Multi-Disciplinary

Effects of Multi-Disciplinary Approaches There are various ways to approach and solve problems. Such approaches include multi-disciplinary perspectives and strictly disciplinary perspectives. To effectively solve a problem a person should gather an array of information from a series of different sources. When a person takes this approach towards a certain problem or situation, they are taking a multi-disciplinary approach. As defined in the Webster’s American Dictionary: College Edition, multidisciplinary is the â€Å"combining of several specialized branches of learning or fields of expertise† (Multidisciplinary 526).However, if one choses to â€Å"relate to a specific field of study† versus a variety of fields, they are taking a strictly disciplinary approach when resolving a certain situation or issue (Disciplinary 228). There are advantages and disadvantages to both a multidisciplinary approach and a disciplinary approach however one may find a multidisciplin ary approach to be more efficient. Advantages to a multi-disciplinary approach include being able to apply different aspects to a certain situation as well as weighing the pros and cons.When a person has a decision to make, they have a solution that they think is best for that decision. If multiple people add their insights to help make the decision, a better solution is made. By adding different aspects to a certain problem or issue, a better solution is resulted. Also, through a multi-disciplinary approach, a person is able to obtain ideas that have worked for people in the past and ideas that have not been successful to evaluate the best solution to a problem.A disadvantage to multi-disciplinary approaches is that with more aspects presented, it could take more time to reach a conclusion due to some people disagreeing with others. Nonetheless, a solution is usually eventually reached where most parties are satisfied. With certain societal problems, multi-disciplinary approaches o ften lead to better solutions. When there is a problem in society, society has to come up with a solution that will benefit everybody, not just a select few.If society used a strictly disciplinary approach to these problems, not everyone would be satisfied leading to other problems within society. By taking a multi-disciplinary approach to these societal problems, society has the chance to cater and please a greater amount of people. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach can lead to better solutions with a greater amount of people pleased but society cannot please everyone. Although a multi-disciplinary approach to societal problems is not the ultimate solution, it still has a better effect than a strictly disciplinary approach.When a person takes a multi-disciplinary approach, they are getting feedback and information from a variety of different sources. If many different aspects are presented in a situation, it allows someone to gather information and then decide what points they w ill use in their situation. For example when deciding what was important to make New Orleans an excellent city, our First Year Experience class researched different fields of study and components of a city to answer the question of what was necessary for New Orleans to strive.By taking parts of all the different fields of study including the arts, government, education and sports, and applying them to New Orleans, an excellent city with variation could be made. However, if New Orleans only focused on one field of study, the city would not have any variation. Although multi-disciplinary approaches usually result in better solutions than strictly disciplinary approaches, difficulties still arise with multi-disciplinary approaches. For example with more than one source being contributed to a situation, little problems could arise with not everyone agreeing with a conclusion.Also, when making a multi-disciplinary decision, one has to decide what aspects to use from others, making it lon ger to obtain a solution. Not all aspects presented in a multi-disciplinary approach are applicable to the solution that is being made as well. In a disciplinary approach, a person can make a decision quickly and easily but they lack the insight from others. For instance if a doctor needed help making a decision about what medicine to prescribe for their patient, he would not consult someone who is not educated to do so, but instead make the decision on his own because he is trained to.In this situation, a disciplinary approach may be the better option. Overall the advantages of a multi-disciplinary approach outweigh the disadvantages. Being able to obtain outside sources to solve a problem presents more information to make a better and more adequate solution to problems. A strictly disciplinary approach is still a good approach to certain issues but it does not always provide the best answer to the issue.Even though there are obstacles when making a multi-disciplinary decision such as time and not all parties agreeing, a solution is eventually made to benefit all parties and to resolve a problem. Without multi-disciplinary approaches in society and everyday life, we would not be able to get outside information to make better life choices and decisions.Works Cited â€Å"Disciplinary. † Def. Webster’s American Dictionary. College Edition. 1997. Print. â€Å"Multidisciplinary. † Def. Webster’s American Dictionary. College Edition. 1997. Print.

Buisness opportunity

This document can prove to be a major milestone with regards to the development of a marketing plan for the Electrolux Tumble dryers, a product of an American firm to be launched in the German market. This marketing plan intends to capture the German market with a full laid down disruptive marketing strategy. This marketing plan looks at the present market with all the existing market players in this field, and seeks to identify trends which will influence the market potential in the coming years.It looks at the position of the Electrolux brand in the German market, the strengths and weaknesses of the product under study – Tumble dryer. Moreover, these characteristics will be studied to know their influence on the customer and threats in the marketplace. The analysis of this plan identifies a number of probable target markets whose requirements very closely match by the advantages provided by the Electrolux tumble dryers. Finally the marketing plan will set penetration targets for the product and list down the main strategies that are needed to do so.This report lists down some major points that are needed to make a complete analysis of the American product for the German market. INTRODUCTION The Electrolux group was founded in the year 1910 as Elektromekaniska AB, and changed its name to Electrolux in 1919. The company was a holding company in 1928 and now is an independent company. The company has been highly successful in attracting the international customers, worldwide and has successfully gained a prominent market in the white goods industry.The concerned product – Electrolux is a mature product and reviewers acknowledge that it provides a decent amount of functionality that is needed by consumers. A PROPOSED MARKETING PLAN TEMPLATE A properly developed and executed marketing plan will outline the costs, sales, advertisements and promotional figures of the process of introducing Electrolux tumble dryers in the German market. These types of m arketing plans where disruptive marketing potential is being aimed at, it is better to help customers with less expensive and culturally adaptive products.The marketing plan starts with the thought process about the central business activities that will be involved in the marketing of the product. 1. Who are the potential customers and the targeted customers? 2. How will the company price the product after evaluating the buying potential of the buyer? 3. What are the possible channels, sales and methods that can be employed for the effective marketing of the Electrolux tumble dryers? 4. What is the time frame and plan to spend the marketing plans? A typical structure of a proposed marketing plan for the launch of the product in the German markets is represented below:A. Condition Analysis – In this part, the analysis of the targeted German market is done with references to the following issues. These issues may be related to the geographical image, present German market situa tion, competitive analysis of the different brands present in the German market, German customer or end user analysis, Electrolux tumble dryer product review and its distribution. Environment Analysis 1. German Demographic trends (age, gender, family size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race, nationality) 2.German Economy and Financial trends 3. Technical Backdrops and Trends 4. Political Issues and Laws 5. German Communal Trends 6. Civilizing Trends within the societies 7. Material Supply Trends/Issues 8. Predictable impact of the Internet on the product marketing plan and Industry, both today and in the future Market Situation 1. German Market Situation 2. Size of total German market 3. Growth trend of total German market 4. Key elements that affect the German market scenario Competitive Situation 1. SWOT Analysis (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) 2.Listing down of key competitors and their market position with context to the German scenario 3. Evaluation of the size of the competitors and their revenue analysis 4. The German Market share of each of the key competitors 5. Sales trends of key competitors 6. Strong point of key competitors compared to the product or services. 7. Promotion strategies of key player and their likely impact on your product 8. Unique Selling Proposition of the product that can attract the customer 9. Competitors' likely response to your Advertising/Promotion program and your planned counter- measuresDistribution and Supply Situation 1. To organize an efficient distribution channel 2. significance of each distribution channel in terms of: – Percent of business sales – Development potential – Competitive status B. Goals and Objectives – The marketing plan also aims to define the goals of the company and devising the correct strategy. These include the following: 1. Financial objectives – under this, the following are to be considered: Gross sales, Cost of prod ucts, Gross margins, Net profit and ROI. 2.Marketing objectives – under this, the following are to be considered, sales revenue, total ales, and market share and distribution levels. This will also include a marketing timetable which lists all the marketing, advertising and promotional activities. CONCLUSION By choosing to invest in Germany, the investor would be able to be a pioneer in the international market that US is trying to establish. The investor would enjoy the benefits of low taxes, and easy penetration. The track record of the economic growth of Germany only shows that the company is worth investing in.There is a small risk of rental yields going down for the White goods market, this is because the country is improving on its international market and chances are, more and more people would come in the country. Comparing the risks and the benefits of investing in the German market, it is better to choose to invest than choosing not to. Reference List 1. Economist I ntelligence Unit. 2005. â€Å"Country Profile 2005: Germany †. The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2. Export Development United States 2006. â€Å"Exporting Globally : A Guide for White Goods Businesses †.

Contingent Reward System

Contingent reward is a reward that should be given to staff members when they earn them, that is the principle of contingent rewards. (â€Å"Motivating others through,† 2011) This is a great way to get the desired effect when working with a staff that might not be motivated to get a task or assignment done. A trend in the United States is toward a larger portion of employees’ compensation to be provided in the form of â€Å"variable pay† such as bonuses and equity-based compensation. (â€Å"Motivating others through,† 2011)Being the manager at the fast food restaurant and having a difficult time motivating your employees to clean the facility every three hours will be an easy task, when you find the best way to motivate them. What I have come up with is a three part contingent reward program. The three steps are; Assign tasks to each employee †¢We will provide a handout to each team employee listing there areas they are responsible through out the mon th. †¢This allows them to plan for the tasks and assignment they will need to complete. †¢Each employee will get assignments based on there level of experience.As they move up in the company more tasks can be assigned. Manager/Head Manager checks daily on tasks †¢This is important part of the contingent reward system. †¢Every three hours the manager needs to verify that the task is done and make a note of it on a board where all the tasks for the month are represented. Reward †¢The reward is broken down per paycheck. Each completed task represents a certain percentage of additional money. †¢This will also be viewed quarterly for yet another possible percentage increase †¢So as the employees do there assigned task they are rewarded for that. If they do not do the task they will not receive the increase †¢It will also show they are not getting there tasks done on the big board oThis will service as a motivation as the team can see who is perform ing and who is not This is the concept that has been developed to help the employees to see the benefit of having a clean facility. With a clean facility and friendly staff there is a strong chance that the amount of customers will increase which in turn will affect profit. Reference Motivating others through goals and rewards. (2011, April 4). Retrieved from http://www. wright. edu/~scott. williams/LeaderLetter/motivating. htm

