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.

buy custom My Consumption and Me essay

buy custom My Consumption and Me essay Introduction Every day we consume or us things that have impacts either to us or to the environment that we live in. All that we care about is the utility that we get from the things that we consume but there are no a single time that we have asked ourselves how the things we consume are processed? How they reach us? Whether they are sustainable or not? Do they have any economic, environmental and cultural effects to us and other people? These questions are based on our lifestyles and how it affects our surroundings and other people (Cororaton 46). Every person is supposed to conduct a research in his or her consumption in order to determine whether they lifestyles are sustainable and environmental friendly or not Research topic The research My consumption and me gives a clear indication that the study is about my own consumption and or my lifestyle in general. From the study it is clear that my lifestyle, just like some of you, is not sustainable and changes are necessary in order to promote ecological balance (Woolman, 280). As the topic states, my fact sheet is about my consumption and how it affect the environment. The research involves a factual study of my wardrobe and even clothes that I no longer wear. It involves the analysis of the type of the clothes that I wear, how they are manufactured, who manufacture them, how they are shipped to my destination and the availability of the resources that make them. On the other hand, clothes that I no longer wear are also evaluated in order to determine their impacts to the environment after disposal. The intention is to determine whether they decompose or remain for long time to the environment. What are their impacts to the environment? Are they friendly or not? The fact that I smoke cigarettes and take alcohol on weekends also has some impacts in my lifestyle that I cant ignore in my fact sheet. Generally, as the research topic states, the fact sheet is about my personal consumption with more attention given to the clothes that I wear and their impacts to ecological balance. Methodology The research involves qualitative research methods whereby I have to analyze all the clothes that I wear by through observation in order to determine my lifestyle. I have also included pictures of my clothes in order to make the fact sheet more illustrative and easy to understand. I have also conducted a literature review concerning the type of the clothes that I wear in order to determine their sustainability in terms of production, and disposal after use. This includes accessing the information available in the manufacturers website, fashion magazines and other articles and books about cloths, lifestyle and environment. After the study, there is a critical analysis on the findings in order to determine the impact of my lifestyle to myself and the environment in general (Woolman, 280). What I normally buy It should be noted that I am a 22 years old man and I normally work in an office during week days. Therefore most of my clothes are official ones which include suits, slacks, ties, and nice shirts. On the weekends I normally wear casual clothes especially when at parties or in the local bar taking some beer. These include fitting jeans, t-shirts and sweaters if the weather is chilly. Due to my lifestyle, especially my drinking and smoking habits, most of my clothes are not bright to avoid stains and dark spots in case a spark from the cigarette accidentally falls on my clothes. On the weekends, I normally drink little unless in times when there is an occasion with my friends. On the other hand smoking is like an addiction to me because on average I smoke a packet of 24 sticks every day. Generally most of my clothing is cotton and buy them from Bank clothiers and HM stores in New York US. This means that I have to drive to these stores any time I need to change my wardrobe. However I do not do shopping frequently and I replace my clothing once they are worn out. Since most of the stores that I go shopping are situated in New York and I do not live in town, I have to drive there which means that my lifestyle involves consumption of petroleum to run my cars engine too. Consequently, there is smoke, though little that is emitted which causes pollution to the environment and irritation to other people. However the impact is minimal since most of my clothes are long lasting and I am not a frequent shopper. However, I mus admit that the amount of clothes that I buy anytime visit the stores have increased tremendously due to changes in my lifestyle such going to work which has increased my need for more and pretty clothes. This has also shortened the duration that I take in order to replace my clothes. My shopping routine Generally my shopping routine revolves from smart official clothes to casual clothes that I wear on the weekends and other days that I am not at work. My shopping list includes fine material trousers and shirts that are mostly made cotton or a mixture of cotton and some polyester. I also buy plenty of fine long sleeved shirts together with their matching ties. I also have few suits that I wear on special occasions. I have buy jeans trousers and t- shirts to substitute my official clothing whenever I am not at work or during parties and weekends. When it comes to shopping, I normally buy what I necessarily require but, like any other young person, sometimes I find myself buying other things that are new in market as long as I they are pleasing to me and I have money. Generally I normally shop for new clothes twice in a year unless there are few replacements making it at most three times in a year. I normally shop for my official clothes from Bank clothiers stores since they are known for making excellent office attire for men (Jos A. Bank Company). When it comes to casual clothes, I