Financial Analysis of Hershey and Tootsie Roll Essay

Introduction Tootsie Roll and Hershey are two similar companies with a similar product offering, but they operate on entirely different scales. In an effort to determine the better investment of the two companies we will utilize multiple financial analysis ratios to gauge the health of the respective companies in terms of liquidity (the ability to pay short-term liabilities and respond to opportunities), solvency (the long-term viability of the company) and profitability (the efficiency at which the can turn it’s resources into profits). However, the snapshot picture of health that a single years worth of financial statements provide is not enough. Below we have offered a horizontal analysis of the respective companies to show the change in their health from 2012 to 2013 and analyzed the two companies against each other to show why we recommend Hershey as the better investment. Liquidity and Solvency Current Ratio The current ratio is defined as the current assets divided by the current liabilities for a given period. This ratio is important because it helps measure a company’s ability to pay their current liabilities with their current assets. This shows helps determine the liquidity of the companies and their ability to respond to market opportunities. Tootsie Roll has a current ratio of 3.25 in 2012 and 3.99 in 2013(an 18.5 percent increase). Hershey, on the other hand, has a current ratio of 1.44 and 1.77 (also an 18.5 percent increase) respectively. Both companies have increased year over year. As the current ratio shows, the Tootsie maintains a healthier ratio, but both have improved at the same rate. Debt to Asset Ratio This is a comparison of the debt-to-total asset ratio; also known as the leverage ratio, of both companies. This ratio is a good measure of solvency as it shows the percentage of assets that are financed with debt. Tootsie Roll has a ratio of 23 percent for both years while Hershey has a ratio of 78 percent and 70 percent respective to 2012 and 2013. Generally, this number should not be too high. While Hershey’s numbers are higher than Tootsie Roll’s, Hershey’s numbers have improved over the year. Furthermore, we believe Tootsie Roll may actually be under-leveraged since, â€Å"Having a healthy amount of debt can actually enhance a company’s profitability, in terms of the shareholders’ investment† (Harrison, Horngren, Thomas, 2013). As will be seen from the following ratios on profitability, Hershey is more efficiently turning their assets into profits, suggesting a better use of the healthy leverage shown in the debt to asset ratio. Profitability Gross Profit Rate A major factor for investors will always be the profitability of a company. One of the fundamental ratios to utilize when measuring the ability of a company to create a profit is the gross profit ratio, which is important for internal use as well as external use. For example: â€Å"Gross profit percentage is markup stated as a percentage of sales†. (Harrison Jr., Horngen, Tomas, 2013) This ratio will identify how much gross profit is being generated by every dollar the company generates though sales. Investors will always want to carefully keep track of the gross profit ratio in order to identify a downturn or an upturn in profits. Furthermore, The Hershey Company had a higher increase in gross profit ratio than Tootsie Roll Industries. The Hershey Company managed to increase the profit ratio from 43 percent in the year 2012 to 48 percent in the year 2013. This shows that The Hershey Company managed to increase their profit ratio by 11.5 percent from previous year. Tootsie Roll, on the other hand, also improved year over year, but only by 5.5 percent to reach a gross profit rate of 35 percent in 2013. It is important to note that the minimum increase in gross profit for every dollar of sales can make a huge difference in profits. For example: â€Å"an upturn by a small percentage can mean millions of dollars in additional profits†. (Harrison Jr., Horngen, Tomas, 2013) Even though the cost of goods sold consumes $0.52 of each sale, The Hershey Company managed to generate a  profit of $0.48 for each dollar of sales. Profit Margin Ratio The profit margin ratio demonstrates the ability of a company to increase the percentage of net income earned for every dollar of sales. For example: â€Å"this ratio shows the percentage of each sales dollar earned as net income†. (Harrison Jr., Horngen, Tomas, 2013) The Hershey Company was able to increase the profit margin ratio from 10 percent in 2012 to 11 percent in 2013. The increase in profit margin from the previous year 2012 shows that the performance of the company is increasing which means that revenue is increasing or expenses are decreasing. Furthermore, The Hershey Company is managing their performance efficiently and this is directly reflected in profit margin ratio. Return on Assets The return on assets (ROA) ratio helps measure how profitable a company is in relation to its total assets. In the case of Tootsie Roll, the company had an ROA of .06 in 2012 and an ROA of .07 in 2013. This is an increase of close to 16.7 percent year over year. Hershey, on the other hand had an ROA of .14 in 2012 and .16 in 2013. Hershey’s rising ROA is comparable at 14.3 percent. With change 16.7 percent and 14.3 percent being so similar, we favor Hershey’s ROA at the higher rate of .16 in 2013 as opposed to Tootsie Roll’s relatively meager .07 ROA. Payout Ratio The payout ratio will help make the final case of Hershey as the better investment of the comparable companies. The payout ratio measures the proportion of earnings that are paid to investors and shareholders. Because dividends are so important to the investment opportunity, this is an important ratio when looking at a company for investment income. In 2012 Tootsie Roll had a high payout ratio of 1.01 percent where Hershey’s was 52 percent in comparison. However, in 2013 Tootsie Roll’s payout ratio dropped a huge, 77 percent to 23 a percent ratio. Hershey’s payout ratio also dropped, but only 7.6 percent to 48 a percent ratio. Not only is 48 percent a better current number than Tootsie Roll’s .23, but as a long-term investment Hershey shows much more stability. Therefore Hershey continues to stand out as the stronger investment opportunity. Conclusion Determining the better of two companies to invest in is risky business and involves many factors outside of the numbers provided on financial statements. However, we have seen that by looking at the liquidity, solvency and profitability of the companies against each other an over time, we can gain valuable insights as to how well the respective companies are performing in the current environment and how well they are positioned to take advantage of rising opportunities and threats. Our analysis of Tootsie Roll and Hershey show that while Tootsie Roll has safer numbers in respect to liquidity and solvency, Hershey is clearly more efficiently using both it’s assets and liabilities to turn higher profits and pass that money on to it’s investors. Therefore, The Hershey Company is the clear choice to invest with. Bibliography Harrison, W. T. (2013). Financial Accounting, VitalSource for DeVry University, (9th ed.). Pearson Learning Solutions. Hershey. (2013). SEC Annual Report. SEC. Hershey: The Hershey Company. Tootsie Roll Industries. (2013). SEC Filing 10-K 2013. Chicago: Tootsie Roll.

Advanced Database Systems

Crystal Reports is business intelligence software for allowing other database applications to integrate with it for designing and fetching reports for business and commercial purposes. The format and the style of the report can be designed along with it and it provides mechanism to be linked with several other types of database and front end applications. The following are the various procedures and methods for producing such reports: · Usually in the form of rows and columns. · Can also take the form of pie charts, bar charts and nested summary tables. · It is also possible to run a crystal report without using the software itself; it is done with the help of viewers, schedulers and other report distribution tools. · It is a package with a set of ActiveX controls which can be integrated or embedded with several GUI tools to provide a separate user interface (Crn.com, 2007). ·Ã‚   It supports data sources from databases like Oracle, MS SQL, MS Access, IBM DB2 and other appl ications like spreadsheets, text and XML files.Actuate is another product which combines business intelligence product which can combine with SQL Server and Access. It also carries the following characteristics: ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One can develop reports for further development in future ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Deployment of reports are possible ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It handles end user reporting and analytics ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is also used for object designer ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The report also serves performance management and takes care of data integration.Data warehousing is a concept that is used for storing organization’s data and is usually termed as corporate memory. It contains the raw material for an enterprise’s MIS or DSS system. The analyst can perform complex queries which would be used for getting results and further interpretation of the data and the resultant information (W illiam, 2000).The subject oriented feature of the data warehousing takes into account the various elements that take place in the real world. It is non-volatile and integrated with respect to the data that they are never deleted and contains all the information with regard to business processing by the enterprise for all its operations.Data mining in contrast is filtering the data for the purpose of deriving a knowledge from it which is not possible for getting the trends of data from simple databases.It uses complex technologies for getting the better meaning of the data and its analysis. It is generally used for mainly two purposes namely knowledge discovery and prediction that roughly means that future prediction of events and patterns are found for getting the knowledge out of it for business intelligence purposes (Frawley, 2001).Online processing is termed as one that is done simultaneously as the user clicks and operates online. The system responds to user behavior and makes c hanges to its system accordingly for action. It promotes simplicity and efficiency for a reason that the user is not required to wait for any operation to take place for general criteria.The advantages of distributed databases over centralized database can be termed as follows: ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Costs: The costs of maintaining of the distributed database at several locations are expensive with relation to technological costs, labor costs and running expenses. In return the centralized database is housed in a single particular location and saves costs. ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Benefits: The benefits of distributed database would be the structured-ness, improved availability, better fault tolerance, performance and modularity in modification and changing its contents. In case of centralized database, costs can be less but they are vulnerable to fault tolerance and availability reasons that forms good amount of reason to switch for a distributed structure. ReferencesCrn.com (2007). Retrieved 20, December 2007 from http://www.crn.com/software/164301546.Frawley W.(2001). â€Å"Knowledge Discovery in Databases: An Overview†. AI Magazine: pp. 213-228. ISSN 0738-4602.William H. Inmon (2000). Using the Data Warehouse, John Wiley & Son's, ISBN 0-471-05966-8.

Management (a manager alumni affair in a non-profit organization iEARN Essay

Management (a manager alumni affair in a non-profit organization iEARN Australia) - Essay Example John has to coordinate with people in order to make an event success. As a leader of the program he has to take initiatives and then lead the program as people look towards him for any further instructions. As a representative for alumni members in an organization he can't practice autocratic, paternalistic style where as laissez fair or democratic styles are widely adopted by the alumni coordinators and managers. Mr. John beliefs that he is more tilted towards democratic approach. Unlike other managers and directors in profit making organizations, Mr. John doesn't face any competitions as there are non, but the difficult part is to keep the alumni members motivated and intact with out having them on pay role or any such thing and at the same time involving them in alumni programs. There are many responsibilities of a manager of alumni affairs as he also has to motivate alumni members through programs that are beneficial for alumni as well, such programs include, career counseling, social gatherings or trips etc. As a manager alumni fair he posses excellent interpersonal skills as he has to coordinate with alumni members and the other organizations and is also responsible for sharing information with alumni members. ... As a manager one should posses all four basic managerial skills, technical, conceptual, motivation to engage and human skills. But for Mr. John it is essential to have very good human skills and then motivation to engage and then conceptual skills. Technical skills are not required by his post. As the work is mostly dealing with members and organizations, he has to show excellent human skills. Mr. John beliefs that if he fails to pose these skills, then this might lead to miss management in the alumni and also will raise conflicts between members as all members are not alike. As the work in the organization is project based but the product base and is a non profit organization, external environment plays little destructive role, but still projects are some time effected by the disorder in stability of external environment, such stability factors can me many but the most important is the political and economical. There are also many complexities in the environment as well and as a Alumni manager Mr. Jon's job is to work with in these complexities of the environment. A part from the external environment Mr.John has to monitor the general environment as the economic conditions such as recessions might lower the alumni budget and thus less programs. Political conditions are some time not feasible for initiating any project thus he has to consider that as well, other wise that might cause legal problems as well. In an alumni program technological environment does not have much impact, but socio cultural environment does have a big impact. If alumni fail to confirm with the norms of culture then organization might come under criticisms and thus will cause damage to the image of the organization. So as alumni manager he has to monitor all sort