Lead a Sales Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Lead a Sales Team - Essay Example The company is rapidly expanding to sell it services worldwide through the internet. The sales plan has been envisaged keeping the objectives in mind. The company’s mission is to become the premium provider of adventure vacations for the 25 to 35-year old working men and women. The focus would be on beach packages and the objective is to generate minimum twenty enquiries per day initially by our promotional activity. Advertising would be done in a phased and planner manner and internet would also be used as a medium. Enquiries would also be accepted through the internet. New markets would be tapped to increase the market share. Collectively, the team expects to convert a minimum of 3 enquiries into sales, which effectively amounts to approximately 100 packages per month at a price of $2500 per package. This sounds a rather low figure but it is realistic and has been arrived at after a SWOT analysis. To break-even the company needs to sell at least 3 packages per day. Over the period of one year these figures are expected to grow and it is expected that after taking into account the insurance sales, the gross sales in the fi rst year would be approximately $3,757,000. The sales budget is the first to be prepared before other budgets can be prepared. The sales revenue expected to be generated is $3,757,000 out of which the direct cost of sales is approximately 40%. Almost 50% of the direct sales cost can be allotted to guide services and 7% to sales and marketing costs. In the industry about 2% is considered as the operating cost which has to be accounted (BSA, 2001). It has to be noted that not all would be cash sales and about 20% could be credit sales, in which case the sales would be credited only after payments are received. Thus the revenue collection would differ from the sales that take place every month. Ever level of the organization should

Comperhension Exam Question ED.d Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Comperhension Exam Question ED.d - Essay Example In the previous days the educational leaders use to operate on an autocratic tone. However, the present demand of the changing societies has made them shift from autocratic to democratic roles. Democratic leadership roles of an educational leader require them to arrive at collective decisions through acting on a collaborative sphere with huge number of stakeholders to the issue. The act of taking decisions based on a collaborative sphere helps the educational leader in organizing newer communities. Thus the activities of the educational leader are not only restricted in developing the level of education but in also transforming the economic and social face of the community. While acting in the parameter of democratic leadership the educational leader needs to have a patient ear to the issues cited by the different stakeholders. Further, the educational leader must also try to concentrate on the persons who are failing to voice their issues. (English & Anderson, 68-69) Collaborative l eadership takes place when the educational leader welcomes the views of the multiple stakeholders to render a holistic approach to the problem. In conducting policy building exercises the educational leaders operating in a collaborative environment are required to take into consideration the viewpoint of different legislators and regulatory authorities. This helps to not only create an interest of the government stakeholders but also helps to create a neutral outlook to the solutions cited and policies created. Educational leaders must also actively cooperate to develop the condition of government schools for it would help develop the lower strata of the society who do not have access to proper schooling. Educational leadership functions on a complex set of values where both individualism and joint understandings operate on the same plane. The democratic leadership itself fosters a level of strong binding among the different stakeholders so that they can perform effectively

Business Ethics & Spiritual Intelligence in IHRM Assertion Essay

Business Ethics & Spiritual Intelligence in IHRM Assertion - Essay Example Conceivably, in its involved conceptualization, this prospect may also be indifferent to values of most western cultural dispensations. Definitely, the concepts behind what comprises the ideologies, stipulations and activities of managing persons in affiliations vary even among the European nations, and possibly between American settings. Tracing to the roots of the notion in the idiosyncratic achievement-based management culture of the U.S.A., IHRM is overtly universally conferred. Especially in writing about workforce management, it is overtly intricate not to mention this term, even in the global context within which most administrators currently function, either vigorously or passively oriented participants in the global economy. Pantry regard is directed to the probable implications of underlying notion, nor to its expression in the legislations and practices that international affiliations apply across diverse nations (Jac 2010). Often, these practices and policies are not appr opriate. . However, in numerous dispensations, such as the dynamic economical institutions of the former soviet corporation and China, and those societies that originated after the colonial ages consist of an immense percentage of inhabitants and the global land surface , IHRM stipulations and practices are occasionally uncritically conferred, virtually against the shelf. Moreover, this is not in an aim to degrade the contributions to worldwide management prospective that IHRM in numerous of its principles, such as the proficiency approach, may often make. It is basically to locate in its cultural application, and to look into its aptness in other cultural dispensations (Robert 2010). Furthermore, it is also meant to examine this in relation to contributions from other cultural dimensions, as well as the numerous cultural and directing the influences operating on the transnational affiliation (Betty 2009). Particularly, the initial directive explicates on the management of persons a pplying a numerous cultural design of conceptualizing the disparities and demarcating in the level of international affiliations. The next section applies an integrative approach of the transnational affiliation in order to prospect how diverse formulations of transnational affiliation directives may implicate on the way cultural disparities are perceived. Progressively, the following section expounds and examines the American design of the competent affiliation. Moreover, the proficiencies directive takes affiliation strategic and effective prospects as its beginning point in determination of the much-needed competencies for miscellany, enhancement and reimbursement (Fort 2001). This applies in the context that is not the most pantries to determine international proficiencies. This translates to a discussion of expatriation and transnational professions, taking the resemblance of the missionary affiliation and the allegory of the Dutch design. Furthermore, the following sections ad dress the cultural involvement of diverse approaches to the administration of persons in transnational affiliations. In the study, the Japanese design is in study whereby, it encompasses on the motivating affiliation, translating the notion of motivation to inculcate loyalty while explicating on the integration of Japanese knowhow to other dispensations. Moreover, another section concentrates on the notion of the learning affiliation via the cultural focus of the British design. Moreover, not all learning affiliations are British in nature, yet the British edifying setting is

The Buddhist Discipline Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Buddhist Discipline - Research Paper Example This research paper demonstrates Buddhists history, practices, teachings and disciplines, that are followed by more than 375 million people these days. Founded in northeastern India between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE by Siddhartha Gautama, Buddhism has emerged into one of the world’s most influential major religions and philosophical thoughts. Through missionary activity, it spreads from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, and in the 20th century it found its way into Africa, Europe, The Americas, and Australia. Currently, the fourth largest religion, Buddhism plays a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of its followers. Despite the distinctive practices and unique collections of canonical texts of the two schools (branches) of Buddhism, Mahayana and Theravada, Buddhism’s main teachings (discipline) are focused on resolving the issue of human suffering. These teaching are summarized in the Four Noble Truths, of which the fourth is the Eightfold Path. Accepted by all schools of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths is one of the fundamental teachings of Buddhism and is said to have been taught by the Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, in his first sermon, which he delivered after his enlightenment. The Eightfold Path is a subject of less discussion in Buddhist circle than the Four Noble Truths. These eight elements, which are correct view, an accurate understanding of the nature of things, specifically the Four Noble Truths. Rebirth and karma are other Buddhist teachings, that are mentioned in this research paper.

Rabies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rabies - Research Paper Example Different health organizations define rabies according to their respective perspectives. The Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDCP, 2010) define rabies as a â€Å"preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal† (par. 1). The World Health Organization (WHO, 2010) states its meaning as â€Å"a zoonotic disease (a disease that is transmitted to humans from animals) that is caused by a virus† (par. 1). While the Mayo Clinic (Mayo Foundation, 2010) avers that â€Å"rabies is a deadly virus spread to people from the saliva of infected animals. The rabies virus is usually transmitted through a bite† (par. 1). Integrating these definitions, rabies is found to be a deadly but preventable disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans through the saliva of infected animals. The animals clearly identified to contain the dreaded virus range from raccoons, bats, skunks, foxes, cats and dogs, among others. As indicated in the definition, rabies is caused by a virus (of the genus Lyssavirus and family Rhabdoviridae) contracted through a bite from an infected animal. According to Fisher (2008, par. 9), â€Å"when the rabies virus enters muscles, it replicates locally and is then transported through peripheral sensory nerves to the spinal ganglia, where it replicates and travels up the spinal cord to the brain. The virus migrates to the gray matter of the brain and predominates in the neurons of the limbic system, midbrain, and hypothalamus. Efferent nerves transport virus to the acinar glands of the submaxillary salivary glands, where it achieves high concentration†. People who live in rural areas are most at risk in contracting rabies. Children, most especially, those who play in the streets are at a higher risk of being bitten by stray dogs. Further, medical practitioners, such as veterinarians and wildlife researchers or specialists, need to be vaccinated to

Gulf Cooperation Council's Foreign Policy Essay

Gulf Cooperation Council's Foreign Policy - Essay Example This paper aims to examine the GCC’s changing foreign policies towards leading players in the region, especially, the GCC’s primary mandate being to promote, protect and pursue the interests of its member states. The Gulf Cooperation Council is an alliance of countries with similar political and economic interests, whose primary focus is to foster the political and economic development of its member states.1 The GCC seeks to strengthen the regional relations through increased collaborations between national states in the gulf; unity in political and economic associations between national states within the region is just a means to an end for the member states- the end itself is political and economic prosperity that is backed with strong currencies and a host of natural resources. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as a political and economic alliance, has been in existence for over 30 years now since its inception; the alliance dates back in history to 30 years ago when it was founded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 1981.2 The GCC alliance has been operational since then up to date, and the founder countries converged based on two main strategic reasons- promotion of political stability and economic prosperity. In other words, the alliance was formed purely out of the need by member states to join efforts to becoming politically and economically stable; the alliance was thus a strategic move to strengthen the political and economic stability of the region. The Gulf Cooperation Council is made up of six Middle Eastern countries that are found in the gulf region; these six countries include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.3 Being a regional alliance, all the member countries have a number of things in common, and are subject to similar socio-economic, political, environmental and