prefer HM stores since their jeans and t-shirts are long lasting and affordable (HM clothes company). Most of my clothing last for one to two years since I wear them frequently and any time they are worn out I normally throw them away together with garbage or burn them. This is due to the fact that there are no places to donate or recycle clothes in the place where I live and keeping them is not only unnecessary but also makes my wardrobe to look congested and untidy. Fabrics that constitute my wardrobe Most of my clothes are cotton expect few nylon shirts, polyester shirts and woolen sweaters. For instance, almost all of my official shirts are cotton made or a mixture of cotton and polyester threads. All these clothes I normally buy then from the manufacturers outlets across the city which are Bank Clothiers and HM. These companies normally manufacture they clothes from the raw materials and then distribute the readymade clothes to their stores for sale. Manufacture and effects to the environment Generally, cotton clothes are made from cotton which is harvested from cotton plants that grown in many parts of the world where temperatures are moderately high. When cotton is harvested, it is normally taken to the ginneries where it is prepared into threads that are used to make fabrics that then are sewed together into various clothings. Most of the jeans that I wear are 100% cotton although there are few blends of polyester. The synthetic indigo dye is used in dyeing in order to achieve the favorite color. The belt loops, waistband, back panel, pockets, and leggings of a pair of blue jeans are all made of indigo-dyed denim. Other features include the zipper, buttons, rivets, and label. Rivets are made of copper, but the zippers, snaps and buttons are usually steel. Some have designers' labels that are made out of cloth, leather, or plastic, while others are embroidered on with cotton thread. On the other hand, most of my t- shirts, shirts and materials trousers are made of cotto n too unless few which are made of polyester and or the mixer. I also have jersey T-shirts which are made from knit fabrics. Woolen sweater are made from wool that come from animals such merino sheep and other hairy animals (Woolman, 280). During the manufacturing process, the fabric is normally treated with several chemicals in order to achieve the required color, durability and comfort. However, in every process of finishing cotton fabric, by products which are mostly biodegradable are released. For instance, by products of Denim manufacture includes pollutants such as starch and dye which are harmful to the environment. However, these by products are normally treated through biological methods other than dumping them into streams or lakes where they end up polluting the environment and taking life from these waters due to their high requirement of oxygen for decomposing. The manufactures use biological process to break these by products into compounds that are less or not harmful to the environment. Polyester comes from petroleum which is a non renewaable resource that mining and processing cause immense pollution to the environment. Countries of origin that show in my wardrobe Though most of the clothes that I wear are made here in the US, the raw materials come from different parts of the world. There is high probability that most of the cotton that is used in manufacturing most of my clothes comes from either US, Australia or Egypt. This is due to the fact that the amount of cotton produced in the US and Europe is not adequate to meet all the local requirements. Although Bank Clothier is situated in America, there is high likelihood that most of the cotton that it uses to manufacture cloths comes from other parts of the world thousands of kilometers away. On the other hand, HM Company is a Sweden based cloth making company that has several factories all over Europe and Asia. Since HM is not situated in America, a lot of cost is also incurred during importation of cotton for making clothes and in shipping of clothes to the companys stores in the US where I buy them. Petroleum that is used in the manufacturing of polyester comes from Asian countries whereb y it is shipped to the countries where clothes I wear are made or these companies import read made polyester fabrics for making clothes (Roberts, 65). Effects of shipping and manufacturing to human populations All these processes involved in making of clothes that I wear have both positive and negative impacts to the human population at large. First of all, manufacturing and shipping processes create income earning opportunities to many people resulting to economic growth. Manufacturers and ship owners get income out of their businesses while those who work in these industries are paid some money too. Local governments in the countries where these activities take place get revenue too in for of tax and other levies such a trading license fees. In other words, growth in transport systems and manufacturing industries result to growth in global markets which in term enable individual to access goods and services that are not produced or locally available in the countries (Roberts, 211- 212). Considering my personal scenario, shipping and manufacturing of cloths and clothing making raw materials have enabled me to have clothes that match with my taste any time I want them. However according to environmental theory, we only change one thing and then it leads to other things. Consequently, manufacturing and shipping activities involved have contributed to negative effects to human population too. The processes have resulted to pollution that arises from the byproducts of these industries and shipping trucks, trains and ships. Pollution on the other hand has ruined peoples healthy due to increase of diseases that are caused by exposure to contaminated environments. Alternatives and their differences Considering the effect that use of