Non-Profit Organization Analysis World Vision Essay

Non-profit Organization Analysis: World Vision * Background and History World Vision, founded in the USA in 1950 by a young pastor Robert Pierce, is one of the largest relief and development organizations in the world whose total revenue coming grants, product and foreign donations is about $2.6 billion. The first area that World Vision focused on was orphans and other children in need, beginning in South Korea, and then expanding throughout Asia. Today, they operate in more than 90 countries, such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Afghanistan, India, Romania, Austria, Bolivia, El Salvador, Mexico, Jerusalem, and Papua New Guinea. They are now focusing on larger issues of community development and advocacy for the poor towards the end of helping†¦show more content†¦World Vision International operates as a federation of interdependent national offices, each overseen by their own boards or advisory councils. Each office and its members have created a common mission statement. Through an ongoing system of peer review, each national partner is held accountable and abides by common policies and standards. The partnership offices coordinate operations of the organization and represent World Vision in the international arena. For making large scale decisions, the international organization cons iders opinions from each national office, whether in the developed or developing world. An international board of directors oversees the World Vision partnership. The full board meets twice a year to appoint senior officers, approve strategic plans and budgets, and determine international policy. * Meet Community Needs One of the factors that make World Vision successful is it partners with communities, local governments and other offices around the world in order to carry out its mission. It accomplishes this in several ways, depending on the needs of the community, and creates programs where it works with the community to facilitate a range of interventions, including programs in health, water and sanitation, education, and so on. Throughout the programs, people in communities haveShow MoreRelatedEssay about Exploring the Arts and Resource Management1369 Words   |  6 Pagesterm that encompasses all forms of resources and how they can be developed and managed to create an effective and efficient use of the organizations available resources. Resources are typically thought of as including tangible things such as goods, buildings, equipment, technology, financial resources, and people, or non-tangible things like creative ideas, vision, and mission. 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The Letter to the Executive Management or the Board of Directors on Ch Speech Presentation

Essays on The Letter to the Executive Management or the Board of Directors on Change of Pepsi's Game Ad Campaign Speech or Presentation The paper â€Å"The Letter to the Executive Management or the Board of Directors on Change of Pepsi's Game Ad Campaign† is a  breathtaking variant of speech on marketing. It's important to bring into your notice the change in the game ad campaign on YouTube may be a threat to future campaigns. This is due to the fact that the campaign seems too uploaded on the internet even though it is copyrighted.Although the change to the copyright law is extremely specific – it handles cases and issues regarding peer-to-peer file sharing. YouTube may not be included in it; however, the fact that the ad campaign was copyrighted does question the ethics behind the act to upload it on the web net. If a person uploads a copyrighted video clip on YouTube then, in fact, the person who has uploaded has breached the copyright law.This may be a threat to future ad campaigns because people may download or make a copy of the change the game advertisement from YouTube, even though the video i s copyrighted, and they have breached copyright law. They may use his capability to edit the video and thus affect the current fame of the campaign. Apart from this, it may also become a trend to upload copyrighted campaigns and edit them to damage the pace of the campaigns. In this manner, small campaigns may especially be affected as they may not have the ability to track and legally act on such actions.Even though it may be pointed out that the information found on a lot of online streaming sites is doubtful as being copyrighted or a breach of the copyright act however in the Act does to prohibit online ‘streaming’, as long the user is not using P2P. But this not limit the threat to the advertisement campaigns as many users are quite smart enough to use online streaming services for their P2p purposes. In this manner, they manipulate the law to fulfill their purpose (Correa et al 2009).One such case may be noted of Google, it decided to resolve the more apparent caus e of copyright infringement apart from websites that have committed through the most famous video streaming service YouTube, and its main objective was to take legal action against YouTube-MP3.org.Google seemed to point the finger in the right direction as it accused YouTube-MP3 using the application programming interface (API) which is available to YouTube users for purposes which breached the copyright law and may even affect the original owner of the video as provides the user with a lot of different methods thorough YouTube to obtain the content and features in other websites, thus the downloaded content and may be obtainable to other users on a non-streaming basis.The reason behind highlighting this case is that even this campaign may fall victim to such tactics, it may not only affect Pepsi’s campaign but also affect other campaigns that fall under the same criteria. Many companies could use the content and features of the video for their own purposes. The company may, later on, be able to take legal notice on it, but the damage may already be done. As the rival company may already have launched their campaign and may have captured the share of the market through it.

Sustainability Quotients and the Social Footprint †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Sustainability Quotients and the Social Footprint. Answer: Corporate Sustainability Management (CSM) refers to the new management subject that helps the organizations to take effective steps for measuring, managing and reporting its environmental and social impacts. Nowadays, a majority of the companies are accepting CSM because the other approaches for instance the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) have become unsuccessful in measuring and reporting the sustainability of the operations of the organizations. GRI completely ignores the sustainability aspect and does not provide proper guidance. On the contrary, CSM helps in determining the actual sustainability of an organization. Ecological Footprints (EF) is a tool that helps in accessing the natural resources against the worlds ecological state. Despite its importance, these methods are rarely used by the organizations across the globe (www.sustainableorganizations.org). There exists an issue in Corporate Sustainability Management (CSM) that comprises of the non- success of the mainstream procedures pertaining to non- financial reporting, for instance, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to effectively reflect an organizations environmental and social sustainability. The quotients perspectives proves that the reason behind the non- success is the lack of the presence of denominators or sustainability context. Another major reason behind such failure is lack of a measurement model for sustainability reporting. It is actually the effects on the carrying capacity of anthro capital, which ought to be the basis of the model with actual numerators evaluated against denominators. Therefore, a design specification has been prepared for the measurement model of social sustainability that has the capability of filling such gaps (enviroinfo.eu). References: (2017). Retrieved 3 August 2017, from https://www.sustainableorganizations.org/Social-Footprint.pdf (2017). Retrieved 3 August 2017, from https://enviroinfo.eu/sites/default/files/pdfs/vol122/0043.pdf

Free on Homers Odyssey Odyssey as Epic Poe Essay Example For Students

Free on Homers Odyssey: Odyssey as Epic Poe Essay m Homer Odyssey EssaysThe Odyssey as Epic Poem The Odyssey is an epic poem. In The Odyssey, the reader can find at least four characteristics, which help prove it is an epic poem. One characteristic is the vast setting that Odysseus experiences throughout his journey. Another is Odysseuss larger-than-life, imposing stature. So are the superhuman deeds Odysseus completes on his long arduous journey. Also, The Odyssey is based around a central hero whose actions determine the fate of his kingdom. Throughout The Odyssey the reader is given thorough details of the vast setting that Odysseus experiences. During Odysseuss journey across the sea he experiences many lands and people previously unknown to him. In The Odyssey, Odysseus leaves his known world of Ithaca and enters the Unknown World. There he finds the land of the Cyclopes, Aeolys Island, and Ogygia. While on his journey Odysseus must travel to the Underworld to find Tiresias. The blind man will tell him whether he will return home to Ithaca or not. Another characteristic is Odysseuss larger-than-life, imposing stature. When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, he strings his bow and continues to slaughter the suitors who threatened his rule. Stringing his bow and shooting it repeatedly, while even the strongest suitor could not pull it shows great strength. It proves he is a larger-than-life man of unmatchable strength. Also throughout his journeys Odysseus is recognized as a man of wisdom and strength. Odysseus must have been an epic hero as he was recognized by the gods on numerous occasions. For instance when Hermes appears and gives Odysseus the magical herb, Moly to protect him from the magical powers of Circes. Throughout The Odyssey Athena shows herself to Odysseus and gives him advice. When Odysseus is attempting to return to Ithaca, Circe tells him he must visit the blind Tiresias, who will tell him his fate. Odysseus is one of only two men who enter the Underworld and live. Odysseus performs many superhuman deeds throughout The Odyssey perhaps the most important is when he entered the Underworld. One of the main characteristics of The Odyssey, which proves it is an epic poem, is that it is based around a central hero whose actions determine the fate of his kingdom. While suitors threaten the role of Ithaca the reader is uncertain whether the rule of Ithaca will remain under Odysseuss power. Odysseus confirms that the rule will remain under him by killing all the suitors. In The Odyssey, four characteristics can easily be found. One is the vast setting Odysseus travels through. Odysseuss larger-than-life, imposing stature is also one. So are the superhuman deeds Odysseus accomplishes during his journeys. But the main characteristic is that The Odyssey is based around a central hero who determines the fate of his kingdom. These characteristics help prove The Odyssey is an epic poem.

Calyx Corolla Essay Example

Calyx Corolla Paper Calyx Corolla 1)What is the gap in market structure for Calyx and Corollas business model? The traditional distribution chain for the fresh flower market is: grower, distributor, wholesaler, retailer and finally the consumer. As a result of the number of participants in this structure, a flower may be as much as seven to ten days old before it is available for sale in a retail store. Additionally, the industry participants do not confine themselves to a single role. For example, most growers distribute some flowers directly to local or more distant wholesalers, and many distributors and wholesalers engage in some of their own production. The fragmentation within the channels of distribution results in a rather inefficient distribution system. This gap in the fresh flower market structure was noticed by Ruth Owades who capitalized by creating Calyx Corolla (C), which is a true departure from traditional channels of distribution. The business model of C is as follows: orders from customers are received by telephone, fax, or mail at the central office in San Francisco and then sent via fax or computer to the thirty flower growers who supply C. The growers, in turn, pack and ship individual orders and send them directly to consumers by Federal Express. As a result, C is able to substantially reduce the time it takes to deliver flowers to the consumers door, typically only a few days after the flowers have been cut. 2) Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of CC versus a conventional business retailer? We will write a custom essay sample on Calyx Corolla specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Calyx Corolla specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Calyx Corolla specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer What market segments is CC most suited to take advantage of? Strengths of Calyx Corolla compared to a conventional flower retailer: 1)The most obvious strength and the greatest competitive advantage that CC has when compared to a conventional flower retailer is the ability to deliver fresher longer lasting flowers. As a result of pairing growers with Federal Express, CC is able to deliver flowers within a couple of days of being cut as opposed to retailers that sell flowers that have already spent a lifetime in warehouses, trucks and storerooms. )CC not only sells a superior product compared to flower retailers, it also attempts to educate and inform its consumers. Among the product, cost and color choices in its catalogs, CC includes trivia, consumer information and arrangement suggestions to make the flower purchasing experience more enjoyable for the consumer. 3)As a result of its partnership with Federal Express, CC has the ability to distribute flowers to people all over the wo rld. Retailers, however, are generally located only in areas where flower demand is high and thus cannot reach as many consumers as CC. )The case states that CC is comparable to flower retailers in terms of flower prices charged to consumers. As such, flower consumers get more flower value (freshness and longevity) for their money when purchasing from CC. Weaknesses of Calyx Corolla compared to a conventional flower retailer: 1)Flower retailers offer consumers the ability to purchase and enjoy flowers real time, as opposed to CC which takes days to deliver flowers. 2)Although CC has six annual catalogues that allow consumers to see pictures of products, conventional retailers allow consumers to select from on-hand inventory. )Consumers who order from CC are required to pay a delivery fee, whereas consumers who purchase flowers from a retailer do not have to pay extra fees. As a result of CCs strengths, it is suited to take advantage of a couple market segments. The first is the seg ment of flower consumers who value quality fresh flowers that will last long after purchase. The other segment that C is suited to take advantage of is the group of flower consumers who live in geographic locations where retailers are unavailable. ) What should Owades and her team do to fully develop the potential of the C business model? What would you recommend? In my opinion, C has a strong business plan that has not been fully developed. Strategically increasing advertising, pairing up with a credible brand name and allowing consumers to customize floral arrangements are a few recommendations to grow the C business model. Reaching out to consumers via television commercials, magazine and newspaper ads, radio spots and billboards are all new advertising options for C. Currently 70% of Cs revenue is derived from its catalog, 20% from corporate clients and 10% from outgoing telemarketing to previous flower recipients and existing customers. By informing consumers about CC via these new advertising strategies, CC would increase brand awareness and revenue. Another recommendation for CC is to couple its distribution leadership with brand recognition. For example, CC could team up with Martha Stewart, Williams-Sonoma or Smith Hawken to sell brand specific floral arrangements. Additionally, since these brands are internationally recognized, this recommendation will attract a wide range of consumers. Finally, CC could set up a website that would allow consumers to customize floral arrangements. Based on the inventory of the 30 contracted growers, consumers could mix and match different flowers to create virtual floral arrangements. Once pleased with their arrangement, the consumer would place the order online and CC could use its distribution strengths to deliver the product.