MGT A7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MGT A7 - Essay Example Leadership and management are two distinctive functions that an organization should have. They are the Conner stones of success and growth of an organization. There should be a balance between management and leadership of an organization. Kotter article has explained that most companies in United States of America do not have equilibrium the two different functions. A number of corporations within US put more emphasis and attention on management with little attention on leadership. More successful corporations in US seek qualified personnel who posses leadership qualities and employ them to take on crucial roles that require ability to lead well. Such companies balance strong leadership with strong management propelling them to success (Kotter, 2001). Basing on the functions that this article has given to leaders and managers, a successful corporation should have more leaders as compared to managers. This article has cited an example a military setup to explain how leadership is more important than management in an organization. In this example, a peacetime army can succeed with good leadership at the highest ranks. In addition, good leadership at all levels is important to ensure success. This example explains that good leadership at the top hierarchies of an organization determines the success of that organization. All levels of a corporation need to have good leadership to ensure success. An organization should go through with variations in time many changes. Changes within an organization or external changes are unavoidable. A crucial function of leadership is coping with changes within and outside an organization. This is a key function because in the past years there has been a rapid increase in market competition between organizations. Organizations should adopt a number of changes in order to compete successfully with its competitors. Failure to cope up with market changes can lead to collapse of a company due to

A paper about Cosmology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A paper about Cosmology - Essay Example These were the sought markers that put the Bang in the inflation theory in an anti-gravitational swelling that began trillionths of a second after the cosmic clock started kicking (Overbye n.d.). Kovac, the lead astrologer while speaking to the New York Times reaffirmed them that the results indicated by the bicep telescope were accurate with a one in ten million chance of being a fluke (Overbye n.d.). Systematic contamination was much smaller as indicated by Jackknife tests and simulations than the observed excess. Available models of polarized dust emission were also examined, indicating that they predict power ∠¼ (5−10) Ãâ€" which is lesser than the excess signal. However, not all possibilities relating to dust emission are analyzed by these models sufficiently (Ade et al., â€Å"bicep 1† 5). This was meant to reassure people who had doubts related to the data and calling for confirmation of the results. This came as a result of exceeding expectations based on earlier estimates on temperature maps of the cosmic background by the European Space. The experiment not only provided first clues of forces that facilitated space and time, but also confirmed that the universe inflated dramatically (Whitney n.d.). The South Pole based research presented the first images of gravitational waves or ripples in space-time. First images of gravitational waves are exciting news said Cao-Lin Kuo while speaking to Stanford News. Stanford news further explains that gravitational waves squeeze space as they travel producing distinct patterns in the cosmic microwave background (n.d.). To acquire these images, the team examined spatial scales on the sky spanning about 1 to 5 degrees (Whitney n.d.). Through this, the researchers were able to gather more evidence that had seemed impossible. According to jet propulsion laboratory the gravitational waves produced a characteristic

The ways neurons function helps Essay Example for Free

The ways neurons function helps Essay Typically, this type of stimulus-response reflexive action involves a collection of neurons initiating and provoking responses across synaptic junctions into other neurons. Synaptic inter-neuronal communication has illuminated behavioural knowledge as malfunction at the synapse is thought to underlie psychological disorders such as mood disturbance (Toates, 2007). Electrical signals arriving at the synaptic cleft trigger the release of stored neurotransmitters which operate as chemical messengers advancing neuronal impulses towards the target neuron. Target neuron receptors are specific to particular neurotransmitters thereby prohibiting erroneous stimulation of any neighbouring neurons. Once occupied, the neurotransmitter effectuates either an excitatory or inhibitory response in the post-synaptic neuron thus achieving a chemical bridge to conduct electrical impulses translated from stimuli. The biological perspective assumes that neuronal activity forms the biological infrastructure for psychological experiences such as emotions and moods thus alterations to the neural system, particularly synaptic activity has the ability to alter behaviour and mood. Through manipulation of the specific properties of neurotransmitter release, availability and deactivation, medical therapies have been advanced. For example, diminished serotonin has been implicated in attention and mood disorders and delaying the re-absorption or re-uptake into the releasing neuron favours alleviation of depressive symptoms. The anti-depressive agent Prozac, capitalises on this process by selectively targeting seretonergic synapses to block serotonin reuptake, which results in increased bio-availability of serotonin and improved mood (Toates, 2007). The full range of human behaviour is more comprehensive than simple reflexive actions or low mood but the relevance of understanding neuronal function at a singular level becomes clear when the billions of individual neurons that make up the brain and combine to create the neural systems responsible for particular roles are considered. For example, invasive investigations in animal models have allowed researchers to isolate the receptive fields of specific neurons in the visual system permitting hemispheric and brain lobe functionality mapping. Comprehension in functional responsibility of brain lobes has translated into evidence supporting biological links with psychological experiences such as memory. Penfield and Rasmussen discovered that surgical patients disclosed vivid historical memories during electrical stimulation of the temporal lobe (as cited in Toates, 2007) and electrical stimulation can now be administered through permanent implants in specific areas of the brain for relief of chronic pain. Alteration of the neural sequence is achieved by either reducing activity in pain related neurons or increasing electrical activity in neurons associated with positive emotions (Toates, 2007). Further supporting evidence for biological influence over behaviour is found in incidents of extensive brain damage resulting in significant alterations to temperament with famous examples such as Phineas Gage enlightening aspects of behavioural science. Surviving an industrial accident that involved prefrontal lobe damage, Gage exhibited little deterioration to intellectual and linguistic abilities but marked transformations in personality, previously considered out of character. Thus, whilst the brain and nervous system exhibit remarkable properties of functional continuation despite insult, focal damage, in this case to the region responsible for inhibition of emotional expression can produce pronounced effects on behaviour lending support to a biological explanation for some aspects of behaviour. Evidence from diseased and damaged brains provides support for biological perspectives ascribing behaviour through physiology but some aspects of human behaviour do not portray a clear uni-directionality of effect. Whilst the efficacy and mode of action of pharmaceutical agents such as Prozac implicate neuro-chemical involvement in depression, patient response is distinctively individual and Anisman and Zacharko demonstrated that external factors such as stress could contribute to the development of depression in individuals with little biological pre-disposition (as cited in Toates, 2007, p. 278). Even the mitigation of pain has been shown by Wall to be contingent on anticipation of relief in patients administered inert substances rather than Morphine (as cited in Toates, 2007, p. 261). It would appear that individual beliefs and attitudes can be as important to outcomes as bio-chemical engineering. Research at a biological level augments understanding of human behaviour and has importantly led to treatments and remedies for some conditions through modification to neural function. However, an exclusively reductionist approach appears insufficient in the face of evidence highlighting the reciprocal effect of social, environmental and experiential factors.