non biodegradable and other non sustainable raw materials have to the environment, it is the high time that companies involved in manufacturing of clothes should go green. This means that these companies should reduce use of raw materials or manufacturing processes that are harmful the environment. Manufacturing companies should consider making cotton and woolen cloths which are friendlier to the environment. Though cotton is not completely green, it is more environment friendly than other fabrics used to make clothes (Woolman, 280). Bearing in mind sustainable means not affect the ecological balance, it is evident that my clothing and lifestyle are not completely sustainable. For my clothing to be more sustainable, I need to completely change my wardrobe to cotton made clothes that are locally available. I also need to strictly buy clothes that I am in need and not because I have money or certain clothes are pleasing to my eyes. When it comes to disposing of my old clothes, I need to stop disposing them through burning since this is a loss because these clothes can be recycled or donated to those in need. On the other hand, smoke produced when burning these clothes is toxic to human beings and results to environmental pollution (Gow, 112). My life style too especially smoking and drinking of alcohol are no necessities and its the high time to d away with them since they are harmful to my health and expensive to maintain. Smoking causes irritation to other people and results to environment pollution too. By doing so, I will able to have a sustainable lifestyle. Buy custom My Consumption and Me essay

Top 11 Examples of Archetypes in Literature

Top 11 Examples of Archetypes in Literature Archetypes are tools used in literature to represent common aspects of human nature and life in general. We often see archetypes clearly examined in older literature, but these archetypes continue to be used in all types of literature, from childrens books to romance and fan fiction.While we study these archetypes in books, plays, and short stories from writers like Shakespeare, Dickens, and de Maupassant, modern writers can also use these representations of human nature to develop their own characters and plots.What are the archetypes in literature?There are two sets of archetypes in literature: Character and Situation. Character archetypes are precisely what the term describes. Characters in a story perform various specific functions throughout the plot, and these functions are what determines which archetype they fit into. Situation archetypes describe how certain situations play out in the story. The character archetypes are placed within the situation archetypes. Together, they create a story.Character archetypesThe heroThe hero in a story can be male or female. This character is designed to be the good guy of the story. They are benevolent, honest, honorable, and have a passion for justice. They fight whatever evil forces are around them. This archetype represents our subconscious.All heroes share certain characteristics. These characteristics include:Unusual situations surrounding their birthThey leave their family or the area where they grew up to live life with othersSome kind of event, sometimes a tragic event, directs them into a kind of adventureHe or she has supernatural helpThey must prove themselves during their questThe heros death is often accompanied by some kind of spiritual rewardIn certain cases, heroes in stories are used to exhibit what a societys morals and values are. The hero is put into situation archetypes that society will understand and where the hero can portray what society wants people to be like.Some examples of heroes in liter ature are Beowulf, Harry Potter, Katniss from The Hunger Games series, and Dartagnan of The Three Musketeers.The mother figureIn literature, the mother figure is the character who provides either mental or physical protection or nurturing for other characters. This character doesnt have to be old, like Mother Goose. She can be the friend who helps the hero get through his task, or she can be the one who performs the selfless act in the story.While we all think of the mother figure in one specific way, her role doesnt necessarily have to abide by standard societal behaviors. For example, the mother figure in Hamlet, who happens to be Hamlets mother, is not selfless. She has a difficult time putting her wants and needs aside in order to help her son. When the mother figure does behave according to cultural expectations, it allows the reader to see some of the godly qualities we can possess.The mother figure archetype can be:NurturingSelflessTeachersSome examples of mother figures in p opular literature include:Ma Joad in The Grapes of WrathDemeter in Greek mythologyMadame Defarge in A Tale of Two CitiesThe innocentThis archetype also goes by other names. Sometimes this character is referred to as the youth, the mystic, or the naà ¯ve. This character embodies our desire to retain our youth when we are old. It shows a personality that has not been changed by the danger, depravity, or sad experiences going on in the world. They want to be happy more than anything else and want the same for everyone. They dont have the same capacity for wishing horrible things on their enemies- the innocent believes in the good in everyone.Behind this archetype is the goal of inspiring even the most apathetic audience member to choose to be good. In comparison to the hero archetype, however, the innocent is neutral. They dont have a special quest or complicated history. They are simply representative of the good.Some examples of the innocent archetype are:Pippin Took in Lord of the RingsThe Unicorn in The Last UnicornSnow White in Snow WhiteThe mentorThe mentor archetype is often the protector. They protect the main character most of all, but they also offer help to sidekicks and secondary characters. Their goal is to help the hero be successful