The Dinner for One Movie New Years Eve Tradition

Its a bit bizarre when you think about it. A short British cabaret sketch from the 1920s has become a German New Years tradition. Yet, although The 90th Birthday or Dinner for One is a famous cult classic in Germany and several other European countries, it is virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, including Britain, its birthplace. Although newer versions have been produced, every year around  Silvester  (New Years Eve), German television broadcasts the classic, black-and-white English-language version filmed back in 1963 in Hamburg. All across Germany, from the 31st of December to January 1st, Germans know its the beginning of a new year when they watch this annual event.   The Same Procedure as Every Year The British actor  Freddie Frinton  played the tipsy butler James in the 1963 German TV production. (Frinton died only five years after the Hamburg filming.)  May Warden  played the role of Miss Sophie, who is celebrating her 90th birthday. The only problem is... all of her party guests are imaginary friends who have died off. A German New Years Eve just doesnt seem right without hearing the lines known to just about any living German: The same procedure as last year, Madam? - The same procedure as every year, James. In these politically-correct times, the sketch-in which Miss Sophie and her butler proceed to get thoroughly sloshed-has come under some criticism. But so popular is the perennial Dinner for One that the German airline LTU in former years showed the 15-minute sketch on all its flights between Dec. 28 and Jan. 2, just so passengers wouldnt miss out on the annual tradition. Before its demise at the end of 2005, the GERMAN TV satellite service also broadcast Dinner for One in North America. One commenter also came to the conclusion that there might have been a love affair going on between the two main characters of the play, which always made the butler nervous and gave enough reason to get drunk, but of course, theres no official statement about this. Why Is This Show Cult in Germany? Its honestly difficult to understand. While the show certainly has  its  funny moments, its  humor  simply cant appeal to 18 million viewers every year. My assumption is that in many households the TV is just running and nobody really watches this anymore like it was in my youth, but I might also be completely wrong.  It might also be a representation of the simple need for persistence and continuity in an  ever-changing  world.   More About Dinner for One Watch  the full video  on YouTube  (18mins,  not available in Germany)NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) has a nice section with background info on Dinner for One  Dinner for One von A-Z,  everything you wanted to know about DfO. Original article by: Hyde Flippo Edited on the 28th of June 2015 by: Michael Schmitz

Negative Effects Of Poverty - 1062 Words

In his quote, Dr. Haim Ginott a child psychologist is famous for stating the following: â€Å"Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.† According to Yoshikawa, H., Aber, J. L., Beardslee, W. R. (2012), Poverty is a critical risk factor for many of the mental, emotional and behavioral disorders of children and youth. Across many studies, poverty is associated with a range of negative outcomes for children in the realms of physical health, language, and cognitive development, academic achievement and educational attainment. The problem is that poverty is affecting our children physically, mentally and emotionally. In order to see change, we need to provide help that is not temporary or just keeping families†¦show more content†¦have a foreign-born parent, and 4.2 million children of immigrant parents are poor. It is reported that child poverty in immigrant families is more closely related to low-wage work and barriers to valuable work s upports. According to Farthing, R. (2016), previous discussed the impact of low incomes on family dynamics, with children and young people emphasizing the family stress poverty can induce, from tensions over limited resources, a lack of time together as parents’ juggle work and childcare, to boredom because there was not enough money to do anything together. The solution for children and youth is that since they are surrounded by negative factors, the ideal environment would be promoting self-advocacy and self-awareness through educational purposes such as the local YMCA, to increase activities and afterschool programs. The risk factors for homelessness in children and youth is that the extreme poverty is the strongest predictor of homelessness for families. These families are often forced to choose between housing and other necessities for their survival. At least 11% of American children living in poverty are homeless. Female-headed households (particularly by women with limited education and job skills) are also particularly vulnerable. The current economic climate has made the labor market even less hospitable as many of them do not have more than a high school diploma or GED. Homelessness is linked to poor physical health for childrenShow MoreRelatedNegative Effects Of Poverty1440 Words   |  6 Pages The negative effects of poverty have consistently led to disastrous outcomes for those who attend school in an effort to acquire a better education. These effects might be caused by the home life and financial instability. It could also be an effect on the school, which has suffered from financi al instability. This can lead to an inability to give students the proper time and education that they deserve. Multiple groups are involved in efforts to assist children in poverty by having better schoolRead MoreThe Negative Effects Of Poverty On Education790 Words   |  4 Pageslife, that can make a negative impact on their education. Students who live in poverty go through more stressful situations at an earlier age. Those situations can keep them from having academic success because they have too many other distractions in their life. The schools that have more low income families are amongst those who have the lowest test scores and the highest drop out rates. For that reason, a child may not be able to succeed academically based on the negative school environmentRead MoreThe Effects of Child Poverty on Their Cognitive and Social Development1706 Words   |  7 PagesThe Effects of Poverty on Children’s Cognitive and Social Development PSYC318 Sheehan Gilbert-Burne 6136739 Word Count: 1650 Question 2: Discuss the effects of poverty on children’s cognitive and social development and the extent to which effects might extend into adulthood Poverty is a global issue that has been at the forefront of economic debate for over a century. Left wing politicians and anti-poverty organisations around the world still adamantly fight for aRead MoreEffect Of Trade Openness On Developing Countries1591 Words   |  7 Pagespaper viz. a single equation random effect panel regression model and a two equation instrumental variable panel regression model, both for the years 2000, 2005 and 2010. First, we estimate the single equationmodel. The aim of this model is to find out the effect of trade openness directly on poverty in developing countries. The following equation is estimated: p = a + b1 (tra) + b2 (infr) + b3 (edu) + b4 (health) + b5 (gdpcap) + e(1) where, ‘p’ is poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day (PPP)Read MoreThe Effects Of Poverty On Childhood Development924 Words   |  4 Pagesrelationship between poverty, lower socioeconomic status (SES), and childhood development. While poverty can be directly linked to negative developments in terms of health status it is also indirectly linked to other important factors such as; mental health, physiological wellbeing and education, all of which have major impacts on childhood development which can also be transferred into adulthood. This essay aims to evaluate the literature available on the effects of poverty on childhood developmentRead MoreThe Effect Of Media On Classism1484 Words   |  6 PagesBrittany A Brooks The Effect of Media on Classism University of Central Missouri â€Æ' The Effect of Media on Classism Class and the Media The United States was built on the concept of the American dream. The idea that anyone can achieve success if they just work hard enough and are determined enough is very lucrative. Unfortunately the American dream is not as obtainable as many think. 65% of children raised in the bottom fifth income bracket will remain in the bottom two brackets (Adams, et al., 2013Read MoreEffects Of Poverty On Children1553 Words   |  7 PagesHow Poverty Effects Children Makayla Ray University of Alabama in Birmingham Abstract This literature review of twelve previously published research articles has focused on summarizing some of the effects of poverty on children. The selected articles all focused on the major effect of poverty on children, and were sorted into four sub-categories or themes based upon a specific focus areas of this complex and not yet fully understood issue. These themes included developmental, educationalRead MoreEffects of Poverty on Children: Literature Review Essay1352 Words   |  6 Pagesresearch articles has focused on summarizing some of the effects of poverty on children. The selected articles all focused on the major effect of poverty on children, and were sorted into four sub-categories or themes based upon a specific focus areas of this complex and not yet fully understood issue. These themes included developmental, educational outcomes, health, and parenting effects, and how they were impacted by children living in poverty. Impact on Development The developmental theme includedRead MorePoverty : A Economic Disparity Between The Rich And Poor1361 Words   |  6 Pagespercent of the population lives in crippling poverty (Baker, 2013). Poverty is usually defined in either absolute or relative terms. Absolute poverty refers to the standard of living, which is reflected in satisfying the needs for basic survival (Rahim, Abidin, Ping, Alias, and, Muhammad, 2014). Relative poverty is reflected in the income gap between the rich and the poor (Rahim, et al., 2014). The study of poverty is often linked to globalization, and the effect of globalization on the world’s poor isRead MoreEffects Of Poverty On Children1554 Words   |  7 PagesEffects of Poverty on Children Makayla Ray University of Alabama in Birmingham Abstract This literature review of twelve previously published research articles has focused on summarizing some of the effects of poverty on children. The selected articles all focused on the major effect of poverty on children, and were sorted into four sub-categories or themes based upon a specific focus areas of this complex and not yet fully understood issue. These themes included developmental, educational