Role Of Technology In Teenagers Lives English Language Essay

Role Of Technology In Teenagers Lives English Language Essay Technology plays a vital role in the lives of teenagers. It is a medium used by Generation Y for a myriad of different purposes; communication, leisure and education. Teenagers employ the use of mobile phones and personal computers; they access the internet via these platforms using them to communicate with their peers. Throughout this essay I will be analysing the impact inflicted upon teenagers (16-18 years) communication levels with the rapid development of technology. The rapid development of technology, communication and its impact on teenagers will be the focus of this essay. The Oxford English dictionary defines technology as the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment (Technology. (n.d.), Dictionary.com, 2010). The concept of technology interrelated with communication refers to communication via various avenues such as internet platforms (msn, twitter, flutter, etc.) which can also be connected to handheld devices such as mobile phones. Technology aids teenagers in communicating more easily and efficiently. The role of technology has changed greatly in recent times, and is not a new phenomenon. It is one that has been developing constantly and improving its efficiency over many years. Technology has extended peoples ways of communication. To get by their everyday lives people require a great deal of social communication. It has become apparent that in order to increase our awareness of the greater possibilities and options in life, we require greater levels of communication. Teenagers are the next generation; they have grown up with elevated expertise with regard to technology as opposed to the older generations. Technology has allowed for the manipulation of words via msn messengers or phone sms etc using chatiquettes (Netiquette, 2010) which are simpler and more convenient, yet grammatically incorrect. The question is whether technology users have become more educated or less educated via technology. As part of the research for this topic a questionnaire was conducted where a large amount of data was compiled from a certain age group with regard to their view on the topic of this essay. This allowed for an extra focus on the age group 16-18 where there were 53 participants. My main method of research was asking questions to generate evidence. This evidence was consequently compiled into sets of data to provide information about how teenagers are affected by their increased use of communicative technology. The students all attend a high school in suburban Melbourne. The results of the questionnaire will be discussed in a later part of the essay. The findings incorporated in the essay are the findings of Pew Internet Projects. These resources will provide an insight into the ways teenagers experience writing and technology in their lives and it will give a clear insight into whether technology users have become more educated or less educated via technology. This will help to determine the true implication that the rapid development of communicative technology has on the teenage age group (16-18) with regard to their communicative skills. This will be achieved by discussing both the negative and positive effects that technology has had on the communication of a teenager. From the discussed information it will be possible to determine the implication of the improvement of technology. PART 1: The Lives of Teenagers and their Technology The role of technology in teenagers lives continues to grow. Almost all teenagers nowadays have access to the internet via phones, computers and laptops. Moreover, technology is increasingly found in homes and schools. Teachers often expect students to have access to technology in order to have better presented work that is printed and easier to read. It seems that technology has overwhelmed the lives of teenagers although as mentioned before, it is developing constantly and improving in its user interaction efficiency. Also used to promote technology is the concept that the better technology the student has, in this case school attending teenagers, the more likely they are to excel in school, as it facilitates greater opportunities for education. In general, phones and computers are used by teenagers to keep records of events, to socialize with friends and family and for entertainment, be it gaming, movies and/or as an educational tool. In the questionnaire participants were asked: How often do you engage in some kind of format of electronics (instant messaging, sending emails, texting or posting comments)? Graph 1: correlation between boys and girls As seen on the graph, modern day teenagers accomplish a large part of their communication via technology. For internet-illiterates to understand these teenagers they need to implement similar language conventions that teenagers employ whilst using the internet. It is not to say that the original methods of communication have been eliminated, they have been modified through technology. This modification has aroused the concern of many people, with regard to the effect of the use of technology in this way and whether it has a positive or negative effect on them. It can be argued that teenagers communication levels have deteriorated by using shortened wordings like abbreviations or chatiquettes as used in online chatting systems . Nearly all teenagers use the internet. The internet usage has grown over the years; it has become apparent with many companies as they are providing offers of higher internet usage at lower prices, which indicates as to the demand of internet usage by people. It is fitting to say that since teenagers spend most of their time using technology then they would be the largest consumers of internet usage. The concept of technology in this essay is its interrelation with communication. There is a direct link between teenagers use of new media and how it allows them to enhance their communication techniques. Teenagers attempt to access communicative technology from various locations. Schools and libraries play an important role in the internet a teen can access outside the home. Now with WAP (wireless application protocol) students can access the internet on their phones, meaning students are constantly up to date even when they are not at home. Teenagers access the internet through credit or through the latest most advanced technologies known as Hotspots/WIFI hotspots. They allow you to access the internet from that specific place for free. Hotspots can be found in public areas and include places like Mc Donalds, schools and libraries. Yet, there are limiting factors to using the internet while at school or in the library which include, connection speed, the presence of internet filters, firewalls, and also blocked sites. Therefore it is evident that advancements in technology have allowed for solutions to most communication problems. As the world is becoming more wirelessly connected it is beginning to revolutionise the way in which teenagers go about with their daily lives. Many teenagers go online daily on social networking sites where you comment and post issues, popular among students these days. These interactive activities involve large volumes of written text and have become one of the essential daily bases of life to most teenagers, since such activities are required multiple times a day. According to the survey I conducted, teenagers have become heavily reliant on technology. In fact 39 out of 53 students say they are constantly engaged in some kind of electronic communication throughout the day, in short 73% of these students are evidently surrounded by electronic devices (Mohamad K, 2010). These devices are being used when a person is bored, while doing homework, before sleeping or as soon as they wake up. Students update themselves for the weather forecast, events or even check their email. In this da y and age individuals socially communicate via the internet. Being switched on has allowed individuals with opportunities never before fathomed. Nowadays we are able to communicate extensively with our community. One student noted I love using Skype; I speak to my sister in Abu Dhabi. Its great because I only see her once a year (Mohamad K , 2010). Rapid developments in technology have created an environment where information is accessible from all parts of the globe. This data is free and easily accessible, for teenagers this means they have access to a range of information resources, all at the click of a button. The internet has paved the way in communicating information. No longer do students need to have access to physical texts. They can extend their vocabulary, grammar and language conventions all by use of the World Wide Web. When students do not have access to books they can access so much textual context provided by the internet proprietors. Literacy is improved in many ways when a student reads a magazine, an article or even song lyrics they gain different levels of understanding in the way that these different types of pieces are structured. It also helps students understand different phenomenas they are not aware of, by using online thesauruses or dictionaries students are able to widen their vocabulary. Teenagers tend to make meaning from anything they see be it visual, written, or spoken texts. Teenagers as mentioned before have developed with technology and Pew internet and American Life project says that seven in ten students have a mobile phone, and six in ten have a desktop or laptop computer. Yes, six in ten teenagers are likely to have a computer but that is not the only communication tool being used. Mobile phones are perhaps one of the most used communicative technologies and have grown rapidly among teenagers. In general, phones and computers are used by teenagers to keep records of events, to socialize with friends and family and for entertainment, be it gaming, movies, and/or as an educational tool. PART 2: Teenagers and Their Writing Habits Having outlined and discussed the way teenagers interact with technology and their dependence on it, a discussion of the effect that this development in communicative technology has on them will allow for a better understanding of the implications of communicative technology. References to writing will be made mainly with regard to academic writing and social writing as they form the main bulk of writing undertaken by teenage students. It is apparent in teenagers that some enjoy writing or are gifted in writing while others are not. Taking into consideration the fact that writing, inside and outside of school writing is usually different in the lives of teenagers, it is possible to categorise them as formal and informal pieces of writing. Writing is essential to a person and it is crucial for people to develop writing skills especially teenagers attending school as it is their main form of communication (exams and tests). Todays teenagers write a significant amount at school and outs ide of school, yet the writing done outside of school such as emailing, instant messaging and texting are classified as informal writing. When teenagers use the internet they do not employ the proper use of language conventions however, according to Luke and Freebodys Four Rescource Model (refer to appendix 1) they are text decoders, participants, users and analysers. Language is always going to remain as such, though there are many forms in which a language, in this case English maybe manipulated by different people. The presence of slang English which refers to common day language has no grammatical basis in the English language; this is the best example of the manipulation of language. The same concept of slang language can be applied to the method of shortening words and abbreviating employed by teenagers during their communication through technology. These modifications to the language are not without reason. The abbreviation of words is usually either simply a result of the convenience of shorter words or due to the limitation by certain technology as to the size of the pieces of writing. Therefore the way people apply their language skills is different and will always be different its up to the teenagers in this day and age to ensure their increased usage of incorrect slang English language does not affect their basic English language skill s as the constant use of a certain form of the language will alter the basic underlying grammar principles. The digital age presents a paradox (Lenhart et al., 2008, pg(i)). Most teenagers now spend a great deal of time sending texts, it remains sceptical as to whether or not this text driven habit is inspiring a new appreciation for writing. As for school writing, the most common type of writing is note taking, writing essays and answering questions. All teenagers that attend school are predisposed to these types of work in most subjects and thus they form the need to improve their formal language skills, it can be safe to assume that formal language is far from being significantly deteriorated at this time in history, as technology is still dependent on formal language to convey ideas and information. As such though teenagers have developed differing writing habits with the use of technology for communication, the fact that they attend school ensures their link to basic formal language is not severed completely. In addition as a teenager most students believe that socially oriented writi ng they do using electronic devices is considered e-communication and therefore not writing (Lenhart et al., 2008). Students still hold the traditional definition of writing so technically their understanding of writing is not being deteriorated by technology (Lenhart et al., 2008). In my questionnaire the question asked was Do you think that electronic text is a form of writing? produced the following result. Graph 2: Amount of boys and girls who answered no to the question above In relation the graph, it can be understood that students do know the difference between electronic text and formal writing. All for one, the internet is a primary source of research for school writing and assignments and is an informative, communicative way that is everywhere and is present anywhere at once. The internet is not only used for school assignments, most commonly it is used for social networking, and communicating and media related activities. The writing students compose in school is basic and compulsory although writing composed outside of school is a piece that you mostly enjoy writing about that you mainly express yourself in. This type of writing outside of school enhances the writing capacity of teenagers in school and excels them overtime. PART 3: Electronic communication the relationship between writing, communication and technology ownership Teenagers are known to use the internet for many reasons. A study suggests that the communicative functions of the internet and mobile phone are the main reasons why teenagers use these technologies (Lenhart et al., 2008). These technologies have increased the methods of completing written works and the connection between people. Since technology together with the internet have promoted these types of writings and they have become widely known and popular. It is a worry for some people that students might become attached to these practises of writing and continues to write using the language of the internet. A study confirms 64 percent of youngsters ages 12 to 17 have used emoticons, text shortcuts and informal language in school assignments, the survey found (Horowitz E, 2008). Another question asked to the participants was, do you prefer using text language over acceptable English language in your essays? Graph 3: Amount of students who prefer using acceptable English language rather than text in essays To reinforce this I conducted a questionnaire which consisted of 12 questions that precisely devised and simple to understand. The difficulties and challenges encountered while creating this survey was first to actually understanding what students really thought about the influence that technology can have, and whether or not students understood that this rapid development is unhealthy for some of them. All in all everyone has different opinions; I had difficulties understanding some of their extended responses because some students did not answer accordingly. Also the fact that technology has become a part of our lives means it has become virtually invisible because it has become a need in todays society not a want. So its difficult to ask the students if technology has improved their writing or has degraded their writing, since technology has always existed in these teenagers lives. Therefore, students may not be aware of the impact technology may have on them. Teenagers in general have had different experiences with writing, as everyone writes for different reasons according to their interests. Nowadays when using the internet it provides you with more words and a wider range of ideas and aspects although it will not change the quality of writing it serves as a good information source, quality of writing comes with time and to establish this a wide range of vocabulary is required. According to my questionnaire many students believe that abbreviations such as; textonyms and chatiquettes could possibly be a way of speech sooner or later. Students said they can maintain the basic difference within their mentality between these languages and seem to imply that they will not make informal language become inherent within their language habits. Although, social analysts believe its highly likely with the rapid technology development. Many students have different views to this issue; some say that a text message would represent the way they speak however, with abbreviated words. And some say it depends on whether a person likes formal English speaking/writing or not. These are what some of the students had to say: The questions asked was do you think will soon speak the way you use text language? Why? Sarah Thomas: year 12 says: hopefully but I think its inevitable with the amount of technology surrounding us using this kind of speech. Zahra Ahmad: year 12 says: yes, its happening already, people, especially the younger generation, think its cool to talk this way. Because of so much use of the internet people will soon be speaking in the way of text language. Fatima Abou-eid: year 12 says:no because I like to read I love proper grammar and spelling others, however, who do not like English as much, might result in speaking in texting, eventually. Arian Behbahani: year 12 says: yes, it is how we communicate by the means of our main ways of communication. Nur Hannah: year 12 says: speak? Isnt text whatever you speak but with some letters omitted? Many teenagers use informal writing in school work, this consequently affects their language skills, according to Pew Internet Projects 50% of teenagers say they sometimes use the informal writing styles in the writing they perform for school. (Lenhart et al., 2008). It is not surprising that teenagers have adopted these writing skills and apply them to school writing. Given that, the daily lives of teenagers is being consumed by technological communicative systems it is most likely that they incorporate textonyms, acronyms, chatiquettes and abbreviations into school writing, examples of these are LOL (laughing out loud), ily (I love you), hru (how are you). Using these types of colloquial communicative methods outside of school is not the only factor that contributes to technology based writing in school work. It depends on the students attitude as well if a student considers that this type of writing electronic communication is considered writing than he or she is likely to use informal writing in school work and vice versa. Teenagers acknowledge the writing of slang in their work, but also overcoming this habit has various difficulties depending on the person though usually it is a matter of revising work to ensure the absence of informal writing. Overall, students in school are prompted to write about novels and articles which involve a great deal of formal language implementation. School writing helps them to achieve higher grades, excels their grammar their language skills and gives access to schools, universities. Therefore this would form an important motivation for students to perfect their formal language skills instead of allowing technology based language (sms, email, messenger style writing). Whilst the writing teenagers do for their selves expresses emotions releases stress its simple a chance to keep in touch. Many students value their formal work because its an accomplishment towards better writing. CONCLUSION This essay was and evaluation of the impact inflicted upon teenagers (16-18 years) communication levels with the rapid development of technology. Through research it is apparent that technology has extended our avenues of communication. It has done this via social networks and new media; they have paved the way for varied communication methods. Teenagers use these technologies to communicate and converse with their friends and family. Teenagers nowadays have grown up in a developed technical world. The research illustrated the ways in which teenagers use technology and apply it with writing skills, this was investigated due to the development of technology and the question of has technology impacted our youth communication levels?. Teenagers have adapted to technology and its widespread use in society. The findings that have emerged from this investigation is that teenagers use informal language on social networking sites the same way they use slang to communicate with friends. Both types of language would not be employed in a formal manner. As presented in my study, teenagers would use formal language when writing academic text, and could differentiate between the different styles. The research conducted as part of this study illustrated how technology improves and extends teenagers literacy skills. It proposes the importance of technology in a world dominated by new mediums. The study highlighted that teenagers could distinguish between formal and informal communication, and could determine the correct time and place to use either communication method. Whether technology or education is the reason for students adopting the slang style of language is a topic that can be further taken into consideration. What Education standard an individual is subjected to for e.g. Private school or a state school is a factor that contributes to an individual adopting slang language and that can be further understood due to different environments, teachers, and students. Although the final decision is for that individual to take, it is up to that individual to speak the way they want to speak. Technology on the other hand is a device students become familiar with easily. In implying this technology has paved ways for better and more effective communication around the globe. Do not be surprised when a student writes so very formally and talks in a manner that is colloquial. It is natural for a teenager to be at work having to complete an assignment/oral, and in doing so they will with no doubt speak/write in an improved formal manner. Technology and education maybe factors that contribute to an individual speaking colloquially, but these causes cant be to blame solely. The cutting down on letters in a word during a chatting session results in individuals chatting colloquially and that is what technology is made for, to make communication easier. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Strengths One of the Largest Players in Hypermarket Retail Industry

