Who can enforce the articles of association Essay

Who can enforce the articles of association - Essay Example This sort of contract (statutory contract) has certain features distinct from an ordinary contract. These features were explained by the Court of Appeal in Bratton Seymore Service Co Ltd v Oxborough. These features include: i. Origin. The contract being a statutory one originates from the statute instead of an agreement between the parties. By virtue of the fact that it is statutory, it cannot be invalidated on grounds of misrepresentation, mistake, undue influence or duress. iii. Ammendment. The contract can only be amended by a special majority. This means that only a minimum of three-quarters of the members are required to vote in favor of the resolution. This is encapsulated under Sec. 21. With the contracts characterized by the above features the question of enforcement becomes a major issue mainly because of the last feature- Rights. Not all members of the company have the right to enforce rights contained in the articles. So this raises the question- who has such rights? The enforcement of statutory contracts has been the subject of constant academic debates due to contradictory case law. This will be illustrated by two cases. The following two cases illustrate the complexities that arise when a member tries to enforce a company’s articles. In this case, the articles contained a clause stating that a certain member would be appointed as the company’s solicitor. This member was not appointed as such and proceeded to unsuccessfully sue the company for breach. The court held that the member could not sue simply because there was no contractual relationship between a member as solicitor and the company. The company’s articles of association contained a clause stating that ‘no resolution of directors on certain matters would be valid if either of two named managing directors voted against the resolution’. The plaintiff was one of the managing directors and he voted against this resolution but the company

The Tsars or Lenin between 1855-1956 Essay Example for Free

The Tsars or Lenin between 1855-1956 Essay Stalin was more successful in modernising Russias economy than either the Tsars or Lenin between 1855-1956. How far is this a valid assessment? Over the time period 1855-1956, Russia underwent hugely dramatic changes, in such a relatively short amount of time the country and its people was ruled by different groups and people, with different ideologies and stances and the economy, and more specifically industrialization. Although on the face of things, it is obviously apparent that Stalin was the most successful at achieving a modernised economy , the context of the situation he inherited and manipulated was unique, and this modernisation came at great cost. Stalin and Lenin both built on the structure that the Tsars created, although it was not nearly enough to stabilize Russias economy, it was a start. Before explaining what impact each of these individuals had on the economy, it is important to understand the background of Russias economy, both agricultural and industrial. One of the most startling features of Russia at this point, was its size, and ironically how this size and potential was not being properly utilized. Communications across this huge area were extremely poor; roads outside the big cities were poor at best. The vast majority of Russia population at this point, were the serfs (making up around 70-75% of Russias total population). Serfs were virtually owned by their masters, they did what they were told and had little or no free will, the vast amount of surfs working in agriculture. It would be assumed that because there was so much emphasis on agriculture and so many numbers behind it that agricultural input would have been high, but in fact, the opposite was true. The state of agriculture in Russia in 1855 was abysmal; the method of farming was backward so efficiency levels were extremely poor, the strip system and wooden ploughs were still used, and there was not enough land for each serf. Concerning industry, there was a low level of this also considering the size of Russia, because the majority of the working population lived rurally, urban factories and workers had only a limited amount of available work. In 1855, it is safe to say that Russias economy needed a kick start; it was starting to become left behind and was being outranked by the other world powers. Tsar Alexander II 1855-1881, inherited the aforementioned situation, and it seems as though he was determined to make some sort of change. In 1861 he passed the Emancipation of the serfs, meaning that the vast majority of serfs, were granted freedom, allotted land, or were allowed to find work in the cities. It is estimated by 1864 some 50 million serfs had been granted freedom. The reasons for this turnaround are varied, but most believe that Alexander II had finally realized that Russias economy and industrial progress called for a free labour force. Although the intentions may have been good, there were problems with this act, first of all, landowners had to be compensated through redemption payments by the freed serfs, but because of the small amount of allotted land the serfs received, they were not much better off than they previously were because they amassed so much debt. The idea behind this emancipation was to free up a new work force, and let the peasants farm their own crops, with the excess to be sold for export thus revitalizing the economy. Many of the freed peasants moved into urban areas and a labour force was created, but the root problem of subsistence farming still remained, and without strict guidelines from their masters, agricultural production declined. Other changes made by Alexander II were the huge increase in the railway network (increase of 2000% by 1881 of its 1855 levels) and the amount of factory workers increased by 150% respectively. Although these numbers seem positive, considering the vast population and potential Russia had, these increases could have been much higher and are only just a start. Under Alexander II the state bank and ministry of finances in 1860 was established, giving the capital a strong position. Alexander III (1881-1894) took on a slightly less sympathetic position than his father, after Alexander IIs assassination, his son believed that the only way forward for Russia was one through traditional autocratic ruling. One of his biggest shortcomings was the fact he emphasized hugely on industry and failed to utilize the potential of Russias agriculture. Although this was negative, some advancement in industry was seen, such as the huge amount of railway development, namely the near completion of the vastly important trans-Siberian railway, and the production of coal doubled between 1892 and 1902. The policies of Sergei Witte had effects from this reign into that of Nicholas II. Investment from abroad and state subsidies to heavy industry all played a part in stabilizing the economy. However, the neglect of agriculture contributed to the 1891 famine.