Media ethics in advertising Free Essays

Media ethics is defined as, the norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about the conduct of dealing with particular ethical principles applied by the media organizations, while advertising ethics is an emotional process that is normally applied by the media organizations to reach the general public, with a core objective of creating persuasion to the audiences to take a particular action on a particular product or event being advertised. Although there are no laws governing the communication process carried out by most advertising agencies, the media organisation pursuing the advertisements are basically regulated by the self organisation so as to ,maintain the standards and reputation of the media organisation to the public. The advertising media may include; advertising agencies, news papers, films, television stations and radio stations depending on the preferences of the product manufactures. We will write a custom essay sample on Media ethics in advertising or any similar topic only for you Order Now [1] In this case, we find that most businessmen use the media as their means of promoting their products to the market, through advertising, which is said to increase the audiences’ need for consuming particular products that are presented by the media, and its through this advertising that the society is notified of the presence of a new product in the market, we see that once a product is bought, another product emerges in the market. Therefore, advertising is used to influence the decision making process of a particular audience to purchase a particular product due to desires created by the media through its attractive presentation of the products quality. In this case, the audiences are said to be a major factor in median advertising communication, since it is through the audiences that the conveying and sourcing of information by the media for business organizations is made successful. The media itself regards the audience as being passive in the interpretation of media messages. And it is in this messages that the media gets the power to influences the audience. These audiences can be noticed by the specific needs that are always specific, whereby they are forced to look upon the media so as they can derive their satisfaction.[2] The audiences are therefore, forced to tolerate various advertising information done by the media depending on their desire to fulfill their specified needs.   Personality under this, we find that the audience have the urge of using the advertisements on the media wanting to compare themselves with other people in the society, or even compare their lifestyle and situations with others so that they can identify their status in the society, therefore they are forced to watch, read or listen to particular media items despite the fact that they are adverts. The need for dependency makes the audience to be looking upon the media to be given information about the events taking place and the products present in the market globally, so they have to tolerate the messages by the media so as they get the information about a particular event taking place. In this case we find that the audience read, listen and interpret the message depending on their socio-economic class, gender, age, education and their ethnic backgrounds, in this manner we find that they are influenced by the media to carry out a particular action or even to copy the concepts of life shown in the message that is put across to them through advertisements. We see that the audience is made aware of the product and how they are to obtain it. Awareness is a stage where a consumer or the audience must have the knowledge of the existence of a particular product in the market, this is because, if a buyer is not aware of the product then there will be no action taken on the purchasing process and the business owner is likely to undergo losses due to lack of the market for its product. The media also creates interest to the audience about a particular product, he intends to buy, and therefore, he is persuaded by the content of the message presented by the media that the product is relevant to his needs.[3] Through the media, understanding is imposed on the audience whereby, the consumer should be able to know how the particular product will meet his needs, thus the media includes the benefits and the procedures of using a particular product, under this, and the media practices its role of educating its audience. Media ethics plays a major role in the creation of attitude of the audiences; under this, the consumer must be able to develop a positive feeling towards the product, depending on the persuasive message given by the media about the product. And finally we see that the audience is led to the purchase of the product, although it may take some time later after trying to get the shop that stocks the favorite this also enriches both the business and the media when the goods are sold. So, most media houses take this advantage of their presentation of the product to give various products false information so that, it may get its awareness by the audience. We find the advertisers use various methods to influence the society at large, this include: Disinformation is the passing of false information by the media. This act include   the giving out of counterfeit information or photographs   about a particular product, with an intention of misleading the audience by convincing them to believe the untruth statements, so that they engage in a particular activity so as the source of the particular information may benefit. This practice is not only practiced by the business owners, but it is also used by various political leaders and the government, who influence the media organizations to disseminate certain information that is meant to undermine other leaders in the government and through this, we find that the audience are led to take an action depending on the message given to them by the media who are surely, aware that the information included in the advertisement is not true.   This is usually referred to as false advertising in which the advertising agencies use a deliberate untrue statement to gain a profitable advantage; under this many consumers are persuaded to engage in business transactions or activities that will fulfill the need of the advertisement.[4] The business owners are said to using the following methods to influence the consumers to purchase their products this includes: Pricing Methods; this is the most applied practice by most business owners, it is said to be the prime way to deceit consumers into paying more than the advertised price, we find that, they advertise a particular sale price and when one gets to the shop he finds that the price is not the exact advertised price in the media. The other method applied by the business men is the introductory offer, this applied only for a period of time, where we see that when a new product is brought into the market, there is always an introductory offer to the consumers and after the expiry of the introductory time, the consumers who had accepted the first offer are not noticed on the changes and they are found to be buying the products thus benefiting the producers. The intention for this is to have the consumers to get used to the first offer whereby they continue buying the products without the knowledge of an increase in the price; this practice is usually used on the selling of electronic appliances. The other deceptive method used by the advertisers is the; misrepresentation; this is a situation where, a particular product is given some descriptive values that it actually doesn’t carry, this is mainly used to mislead the consumers that a particular product posses, an example of this is the case where most consumers were misled by a message showing that a higher level of animal care is provided, than was actually the case by the United Egg Producers’ logo on egg cartons   which said â€Å"Animal Care Certified† [5] Other producers are better known for misleading their consumers by the use of over sizing and under sizing the packages of the products, we find that most of the packages are packed leaving some vacant spaces at the top, this is basically found in products that are normally packed in cans and this character is not noticed until it is purchased and opened by the consumer, this is mostly deceptive where the consumer is convinced that the weight and size of the product is worth the money he is paying for the product. This method is deceptive in a manner that we find that the packaging is of the same size but it carries a less product than before. Thus the consumers continue buying the products knowing that the quantity of the product is still the same as it was in the beginning, and the unethical practices appears when the label on the product is changed to be a sign of the new amount of the product, but it is always presented in a manner that is not easily noticeable. Sexuality is another concept used by most businesses whereby, it is argued that this method is the most effective for drawing the consumers’ immediate interest, holding it and, in the long run, introducing a product that associates with that interest created by the media. In this case we find that various images of pretty women are related to an advertisement which does not accurately connect with the characteristics of the product being advertised. This method is normally used in advertising cosmetic products, whereby the display of sexual acts are highly said to be explicit to the consumers thus enhancing attractive features of the products. The sex appeal may be presented in an electronic media such as the radio, where there is a limitation on visual activities; therefore the advertisers opt to use a voice that reveals a particular emotion after the use of the particular good, while in print and television media the use of sexual images is exclusively used.[6]   Though this advertising may also have some negative impacts on the audience whereby, we may find that the person may not be able to fulfill the desires created in him on the purchasing of that particular good due to the economic status of the audience, then the person ends up creating anxiety, stress and frustration depending on the kind of information given by the media. The media organizations and the business owners are advised to be loyal to its audience and the consumers of their particular products so that they can keep the ethical standards and reputation of their organizations. References Couldry, N. and Curran, J. (2003): Contesting Media Power, Alternative media in a Networked world, Lanham and Oxford, Rowman and Littlefield. Christians, C. G. et al. (2004): Media Ethics, Cases Moral Reasoning; 7th Edn: New York, Allyn and Bacon. Croteau, D. and Hoynes, W. (2000): Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences, Second Edition, Thousand Oaks, Pine Forge Press. Patterson, P. L.   and Wilkins, C. (2004): Media Ethics, Issues Cases, 5th edition: New York, McGraw Hill Richards, J. I. (1990): Deceptive Advertising; Erlbaum at p. 20. [1] Richards, J. I. (1990): Deceptive Advertising; Erlbaum at p. 20. [2] Richards, J. I. (1990): Deceptive Advertising; Erlbaum at p. 20. [3] Patterson, P. L.   and Wilkins, C. (2004): Media Ethics, Issues Cases, 5th   edition: New York, McGraw Hill [4] Patterson, P. L.   and Wilkins, C. (2004): Media Ethics, Issues Cases, 5th   edition: New York, McGraw Hill [5] Couldry, N. and Curran, J. (2003): Contesting Media Power, Alternative media in a Networked world, Lanham and Oxford, Rowman and Littlefield. [6] Croteau, D. and Hoynes, W. (2000): Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences, Second Edition, Thousand Oaks, Pine Forge Press. How to cite Media ethics in advertising, Essay examples

Teen Literacy free essay sample

This affect stays with people through out their lives and affects adults as well. There are cures but they do take a while to work. If people don’t practice the cures everyday then they will not be as effective. Teachers have noticed many grammar mistakes in children’s writing and on their homework. It is the teachers responsibility to correct the children’s mistakes. A new language has developed through the social medium of text messaging. Abbreviations and slang have replaced vocabulary. Is it possible that text messaging is disintegrating children’s knowledge of proper sentence structure? Texting is a huge part of teenagers lives. Teenagers start to receive cell phones at the age of 12. . I believe this is a really young age to start receiving cell phones. Teenagers literacy is affected by texting. If they receive phones younger, their literacy gets worse as the years progress. Girls literacy is affected more than guys because girls are more bound to text than guys. We will write a custom essay sample on Teen Literacy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2/3 of teens surveyed in the Pew research claim they are more apt to text with their phones than actually speak. The cure to fixing teenagers literacy is making them write. If you make your son or daughter write long paragraphs and point out where they abbreviated or spelt something wrong, it will make them want to correct what was wrong because they don’t want to do it again. Although, many teenagers do not want to practice writing, they do not only have to practice by writing, they can practice while texting. If they start to spell words out while texting, they will learn the proper way to spell it and won’t want to abbreviate, because they will realize that spelling the whole word out properly only took two more seconds than abbreviating. . School also plays a big role in affecting teen literacy. Teachers take on a huge roll for students writing, and literacy. It is the teachers job to correct teens when abbreviating a word in an essay. If teachers don’t correct students, students will think it is okay to keep writing the way their writing and will never want to fix it. . Considering most teachers also texted when they were teens and still text now, it is harder for them to find some of the mistakes an older teacher would find, because their minds have been corrupted with the texting world. Teachers also enjoy using abbreviations while texting because it does same time, when trying to type or write something really long. No one is destroying the English language, the English language just keeps changing. This is due to texting, there is no one to blame. It has been proved, that â€Å"hyper-texting† does exist, but what is â€Å"hyper-texting†? â€Å"Hyper-texting† is sending more than 120 texts a day. This can lead if an increased risk of smoking, drinking, physical violence and sexual activity. Since texting has become a huge part of peoples lives, cell phone companies have tried to figure out a way to improve peoples spelling mistakes and abbreviations. Recently, all cell phones have been give auto correct. This helps everyone learn how to correctly type a message and fix any mistakes that may have been created. Teen literacy has been affected in many ways, texting is only one but major way it has been affected. Teen’s grammar appears to really be changing in homework. It is the teacher’s responsibility to do their job and correct children when they are wrong, but teachers were once teenagers and don’t always catch mistakes because they abbreviate as well. There is a social as well as a physical impact on teenagers lives. Many people try to present change as a negative way, but its not a good idea. Children are just going with society, there is no one to blame but society. With texting, teens always feel connected with their friends, they’re never alone. â€Å"About 75 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States own cellphones, and 75 percent of these teens send text messages.