Strengths One of the Largest Players in Hypermarket Retail Industry According to some estimates which published in The Star Online (2010), Tesco enjoys a 30% market share of the Malaysian hypermarket industry by sales, followed by Giant (24%) and Jusco (22%). Giant grew substantially in markets mainly through the continued expansion of its hypermarket branches around Malaysia. As stated in Giants Official website (www.giant.com.my.), Giant was awarded the Top Retailer in Malaysia and Best of the Best in Asia Pacific Retailers Award for 2 consecutive years in 2007 and 2008. Giant has built a very strong retail brand, with a reputation of good value for consumers money and convenience because of a wide range of different products and services in one store. Diagram X: Market share of hypermarkets in Malaysia Sources from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/3/business/6973298sec=business Low Price Leader Pricing a product or service properly can mean the difference between success and failure for a company especially in these challenging economic times.  In Malaysia, Giant is synonymous with its powerful slogan which says Everyday Low Prices, Big Variety and Great Value. There is no doubt that the slogan successfully publicizes the companys mission to the public where it offers a wide variety of products at the lowest possible price (Giant, 2010). The price comparison between Giant and its competitors is frequently advertised in the newspaper for public references (refer Appendix X). It is clear that products that sold in Giant are cheaper compared to other stores. This has also resulted that Giant is still the low price leader in Malaysia. High Brand Value of House Brand Products Bernard Chia, Merchandise Director for Fresh Grocery at Giant Hypermarket Singapore, says: Consumers have started to be more receptive of house brands as retailers are continuously educating them on the good quality and lower prices of their house brands. Consumers are seeing greater value in house brands. And with the economic downturn, many are turning to house brands for instant savings. (Source: Nicole Liang, 2009, from Food Export International) Fulfilling customer needs and wants to gain customers satisfaction are vital to companys existence. Giant has been offering its house brand range since the beginning when its first store opened in June 2000 (Nicole Liang, 2009). The Giant brand comes with unique yellow and green packaging that is instantly recognizable and differentiates with other brands. Every product is backed by a quality guarantee and is always priced competitively in the category (Giant, 2010). Examples: The Giant brand products packaging Sources from http://www.giant.com.my/ourbrand/brand/2 With the intention of keeping its high brand value in the market, Giant goes as far as to introduce the Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back scheme, to further emphasize its safe food quality (Nicole Liang, 2009). Customers are welcome to return and get a refund for the purchased products if they have found any Giant brand product not up to their expectations. Great nationwide growth Giant always understands the market taste and responsive to customer needs where having over 85 branches spread throughout all the states in Malaysia. Additionally, most of the branches are strategically and conveniently located in residential areas, regardless of new or old areas. Through its nationwide expansion, Giant managed to capture more market share compared to its competitor like Jusco which mostly focus on suburban residential areas and tapping the middle to high income group consumers (Jusco, 2009, pg15). Picture X: Giant Stores Location Sources from http://www.giant.com.my/location The Star Online, 2010, Sale of Carrefour may interest Competition Commission, Retrieved 15 September 2010, from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/3/business/6973298sec=business Nicole Liang, 2009, Supermarket chains: House brands are here to stay, Retrieved 15 September 2010, from http://www.foodexportonline.com/html/oct09/privatelabels_supermarket-chains.html Jusco, 2009, pg15, Annual Report, Retrieved 15 September 2010, from http://www.jusco.com.my/juscohome/html/aeon_v2/oa/bursa/AEON_AnnualReport2009.pdf?PHPSESSID=l24l6cspr34mn9j0003bggme04 C:UsersLydiaDesktop20090524-2giant-vs-tesco2.jpg Weaknesses High Marketing Cost One of the Giants weaknesses is their relatively high marketing cost. Giant spends quite a lot of money for marketing purposes. To let more people to know more about the on-going promotions in Giant, Giant places their advertisements on local newspaper such as The Star, The Sun and other news press. Such advertisements are usually published on the weekend newspaper. Placing advertisement on newspaper can be quite costly. Besides, Giant prints out their promotion catalogue. Printing out the catalogue can be quite costly. Giant has different promotion catalogues for different places. For example, promotion catalogue for Sarawak Special, Malacca Special or even Putra Heights Special. This promotion catalogue is often distributed from house to house. This requires distribution fees as manpower is needed to distribute the catalogue. Recently, Giant Hypermarket also puts on advertisement on television. All these contribute to the high marketing cost. No loyalty and membership program Giant has no loyalty and membership program. Loyalty and membership is very important in order to create customer loyalty. This can be parts of their customer retention plan. It is said that retaining customers is much easier than getting a new one (Marzahn, 1996). By offering rewards to customers, they will most likely to make repurchasing from them. Compared to other hypermarket that has their own loyalty and membership program, customers are usually more attracted to them. While the economy is still recovering from the previous global recession, customers are stricter in budgeting and they are always attracted to rewards and privileges. They will want to get something in return from their purchasing. The ability to gain some rewards such as discount, cash voucher and cash rebate makes their purchase much more worthwhile. Poor pricing method Giant hypermarket has poor pricing method compared to other hypermarkets. Whenever promotions are conducted, the prices of the products will be different. The price list sometimes is not updated. Whenever the cashier scans the bar code, the price will be different from the displayed price. This sometimes causes customers to pay more than the actual price. This will create dissatisfaction to customers if they find out they have paid extra for the goods. The price list is hand written on a piece of yellow board. This price list is placed together with the products. The price list can be wrongly placed. This causes confusion to the customers. They are not sure the price of the products they wanted to buy. Besides, customers find it difficult to find a price reader to check for the price. The price readers which are wrongly placed makes it hidden from the customers. Figure: Hand written price list at Giant (Giant- About Us, 2010) Lack of Information Technology Utilization Giant website is not fully utilized Giant Hypermarket is still lacking in terms of utilization of information technology. Their own Giant website is not fully utilized. The content of the website is mostly promotions and the contest. The website is only for customers for viewing. To fully utilize the website, they can more features into their website. They can add in the products they sell in Giant and by categorizing them, it will be easier for customers to find the products they want. The website later can be enhanced into an e-commerce site where Giant can sell their products online. Thus, instead of having to go to the physical store, customers will be able to do online shopping. They can add in the wish list and shopping bag for customers in the website. Besides, in the website, there is no e- newsletter which customers can subscribe to. E-newsletter helps Debenhams to keep their existing and potential customers in touch with the latest offering such as promotions in store as well as news and events. This improves the sites traffic as well as building and expanding their customer database. Without this, customers will be sometimes being oblivious on the promotions as well as the happenings in Giant. Therefore, newsletter features should be added into Giants website. Customers can sign up for the newsletter. This consequently further improves Giants relationship with the existing customers. No Electronic Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM) Keeping in touch with customers and understanding what they think about Giant is paramount to achieve Giants goals. Customers feedback is an important component which allows customers to voice out their view or share their shopping experience which doing their shopping at Giant. Customer feedback is vital to Giants continuous improvement. Regardless of compliments or criticisms, customer feedback actually helps Giant to understand their customers need and consequently enhances their services. Giant practices traditional customer relationship management. Whenever Giant customers have any complaint, they have to approach the staff directly. Sometimes, face-to-face talk can lead to misunderstandings. Thus, Giant should utilize their website to provide electronic customer relationship management (E-CRM) for their customers. The website should allow the members to register and through login into Giant website, they are able to give their feedbacks online. Whenever they have any complaints, they can submit their complaints online. Besides, customers should be encouraged to give ratings and write product reviews after their purchases in Giants website. This helps other potential customers to make better purchase decision and this indirectly drives the product sales. Through the E-CRM, Giant will be able to know how the customers really felt towards Giant. Through those opinions, Giant will be able to take the initiatives to improve their services. Threats Competition The threats experienced by Giant are that there is stiff competition within the industry, there are other major supermarket chains, such as Tesco, Carrefour, Jusco, etc. in Malaysia that is competing alongside with Giant in the retail industry. Major example are, If competitors offers new innovative product and services why not Giant do the same thing too which more creative. Competitors might find new ways to enhance sales or production or they have superior access to cheaper raw materials. Giant famously losing market share  [1]  to particularly other well-known brand names like Tesco, Jusco and Carrefour in price competition as customers can find better pricing at other hypermarkets like Carrefour. Political New political issues in the future that might have negative impact on their business, for example, no price hike despite rising import costs, ban on construction, etc. Ban on hypermarket construction Another political issue that had negative impact on Giant business development was the rules implemented back in 2003  [2]  . The new rules banned any further development or expansion of hypermarkets in Klang Valley, including Kuala Lumpur and other states such as Johor and Penang in order to give the business opportunities for small businesses. This new rule was introduced because the three regions previously mentioned were already saturated with hypermarkets. With this rule, Giant could not expand their coverage to these areas. Fortunately, this rule is no longer in place and Giant does have few branches open in those areas. In fact, for example, to date Giant has 8 stores just in Kuala Lumpur itself  [3]  . House brand issues Another threat is that although their customers know their house brand, but it is not their customers preferable brand, their customer still prefers other established brand name products compared to theirs. Also, Giant shows that initially Bruneian cannot accept Giant due to numerous reasons, this can be scary for them because if their customers still cannot accept them for a long-term period, thus less people will shop in their store and sales will decreases. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨ Increase market share Strategies that would be appropriate for Giant would be to continue strategy to open more branches to increase market share and to eliminate competition. Besides, to increase marketing effort to gain customer awareness on their house brand products so that it can be a customer preferable brand in the future. In addition, Giant should add more variety on all the existing product line in their supermarkets, because this way, it will attract more customers as they will enable to buy everything under one roof, therefore make Giant their favorite and preferable shopping place. Lastly, Social or economic issues: changes on demographic trend can have significant impact on consumer spending. Risk of another economic downturn in Malaysia will have negative effects on their sales growth.