Kotter#5,6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Kotter#5,6 - Essay Example In this step, Kotter (4-12) emphasizes to delegate the powers, authority and autonomy to direct the change efforts in order to reshape a new behavior, replacing the old behavior. On the other hand, Haddad (98-99) has focused more on feasibility, effectiveness and benefits of participatory design while implementing a strategic change. If participation is encouraged from those who are directly going to be affected by change implementation, that change program will fulfill their needs more appropriately rather than implementing such a change in which employees participation is overlooked. This bottom lime strategy clearly resembles with that of fifth step of Kotter (4-12) which puts more weight on â€Å"empowering others to act in the vision†. I agree with points raised by Kegan and Lahey (49-59) to understand the concept why people won’t change, simply because of the 180-degree difference in their stated commitments and competing commitments. However, if these behaviors are identified and appropriately confronted with the participation of employees, the implementation of strategic change will be far more convenient for the organizations. The analysis of Beer and Nohria (13-23) outlines the two mindsets of managers in dealing with the change. These mindsets are formulated as Theory E and Theory O by Beer and Nohria (13-23). Those managers who have the mindset of Theory E, investigates the Economic value of everything which they find in the organization’s culture. These managers toil hard to maximize the wealth of shareholder as their ultimate goal of success. On the contrary, Theory O believers have the standpoint of developing the capabilities of the organization. If the combined effects of both these theories are analyzed, these effects are closely related to the sixth step of Kotter (4-12) which involves short-tem wins.

Digital Forensics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Digital Forensics - Essay Example It also articulates the legal requirements for the logs to be admissible and the requirements for the system administrator to be an expert witness. The paper further describes the requirements for one to qualify as an expert witness for testimony under the Daubert and the Frye tests. Digital Forensics, also called computer forensics, cyber forensics, security forensics or forensic analysis is the application of computer investigation and analysis techniques to gather proof or evidence appropriate for presentation in a court of law. One can also define digital forensics as the practice of scientifically derived and verified techniques and tools to preserve, collect, validate, identify, analyze, interpret, document and present â€Å"after-the-fact† digital information derived from digital sources in order to facilitate or further the rebuilding of events as forensic evidence (Willassen & Mjolsnes, 2005). While traditional evidence includes any concrete information like audio-visual documents, paper documents or scientific evidence such as DNA, which investigators use in trials, electronic evidence is any kind of information acquired by means of a device or any other digital medium that investigators can utilize to prove the certainty of a fact during a trial. According to Cybex digital collection company, majority of jurists including prosecutors, lawyers, judges, notaries and members of Judiciary Council hold onto the view that the validity of electronic evidence is corresponding to traditional evidence in trial. The aim of digital forensics is to perform an ordered investigation while upholding a documented series of evidence to detect precisely what happened on the scene of crime and who was accountable for it. Within the requirements and interpretation of law, digital forensics must have its basis on the science of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Before gathering any evidence, the suitable authorities

Redbull case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Redbull case study - Essay Example Red Bull overall marketing strategy is a combination of both global and local strategies. Red Bull has devised a unique, innovative, viral marketing strategy which mainly targets consumers in need of energy boost, especially young adults, club-goers, college and university students and young urban professionals (Kotabe & Helsen, 2014). This local strategy has seen growth of sales locally in countries where it operates. On the other hand, the company has expanded its distribution channels in various countries all over the globe using a strategy that is in no way related to traditional marketing strategies. In the process of international market selection, demographic segmentation criteria would be most relevant segmentation criteria. Having devised this approach in its market orientation, where its target group was those consumers who are in need of energy boost, especially the young people, this would also work in the process of international market selection. Putting into consideration demographic characteristics such as age, lifestyle, income, occupation, sex, education and nationality would help Red Bull select the best international target markets segments whose buying behavior are known. This criterion is most relevant to have Red Bull enjoyed in the right context- where there is need for energy boost rather than just selling a beverage (Kotabe & Helsen, 2014). The launch of Red Bull Cola and Red Bull Shots was a wise idea by the company. Red Bull had specialized in only one brand, which was energy drinks and was available in two flavor varieties. This move was a major brand extension aimed at tapping new markets that were untapped. This move would see expansion of its operations and revenues. The launch of the new brand the Red Bull Cola and Red Bull shots in many markets at the same time saw Red Bull survive stiff completion on some markets like North America (Kotabe & Helsen, 2014). Target of one segment of the market would risk eviction by other

Analysis of Cloud HR Solutions for SMEs in Hong Kong Dissertation

Analysis of Cloud HR Solutions for SMEs in Hong Kong - Dissertation Example Cloud solutions have brought significant changes in the manner in which organizations run their applications and store their data from the conventional desktop network into servers which can be accessed remotely through the internet. Cloud solutions are technological revolutions which have a considerable effect on all the areas of IT industry as they allow companies to access applications and information at any time from any location all over the globe. Based on this dramatic change of technology, the present research seeks to investigate the aspects that impact the adoption of solutions based on cloud services by SMEs in Hong Kong. It has been noted that numerous studies or empirical researchers have focused on the global market, bigger enterprise as well as industry leaders; however, this paper will concentrate on SME instead of bigger organizations since the constraints they face differ from those of bigger businesses. Approximately 320,000 SME exist in Hong Kong and they have employed more than one million people accounting for forty-seven percent of the total employment when civil servants are not considered. In the globalized and competitive world, this study seeks to provide a platform for HR practitioners as well as business owners to appreciate the manner in which their companies achieve their HR goals, hire and motivate their workers along with how they manage staff performance, training, and organizational changes through the HR solutions already in existence to embrace cloud technologies so that the companies can be more competitive.

Managed health care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Managed health care - Essay Example with American Medical Association (AMA) becoming a national force bringing awareness in 1900s (PBS), the call for advancement in medicinal procedures and the want to lure and maintain a healthy work force of organizations. This resulted in inelastic expenditure on health with establishment of Federal responsibility to ensure health security and devising of health insurance policies. There arose a shortage of health-manpower as demand for health facilities increased. More money was now officially (from 4.5% in the beginning to 15% currently, of the total budget) put into the making of the specialized doctors who demanded greater fee, breakthrough sophistication in medicine were taking place, and hospital expenses and profits were expanding till the point it became an integrated, privatized and corporatized system. Other important factors that contributed to the rising health costs included exploitation of fee-for-service method, general inflation in economy, greater demand of services as a result of greater and aging population (AWHP) and speculation over changing government policies. Managed-health-care, which took over as a result of exploitation of pay-as-needed method of health care programs, mostly sapped these factors of rising costs. Firstly, the appointment of third party kept the interest of both consumer and financier of the health benefit in view. It put the urgency and necessity of the service consumed under unbiased third party scrutiny, enabled cost effective group contracting with health-service providers and minimized the chances of exploitation with maximum consumer satisfaction. At the same time the service provider (hospital etc) were also brought to account for their charges which in turn reviewed the money minting privatization and brought the overall cost of health care in check. Consumer-driven heath care as the name suggests empowers the consumer to the health care program. It enables more space in decision making for the consumer, with

Writing Assignment 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Writing Assignment 3 - Essay Example s entail the cost incurred by the investor/borrower whereby, the borrower pays back the principle amount and additional cost for borrowing (interest rates). Therefore, an increase in market interest rates influences incentives to invest in numerous ways. For example, it makes the cost of borrowing to an investor to increase and hence, discouraging borrowing and investment. Further, increase in market interest rates causes the aggregate demand to shrink which further discourage spending and investments. In addition, higher interest rates may leads to higher monthly payments on mortgages. This reduces consumer’s levels of disposable income making it difficult for consumers to have something to invest. Therefore, however, it can be observed that higher interest rates discourage investment as it increases the cost of accessing loans. This influences incentives to invest (DSouza, 2008). Based on the above model, it can be observed that large government budget deficits year after year will have an impact on the equilibrium interest rate. This is because large government deficit causes the amount of loanable funds supplied to be below the equilibrium point. This means that the quantity of loanable funds demanded will be higher than quantity supplied. This in turn causes an automatic increase in interest rates (DSouza, 2008). 4). The reason why McKinsey Global Institute conclude that long-term fiscal sustainability is important for economic growth is because long-term fiscal sustainability helps to pull together required amount of financial resources that may be utilized for investments and establishing long term economic growth (DSouza, 2008). Coombs, G., & South Australian Centre for Economic Studies. (2001). Essays on regional economic development. Rundle Mall, SA, Australia: South Australia Centre for Economic Studies in association with Wakefield

Where Have You Gone Essay Example for Free

Where Have You Gone Essay Often in life, it is the choices we make that shape our identity. Our behaviors, and actions determine the outcome; ultimately becoming a part of our character. In the poem â€Å"Where Have You Gone? † by Mari Evans the author reveals the consequences of a tragic ending to an overly reliant relationship. Evans suggests that when in a relationship, often one individual chooses to rely too much on the other without realizing; building a heavy dependency, causing the loss of their own identity. Like Evans poem, I personally had to learn the consequences of my decisions which led to detrimental effects between my relationship with my sister. Through Evans illuminating poem we are able to assess the devastating effects of a poor woman who has been abandoned by her lover. Evans choice to use the title â€Å"Where have you gone? † conveys her sense of loss and confusion. The entire poem centers over this nagging question. The repetition of the same inquiry amplifies the growing bewilderment and confusion inside her, tearing her apart. Initially, we are led to believe we are reading an ordinary love poem with the reference of a woman who misses his â€Å"confident walk with [his] crooked smile† until Evans reveals him leaving with â€Å"the rent money in one pocket and [her] heart in another † This drastically changes the sense of superficiality in a relationship. For the woman this is not just heartbreak, but she has lost her sense of survival. It becomes apparent she is grieving when Evans states â€Å"with you went the sun. With the absence of sunlight, it leaves her in the darkness longing for his return. For his return will relieve her of distress and mourning. It is evident that she lost her sense of identity through her dependencies on him emotionally and financially. When I was a child, I looked up to my oldest sister. I wanted to look just like her. After entering junior high school, I made a new group of friends and changed the way I dressed and acted. I had begun copying my sister relentlessly. I made it my priority to sneak into her room and â€Å"borrow† her clothes. My decision to disrespect my sister’s belongings led to frequent arguments, and physical brawls. She began distancing herself from me and our once strong relationship vanished. Through this phase I lost the older sister I grew up with because of my obsession with merely wanting to fit in at school. Consequently, I became extremely lost as to who I was, unable to remember the person prior; leading me to live a life that was not mine. Eventually, I realized this contributed to the shattered bonds with my sister, and even resulted in losing my own identity. My experience suggests often individuals can become so caught up with others we lose sight of who we actually are. Mari Evans poem â€Å"Where Have You Gone? † is the after effects of having been abandoned by her lover. We witness the devastating effects of a woman who has been cripplingly reliant on another person. Sadly, situations like these happen when individuals choose to invest themselves too deeply into a relationship which causes an individual to lose their sense of self.