Factors Affecting Brand Choice

Factors Affecting Brand Choice Consumer buying decision eventually is influenced by the number of factors or reasons; this concept of decision making is rooted historically in personal, psychological, demographic, and social concerns of the consumer. There are numerous reasons to buy a brand in a given situation, but our objective is only to study the behavior of the consumer regarding his/her purchasing attitude by examining the significant /dominant reasons of buying a particular product in a given situation. As theory suggests that the consumers are usually choosing a brand they recognize. If the consumers do not choose the brand according to traditional theories, then what are the dominant factors that have a greater effect on the buying behavior of a consumer? A lot of controversies are arising while looking into the literature regarding the consumer choice decision, whether the decisions are based on some attributes of the product like quality, price, brand credibility, or on the basis of consumer attitude and intention, advertising, group influences, innovations, and brand loyalty, or the decisions are made on the ground of brand awareness. So many important elements might have strong influence on buying decisions which need to be considered to understand the consumers buying decision making particularly in low involvement category of the products in an un-awareness situation. Further, it seems highly essential to differentiate between buyers behavior toward a choice among various brands within the product category and the dimensions referring to reasons affecting choice of a buyer. The most situations facing every business are to identify the factors determining preferences for the brands with supporting reasons which affect consumer choice. (Itamar and Nowlis, 2000), further, Wilson and Schooler (1991) found that subjects who had analyzed their reasons for liking different brands of jams subsequently expressed preferences that corresponded less well to those of experts than the preferences of subjects who did not analyze the reasons for their attitudes. In many studies the marketers and researchers has recognized the effectiveness of the factors those affecting brand choice, moreover Brown (1950) in his study identified that, physical characteristics of the brand, users experience with the brand, packaging, price, premiums, guarantees, habit, recommendation by friends, recommendation by experts, convenience of dealers location, personal salesmanship, dealer services, dealer prestige, advertising and display, special characteristics of the manufacturer, e.g., labor policy, location, etc., novelty, chance, availability, brand prestige or social acceptance. Many choice situations occur outside of conscious awareness and with limited information search, (Kivetz and Simonson, 2000). Further, there are evidences when some times non-conscious influences affect choice much more than are traditional concept. Whenever the unawareness on the part of consumer about the brands and the consumer is supposed to make a choice in that condition, then what factors or reasons are there which persuade a consumer to choose any brand among from available brands? The controversies about the concept of Consumer buying Decision help in knowing and testing the impact of the dominant factors/reasons on the consumer buying decision in a no-awareness situation, where a consumer is lacking any kind of information regarding the product category or/and about the available brands in that category of low involvement products. The scope of study was to focus on consumer perception on brand choice based on some factors or reasons. The study specifically was designed to explore the phenomenon in which only frequently bought products are tested in an unawareness situation, where the consumer does not have any prior information and knows nothing about the available set of brands within the product category in a given situation. The extent of the research was accelerated to compare the consumer responses of large city and a small town of rural area (i.e.; Karachi and Khairpur). The objective was to understand the consumer perception in different cultures and market segments that may help in developing an appropriate strategy to satisfy the needs of different customers accordingly. 1.2 Problem statement The goal of this experiment was to empirically examine the buying behavior and decision making attitude of the consumer in a no-brand awareness condition of low involvement product categories as a general phenomena and find out any differences with respect to rural and urban consumer choices. Research Questions: 1. How unawareness does differ from awareness of the brands? 2. How do consumers perceive on the products of low involvement? 3. What factors or reasons are there which persuade a consumer to choose any brand among from available brands? 4. How do consumers make the decision to buy the brand and what are the determinants dominating consumers purchasing decision making? 5. How rural and urban consumers differ on determinants dominating purchasing decision making? The study may contribute and assist local marketers and managers to develop effective strategies regarding production, managing, and marketing of the products in a given marketplace, further; To study the consumer response in unawareness situation. To understand the consumer perception toward low involvement products. To understand the differences in choice decision of rural and urban areas. To evaluate the factors affecting consumer choice. To help managers in developing appropriate and effective marketing strategies. 1.3 Hypotheses: H1: Uniqueness/Innovation is the dominant reason for choice of a brand. H2: Quality is the dominant reason for choice of a brand. H3: Price is the dominant reason for choice of a brand. H4: Packaging/Attribute is the dominant reason for choice of a brand. H5: Group Influences is the dominant reason for choice of a brand. H6: Company Credibility is the dominant reason for choice of a brand. H7: There is no difference in dominant reason for choice of a brand in rural and urban area consumer. 