Madness in King Lear: Act 4 Essay -- essays research papers

Madness in King Lear: Act 4 In Shakespeare's play King Lear, Shakespeare introduces many themes. The most important theme shown in King Lear is the theme of madness. During the course of this play madness is shown in the tragic hero, King Lear. King Lear develops madness right in the beginning of the play but he actually shows it in Act 4. In this act, King Lear is not only at the peak of madness but it is also shown him coming out of his madness as well. This act is likely to be the most important act because it shows the phases King Lear goes through, from complete madness to him coming out of his madness and realizing his mistake, the point of tragic vision. The theme of madness in King Lear is first shown in the act through Cordelia's statement to the guards about the condition her father is in. Cordelia says "Alack, 'tis he! Why, he was met even now as mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud, crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, with hardocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow in our sustaining corn." [Act iv, iv, 1-6]. This gives a great description of King Lear's state of mind. Cordelia gives a description of King Lear dressed in flowers, and weeds, and she explains to the guards that he is singing aloud. All of these characteristics are unfit for a king, thus, leaving one reasonable explanation of him being mad, which Cordelia states in her speech to the guards. King Lear's madness is further illustrated in act 4,...

Indra Noori Essay --

Indra Noori is an exceptional sales-driven and business mined woman who has moved up the ranks in management within PepsiCo. Prior to working to PepsiCo, Noori has a top executive management experience working for Motorola from 1986 to 2000 and Asea Brown Boveri in 1994 (Pepsico, 2014). Moreover, through her leadership, she has helped companies generate over 10 billion dollars in sales which has opened the doors for her to work in top executive management positions (Pepsico, 2014). In India, Noori began her career as a Product Manager holding positions in Johnson & Johnson and at Mettur Berdsell (Pepsico, 2014). Indra Noori is an example of a great leader of which through her leadership, she has successfully help companies she previously worked for generate millions of dollars in revenue and help with restructuring firms. Indra has an exceptional business educational background of which she has earned her Bachelors of Science, MBA, and Masters of Public Administration degr ees (Pepsico, 2014). Indra Noori has been highly well known from many companies all over the world. In an article named â€Å"Leadership Lessons from PepsiCo CEO, Indra Noori, she stated 5 valuable leadership strategies. The five valuable leadership strategies that have inspired Indra Noori to become a great leader are 1. Balance the short term with long term, 2. Develop a deep understanding of public/private partnerships, 3. Think global, act global, 4. Keep an open mind to adapt to changes, and 5. Lead with your head and your heart (Snyder, 2013). These 5 concepts have helped Indra become a great successful leader and she has shared this mantra with many leaders speaking at various leadership conferences (Snyder, 2013). Balancing the short t... ... Works Cited Pepsico. (2014). Retrieved January 11, 2014, from Our leadership: http://www.pepsico.com/Company/Leadership Burnison , G. (2011, April 29). Fastcompany.com. Retrieved January 11, 2014, from Leadership: How pepsi's Indra Nooyi learned to be a CEO : http://www.fastcompany.com/1750645/how-pepsis-indra-nooyi-learned-be-ceo Collins, J. (2001). Good to great . New York : Harper Business. Gaille, B. (2013, October 20). BrandonGaille.com. Retrieved January 11, 2014, from Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi’s Leadership Style and Management Traits: http://brandongaille.com/pepsico-ceo-indra-nooyis-leadership-style-and-management-traits/ Snyder, S. (2013, May 7). Snyder leadership group . Retrieved January 11, 2014, from Leadership Lessons from PepsiCo CEO, Indra Nooyi: http://www.snyderleadership.com/2013/05/07/leadership-lessons-from-pepsico-ceo-indra-nooyi/