The Outsider by Albert Camus essays

The Outsider by Albert Camus essays This is an analysis on The Outsider by Albert Camus, an existentialist novel that details the life of Meursault, an anti-hero who refuses to play the game and conform to social norms, through a series of life changing events. The Outsider presents a strong relationship between the style of the text and its meaning, and it is exactly these things that will be explained throughout the remaining portion of this essay. The style of the text is spoken in the words of Meursault, simple and at most times, impassionate, yet it uses imagery and the elements of nature often to relay emotions to the reader. Behind the text are the themes of existentialism, human experience and social expectancies, which work together to create meaning. Through various links in the style of text, one can thus connect to its meanings. Analysis of the novels style should begin by recognizing the story's basic structure. There are three deaths, which mark the beginning, middle, and end of the story. First, Meursault's mother dies. This death occurs before the narration starts, but marks the start of Meursault's downfall. In the middle of the tale we have the death of an Arab. The defining events in The Outsider are set in motion by Meursault's apparent murder of the Arab, which is triggered by the enraging heat and other combined elements that seem to pursue him throughout the story. At the end of the novel, Meursault is executed. Interestingly, Meursault's name is also symbolic and backs up the points presented on the style of text. Mer means "sea" and Soliel is French for "sun." The sea and sun meet at the beach, where Meursault's fateful act occurs. During times of normality, Meursault sees things in very black and white terms. But when the suns rays thicken, everything exaggerates. At the end of chapter two, Me ursault details the perverse effects that the sun-drenched sky has on him. He describes the black, melting tar. By this stage he...

MANAGERIAL FINANCE Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

MANAGERIAL FINANCE - Case Study Example In 2000’s, the airlines inaugurated various Airbus jets and new suites of its products and made various records during this period. In 2004, it made a record of the world’s longest nonstop commercial flight from Singapore to Los Angeles. In 2008, it made a record again by operating an all Business class flight between Asia and USA (Singapore Airlines). The Singapore Airlines operate from Singapore and has 20 flight destinations in Middle East, UK, USA and South East Asia. The range of its products and services is vast starting from exceptional services at ground to different types of cuisines and forms of entertainment in flight. Their cuisine caters to needs of children, old age people and those from various religions. Their in-flight entertainment comprises of movies, TV shows, games and various other entertainment devices. Mileage credits for business and economy class passengers is another unique service provided by the airlines. KrisWorld in-flight entertainment system provides exceptional levels of comfort and entertainment to its first and business class passengers (Singapore Airlines) The operating profit, returns and earnings of the airlines saw a drastic increase in the year 2010-11. The operating profit rose with about 1911.5% and earnings per share with 402.20%. The drastic rise in the profitability of the company was due to the recovery after the slowdown of the global economic crisis in the late 2000’s. There was a rise in demand for the airlines products and services. The current trading period and the latter half of the last trading period year saw an improvement in the profitability of the company which saved it from incurring a loss (Singapore Airlines). The price earnings ratio for Singapore Airlines in the year 2010-11 is $0.15 (share price/ eps = 13.68/91.4). The price earnings ratio for Qantas in the year 2010-11 is $0.18 (1.97/11) (Qantas Airlines). The P/E ratio of Qantas Airlines is more favorable for the

Health care marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Health care marketing - Essay Example Besides, positioning pricing strategy seeks to maximize the current revenues for health care institutions with no regard to profit margins. Pricing in health care institutions should be a passive part so that the health care services can be affordable to everybody. Products and solutions have different positioning strategies, which they use to cut a niche in the market. For products, they should use the competitive pricing strategy to set a good customer base in the market. This strategy should aim at exceeding the competitors’ strength in the market. This can be achieved through focusing on quality advantage and product differentiation. Quite the reverse, services industry should take a different strategy, which aims at improving the quality of services offered by the service provider. Such services uses simultaneous competition that seeks to increase advertising for their services, introducing new services, providing rebates and incentives to clients and offering special service promotions for their services. This move will help increase productivity on their services that will result in lower cost and high quality

Embedded Formative Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Embedded Formative Assessment - Essay Example In essence, there were certain types of instructions issued by the teacher that seemed especially effective. For instance, the teacher would take us out to the field to learn about various phenomena and concepts related to the subject he was teaching. I think this was especially helpful because we used to directly learn about the concepts in practical situations hence we did not only enjoy his teaching lessons but we used to perform well in his subjects. Another approach that the teacher used in class was the discussion sessions whereby every student participated hence improving the general grade of each one. I think that besides the effective instruction methods, the teacher also used various assessments including but not limited to continuous class tests, end of syllabus exams, and a number of research papers. It is worthy to note that the types of assessments used matched the instructions employed in various ways. In his instructions, the teacher always encouraged class participations in order to keep every student at par with the topic of discussion. Perhaps I have to reiterate that this was the most interesting teacher and class in my entire academic life at least up to this point and

SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG)

SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report has been undertaken to come up with the intrinsic value of SSE plc which is operating in energy industry, using shareholder value analysis (SVA) model. The underlying value of the company is estimated to be  £12,122.14m, which is lower than the market value of  £15757.52m (FAME database, accessed on 19th January 2017). The discrepancy of the two values may be explained by referencing to Efficient Market Hypothesis, asymmetric information issue and shortcomings of SVA model. Based on sensitivity analysis, it is determined that SSEs intrinsic value is highly sensitive to changes in operating margin and WACC. It is found out that an adjustment of +2% made towards operating margin and WACC will remarkably change the company value by +86% and nearly -50% respectively. Therefore, analysts should pay more attention to these two variables when employing SVA model. The later section of the report identifies SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG) as a critical financial event, highlighting that the transaction will bring more synergy to the firms operation and enhance its competitive advantage in the energy industry. However, it is imperative for shareholders to keep track of the companys performance to alleviate problems of hubris or empire building. Objectives This financial report is expected to achieve two primary objectives. First, this report aims to provide the valuation and analysis of SSE plc a company operating in the energy industry by employing Shareholder Value Analysis (SVA) technique. Second, SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG) in 2014 will be evaluated with reference to finance theories in Mergers and Acquisitions. 1.2 Report structure This financial report is organized in five main parts: Section I: Introduction This section provides main purposes of the report and briefly describe structure of the report. Section II: Company Profile This section gives an overview of SSEs business activities, its market share and competitive positioning. Section III: Company Valuation This section covers the following contents: Evaluate the appropriateness of SVA model to value a company Perform the valuation of SSE plc using SVA model Provide justifications for variables and proxies used in the model Carry out comparative analysis and sensitivity analysis Section IV: Actual Corporate Financial Event This section critically evaluates SSEs acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group (ESG) with reference to finance theories. Some implications would also be proposed following the event evaluation. Section V: Conclusion This section summarizes the employment of SVA measure in case of SSE and then provide some recommendations. 2.1 Business Description SSE plc (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) is a British energy company headquartered in Perth, Scotland, United Kingdom. SSE was established in 1998 as a result of the merger between Scottish Hydro-Electric and Southern Electric. SSE is listed on London Stock Exchange and it stock forms part of FTSE 100, FTSE 350 and FTSE All-Share. SSEs business covers three segments: Wholesale, Networks and Retail. The Wholesale segment involves power generation from renewable and thermal plant in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe; the Networks segment is responsible for distributing electricity to customer premises in the North of Scotland and the South of England; meanwhile, the Retail segment supplies electricity and gas to residential and business customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland (Financial Times, 2017). Since SSE undertakes both generation and retail supply activities, it is considered a vertically integrated energy business. This makes SSE unique since SSE is the only company listed on London Stock Exchange involved in such a broad range of energy businesses (SSE, 2016a). Market share Regarding Wholesale business, in 2015 SSE had a small market share of 7%, accounting for only a quarter of EDFs share and about half of RWEs share (see Appendix 1). Referring to Ofgem (2016b), in 2015 the market shares of dominant energy producers in the UK remain relatively unchanged compared with these of 2014, which is also the case of SSE. With respect to Retail business, there were over 43 active energy suppliers in Britain by March 2016, most of which offering both gas and electricity supply (Ofgem, 2016a). SSE is included in Big 6 which are widely known as dominant leaders in the market, including British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, SSE, npower and ScottishPower. These companies supply gas and electricity to over 50 million household and businesses in Britain, with 87% share of domestic customers by March 2015 (Ofgem, 2016a). SSE is operating in a very competitive and well-functioning energy retail market. The firms market share in the market for energy supply can be illustrated in Appendix 2 and Appendix 3. By March 2016, SSE had the second largest market share of UK electricity supply market (about 15%), while its market share of gas supply (about 13%) only accounted for approximately one-third of British Gass share. Increasing competition in energy industry and SSEs competitive positioning Out of the three segments, Wholesale and Retail businesses have been facing increasing competition in recent years due to the entrance of new rivals in the GB Energy Supply market. There have been some concerns over barriers to entering wholesale and retail energy market such as the complexity and extent of credit requirements or low levels of liquidity in the market. Despite of these, new entry has taken place (see Appendix 4). The result of new suppliers entry is falling market share of the six large suppliers from 90% to 87% between March 2015 and March 2016 for electricity, and 90% to 86% for gas over the same period (Ofgem, 2016a). Specifically, the entry and growth of new suppliers has led to SSEs market share declining. There is a decreasing trend in the number of energy customer accounts for the past three years (see Appendix 5). In addition to the new rivalries entrance to the market, customers switching is another issue that reduce the market share of six large suppliers. Households are increasingly turning to smaller suppliers, with consumers complaining the sector is slow to pass on wholesale energy cuts and offers poor service. The total number of users switching suppliers in March 2016, 476,528 customers, was the highest since November 2013 (Energy UK, 2016). As the market become more and more competitive, attracting and retaining customers can pose challenges to SSE. However, SSE has a clear strategy to differentiate itself and create value by becoming a market-leading, digital and diversified retailer of energy and essential services. According to SSE (2015a), for the past few years SSE has: Launched its first large-scale advertising campaign for the SSE brand in both Britain and Ireland, known as Proud to make a difference campaign. The campaign has been implemented in many forms from TV, radio, billboards, print media to various digital and social media formats; Overhauled its digital channels in order to create a simple, seamless and intuitive customer experience and provide the best possible service at the lowest possible cost; Introduced a new customer relationship management (CRM) platform which facilitates better customer understanding and tailors communications and propositions to the needs of different customers; Developed and reopened sales channels and processes to ensure compliant growth. Additionally, SSEs commitment to decarbonization means that the firm will continue potential expansion in renewable energy portfolio which are comprised of onshore wind, offshore wind and conventional hydro. Furthermore, SSE is the leader in the UK energy industry to handle customer complaints. According to Energy Ombudsman in February 2016, only four out of 100,000 customer complaints required further investigation in the first three quarters of the year, pointing out the fact that 99.969% of SSEs customer issues were fully resolved (SSE, 2016a). 3.1 Evaluate the appropriateness of SVA Model There are many methods for estimating value of a company, including valuations based on asset, dividend, earnings and cash flows. Among these methods, discounted cash flow valuation is the most technical way of valuing a business as it is heavily dependent on assumptions about long-term business conditions. This measure is especially useful for cash-generating businesses which are stable and mature. Alfred Rappaport (1998) developed a simplified approach of cash flow discounting called shareholder value analysis (SVA). SVA model makes assumptions about steady changes in a number of cash flow factors as they are all relevant to sales level. There are obvious advantages associated with the use of this model. SVA is not subject to different accounting policies used by different companies and therefore can be applied across many business sectors. In addition, firms using SVA must concentrate on the future and customers, with specific focus on future cash flows. On the other hand, SVA is not a perfect model as it contains some shortcomings when being used in practice. Irrational assumptions about value drivers, as well as data unavailability are possible drawbacks that analyst frequently encounter when employing this model. 3.2 Justification of variables and proxies Employing the SVA Model to calculate a companys intrinsic value requires assumptions about a number of key variables. Sales growth might be the most important factor in the model, setting the foundation to come up with other variables values such as operating profit, incremental capital investment and incremental working capital investment. In case of SSE, sales growth is determined after careful consideration of historical growth rates, price forecast and potential future projects. For the last three years, sales growth has witnessed a decreasing trend, which can be explained by a number of reasons. First, energy prices in the UK are influenced by oil and coal prices; therefore, when these commodities prices move upward or downward, they are likely to drive gas and electricity prices in the same direction (Ofgem, 2016b). Since the second half of 2014, there were downward trends in oil and coal prices due to oversupplied markets for these commodities, contributing to declining energy prices and therefore SSEs revenues. The movements of oil price can be illustrated in the following figure: Figure 1: Brent Crude Oil price from 2010 to 2016 (Source: Bloomberg, 2016) Second, there are more and more energy suppliers in the UK market. Levels of new entry have been very high recently: 14 new suppliers became active between April 2015 and March 2016, compared to five between April 2014 and March 2015 (Ofgem, 2016a). The presence of new rivals leads to SSEs declining market share as well as the firms revenue. Third, more and more customers are switching to small and medium-sized suppliers, as shown in Figure 2. If this trend goes on, there will be much pressure on expected revenue of large energy suppliers. Figure 2: Monthly increases in the total number of domestic gas and electricity meters supplied by small and medium-sized suppliers (Source: Ofgem analysis of data provided by Xoserve, DNOs and iDNOs, 2016) From the above data, it might seem that SSEs revenue will be struggling in the next few years. However, there are evidences for investors to believe in SSEs sales growth for at least the next 5 years. First, oil price forecasts by World Bank, IMF and EIU indicate crude oil prices will observe steady increases from 2017 to 2025 (Knoema, 2016) (see figure 4, figure 4 and figure 6). Figure 3: World Bank Oil Price Forecast (Source: Knoema, 2016) Figure 4: IMF Oil Price Forecast (Source: Knoema, 2016) Figure 5: EIU Oil Price Forecast (Source: Knoema, 2016) Second, some renewable projects will be fully operational in 2017 and these will definitely support revenue growth in the next few years. As reported by SSE (2016c), three onshore wind projects under construction are expected to come into operation in 2017, including Dunmaglass (94MW), Clyde Extension (173MW) and Bhlaraidh (108MW). After above analysis has been taken into account, the sales growth is determined as the arithmetic average of the changes in sales over the previous three years, giving the result of 0.82%. This sales growth is reasonable given that SSE is operating in increasingly competitive industry, with customers tending to switch to small and medium-sized suppliers in recent years. The operating profit margin is predicted to be 2.87%, which can be worked out by taking the average of the margins in previous three years. The reason behind this assumption is that SSE is an efficient energy supplier committed to maintaining relatively low operating costs in order to make a fair profit. According to SSE (2015a), SSEs indirect costs per customer are around 20% lower than the average across the rest of the major suppliers. The effect of low operating costs can be demonstrated by stable operating profit margins for the last three years, and it is expected that this trend will continue for the coming financial years. The incremental capital investment of 53% is understandable as the company continues to develop secure, sustainable and low carbon energy infrastructure, given that the energy industry is switching to renewable energy sources. In its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2016, SSE announced it plans to invest a record  £1.85bn of capital expenditure and investment in Great Britain and Ireland in 2016/17 (SSE, 2016b). According to Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE Chief Executive, the firm is making more investment in supporting the modernization of UKs energy facilities, and the total investment and capital expenditure by 2020 is forecast to reach approximately  £6bn. A relatively low working capital investment of 10% is determined since SSEs current assets are just enough to absorb current liabilities in the last few years. Trade and other receivables accounts for a large proportion of SSEs current assets due to the nature of the energy supply business. Meanwhile, current liabilities are mainly comprised of trade and other payables, which is because the company is making heavy investment in renewable energy infrastructure. Simply put, an incremental working capital investment of 10% is appropriate for SSE given that many potential energy projects will be under construction in the coming years. The corporation tax rate of 20% is applied to company profits (HMRC, 2016), and SSEs business is also subject to this rate. Another key variable in SVA is weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The cost of debt is determined as SSEs weighted average interest rate, which is 3.73% for year 2016. Meanwhile, the cost of equity is computed using CAPM model. SSEs beta (0.74) was obtained from FAME database, while the UK Gilt 10 Year Yield (1.40%) collected on Bloomberg website is used as the proxy for risk-free rate; all of these figures were retrieved on 19th January 2017. In addition, the UK market risk premium (5.3%) by Fernandez, et al., (2016) is another key component in the CAPM. Subsequently, a WACC of 4.59% is achieved and this is the required rate of return for SSEs capital providers. In short, the following seven value drivers will be applied in case of SSE: Table 1: Seven value drivers for SVA model Key Drivers Value Sales growth 0.82% Operating Profit margin 2.87% Tax rate 20% Incremental fixed capital investment 53% Incremental working capital investment 10% Planning Horizon 5 Required Rate of Return 4.59% Source: Analysts estimate 3.3 Employment of SVA Model Table 2 illustrates how SVA model is utilized in SSEs case. SSEs revenue of  £28,781m (recorded on 31st March 2016) was increased annually by a sales growth of 0.82% over a 5-year planning horizon. Subsequently, an operating margin of 2.87% was applied to revenues to come up with the firms operating profit. Before arriving at SSEs operating cash flows, a corporation tax rate of 20% was imposed on the operating profit, followed by subtractions of 53% in incremental capital investment and 10% in working capital investment. Afterwards, the present value of future cash flows was estimated by discounting the firms operating cash flows by 4.59% cost of capital. It is noted that SSEs terminal value at year 6+ was discounted twice, the first of which worked out the value at year 5 and the second one brought out the value in present day. After the net present value of  £18,930.7m was figured out, adjustments were made by adding  £360.2m cash and marketable securities, and then deducting  £7,168.8m total debt. After all, SSEs intrinsic value was determined at  £12,122.14m. Table 2: SSEs Shareholder value analysis (unit: million pounds) Year 1 2 3 4 5 6+ Sales 29,018.4 29,257.7 29,498.9 29,742.2 29,987.5 29,987.5 Profit 833.6 840.5 847.4 854.4 861.5 861.5 Associate Profit 206.5 208.2 209.9 211.6 213.4 213.4 Less Tax 166.7 168.1 169.5 170.9 172.3 172.3 Less ICI 125.1 126.1 127.2 128.2 129.3 0 Less IWCI 23.7 23.9 24.1 24.3 24.5 0 Operating Cash Flow 724.6 730.6 736.6 742.7 748.8 902.6 PV of cash flows 692.8 667.8 643.8 620.6 598.3 15,707.4 NPV 18,930.7 Add mkt secs 19,290.9 Less debt 7,168.8 Equity Value SVA 12,122.14 million Actual Value 15,757.52 million FAME access on 19th January 2017 Source: Analysts estimate 3.4 Comparative Analysis SSEs intrinsic value derived from SVA model was  £12,122.14m while its market capitalisation was recorded at  £15757.52m (FAME database, accessed on 19th January 2017), pointing the difference of  £3,635.38m between the two values. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that all relevant information may not be incorporated into the share price. It could be inferred from Efficient Market Hypothesis (Fama, 1970) that the extent to which the share price is reliable depends on the efficiency of the markets. Under the strong form efficiency, the market value of  £15757.52m will fully reflect all past, present and insider information. On the other hand, if the market is under the weak form efficiency, the market value of  £15757.52m will only reflect the historical prices of the security, and hence lacking reliability. Furthermore, the information asymmetry, e.g. between management and investors and between investors themselves, is another explaining factor. Plesco Sobol (2013) states that investors who are ill-informed about financial disclosures can make unreasonable decisions in their investment. Due to irrational trading behaviours of these investors, share prices may not yield a fair market value. Another cause of the difference between the two values lies in the limitations of SVA model. The constant sales growth every year is not very realistic because the growth depends on potential development and firms strategies, which are subject to annual reviews. In the same manner, keeping WACC (4.59%) constant over 5-year planning horizon is not rational in practice, because the firms capital structure will change over time. Last but not least, the assumptions of sales growth and other key variables depend on each analysts subjective viewpoint. Changing these values by a small percentage might result in considerable change in eventual intrinsic value. 3.5 Sensitivity Analysis The sensitivity analysis performance indicates that SSEs underlying value is highly sensitive to changes operating profit margin. A positive adjustment of 2% made towards the operating margin will result in a substantial increase of 86% in the firms equity value (see Appendix 6). It is worth remembering that SSE is committed to preserve low operating costs so as to gain a fair profit. According to SSE (2015b), the firm has participated in a value program to ensure effective use of people and capital, the overall objective of which is business streamlining and simplification. This program comes with efficiency target, with expected  £100m of annual savings in overheads. In addition, the program involves reduction in offshore wind development as well as disposal of non-core assets. In general, this value scheme is likely to help SSE optimize its investment and re-balance its business. Moreover, it is noticeable that the firms intrinsic value is susceptible to changes in WACC. An adjustment of +2% in the WACC will lead to approximately 50% reduction in the firms equity value (see Appendix 6). According to Fitch Ratings (2016), SSEs equity has been diminishing recently due to the influence of sustained asset impairment losses and generous dividend pay-outs. In agreement with Pecking Order Theory, debt takes priority over equity in case external finance is required (Donaldson, 1961). Because SSEs cost of debt (3.73%) is lower than cost of equity (5.32%), it is appropriate for SSE to obtain  more bank loans to finance its long-term operations, while still making sure cost of capital is kept to a minimum. Particularly Fitch Ratings (2016) claims that SSE has a policy of accessing debt markets, ensuring that its committed borrowings equal to at least 105% of forecast borrowings over a six-monthly rolling period and adequate liquidity will be fulfilled until at least S eptember 2017. 4.1 Background information In the end of July 2014, SSE completed the acquisition of The Energy Solutions Group Topco Limited (ESG), the North west-based provider of energy management services, from Bridgepoint Development Capital for  £66m with an additional  £6m if agreed targets are achieved. Working with private and public sector customers, ESG identify improvements in their management of energy consumption; as well as install, maintain and support building management systems and solutions, saving customers around 20% to 30% of their energy consumption (SSE, 2014). 4.2 Evaluation of the issue in the context of finance theories This acquisition is classified into vertical MA (Mergers and Acquisitions). According to Arnold (2013), vertical MA occur between companies operating in the same industry at different stages of production, i.e. one company acquires another company that is either before or after it in the supply chain process. In case of SSEs acquisition, both SSE and ESG work in the energy industry. SSE involves in all many stages of energy supply chain including wholesale, networks (distribution) and retail; meanwhile ESG engages in the retail business where it is the designer and provider of energy management solutions. Therefore, SSEs acquiring ESG would be a downstream vertical acquisition. So, what is SSEs motivation behind this acquisition? Vertical integration has some advantages, including the attraction of increased certainty of supply or market outlet; reducing cost of search, contracting, payment collection, advertising, communication and co-ordination of production (Arnold, 2013). SSE (2014) states that the acquisition of ESG will strengthen SSEs services in competitive markets for industrial and commercial customers. These services are comprised of electrical and mechanical contracting, lighting services, private energy networks and telecoms, all of which are under the control of Enterprise division which forms part of SSEs retail business. According to Arnold (2013), one of the merger and acquisition motives is synergy in which the two firms together are worth more than the value of the firms apart; hence in this case, ESG will bring commercial synergies to SSEs Enterprise division. SSEs Chief Executive Alistair emphasized that managing energy costs and environmental impact are SSEs big priority for large industrial and commercial customers. Benefiting from ESGs expertise, SSE expects to meet the energy and related demands of these customers in an enhanced manner. It was confirmed that the ESGs existing management team would be in charge of the Enterprise division, and the firm believed that the commitment of the ESG management team and other employees will benefit its customers and the environment in terms of effective energy management solutions delivery. SSEs acquisition of ESG is considered a strategic acquisition in order to achieve external growth. There are two ways to categorize strategic acquisitions: by type of capability transferred and by their relation to corporate strategy (Goold Luchs, 1995). Regarding capability transfer, SSE (2015a) asserts that the acquisition of ESG added new capabilities to the business. (Goold Luchs, 1995) claims that value is created in an acquisition when competitive advantage of one firm is enhanced through the transfer of strategic capabilities including resource sharing, functional skill transfer and management skill transfer. The presence of ESG management team in SSEs Enterprise division will upgrade SSEs capability of strategic planning, ensuring that effective energy management solutions are delivered for the sake of customers. Generally, SSE is expected to benefit from management skill transferred from ESG. Another way to categorize strategic acquisitions is based on their contribution to corporate-level strategy. In other words, acquisitions are assessed considering their connections in maintaining and changing the balance between the firms existing domain and the renewal of its capabilities (Goold Luchs, 1995). An acquisitions contributions are classified into either domain strengthening, domain extension or domain exploration. In light of SSEs acquiring ESG, this would be an illustration of domain strengthening because this acquisition will deepen SSEs presence in retail business, especially reinforcing Enterprise divisions operation. Next, it is essential to see what happened with SSE stock price after the firm made announcement about the acquisition of ESG. Theoretically, when a firm acquires another one, a short-term impact on the stock price of both companies is expected. Specifically, a lot of practical studies point out that the acquiring firms stock price will go down while the acquired entitys stock price will rise (Investopedia, 2016a). With respect to the takeover company, its stock will go down mainly because of a number of uncertainties associated with the acquisition, such as turbulent integration process, lost productivity, additional debt or expense incurred and accounting issues (Investopedia, 2016a). Figure 6 demonstrates SSEs stock prices after the acquisition of ESG was disclosed. Figure 6: SSEs stock price movements after acquisition of ESG (Source: Hargreaves Lansdown, 2014) As can be seen from the above figure, SSEs stock prices witnessed decreases in two consecutive days after the acquisition and this conformed with the empirical studies implication m