Consumer Perceptions of Private Label Brands in China and UK

Consumer Perceptions of Private Label Brands in China and UK CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS OF PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS IN CHINA COMPARED WITH THE UK Summary In China there are fewer studies of private label brands (PLBs) that take up less market share than generic brands and national brands. However, there is a successful development of PLBs in the UK. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore the difference of consumer perceptions on PLBs between China and the UK with national brands as a standard. The literature review will review theories like brand equity/image, PLBs and double jeopardy; PLBs development compared with national brands in China and the UK; the influencing factors of consumer purchase behaviour and previous researches of consumers perceptions about PLBs in China and the UK. The main objective of this part is to ascertain the difference of consumers perceptions between PLBs and national brands in the UK. Primary research will take the form of a non probability convenience sampling method to randomly select 200 members of the public from two shopping malls of Xidan and Wangfujing and several large-scale supermarkets in Beijing. Questionnaires will be used for data collection, and data is analysed by Snap statistical programme. The finding shows that there is a significant difference of PLBs perception between China and the UK. Before the evaluation of brand image, the awareness of PLBs in China is understood and just less than half of respondents know the own-label biscuits. With reference to the literature reviewed on consumer perception in the UK, it can get the result that Chinese PLBs are perceived lower than British PLBs on the all attributes except â€Å"cheap† and â€Å"good value†. Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 The topic of research The aim of this thesis is to better investigate how private label brands (PLBs) are perceived by consumers in China, and compare it with the UKs. 1.2 Principle research question To understand how Chinese consumers perceptions of private label brands differ from the UKs. 1.3 Overall research objective The primary purpose for this research is to discover the main difference of consumers assessment of private label brands between China and the UK. This thesis will explore if there are significant differences between Chinese consumers evaluation on PLBs and the UKs, and analyse the relevant factors that cause the distinctness of consumers evaluation roundly on the basis of prior research in this subject scope. 1.4 Individual research objectives In order to achieve the principle objective of this study, it will intend to fulfil the following objectives: To identify the actual development of PLBs in China and the UK To establish the influence factors of consumer purchase behaviour in China and the UK To determine consumers perception of PLBs and national brands in the UK To determine consumers perception of Chinese PLBs and national brands To ascertain the different brand perceptions of PLBs in China and the UK 1.5 Report Structure This thesis contains eight chapters. Chapter2 to 4 are based on a literature review about theories and relevant knowledge of marketing background. Chapter2 outlines the theories about branding, and then chapter3 introduces the private label brands and their development in the UK and China. Chapter4 refers to consumer perception of PLBs review between two countries based on analysing the determining factors of purchase. The research method is explained in chapter5 with some specific designing scheme. The results of surveying Chinese biscuit category is presented, interpreted and analysed in chapter6, and discussed relating with the UKs market of literature review in chapter7 before conclusion and recommendations are given in chapter8. Chapter 2: Branding Chapter 2 introduces the definition of branding with its importance in the retail market, and moves to realize â€Å"brand image† and â€Å"brand equity† as well as the shift between them. In addition, the Double Jeopardy (DJ) Effect is identified finally. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate Chinese consumers perceptions of private label brands (PLBs) in comparison to UKs. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the background knowledge about â€Å"brand† first. 2.1 The conception of branding A brand was defined as â€Å"a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors† (p.404, Kotler, 2000). Aaker (1996) indicated that brand was used for suppliers to reflect the consumers purchase information and make communicate with customers easier, so that it is helpful to build a long-term relationship of belief between buyers and sellers. Wileman and Jary (1997) had realized that retail branding was playing an important role in the modern retail market gradually. Managers and executives also perceived that retail branding could be used to increase benefits as a strong vehicle in the competitive retail industry (Carpenter, et al. 2005). The reason is that the relationship between a product and consumers is personified by the brand name (organizations name) on the product itself, like Microsoft and Nescafe (de Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). The difference between a brand and a commodity is shown below in figure1, which describes the process of decline from brand to commodity. Following the disappearance of brand characteristic, a reduction in the differentiation of price and product/image is demanded to achieve the likeness of product offerings in the particular category. Thus the â€Å"added values† is the main difference between a brand and a commodity. The result proved the strong power of added values in the blind (brand cancelled) and open (brand revealed) test of Coke and Pepsi preference (de Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). 2.2 Brand image Brand image is explained as the integrated effect of brand associations (Biel, 1992). Also, Faircloth et al. (2001) cited Engel et al. (1993) as claiming that brand image refers to consumers perceptions of brand tangible and intangible association. Keller (1993) stated that brand image, a part of brand knowledge, belongs to the perceptions about a brand that is reflected by the brands attribute, benefit, and attitude association in the memory of consumers. Besides, consumers brand image is derived from the accumulative effects of marketing mix actions of companies (Roth, 1994). Wulf el al. (2005) has argued that image is one prerequisite for the presence of brand equity. Brand image in the consumers memory network that is decisive to make decision, provides preferred brand reminding and evaluation (Holden, 1992), and so it can contributes the positive effect on brand equity (Yoo et al. 2000). Furthermore, Winchester and Fletcher (2000) argued that measuring brand image was one of the most important research projects undertaken by a company, because it could help firms to understand their products perceptions in consumers memory. For example, retailers have the cheaper brand image than the manufacturers in most of consumers memory. Also, they suggest that consumers consider retailer brands as â€Å"me too† products compared with manufacture brands (IGD, 2003). Thus it demonstrates that retailers are trying hard to build up a strong image for their own brands to shoppers. The enhancement of brand image will be beneficial to drive the sales, brand equity and increase the gross margin of private label products (Quelch and Harding, 1996). Therefore, brand image is an important determinant of consumers perception about private label brands. 2.3 Brand equity Brand equity, like the concept of brand, has been identified as having multiple meanings. For instances, people have debated the concept of brand equity both in the accounting and marketing literature for several years (Wool, 2000). The original concept of brand equity is the added value that a brand name offers to the fundamental product (Quelch and Harding, 1996; Wulf el al 2005). Wood (2000) also cited Feldwick (1996) as claiming a classification of different meanings of brand equity as: â€Å"- the total value of a brand as a separable asset when it is sold, or included on a balance sheet; a measure of the strength of consumers attachment to a brand; a description of the associations and beliefs the consumer has about the brand.† (p. 662, Wood, 2000) According to the statement of Wood (2000), brand equity rests on financial accounting no longer, but extends to the measure of brand strength (brand loyalty) and the description of brand image. Additionally, Aaker (1996) identified the major asset categories of brand equity to include brand name awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality and brand associations (brand image). It reflected the value supplied by a product or service to a firm and/or customers in the various different ways. If the name and symbol of the brand change, the assets or liabilities will be affected and even lost due to the link between both sides. To brand awareness, the strength of a brands presence is mentioned in the consumers minds, ranging from recognition to recall to â€Å"top of mind† to domination. Recognition is more important than others due to the perception obtained from the past exposure. Also, recall can be a deciding factor of the purchasing of products. Otherwise, Chou (2002) also insisted on two categories of definition of brand equity—the customer-based and financial brand equity. The customer-based one is defined as the different effect of brand knowledge on consumers response to the purchase of brand (Keller, 1993; Lassar, et al. 1995), and the financial one refers to the intangible asset of the value of brand name to the firm (Chou, 2002). Through understanding the multiple concepts of brand equity, it can deduce that brand equity has attracted more attention in the marketing literature over the last decade, because it reflects if a brand would be repurchased by consumers. As Shapiro (1982) has demonstrated, certain brand equity offered genial value even though the appearance of products is uncertain. Nowadays Broniarczyk and Gershoff (2003) still emphasise the importance of brand equity; also, as one of the most valuable assets, it should be maximised to manage brands for the company (Keller and Lehmann, 2003). High brand equity can increase the opportunity on consumer choice of a common sales promotion (Simonson et al., 1994) and reduce the negative debates of consumers for a price increase (Campbell, 1999), because consumers lean to buy the brand more than the real product. Consequently, brand equity is also a factor to evaluate consumers perception of own brands. 2.4 The Double Jeopardy Effect In recent years, more authors (Sharp et al. 2002; Ehrenberg and Goodhardt, 2002) have been interested in understanding, developing and reinforcing the concept of Double Jeopardy (DJ), which represents a natural constraint on customer loyalty, which cannot be increased by marketing inputs much or for long unless a significant benefit increases the brands penetration (Ehrenberg and Goodhardt, 2002). The DJ effect is that â€Å"small share brands have fewer customers, but these customers buy the brand less often than the larger brands get bought by their customers† (p. 17, Sharp et al. 2002). A conceptual model of the DJ effect is showed in the figure2, which illustrates if a small firm would have higher turnover of their customer base if they lost the same number of customers as a large firm. The DJ effect is fit for the discussion of national brands and PLBs. Bigger brand will be known by more customers, and have more opportunities to be purchased and receive more responses than smaller brand. It will be an essential theory to support the last result of investigation about the comparison between own labels and national labels. Chapter 3: Private Label Brands This chapter attempts to understand private-label brands, their development in UK and China and the reason for focusing on them. National brands will be also mentioned as the scale for the validity of comparison between Chinese and UKs own labels. 3.1 The definition of private label brands â€Å"Retailer brands are designed to provide consumers with an alternative to manufacturer brands, to build customer loyalty to a retailer or improve margins.† (p.11, IGD, 2003) They are particular to a definite retailer, and may have a same or different name of the retailer but exclude other retailers name (IGD, 2003). The terms â€Å"own label† and â€Å"own brand† are always used together; also private label, retail brands or distributor brands are in common used (Fernie and Pierrel, 1996). Own brands can help retailers reduce the direct impact of price competition, since retailers carry their own brands instead of national brands that are sold in the most of the stores (Carpenter, et al. 2005). Furthermore, according to IGD (2003) study, doing own brands can provide competitively priced products, increased profitability and loyalty due to the special store, establishes store image, drives innovation and targets specific consumer groups. 3.2 The development of PLBs in UK Based on more previous researches about UKs PLBs, it will specify them as the base to compare with Chinese growing PLBs. 3.2.1 The history of development The generation of own brands in the UK can date back to the end of the nineteenth century (Key Note Market Review, 2001). Until mid-1960s, manufacturers perceived that the development of store brands could be a direct threat for them (Ogbonna and Wilkinson, 1998). After that, own brands rose to penetrate into grocery markets gradually (Fernie and Pierrel, 1996), because supermarket had to implement a new strategy under the tough economic crisis (Ogbonna and Wilkinson, 1998). The growth of own labels in the UK had been rapid during 1980s, and slowing down in the 1990s (Laaksonen, 1994). After 1980, the UKs retailing had a big metamorphosis to change their own-label products from previous low-price/low-quality/poor-packaging to current high quality, competitive price and good packaging (Burt and Davis, 1999; Key Note Market Review, 2001). Especially from 1990, more retailers began to provide own brand lines in stores and penetrated towards the grocery field (Veloutsou et al., 2004), and even innovated in product categories to be consistent with branded-products, such as the expansion from grocery to clothing (Quelch and Harding, 1996). Fernie and Pierrel (1996) illuminated that Marks Spencer, Sainsburys, Tesco and Safeway had developed their own brands, which competed successfully with other brands in the UK. Otherwise, there were more private labels on the shelves of supermarkets than ever before (Quelch and Harding, 1996). The main reasons for growth of own-label products include lower pricing (60%-85% of branded products), improved quality and higher profits for retailers (Ashley, 1998). Through the review of historical evolvement of PLBs, the current bloom of PLBs development in UK that is built on the basis of constant change can be seen. Also, it can be a good explanation for the condition, in which customers choose more own brands of supermarket rather than manufactures brands. 