Development of pre-dried and blended lime mortars for the ready-mix market

Mortar is a mixture of sand, a binder such as cement, and water. This mixture is used in masonry construction to fill the gaps between the bricks and blocks used in construction. It is applied as a paste during construction, and then later sets hard, holding the blocks, or bricks together firmly. It can also be used to fix parts of a construction where its original mortar may have been washed away. Currently, mortar can be either mixed on site, or factory-produced ready-to-use mortar can be bought. (Allen, 2003)Ready-to-use mortars are replacing on-site mixed mortars, due to their advantages over on-site mixed mortar. They are made in factories under tightly-controlled conditions and delivered to site, ready to use. They have guaranteed mix proportions and overcome any potential problems relating to site mixing. They contain accurate cement ratio in the mixture. This is because the cement content is controlled in the production factory, where accurate measuring techniques are put int o use.The factory-made mortars also offer the advantage of consistence in quality, since the mixing procedures and contents are constant in the factories. This also results to consistence in strength and color. Since all the mixing is done in the factory, using these mortars reduces mixing and labor costs, and also reduces wastage of materials that is experienced during mixing of mortar on site. Health and safety on site is improved, as worker’s direct contact with the mortar is reduced.Wet ready-to-use mortars are stored in tubs on site and require no further mixing. They have a retarding agent, which makes them fully usable for a certain period of time, normally around 36 hours.Dry ready-to-use mortars are stored in silos or bags. Silos are delivered to site complete with integral mixers and requiring only power and water supplies to be connected.The factory-produced silo mortars offer a range of mix proportions and overcome many potential  problems experienced in on site mixing. The silo is delivered to site, complete with integral mixer. Once power and water supplies are connected, mortar can be produced as required. The rate at which water is added can be controlled to achieve the required consistency. The silos can either be single-compartment or two-compartment.(http://www.mortar.org.uk/)Since the factory produced silo mortars are of guaranteed composition, and are thoroughly mixed, they will therefore provide satisfactory durability. However, the designer still has theresponsibility to specify the correct mortar designation for the type of structure, exposureconditions and type of masonry units. In hot conditions some stiffening may occur which may be corrected by the addition of a small amount of water followed by trowel mixing on the spot board in the traditional manner. Once the initial set has started the mortar must not be reconstituted in a mechanical mixer or by any other method.The setting of cement is affected by weather and will proc eed more slowly when it is colder.This factor is taken into account when the mortars are manufactured but subsequentsignificant reductions in temperature may increase the retardation period and extend theworking life and will have no adverse effect on the masonry. It is inadvisable to proceed with the construction of masonry whilst the temperature is below 3 ºC and falling. If the mortar freezes any frozen material or crust should be discarded.Currently Used BindersPortland cement mortar is made by mixing Portland cement, which in this case is the binder, with sand and water. This type of mortar was invented in the mid-nineteenth century, as part of scientific efforts to develop stronger mortars than those that existed at the time. It was popularized during the late nineteenth century.   One of its main advantages is that it sets hard and quickly, increasing the speed of construction.However, it is not advisable for it to be used for the repair of older buildings constructed in lime mortar, because this type of binder lacks the flexibility, softness and breathability of lime that is required for such functions for proper function. Sulfate-resisting Portland cement may be used to replace ordinary Portland cement in cement:sand, cement:lime:sand and cement:sand with plasticizer mortars to reduce sulfate attack, in cases where wet conditions might be prolonged in the presence of soluble sulfates either in the ground or in clay bricks.Polymers are other types of binders, which are used in conjunction with cement hydrate binders of conventional cement mortar. The polymeric binders include latexes or emulsions, redispersible polymer powders, water-soluble polymers, liquid resins and monomers. The mortar made using this combination of binders has low permeability, and it reduces cases of drying shrinkage cracking, and its mainly designed for purposes of repairing concrete structures. An example of polymeric binders is MagneLine (Allen, 2003).Masonry cement itself is a pre-mixed, complete binder. Normally masonry cement contains roughly  ¾ of ordinary Portland cement,  ¼ of an inert fine mineral filler, and then a powdered air-entraining component is added. Because of this make-up of the material and the air-entrainment, masonry cement mortars are made up with proportions differing from the other mortar types.Polymer cement mortars (PCM) are the materials which are made by partially replacing the cement hydrate binders of conventional cement mortar with polymers. The polymeric admixtures include latexes or emulsions, redispersible polymer powders, water-soluble polymers, liquid resins and monomers. It has low permeability, and it reduces the incidence of drying shrinkage cracking, mainly designed for repairing concrete structures. Example: MagneLineAnother binder is pozzolana. Pozzolana is a fine, sandy volcanic ash, originally discovered and dug in Italy, but later at a number of other sites.   It is found in various colours: black, w hite, grey and red. When finely ground and mixed with lime, it acts as Portland cement and makes a strong mortar. The mortar made using this composition has the advantage that will also set under water.Non-hydraulic or semi-hydraulic limes are other types of binders. These, however, have insufficient setting and hardening strength, hence they are not considered as suitable total binders, but may be added as a binder constituent to produce a cement: lime: sand mortar.Using LimeLime mortar is created by mixing sand, slaked lime (the binder) and water. In making lime mortar, Limestone is burnt in a kiln to form quicklime, which is then slaked (mixed with water) to form slaked lime, either in the form of lime putty or of hydrated lime powder. Sand and water are then added to form the mortar. This kind of lime mortar, known as non-hydraulic, sets very slowly through the process of reaction with the carbon dioxide in the air (Boynton,1980).The speed of set can be increased by using impure limestones in the kiln, to form a hydraulic lime that will set on contact with water. Another alternative is the use of   a pozzolanic material, such as calcined clay or brick dust, which is added to the mortar. This will have the same effect of making the mortar set reasonably quickly by reaction with the water in the mortar.Lime mortar is considered breathable, because it will allow moisture to freely move through it, and then evaporate from its surface. It remains slightly flexible, even when it is set, and it will let walls move without cracking too much. Lime mortars also repair fine cracks themselves as rainwater slowly deposits fresh calcium carbonate taken into solution from the surrounding lime mortar, hence the fine cracks end up repairing themselves.Lime mortar is not mixed in the same way as cement mortars, which are simply turned over and over,with occasional chopping. In order to make a strong lime mortar, it is essential to coat each particle of aggregate with lime paste, hence the   pile of mortar, after initially mixing in the aggregates with a shovel, must be beaten with pick axe handles in addition to chopping and turning. The longer mixing and beating can be prolonged the better and more efficient the mortar will be. It is also of importance that only the smallest amount of extra water is added during the mixing stage. One must not pour lots of water in an attempt to make mixing easier. Adding the extra water will severely weaken the mix, causing a lot of shrinkage and cracking during drying.Its also of utmost importance that the required ratio of aggregate to binder be maintained. After the mixing process, the mortar should be stored for as long as possible before putting it into use. The purpose of this is to enable the lime to completely coat every particle of aggregate, forming an efficient and well bound mortar. On the contrary, if this does not take place the lime mortar will not completely bond with the aggregate. (Boynton,1980) .During this storage period, the lime particles become smaller as they mature and develop closer contact with the aggregate.The basic manufacturing process of non hydraulic lime for constructional purposes involves the following; quarrying calcium carbonate (CaCO3), commonly in the form of limestone, chalk or shell. This is then heated in a kiln at around 700-900 °C, at which temperature, carbon dioxide is pressurized and disassociates itself from the raw material, forming calcium oxide (CaO), or quicklime.When the calcium oxide (quicklime) is combined with water (referred to as the slaking process), it reacts violently, breaking down to form calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) (slaked lime). At this stage two forms of material are achievable, a hydrated lime (a dry powder slaked with a minimum of water) or a lime putty (a wet material slaked with an excess of water). To make a basic mortar, the calcium hydroxide is then mixed with sand (and water if made from a dry hydrated lime). The fi nal stage in this process is the setting of the lime in which the carbon dioxide is reabsorbed back into the calcium hydroxide to form calcium carbonate, generally in the form of calcite. This process is known as carbonation.When we use a fresh lime mortar for mass masonry construction the amount of calcite present depends upon the degree to which the carbonation of calcium hydroxide has occurred. In walls that are relatively thick the ability of CO2 to diffuse through the fabric is often reduced. In addition an increase in the hydraulicity in the hydraulic lime can also inhibit the diffusion of CO2 into the wall core due to higher quantities of relatively dense calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) and calcium aluminate hydrates (C-A-H). It is clear that in this situation we would have both lime in the form of calcium hydroxide and calcite forming the mass of the mortar with the calcium hydroxide being noted in regions in which CO2 cannot effectively penetrate.Generally speaking calciu m hydroxide is considered to be free lime, which Allen (2003) define as:Lime in a mortar or hydraulic lime which remains as calcium hydroxide and has not yet converted or combined with a pozzolan or other minerals or compounds. It is more soluble than calcium carbonate and can be transported within the pore solution and is available for deposition to heal fine cracks – autogenous healing. Not to be confused with free present as calcium oxide in Portland cement, which is much lower quantity and is a measure of efficiency of burning, i.e. low free lime equals well burnt Portland cement.It is clear that calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2)/free lime is highly soluble when compared with other components within the mortar. It is however, important to emphasize that calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is also soluble in water, although 100 times less soluble than calcium hydroxide. Although the solubility of CaCO3 is low it does contribute to the overall quantity of lime that can enter into solution and cannot therefore be discounted from this study.The ability of both calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) to dissolve is a function of the water temperature and both decrease with an increase in temperature.Boynton (1980) further emphasises that â€Å"solubility decreases steadily as temperature is raised above 0 °C†. It is clear that the conversion of calcium hydroxide into calcite is extremely important in preventing dissolution and potential migration especially in saturated masonry conditions.It is the author's view that both calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate components of the mortar can be viewed as high and low solubility, with low being associated with calcite (CaCO3) and other polymorphs, such as aragonite and vaterite, and high with calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2). However, it must be emphasised that different solubility levels may also be associated with different polymorphs of CaCO3 i.e. calcite and aragonite, and may be explained by the different relative surface areas of the crystallites.In addition, the solubility of both CaCO3 and Ca(OH)2 can be seen as a function of not only the temperature of the water but also the concentration of CO2 dissolved into the water and the presence of other solutes such as calcium chloride.The relationship between temperature and solubility illustrates that those buildings exposed to high levels of cold rainfall may be more vulnerable than their counterparts in warmer climates.Why Select lime?The use of lime as the binder has a number of advantages over Portland cement. Mortars and plasters made with no lime and a low percentage of Portland cement will end up having low workability (the correct combination of flow, water retention and cohesiveness), they will also be porous and will not be so durable. If an attempt is made to overcome this by increasing cement, other problems such as harshness, brittleness and shrinkage will in turn tend to occur.Lime is a much better binder than c ement in plasterwork. Although its setting will be slow, the result will look better and the softer surface will be less prone to cracking. Lime mortars have a high degree of workability which is highly desirable in mortars and plasters. Due to the slow setting property of lime mortars, they allow mixing in large quantities without fear of going off before use.In harsh climatic conditions, lime mortars and plasters may not be very durable but this can easily be overcome by the use of hydraulic limes or the addition of a small percentage of Portland cement into the mix. Siliceous materials, known as pozzolanas (eg volcanic ash and rice husk ash), can also be mixed with lime to improve its strength and durability.Architects are increasingly becoming aware of the problems of Portland cement mortars and many now specify blended lime-Portland cement mortars. Recently, lime has played a leading role, worldwide, in the conservation of old buildings, most of which were built in the ‘p re-Portland cement' era. It is well recognized that successful preservation of ancient monuments, such as churches, castles and other historic sites, necessitates the application of the same binding systems as were used originally. Attempts in the past at patching up these buildings with ordinary Portland cement-based mixes have invariably led to even greater problems of decay occurring at a later stage. (http://environment.uwe.ac.uk/video/cd_new_demo/conweb/walls/mortars, retrieved 29th sept 2008)ReferencesAllen, G. (2003), Hydraulic Lime Mortar for Stone, Brick and Block Masonry, Donhead, Shaftesbury,Boynton, R.S. (1980), Chemistry and Technology of Lime and Limestone, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Son, New York, NY, .Beckman, P. (1995), Structural Aspects of Building Conservation, McGraw-Hill, New York, NYhttp://www.mortar.org.uk/ , retrieved 29th sep. 2008http://environment.uwe.ac.uk/video/cd_new_demo/conweb/walls/mortars, retrieved 29th sept 2008