The Ancient Art of Feng Shui Essay -- History Research Papers China Es

The Ancient Art of Feng Shui The History of Feng Shui Feng Shui has been practiced in China for thousands of years and is believed to have started in 2953 B.C. when Hu of Hsia found a tortoise that had a perfect "magic square" on its back. From this discovery evolved the I Ching, the oldest book in Chinese history, and possibly the world (Webster 1). This book contains the first written instructions on the theory of Feng Shui. Feng Shui was seen as a sacred power, so much so that in ancient China, only the privileged class had access to the knowledge. There are even stories of members of the Imperial family who went out of their way to obscure the texts in order to prevent those who might be a threat to them from obtaining the sacred knowledge. The first Ming emperor even ordered that the country be flooded with books containing misleading theories and incorrect guidelines on Feng Shui (Too 2). When Chiang Kai Shek fled the mainland he took thousands of books on Feng Shui with him to Taiwan and used its principles in building a regime there. From there it traveled to Hong Kong and eventually to the Western World through Marco Polo (Cassidy). Modern Feng Shui is based on the commentaries from Wang Chi and other scholars from the Sung dynasty, 1126-960 B.C. (Webster 3). What is Feng Shui? Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of living in harmony with nature and your surroundings, in order to maximize your health, prosperity and luck. It literally translates as "wind and water" and it involves the placement of buildings in relation to their surroundings, and the placement of furniture within the building in order to maximize the ch’i, the original energy source on the earth, from which everything else was created (Webster 4). As the dragon is seen as the most revered celestial creature of Chinese philosophy, ch’i has been called the breath of the dragon. Ch’i is an invisible energy that circulates throughout the world but also gathers in certain areas. The basic idea of Feng Shui is to harness as much ch’i as possible by allowing it to gather where you are, whether it is in your home or in your office. Ch’i is the life force that is all living things, and can be found, in its perfection wherever things are done perfectly. An arti st who creates a masterpiece is creating ch’i. Through Feng Shui, we are looking for places where ch’i is ac... ...ents and residential, family dwellings. It is the art of placement, a science and a philosophy that was meant to bring harmony through the observance of our environments and how the balance of the energies created can affect all the aspects of our lives. "All we do is connected to Mother Earth and Ch’i, the Natural Order or Energy which permeates the universe" (Feng Shui Innovations). Within the past ten years there has been an amazing amount of interest in this science in the western world as people, for various reasons, look for answers, and search for a way to be in harmony with the world. An ancient Chinese saying lists the five basic principles of successful living: "First comes destiny, and then comes luck. Third comes Feng Shui, and with that comes philanthropy and education" (Webster 33). Works Cited: Cassidy, William L. "www.qi-whiz.com". Feng Shui Innovations. "www.fengshui-innovations.com". Feng Shui Society. "www.fengshuisociety.org.uk/". Too, Lillian. Basic Feng Shui. Oriental Publications, Australia:1997. Webster, Daniel. Feng Shui for Beginners. Llewellyn Publication, St. Paul:1997. Xing, Wu. The Feng Shui Workbook. Tuttle Pub., Boston:1998.

Hourly Rounding & Fall Precaution Essay

Falls are a common occurrence among medical, surgical and elderly patients in hospitals. One of the largest categories of reported adverse events in hospitals are patient falls, which are estimated to cost more than $20 billion a year. (2010 Lippincott Williams &Wilkins, Inc.) Prevention is the best method to decrease the number of falls and reduce hospital cost and increase patient satisfaction. One of the best ways to prevent falls is patient hourly rounding. Hourly rounding means intentionally checking on patients at regular intervals continuously to ensure patients’ needs has been met. Attending to patients’ comfort, safety, and environmental needs may prevent adverse events like falls and contribute to patients’ satisfaction. There is study which evaluates the effectiveness of hourly rounding to reduce the rate of falls. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hourly rounding on fall rates and patient satisfaction in patients. Metho ds: MEDLINE and CINAHL were the search engines. Key search words were hourly/patient rounding, falls, call lights, and patient satisfaction ( Margo A 2009). Evaluations were conducted in all hospital units, telemetry, medical/surgical and orthopedic. Reports were retrieved .In 5 of 6 studies (83%) that examined use of call lights, the use was reduced. (Meade C 2006) reported that nurses were summoned 12 to 15 times daily to respond to non-urgent needs such as toileting, positioning, or pain relief. By nurses’ anticipating these needs through making rounds, patient care may be interrupted less with non-urgent calls. Fall rates were reduced in 7 of 9 studies (77%) in which falls were evaluated. In one study, (Kalman M 2008) making rounds did not affect the rate of falls, and in another study ((Bourgault A 2008) the rate of falls increased. Other studies uncovered less use of restraints (Assi M 2008) and attendants when making rounds was instituted. In 8 of 9 studies (88%), researche rs discovered improvements in overall patient satisfaction (Medsurg Nurse. 2008) .They were more satisfied with anticipation and attention to personal needs, timeliness of nurses’ response, and management of pain. Patients who had frequent admission to the hospital noted the difference after implementation of hourly rounding. They perceived the nursing staff to be more attentive. Available evidence  represent that making rounds is appropriate, safe, and useful for practice and has positive impact to decrease rate of falls and increase patient satisfaction. Conclusion: Decreasing patients fall and increasing patient satisfaction are important goal in any organizations .In this study hourly rounding has improved patient satisfaction and decreased rate of falls in patients significantly, however higher quality study designs are needed to assess the effect of hourly rounds in a variety of settings, including units with a history of good outcomes, to determine what promise making rounds holds for further improvements (Meade C 2006). The study of hourly rounding is very significant to the nursing. Many studies reviled the importance of hourly rounding and it is an interdisciplinary practice in most of the institutes. Making hourly rounds can be viewed as a bundle of interventions that promote not only comfort but safety of both patients and nurses (Mosby,2008).Hourly rounding helps nurses to anticipate and evaluate the needs of patients ,addresses the 4ps (pain , position , potty , possessions) and additional comfort needs . Research about hourly roundi ng shows it is effective in increasing patient satisfaction, increasing nursing satisfaction and increasing quality by reducing fall rates. Hourly Rounding & Fall Precaution Falls are a common occurrence among medical, surgical and elderly patients in hospitals. One of the largest categories of reported adverse events in hospitals are patient falls, which are estimated to cost more than $20 billion a year. (2010 Lippincott Williams &Wilkins, Inc.) Prevention is the best method to decrease the number of falls and reduce hospital cost and increase patient satisfaction. One of the best ways to prevent falls is patient hourly rounding. Hourly rounding means intentionally checking on patients at regular intervals continuously to ensure patients’ needs has been met. Attending to patients’ comfort, safety, and environmental needs may prevent adverse events like falls and contribute to patients’ satisfaction. There is study which evaluates the effectiveness of hourly rounding to reduce the rate of falls. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hourly rounding on fall rates and patient satisfaction in patients. Methods: MEDLINE and CINAHL were the search engines. Key search words were hourly/patient rounding, falls, call lights, and patient satisfaction ( Margo A 2009). Evaluations were conducted in all hospital units, telemetry, medical/surgical and orthopedic. Reports were retrieved .In 5 of 6 studies (83%) that examined use of call lights, the use was reduced. (Meade C 2006) reported that nurses were summoned 12 to 15 times daily to respond to non-urgent needs such as toileting, positioning, or pain relief. By nurses’ anticipating these needs through making rounds, patient care may be interrupted less with non-urgent calls. Fall rates were reduced in 7 of 9 studies (77%) in which falls were evaluated. In one study, (Kalman M 2008) making rounds did not affect the rate of falls, and in another study ((Bourgault A 2008) the rate of falls increased . Other studies uncovered less use of restraints (Assi M 2008) and attendants when making rounds was instituted. In 8 of 9 studies (88%), research ers discovered improvements in overall patient satisfaction (Medsurg Nurse. 2008) .They were more satisfied with anticipation and attention to personal needs, timeliness of nurses’ response, and management of pain. Patients who had frequent admission to the hospital noted the difference after implementation of hourly rounding .They perceived the nursing staff to be more attentive. Available evidence represent that making rounds is appropriate, safe, and useful for practice and has positive impact to decrease rate of falls and increase patient satisfaction. Conclusion: Decreasing patients fall and increasing patient satisfaction are important goal in any organizations .In this study hourly rounding has improved patient satisfaction and decreased rate of falls in patients significantly, however higher quality study designs are needed to assess the effect of hourly rounds in a variety of settings, including units with a history of good outcomes, to determine what promise making rounds holds for further improvements (Meade C 2006). The study of hourly rounding is very significant to the nursing. Many studies reviled the importance of hourly rounding and it is an interdisciplinary practice in most of the institutes. Making hourly rounds can be viewed as a bundle of interventions  that promote not only comfort but safety of both patients and nurses (Mosby,2008).Hourly rounding helps nurses to anticipate and evaluate the needs of patients ,addresses the 4ps (pain , position , potty , possessions) and additional comfort needs . Research about hourly rou nding shows it is effective in increasing patient satisfaction, increasing nursing satisfaction and increasing quality by reducing fall rates.