The Carnival Cruise Lines Today Tourism Essay Essay Example

The Carnival Cruise Lines Today Tourism Essay Paper Carnival Cruise Lines is a planetary sail company and one of the largest holiday companies in the world.A CCL generates all of its grosss from the sail industry. The company s wide-ranging merchandise offerings provide invitees with exceeding holiday experiences at an outstanding value. The success in supplying quality sail holidaies has made CCL the most profitable company in the leisure travel industry. Carnival Cruise Line s stock is dually listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and on the London Stock Exchange under symbol CCL. It is the lone company in the universe to be included in both the S A ; P 500 index in the United States and the FTSE 100 index in the United Kingdom ( Carnival Corporation A ; PLC, 2012 ) . We will write a custom essay sample on The Carnival Cruise Lines Today Tourism Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Carnival Cruise Lines Today Tourism Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Carnival Cruise Lines Today Tourism Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Carnival Cruise Lines operates a fleet of 100 ships, with another seven ships scheduled for bringing between now and March 2016. With about 200,000 invitees and 77,000 shipboard employees, there are more than 277,000 people sailing aboard CCL s fleet at any given clip ( Carnival Corporation A ; PLC, 2012 ) . For the intent of our study it is important to understand how the Carnival Cruise Lines Corporation works today. We need to understand how the assorted facets of the concern are set up and how they work together. Merely after a true apprehension of the current state of affairs, we can come with proposals for betterment and bespeak the impact on current ways of working. In literature one can ticket many theoretical accounts that can be used to look at an organisation with an internal position. In appendix X we provide an overview of some direction theoretical accounts we have found in literature, with an account why, when and how it should be used. Since our study needs to cover the execution of a new IT direction scheme, we have decided to utilize McKinsey s 7S theoretical account as shown in figure Ten. This theoretical account, developed in the 1980 s, involves 7 factors, which can be categorized as difficult and soft elements. Difficult elements can be identified and influenced more easy. They would be driven by the organisation charts and describing lines within the concern and they may include the systems you use to acquire work done. Soft elements are, by their very nature, more hard to pull off and may be affected by the civilization of the organisation. But you have to use yourself to these every bit much as the difficult elements, as they provide the support construction for the successful execution of any alteration, and they are all interdependent on each other. Figure 7S model ( McKinsey ) The difficult elements in the 7S-model are Strategy, Structure and Systems ; the soft elements are Style, Shared Values, Skills and Staff. In order to understand the 7S-model better a brief account is given below. Difficult elements of the 7S-model: StrategyA by utilizing mission and vision the organisation s aims become clear. StructureA how is the organisation structured and which hierarchal beds are at that place SystemsA all formal and informal methods of operation, processs and communicating flows Soft elements of the 7S-model: StyleA this is about leading and direction manners Shared valuesA the criterions and values and other signifiers of moralss within an organisation in which vision, corporate civilization and individuality are the cardinal elements SkillsA these concern both the accomplishments of the organisation and those of the employees StaffA this is about the employees, their competencies and occupation descriptions In add-on to the above elements we added two paragraphs specifically on Information Management and Risk Management to give a complete overview of the state of affairs of Carnival Cruise Lines today. 2.1 Strategy of CCL The mission of Carnival Cruise Lines is to take the universe on holiday and present exceeding experiences through many of the universe s best-known sail trade names that cater to a assortment of different geographic parts and life styles, all at an outstanding value unrivaled on land or at sea ( Carnival Corporation A ; PLC, 2012 ) . The vision statement of CCL is the undermentioned: to systematically present merriment, memorable holidaies at a repetition value ( Carnival Corporation A ; PLC, 2012 ) . Derived from this mission and vision, Carnival Cruise Lines has set up the following strategic aims: to be the taking sail operator in allA sections entered and to keep the most up-to-date fleet of sail ships in the universe to develop new cruiseA sections and advanced sail bundles to make a larger figure of possible andA past patrol cars employ sophisticated promotional attempts toA achieve a greater consciousness by the publicA refering the handiness and afford ability ofA sail travel pull the first-time and younger patrol cars ( Carnival ) , experient patrol cars ( Holland America ) , upscale patrol cars ( Seaborne ) , and patrol cars desiring a seafaring holiday ( Windstar ) promote sails as anA alternate toA land-based holidaies supply a assortment of activities every bit good as ports of call be advanced in all respects of operations of the ship. All enterprises that are taken by Carnival Cruise Lines demand to be in line with the mission, vision and strategic aims ( Carnival Corporation A ; PLC, 2012 ) . With respect to the scheme of Carnival Cruise Lines the undermentioned strengths can be identified: Strengths Failings Dominant market portion Strong acquisition scheme Comprehensive portfolio ( aim groups ) Strength Dominant market portion The biggest strength of Carnival Cruise Lines is its immense graduated table and range. The company is twice every bit big as its biggest rival and competes in about every market and section worldwide ( Appendix X ) . This gives CCL tremendous power over the sail industry as a whole. It enables the company to set about undertakings that grow the industry, gives it a platform for continued amalgamations and acquisitions activity, and helps CCL negotiate with major makers of sail ships ( Levin, Jones, A ; Slade, 2011 ) . In all enterprises and undertakings that are undertaken by the company, the inducement is ever to maintain that dominant market portion and even to turn it farther. CCL wants to be a leader, and this will be reflected in direction determinations. Strength Strong acquisition scheme Carnival Cruise Lines has the ability to obtain companies through acquisitions. By utilizing an acquisition scheme, the Corporation has been able to place itself in each geographical market in the universe and rank itself as figure one in the cruising sector. However, this strength besides consequences in a extremely decentralized IT landscape, as described in paragraph 2.8. Strength Comprehensive portfolio ( aim groups ) The corporation has a big fleet capacity and operates 10s of the most recognizable sail trade name names. CCL s portfolio of trade name names entreaties to about every niche market, from budget minded, modern-day to luxury sails ( Marketingteacher, 2012 ) . Each sail line operates globally and is targeted at one or more nationalities ( Appendix X ) . This is linked to the fact that CCL wants to be the leader in the cruising industry and wants to maintain the dominant market portion. 2.2 Structure of CCL Carnival Cruise Lines Corporation A ; plc has two chief central offices, Carnival Place in the US and Carnival House in the UK. The constitutional Corporation and plc are separate listed companies with different stockholder organic structures, but they jointly own all the operating companies in the group. Both central offices have their ain direction squad, scheme, and IT organisation. Within Carnival Cruise Lines every trade name is seen as a separate concern unit, with its ain net income and loss statement. With respect to the construction of Carnival Cruise Lines the undermentioned strengths and failings can be identified: Strengths Failings Strong fiscal place Clear focal point on cost leading Strong selling Decentralization of concern operations Decreasing net income Over-dependence on US market Strength Strong fiscal place Carnival Cruise Lines is one of the most profitable cruising companies. The company s mean net income ( FY2005 to FY2009 ) amounted to 18.1 % compared to the industry criterion of 6.3 % ( Marketingteacher, 2012 ) . The house is double listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange under the symbol CCL. Since the company is double listed, it has the ability to raise more financess from investor than its rivals. With this besides comes greater stableness due to different markets being affected by different economic happenings, political issues, and society s positions ( Levin, Jones, A ; Slade, 2011 ) . Due to the strong fiscal place, CCL has a certain luxury to take strategic of import and cutting border determinations and, at the same clip, put the necessary financess to do it possible. Strength Clear focal point on cost leading Carnival Cruise Lines has a clear focal point on Cost Leadership, i.e. CCL offers its merchandise to the mass market. Therefore the highest focal point is put on the monetary value and maintaining the monetary value every bit low as possible. Once the client is on board the ship, extra gross is created by holding the client wage for everything that was non covered in the basal monetary value. CCL is such a big company that it has important cost advantages over most of its rivals. Unlike Royal Caribbean where the focal point is on presenting the best client experience ( Appendix X, interview Vicki Freed ) , the focal point at CCL is more on supplying the best sail for the lowest sum. Additional grosss are generated one time a client is onboard. Strength Strong selling Carnival Cruise Lines invests explicitly and efficaciously in print and telecasting media. Their publicities target the life styles of each group of clients ( Marketingteacher, 2012 ) . This scheme enables CCL to acquire name acknowledgment in every market section, therefore the different sail lines under the trade name. Failing Decentralization of concern operations Historically, CCL has been run by the Arison household as a alliance of mostly independent concerns. Each sail line mostly manages its ain clients, selling, distribution, gross revenues, ports, and logistics. This attack has had benefits: internal competition means that each line operates better than any would in isolation. The annual capital planning procedure happens on both the US side as on the UK side, which might take to duplicate of attempt. The concern operations of the sail lines are non centrally managed. Better coordination of these concern operations could bring forth extra benefits for Carnival Cruise Lines ( Levin, Jones, A ; Slade, 2011 ) . Figure Organization chart Carnival Cruise Lines Figure X gives the high-ranking organisation chart of CCL. On the left manus side all the 10 trade names with their presidents are listed, with a direct line to Mickey Arison. As stated above, although there is a direct coverage line to Mickey Arison, every trade name is managed as a concern unit with its ain net income and loss. On right manus side all the back uping maps, such as HR, legal, IT, aˆÂ ¦ are listed with their CxO or caput of section. These sections have a direct coverage line to Mickey Arison every bit good, but in every concern unit there is an ain representation of each back uping map with a coverage line to the president of the trade name. The communicating between the concern unit representation and the CxO of the back uping map is non ever seamless, which can take to duplicate of attempt. Failing Decreasing net income The net income of CCL has diminished over the last old ages. The net net income was $ 1,790 million in FY2009, a lessening of 23.2 % as compared to 2008. The net income recovered some in 2010 and 2011 but neer reached the degree of 2008 ( see appendix X ) Another failing is that Carnival Cruise lines studies their fiscal statements in dollars. About half of their gross is generated in a non-US currency, but is reported in footings of US dollars. The value of the dollar against Euro appreciated from 1.60 in January 2010 to 1.53 by April 2010 against the Pound. If the dollar strengthens it would enter a lower gross than is really earned ( Marketingteacher, 2012 ) . The force per unit area on net income will maintain on adding force per unit area on taking the right direction determinations and puting in the right chances. Failing Over-dependence on US market Carnival Cruise Lines derives a bulk of its gross ( about 52 % ) from US clients. In 2009 the gross from the North American market registered a dual digit diminution. The over-dependence on the US market makes CCL vulnerable to the economic fluctuations of the American economic system and this company is dependent on clients disposable income ( Marketingteacher, 2012 ) . All sail companies, CCL every bit good, are traveling their focal point from the US market to Europe and Asia. Particularly in Asia there is a immense growing potency. 2.3 Systems within CCL This paragraph gives a high degree overview of systems as mentioned in the 7S theoretical account: all formal and informal methods of operation, processs and communicating flows. In paragraph 2.8 we focus on Information Technology systems and the current IT landscape. With respect to the systems of Carnival Cruise Lines the undermentioned strengths and failings can be identified: Strengths Failings IT incorporated in company consequences No prioritization procedure in topographic point No benefits tracking No incorporate CRM procedure Strength IT incorporated in company consequences In some companies IT is considered as free of charge, since IT is non incorporated in the company consequences. This leads to a deformed position of company/business unit consequences. However, Carnival Cruise Lines incorporates the costs of IT in the company/business unit consequences, which allows both the company/business unit itself to acquire a more realistic position of the consequences, but besides the market gets a more trusty position of the consequences. This leads to a more positive ranking in the market. Failing No prioritization procedure in topographic point Since every concern unit is set up as an ain net income and loss centre, every concern unit deems their ain undertaking to be the most of import. Presently, there is no prioritization procedure in topographic point on the concern side, which leads to a uninterrupted flow of undertakings that need IT resources. Failing No benefits tracking Many undertakings get kicked off and assure benefits. However there is no procedure in topographic point to mensurate these benefits after the undertaking has been delivered. This allows the concern to maintain on making extra undertakings to present the same thing, once more leting concern addition costs alternatively of cut downing costs. Failing No incorporate CRM procedure Carnival Cruise Lines does non hold an integrated CRM procedure in topographic point for the whole corporation. This leads to the fact that clients from the one sail line are nt recognized as a repetition client with a different sail line within the group, this has an immediate consequence on the pricing for repetition clients. Besides, due to the deficiency of this procedure, the organisation can non aim specific clients groups, based on their old behaviour on the sail, since that information is merely disconnected available. 2.4 Style within CCL The leading manner at Carnival Cruise Lines can be called family-like. This family-like leading manner is a direction manner that Ted Arison already used when he was still maneuvering the company. Ted Arison had a non-hierarchical attack to direction, significance that he delegated a batch of work downwards in the organisation, leting him to supervise the bigger image ( Managementparadise, 2012 ) . With respect to the manner of Carnival Cruise Lines the undermentioned strength can be identified: Strengths Failings Leadership manner authorising people Strength Leadership manner authorising people Peoples with the right accomplishments are hired and are giving the support and room to make their occupations right. Peoples are encouraged to be hands-on and take deliberate hazards. Taking hazards besides means that errors can happen, nevertheless CCL uses a no blasted civilization through which people feel empowered ( Managementparadise, 2012 ) . 2.5 Shared values of CCL Derived from the mission and vision of Carnival Cruise Lines ( see 2.1 ) the company has set some company values that were a high precedence. With respect to the shared values of CCL the undermentioned strengths can be identified: Strengths Failings Strong company values Focus on the environment Strength Strong company values The company values are: honestness, unity, equity, cordial reception and teamwork. The values are deemed of import to make their occupation in a right mode. Strength Focus on the environment Carnival Cruise Lines, as all other sail lines in the industry, takes much pride in the focal point they put on the environment. They invest to a great extent in wellness and safety, both for clients and for employees. There is a really strong focal point on the environment and to work in a greener manner. Charity is besides one of the cardinal constituents of their societal duty scheme. 