3.2.2 Current development At present, private label brands have taken up a significant share of nearly 29% in the UK food market. It is expected to increase further in 2009. Especially since 2008, own label has been gaining popularity following accelerating economic downturn. As consumers have begun to feel the pitch, so they have bought own-label products instead of branded products to save money. Thus the competition between own-labels and brands is reinforced. There is the highest own-label consumption in the FMCG sectors, like milk and frozen vegetables, or some products without emotional appeal. However, manufacturer brands still account for the majority of sales in the most of grocery categories (Mintel, 2009). Table1 shows the share of brands and own-labels in the following different categories. From this table, it can see that own label is the most dominant in the category of ready meals; and it has the least share in the crisp category. Also, more share own labels account for, more increasing opportunities they have. In addition, UKs supermarkets recognise that consumers have a wide range of product needs, so they segment the market by providing the brands that cater for the best, healthy, valuable, kids and organic requirements as table2 shows. 3.2.3 The feature of development The development of PLBs, a competitive strategy adopted by retailers, is necessary for them within the current retail market of high competition in the UK (Carpenter et al. 2005). Own brands are developing fast and winning a better share of the food market with definite advantage in the supermarket product ranges, because retailers can offer their private label products with high-quality and low-price (Wulf et al., 2005). Also, own-brand products exceeding 40% of market share have expanded their presence across markets—from low-priced, value-for-money items to the premium and lifestyle arenas so as to cater for consumers concern about healthy eating (Drewer, P. 2006). Therefore, it can fetch up the limitation of national brands that segment the market less, and target desired consumers more narrowly. For instance, figure3 shows Sainsburys Be Good to Yourself range of lower fat which is one kind of â€Å"healthier† own-label ranges; and Asdas value (Smartprice), healthy (Good for You) and Premium (Extra Special). Furthermore, the feature difference of own brands has been gradually shortened from national brands in terms of aspects such as packaging, size, and label (Choi and Coughlan, 2006). In figure4, Sainsbury instant coffee products are taken as an example of private labels with reduced feature differentiation as national labels inside FMCG sector. Some of the UKs retailers such as Sainsburys and Tesco have set up own brands focusing on quality and taste due to more consumers regards on flavour and aroma. Production methods have become diversified, and manufacturers have been found around the world to get various products with exotic flavours. For instance, the recipes of multiple ready-meal foods are derived from characteristic foods of different countries, like Waitrose chicken chow mein, which is developed from Chinese stir-fried noodles. Thus it is common for retailers to compete by developing premium own brands (Fenn, 2007), yet the majority of retailers changed their attention from premium ranges to the promotion of value ranges in 2008 (Mintel, 2009). 3.2.4 Marketing support The increase of own-label products is supported by the gradually concentrated nature of the retail market. Retailers control own brand marketing, which has obtained higher promotional support than national brands since there are better space and location for private labels on supermarket shelves (Cataluna et al. 2006). Retailers have got bargaining power in the market and more confidence to invest in their own brands, which bring higher profits than generic brands (Fenn, 2007). In addition, own-label food and drink has been supported strongly in the competitive market, although the main retailers began to promote the potential of saving money on PLBs purchase in 2008 and early 2009. For example, own-label brands are promoted principally in the main retailers like Morrisons. Marks Spencer also spent a third of its total budget on MS brands in 2008 (Mintel, 2009). Table3 shows the market support on foods in the form of media advertising expenditure. Generally, an increasing trend is shown for the retailers spending on foods in this table. However, depending on the retailers spending share, it can ascertain that branded manufacturers are still the biggest spenders on advertising for food and drink. They use the â€Å"Reassurance† and â€Å"tradition† as the key themes of promotion to fight against PLBs (Mintel, 2009). 3.2.5 The biscuit category Own-label biscuits take up a fifth of the UK market, where it has remained the share stably over previous 5 years. The biscuits category has increased substantially since 2002, although there is an unhealthy high sugar content in the most biscuits. The benefits can be obtained from defying all advice of nutrition, because consumers regard biscuits as a reward for their efforts on healthy eating most of the time. Moreover, the development of biscuit market is likely to be influenced by three key factors: requirement for healthy foods, indulgent products and convenient products. The indulgent demand can benefits the branded biscuits, as consumers believe premium-branded products more than PLBs (Kidd, ed. 2007). Figure5 shows the UK biscuits market shares in 2007. From this figure, it can see own labels account for more share than any one manufacturer brand, but it is less than the total share of main large manufacturers. In short, UKs PLBs market has been described and compared with manufacturers brands specifically, so that it can be as the firm foundation for the later comparison with Chinese PLBs market. 3.3 The development of PLBs in China Private label in China is still in an emergent stage, where many retailers had increased the place of own label development in 2004, but most do not have their own brands until they have greater scale in the market. According to IGDs estimation, own brand only takes up 2% of sales at Wal-mart and less than 6% at Carrefour, which is the strongest retailer in China. Although the foreign retailers have a long history to sell private label brands, this is a big challenge for them to sell in China, where own brand is a new concept for the Chinese consumers. They just believe the value and quality of local branded products. Thus retailers need to prove their own products are not only cheaper, but also provide better value to consumers (IGD, 2005b). Auchan, Carrefour and Wal-mart will be chosen as the example of private label development, because they have wider range of own label products than others. â€Å"Pouce†, â€Å"Auchan† and â€Å"First Price† ranges were introduced by Auchan in 2003. And they were developed across both food and non-food categories by the end of 2004. In Carrefour, own labels can be found in most categories, especially strong in non-food. Its private label brands include â€Å"Great Value†, â€Å"Equate† and â€Å"Kids Connection†. Wal-mart is developing their own brands including â€Å"Simply Basic†, â€Å"Equate† and â€Å"Great Value† in China, where the quantity is more limited than other developed international markets (IGD, 2005b). But actually, most of supermarkets usually just focus on the value with low price, and use the name of supermarket as their own brands name to attract consumers attention, such as â€Å"Ito-yokado†, â€Å"Dia%† and â€Å"Tesco†. 3.4 Why the focus on PLBs Veloutsou et al (2004) indicated that all grocery retailers have been entangled by private brands in Great Britain in the last decade. Also, the growth of private labels is one of the most obvious successes to the retail stores (Drewer, P. 2006); own brands have been seen as the strategic weapon to provide retailers with more powers and opportunities to distinguish themselves from national brands and build store image (Juhl et al. 2006). Nevertheless, there is a completely different situation in China, where the study of PLBs is less than the UKs and is strongly encouraged (Song, 2007). PLBs is undeveloped with low sales account in China, even if some foreign retailers (e.g. Carrefour, Wal-mart) have launched their own brands (IGD, 2005b). Consequently, there is a need to expose why PLBs have little market in China, and understand the shortage of Chinese PLBs development through comparing consumers different perceptions between China and the UK. Chapter 4: Consumers Perception of PLBs in China and UK This chapter will evaluate private label brands and national brands based on a cognizance of factors determining purchase. A generality of different viewpoints about consumers perceptions on brands will be discussed and some factors influencing the PLBs purchase will be presented. 4.1 Determinant of Purchase behaviour Consumers purchase can be influenced by environment, personal preference and psychological factors. Customers who live in diverse regions have their own experience about private-label products (Veloutsou et al 2004). Individual consumers often choose certain brands that they know to be guaranteed due to their habits, instead of spending more time to re-evaluate the brands with different attributes when purchasing (Ehrenberg, 2004). Furthermore, consumers preferences are different following the change of age (IGD, 2005a). For example, young people high on the new things more than old people. From the psychological aspect, â€Å"the right customer mindset can be crucial to realizing brand equity benefits and value† (p29, Keller and Lehmann, 2003). During the decision making process, purchase can be influenced directly by several factors. Veloutsou et al (2004) cited Omar, Burt and Sparks (1995) as claiming that many consumers always consider their products characteristics, quality and perceived value instead of the prices of products when consumers make purchasing decisions. However, the price cannot be excluded from factors of decisions, because most of consumers go shopping after they have a budget in mind (Hogan, 1996). Additionally, a generalized private-label attitude is discovered to influence purchase behaviour; factors include: â€Å"consumer price consciousness, price-quality perception, deal proneness, shopping attitudes, impulsiveness, brand loyalty, familiarity with store brands, reliance on extrinsic cues, tolerance for ambiguity, perceptions of store brand value, and perceived differences between store brands and national brands† (p347, Collins-Dodd and Lindley, 2003). 4.2 Consumer perception in China Due to the limitation of consumption per capita, the market was driven by price instead of brand loyalty in China (IGD, 2005b). According to China Management Newspaper (2008) reported, it is a fact that consumers who realise the supermarket own labels account for rather low percentage of total population. Moreover, â€Å"low price† and â€Å"high quality† are the main motivations to drive consumers purchase. Thus national brands with better quality can attract more consumers, although they have higher price than own labels. This results from the increase of Chinese consumers purchase power and the improvement of living level in recent years. Moreover, PLBs and national brands were considered as less difference on price (Chen, 2009). Thus it can be deduced that â€Å"low price† strategy of own brands in China would be successful due to less brand loyalty. However, following the improved standard of living, people would increase their demand from low price to high quality, which could be a challenge for the PLBs. 4.3 Consumer perception in UK 4.3.1 Comparison of PLBs with national brands Following the quality improvement of PLBs, Richardson (1997) found that store brands could be compared with national brands from the aspect of quality and consumers preferred to buy store brands where they usually shopped. As Quelch and Harding (1996) discovered that this was similar for consumers to perceive and judge the manufacturer and retailer brands in the orange juice private-label test, because consumers had a low involvement activity on grocery shopping. Nevertheless, â€Å"If all retailers stock manufacturers brands, they can only differentiate on price or sales promotions; with own labels/brands, they can offer further differentiation in the market place.† (p49, Fernie and Pierrel, 1996) They supported that own labels/brands could bring retailers more differentiation in the market place than manufacturers brands that just differed on price or sales promotions from each other. However, there is a different understanding based on consumers mind. Dick et al. (1996) considered that private labels were less famous than national brands, which have a distinct identification with a particular manufacturer. Richardson (1997) also supported the unification of store brands without the speciality of national brands. In the research of Harris (2007), he also demonstrated a significant difference of brand image evaluation for national brands and store brands. He established that PLBs have the advantage of â€Å"cheap† and â€Å"good value† to compare with national brands, while national brands were used more with higher quality/superiority based on attributes than store brands. However, after breaking down PLBs into three relative positions (premium, standard and value), he discovered that premium private labels were overpriced more without better value for money than national labels; customers buy more value private labels than national labels due to their cheapness. This implicates that consumers prefer the high quality of national brands and the good value of value PLBs at the same time. Therefore, he identified the characteristic of â€Å"worth more† regarded by consumers mostly. The brand association strengths are summarized in the following figure7 from his study. Furthermore, his researching results (see Appendix3) will be used as the reference of British consumer perception of PLBs to compare with Chinas later. In addition, according to Mintel research (2009), it has been a long-term trend for more consumers thinking that own labels are better than national brands. 4.3.2 Evaluation of PLBs To the quality/value thinking, other authors have had same ideas. Quelch and Harding (1996) predicted that consumers would choose PLBs readily rather than the higher-priced name brand, if there were more quality PLBs in the market. Richardson (1997) cited Richardson et al. (1994) as claiming that store brand market share could be increased by successfully communicating a quality rather than a low price strategy. Moreover, according to the IGDs research, PLBs have become one of the important factors for shoppers to choose the supermarket they shop in. The satisfaction of quality with lower price has attracted more consumers. The proportion of main reasons is â€Å"45% lower price, 45% better value than branded equivalent, 26% the same as branded, 24% a good reputation for own brand (IGD, 2003). Furthermore, consumers are not confused about the increasing number of own-label brands, but the segmentation is beneficial for them to choose products that are fit for themselves. The clear d ifferentiation among brands is also the key for retailers to success (Mintel, 2006). Chapter 5: Methodology On the basis of the relevant literature review about the market analysis of PLBs and national brands, especially the UK market, this has been analysed for the final discussion to compare with Chinese PLBs. This chapter will look for the most appropriate approach to implement the needed research and achieve the objective of this thesis. 5.1 The objective of this study Perceptual variables related to consumers perception are investigated in this study. It needs to finish the following objectives: The difference of consumer perceptions between PLBs and national brands in the UK (achieved in literature review) The difference of consumer perceptions between PLBs and national brands in China The difference of consumer perceptions of PLBs in China and the UK Based on the understanding of the UKs markets and perceived PLBs compared with national brands by consumers in the literature review, the Chinese situatio