Effect of Amniocentesis as a Growing Trend

Effect of Amniocentesis as a Growing Trend Free Online Research Papers Amniocentesis has come about to be an effective and widely used trend in today’s world. It is a trend that has started to develop very recently. As a new technology, it is still in its primary stages. New developments are being made in this field but none of them have been established right now. In general amniocentesis is described as a process of drawing amniotic fluid from a pregnant women’s womb with a long needle to find out about the sex of the child and also look for any genetic disorders that the child may be carrying, that might affect the child after it is born and as it grows up. More and more pregnant women are using this process to ensure a safe health of their babies but, like everything else, it has its long term effects which cannot be overlooked, and in the long run can have certain effects which can destroy any healthy family. Amniocentesis is one of the processes of the broad subject matter of prenatal genetic testing. One major significance that the trend is going to have as researchers are thinking on it is the use of amniotic cells as amniotic stem cells. As more and more studies are going on in this topic the researchers have found that stem cells can be extracted from the amniotic fluid with the potential for therapy. Research has also found out that the stem cells that are extracted from the amniotic fluid have properties that resemble the properties of embryonic stem cells. One of the biggest significance that this research is going to have is that during amniocentesis a lot of cells are routinely discarded from the womb and scientists and researchers can use these cells as amniotic stem cells without posing any harm to the fetus or correctly the still developing embryo. People, especially pregnant ladies, think it will be a good thing that they will be able to help in a good cause while retaining what they want to and not harming what they don’t want harmed (survey). The use of embryonic stem cells is a very sensitive and controversial issue and now the finding that the cells extracted from the amniotic fluid can also do the same thing without having the highly objectionable consequences is going to give people some time to think about the use of embryonic stem cells and see if there is any situation in a persons life when that person wants an abortion. Well, rather than kill the fetus all together, it can be given up to be used for research and in that way help humanity. Amniocentesis started out as a procedure which was used to determine the sex of the baby before it was born. The doctors bring out some of the amniotic fluid from the mothers womb and test the cells to see the kind of chromosomes it has. This side of amniocentesis has also been used to preselect the gender of the baby before it was born. That became a very controversial issue, because a child’s determination of gender in the womb gender is natural process and according to the protesting people it should not be tampered with. But it is still used widely in some parts of the world where the reason to do this to some extent is the existence of gender discrimination. Although living and being born in United States of America a child (girl/boy) would not experience gender discrimination. They are told from the start that they are equal and can do everything like each other. This discrimination has various levels of existence, but the saddest level of all these is its existence among babies. In developing countries girls are still considered to be a burden and an extra expense added to the family. The poor families who barely survive are more annoyed when a new born in their family happens to be a girl. In these developing countries, since childhood girls are told that they are second in everything they do except that they are first in causing the family trouble for no visible reason. Boys are always put on a higher pedestal than the girls are, moreover girls are not given any kind of pedestal at all. According to Julie Mullins in â€Å"children in a world of violence† â€Å"Discrimination against girls and women in the developing world is a devastating reality. It results in millions of individual tragedies, which add up to lost potential for entire countries. Studies show there is a direct link between a countrys attitude toward women and its progress socially and economically. The status of women is central to the health of a society. If one part suffers, so does the whole†. Certain obstacles are put in a girl’s path as she grows up like-sex trafficking, abuse, neglect, dowry, labor etc. All this affects the girl emotionally and breaks them down. Earlier when amniocentesis did not exist people either had to deal with girl child or used to kill them after they were born. But, now as amniocentesis is available and can detect the sex of the child while still in the womb, people in especially developing countries go through this process just to find out the sex and if it is a girl a lot of them get it aborted. In a sense amniocentesis has taken this gender discrimination phenomenon to a level where it cou ld not go before. Amniocentesis is a very safe process and at the same time also a very useful process. People earlier thought that it is a process that may provide harm to the mother and the child inside her, but, scientific studies have proved that it does not have any harm on the mother or the child. The pregnant women who were earlier scared of amniocentesis can rest easier now. They had a fear that having an amniocentesis test would increase the chances of them having a miscarriage. In general it is said that 1 in 200 women are in risk of having a miscarriage due to amniocentesis. But two new studies by two different institutions have proved that this process has become safer. According to a study performed The University of California, San Francisco, 1 in 370 women have a chance of having a miscarriage due to amniocentesis. According to another study by Mount Sinai school of medicine, 1 in 1,600 women will go through miscarriage. So, these studies prove that amniocentesis is a very safe procedur e and can be and should be done by the pregnant women to be sure that the fetus inside them does not have any genetic abnormalities. After learning about these statistics, more people in the surveys I did were consoled that they would undergo the procedure of amniocentesis to ensure the safety of their child. It is very simple to notice how the human mind can sometimes very easily take the simple data produced in front of it and conclude on undergoing for something big like amniocentesis. Amniocentesis having been developed at such a constant rate, now also provides for pre-selecting how a couple’s baby will look. This is a controversial issue. People now sometimes do not use their own genetic material, instead they go to labs and find the embryo that they want implanted in their system, so their baby can be perfect or the way they want it to be. This is a long term effect that amniocentesis will cause, or to say has started to cause. It plays with nature and tampers the natural process. But, this process also helps some families who have a history of genetic disorders in their family and it has been passed down from generation to generation. They have a reason to pre-select their baby, so a healthy gene enters a family which can eventually help reduce the next generations chances of getting the genetic defect. Amniocentesis is done around the 16th week of the pregnancy. It looks out for genetic abnormalities like Downs’s syndrome, spinabifida cystic fibrosis and tay-sachs. It is generally recommended for women whose family has a history of genetic disorders or if the woman is above the age of 35 and is having a baby. In that case the baby has a higher chance of having a chromosomal disorder. Since it does not have a very huge cost associated with it, it is possible for an average human to do it once in their lifetime, for any kind of worry that may be troubling them about the pregnancy. This process does not have any harmful consequences, but it depends because there is still research going on in this field and that will tell if this is going to affect us in a negative way or not. Amniocentesis itself is a cost effective procedure, but if the test proves that the baby certainly does have some genetic defect, then the cost effectiveness of this process becomes cost expensiveness. Selecting the genes planning everything ahead of the baby’s arrival and paying everything becomes very expensive for the family. That is why a lot of people come to know of their baby’s disorder but cannot do anything for the lack of financial freedom. That is a setback that can traumatize families, the fact that they know their baby is genetically sick but they cannot do anything. Amniocentesis is a process that is both helping and harming people. It has too many long term effects associated with it once a parent finds out about their baby’s disorder. But, science is developing and it provides for solution for everything. For a general check up to ensure good health of the baby, amniocentesis should be done by everyone. 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Geography of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Geography of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Vancouver is the largest city in the Canadian province of British Columbia and is the third largest in Canada. As of 2006, Vancouvers population was 578,000 but its Census Metropolitan Area surpassed two million. Vancouvers residents (like those in many large Canadian cities) are ethnically diverse and over 50% are not native English speakers. Location The City of Vancouver is located on the British Columbias west coast, adjacent to the Strait of Georgia and across that waterway from Vancouver Island. It is also north of the Fraser River and lies mostly on the western part of the Burrard Peninsula. The city of Vancouver is well-known as one of the worlds most livable cities but it is also one of the most expensive in Canada and North America. Vancouver has also hosted many international events and most recently, it has gained worldwide attention because it and nearby Whistler hosted the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. What to Know About Vancouver The following is a list of the most important things to know about Vancouver, British Columbia: The City of Vancouver is named after George Vancouver - a British captain who explored Burrard Inlet in 1792.Vancouver is one of Canadas youngest cities and the first European settlement was not until 1862 when McLeerys Farm was established on the Fraser River. It is believed, however, that aboriginal people lived in the Vancouver region from at least 8,000-10,000 years ago.Vancouver officially incorporated on April 6, 1886, after Canadas first transcontinental railroad reached the region. Shortly thereafter, the nearly the entire city was destroyed when the Great Vancouver Fire broke out on June 13, 1886. The city quickly rebuilt though and by 1911, it had a population of 100,000.Today, Vancouver is one of the most densely populated cities in North America after New York City and San Francisco, California with around 13,817 people per square mile (5,335 people per sq km) as of 2006. This is a direct result of urban planning focused on high-rise residential and mixed-use development as opposed to urban sprawl. Vancouvers urban planning practice originated in the late 1950s and is known in the planning world as Vancouverism. Because of Vancouverism and a lack of large amounts of urban sprawl as seen in other large North American cities, Vancouver has been able to maintain a large population and also a large amount of open space. Within this open land is Stanley Park, one of the largest urban parks in North America at around 1,001 acres (405 hectares).Vancouvers climate is considered oceanic or marine west coast and its summer months are dry. The average July high temperature is 71Â °F (21Â °C). Winters in Vancouver are usually rainy and the average low temperature in January is 33Â °F (0.5Â °C).The City of Vancouver has a total area of 44 square miles (114 sq km) and consists of both flat and hilly terrain. The North Shore Mountains are located near the city and dominate much of its cityscape, but on clear days, Mount Baker in Washington, Vancouver Island, and Bowen Island to the northeast can all be seen. In the early days of its growth, Vancouvers economy was based around logging and sawmills which were established beginning in 1867. Although forestry is still Vancouvers largest industry today, the city is also home to the Port Metro Vancouver, which is the fourth largest port based on tonnage in North America. Vancouvers second largest industry is tourism because it is a well-known urban center worldwide. What Its Known For Vancouver is nicknamed Hollywood North because it is the third largest film production center in North America following Los Angeles and New York City. The Vancouver International Film Festival takes place annually each September. Music and visual arts are also common in the city. Vancouver also has another nickname of city of neighborhoods as much of it is divided into different and ethnically diverse neighborhoods. English, Scottish, and Irish people were Vancouvers largest ethnic groups in the past, but today, there is a large Chinese-speaking community in the city. Little Italy, Greektown, Japantown and the Punjabi Market are other ethnic neighborhoods in Vancouver. To learn more about Vancouver, visit the citys official website. Sources: Wikipedia. (2010, March 30). Vancouver. Wikipedia- the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from:Â  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver

Do we still need library Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Do we still need library - Essay Example Library users themselves have developed an appreciation for knowledge as well as information making more adept than their predecessors do. Institutions, particularly academic and medical, and communities have to determine the relevance of libraries given the new age technology that makes it possible to have open access. Such relevance can be determined by identifying what the expectations of the modern-day world are given that the internet platform has wider reach and content especially concerning next generation applications (Watstein and Mitchell 182). Academic libraries are described as the measure of the character and efficiency of universities that is depending on how they are ‘treated’. In a university, a library should have the most complete provision and be maintained properly as it is the most valuable equipment. Every piece of work produced at a university directly depends on a library as the research centre and indirectly a library is useful for educational wo rks. Even with scientific research, a library is needed for gathering of information just as much as the laboratory is needed for data collection. With humanistic research, a library is fundamental as it takes on the purpose of both library and laboratory. The learning process in higher education institutions is dependent on the library tools as the library is second in importance to the lecturers. The library tools refer to a variety of sources of information including journals, books and newspaper articles with scholarly information (Joshi 24). Gonzalez et al compare academic libraries to science laboratories, as they are equally open to experimentation. This means they can remain relevant if businesses and academic institutions embrace innovation concerning service delivery. For instance, the University of Maryland and the College of Information Services collaborated to create the Virtual Business Information Centre that is a website providing single process access to both print and electronic media, as well as guidance in choice of databases, specific and general search strategies, plus links to chat reference and emails. This collaboration is essential, as it is not possible for an academic institution to carry on alone the responsibility of developing along with insuring information literacy proficiency, with its faculty and students. A specialized website makes it possible to have enhanced services as well as save on costs as the need for staff and resources, along with costly parallel systems is eliminated. Albeit, it is crucial to note that innovation can only be relevant in so far as the needs of the users are responded to in a timely and effective manner. The needs of the users can be developed by creating a wider information base that in turn expands their knowledge and makes them want further services (Gonzalez et al 233). Libraries are seen as a tool for enriching knowledge already gained in the classroom by students, where having a structure set aside for this sole purpose becomes integral. At the same time, public libraries are seen as a meeting point for students to convene and share their learning experiences as well as offer each other assistance with regard to research and general gathering of information. More often than not, teachers and lecturers will give out-group assignments and students

Class objectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Class objectives - Essay Example With all that power, marketing is a subject worthy of serious study. One of the most important things marketers can do, and one of the things I wish to learn the most about, is the building of relationships with customers. Many companies succeed in the marketplace because they are able to develop and sustain relationships with consumers in a way that makes consumers feel as though they are part of a family. This is partly done by concerning a company with their consumers satisfaction. Marketing is about playing into peoples' dreams and expectations of their own lives. The more that a company understands their customers desires and wishes, as well as underlying factors such as demographics and income levels, the easier it is to build that relationship through marketing. Marketing is an important part of our lives. To know the forces that help to dictate our choices in the marketplace, it is important to understand how marketing works. That is my main objective in taking this course.

Is Globalization Presently Being Governed To the extent that it is, Essay

Is Globalization Presently Being Governed To the extent that it is, how is it been done - Essay Example It is argued, that although pluralism is not a conventional method of understanding governance, it is a new and effective method for responding to the exigencies of the multi-layered nature of globalization. This research study is therefore divided into two parts. The first part of this paper defines globalization as a means of presenting the multi-layered nature of globalization. The second part of this paper describes and analyses the global legal pluralism in terms of the governing of globalization. Globalization: Definition and Concepts Globalization is typically attributed to changes occurring in the international political and economic arena in the second half of the 20th century.5 The domestic economies have become progressively integrated via trans-national trade, finance and investment activities. Advances in technology have also eliminated a number of obstacles related to time, space and distance which in turn have accelerated and facilitated market integration of domestic economies. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the world stage has been dominated by a single â€Å"political ideology†, namely; capitalism.6 Snyder conceptualizes globalization as: ...an aggregate of multifaceted, uneven, often contradictory economic, political, social and cultural processes which are characteristic of our time.7 Governance of globalization necessarily means methods by which these aggregate and often conflicting forces are reconciled to respond to the challenges of globalization and to ensure that the political and economic benefits of globalization are realized. Another conceptualization of globalization identifies changes in the world political economy. In this regard, it is recognized that the world is no longer specifically organized around the idea of state sovereignty as the primary determinant in inter-state relations. Moreover, we â€Å"no longer live in a world of stable and predominantly self-contained national polit ical economic systems.†8 This reality arises out of the nature of globalization. Globalization essentially connects people in diverse ways across spaces so that borders become less significant. In this regard a generic definition of globalization is entirely useful in that it consists of four essential elements: interdependence, organization, culture and diffusion.9 Scholarly definitions of globalization also capture the interdependence of states within the international community. For instance and Harvard Professors Nye and Keohane refer to globalization as â€Å"globalism† which in turn is: A state of the world involving networks of interdependence at multi-continental distances. These networks can be linked through flows and influences of capital and goods, information and ideas, people and force, as well as environmentally and biologically relevant substances (such as acid rain or pathogens).10 ` Nye and Keohane also argue that while the term globalization became po pularized during

Study Is Bitter but Its Fruits Are Sweet Essay Example for Free

Study Is Bitter but Its Fruits Are Sweet Essay My journey started about 6 years back and is still developing to this day. Six years ago I weighed in at approximately 270 pounds, or that is when I stopped getting on a scale! My outward image was on a larger scale, but in my opinion, not a 270 pound scale. I was an active teenager who participated in all sports. I loved the sport atmosphere, but hated to put in the hard work, so I paid in many other ways. My weight increased and my performance went down. After sports, my activity level steadily declined with many excuses in tail. Jobs, school, and friends seemed to take precedence over my health and weight. Then the big life changing moment came for me, I got married. Married life took a toll on me personally, you get comfortable as well as my schedule, which was no longer just about me. About a year in to my new life, I was finding myself unhappy at times and even dissatisfied with myself. I knew this feeling was in relation to my weight gains so I decided to try a new regime which included some exercise and changed eating habits, or what some call a â€Å"diet.† Well like most people who set out to loose weight with an improper mind set, I slacked off here and there and eventually dropped the entire workout, eat healthy scenario! It wasn’t until I had my son that it all made sense to me. Yes, I needed to be healthy for myself, but I also had someone else depending on me to be healthy. With this new found motivation, I started walking. That was all I could physically do at the time, but you have to start somewhere. I progressively added on to my normal walking routine, and even challenged myself to do the unthinkable, run! I never thought of myself as a runner, partially because I never wanted to work that hard. With small goals of either weight loss or the addition of laps ran, I progressively started to see a change. This routine continued for about a year, in which I took off about 70-75 pounds. This was a great accomplishment for me personally, but I wanted more for myself physically. With my plateau in full force, I decided to add in weights to my routine. I even added a variety of aerobics classes to my workout to give it diversity so that boredom did not set in. I found out through trial and error that things have to be changed up every now and then or your body stays where it is at and the results you desire are no longer coming. With this new found lifestyle, I managed to drop about 100-110 pounds and gain a more positive outlook on life. With all of the changes that I made to my outer appearance, I made many to my inner self too. I feel that loosing the weight was a stepping stone, a very steep stepping stone, which allowed me to venture out into a foreign location, the â€Å"healthy world† and discover a new life. With the weight loss I was able to do many more physical activities for myself and for my family. I once considered myself an inner athlete, this being when I was sedentary. I knew in my heart that I could be active, but did not want to try, due to the fear of failure. I set small but achievable goals along the years, as well as some that were pretty large. Never thinking of myself as a runner, I completed 1 full marathon and 2 half marathons along with becoming a certified aerobics instructor. Looking back at who I was and who I am now, we are two different people who needed each other to create the end product. I personally feel that I had to experience the weight gain to appreciate who I am now and to help drive myself to stay this way. Everyone is different in this area. Some may never experience weight gains of 100 pounds or more, but whatever the weight gain may be, that addition to one’s body can be damaging to physical activity and appearance as well as your health. My goal with telling my personal weight journey is to show other people that it can be done at any weight or age if it is something you truly want. I also want to show that it doesn’t matter how long it takes or the many tries you may encounter along the way, you have to persevere through the hardships to reach success, just as everyone does with life. Take your own personal journey to discover and appreciate who you are and who you want to be!

The Scarlet Letter Essay -- essays research papers

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne discusses the issues of guilt, pain, and truth. For many people, it is hard to accept the faults of their own failures. Most do not acknowledge the reality of their lives, and wind up suffering for their mistakes. Guilt and Sin are bad and also cause pain. Hester Prynne endures in agony and pain because of the mistake she made. In the novel, Hester rarely gives up hope. Through her suffering, Hester maintains to keep her dignity. Hester is admired because of her strong will, and her ability to ignore other's views of her. "In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors† (Hawthorne 50). The townspeople had no right to determine Hester’s punishment. God can only make this type of judgment. She also expresses her best qualities when she stands up to Governor Bellingham, and she confronts him about Pearl. Hester, being proud, headstrong, and confident, faces him successfully and convinces Governor Bellingham into letting her keep Pearl. She is not afraid of much in her life, especially for standing up for her family. She gains knowledge each day of her life and continues to live a fierce life. â€Å"This badge hath taught me—it daily teaches me—it is te aching me at this mom...

