gray fabric into certain pattern within only one week to meet the requirement of downstream value chain. Inditex has 20 fully owned manufacture factories across the Europe. These factories use capital intensive production processes and provide cut garment and semi-manufactured products to approximately 500 in-house workshops. The relevant cutting machines and other systems produce semi-manufactured items and cut garments which will be transited directly into workshops. The progress looks rigmarole, but it is quite efficient because bar codes track the cut pieces through the every production steps. Workshops are located in labor-intensive areas across Europe such as Spain and northern Portugal. These workshops manufacture clothes in small scale to offer specialization in product type. The sewn clothes were sent back from these workshops to various product line under different brands. The center will inspect, iron and fold before sending finished garment to distribution center. The secret of Inditexs success is that vertical integration leads to short turnaround times and great flexibility. By implementing in-house production, inditex has obtained high level of variety, quantity and frequency of new styled clothes. Inditex adopts market orientation by reducing lead-times and increasing flexibility. Zara is able to upgrade products in its stores within 10 to 15 days from design to stores. Vertical integration decreased Inditexs stock to a minimum level and reduced fashion risk. In the mean time, providing small amount of products in a great variety of styles rendered Inditex shorter lead times and high level flexibility. As a consequence of offering fewer amount of product more often, Indite obtains larger percentages of the full price due to in-season sell and thus achieve higher net margins on sales. By focusing on shorter response times to fashion trends and keeping up with fashion. Inditex made efforts to make sure that its stores are able to offer latest fashion items that consumers desired at a given time. Inditex can move from coming up a design to having clothes in its stores within 2 weeks. Short lead times is Inditex one of the most important competitive advantages over its competitors. When Inditexs retail stores provide consumer with latest fashion items and gain huge amount of sales, its competitors have still struggled to catch up. In comparison, HMs lead time is more than 20 days. Traditional retailers use 4-6 months . 4.3 Distribution A more systematic approach to inventory distribution is another feature of Inditex. Each retail chain has its own centralized distribution system. Distribution center is located in Arteixo and small satellite centers across the world. In order to keep its stores refreshed with new merchandise every two weeks, the warehouses of Inditex is simply a place to transfer merchandise rather than store them. Under Indetexs distribution system, most of merchandise stayed at the distribution centers for only few hours. Products are inspected and shipped immediately in distribution center. Store managers can check lists of items available to be shipped to their stores. Based on their store inventories, they can request quantities and type of products. However, Inditexs international expansion required constant adjustment on distribution. Zara schedules the shipment by time zone to make sure distribute effectively. Inditex uses this method to gain a competitive advantage by minimizing the lead ti mes. 4.4 Marketing mix Placement Inditexs marketing strategy is very effective because its marketing policy involves zero advertising. Inditex invest in selecting locations for its subsidiary retail chains and the presentation of those stores. For example, products in Zara are relative inexpensive, but shopping in Zara shores does not feel cheap. Zara stores are centrally located with spacious and nice interior. The clothes were presented very tide and upscale. There is a big difference between Zara stores and the store of some upper scale stores. Product Inditex constantly changes its products. Therefore, customers are never sure what is going to be on Zaras shelves the following week. Zara designs apparel to meet consumer demand, attempting to pull customers in by producing small amount to create a fear that if customers do not buy immediately, the product will soon be out of stock. There is not any other company that can produce high fashion clothes faster than Zara, which positions itself as high fashion at cheap prices. Although Zara has been accused of copying the design of other upscale fashion retailers, the prime difference is the price, which allows high fashion to be affordable for average consumer. Price The pricing strategy chosen can affect revenue. The price of a product is very vital for a company to get back all its effort. The other three elements of marketing mix are costs. Thus, no matter how good the garment is. How efficient the supply chain and how creative the promotion, unless the price covers cost, the company will not make profits. Clothes might suffer from prices that are too low among competition. Pricing is very important since it often send quality cues to customers  ¼Ã‹â€ Jobber, 2007 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °Inditex does not compete on price