in the task set before him or her.This character type is often portrayed as a wise old man or woman, but this is not a requirement for the archetype. Even in more modern books, this archetype serves many functions as he or she helps the hero. For example, Q in the James Bond series is the mentor of the group. With his gadgets and unending support for Bonds needs, he allows Bond to achieve his objectives. Yoda from the Star Wars franchise and Gandalf from Lord of the Rings are other clear examples of a mentor archetype.The sidekickThe sidekick is a tool often used by the author to present his or her perspectives about the main characters, whether the protagonist or the antagonist. Sidekicks are associated with heroes an d villains. They are often a channel for comic relief as well.The sidekicks main characteristic is that they are absolutely loyal to the hero or villain- whichever one they are associated with in the plot. While you may not initially think of sidekicks as being brave characters, they often are written to make grand gestures, like throwing themselves in harms way to protect the hero. This is representative of some real-life situations. There are many stories surrounding selfless acts for friends and strangers.Some popular examples of sidekicks include:R2D2 in Star WarsRobin in BatmanDr. Watson in Sherlock HolmesThe scapegoatJust like its name suggests, the scapegoat is a character that is blamed for everything that goes wrong in the story. Going as far back as the Bible, scapegoats have been part of literature for quite some time. One big example of scapegoats in modern literature is the tributes in The Hunger Games series. These tributes have to pay the ultimate price for previous r ebellions.This character isnt always a major character, and can be represented by many characters or even a collective group that is held responsible for the actions of others.The villainSome peoples favorite characters are the villains in a story. Like the hero, this character archetype is usually well thought out and plays a large role throughout a story. Their sole purpose is to bring down the hero or present a literary reason for the heros quest. They are the antagonist in the story.Most literature follows a good vs. evil structure that pits one or more people against another individual or group. The villain most likely wouldnt exist without a hero, and vice versa. They need each other as two sides of the same coin.Their journeys are often juxtaposed, with similarities that they almost could unite under. Some popular villains are:Darth Vader in Star WarsDmitri and Ivan in The Brothers KaramazovSauron in Lord of the RingsSituation archetypesThe journeyThe entire plot of a story r evolves around a journey that the main character or characters have to go through. This journey could be either emotional, mental, or physical, or the journey could be a mixture of these types.This process drives the hero to discover his or her true nature or the nature of his or her existence. Throughout the journey, the hero and villain probably meet or engage multiple times, building up their need to conquer each other. One clear example of this journey is Frodos quest to destroy the one ring of power. He is accompanied by his sidekicks, is helped and led by his mentor, and experiences interactions with multiple villains. The villains in his journey are many: the ring, Sauron, Gollum, and, even at one point, Boramir. He encounters a mother figure in the elf queen Galadriel.The initiationAs the main character goes through his or her journey, he or she experiences situations through which he or she grows and matures. This maturity can be the result of good or bad experiences. Conti nuing with the example of Frodo, he begins as an innocent Hobbit who had never left the Shire, despite having read Bilbos stories about his adventures. By the end of Lord of the Rings, however, Frodo has grown emotionally and spiritually as a result of all the challenges he has had to endure. Each one of those challenges is an initiation situation archetype.Good versus evilAs mentioned above, story lines with heroes and villains revolve around some kind of good versus evil quest. Some good representations of good versus evil are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where Snow White is challenged by the evil queen; Lord of the Rings, as discussed above; and Shakespeares King Lear.The fallIn many, but not all stories, the main character experiences a downfall as the result of a poor choice or action. This might bring about an opportunity for redemption later in the story, or it could be the ending of the story. Some heroes are unable to rebound after experiencing a fall. Take for example Oedipus from Oedipus Rex.Another example is Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Mr. Rochester made the mistakes of not being upfront with Jane about his mentally ill wife and of thinking he could properly care for his wife. As a result, he loses Jane and his wife burns down the house, which permanently disfigures the handsome Mr. Rochester. In the end, Jane makes her way back to him and they are able to continue their love story.Why are archetypes important in literature?Archetypes allow the reader or audience to connect certain parts of themselves with the characters, which can help them to become more invested in the story. This experience can help readers to see parts of themselves that maybe they hadnt considered before. Society as a whole might be able to see aspects of their laws or structure that maybe arent so good.Through literature and literary devices such as archetypes, society can become more aware of its positive and negative aspects, similar to the way tha t a court jester could tell the truth about a royal leader when no one else could. Common archetypes bring an aspect of realism to literature or other media that helps the story jump off of the page and into readers hearts.