Pizza delivery Essay

The foray of multinational fast food retailers into India has impacted the taste buds of Indian consumers significantly. Instant food is scoring over traditional food due to influence of Western countries, and rise in income & subsequent standard of living, convenience, etc. As a result, fast food menus are gaining wider acceptance from the Indian consumers. The Indian fast  Food Industry Dryer  has witnessed high growth strides in the past years, with increasing disposable income; exposure to a number of cuisines; and consumers’ willingness to experiment a mix of both Western and local menu. It has not only provided convenience to people who shuttle between home and work for a bigger part of the day but also eliminated the requirement of conventional cutlery. This industry at the moment thrives on international appeal endorsed by niche chains. The development of nutritious and healthier replacements for the traditional servings at fast food restaurants has transformed into mass promotion of portable foods. As per a new research report titled ‘Indian Fast Food Market Analysis’, currently the Indian fast food industry stands at a massive size of ` 47 billion, driven by a growing number of working professionals and increasing westernization. Apart from this, busy life schedule, standardized food, and less time-consuming processes are also fuelling the demand from domestic consumers in the industry. As demand for all types of fast food items are consistently on the rise, pizza, burger, and French fries have become the all time favorite among young Indians, more so with some of the well-known burger and pizza restaurants like McDonald’s, Domino’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Nirula’s etc, operating in India. Consumers’ first choice As far as products are concerned, instant noodles and pasta are at a nascent stage but are fast evolving in the Indian fast food business. Demand for these food items are growing as consumers with hectic lifestyles do not want to spend much time in cooking. Besides, a variety of noodles and pasta is easily available in the international fast food makers’ menu at an attractive price range, pulling various consumers to add these delicious foods into their palates. The instant noodles and pasta segment has thus turned out to be a big hit among fast food lovers, resulting in the entry of many leading players into this segment. As per an ongoing study on the Indian  fast food  industry, there has been a major shift in food habits in the metropolitan cities encouraging the manufacturers to introduce innovative flavors in noodles and pastas to suit Indian consumers. Further, the enhancement of fried instant noodles’ condiment, good performance of non-fried noodles, and the subsequent release of coarse cereal noodles are some of the main trends currently prevailing in the Indian market. About 86 per cent of households prefer to consume instant food over traditional food due to steep rise in dual income level & standard of living, convenience and influence of Western countries. As a result, fast food menus comprising pizza, burger, sandwiches, etc are gaining wider acceptance from the Indian consumers. Competitors’ zone On the competitive front, the fast food market in India is poised for rapid expansion and higher efficiency with the entry of international giants. It has also been observed that with the increasing popularity of dining out in India, restaurant operators want to safeguard their share of improved consumer spending by offering all types of cuisines. This provides a significant opportunity to players in the food and beverage industry. Major players in this sector are creating a competitive environment for future growth. And in order to cater to this augmented customer base, Nirula’s is increasing its existence in metro cities along with the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities through different formats. The new outlets in cities, such as Amritsar, Patna, Bhopal, Pune and Ludhiana would mainly be Family Style Restaurants (FSR), ice cream kiosks and parlors. Likewise, KFC has plans to increase its existence from 21 cities at present to around 75 cities through its objective to operate 500 restaurants in India by 2015. The company is eager to spread wings to new cities such as Hubli, Madurai, Salem and Mysore in the south, and in the north in Kanpur, Allahabad. Similarly, McDonald’s is targeting 1,000 restaurants by 2020. Hard castle Restaurants, which runs McDonald’s in the south and west, plans to open up to 70 stores next year. It will be the franchisee’s biggest expansion in the past 15 years. McDonald’s also plans to invest ` 10 billion to boost growth. Most of the food chains are busy in innovating and customizing their products. For instance, in order to boost revenue and offer different varieties to the tastes of various cross-sections of people, Domino’s Pizza is planning to customize its range of products. The company is taking initiatives to come up with a new assortment of diet pizzas for Indians, who are health-conscious and intends to introduce different specialties in pizza for people residing in different parts, like North and South India. Further, the acceptance of fast food has grown faster as several players have well-understood the basic requirements of Indian food and served more vegetarians & selected no vegetarian meal options (excludes pork and beef from their menu). Franchise outlets On the strategic front, it has been found that the franchising concept in India is continuously rising, with the increase in the number of international players opening more franchise outlets in India. The increasing revenue figures from franchise outlets encourage the players to opt for the concept. As a result, many international fast food giants are opening up their franchise outlets in India to grab the huge untapped potential in a fast emerging market. In a recent development, Nando, South Africa-based Afro-Portuguese, global restaurant chain is starting up around 35 outlets by 2013 in various parts of India through the franchise route. The company expects to expand enormously in the northern parts of India. Varying consumer behavior Talking about consumers, it has been a noticeable trend that food consumption pattern of urban Indian families has changed dramatically with times owing to the growing influence of Western culture. Indians have started dining out and moved on to accept different varieties of delicious food from the world. Further, studies indicate a radical change in the consumption patterns of Indian consumers, who have traditionally been known for their price sensitiveness. Middle-class families as well as the youth prefer to have a burger worth ` 25 rather than that worth ` 50-75. This reveals that despite looking for taste and brand, consumers in India are still inclined to low-price and health issues. As per a survey conducted in 2010, nearly 80 per cent of the fast food consumers expect the fast food owners to implement required measures for reducing the harmful impact of fast food. To tackle this issue, these owners have adopted innovative cooking styles, such as baking and grilling that retain the flavor of food and also require lesser quantity of oil. Besides, major retailers in this area are now providing all necessary information like ingredients, nutrition and fat contained on the product pack. These measures have helped Indian fast food consumers select healthy and nutritious meal as well as protect them from the dangerous effect of unhealthy fast food. Government inventiveness As far as the role of government is concerned, various initiatives in the recent past have resulted in the entry of many international  Fast Food Retailer  in the country. With the economic liberalization in 1991, nearly all tariff and non-tariff barriers have been removed or minimized from the Indian boundary that has helped many retailers to enter the growing Indian fast food industry. As per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, the new rules and standards will make it mandatory for street food vendors to register with state health departments that are into policing hygiene. It requires the food authority to issue licenses to food vendors only after ensuring that their products are safe and hygienic. Vendors with products that are found unhygienic or unsafe will face monetary penalties. Moreover, user friendly and IT-enabled licensing system will be created to improve governance and compliance. To try to ensure that India has the capacity to implement the new law, the government has increased the number of state laboratories for testing eatables and appointed more food safety officers to check food quality & hygiene instead of merely monitoring adulteration. Besides, the Indian government has also directed state governments to prohibit sales of fast food and carbonated drinks on school premises & check out all such items that lead to unhealthy eating from cafeteria within a 1,500 feet radius of schools. In addition, the country’s regulators have ordered food chains to provide product nutritional labeling at the time of sale, so that customers can know about what they are eating and what effect it can have on their health. This step is a result of various studies that have shown that a typical fast food has very high density that causes people to eat more than they usually require, causing people to fall ill with many health-related problems like obesity, diabetes and heart diseases. Shortfalls and remedies India has witnessed a massive increase in the consumption of fast food over the past few years. Indeed, the country has come out as one of the rapidly growing fast food markets in the world. Although the country offers lucrative opportunities to new entrants due to rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles, there still exist some roadblocks, which may hinder the exponential growth route of this industry in future. Competition from local street vendors remains the biggest threat to the growth of the fast food industry in the country. There is an increase in raw materials cost and fuel charges, which is causing a lot of strain to the players in this segment. Lack of proper infrastructural facilities, with respect to roads and electricity, has also hampered the development of fast food market in India. Besides, the industry will have to tackle a number of roadblocks including the rising consumer concerns regarding obesity and health-consciousness to maintain the ongoing trend. On a fast track If the challenges are met with serious considerations, the Indian fast food industry is anticipated to achieve glorious milestones in the coming years. Increasing inclination of people to eat outside (restaurants) will be the major driving force behind the projected growth. Besides, healthy food options and low-price menu will also contribute to its growth, to attain a CAGR of around 33 per cent during 2010-2014. THE START OF FAST FOOD CULTURE The concept of fast food pops up  during 1920s. The 1950s first witnessed their rapid proliferation. Several factors that contributed to  this explosive growth in50’s were:(1) America’s love affair with  the automobiles. (2) The construction of a  major new highway system. (3) The development of  sub-urban communities. (4) The baby boom subsequent to world war  second. â€Å"Fast-food chains initially  catered to automobile  owners in  suburbia. On the go Fast food outlets are take-away   or take-out   providers, often with a â€Å"drive-through† service which allows customers to order and pick up food from their cars; but most also have a seating area in which customers can eatthe food on the premises. People eat there more than five times a week and often, one or more of those five times is at a fast  food restaurant. Nearly from its inception, fast food has been designed to be eaten â€Å"on the go†, often does not require traditional cutlery, and is eaten as a finger  food. Common menu items at fast food outlets include fish and chips, sandwiches, pitas,  hamburgers, fried  chicken,  French  fries, chicken  nuggets, tacos, pizza, hot dogs, and ice cream, although many fast food restaurants offer â€Å"slower† foods like chili, mashed potatoes, and salads. Variants Although fast food often brings to mind traditional American fast food such as hamburgers and fries, there are many other forms of fast food that enjoy widespread popularity in the West. Chinese  takeaways/takeout  restaurants  are  particularly  popular. They normally offer a  wide variety of  Asian food which has normally been fried. Most options are some form of noodles, rice, or meat. Sushi has seen rapidly rising popularity in recent times. A form of fast food created  in  Japan. sushi  is  normally  cold  sticky  rice  served  with  raw fish. Pizza is a common fast food category in  the United States, with chains such as Domino’s Pizza, Sbarro and Pizza Hut. Menus are more limited and standardized than in traditional pizzerias, and pizza delivery, often with a time commitment, is offered. Fish and chip  shops are a form of fast  food popular in the United  Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Fish is battered and then deep fried. The Dutch  have their own types of fast food. A Dutch fast food meal often consists of  a portion of French fries. Facts and figures Fast food is one of the world’s largest growing food type. India’s fast food industry is growing by 40% a year and is expected to generate a billion dollars  in  sales  by  2005. The  multinational  segment  of  Indian  fast  foodindustry is up to Rs. 6 billion, a figure expected to zoom to Rs. 70 billion by2005. By 2005, the value of Indian dairy products is expected to be Rs. 1,00,000 million. In last 6 years, foreign investment in this sector stood at Rs. 3600  million  which  is  about  one fourth  of  total  investment  made  in  this sector. Because of the availability of raw material for fast food, Global chains are flooding into the country. MARKET SIZE & MAJOR PLAYERS a)Dominated by McDonalds having as many as 75 outlets. b)Domino’s pizza is present in around 100 locations. c)Pizza  hut  is also catching  up and it  has  planned  to establish  125outlets at the end of 2005. d) Subways have established around 40 outlets. e) Nirulas is established at Delhi and Noida only. However, it claims tocater 50,000 guests every day. Major players in fast food are: †¢ MCDONALDS. †¢ KFC †¢ PIZZA HUT †¢ DOMINOS PIZZA. †¢ COFFEE DAY †¢BARISTA. The  main  reason  behind  the  success  of  the multinational  chains  is  their expertise  in  product  development,  sourcing  practices,  quality  standards, service levels and standardized operating procedures in their restaurants, astrength  that  they  have  developed  over  years  of  experience  around  the world. The home grown chains have in the past few years of competition with the MNCs, learnt a few things but  there is still a  lot of scope for  improvement. REASON FOR EMERGENCE Gender  Roles :  gender  roles  are  now  changing. Females  have  startedworking outside. So, they have no time for their home and cooking food. Fastfood is an easy way out because these can be prepared easily. Customer  Sophistication  and  Confidence: consumers  are  becoming more sophisticated now. They do not want to prepare food and spend their time and energy in house hold works. They are building their confidence more on ‘ready to eat and easy to  serve’ kind of foods Paucity of Time: people have no time for  cooking. Because of emergence of  working women and also number of other entertainment items. Most of thetime either people work or want to enjoy with their family. Double  Income  Group: emergence  of  double  income  group  leads  to increase in disposable income. Now people have more disposable income so they can spend easily in  fast food and other activities. Working Women: working women have no time for cooking, and if they have then also they don’t want to cook. Because they want to come out of  the  traditionally  defined  gender  roles. They  do  not  want  to  confinethemselves to household work and  upbringing of children’s. Large  population: India  being  a  second  largest  country  in  terms  of  population possesses large potential market for  all the  products/services. Thisresults into entry of large number of fast food players in the country. Relaxation in rules and regulations: with the economic liberalization of  1991, most of the tariff and non tariff barriers from the Indian boundaries are either removed or minimized. This helped significantly the MNC’s to enter in the country. CHALLENGES FOR THE INDUSTRY Social  