because they know their customers are more sensitive to fashion instead of the price. Inditexs subsidiary brands follow a market-based pricing strategy. Inditex sets price in line with its marketing strategy with reference to other marketing decisions such as position, strategic objective, promotion and value to customers. Therefore, Inditex sets price differently on different brands. Zaras prices are very reasonable. Its objective is to set price as cheap as possible to allow people to have fast fashion clothes. Inditex will adjust its price for certain product to keep low inventories if the company overestimated the demand. Promotion The fact that there is no advertising promotion strategy is another effective cost cutting approach for Inditex. Other fashion retailers spend 3.5% of their revenue on advertising, while inditex only spends 0.3% on promotion. Advertisement is carry out only at a new store opening. But that does not means Inditex make less efforts on promotion. Zara does not engage in large advertising campaigns on television and magazines. It just adopts a different approach to promote its products. It invests its money on location, Zaras stores are situated at commercial center. The company believes that their shop windows presentations are all the advertising it needs and its sores only opened in the most fashionable district. 4.5 International Expansion Inditex has become possibly the most internationalized fashion retail chain. Zara operates 2707 stores in countries outside its home market Spain. By 2010, its has 1900 stores in rest of Europe, more than 150 stores in Asia, 366 in America, 485 elsewhere in the rest of world. Inditex generates 68 percent of its total revenue from oversea markets. Zara contributes most of international sales and revenue to Inditex. Zaras international expansion started in 1988 with the opening of store in Portugal, when Inditex found that the company has dominated domestic market and abroad market was very profitable. Since then, Zara entered into one country per year until it opened stores in 7 European countries. After that, the pace of Zara expansion has speed up more rapidly. Zara has successfully entered 74 countries. On the same period, HM expanded its retail network to 36 countries, and Gap entered into 30 countries worldwide. .( Indetex Annual Report, 2009 ) SALES 2008 2009 Spain 3.730.099 3.708.967 Rest of Europe 4.809.263 5.221.491 America 1.038.065 1.096.709 Asia and rest of the world 829.333 1.056.347 Total 10.406.960 11.083.514 5. Business model Analysis This section will further analyze the reasons why Inditex, who are competing in the same business field and under the same conditions as rivals such as HM, next, Gap and Mango, choose different business models. It describes exact competitive advantages that have derived from Inditexs business model and the negative sides of business models. According to Inditexs financial ratios and business models, we can conclude that Inditexs higher income result from its business model of vertical integration which keeps costs and operating expenses much lower than Gap and HM. In-house production allows Inditex have little transaction costs. In light of the transaction cost theory, Madhok said that manage business activities inside the company is direct way to diminish the transaction costs. The costs of managing upstream or downstream of business activities within an institution will be much lower than through the market. Meanwhile, vertical integration gives a firm more control and flexibilities to operate directly. Forward integration can provide product differentiation advantages that are difficult to imitate as well as superior design intelligence. Potential advantage from integration is the degree of value added at the throughout all stages of the business. The group has authority to operate directly through designing, manufacturing and distribution. Due to vertical integration, the group gains a better po sition in the purchasing of raw materials, controlling the manufacturing process and obtaining better lead time to market. Decreased Cost does not only derive from lower transaction cost but also comes from waste reducing. This happens by designing and cutting its fabric in-house and it acquires fabrics in grey to keep costs low. Zara dyeing and printing fabric until close to manufacture to acquire more flexibilities in order to meet various design requirements, thereby minimize raw material waste and rendered Zara great flexibilit

The Fight for the Ordination of Women in the Roman Catholic Church Ess