Macbeth As A Tragic Character :: essays research papers

In all genres of literature, there are numerous character types one might encounter. Some bring humor or comic relief to a more serious plot, while others bring both pity and fear to the minds of the audience. A tragic character is one who shows characteristics above normality, while simultaneously giving evidence to the audience concerning his or her tragic flaw that causes the character’s life to end in an abnormal state of events. â€Å"A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.† (George Orwell, Columbia Dictionary of Quotations) In a tragedy the main character rises to greatness, then continues to fall down a shame spiral, which leads to his or her downfall. Throughout his regression from life as a decent and moral man, to becoming indifferent to what is fair and what is foul, Macbeth brought both an immense tragic fate onto himself as well as creating tragedy in th e lives of his peers. Macbeth regressed from being a decent, moral man, to someone closely resembling a devil, who could make no distinction between good and evil. Macbeth became so engrossed in himself as well as the prophecies that were laid upon him by the three witches, that he became indifferent to the thoughts and feelings of the people around him, who once considered themselves to be this demon’s friend. The process of this tragedy was slow to let the audience become comfortable with the power and happiness of the main character. Then, suddenly, signs appeared, foreshadowing an imminent climax as the main character headed toward his inexorable fate. As the play begins a battle ensues between King Duncan of Scotland and Macdonwald of Norway. Macbeth fights bravely on Scotland's side, killing Macdonwald himself. King Duncan hears of Macbeth's brave and noble qualities, crowning him the new Thane of Cawdor. The king states that the old Thane should not device, "... Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, And with his former title greet Macbeth." (I ii 63-65) Macbeth is hostile to accept the rank, because earlier three witches prophesied that the new hero would become Thane of Cawdor even though there was one at that time. Since Macbeth was crowned Thane of Cawdor, Banquo and Macbeth believe that the three weird sisters are able to correctly tell them their fate.

The Limits of Narrative in in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay

The Limits of Narrative in Heart of Darkness    Early English novelists depicted a very general reality; that is, what many observed to be "real" is what found its way into the narratives. For example, several novels of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries emphasize, or entirely revolve around, the idea of social status. Samuel Richardson's Pamela addresses a servant's dilemma between her morals and low social position; the hero of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones must also confront his "low birth." Jane Austen famously portrayed class struggles in nearly every one of her novels. These texts all represented the world at its face; the actions of the characters spoke for their "reality," and the narrator was simply the descriptor of these events. The novels conformed to a very narrow world-view, limited by popular thought. True, there was much to explore within this confinement, as shown by the range of commentary in the texts. Still, as stories they could only offer what society observed: a kind of reality by consensus. As Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness demonstrates, modernism rejected the aims and methods of realism, and claimed the inner self represented the real more closely than the public world. Furthermore, realism appeared to represent the world wholly and concisely. Conrad's novel rejects this, and instead exposes the failure of language to describe a complete reality. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow himself is incomplete, and so is his narrative. He is forced into imprecise language, resigned to using negative modifiers and repeating inexact words. He struggles to tell his story satisfactorily, and by his own admission, his telling is deficient. The limitation of language, then, becomes the focus of t... ...e rejection of nineteenth century realism. Since Marlow the storyteller is flawed, his story falters as a result. The novel effectively reduces each to their flaws, but does not attempt to hide its limitations behind a manufactured authority. It is this absence, or seeming absence, of controlled writing that brings Heart of Darkness closer to "the real" than any authoritative work of realism.    Works Cited Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1902. New York: Dover, 1990. Erdinast-Vulcan, Daphna. The Strange Short Fiction of Joseph Conrad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 78-108. Greaney, Michael. Conrad, Language, and Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 57-76. Hawthorn, Jeremy. Studying the Novel. 4th ed. London: Arnold, 2001. 60-61 Leavis, F.R. The Great Tradition. New York: Stewart, 1950. 173-82.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Essay -- Essays Papers

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Sexually Transmitted Diseases are an intimate part of many people’s lives. These diseases, one could say, represent a conflict between human and nature. It is a part of nature that humans are inclined to engage in sexual activity . Yet, humans are endangering themselves with the spreading of these diseases. Also, a human oriented disease can take on a life of its own, so to speak, and even turn deadly when nature takes it course. Humans have created antibiotics and other drugs to cure the diseases and help with the symptoms of these diseases, but the complications that can arise from these diseases sometimes have no cure, and it is at this time that nature takes over. Sexually transmitted diseases are a part of history. Some have been around since the beginning of the United States. During times like the Industrial Revolution, the Depression, and WWI, sexually transmitted diseases have flourished because of the conditions of the cities and the living areas of citizens. Sexually transmitted diseases, of STDs, are a growing concern among people of all ages. Some are less severe and dangerous than others, but none of them are to be taken lightly. Some of the most common diseases are Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which is caused by the HIV virus; Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Herpes Simplex, and Syphilis. These facts from the STD Homepage (http:// med-www.bu.edu/people/sycamore/std.) further explain the diseases and what one can expect from them. Sexually Transmitted Diseases are serious and can have lifelong effects; however, most are easily prevented and treatable. AIDS The disease AIDS, which is a set of disease... ...elids, face, chest, fingers, breasts, anus, and on the perineum. After the chancres disappear, the disease continues to inhabit the body. Syphilis is completely curable with antibiotics. Some complications of the disease that can not be cured but that may arise are flu-like symptoms, fever, skin rash, swollen glands, spots on the tongue, and warts on the genitals. In the last stage, the syphilis eats away at skin and bones. It can cause blindness, heart disease, and brain damage. Therefore, the Humanities Base Theme of Human Vs. Nature is prevalent in the topic of sexually transmitted diseases. Although there are drugs to lessen the effects and cure most of the actual diseases themselves, some complications that may arise are not curable. These complications, which arise mainly from nature taking its course in the body, are not curable by humans.