Consumer Awareness Essay

THE PROCESS of development along with the expanding globalisation and liberalisation process has increased the number of consumer related issues. Consumer protection has earned an important place in the political, economic and social agendas of many nations. In India, the Government has taken many steps including legislative, to protect consumers. Education is a life long process of constantly acquiring relevant information, knowledge and skills. Consumer education is an important part of this process and is a basic consumer right that must be introduced at the school level. Consumers by definition include all citizens who are, by and large the biggest group, who are affected by almost all government, public or private decisions. The most important step in consumer education is awareness of consumer rights. However, consumer education is incomplete without the responsibilities and duties of consumers, and this influences individual behaviour to a great extent. Definition Consumer awareness is making the consumer aware of His/Her rights. Consumer awareness it a marketing term. It means that consumers note or are aware of products or services, its characteristics and the other marketing P’s (place to buy, price, and promotion). Need : we need it so we will not be misled by producers,it explains if what we buy is worth to our money..and not harmful to us and to environment . Many people are ignorant of their rights to get protected against the exploitation by so many others. So when there is a forum for such redress of grievances there seems to be no such exploitation by many; and becomes a rare one. So in order to get a clear picture of the level of exploitation of consumers, the awareness is required. Role of producers  proper labeling, full information, health warnings, handling information, expiration date, etc. keep to requirements, norms, standards labelproducts according requirements, providing true facts If they are providing a service they should carry it out with due skill and  care. They must also make sure that any materials they provide as part of this service are fit for the purpose. It is also illegal for a supplier to cut off, or threaten to cut off, supply to a reseller (wholesale or retail) because they have been discounting goods or advertising discounts below prices set by the supplier. Consumer awareness is about making the consumer aware of his/her rights.It is a marketing term which means that consumers are aware of products or services, its characteristics and the other marketing P’s (place to buy, price, and promotion).Though the first consumer movement began in England after the Second World War, a modern declaration about consumer’s rights was first made in the United States of America in 1962, where four basic consumer rights (choice, information, safety and to be heard ) were recognized. Ralph Nadar, a consumer activist, is considered as the fathe r of ‘consumer movement’. March 15 is now celebrated as the World Consumer Rights Day. The United Nations in 1985 adopted, , certain guidelines to achieve the objectives of maintaining protection for consumers and to establish high level ethical conduct for those engaged in production and distribution of goods and services. High prices, duplicate articles, underweight and under – measurements, rough behavior, undue conditions, artificial scarcity are some of the ways by which consumers are exploited by manufacturers and traders. Limited information, limited supplies and low literacy are factors causing exploitation of consumers. In India, the concept of consumer protection is not new. References to the protection of consumer’s interest against exploitation by trade and industry, underweight and measurement, adulteration and punishment for these offences, were made in Kautilya’s ‘Arthashastra’. However, an organized and systematic movement to safeguard the interest of consumers, is a recent phenomenon. The consumers have to be aware not only of the commercial aspects of sale and purchase of goods, but also of the health and security aspects. Food safety has become an important element of consumer awareness these days. In case of food products, its quality depends not only on its nutritional value, but also on its safety for human consumption. Consumption of contaminated or adulterated food is a major cause of human illness and suffering. This called for strong legal measures to ensure that the manufacturers and sellers observe uniformity and transparency in prices, stocks and quality of their goods.Enactment of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was one of the most  important steps taken to protect the interests of consumers. The provision of the Act came into force, with effect from July 1, 1987. The act recognizes consumer’s right to seek redresses and right to consumer education. The salient features of the Act are as follows:- †¢ Applies to all goods and services unless specifically exempted by the Union Government; †¢ Covers all the sectors whether private, public or cooperative; †¢ Enshrines the consumer’s rights related to safety, information, choice, representation and redress and consumer education. †¢ The act gives consumers an additional remedy besides those which may be available to them under the provisions of other existing laws and they are free to choose the remedy. †¢ Empower consumers seeking discontinuance of certain unfair and restrictive trade practices, defects or deficiencies in services and stopping in services or withdrawal of hazardous goods from the market. There are no legal formalities for filing the complaint. Suppose, you find yourself cheated by trader or a manufacturer and wish to make a complaint to consumer court, you can write the details on a plain paper. Attach the supporting documents, that is, guarantee or warrantee card and cash memo with the complaint and submit it in the district consumer court. You do not have to go to any lawyer or professional for legal assistance. You yourself can plead the case in the consumer court.Since, the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act and even before that, newspapers and magazines have been responding to the needs of consumers. Apart from publishing articles, columns etc newspapers have also tried to come to the rescue of harassed consumers. The Indian Express was one of the first newspapers to start a consumer complaint column. There are 500 consumer associations, which are working in the field of consumer protection. They deal with various aspects of consumer exploitation. Some of the prominent ones are: Consumer Guidance Society of India, Mumbai; Citizens Action group, Mumbai; Common Cause, New Delhi; Voice, New Delhi; Consumer Utility and Trust Society, Jaipur. So next time you find yourself at the wrong end of a purchase don’t just sit back and blame, go to a consumer court and make your claim. CONSUMER AWARENESS  THE PROCESS of development along with the expanding globalization andliberalization process has increased the number of consumer related  issues. Consumer protection has earned an important place in the political, economic and social agendas of many nations. In India, the Government has taken many steps including legislative, to protect consumers.However, this is largely unknown to many citizens irrespective of whether they areeducated or uneducated. With an enormous population along with high levels of poverty,unemployment and poor literacy levels, consumer awareness continues to remain low. Education is a life long process of constantly acquiring relevant information, knowledgeand skills. Consumer education is an important part of this process and is a basicconsumer right that must be introduced at the school level. Consumers by definitioninclude all citizens who are, by and large the biggest group, who are affected by almostall government, public or private decisions. The most important step in consumer education is awareness of consumer rights. However, consumer education is incompletewithout the responsibilities and duties of consumers, and this influences individual behaviour to a great extent. With the increasing changes in economic conditions, thechildren especially are becoming young consumers at an early age. Children must learn toobtain information about goods and services, understand the psychology of selling andadvertising, learn to shop wisely and distinguish between wants and needs. They mustalso understand the alternatives of conserving and saving rather than buying andconsuming.Children are spending more of their leisure time watching television at the cost of other pursuits such as reading or sports. With the introduction of a number of specialisedsatellite channels, television enjoys a large viewership base consisting of children.Exposure to the marketplace as young shoppers has made most children aware of thedifferent kinds of products that are available. Advertisements are no doubt an importantsource of information as they help to inform consumers about the availability of different products before making their choice. A majority of the advertisements are aimed at youngchildren today, especially those covering food products, beverages and cosmetics(especially toothpaste/fairness creams). Advertising influences the food preferences andeating habits of children to a large extent.Unfortunately, many advertisements make false promises, are highly exaggerated a ndgive incomplete descriptions of products. The media, schools and parents along withconsumer groups need to help children develop the ability to understand  the purpose of advertising. There is so much more information available to children that they must perceive the importance of distinguishing between different sources of information.The consumption patterns are changing fast and children today are very clear on their choices regarding food, clothing, cosmetics or accessories. Parents are increasingly permitting their children to take decisions when shopping. It then becomes veryimportant for children to check details (for example, labels) before buying products Children can be taught to shop wisely and a few simple precautions will ensure that theychoose the right product at the right price. It is but natural that parents wish the best for their children, and strive hard to fulfil their demands. But this is not always a good ideaas it affects both the parents and children in a negative way in the long run.Consumer education also involves environmental education as it deals with theimportance of conserving (natural resources) and sustaining (recycling and reusing) theenvironment, including the direct health effects of environmental pollution and toxic products on consumers.Schools must incorporate consumer education into school curricula as it is important toimpart the practical skills and critical ability needed to cope with social and economicchanges.Anyone who consumes goods is a consumer. Consumers get exploited in the market.They respond to advertisements and buy goods. Generally advertisements do not give allthe information that a consumer needs t know or wants to know about a product. Definition Consumer awareness is making the consumer aware of His/Her rights.Consumer awareness it a marketing term. It means that consumers note or are aware of products or services, its characteristics and the other marketing P’s (place to buy, price,and promotion).Usually commercials and ads increase consumer awareness, as well as â€Å"word of mouth†(a comment from someone you know about a product or service). 1 Need : we need it so we will not be misled by producers,it explains if what we buy is worth toour money..and not harmful to us and to environment .Many people are ignorant of their rights to get protected against the exploitation by somany others. So when there is a forum for such redress of grievances there seems to beno such exploitation by many; and becomes a rare one. So in order  to get a clear pictureof the level of exploitation of consumers, the awareness is required. 2. Role of producers proper labeling, full information, health warnings, handling information, expiration date,etc. keep to requirements, norms, standards label products according requirements, providing true facts They have to produce and deliver the goods/services of right qualityat right price at right time at right place at right quantity with right faceIf they are providing a service they should carry it out with due skill and care. They mustalso make sure that any materials they provide as part of this service are fit for the purpose. It is also illegal for a supplier to cut off, or threaten to cut off, supply to areseller (wholesale or retail) because they have been discounting goods or advertisingdiscounts below prices set by the supplier. Some of the common methods of exploitation are 1.Under weight and under measurements –not measured or weighed correctly2.Substandard Quality –defective home appliances and medicines beyond expirydate3.High prices—charging above the retail price4.Duplicate Articles—selling fake items in the name of the original5.Adulteration and Impurity—is done to get higher profits6.Lack of safety Devices—absence of inbuilt safe guards in appliances7.Artificial Scarcity—hoarding and black marketing8.False and Incomplete Information—misleading information on quality, durability,and safety.9.Unsatisfactory after sales Service—high cost items like electronics and carsrequire constant and regular service.10.Rough behavior and Undue conditions—harassment in getting LPG connection or a telephone connection.. Factors causing exploitation of Consumers. 1.Limited Information—providing full and correct information will help in thechoice2.Limited Supplies—when goods and services are in short supply then price shootsup3.Limited Competition.—single producer may manipulate the market in terms of price and stocks.4.Low Literacy.—illiteracy leads to exploitation.Hence Consumer Awareness isessential Rise of consumer Awareness Kautilya was one of the earliest to write in his Arthashastra about the need for Consumer awareness and protection. With the growth of private sector there is a greater need for discipline and regulation of the market. Consumers must be aware of the sale and purchase of goods, the health and security aspects also. Ensuring the safety of food itemssold in the market is essential these days.Legal measures for consumer safety and consumer awareness must be uniform, andtransparent in terms of prices, quality of goods, and stocks. Consumers must have thetools to combat malpractices and protect their rights. Rights and Duties of Consumers As codified under the Indian Laws the Consumers have the following Rights 1.Right to Safety—to protect against hazardous goods2.Right to be Informed—about price, quality, purity3.Right to Choose—access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices.4.Right to be Heard—consumers interest and welfare must be taken care of 5.Right to seek Redressal—protection against unfair trade practicesand settlinggenuine grievances.6.Right to Consumer Education.—Kowledge about goods and issues related toconsumers. Duties 1.Get a bill for every important purchase and also the Warranty card2.Check the ISI mark or Agmark on the goods3.Form consumer awareness groups4.Make a complaint on genuine grievances.5.Consumers must know to exercise their rights. Consumer protection Measure 1. Legislation concerning Consumer Rights. The Consumer Protection Act 1986 provides for consumer disputes redressal at the stateand national level. With the help of this law the agencies can solve grievances in aspeedy, simple and inexpensive manner. A separate department of consumer affairs wasset up at the state and central government. A three tier system of consumer courts at the National, State and District levels were set up. These agencies have done good work byhandling lakhs of cases. 2. Public Distribution System .To protect the poor from price rise and black marketing the government food  security tothe poor by supplying essentials through the ration or Fair price shops. 3. Standardisation of Products .These are done to assure the quality of products. The ISI stamp on goods is placed by theBureau of Indian standards. This caters to industrial and consumer goods. These goodscan be trusted to confirm to specific standards. Agmark is meant for Agricultural products.At the International level the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) locatedin Geneva sets common standards. The FAO and WHO provide food standards. 4.Legal formalities for filing a complaint .The complaint can be written on plain paper. The supporting documents like the warrantycard must be attached. A lawyer is not required. We can argue our case