It is a well-known fact that women of the Catholic Church have been excluded from holding important leadership roles throughout history. While the more subordinate women of the early Catholic Church once accepted this view, Catholic women around the world are now challenging it. Multiple secular and religious influences over the last few decades have empowered women to find their voice and speak out against this long-standing tradition of discrimination (Henold 15). Despite all of the debate and the shortage of priests, the Catholic Church has not waivered in its belief against the ordination of women into priesthood. To gain a better understanding of this debate, one must examine the history and aspirations of the Catholic feminist movement, as well as the reasoning behind the church’s decision to uphold this long- standing tradition. In the early days of the Catholic Church, strict guidelines were placed on women to ensure that they were pure, domestic, and submissive. They were expected to conform to the model of the â€Å"eternal woman† by giving up any personal desires and surrendering themselves to God (Henold 25). This ideal woman was portrayed in a publication called The Eternal Women, which was written in 1934 by a German historian by the name of Gertrud von Le Fort (Henold 26). Le Fort expressed that women were assigned the duty of sacrifice, and while men had to sacrifice as well, it was not in their nature. It was expected that a woman must surrender to her husband in all aspects of life, including decisions pertaining to child bearing (Henold 27). She used the Virgin Mary as an example of surrender, by explaining that Mary surrendered herself to God when accepting her role as the mother of Jesus (Henold 27). ... ...ntinue fighting for equal rights even when faced with excommunication. The Vatican issued a statement in May of 2008 saying that all women priests and the bishops who ordained them would be excommunicated (â€Å"Roman Catholic†). Despite countless threats to supporters, the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is gaining support as they continue to ordain women into priesthood and establish congregations around the globe. It is difficult to predict what the future holds for the women of the Catholic Church. Although they have found success in some areas in their fight for equality, the Vatican has remained consistent in its refusal to allow the ordination of women into priesthood even into the present day. It is evident that no matter what decisions are made in the future, this will continue be a topic of constant debate and tension in the Catholic Church.

Competition in Energy Drinks Case Essay

Within the beverage industry companies like Pepsi and Coca Cola were using alternative beverages as a way to counter the effects of the decline of consumption of carbonated beverages. This in turn will help them sustain volume. These two large companies were working hard to expand their alternative market line by introducing sports drinks, energy drinks, and vitamin drinks. One of the largest issues at hand is the pressure to stop producing these harmful drinks, people felt that they had a negative impact on your body and believed their strategies promoted reckless behavior. Even though this was happening they had to keep pushing through to be very successful. Sales began to increase as well as market share which introduced several new brands to the alternative beverage industry. In the alternative beverage industry competition is fierce. Some of the major factors that play a role are product innovation, differentiation; create brand loyalty based on taste, the drinks image, advertising, and sponsorships. Many of these companies like Hansen and Red bull sponsored events to promote their brand. The strongest of the 5 competitive forces within the industry is that of substitution. Pepsi and Coca Cola made their products available to customers with ease pushing other companies out of business. The weakest of the 5 forces is buyer bargaining power. Buyers do not have much control over the prices at which these beverages are being sold. If they were looking for an energy drink they would have to pay the high prices. Buyers are starting to become more brand loyal so they will buy at high prices more often. Companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi seem to make the industry less attractive for new entrants. Reason is because they both are well established with good brand recognition. Consumers will most likely always choose the brand they are familiar than new unfamiliar brands. The market for energy drinks is declining, sales are down, and the market has matured. Over the next 5 years drivers of change will not slow down companies like Coca Cola, Pepsi, or Red Bull. Instead of looking to compete on price, volume, or market share gains it looks like they will look into product innovations to increase sales. At this point time drivers of change will most likely keep the alternative beverage unattractive for smaller companies. Pepsi and Coca Cola are able to counter the downturn the economy because of the broad range of products they have. Red Bull on the other hand has only a few products and sales are suffering. A few recommendations for the larger companies are as follows. Coca Cola does very well in the carbonated beverage industry but is way behind in the alternative beverage industry. They can do some research on countries where they want to sell their product and see what consumer actually want. By doing this they could create a product that will appeal to local consumer tastes. Pepsi Co. has done really well in the alternative beverage industry but has introduced a new line of energy drinks (Charge, Rebuild, Defend, and Bloodshot) that I have never heard of. It would be in their best interest to do an ad campaign to consumers. Red Bull on the other hand just needs to expand their product line. They are focusing mainly on their original flavor still and that may be a reason why sales are decreasing.