and  cultural  implications  of  Indians  switching  to  western breakfast food: Generally, Hindus avoid all foods that are believed to inhibit physical and spiritual development. Eating meat is not explicitly prohibited, but  many  Hindus  are  vegetarian  because  they  adhere  to  the  concept  of  ahimsa. Those  seeking  spiritual  unity  may  avoid  garlic  and  onions. The concept of purity influences Hindu food practices. Products from cows (e. g. ,milk,  yogurt,  ghee-clarified  butter)  are  considered  pure. Pure  foods  can improve the purity of impure foods when they are prepared together. Some foods, such as beef or alcohol, are innately polluted and can never be made pure. But now, Indians are switching to fast food that contain all those things that are considered impure or against there beliefs. Some traditional and fundamentalist are against this transformation of food habit and number of  times they provoke their counterparts to revolt against such foods. And that is what happened when McDonald’s decided to enter the  complexity of Indian business landscape, counting only on its â€Å"fast food global formula†, without any apparent previous cultural training. Emphasis  on  the  usage  of  bio-degradable  products: Glasses, silverware,  plates  and  cloth  napkins  are  never  provided  with  fast  food. Instead, paper plates and napkins, polyurethane containers, plastic cups and tableware, drinking cartons or PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are used, and these are all disposable. Many of these items are tossed in the garbage instead of being recycled, or even worse, merely thrown on the ground. This burdens nature unnecessarily and squanders raw materials. In order to reduce soil and water pollution, government now emphasis more on the usage of  bio-degradable products. Retrenchment  of  employees: Most  of  new  industries  will  be  capital intensive and may drive local competitors, which have more workers, out of  business. Profit repatriation: Repatriation of profits is another area of concern forIndian economy. As when multinational enters the any countries, people and government  hope  that  it  will  increase  the  employment  rate  and result  in economic growth. However, with the multinational operation, host country experiences  these  benefits  for  a  short  time  period. In  long  run  neither employment increases (because of capital intensive nature of MNC’s) nor it increases the GDP or GNP because whatever MNC’s earn they repatriate that profit back to their home country. PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRY Environmental  friendly  products  cost  high:government  is  legislating laws in order to keep check on the fast food industry and it is emphasizing more on the usage of bio-degradable and environment friendly products. But associated with this issue is the  problem that fast food player faces – the  cost associated with the environment friendly product. They cost much higher than the normal products that companies uses for packaging or wrapping their products. Balance  between  societal  expectation  and  companies  economic objectives:   To balance a society’s expectation regarding environment with the economic burden of protecting the environment. Thus, one can see that one  side  pushes  for  higher  standards  and  other  side  tries  to  beat  the standard back, thereby making it a arm wrestling and mind boggling exercise. Health related issues: obesity: I. Studies have shown that a typical fast food has very high density and food with high density causes people to eat more then they usually need. II. Low calories food: Emphasis is now more on low calorie food. In this line  McDonald  has  a  plan  to  introduce  all  white  meat  chickenMcnuugget with less fat and fewer calories. TRENDS IN INDIAN MARKET Marketing to children’s: Fast food outlets in India target children’s as their major customers. They introduce varieties of things that will attract the  children’s  attention  and  by  targeting children’s  they  automatically target their parents because Children’s are always accompanied by their parents. Low level customer commitment: Because of the large number of food retail outlets and also because of the  tendency of customer to switch from one product to other, this industry faces low  level customer commitment. INTRODUCTION OF DOMINOES Domino’s Pizza India Ltd. was incorporated in March 1995 as the master  franchisee for India and Nepal, of Domino’s Pizza International Inc. , of  USA. Moreover, the company holds the master franchisee rights for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh through its wholly owned subsidiary. Mr. Shyam S. Bhatia and Mr. Hari S. Bhartia of the Jubilant Organosys Group were the  promoters of the company. Since inception, Domino’s Pizza India Ltd. has proceeded to become one of  the largest and fastest growing international food chains in South Asia. Thefirst Domino’s Pizza store in India opened in January 1996, at New Delhi. Today, Domino’s Pizza India has grown into a countrywide network around220 outlets in 42 cities and is  the leader in the fast food delivery segment. Ever  since  it  was  established,  Domino’s  Pizza  India  has  maintained  its  position  of  market  leadership  with  its  constant  product  innovation  and maintenance  of  stringent  service  standards. More  importantly,  it  has established a reputation for being a home delivery specialist capable of  delivering its pizzas within 30 minutes to its community of loyal customers from its entire chain of stores around the country. Customers can order their  Ã‚  pizzas by calling a single  countrywide Happiness Hotline – 1800-111-123. Infact, Domino’s was the first one to start this  facility for its customers. Domino’s is committed to bringing fun and excitement to the lives of our  customers by delivering delicious pizzas to their doorstep in 30 minutes or  less, and all its strategies are aimed at fulfilling this commitment towards its large and ever-growing customer base. Domino’s constantly strives to develop products that suit the tastes of its customers, thereby bringing out the Wow effect(the feel good factor). Domino’s believes strongly in the strategy of ‘Think local and  act  regional’. Thus,  time  and  again  Domino’s  has  been innovating toppings suitable to the taste buds  of the local populace and these have been very well accepted by the  Indian market. DOMINOES VISION AND OBJECTIVES Domino’s vision is â€Å" Exceptional people on a mission, to be  the  best  pizza  delivery  company  in  the  world! †. Domino’s is committed to bringing fun and excitement to the lives of our customers by delivering delicious pizzas to  their  doorstep  in  30  minutes  or  less,  and  all  our strategies work for fulfilling this commitment towards our large and ever-growing customer base. Domino’s constantly strives to develop the product that suits the taste of its customers to bring out the ‘WOW’ effect   (i. e. the feel good factor). Domino’s believes in the strategy of â€Å"Think local and act regional† that is blended with a playful image personified by our â€Å"Hungry Kya? â€Å"positioning. Thus,  time  and  again  Domino’s  has  been innovating  toppings,  suitable  to  the  taste buds  of  the locals and these have been very well accepted by the Indian market, are doing extensively well in the market. We are constantly in the process of innovating further; we introduce new topping every 3 –4 months Domino’s  understands  customers  demand  and  is constantly   developing   local  flavors   understanding  the local  sentiments. Also,  the  ingredients,   sauces  etc. are made keeping in mind the taste buds of Indian consumers while retaining the international flavor. Domino’s  constantly  strive  to  make  the  company  an integral  part   of  the  lives  of  the  target  audiences   by getting involved with the clientele at the emotional level and  building  long-term  relationship  with  them. Thus, Domino’s  concentrate  more  on  carrying  out  below-the-line activities in the area it serves. Domino’s believe in bringing fun and excitement into the lives  of  our  clientele. We  take  our  delivery  proposition very seriously and our entire corporate ethic is based on it. Domino’s  is  the  recognized  world  leader  in  Pizza delivery. But it isn’t just about delivering; it’s also about giving back to the community. Domino’s believes that an essential  component  of  corporate  responsibility  is  to provide support to charitable organizations that benefit the  communities  where  its  employees  and  customers work  and  live. Domino’s  worldwide   is   known  for  its commitment toward social causes and believes in adding fun  to  the  lives  of  our  customers  and  communities  it serves. In India, Domino’s has been associated with the NGO’s devoted  to  the  cause  of  underprivileged  Children’s. Domino’s conducts Store Educational Tour (SET) for the under privileged children time-to-time. Recently this was done  in  the  one  of  the  Domino’s  outlet  in  Delhi  and Mumbai with the  underprivileged children from CRY (Child Relief  and  You)  where  Domino’s  took  the  pledge  to provide part-time employment to the eligible wards from CRY who are above 18 years, reiterating its commitment towards social causes. Also, fifty- percent of that day’s first 20 deliveries of the store were given to CRY toward the cause of the underprivileged children. The children had a gala time while they learned to make and bake pizzas  at  the  store  and  finally  tasted  the  sumptuous offerings  made  by  them  during  the  Store  Educational  Tour. Domino’s Pizza India also boasts about its commitment to serve its customers on time by implementing the â€Å"30 MINUTES  OR  FREE† service  commitment , they  have been able to achieve this as a result of continuous efforts and dedication of the entire team in improving operating efficiencies . Domino’s   Pizza  India  has  been  consistently   rated amongst  the   top  2  pizza  chains  worldwide  in  the Domino’s family by Domino’s International, in terms of  quality of operations. Our pizza delivery times have also been  judged  as  the  best  delivery  times  in  the  world across all Domino’s. Communication objectives Category Need Domino’s master franchise model Industry analysts believed that Domino’s master franchise model was one of the reasons for  its success in international markets even in light of the global economic slowdown in 2008. How domino’s international bucked the trend The strong performance of Domino’s international master franchises in the midst of the global economic  slowdown  was  a  widely debated  topic  among  analysts. While  some  analysts believed that the recession had helped the growth of these chains due to the ‘trading down factor’ of people preferring to eat at home rather than dine out at expensive restaurants, others believed it was a combination of aggressive marketing and the franchise model that had helped the company buck the trend. Dominoes Brand Awareness Promotional and advertisement campaigns The pizza delivery business had  traditionally been promotion driven. Coupons and  discounts were offered by all pizza delivery chains to woo customers. Since its inception, Domino’s had been known for its unique promotions that included fast delivery and innovations to cater  to a varied palette. The ’30 minutes’ promise In the year 1973, Domino’s began a guarantee scheme that its pizzas would be delivered in 30minutes or less of ordering failing which the customer would receive the pizza free. Brand Attitude Use of technology Online sales accounted for over 70 percent of its total sales in 2008. Dominos planned to further exploit the increasing potential of the online medium as one of the promotional and distributional channels in the downturn. Brand Purchase Intention. What makes domino’s pizza better than its competitors? †¢ Varity of Pizza’s †¢ Services offered †¢ Quality of pizza’s †¢ Location of the Outlet †¢ Waiting time in the outlet †¢ Door step services †¢ Lower price Communication Mix Communication is very important, particularly when it is two-way. Domino’s value customer  feedback and is most responsive to customer preferences. Fast food ought to be a fun experience and this is not possible unless the provider and the consumer are in synch. They are in the  service business, and their product is positioned as a  convenience food delivered to the customer hot and fresh in 30 minutes guaranteed. Every company must follow the eight major marketing communication modes. For Domino’s direct selling and interactive selling is not needed though they are involved in internet and cable TV promotions. Domino’s always search for ways to gain efficiency by replacing one communication with others. The sustainability among communication tools explains why marketing function need to be coordinated. Advertising The Domino’s Pizza franchise has earned the reputation of being one of the fast growing food chains in South Asia. Domino’s is committed to bringing fun and excitement to the lives of its customers by delivering delicious pizzas to their doorstep in 30 minutes or less. The fast food franchise is all set to  make the complete use of  its potential market in India, where eating out is a means of entertainment. Its advertisements are image of its core competencies. The Domino’s  Pizza India  franchise  keeps implementing varied  promotional  strategies. Domino’s initially restricted their ad  strategy to banners, hoardings and specific promotions. In August2000, Domino’s launched the ‘Hungry Kya? (Are  You Hungry? ) sequence of  advertisements on television. While highlighting its home delivery facility in advertisements, the pizza franchise always adds an element of humour in it. That is exactly why actor Arshad Warsi was made the brand ambassador of  the Domino’s Pizza India franchise. Paresh Rawal, another humorist of Hindi cinema, was also featured in Domino’s ads. A significant strategic change is that, while the unique selling proposition of Domino’s is home delivery in all markets, they have been creating dine-in spaces at all their restaurants here in India. Domino’s Pizza’s tagline ‘khushiyon ki home delivery’   which cuts through the advertising  clutter  still  remains  intact. But  in  tier-2  and  tier-3  cities,  as  people  like  to experience eating out close to 75% of their restaurants now have dine-in facilities. This is different from their global strategy where their  key focus has  been  on home delivery. Also,  they  are in  the  trial stage  of  orders by internet in India after its success in U. S. Another feature they introduced is a customer can top the Pizza he wants. Domino’s went a step ahead by differentiating regions and applyingthe taste-factor accordingly. Domino’s also made ordering simpler through a single toll-free number throughout the country. Dominos has been following the principle of   ‘Think Local, Act Regional’  . Events/ Experiences They are sponsoring some college fest, cultural program and promotional events through out the country for promotion. Public Relation Domino’s Pizza India undertakes local store marketing initiatives. These include specialdiscounts  to  loyal  customers  and  parade  like  activities  such  as  Motorbike  formations, distributing special offer  coupons and phone  calls to  frequent customers. Domino’s has been innovating toppings suitable to the taste  buds of the  local populace and the Indian market has very well accepted these. Domino’s Pizza India Ltd, which runs fast food chain Domino’s Pizza in the country, has changed its corporate name to Jubilant Food Works Ltd. The change of name came into effect from September 24 2009. â€Å"The decision to change the name  has been taken to  align ourselves with the branding of the Jubilant  Bhartia  Group,  promoted  by  Shyam  S  Bhartia  and  Hari  S  Bhartia,†Ã‚  Jubilant Food Works Chief Executive Officer Ajay Kaul said. Jubilant Bhartia Group holds the master  franchisee rights for the Domino’s Pizza brand and operations for the whole of India, Nepal,Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. However, the company will continue to use the brand name of  Ã¢â‚¬ËœDomino’s Pizza’ for marketing and other related purposes. Personal Selling Domino’s continuously strives to make the company an  integral part of the  lives of the target audiences by getting involved with the clientele at the emotional level and building long term relationships with them. Thus, domino’s concentrates more on carrying out below the line activities in the areas it serves.