2.6 Skills at CCL Working in the leisure industry requires some specific accomplishments that you can non ever learn. Most of import accomplishments that person working in the leisure industry would necessitate, are the undermentioned: client focused, empathy, squad work, emphasis immune, multi-cultural, service orientation and multi linguistic. With respect to the accomplishments of Carnival Cruise Lines the undermentioned strengths can be identified: Strengths Failings Strong attending for accomplishments A ; attitude Loyalty plans in topographic point Strength Strong attending for accomplishments A ; attitude Since Carnival Cruise Lines wants to be seen as the sail line that delivers fun, the attitude of the employees is really of import as good. The employees need to be cheerful and enthusiastic. CCL puts great attempt in exciting the coveted accomplishments and attitude of the employees. Strength Loyalty plans in topographic point CCL has its trueness plans in topographic point. The company introduced a new trueness plan in 2012 supplying past invitees with a assortment of value-added benefits and characteristics, including precedence boarding and disembarkation, guaranteed supper nine reserves and dining times, personalized letter paper and custom-designed CCL logo points ( Carnival, 2012 ) . Contrary to what is stated in the concern instance, Carnival Cruise Lines has now its trueness plans in topographic point. 2.7 Staff at CCL Cruise ships typically operate with three categories of crew. The first is the officers: these professionals are extremely paid and given ultimate bid of the ship. The 2nd is entertainers and wait staff: typically lower-paid, but from the same states as the patrol cars that they serve. Finally, most of the ships crew is drawn from developing states. While wage is low, the wage can stand for an attractive chance for these workers, who frequently work 10-month contracts without being able to see their places and households. Employee turnover is high, and few of the crew sees working on a sail ship as a feasible long-run calling. Staff remains 24/7 on board of the ship, have their ain cabins at the lowest two decks of the ship. Lone officers are allowed to blend between invitees, this at particular occasions and in formal garb. Other crew members have dedicated times during which they can be present on guest decks. With respect to the staff of Carnival Cruise Lines the undermentioned strengths can be identified: Strengths Failings Operational excellence A ; experience Endowment development plans in topographic point Strength Operational excellence A ; experience Carnival Cruise Lines has achieved below-industry-average costs and above-average gross historically. This is mostly due to the company s huge experience in owning and operating sails, every bit good as some smart strategic dramas. That advantage makes spread outing into new markets immensely easier for CCL than for a smaller participant or nouveau-riche house. CCL has the largest pool of informations to pull on to find what does and does non work and has the most experient sellers of sails in the universe. These soft advantages let CCL potentially section its clients more expeditiously than rivals ( Levin, Jones, A ; Slade, 2011 ) . Strength Endowment development plans in topographic point CCL has a separate preparation and development section set up in the organisation. The corporation invests to a great extent in coaching of high potencies by giving them larning chances that are fit for their personal demands. 2.8 Information Management The current IT landscape of CCL is much diversified. First of wholly, the IT landscape is split in the shore side systems and the shipboard systems. This split between on shore and shipboard adds a dimension to the complexness of the landscape, since most of the shipboard systems need to be able to pass on to the shore side systems. An extra challenge in the current IT landscape is the usage of bequest systems. Since there are fundamentally merely three chief rivals in the sail industry, there is non truly a seller that specializes in cruise industry systems , therefore all the sail companies use their ain developed systems. Old ages ago, this was non truly a job, but nowadays with the globalisation of industries, restrictions of these bequest systems refrain CCL to be every bit nimble as they would wish to be. Figure X gives a high degree overview of the current IT landscape within Carnival Cruise Lines at the clip of the instance description One can presume that due to acquisition s between 2006 and 2012 this landscape has grown in complexness even more. Another type of systems now in the current landscape which were non described in the instance are the hazard direction and internal control systems. For this CCL uses IBM OpenPages Financial Controls Management and IBM OpenPages Operational Risk Management ( IBM Corporation, 2011 ) . Figure Information systems within CCL With respect to Information Management the undermentioned strength and failings can be identified: Strengths Failings Excellent engagement system for travel agents Decentralized systems Bequest systems No overview of undertaking portfolio Weak resource direction TCO for IT non in topographic point Outsourcing degree 2 A ; 3 support hard Strength Excellent engagement system for travel agents From a travel agent s position CCL is easy to make concern with: travel agents will state that Carnival is much easier to work with than Royal ( Appendix X, interview Vicky Freed ) . Carnival Cruise Lines has upgraded the engagement engine within its travel agent web portal, to assist agents salvage clip when booking reserves online. A streamlined and simplified procedure for pull offing engagements, every bit good as an synergistic toolbar that provides easier pilotage between different constituents of the engagement engine, do it easier for agents to book sails for their clients. In add-on to an wholly new design and pilotage, the upgraded engagement engine offers convenient links to several applications ( Travel Agent Central, 2012 ) . The updated engagement engine is designed to reflect the changing concern theoretical accounts of travel agents and represents the latest sweetening to this comprehensive portal which serves as a one-stop-shop for travel agents to carry through all of their gross revenues and selling demands ( Lynn Torrent, senior frailty president of gross revenues and guest services CCL ) . Failing Decentralized systems The decentalisation within Carnival Cruise Lines translates into a decentalisation of systems as good. Decisions are nt ever communicated from one sail line to the other, which leads to duplicate of attempt. This decentalisation of the concern organisation translates to the IT organisation every bit good. Every trade name has its ain IT section with ain systems and substructure. Failing Bequest systems There are many legacy systems. Since there are nt many participants in the cruising sector, most of the strategic of import applications are custom made. This leads to a spaghetti landscape in which integrating is really hard and which affects the clip to market significantly. Failing No overview of undertaking portfolio Undertakings can get down within a concern unit or on a corporate degree within CCL. Since the concern is set up in separate concern units, with their ain IT departments, there is a batch of duplicate of attempt. There in non one planetary IT Program Management Office that oversees all the current undertakings and their demands for IT. This has both an impact on the IT resource direction as on the IT landscape that runs the hazard to acquire even more diversified. Failing Weak resource direction Due to the deficiency of a prioritization procedure for undertakings, the first-in-first-out rule is frequently used, this means that resources get allocated either to the undertaking that came in the grapevine foremost or either to the undertaking that has a concern proprietor or undertaking director who is really persuasive. Without the prioritization procedure in topographic point, it is really hard for the IT direction to make up ones mind where to apportion resources to. The deficiency of prioritization leads to defeat on the concern side, because there is the perceptual experience that IT is non able to present in clip. Failing TCO for IT non in topographic point To truly understand the entire cost of IT for the concern all costs of IT should be made transparent and apprehensible for any concern proprietor. Currently CCL has no entire cost of ownership for IT in topographic point. Reasons for non holding TCO for IT in topographic point are assorted ; it is really hard to truly acquire cost like web transparent, an IT service catalogue needs to be in topographic point, IT direction needs to be committed, aˆÂ ¦ However implementing TCO for IT will assist the IT direction acquire the battalion of costs as a consequence of duplicate of attempt seeable to the concern. Failing Outsourcing degree 2 A ; 3 support hard As already stated above, most of the applications of CCL are custom made. This in-house development induces resources with a really specific cognition. Often, this cognition is both on the system side as on the concern procedure side and hence confidential. Outsourcing degree 2 and 3 support is really hard, due to these specific cognition. 2.9 Risk Management Enterprise Risk Management is a procedure, effected by an entity s board of managers, direction and other forces, applied in scheme scene and across the endeavor, designed to place possible events that may impact the entity, and manage hazard to be within its hazard appetency, to supply sensible confidence sing the accomplishment of entity aims ( COSO, 2004 ) . Organizations which manage hazard efficaciously and expeditiously are more likely to accomplish their ends and to accomplish this at a lower overall cost. Risk direction is hence good direction. Risk direction should be a multi-faceted subject: frequently referred to as endeavor, integrated, holistic or practical hazard direction ( The Institute of Risk Management, 2012 ) . The aim of a hazard direction model is to assist guarantee that appropriate proficient and administrative controls are identified and implemented to protect information resources and assist guarantee continuity of concern operations ( Hillson, 2006 ) . With respect to Risk Management the undermentioned strengths and failings can be identified for CCL: Strengths Failings Enterprise Risk Management in topographic point Good models Strong focal point on security A ; privateness ordinances Poor safety record Strength Enterprise Risk Management in topographic point Carnival Cruise Lines has introduced the Enterprise Risk Management ( ERM ) plan. This plan is designed to place, buttocks, manage and describe the most important concern and strategic hazards faced by the company to senior direction and the Board of Directors. The ERM plan is overseen by a squad within the Corporate Risk Advisory A ; Assurance Services Department, based in the Miami central office. CCL besides maintains onsite squads at each of its trade names, in order to remain aligned with the corporation s by and large decentralized direction construction and to develop on-site audit expertness at each of the major trade names. ( IBM Corporation, 2011 ) . Within CCL s concern units risk direction and internal control is an on-going procedure. It is designed to place, measure and pull off the important hazards faced by the units and is embedded in each of the operations. A system of internal controls has been established to be capable of reacting rapidly to germinating hazards in the concern. It includes processs for the direct coverage of material internal control deficiencies together with the appropriate disciplinary action. The corporate executive direction squad receives periodic information sing internal control issues originating at the concern units. The primary focal point of this facet of the system is the corporate Management Advisory Services ( MAS ) Department. MAS is responsible for supervising the procedure, guaranting that issues common to more than one concern unit are identified and that all relevant affairs are brought to the attending of the boards as a whole. The MAS Department is supported by the Corporate Finance and Corporate Legal Departments, every bit good as the CEO, COO and the CFO ( CCL, 2010 ) . Strength Good models CCL has adopted the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission ( COSO ) counsel for implementing its internal control model as portion of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act SectionA 404 conformity program ( CCL, 2010 ) . The COSO model for ERM provides cardinal rules and constructs, a common linguistic communication, and clear way and counsel for organisations to measure and better their endeavor hazard direction ( COSO, 2004 ) . Carnival Cruise Lines has a structured attack to monitoring and pull offing operational, fiscal and conformity hazard across the corporation s spectrum of sail trade names. The system allows a high grade of comparison across the trade name portfolio while acknowledging the differences that make each person runing company unique ( IBM Corporation, 2011 ) . The key to CCL s attack to scrutinizing hazard is the conceptualisation of each of its trade names as a set of concern procedures. Despite the differences in organisational constructions, IT infrastructures and market sections, Carnival Cruise Lines operating companies all operate chiefly in the sail industry, which enables the organisation to set up a common analytical model. CCL has identified over 300 single procedures that are organized into 13 subdivisions as shown in figure X ( CCL, 2010 ) . 1. Understand markets and clients 2. Design merchandises and services 3. Market and sell cruise/tour merchandises 4. Deliver cruise merchandise and services 5. Pull off supply concatenation 6. Procedure gross Billingss and aggregations 7. Pull off fiscal resources 8. Pull off physical assets 9. Develop and pull off HR 10. Manage information resources and engineering 11. Manage environmental wellness, safety, and security 12. Manage support services 13. Pull off other non-cruise operations Figure Sections ERM model ( CCL, 2010 ) A hazard categorization strategy was established in concurrence with the direction. This strategy identifies and assesses the hazards associated with each procedure. The full theoretical account contains hazards that are categorized as fiscal, operational or compliance-related. For each major sail trade name are about 1,200 hazards identified ( IBM Corporation, 2011 ) . One of our cardinal ends has ever been to corroborate that controls and processs are designed and run efficaciously both shipboard and shore side. Our process-based attack to monitoring hazard is an effectual internal tool that gives us the confidence of a comprehensive, consistent position of hazard factors across all our assorted trade names. It is a great manner to gestate our concern ( Richard Brilliant, Sr. Vice President and Chief Audit Executive CCL ) . A individual package platform ( IBM OpenPages Operational Risk Management ) is implemented to guarantee planetary consistence. Strength Strong focal point on security A ; privateness ordinances CCL is a member of the Cruise Lines International Association ( CLIA ) . CLIA members are required to follow with all international, flag and port province criterions and ordinances to guarantee the safety and security of riders. Figure Regulations and Compliance in sail industry ( CLIA, 2012 ) Privacy is about the claim of persons and the social value stand foring that claim, to command the usage and revelation of their information ( Faden, 1993 ) . Privacy and Data Protection are typically interpreted in footings of criterions for the intervention and airing of certain types of personal information ( Movius A ; Krup, 2009 ) . CCL strongly aims to follow with security and privateness ordinances ( beginning ) . Appendix X provides an overview of international ordinances that deal with security and privateness. Failing Poor safety record Pull offing reputational hazard in the sail industry has neer been smooth seafaring. See that the universe s most well-known luxury sail of all clip is the 1 that struck an iceberg and claimed the lives of 1,523 riders and crew ( Risk A ; Insurance, 2012 ) . There is no public database of major sail accidents, but CCL has a notably worse safety record than other sail companies. The Costa Concordia calamity has been the most recent in the company s safety sufferings. The Center for Disease Control does track all major viral eruptions on sail lines. In the 2009-2011 period, CCL-owned companies accounted for 56 % of all viral eruptions, compared to a 48 % mean market portion. The company is besides thought to hold a worse safety record for individuals lost at sea, particularly in the Carnival trade name: of the 179 disappearings since 2000, CCL entirely accounts for about 30 % of them ( Levin, Jones, A ; Slade, 2011 ) . In 2009, Carnival Cruise Lines experienced bad imperativeness when three riders fell off ships in a three hebdomad period. There were a sum of 22 incidents of riders falling overboard in 2009. In December 2008, riders on the CCL owned Oceania sail ship were attacked by Somali plagiarists. The media attending when something happens on a sail ship reflects negatively on the company and the industry. ( KORTER )