Marketing strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marketing strategy - Assignment Example It is anticipated that new courses will be added once the initial set up has been completed and has bedded in, allowing expansion of the university’s courses to a global market place through a new company set up specifically for the purpose. The venture should payback the initial capital investment within a period of three years, providing a relatively short period of risk as far as the investment is concerned. The marketing strategy focuses on niche marketing and will target those who might be interested in starting up their own business. With the potential for mass redundancies in both the public and private sectors over the next few years, there is a huge opportunity to help many people set up their own business and achieve the freedom and success that such a venture brings. This report sets out the analysis and marketing strategy supporting the introduction of a range of new e-learning courses for global consumption. A strategic analysis is provided, which considers the external environment within which the university operates, together with an analysis of actual and potential sources of competition. The strengths and weaknesses of the university will be combined with the opportunities and threats present in the current climate, to provide a solid foundation for a focused marketing strategy that analyses the proposal using the extended services marketing mix, segmentation and targeting strategies and the profile of the â€Å"typical† customer. The report concludes with a summary of the marketing strategy and why it will be successful for the university as a medium-to-long term project. Following the recent decision by the government to cut the teaching budgets for universities, it has become necessary for the university to focus on more income-generating activities to enable continued funding of vital activities. After much discussion, it has been decided that the university needs to

The Professional Workplace Dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Professional Workplace Dilemma - Essay Example I also had a duty to the company to correct the problem as it had resulted in unproductive workers "working the process" to give the illusion of an acceptable level of work. It was damaging to company profits as well as employee morale. There was also the obligation I had to myself, which was to do the right thing and present a creative solution when I pointed out the problem. I felt confident confronting this issue, for as Vallance (1995) points out, "Ordinary decency and distributive justice are, then, the central ethical principals of corporate governance" (p. 135). Initially I pointed out the problem to Pamela, my immediate supervisor. She could readily see what the issue was and was in total agreement that the problem needed addressed. I offered her a simple and elegant solution. I later met with Christy, Pamela's manager, and reiterated the same information I had presented in the earlier meeting. Christy said she would meet with Jeff, the newly hired manager who had initiated the flawed system. I was careful to communicate that the cost to the company, as well as the treatment of my small staff and co-workers, was unacceptable. Later, Christy advised me that Jeff would not consider changing the error and further had refused to meet with me. Christy strongly suggested I drop the subject and not risk my own career by pursuing a meeting or discussing t his with my employees and peers. Analyzing the Dilemma Because each successive layer of management involved had more authority than the preceding one, it put me at a great disadvantage. I was relatively powerless and my only leverage was the relationship I had with my workers and our excellent work record. However, keeping quiet and accepting the flawed system did not seem to be an option for me. My instinct told me that the issue needed to be corrected to be fair to all employees as well as create a benefit for the company by not rewarding the most unethical employees. I also had an ethical obligation to protect my job and provide myself with a livelihood. I valued fairness, truth, and the rewarding of honest work and found that accepting the current system would leave me with a feeling that I had been indifferent, and had not done all I could to correct the issue. I perceived two options, both that risked compromising my own values and sense of ethics. I could do nothing, live with the indifference, and protect my job and career. This avenue seemed selfish and unacceptable. I also had the option of pursuing the problem at the risk of my personal well being. There was only a small chance that I might succeed and a real threat of termination. I decided to enlist the support of my workers and peers on the issue and had several conversations with them in reference to the inherent unfairness of the new system. It had become clear that I would either get the formula changed for the benefit of everyone, or be let go to the detriment of myself. My limited authority and power were ineffective at altering management's top-down directive leadership style or their unreasonable policy. The Outcome of the Dilemma Though I was able to get the support of the workers and other middle managers, that small power base was not adequate to deal with the authority of the upper staff. It further aggravated the situation and resulted in an acrimonious attitude towards me. I was viewed as a troublemaker