CACHE Early Years Education And Care Essay

1.1 and 1.2: Physical care needs for children in relation to nappy changing, would be keeping children clean and dry, by changing soiled nappies as soon as possible. Making sure to wear an apron and gloves, use the right sized nappy and by using the appropriate wipes and creams (if needed). Toilet training routine care needs would be asking children to go to the toilet at regular intervals. Learning to wipe, clean them selves up and to flush. Making sure they wash and dry their hands after use of toilet. Washing and bath time care needs would be to make sure water is not to hot or cold. Seeing that hands, face and body are thoroughly cleaned with appropriate soap and either sponge or flannel. Skin care would include making sure it is clean. Seeing that the right creams and ointments are used for cuts, sores and certain skin conditions (eczema, psoriasis etc). Having noses wiped, and tissues then being put into a bin and making sure coughs and sneezes are covered then washing hands af ter. Teeth care is to make sure that teeth are brushed at least twice a day with a suitable toothbrush and toothpaste that is appropriate for each age group and needs of each child. Hair care includes having hair washed with a suitable shampoo and conditioner ( if conditioner is needed). Having hair brushed everyday at least once. Making sure hair is cut and maintained regularly (checked for head lice etc). Mealtime care routines differ between ages of children. Babies would require temperature-controlled formula in a sterilised bottle around every 3-4 hours, with them being winded during and after each feed. Toddlers would require food easy to chew (blended or soft foods), at least 3 times a day with plenty of fluids in between. Young children would eat a variety of normal foods, and would learn how to eat with a fork, knife and spoon etc. They would be taught to wash hands before eating and to sit appropriately at a table. The children would be encouraged to ask for more should they want it and help themselves to pouring drinks etc. 1.3: Non- routine physical care would be required if a child was to have an accident, e.g. wet or soiled themselves, fall over or split something which  needed cleaning or clothes changing. Other non-routine care would be if a child was to become ill e.g. be sick, has an allergic reaction etc. 1.4: Benefits in working in partnership with parents/carers is the information received for each individual child and creates a good relationship which builds confidence for everyone.. Parents can learn from you and you can learn from parents. For example knowing which child has allergies or certain medical conditions. Which child takes medication or has behavioural issues. Also to find out if there are any cultural issues or language barriers. Children can be different at home/school therefore there is a need to work together to reduce this effect, by working together can help with synchronising routines, e.g. no good doing something one way at home and another way at setting. Having care plans set in place for each child and having all issues, needs and likings/dislikings for each child can be maintained and can continue at home during holidays, weekends etc. Good working partnership helps parents feel empowered and not excluded from treatment plans etc. Unit 1.3 Y/505/9283 Support physical care routines for children 2.1: Hygienic practice to sterilising equipment is to make sure ands and surface areas around sterilised equipment are washed. Then make sure all feeding and preparation equipment is washed in hot soapy water. Use bottle/teat brushes to clean and make sure all previous feed is removed from inside and outside of bottles/teats, then rinse all under tap once cleaned. If using a commercial steriliser then you would need to follow the manufactures instructions. If boiling then make sure all bottles, teats etc are fully submerged with no air bubbles. Cover and boil at least for 10mins. It is best to remove equipment. Hygienic practice for preparing formula feeds is to clean hands and all surfaces before preparation. It is best to make up feeds just before use. Use fresh boiled water and then leave to cool. Once cooled, use the exact amount of formula as instructed then re-assemble bottle. Shake bottle making sure everything well mixed. Holding under tap or put in container cool formula to right feeding temperature. Always check temperature of feed on the inside of wrist by squirting a few  drops, before giving it to baby. Always discard any left over feed after 2hours. 2.2: There are all varieties of formula milk, so they should be used in accordance to the needs of each child, as certain children may need a different formula to another child. Using the wrong formula, adding to much/little or not having the feed, at the right temp can affect the health of babies. If the feed has been left or stored to long it can cause the growth of bacteria. If the person or surrounding areas have not been washed/cleaned thoroughly that can also cause bacteria growth, and bacteria transfer onto sterilised equipment. If equipment has not been cleaned or sterilised properly then that can also cause bacteria to grow and not be eliminated. Unit 1.3 Y/505/9283 Support physical care routines for children 3.1: The role of an early years practitioner in relation to hand washing would be to make sure hands are washed thoroughly before preparing meals/snacks times and also afterwards. Hands should also be washed after changing and toileting. In relation to food hygiene hands must always be washed, then put on gloves and apron before handling/preparing foods. Food should stored in the correct tubs etc and at the right temperature. Food preparation areas should be cleaned thoroughly and different equipment should be used for different food types, to stop cross-contamination. Spillages should be cleaned up straight away to prevent accidents, staining and contamination etc, with the appropriate equipment (cloths, paper towels, mops). All waste should be disposed into the right bins, bags etc and then removed into an outdoor bin at the end of each day. When preparing foods, changing children, cleaning spillages and disposing of waste, an early years practitioner should always make sure hands have been washed before and after. They should always wear an apron and gloves where appropriate. Unit 1.3 Y/505/9283 Support physical care routines for children 5.1: Rest and sleep needs differ from each child and each age group. For  example a 6-week-old baby will usually require around 15-16 hours per day. Most of these would be during the night and baby would probably be having around 3-4 naps per day. At 6 weeks, a baby will more than likely still be waking for feeds during the night. At 7 months a baby would be falling into a sleep pattern of around 11 hours each night, with around 2 naps during the day consisting of around 1-2 hours each. Most 7 month olds would be sleeping through the night. When it comes to children of 15 months old, sleep patterns change again. Most 15 month olds will be sleeping through the night for around 13 hours. They will need 1 nap during the day or 2 quick rest naps. These sleep patterns will usually stay the same till around the age of 3 years. Sleep and rest patterns for children aged 4-5 years would be around 10-12 hours a night without day naps. By the age of 6-7 years children would have around 8-10 hours a night also without daytime naps. All children will rest and sleep better if they have the same routine nap an bedtime each day/night. The sooner a child gets into a routine the better it can be for them settling. 5.2: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden and unexplained death of a baby, where no cause is found. While SIDS is rare, it can still occur and there are steps parents and take to help reduce the risks. Things you can do would be to always place your baby on their back to sleep. Keep your baby smoke free during and after birth. Have covers no higher than baby’s shoulders and tuck them in. Have baby sleep in your room for the first 6 months in a cot, crib or moses basket. Use a firm, flat and waterproof mattress in good condition and place baby in â€Å"feet to foot† position. The things to avoid would be to never sleep in a chair or on a sofa with your baby. Don’t sleep in the same bed as your baby, if you smoke or have been drinking or taking drugs etc. Don’t let your baby get to hot or cold and don’t use loose coverings. Unit 1.3 Y/505/9283 Support physical care routines for children N1: 6.1: Measles is a highly infectious viral illness that can be very unpleasant and can sometimes lead to serious complications that can sometimes be fatal.  These include bacterial infection in the lungs (pneumonia) and the brain (encephalitis). Measles is caused by a virus spread in droplets and is very easy to be caught by those who have not been vaccinated. Typical symptoms of measles include fever, cough, conjunctivitis and a rash. Complications are even quite common in healthy people, and about 20% of reported measles cases experience one or more complication. Most people who are at risk of developing serious complications are babies younger than 12 months, children in poor health, teenagers and adults. 6.2: The first MMR vaccinations are usually given when your child is about 13 months old. A second is usually given before your child starts school. Adults and 6-13 month old children can also have the MMR vaccine if they are at risk of catching measles, if there is an outbreak of measles in your local area, or if you have been in close contact with someone who has measles. 6.3: There are parents who decide against having their children immunised, for a variety of reasons. For example some cultures or religions do not like or believe in having immunisations. Most go against immunisation because of a published document by a Dr Wakefield, claiming that the MMR vaccine is linked to Autism. Even though Dr Wakefield’s study were found to be faked, some parents still don’t want their children to receive the MMR vaccine. Unit 1.3 Y/505/9283 Support physical care routines for children 7.1: Supporting children in physical care routines in relation to toileting, would be to have potties and toilet seats. To encourage children to use the toilet and to wash, dry and flush after toilet use. Have posters or pictures cards of actions which the children could follow,(like 1,2,3 steps Wipe,Flush,Wash,Dry etc.) on the walls or cubicle doors. In relation to washing, all children are encouraged to wash and dry their hands after toilet use, before meals/snack times and after doing certain activities (painting, sticking etc). Mealtime children are encouraged to get their own plates, cups etc, to have their hands washed and an apron on. They are also encouraged to feed themselves with the use of cutlery (if of appropriate age). Unit 1.3 question answers, 1.1, 1.2 and 5.1 also relate to the above. Unit 2.1 K/505/9286 An introduction to the role of the early years practitioner 2.1: People communicate to express needs, emotions and to share ideas. They also communicate to express feelings and to socialise. You also need to communicate to share experiences and to ask questions or to complain about things. Communication is also good for helping others to understand things. People communicate to establish and maintain relationships with others. Communication also helps with receiving and giving instructions and for getting information. It helps to share opinions and give encouragement. There are different ways of communicating either orally, hand signing or even written. Looking at body language is also a use of communication. 2.2: Communication is essential for carer to meet the needs of each individual child and their families. Communicating clearly and openly with other members of staff, the manager so as to make sure that the best possible care is provided and that this is done so reliably. This will help build your relationship and trust with colleagues and develop your role and theirs within the workplace. It ensures any health and safety or any other issues are recognised and reported accordingly, keeping others informed of current situations. It is also vital so parents and agencies/professionals, can inform or instruct their needs and issues with the carer or establishment of a child. Communication between a practitioner and child, is essential to build the childs confidence and helps promote good behaviour. Being a positive role model in the setting is vital to bond relationships to interact with others, helping the child to settle better and have an effective developments in all areas. Having good communication with parents also helps build a successful relationship with their child which then helps parents begin to have confidence and trust in us, that we can take care of their child. It is very important to have good communication with other agencies like Social Workers, Speech and Language/Therapist or other professionals who are involved in providing and  dealing with all childrens needs, to work together as part of a team, with consistency in their work. This helps by each individual knowing where they stand and where they need to progress further in helping to meet the needs of each child and their families.

Raffles Hotel Marketing Communications

Assignment #4 Observation Report A: Describe one on-the-job problem of issue encountered and how it was resolved. I first encountered this problem two weeks into my internship with Raffles Hotel Marketing Communications. After my orientation week, it was finally time for me to take on projects on my own and start communicating with some of the clients and media the department would follow up from time to time. One of the projects that I was tasked was to prepare the Arabic version of Raffles Hotel’s fact sheet for the Saudi Arabia sales trip that the Director of Sales and Marketing will be doing at the end of the week.This request came in as a last minute project as there were several delays in the process of translation and positioning of the facts and information. In what limited time I had, it does seem that I would not be able to complete to the fact sheet in time due to the constant delays from the Translation Company and external help that took quite some time to get bac k to me. Time wasn’t on my side and I knew I cannot afford to mess up this project. That was when I decided to adopt one of the many values that Raffles Hotel believes in – taking ownership of guest requests.Instead of sitting around waiting for things to happen and emails to be replied, I decided that it was time for me to take action and get what needs to be done, done. The issue was eventually resolved after I made personal trips around the hotel, asking for help from colleagues from various departments that have knowledge in the Arabic language. I managed to prepare the Arabic fact sheet of Raffles Hotel in time for the Saudi Arabia sales trip and have shown my managers that I am someone they can trust to get things done on time and to the best of my abilities.