A birthday to Remember Professor Ramos Blog

A birthday to Remember Majority of adults believe that being a kid is being that little girl or boy that has no say of his or her own, but depends solely on adults. We believe that anything can be forced on them, and all they need do is to accept without any objection. That is the story of Rachel in â€Å"Eleven† written by Sandra Cisneros,who on her eleventh birthday still did not feel like it. She talked about how it feels to be a certain age, but you still act and feel like the ages before that. The behaviors and emotions still reflect the child in you. She said â€Å"the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one† (Cisneros 6). This quote explains how she feels as an eleven year old, but still have the characteristics and emotions of a Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, and One year old. She gave an illustration of how on her eleventh birthday, she was not given a choice to express herself but was forced to agree with her teacher on the issue of a red sweater that wasn’t hers but belong to someone else. She wished she was One hundred and two years old, only then would she have been able to stand for herself and Mrs. Price would have listened to her and she would not have put the ugly red sweater on her table. At the age of hundred and two, Rachel would have known what and how to tell her teacher she was not the owner of the red sweater, instead of struggling within herself to reject the sweater. She knew she was been treated unfairly by her teacher just because she’s eleven and she is meant to respect and obey her teacher without any given opportunity to express herself but to do according to her teacher’s command. When Mrs. Price asked â€Å"Whose is this?† holding up the ugly red sweater, everyone said not mine and the teacher believed them, not until Sylvia Saldivar stood up and said â€Å"I think it belong to Rachel†. For her teacher to believe her classmate over her is a form of intimidation to her and she wished she was an age much older than eleven with the confidence of an adult and she would be able to stand up for herself. From the story, the teacher believed every other person when they said the sweater wasn’t theirs. She also believed Sylvia, who hates Rachel and was looking for ways to hurt her, said to their teacher that the ugly sweater was Rachel’s. Mrs. Price refused to believe Rachel, but believed Sylvia. This made Rachel sad and felt the teacher doesn’t like her, that’s why she never believed her when she said the sweater wasn’t hers. Also, she knew Sylvia hates her that was why she told a lie against her to hurt her on her Eleventh birthday. She said and I quote â€Å"maybe because I’m skinny, maybe because she doesn’t like me.†After this experience, Rachel felt that the teacher favors her other classmates over her and this really made her sad felt intimidated. Favoritism is generally the case in many school classrooms, according to an article written by a researcher on Favoritism in the classroom, he said â€Å"Teachers are said to favor certain students over others at school and especially in their classes.† (Aydogan 2008). Sadly, when one child is being favored over the other in a class by their teacher, it makes the less favored child become self-withdrawn and lack interest throughout the school semester. The classroom is a place where children go to acquire knowledge and respect for others. The teacher is meant to treat all her students equally and fairly. The ethical principle of teaching profession includes â€Å"professionalism, responsible service, fairness, equality, respect for human freedom, compassion honesty, continuous development, integrity, trust, maintaining a healthy and safe environment.† (Aydogan 2008). As a teacher, you give your students equal right to express themselves in class. That was not the case for Mrs. Price who never gave Rachel the right to accept or reject the ugly red sweater. Everyone expect to be treated right on their birthdays. They want to be happy and share this happiness with their loved ones. Rachel was looking forward to going home after school because she knew her mum was baking a cake and when her papa gets home they will all sing â€Å"happy birthday song† for her. Unfortunately, her happiness was short lived when Sylvia Saldivar decided to accuse her wrongly and made her teacher Mrs. Price put the ugly sweater on her desk. She tried to be eleven and act like a big girl, but the three year old in her was struggling to come out through her eyes. Mrs. Price was quick to believe Sylvia over Rachel. This could be because Sylvia is the outspoken one and Rachel is the timid one. Most teachers will have different emotions towards outspoken and timid children in their classroom. After all the deed had been done, and the ugly sweater has been placed on her desk. Rachel tried so hard to hide the three year old in her that wants to come out through her eyes but instead, kept the face and posture of an eleven year old that she is. Just when she thought all was over, Mrs. Price came and insist that she put on the ugly red sweater that smells of cottage cheese. That was the moment she lost all control and all the years inside her pushed through her eyes and she cried bitterly. The teacher here failed in her ability to manage her classroom and manage the situation of the ugly sweater thereby making a child feel terrible on her birthday. Not only did she force Rachel to wear an ugly, smelly sweater that was not hers, she also failed to apologize to Rachel when the real owner of the sweater Phyllis Lopez came up and claimed the sweater. Rachel said,†Mrs. Price pretends like everything’s okay.†(Cisneros 9). Adult sometimes take advantage of vulnerable children just because they think they can, and there’s nothing the child can do about it. They fail to realize that treating a child badly could destroy the child’s self esteem. Unfortunately, a birthday that could have been a happy one for Rachel turned out to be one she does not want to ever remember because of a misconception that happened in her classroom. Aydogan, Ä °smail. â€Å"Favoritism in the Classroom: A Study on Turkish Schools.†Journal of Instructional Psychology, vol. 35, no. 2, June 2008, pp. 159–168.EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=a9hAN=33405329site=ehost-live. Cisneros, Sandra. â€Å"Eleven† Women Hollering Creek and other stories. Vintage Contemporaries, New York 1992. Pp 6-9. Picture Credit: https://poshmark.com/listing/5205a679e1267a23300225a8

Amilcar cabral Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Amilcar cabral - Assignment Example Depending with the type of colonialism, that is, settler or exploitation colonialism, the ant-colonialism movements/groups will employ different techniques in their bid to regain back their freedom and/or autonomy of rule (Lovejoy, 2012); which may take violent and/or non-violent measures. The non-violent techniques and strategies involve diplomacy and negotiations but they are mainly inapplicable simply because the motivation for colonization is long term missioned based on either political, religious and economic interest; and the breakdown of these measures leads to suppression by police or armed forces necessitating the colonies to form revolts to fight for independence. Background Majority of the African countries have had a history of either settlers or exploitation colonization with the latter taking precedence due to minerals and favorable weather and climatic conditions that favored settler’s agricultural interest. ... for Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Kenya and Swaziland respectively in a bid to fight for their independence (Bienen, 1977). In this paper we shall look into details the activities of Amilcar Cabral and his undying motivation to liberate people of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde as we analyze the political and social journey during colonial and postcolonial era. Amilcar Cabral was a Guinea Bissau national born on September 12, 1924 and assassinated on January 20, 1973, 8 months afore the unilateral affirmation of liberation for Guinea Bissau. He is viewed as a nationalist thinker and a political leader who based his social-economic and political views on materialist interpretation of historical development and dialectical view of social transformation through analysis of class-relations and conflicts in the society, commonly referred to as Marxism (Callinicos, 2011). Though he was not a Marxist, he drew much of his inspiration and motivation from education and profess ionalism he had gained as an agronomist and a writer from Instituto Superior De Agronomia University in Lisbon, Portugal. While a student in Lisbon, he founded a student movements dedicated to opposing dictatorship rule by Portuguese with an aim of promoting the cause of liberation of Portuguese colonies in Africa, a move that envisioned his political career and a perception as the Africa’s foremost ant-colonial leader. He led African Party for Independence of Guinea Bissau People and Cape Verde [PAIGC], a guerilla movement he had founded in Guinea Bissau together with MPLA for Angola in 1956, against the Portuguese rule and later evolved as one of the most successful wars of independence in African history. With the vast knowledge of Portuguese traditions he had gotten

Philosophy And The Human Good Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophy And The Human Good - Essay Example This means that deep down Henry believed that just because he was in a difficult situation that endangered his scholarship, it clearly did not make him deserve to be someone special enough to be entitled to a license to steal. Henry knew or at least believed that the law against stealing was a moral law that governed all men no matter what their circumstances were. Just because he was in a difficult situation did not give him the reason to commit a crime. Besides, although the whole world may not know about it, he was worried about two other things. First, Henry was afraid that he might kept doing the same thing and that he might end up stealing anything someday as long as he could justify it – and that he might even commit similar crimes someday. Thus, he and many others who would make the wrong choice would affect the community negatively. Second, Henry was afraid that he might in fact get caught and that his boss might either have him arrested or would sack him. Either way, he would lose the job. Ethical absolutism has universal validity and, just like Henry, I believe that this principle applies to all human beings. However, I would not know whether a person that I admire, like my mother, would also employ ethical absolutism in all her moral decisions. I once heard my mother say that she would do anything for her children. It then seemed to me that she would even allow herself to break rules just for her children’s sake, although I have not seen my mother in this moral dilemma yet. Nevertheless, I somehow understood from the example of Henry that those with conscience usually adhere to ethical absolutism. From the example of my mother, I have learned that people who would have such a... He could lose his scholarship or he could lose his job if he got caught stealing. Nevertheless, no matter what situation he was in, the true moral law still considered and will always regard stealing as evil. Another ethical theory, namely ethical subjectivism, with its belief that â€Å"the ultimate moral authority is the individual or the ‘subject,’† would have come to a different conclusion if it had been applied to Henry’s case. If Henry had chosen a decision that could have brought forth his best interests, then he could have adopted ethical subjectivism. He could simply have stolen the drill. After all, his boss was rich and he would not know anyway. Moreover, if he had stolen and sold the drill, it could have financed his project and he could have kept his scholarship. Nevertheless, if the boss would find out about the theft, it would be in his best interests too to have it back and get Henry arrested. The problem with ethical subjectivism is that th ere would always be the conflict of best interests. The more important question is, "What happened to Henry?" Actually, he was able to keep his scholarship. He asked his teacher to extend the deadline for the project and he was able to muster enough courage and humility to borrow money from the same boss. He would have achieved the same results had he stolen the drill but with ethical absolutism, there was no guilt involved. He even became prouder that he was able to surpass such a temptation and told me that he knew he would not do anything evil even.

Safety Awards Programs, Advantages and Disadvantages Term Paper

Safety Awards Programs, Advantages and Disadvantages - Term Paper Example Additionally, approximately $7,000 USD is the cost for non-lost time accident, $38,000 USD for disabling accident, and $1.1M USD for a workplace fatality (NSC, 2005). This is most probably why most American businesses have some sort of safety awards programs. However, the effectiveness of such programs is still the source of ongoing debate among its advocates and critics (Friend & Kohn, 2010). In this light, it is necessary for any organization to understand and recognize the positive and negative attributes of such safety awards programs to determine whether the incentive scheme is obtaining the organizational goal. Several texts on safety and management provide well-examined data on the pros and cons of incentives on performance and motivation. A number of safety professionals maintain that an incentive scheme is a significant factor in any health and safety program. However, a few individuals view the philosophy behind these incentive schemes is founded on flawed principles (Fland ers & Lawrence, 1999). Critics still point out three major debatable and interconnected areas surrounding the safety awards programs --- use of monetary rewards to improve work productivity and quality, unreliable SAFETY AWARDS PROGRAMS 3 injury reports that underreport health and safety hazards and accidents, and long-term effectiveness of such programs (Davis & Prichard, 2000). The â€Å"Carrot† Approach One major opposition against the incentive schemes is that they are considered bribery. Critics view them as â€Å"de-motivators† and underhanded attempts at control because they can induce people to create an image of safety by covering up injuries or accidents. These few individuals assert that incentives are there due to two major reasons: 1) giving away incentives makes management feel good, and 2) safety professionals resort to bribery because they do not really know how to lessen injuries and accidents (Azaroff, 2002). On a deeper perspective, there are three m ain bases that put incentive schemes in a bad light. First is the incorrect concept that injuries are merely results of accidents and that avoiding them deserve rewards. This standpoint does not consider that workplace injuries are usually due to a mishmash of improper behaviors, inappropriate practices or methods, and perilous environment. Second is the thought that incentives fail to recognize the real causes of accidents. They disguise and draw the attention away from the roots of the issue. Third is related to the first basis, where incentives give the idea that rewards will prompt workers to avoid behaving inappropriately (Flanders & Lawrence, 1999). Contrary to these viewpoints, safety rewards supporters believe in the â€Å"carrot† theory (Davis & Prichard, 2000). It is the way where organizations show their care for their workers by promoting safety in the workplace. Proponents of this concept also believe that long-term effectiveness can be achieved by providing mone tary incentives for appropriate behavior and increased safety awareness. In agreement to this idea, attaining goals through incentives has SAFETY AWARDS PROGRAMS 4 always been embraced by society. Incentives have always been part of people’s lives, like frequent flyer rewards, school recognition for academic excellence, stock market rewards for wise

Geriatric Health Conditions: Types, Causes and Support

Geriatric Health Conditions: Types, Causes and Support Name: Clare Josephine Montuya Student No: 12001442 Introduction Generally, as we are living in the area of progression, we forget to look back into the ones, who in their prime, have done their best to establish the growing community that we are today. We tend to forget that we age along just like them. From this sentiment alone, we should be able to return the favour by means of answering their needs in a holistic manner and at the same time educating future generations about any problems that may arise from present-day health care so they would innovate means to address them in the near future. Time after time, problems tend to arise not from the premise that people have pre-existing health-related problems but from needs that have been overlooked or unaddressed. This report aims to discuss existing knowledge on common geriatric conditions, support organizations as well as services provided to the present day geriatric population so that rest homes, particularly Kindly Residential Care Rest Home, would be able to meet or exceed the expectations of clients or residents. Task 1 Dementia Dementia is a progressive-degenerative disorder that widely affects the general geriatric populace. It is progressive in a sense that those affected by it tend to develop severe symptoms as they age and degenerative by nature because of degeneration of certain and/or parts of the brain, resulting into changes in cognition, emotion, behaviour and personality. Although this may be prevalent among the elderly, this does not mean that the young adult populace is exempted from such. In present-day society, young adults tend to develop symptoms sooner than they think and tend to disregard the possibility of developing dementia in the long run. A hallmark sign of dementia is forgetfulness or short term memory loss. People as early as in their twenties tend to forget the keys to their room, their mobile phones, their assignments, and all other day to day activities no matter how simple these tasks may seem. But memory loss alone is not enough to diagnose dementia. A person should be able to have memory loss accompanied by four or more of the following criteria: language disturbance, trouble carrying out motor activities, failure to recognize or identify objects and trouble with planning, organising things and making judgments (Perkins, 2013). The severity of dementia can be categorized into mild, moderate and severe. In mild dementia, one can still be independent in carrying out certain tasks though they may tend to have one or two symptoms of it. This is most prevalent in the young to middle adult stage. In moderate dementia, supervision may be required to be able to execute important tasks and most likely some of a few activities of daily living. In severe cases, full and extensive assistance and supervision is needed to carry out activities of daily living. Early Stages of Dementia Early symptoms of dementia may vary in progression depending on the type of dementia presented. Dementia may be categorized into the following: Alzheimer’s disease Short term memory loss is the most profound symptom of the disease. A good example of such would be losing or misplacing things, inability to concentrate or focus, inability to follow conversations, have trouble using the telephone since he or she would tend to forget phone numbers, inability to keep track of recent events at certain times and constantly ask questions for a time because he or she forgot the answer. Another symptom would be having trouble to plan, organize or carry out decisions. One could forget to pay the bills on time or even keep track of certain events in the office and the like. Poor sense of direction is another where one lost his or her way in a mall he or she has visited more than twice in a week. Emotional changes may happen as well, such as increased anxiety, embarrassment in social situations, anger or frustration, powerlessness, suspiciousness, boredom or worse depression. Vascular Dementia Due to any damage or obstruction in the blood vessels in the brain, certain parts of the brain are deprived of oxygen from insufficient blood supply, hence causing damage to certain lobes of the brain responsible for cognition and emotion. Although short-term memory loss is a common denominator for all types of dementia, another significance of this type is the earlier onset of the loss of executive skills. Considered to be an after effect of multiple stroke attacks, it causes a lot of frustration, most particularly the emotional aspect of a person’s well-being. They become overly emotional at most times. In the medical world, a person becomes labile. A person may tend to be furious over a small issue or even cry at something funny. Lewy body dementia Persons suffering from this type of dementia would usually display loss of concentration and impaired judgement. Short-term memory loss is usually present but at its earliest stages, it is way better compared to Alzheimer’s disease. Another unique symptom would be able to have visual hallucinations, which would eventually lead to fear and depression. Frontal lobe dementia The front lobe of the brain is mainly affected in this particular type of dementia due to insufficient blood supply. They may have some similarities with vascular dementia but in its earlier stages, people suffering from such type would initially experience personality changes such as being tactless or breach rules of social etiquette. They tend to have difficulty expressing their feelings and have a problem reciprocating the appropriate response or emotion. Worst case scenario, they express no concern for their surrounding environment. They tend to feel that they are purposeless, so they tend to slack off or feel powerless to do anything. As a result, hygiene would be a concern for them and would require assistance and supervision in carrying out certain tasks of daily living. Interventions Regardless of what type of dementia the person has, dementia in its early stages is not to be taken lightly. Awareness is the key so information on dementia should be disseminated especially to clients and their families who are directly affected by it. This also does not limit to direct family members of the client but also to other health care professionals involved in his or her care. Taking care of the financial and legal aspect in the earlier stages of dementia is one of the many important things to prepare before the client. Security of assets such as having joint accounts, or preparing last will and testament and making advance directives before the client reaches a severe stage of dementia. Another would be to develop a routine for them to do and make these tasks simpler than they used to be. In any case there is a certain routine that they stick to, never break their routine. Providing them references to different support groups and providing access to their services is the best intervention so they could achieve the quality of life they desired. Support Organizations Access to these support groups would be essential to the geriatric populace. Alzheimer’s New Zealand This organization aims to disseminate information and promote high standards of education for people with dementia, their caregivers, families and health professionals. The regional member organisations may offer all or some of the following services: Support through group â€Å"get-togethers† for the person diagnosed with dementia Support group meetings for carers and family members Home visits by member organisation staff or field workers Carer education programmes Volunteer services Day-care programmes Regular newsletters Library – books and audio resources (http://www.alz.org/documents_custom/world_report_2012_final.pdf ) Eldernet This support group provides options to clients as to how and where they want their care delivered. Either they need care delivered in a large community or in the comforts of their home, Eldernet is able to provide links to these services such as list of different residential care homes, rest homes, support services and retirement villages. National Dementia Cooperative The said support group has been created to facilitate sharing of information regarding support systems made available and share ideas to achieve the goals of the cooperative. Age concern Age Concern provides free and confidential Elder Abuse and Neglect Prevention Services in many major cities and provincial areas throughout New Zealand. These services employ professional staff to work with older people and their carers, providing support and advocacy so that older people can be happy, healthy and safe. The services also raise awareness of elder abuse by providing education for aged care workers, community groups, families and anyone with an interest in the wellbeing of older people. There are also other providers of Elder Abuse and Neglect Prevention Services. (http://www.ageconcern.org.nz/ACNZPublic/Services/EANP/ACNZ_Public/Elder_Abuse_and_Neglect.aspx?hkey=df8b9042-ce1e-4d3a-9fe5-861fc17d2ecf) New Zealand Aged Care Association New Zealand Aged Care Association (NZACA), is a not-for-profit, national membership organisation which represents all parts of the aged care residential sector. Our members provide long and short term residential services to the over 65 cohort. Services include: Long term residential care Rest home care Hospital care Dementia care Psychogeriatric care Short term residential care Respite care Carer support care ACC care Non-weight bearing care Services Residential care This type of service is ideal for clients whose family wishes them to stay for a long period of time. People entering into residential care would normally experience separation anxiety and would be difficult for the staff to establish rapport. As much as possible, an initial assessment for the first 48 hours is made and the staff should be able to gather enough information as to the routine care that they will be able to include in their care. After enough background history or information is gathered, a profile is made as basis for the plan of care. The care plan is then discussed with the family and must be reviewed or updated every six months or when significant changes have taken place. Regular meetings with the family are held every now and then to promote collaboration in the care of the patient. Activities cannot be only limited to the confines of the facility but outings are encouraged as well. A walk in the park, spending the afternoon in a familiar coffee shop or any recrea tional activity that keeps them company. But when it comes down to having outpatient visits to the doctor, a family member must accompany them as they know the history of the patient well than any other caregiver. In any case they wish to have services such as a reflex massage on the foot, or a manicure or pedicure, or hairdresser, these services can be brought from the nearest parlour to their very doorstep. But when dementia gets severe enough that the facility can’t handle, these clients will then be endorsed or sent to a higher level of care facility such as the hospital. End of Life Support Palliative care is an essential care pathway when clients reach their terminal stage in life. This not only applies to the physical aspect but also the emotional, cultural and spiritual well-being as well. Advance directives are made in advance while the client’s cognition is still intact and involve the family as well in the decision-making. Heaps of issues tend to arise from this as well, affecting the delivery of care to clients. One would be medical issues, such as addressing clients with terminal stage illnesses like pneumonia, cancer, chronic kidney disease, diabetic ketoacidosis, stroke and more chronic diseases. We should also consider the hydration status and nutrition of each of the clients to ensure that they keep up with their nutritional needs. Another issue to address is euthanasia or â€Å"Death by Dignity†, an ethical issue that is still debatable to this day. According to Perkins, a system called Liverpool Care Pathway was developed to ensure the best p ossible end-of-life care delivered to the individual in the last few days of his or her life (Perkins, 2013). In the care of the terminally ill in the home setting, a private duty nurse can be arranged to assist the family in taking care of the client. Hospices Though this may be similar to end of life support, these facilities specialize in taking care of demented clients with diseases such as cancer or HIV/AIDS. Palliative care is still the main intervention for this facility. Hospitals These facilities offer numerous services open 24/7 to be able to cater to the health needs of patients requiring a higher level of care. In this setting, they require to people to assist in the care of the client. Demented clients who become frail and enter into dementia of a severe kind are most likely to be admitted. Rest Homes In this facility, the residents are more likely to take care of themselves independently but still require supervision and a bit of support from health care assistants. These are privately-owned and offer 24-hour staffing who are trained well in dementia care. A registered nurse may be present but not at all times. They tend to have limited hours to visit and may tend to visit whenever there is an emergency. Advocates Advocates for the demented elderly support their rights to care they deserve in order to achieve good quality of life. They organize and provide information about dementia and share links to certain support groups. They do everything they can to help protect and defend the rights of the client in getting what they want out of the care given. Task 2 On Stigmas of Dementia They say that what you wouldn’t know couldn’t kill you. What if what you thought about dementia isn’t as bad as it seems? What if something you thought was wrong seemed to help at all? Here a few things that you thought wrong about dementia: Social isolation of the individual and their family What it actually is†¦ People shouldn’t look at dementia as something to be ashamed of but rather something that could open barriers of communication. Individuals who suffer from dementia tend to create more bonding moments with their family and their caregivers as well as both family and caregivers collaborate together to give much attention to the needs of the client. Being a resident in a rest home doesn’t mean being confined behind four walls for the remainder of his or her life. Recreational activities in the facilities and getting them involved in support groups help answer the emotional and social needs of the residents and clients. So people should start to see that they won’t be that alone after all. Assumption of automatic loss of independence What it actually is†¦ Dementia, once diagnosed at an early stage, can still be managed since it is in this stage that people can still carry on effectively and independently certain activities of daily living. Although they may be under supervision, that does not mean that independence has been totally taken away from the individual. Health care providers stick to the code of upholding the rights of the clients, therefore independence isn’t lost after all. Unable to make decisions about own care What it actually is†¦ This stigma may be considered granting to it that one is already in a severe case of dementia. Though health care providers and family members tend to make certain decisions on the care of the client, they are still guided by the laws protecting the rights of the client to make health care decisions. If the client has something to say about how he or she wants it to be, then there is nothing they can do but respect it. Therefore, clients can still make decisions about their own care after all. Dissatisfying interactions with the medical community What it actually is†¦ A lot of issues tend to arise from care rendered by caregivers. Proper lines of communication is essential to establish rapport and eventually gain cooperation from the client. Health care providers, especially trained in dementia care, are guided by the ethics in caring for these clients. Though there may be a few reported to have ill-mannered staff, that does not generalize the entire medical community to be the same. Appropriate disciplinary actions will