Kfc Essay

Introduction-overview of the company(KFC)| Pg- 2| Short elaboration of micro and macro environment and three factors that influence| Pg-3| Current sales analysis| Pg-4| Environmental factors and opportunities| Pg-5,6| Business macro-environmental factors| Pg-7 | Conclusion| Pg-8| | | Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the world’s most successful fast food organizations. It has operations throughout the world and has a vast history which has been put to present like no other fast food.It has grown enormously following its fragile birth, splashing in scintillating numbers in both franchisees and company owned stores all over. The company’s prime strength lies in providing high-quality chicken meals to its huge consumer base all over the world. Now every day, more than 12 million customers are served at KFC restaurants in 109 countries and territories around the world. KFC operates more than 5,200 restaurants in the United States an d more than 15,000 units around the world. The company has strong product identification through its branding, advertising as well as packaging signifies the company in various manner.The famous paper bucket that KFC uses for its larger sized orders of chicken, its logos and the famous picture of Harland Sanders, the initial founder, all represent KFC in the most colorful way. KFC's specialty is fried chicken served in various forms. However the recipe of 11 herbs and spices used by KFC in preparation of their chicken still remains a trade secret. KFC's primary product is pressure-fried pieces of chicken made with the original recipe. The other chicken offering, extra crispy, is made using a garlic marinade and double dipping the chicken in flour before deep frying in a standard industrial kitchen type machine.Despite KFC’s success as a company, the fast food organization had faced many problems over the years. There were mostly environmental issues that had influenced their product marketing and in time they had inherited new ways and different techniques to cater their fast food products. Animal Cruelty Since 2003, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), have been protesting KFC’s treatment of the animals used for its products with the Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign.PETA states that they have held more than 12,000 demonstrations at KFC outlets since 2003 because of alleged mistreatment of chickens by KFC suppliers. Alleged rainforest destruction In May 2012, Greenpeace accused KFC of sourcing paper pulp for its food packaging from Indonesian rainforest wood. Independent forensic tests showed that some packaging contained more than 50 per cent mixed tropical hardwood fibre, sourced from Asia Pulp & Paper Macro environment KFC operates in a larger macro environment of forces that creates opportunities, but also threats.A company such as KFC usually cannot influence trends in the macro environment, as they affe ct people and organisations on a larger scale. However, KFC has to carefully examine macro environmental trends and must create competitive responses to such trends. There are six major macro environmental forces KFC has to take into account. Micro environment The microenvironment consists of all forces that are close to KFC, and on which KFC has an impact. They directly affect KFC’s ability to serve its customers. Three major components influence KFC’s microenvironment:COMPETITORS Because the fast food market is highly competitive, KFC faces a wide number of direct and indirect competitors. KFC’s main competitors are fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Domino’s, which are already well established throughout the world. McDonalds’s in particular is a direct competitor, as they have already successfully introduced their Salads plus line, which directly targets ‘healthy food’ conscious world we live in. But, there are a number of other competitors that is also focusing on ‘chicken’ types products.All this competition makes it quite difficult for KFC to maintain or even broaden their customer base. However, with the introduction of a new and healthy product range, KFC can differentiate itself from most competitors and will gain a competitive advantage. CUSTOMERS KFC’s customer market consists solely of the consumer market. KFC’s products are bought by individuals (males, females, singles, and families). Therefore, the product range KFC offer should appeal to as many people within this consumer market as possible, to ensure that the maximum amount of products can be sold.The characteristics of these individuals and a segmentation of them are discussed later in this report. Strengths and weakness of competitors Strengths: 38 products, Attractive Outlets, Huge Marketing, Budget, More entertainment for kids Weaknesses: Same type of Menu, No Home Delivery How they compete with their c ompetitors? It is found that KFC compete its competitors by five ways: †¢KFC compete its competitors through marketing strategy †¢They offered different packages at different events like Ramadan offer, midnight offer etc. †¢KFC compete their competitors by providing good services They must hired the hard selling persons to market their product in the market and motivate their employees for the sake of organizations and employees do well and they compete there competitors KFC has quality products and through these quality products they compete their competitors Current Sales Analysis Market Share Market Share KFC has a very long history and has the most recognize able brand in chicken with over 50% of the market share. It becomes difficult for the companies like Sub way, Mc Donald’s, Chicken planet, Dixie or those who may want to enter in the market of fast food restaurants.Due to with over 50% of the market share in fast food industry KFC has recognition around the world and has been globally positioned for many years in and to capture the market share in adopting a chicken loving experience. Environmental factors and opportunities Political: The operations of KFC are affected by the government policies on the regulations of fast food operation. Currently government are controlling the marketing of fast food restaurant because of health concern such as cardiovascular and cholesterol issue and obesity among the young and children in the country.Governments also control the license given for open the fast food restaurant and other business regulation need to follow such as for a franchise business. Good relationship with government in giving mutual benefits such as employment and tax is a must for the company to succeed in any foreign market. Economic: Though for last 1 year there was economic slowdown all across the globe but the sales of KFC and other fast food chains did not slow down to that extent that of other sectors in. The GDP (Pur chasing Power Parity) is estimated at2. 965 trillion U. S. dollars in the year 2010.The GDP- per Capita (PPP) was 2700 U. S. dollars as estimated in 2008. The GDP- real growth rate in 2007was 8. 7%. India has the third highest GDP in terms of purchasing power parity just ahead Japan and behind U. S. and China. Foreign direct investment rose in the fiscal year ended March 31 2007 to about $16 billion from just $5. 5 billion a year earlier. Socio cultural: India is the second most populous nation in the world with an approximate population of over 1. 1billion people. This population is divided in the following age structure: 0-14 years – 31. 8%, 15-64 years – 63. % and 65years and above – 5. 1%. There has also been a continuous increase in the consumption of fast food in India. The social trend toward fast good consumption is changing and India has seen an increase of 90% fast food consumption from the year 2002-2007. This increase is far greater than the increase in the BRIC nations of Brazil (20 per cent), Russia (50 per cent) and China (almost 60 per cent). Thus this shows a positive trend for fast food industries in India. Technological: The fast food Industry is heating up with a lot of foreign players entering the market.The technological knowhow and expertise will also enter the market with an increase in competition. With the lower rates and increase technology the fast food counters are attracting youth by giving them attractive deals. For e. g. KFC and Domino’s pizza. For a fast food restaurant, technology does not give a very high impact on the company and it is not a significant macro environment variables. However KFC should be looking to competitors innovation and improve itself in term of integrating technology in managing its operation.For example in inventory system, supply chain management system to manage its supply, easy payment and ordering systems for its customers and wireless internet technology. Implementation of technology can make the management more effective and cost saving in the long term. This will also make customer happy if cost savings results in price reduction or promotional campaign discount which will benefits them from time to time. Environmental: As one of world largest consumer of beef, potatoes and chicken, KFC always had been critics for world environmentalist.This is because high consumption of beef causing the green house effect by methane gasses coming from the cow’s ranch. Large-scale plantation has effect the environment and lost of green forest opening for plantation activities. Vegetarian environmentalist criticizes the fast-food giant for cruelty to animals and slaughtering. In America, once KFC want to introduce whale burger causing uproar because whales are endangered species. Before using paper packaging, KFC once had been criticized for being insensitive to pollution because of using ne based packaging for its food products.Imagine millions of people purchase from fast food operator and how is the impact to world environment by throwing away those hard to recycle packaging. Our world is getting concern on environment issue and business operating here should not just care for profit, but careful usage of world resources for sustainable development and care for environment safety and health for our future generation. Critics and concern from all public or activist should bare view and support if necessary to ensure we play our social responsibility better. Legal factors:As a certified fast food operator, there are many regulations and procedures that KFC should follow. For example is the Halal certification that becomes a concern to Muslim consumers. KFC should protect its integrity and consumer confidence by ensuring all materials and process are as claimed or must followed. Other legal requirement that the business owner should follow as stipulated in laws are such as operating hours, business registration, tax requirement, lab or and employment laws and quality & environment certification (such as ISO) in which the outlet has been certified.The legal requirement is important because the offenders will be fined or have their business prohibited from operating which can be disastrous. KFC India -BCG Matrix Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) Matrix Currently KFC have launched a new product in the market. They have also tried to come into the beverages market by launching its new brand of shakes called KRUSHERS. As it is a fairly new product it comes in the category of the Question Mark in the BCG Matrix. It has a low market share thus brings low revenue. KFC is advertising a lot to popularize this product so there is a lot of expenditure on it.This product is individually not bringing any profits and is a cash drain for the company. Company may decide to completely remove this product from the market if it does not do well soon and start bringing in revenue. Business macro-environmental factors The company and a ll the other actors operate in a larger macro-environment of forces, including political, economic, cultural, technological, legal and ecological factors, which shape opportunities and pose threats to the company. Political and legal regulatory affect the strategic development of KFC Corporation, which made the US market more challenging.Example- Forbidding the use of trans-fat cooking oil mandating calorie counts on menus,removing advertisement from kid's programme, and even prohibiting from making unconfirmed claims concerning nutritional value and losing weight benefits. All of these may seriously impede the free flow of goods within a group and from suppliers and consumer demand. According to the Institute for the World Economy, the aggregation of financial crisis continues to result in negative result to the world economy and generate a strong downturn in the entire restaurant industry, which leads to the falling of US unit expansion from 3. % of 2006 to 2. 4% of 2007. On the o ther hand, fewer costs as compared with healthier food helped KFC and the entire fast food industry to grow rapidly. Moreover, KFC can increase profit margins with chicken which is lower in cost compared to other meat. With the ever-increasing impact of health consciousness, like obesity, among consumers, it's increasingly hard for KFC to keep its original product mix and alternatively prompt them to offer healthier foods (threat). In contrast, under the slump chicken consumption in Europe and Asia market owing to the outbreak of avian flu, US market still shows an image of rising.Furthermore, hurried and changing lifestyle of people along with convenient and tasty characters of foods, which offered numerous business opportunities for KFC Corporation. The innovation in technology offers further development possibilities to fast food industry. However, owing to equipment problems, KFC lost its Rotisserie Chicken market which had achieved a huge success in non-fried chicken area. Rest aurants are known to have very high levels of energy intensity due to their relatively small building size and the amount of cooking, heating, and refrigeration needed to prepare and serve food to customers.Due to these high levels of energy use, we continue to focus our efforts on reducing our energy intensity in both new and existing restaurants. In 2006 KFC established a goal to reduce energy usage in the U. S. company-owned restaurants by 12 percent from 2005 levels by the end of 2009. They achieved a 14% reduction through the application of numerous energy conservation measures (ECMs). In addition to reducing energy consumption, these ECMs resulted in the elimination of over 117,000 metric tons of CO2 per year from the atmosphere.The KFC China division has also recognized the need to focus on energy conservation and has become actively involved in implementing ECMs over the past few years. Their efforts have resulted in the elimination of over 5300 metric tons of CO2 per year. Greenpeace, a conservational and environmental organization in 46 countries, has accused Cargill concerning the illegal exportation of soya to KFC for its chicken food supplied. Changing consumers' perception about KFC is arisen among analyst and specialist and forthright.In respect to the accusations has actively retrofit existing restaurants with more efficient lighting systems. During 2009, 190 restaurants in China had their interior linear fluorescent lamps upgraded to a more efficient version resulting in a reduction of over 600 metric tons of CO2 per year. Heating, Ventilation ; Air Conditioning (HVAC): In 2006, Yum! made the commitment to standardize high efficiency air conditioning systems for all U. S. restaurants. Since then, over 1800 high-efficiency air conditioning units have been installed with slightly over 600 taking place in 2008 and 2009.These 600 + installations have reduced our CO2 output by 10,500 metric tons per year. In China, the engineering team developed th e means to overcome water hardness issues compromising the efficiency of certain heating devices used in our KFC kitchens. Their solution enabled the equipment to operate at peak efficiency which eliminated over 4200 metric tons of CO2 per year. In conclusion, KFC had used all its macro environment factors efficiently; it had improved its product in terms of packaging technology, its cooking methods and most important heath wise keeping in mind the external affect on the environment. Kfc