take place and every client has every right to complain about the care rendered to them. Therefore, not all health care providers in the medical community are that mean after all. Uncertainty of support services and treatments What it actually is†¦ Support services and treatments are all just a click away. The internet is flooding full of advocacy organizations and support groups, which allows families and affected individuals as well easy access to the services they desire. If in any case that the internet is not within their reach or when computer literacy may pose as a challenge to the elderly populace, then they can always consult health professionals for referrals to such support groups. After all, there is no harm in asking. Conclusion Awareness is the key to unlock all the possible barriers to the demented client’s right to attain the quality of life they desire. Raising awareness of dementia, especially in its early stages, and eradicating any stigmas surrounding it would be able to help the affected individuals gain access into support systems that are readily available to accept them and advocate their rights to proper care and treatment. As soon as they get in contact with these links of support groups, they could gain access to the services they desired. Cisco Systems: SWOT Analysis and Marketing Analysis Cisco Systems: SWOT Analysis and Marketing Analysis Principles of Marketing Abstract This study aims to provide information on key marketing concepts and strategies adopted by Cisco Systems Inc. It critically analyzes Ciscos business strategies and practices by describing and evaluating its market orientation along with the impact of its marketing practices on business thereby providing an overview of its competitive advantage and SWOT analysis. One of the most vital and comprehensive marketing tools Ansoff Product-Growth Matrix has been implemented for Cisco, identifying its potential development, segmentation and diversification tactics. Porters Five Forces framework has also been included to derive five forces that determine competitive intensity and attractiveness of markets. Ciscos B2B and B2C segments are identified in conjunction with the marketing mix of product, price, promotion and place to support its marketing strategies in order to align it with its adopted business model. Introduction Cisco Systems Inc, a networking systems developer and manufacturer, was founded by two computer scientists at Stanford University in 1984. Cisco went public in 1990. Computers on local networks had not been able to communicate easily with computers outside that network, until Cisco introduced its first commercial router in 1986. Geographically dispersed networks of computers using different networking protocols, were able to be linked together by Ciscos multi-protocol router. Cisco quickly emerged a global leader in networking hardware, software and services, expanding to over 40,000 employees along with annual revenues of $23.8 billion by the end of 2000, although the economic downturn affected Ciscos 2001 revenues and compelled Cisco to layoff close to 14% of its employees (Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2001). Cisco Systems, Inc. is the global leader in computer networking for the Internet. Today, networks form an integral part of education, government, business systems and home communications. Cisco hardware, software and service contributions are used to establish the Internet solutions that make complex networks possible, enabling easy access to information anywhere, at any time, by individuals, organizations and countries. Additionally, Cisco has pioneered the utilization of the Internet in its own business practices and provides consulting services based on its experience and expertise to support other organizations around the globe. Since the companys inception, engineers at Cisco have promptly contributed in the innovation of networking technologies based on Internet Protocol (IP). This tradition of IP innovation endures with the evolution of industry-leading products in the core technologies of switching and routing along with advanced technologies in areas like home networking, security, IP telephony, storage area networking, optical networking, and wireless technology. Cisco offers a broad range of services, including technical support and a dvanced services in addition to its products. Cisco markets its services and products, both directly through its channel partners as well as through its own sales force, to service providers, commercial businesses , large enterprises and consumers. Social responsibility and customer focus are the core values on which Cisco operates as an organization (Cisco Systems Inc 2004). Over time, Cisco has proved its ability to successfully capture market transitions. Commencing in 1997 with the certainty that voice and video would all be converged to one, proceeding to the Network of Networks in 2000 and the network becoming the podium for all related web technologies and the base of customer solutions along with the most recent market transition of collaboration and Web 2.0 technologies. At Cisco, product offerings evolve as per market transitions only to best meet customer requirements. Cisco has emerged from Enterprise and Service Provider solutions to recognizing and approaching customer needs in numerous other segments including Small, Consumer and Commercial. To a large degree, the network has evolved to into a platform for providing one transparent and seamless customer experience. A key aspect of Ciscos culture is connecting and collaborating with others to make the world smaller through innovative technology and use it to enhance life experiences. Thats the Human Network a place where everyone is connected. (Cisco n.d.) Market Orientation Jaworski and Kohli (1996) defined market orientation as the organization wide generation of market intelligence pertaining to current and future customer needs, dissemination of the intelligence across departments, and organization-wide responsiveness to it. Customer and Market Focus In recent years, market-driven organizations have begun to evolve as the new industry giants. The market-driven formula for success in todays marketplace is to produce the right product at the right price at the right time (Bill Barrett 2001). The right product is the one that solves the customers problem and delivers the highest value. The right price is what the customer is willing to pay. The right time is when the customer needs the product. Customer needs and priorities are continuously changing. Therefore, an organization must know how customers wants, needs and values emerge over time to be successful. To gain the desired knowledge of the customer, an organization must focus on the current and prospective markets and customers it serves and put the customer first in every aspect of the organization. Marketing-orientated companies focus on customer needs (Jobber 2007: 6). By including the customer in an organizations mission and goals, market-driven organizations make providing value to the customer a top priority. This commitment to the customer is evident in Cisco Systems mission statement: To shape the future of the Internet by creating unprecedented value and opportunity for our customers, employees, investors and ecosystem partners (Cisco n.d.) Ciscos market focus begins with its emphasis on delivering unprecedented value to its customers, as well as other stakeholders, including employees, investors, and environmental partners. Ciscos mission statement is consistent with market-driven perspective of serving the objectives of all the stakeholders (Bill Barrett 2001). We believe Ciscos market orientation emphasizes continuous improvement of the processes since information gathering is one of the main characteristics of a market driven organization. As the market demands and customers requirements change continuously, it is extremely essential for such organizations to gather relevant data in all environmental sectors competitive, political, cultural, economic, technological, human resources and most importantly the consumer. Thus, it can be said that Ciscos orientation is rightly aligned with its mission statement./p> Relationship Strategies The market-driven concept suggests that putting the customer first in all aspects of an organization results in satisfying all stakeholders, which challenges the belief that multiple stakeholders often have conflicting goals. Market-driven organizations use relationship strategies to form partnerships and alliances with stakeholders to create synergy and minimize or eliminate conflicting goals. Cisco Systems has formed strategic alliances with suppliers and customers to deliver a customer-centric, total solutions approach to solving problems, exploiting business opportunity, and creating sustainable competitive advantage for our customers (Bill Barrett 2001). Cisco and its partners recognized that their products and services, combined with those of suppliers and customers, created a total solution that was more valuable than the sum of the individual pieces (Bill Barrett 2001). The most fundamental way in which Cisco views its strategy is around the idea of change, and how change aff ects customers. Essentially, it believes that market transitions that most affect customers define competitive opportunities. Change is recognized as endemic and adaptation considered to be the Darwinian condition for survival (Jobber 2007: 6). Cisco prepares for market transitions by listening to customers and by taking risks, innovating and investing 3-5 years in advance of a major transition in order to capitalize on it before competitors when the transition is realized in the market (Cisco n.d.). Ciscos vision and innovativeness can be clearly seen from the above statements that promote its connoisseurship in computer networks and the recent developments of the Internet. Its ability to anticipate and prepare for such market transitions is the key plot of its customers and its own success. Changing needs present potential market opportunities, which drive the company (Jobber 2007: 6). Cisco makes every effort in its power and scope to work towards its vision by its innovativeness which has provided enormous potential market opportunities. This approach is by far one of the largest contributors to its success in the Silicon Valley amongst its competitors in the industry. It has led to Cisco being one of the big names among industry giants like Microsoft, Apple, Sun Microsystems etc. Elements of Market Orientation Customers guide where we go and we stay ahead of market shifts so that we are ready to help our customers evolve, as their industry evolves (Cisco n.d). The customer centric approach is vital to the product development at Cisco. It signifies the presence of market orientation in the organization with respect to the customers needs and requirements that form the basis of marketing strategies at Cisco. Some of the most influential market orientation elements are strategies based on providing value for customers, rapid response to negative customer satisfaction, immediate acknowledgement to competitive challenges, and speedy detection of changes in customer product preferences (Pelham 2000). Cisco has been concentrating on the consumer markets as part of their marketing strategies. It transitioned itsLinksyssubsidiary into a dedicated consumer business group, formed a consumer-focused council, and made key changes in the way it builds consumer products. This change has accentuated Cisco s efforts in building brand awareness among customers worldwide. Cisco has tried to adopt a unified approach to consumer market since it acquired Linksys, a home networking company. It can be seen as a strategy based on creating value for customers and its focus on the much fragmented home networking segment where Cisco had expansion plans due to its belief in home networking being on the cusp of a major market transition. Cisco Business Strategies Reaching Market Adjacencies through a New Management Model Cisco business strategy for the fiscal year 2009 was to address not less than 30 market adjacencies, and they concentrated mostly in those areas where the networking technology and protocols have not seen widespread adoption (Chambers 2009). Emerging markets like India and China have provided Cisco ample growth opportunities and value for their customers and shareholders. In order to capture these opportunities, Cisco requires to move with speed and thought leadership. To accomplish this, they have a new management model based on Councils and Boards which will collaborate to set a long term direction for their business strategy. The council and board members decisions will help the organization to ensure that the goals are aligned throughout the company (Chambers 2009). Capturing Market Transitions Ciscos success also comes from capitalizing on market transitions before they occur. Their goal is to capture these market transitions faster than their competitors by identifying the technologies which play a crucial role in the future of communications and Information Technology. Acting on this differentiated strategy, they made multiple acquisitions in fiscal 2008 2009 (Chambers 2008) including wireless, unified communications and security technologies. Cisco continues to grow through internal development, acquisitions, their global partnerships, and cross-functional teamwork. One area of their differentiated strategy includes a goal of growing each product category in their advanced technologies to capture $1 billion-plus in annual revenue and the number-one market position (Chambers 2008). Providing customer satisfaction is one of Ciscos core values. Creating sustainable customer partner ­ships is a crucial part of Cisco strategy and provides invaluable insight into market tr ansitions. In addition to their technology, Ciscos knowledge of economic development, education, government, healthcare, national security and public safety issues has increased customer trust in Cisco (Chambers 2008). Being close to their customers is they believe the best way to uncover opportunity for the next market transition, long before it becomes obvious to others. Sustained Differentiation across Customer Segments and Geographies Ciscos strategy is made upon four pillars: To capture customer driven market transitions by identifying, investing and positioning. Constant innovation which is enabled through building, buying or collaborating with their partners. Cisco differentiated market approach with their ability to bind together both their business architectures and the technology. Prioritization of initiatives and cross functional teamwork that drive execution across customer segments, products, geographic theaters and value added services. Ciscos differentiated strategy has evolved based on their customer requirements to create sustainable differentiation in the industry and better serving of the needs of all their customers (Chambers 2007). Cisco is continuing to expand their services, product offerings and distribution capabilities to the strategic market. Small and medium sized businesses are increasingly taking on networking technology as they realize efficiencies from their investments in Ciscos products. With the use of efficient networking hardware and software products, SMEs have discovered new ways to work effectively and efficiently (Chambers 2007). From a geographic perspective, Cisco was pleased with the strong and balanced performance they achieved in their four largest theaters. These include European Markets, United States and Canada, Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific. Perhaps Ciscos greatest geographic success of fiscal 2007 was their Emerging Markets Theater, where their revenue grew by 39 percent on a yearly basis (Chambers 2007). Cisco believes that its business processes and collaborative approach to their emerging markets sector have significantly contributed to its growth. Cisco Channel Strategy Cisco is partnering with best in class providers to ensure that their customers receive the highest standard of support and the solutions for its products (Cisco 2009). They consider their partners as an extension of Cisco and their partnerships are truly based on long term commitments and mutual benefits. Cisco is creating market growth through their direct investments, in conjunction with the investment in partnerships which allows them to expand their knowledge, visibility and experience in new technologies. Ciscos strategy is to actively invest in all the major technology segments on a global basis. As with acquisitions, all the investment targets are thoroughly examined and analyzed for both their business and technology. Below are the Cisco acquisitions for the fiscal year 2009 (Cisco 2009). Set-Top Box Business of DVN (Holdings) Ltd.-November 2, 2009 DVN has major operations in China and they are the market leader in digital cable solutions. DVN shares Ciscos vision of performance, scalable and services-rich cable interactive platform extending into every home.Market opportunity for Cisco with this acquisition is cabling solutions. ScanSafe, Inc.-October 27, 2009 The company ScanSafe is a market leader of software services and they provide web security solutions for global enterprises as well as small businesses. By this acquisition Cisco can lead as provider of on-premise content security and their market opportunity from this acquisition turns out to be network security. Starent Networks, Corp.-October 13, 2009 Starent Networks is a leading supplier of IP based mobile infrastructure solutions, targeting mobile and converged carriers. According to Cisco there is an active investment in this market by the service provider, since the global mobile data traffic is expected to double every year. The market opportunity for Cisco with this acquisition is mobility. Tandberg-October 1, 2009 Tandberg is a global leader in video communications. They have a broad range of world class video endpoint and network infrastructure solutions. So with this acquisition, Cisco will expand its collaboration to offer more solutions to a number of customers further accelerating market adoption globally. Tidal Software, Inc.-April 9, 2009 Tidal Software is the creator of intelligent application management and automation solutions. This acquisition will advance Ciscos data center strategy by enhancing product and service delivery offerings. Pure Digital Technologies Inc.-March 19, 2009 Pure Digital, are creators of the best-selling Flip Video brand. They are pioneers in developing consumer friendly video solutions and with this acquisition Cisco can expand in the media enabled home solutions segment and capture the consumer market transition to visual networking (Hooper 2009). Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, Inc.-January 27, 2009 Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence Inc, they are leading provider of intelligent middleware technology that enables businesses to integrate building infrastructure and information technology (IT) applications over a common Internet Protocol (IP) network, resulting in improved efficiencies, greater energy savings and a reduced carbon footprint. Ciscos market opportunity with this acquisition is physical network security. The Next Market Segmentation for Cisco Cisco has been targeting towards getting a two digit sales growth from the telecommunication sector for the year 2009. Cisco is a market leader in the telecommunication sector and they are very optimistic to realize the target. For Cisco, telecommunication sector is one of the massive market segmentations for their products, especially in the IP technology. Cisco launches 2 to 3 solutions periodically for their technology which consists of updates or some added features as extensions of their current products (Yulyanto 2009). Cisco Key Success Factor After only a few years of its foundation, Cisco became a powerhouse in network technology. It was largely unfamiliar to the average consumer until the dot-com explosion, which resulted in a large customer base, such that it became worthwhile to reach potential decision-makers in a variety of ways. The arrival of the Internet as a ubiquitous part of our lives meant that increasing numbers of small businesses and average consumers rapidly became a part of Ciscos customer base. Both market segments contribute to the addition of extra computers, whether for new employees or for family members who want to surf the web simultaneously, which has driven the demand for simpler networking products that even a non-techie can set up. In fact, sales to small and medium businesses accounted for approximately 20 to 30 percent of Ciscos US$ 18.878 billion in revenue that ended in July 2003 (Cook 2004). While the late 1990s and early 2000s saw an explosion in large computer networks as companies upgr aded their infrastructures or simply set them up for the first time, the next several years likely saw a huge jump in small networks, thanks to the ability of Wi-Fi to share a single broadband connection with several computers without the need to drill holes or run Ethernet cables (Cook 2004). The Impact, Positive and Negative, of the Organizations Marketing Mix Marketing Mix Marketing mix is defined as the tactical tools that the marketers use to implement their strategies mixing the controllableelementsof aproducts marketing plan which arecommonly termed as 4Ps: product,price, place and promotion (Kotler 2008: 202). These elements are adjusted until a balanced proportionis found thatservestheneedsof the customerswhile generatingoptimumincome. Product Product can be defined as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organizations and ideas (Kotler et al. 2008: 539). Ciscooffers a wide range ofproductsand networking solutions designed for enterprises and small businesses across a variety of industries. They are also addressing their customer requirements in many other segments including commercial and small business. The network has become a platform for providing a transparent customer experience (Insight 2009). Managing the Product Mix Positioning and Repositioning A well planned and executed brand repositioning helps Cisco to increase their brand value along with sales. Cisco is very closely aligned with their corporate strategy, regular investments in their brand positioning or repositioning to always renew the brand significance and maintain its connection with their customers. By brand positioning Cisco has gained enormous benefits as shown below: Brand Measure The branding campaigns conducted by Cisco have lifted its brand equity and helped it to gain shares and grow sales. This has also helped them to strengthen their overall brand recognition and exceed the averages on core brand measures. After the campaign launch, Cisco has been positioned into the security space by lifting their IT security brand consideration by 54% among their tech audience in six months (Slideshare 2008). Ciscos success brand repositioning depends upon their close alignment with their overall corporate strategy which includes product positioning, channel/alliance strategy and acquisitions (Slideshare 2008). Market Share Cisco has strengthened its dominant share in the core market by 72% in switching and 80% in routers. It has also expanded their share in the new products by 6% in messaging applications, 41% in web conferencing and 21% in the video conferencing segments respectively (Slideshare 2008).The market share has been increased for the entire r ange of Cisco security products including their firewall applications, VPN and for secure routers. Jobber (2007: 405) explains Product Strategy as: The emphasis on product portfolio analysis is managing an existing set of products in such a way as to maximize their strengths. But companies also need to look to new products and markets for future growth. A useful way of looking at growth opportunities is the Ansoff Matrix. Cisco Ansoff Analysis Market Penetration Market penetration is the fundamental method of a growth strategy in which the business focuses on selling current products into existing markets. It maintains or increases the market share of current products, restructures mature markets by driving out competition and increases the usage by existing customers (Tutor2u 2009). Acquiring competitors may be one of the major ways of gaining market penetration. It may also be achieved by more aggressive ways of promotional campaigns, supporting it with a competitive pricing strategy and dedicate more resources to selling products. Cisco is known for its innovative products and introduction of those products into the market before its competitors that helps in generating mature markets. Its products like Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Network Analysis Module, Cisco 7600 Series routers, Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Firewall Services Module and many other products have already captured the market (Cisco 2009). It is increasing the market share and customer loyalty through social networking sites, blogs and public interviews. Its main strategy to penetrate the existing market is through acquisitions. It acquired Audium Corporation in June 2006 that gives it opportunity to penetrate into the IP enabled voice telephony market, Cognio, Inc in September 2007 through which it entered into wireless networking, Nuova Systems, Inc in April 2008 that gives it chance to enter into data centers and ScanSafe, Inc in October 2009 that helped Cisco to capture the network security market (Cisco Systems 2009). Market Development Market development can be essentially termed as a growth strategy where the business aims to sell its current products into new markets. Such a strategy can be achieved by venturing into new geographical markets, new product dimensions and new distribution channels. Alternatively, different pricing strategies can be adopted to attract customers and create new market segments (Tutor2u 2009). Cisco recognizes the common strings that exist between sales, engineering, security and marketing groups. Once the main links are identified by its RD Team, it tries to build a suitable interface between the groups which contributes to the companys market development. Develop, Partner or Acquire is the 3 Tier strategy followed by Cisco. It teams up with industrys major companies and then provides persuasive offers to the customers. WirelessLANs, content networking,storage networking, voice over IP and Metro IP includingoptical networking are the extended product dimensions for market development ( Cisco 2001). In addition to this, Cisco is attempting to establish its marketing presence in other potential geographical locations like China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan etc. Product Development Product development can be defined as a strategy where a business seeks to introduce new products into current markets. It requires the development of new competencies and new products which may appeal to the customers (Tutor2u 2009). Existing product lines may be extended to provide existing customers with greater choice. Cisco sets vision and then makes its strategies to achieve its targeted goals. Its strong RD capitalizes the current market situation and then provides customized business solutions according to customer needs and further plans for new products. Cisco has identified four key requirements to increase acceptance in the business world: security, availability, quality of service, and reliability (Payataqool 2009). Diversification Diversification is the advancement strategy where a business introduces new products in new markets (Tutor2u 2009). This strategy involves high risk since the business targets markets where it has no or very little experience. Cisco has started its diversification in the emerging countries that extend from Russia to the Eastern Europe and Middle East that will also include Africa and Latin America. Industries in developing countries still use limited technology despite of having concentrated wealth, less government transparency and the customers willingness to use the most advanced and high tech products and services. The company not only targets to supply advanced networking equipment but also focuses on the target countrys revolution. Cisco has successfully initiated transformation projects in Chile, Turkey and South Africa as part of its diversification strategy (Deign 2009). Managing product over time Product Life Cycle With the dynamic state of todays economy, an organizational change should not only adapt to the current climate, but it must also encourage growth (Wrage 2009). Cisco has followed this by moving from a traditional silicon based organization to a lifecycle business model. These changes are challenging for Cisco since they have more than 60,000 plus employees supported by their 46 data centers worldwide. This new life cycle consists of six separate stages: In the prepare phase it determines the business case and the project requirements. Plan phase develops the detailed project plan describing the resources and responsibilities. In the design phase it details the alignment of business goals and the technical needs. Implement phase delivers the new capabilities with the integrations. Operate phase monitors and reviews the implementations. Lastly, the Optimize phase has a continuous improvement activity of the existing processes (Wrage 2009). So with these steps in place, Cisco has start ed progressing into an organization that is best suited for the service-oriented network infrastructure organization making the cost savings and efficiency a reality (Wrage 2009). Promotion Promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the products and persuade the target customers to buy it (Kotler 1999). Promotion is one of the factors which influence the buying behavior of the customer. It helps to inform people about the product and its usage. Cisco is using many means of introducing their products in global markets. They use advertising as the main tool to introduce new products and to connect with potential customers. They advertise their new products and services through public relationship, direct marketing, internet and online promotions. Cisco also uses the social media channels such as networking and blogs as a tool to promote and to extend their products to the larger audience. Cisco follows the following elements for their promotion strategy: Direct Marketing As stated by Peter Drucker (2009), Marketing is not a function; it is the whole business seen from the customers point of view. Direct marketing captures the customers by avoiding intermediaries. Cisco uses various methods to promote their product such as direct mail, telephone, telemarketing, e-marketing and other tools to directly communicate with the customers. Cisco conducts various direct marketing campaigns such as online shopping, cable television infomercials, which helps them in getting the direct response from their target audience and also to meet their demand generation goals. Advertising Advertisement can be defined as Any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor (Armstrong, Kotler 2009:383). Cisco can be grouped under the product oriented advertiser category, which highlights product features, their services and price through various advertising channels as internet, magazines, television and by e-marketing. AIDA Model AIDA is a model generally adopted by the sellers to stimulate the purchase decision of the customers. Attention The element attention, describes the stage where the brand manages to obtain customer attention, informing the customers about the product. This could be either a positive or a negative attention. The next step is to build a relationship with customers by means of advertising which is a prominent tool in the marketing mix. The product is then launched in order to encourage the customer decision of buying the product. Interest In this stage, it generates the confidence in the buyers about the products that company plans to promote. The seller then explains how this product will meet the customers requirements. Cisco as a brand has interested its customers and built the confidence in the buyer about their product interests the customers. Desire In this stage the seller inspires the customer towards the product and then relates the products to their needs. Here, advertising strategies are best suited. Since customers have the choice of choosing their configuration, it stimulat es the desire to purchase the product. Action This phase deals with persuading the consumers to buy the product and explain them the immediate benefits of the product. Advertising and direct ma