Essay Introduction-overview of the company(KFC)| Pg- 2| Short elaboration of micro and macro environment and three factors that influence| Pg-3| Current sales analysis| Pg-4| Environmental factors and opportunities| Pg-5,6| Business macro-environmental factors| Pg-7 | Conclusion| Pg-8| | | Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the world’s most successful fast food organizations. It has operations throughout the world and has a vast history which has been put to present like no other fast food.It has grown enormously following its fragile birth, splashing in scintillating numbers in both franchisees and company owned stores all over. The company’s prime strength lies in providing high-quality chicken meals to its huge consumer base all over the world. Now every day, more than 12 million customers are served at KFC restaurants in 109 countries and territories around the world. KFC operates more than 5,200 restaurants in the United States an d more than 15,000 units around the world. The company has strong product identification through its branding, advertising as well as packaging signifies the company in various manner.The famous paper bucket that KFC uses for its larger sized orders of chicken, its logos and the famous picture of Harland Sanders, the initial founder, all represent KFC in the most colorful way. KFC's specialty is fried chicken served in various forms. However the recipe of 11 herbs and spices used by KFC in preparation of their chicken still remains a trade secret. KFC's primary product is pressure-fried pieces of chicken made with the original recipe. The other chicken offering, extra crispy, is made using a garlic marinade and double dipping the chicken in flour before deep frying in a standard industrial kitchen type machine.Despite KFC’s success as a company, the fast food organization had faced many problems over the years. There were mostly environmental issues that had influenced their product marketing and in time they had inherited new ways and different techniques to cater their fast food products. Animal Cruelty Since 2003, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), have been protesting KFC’s treatment of the animals used for its products with the Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign.PETA states that they have held more than 12,000 demonstrations at KFC outlets since 2003 because of alleged mistreatment of chickens by KFC suppliers. Alleged rainforest destruction In May 2012, Greenpeace accused KFC of sourcing paper pulp for its food packaging from Indonesian rainforest wood. Independent forensic tests showed that some packaging contained more than 50 per cent mixed tropical hardwood fibre, sourced from Asia Pulp & Paper Macro environment KFC operates in a larger macro environment of forces that creates opportunities, but also threats.A company such as KFC usually cannot influence trends in the macro environment, as they affe ct people and organisations on a larger scale. However, KFC has to carefully examine macro environmental trends and must create competitive responses to such trends. There are six major macro environmental forces KFC has to take into account. Micro environment The microenvironment consists of all forces that are close to KFC, and on which KFC has an impact. They directly affect KFC’s ability to serve its customers. Three major components influence KFC’s microenvironment:COMPETITORS Because the fast food market is highly competitive, KFC faces a wide number of direct and indirect competitors. KFC’s main competitors are fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Domino’s, which are already well established throughout the world. McDonalds’s in particular is a direct competitor, as they have already successfully introduced their Salads plus line, which directly targets ‘healthy food’ conscious world we live in. But, there are a number of other competitors that is also focusing on ‘chicken’ types products.All this competition makes it quite difficult for KFC to maintain or even broaden their customer base. However, with the introduction of a new and healthy product range, KFC can differentiate itself from most competitors and will gain a competitive advantage. CUSTOMERS KFC’s customer market consists solely of the consumer market. KFC’s products are bought by individuals (males, females, singles, and families). Therefore, the product range KFC offer should appeal to as many people within this consumer market as possible, to ensure that the maximum amount of products can be sold.The characteristics of these individuals and a segmentation of them are discussed later in this report. Strengths and weakness of competitors Strengths: 38 products, Attractive Outlets, Huge Marketing, Budget, More entertainment for kids Weaknesses: Same type of Menu, No Home Delivery How they compete with their c ompetitors? It is found that KFC compete its competitors by five ways: †¢KFC compete its competitors through marketing strategy †¢They offered different packages at different events like Ramadan offer, midnight offer etc. †¢KFC compete their competitors by providing good services They must hired the hard selling persons to market their product in the market and motivate their employees for the sake of organizations and employees do well and they compete there competitors KFC has quality products and through these quality products they compete their competitors Current Sales Analysis Market Share Market Share KFC has a very long history and has the most recognize able brand in chicken with over 50% of the market share. It becomes difficult for the companies like Sub way, Mc Donald’s, Chicken planet, Dixie or those who may want to enter in the market of fast food restaurants.Due to with over 50% of the market share in fast food industry KFC has recognition around the world and has been globally positioned for many years in and to capture the market share in adopting a chicken loving experience. Environmental factors and opportunities Political: The operations of KFC are affected by the government policies on the regulations of fast food operation. Currently government are controlling the marketing of fast food restaurant because of health concern such as cardiovascular and cholesterol issue and obesity among the young and children in the country.Governments also control the license given for open the fast food restaurant and other business regulation need to follow such as for a franchise business. Good relationship with government in giving mutual benefits such as employment and tax is a must for the company to succeed in any foreign market. Economic: Though for last 1 year there was economic slowdown all across the globe but the sales of KFC and other fast food chains did not slow down to that extent that of other sectors in. The GDP (Pur chasing Power Parity) is estimated at2. 965 trillion U. S. dollars in the year 2010.The GDP- per Capita (PPP) was 2700 U. S. dollars as estimated in 2008. The GDP- real growth rate in 2007was 8. 7%. India has the third highest GDP in terms of purchasing power parity just ahead Japan and behind U. S. and China. Foreign direct investment rose in the fiscal year ended March 31 2007 to about $16 billion from just $5. 5 billion a year earlier. Socio cultural: India is the second most populous nation in the world with an approximate population of over 1. 1billion people. This population is divided in the following age structure: 0-14 years – 31. 8%, 15-64 years – 63. % and 65years and above – 5. 1%. There has also been a continuous increase in the consumption of fast food in India. The social trend toward fast good consumption is changing and India has seen an increase of 90% fast food consumption from the year 2002-2007. This increase is far greater than the increase in the BRIC nations of Brazil (20 per cent), Russia (50 per cent) and China (almost 60 per cent). Thus this shows a positive trend for fast food industries in India. Technological: The fast food Industry is heating up with a lot of foreign players entering the market.The technological knowhow and expertise will also enter the market with an increase in competition. With the lower rates and increase technology the fast food counters are attracting youth by giving them attractive deals. For e. g. KFC and Domino’s pizza. For a fast food restaurant, technology does not give a very high impact on the company and it is not a significant macro environment variables. However KFC should be looking to competitors innovation and improve itself in term of integrating technology in managing its operation.For example in inventory system, supply chain management system to manage its supply, easy payment and ordering systems for its customers and wireless internet technology. Implementation of technology can make the management more effective and cost saving in the long term. This will also make customer happy if cost savings results in price reduction or promotional campaign discount which will benefits them from time to time. Environmental: As one of world largest consumer of beef, potatoes and chicken, KFC always had been critics for world environmentalist.This is because high consumption of beef causing the green house effect by methane gasses coming from the cow’s ranch. Large-scale plantation has effect the environment and lost of green forest opening for plantation activities. Vegetarian environmentalist criticizes the fast-food giant for cruelty to animals and slaughtering. In America, once KFC want to introduce whale burger causing uproar because whales are endangered species. Before using paper packaging, KFC once had been criticized for being insensitive to pollution because of using ne based packaging for its food products.Imagine millions of people purchase from fast food operator and how is the impact to world environment by throwing away those hard to recycle packaging. Our world is getting concern on environment issue and business operating here should not just care for profit, but careful usage of world resources for sustainable development and care for environment safety and health for our future generation. Critics and concern from all public or activist should bare view and support if necessary to ensure we play our social responsibility better. Legal factors:As a certified fast food operator, there are many regulations and procedures that KFC should follow. For example is the Halal certification that becomes a concern to Muslim consumers. KFC should protect its integrity and consumer confidence by ensuring all materials and process are as claimed or must followed. Other legal requirement that the business owner should follow as stipulated in laws are such as operating hours, business registration, tax requirement, lab or and employment laws and quality & environment certification (such as ISO) in which the outlet has been certified.The legal requirement is important because the offenders will be fined or have their business prohibited from operating which can be disastrous. KFC India -BCG Matrix Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) Matrix Currently KFC have launched a new product in the market. They have also tried to come into the beverages market by launching its new brand of shakes called KRUSHERS. As it is a fairly new product it comes in the category of the Question Mark in the BCG Matrix. It has a low market share thus brings low revenue. KFC is advertising a lot to popularize this product so there is a lot of expenditure on it.This product is individually not bringing any profits and is a cash drain for the company. Company may decide to completely remove this product from the market if it does not do well soon and start bringing in revenue. Business macro-environmental factors The company and a ll the other actors operate in a larger macro-environment of forces, including political, economic, cultural, technological, legal and ecological factors, which shape opportunities and pose threats to the company. Political and legal regulatory affect the strategic development of KFC Corporation, which made the US market more challenging.Example- Forbidding the use of trans-fat cooking oil mandating calorie counts on menus,removing advertisement from kid's programme, and even prohibiting from making unconfirmed claims concerning nutritional value and losing weight benefits. All of these may seriously impede the free flow of goods within a group and from suppliers and consumer demand. According to the Institute for the World Economy, the aggregation of financial crisis continues to result in negative result to the world economy and generate a strong downturn in the entire restaurant industry, which leads to the falling of US unit expansion from 3. % of 2006 to 2. 4% of 2007. On the o ther hand, fewer costs as compared with healthier food helped KFC and the entire fast food industry to grow rapidly. Moreover, KFC can increase profit margins with chicken which is lower in cost compared to other meat. With the ever-increasing impact of health consciousness, like obesity, among consumers, it's increasingly hard for KFC to keep its original product mix and alternatively prompt them to offer healthier foods (threat). In contrast, under the slump chicken consumption in Europe and Asia market owing to the outbreak of avian flu, US market still shows an image of rising.Furthermore, hurried and changing lifestyle of people along with convenient and tasty characters of foods, which offered numerous business opportunities for KFC Corporation. The innovation in technology offers further development possibilities to fast food industry. However, owing to equipment problems, KFC lost its Rotisserie Chicken market which had achieved a huge success in non-fried chicken area. Rest aurants are known to have very high levels of energy intensity due to their relatively small building size and the amount of cooking, heating, and refrigeration needed to prepare and serve food to customers.Due to these high levels of energy use, we continue to focus our efforts on reducing our energy intensity in both new and existing restaurants. In 2006 KFC established a goal to reduce energy usage in the U. S. company-owned restaurants by 12 percent from 2005 levels by the end of 2009. They achieved a 14% reduction through the application of numerous energy conservation measures (ECMs). In addition to reducing energy consumption, these ECMs resulted in the elimination of over 117,000 metric tons of CO2 per year from the atmosphere.The KFC China division has also recognized the need to focus on energy conservation and has become actively involved in implementing ECMs over the past few years. Their efforts have resulted in the elimination of over 5300 metric tons of CO2 per year. Greenpeace, a conservational and environmental organization in 46 countries, has accused Cargill concerning the illegal exportation of soya to KFC for its chicken food supplied. Changing consumers' perception about KFC is arisen among analyst and specialist and forthright.In respect to the accusations has actively retrofit existing restaurants with more efficient lighting systems. During 2009, 190 restaurants in China had their interior linear fluorescent lamps upgraded to a more efficient version resulting in a reduction of over 600 metric tons of CO2 per year. Heating, Ventilation ; Air Conditioning (HVAC): In 2006, Yum! made the commitment to standardize high efficiency air conditioning systems for all U. S. restaurants. Since then, over 1800 high-efficiency air conditioning units have been installed with slightly over 600 taking place in 2008 and 2009.These 600 + installations have reduced our CO2 output by 10,500 metric tons per year. In China, the engineering team developed th e means to overcome water hardness issues compromising the efficiency of certain heating devices used in our KFC kitchens. Their solution enabled the equipment to operate at peak efficiency which eliminated over 4200 metric tons of CO2 per year. In conclusion, KFC had used all its macro environment factors efficiently; it had improved its product in terms of packaging technology, its cooking methods and most important heath wise keeping in mind the external affect on the environment.