1.4 Outline of the study The basic purpose of the research was to explore and recognize the effects of important elements affecting the consumers preferences and relative actions to purchase and to identify major reason(s) to purchase in a given situation where the consumer has no prior knowledge about the brands under consideration set. Expected Benefits of the study; To have a better understanding of unawareness on the part of consumer where he/she is going to make purchase decision. To realize how the consumer perceive on the low involvement product category, where little efforts are needed to make a purchase. To understand the factors influencing purchasing decision in a given situation. To assist the managers and marketers to know the dominant determinants of consumer decision and to develop the strategies particularly when introducing a new brand in a given market. Definitions The choice has been defined by different researchers in varied aspects, Flemming (1976) viewed the choice with supporting example by saying, that the person walking down a road who hesitates at a fork in the road before choosing which route to take classically illustrates choice. Consumer Buying Behavior was defined by Schiffman, and Kanuk, (1997) as the study of how individuals make decision to spend their available resources on consumption-related item, where they buy it how often they buy it and how often they use it. Low involvement refers to the premise that the consumers while making a purchase decision experiencing with little effort, time , and money to decide for a particular brand to buy, because the consumer has been buying frequently in that product category. Uniqueness refers as to be seen and viewed as different from others. Illustrative of consumers efforts to resist or counter the acceptance of popularized goods that symbolically convey conformity, consumers may dispose of goods that become popular and repeat the cycle in search of new and special products, innovations, and emerging fashion trends (Snyder 1992; and Tepper, 1997). Product quality may be defined as the consumers judgment of the excellence of the product or service (Zeithaml, 1988).Quality (perceived not conformity) is a prime factor that plays very dominant role in selection process. Price may defined in its narrowest sense as the amount of money charged for a product or service, and in broad sense it is the sum of all the values that customers give up in order to gain the benefits of having or using a product or service (Kotler and Amstrong, 2008). Packaging can be defined as to design and produce a wrapper or container for a product (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008). A persons groups consist of all the groups that have a direct (Face-to-face) or indirect influence on his/her attitudes or behaviors. (Kotler and Keller, 2005). Corporate reputation has been defined by Fombrun (1996) as a perceptual representation of a companys actions in past and prospects of future that are an aggregate of many personal judgments about the company. While Keller (1998) has defined company credibility as the degree to which consumers do believe that a company can deliver products and services that satisfy most their needs and wants. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Choice Decision To choose a brand among from available brands of low involvement product category in a situation where consumer does not know about the brands under consideration seems very critical, because the most theories of consumer behavior support the awareness as a dominant factor in consumer choice. On the other hand it was also assumed that excess of every thing is dangerous, likely it can be guessed that more information may confuse the consumer about the brand to be selected. Jacoby, Speller, and Berning (1974) are of the opinion that Consumers actually make poorer purchase decisions with more information. The research was intended to test the assumption that what may happen when the consumer is completely unknown about he brands under consideration in a low involvement product category. The choice is restricted toward the limited brands in different categories of low involvement products. There is no disagreement on that every one is facing with a choice. If, however, the example is changed slightly, it is more doubtful whether we are still talking about a choice. The person walking on a sidewalk, when confronted with a puddle, changes his direction slightly and continues. In this case few people may say that a choice was involved. Attitude of the consumer plays an important role in making decision making in a given situation. A consumers attitude and purchase intention towards a brand is not only a product of their cognitive evaluations of that individual brand but are also determined by their perception of other competing brands within the consideration set. (Ronnie, Anne, and Karinna, 2006). 2.1.1 Decision making Process [Fig. 2.1] Need Recognition Problem Awareness Purchase Decision Evaluation of Alternatives Information Search Post-Purchase Evaluation Need Recognition The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need. Need recognition occurs when actual state differs significantly from desired state. It is triggered when a customer is exposed to either an internal or an external stimulus. Hunger and thirst are internal stimuli, the color of a product, the package design, name of a brand mentioned by a friend, or an ad. are considered external stimuli (William, 2002). It is widely accepted that the traditional problem solving approach involving rational decision making to the study of consumer choice may not be suitable for all situations, or is at least incomplete to understand choice behavior. Limited information search and evaluation of alternatives led to a situation in which consumer choice is also driven by hedonic considerations ( Dhar, and Wertenbroch, 2000). In general, a common distinction to be made is that while the utilitarian goods usually are primary instrumental and functional, hedonic goods provide fun, pleasure and excitement. Consumer Information Search Consumer information search should yield a group of brands, sometime called the buyers evoked set (or consideration set), which are consumers most preferred alternatives (Clow, and Baack, 2001). Evaluation of Alternatives In close relation to information search, evaluation of alternatives has also gained a momentum in recent research (Laroche, Kim, and Zhou, 2003). Their study on consumers use of five heuristics (conjunctive, disjunctive, lexicographic, linear additive, and geometric compensatory) in the consideration set formation found that conjunctive heuristics is the most often used decision model in the consideration set formation for two product classes in the study (here,Sun block brands and pens). Conjunctive heuristics means that a consumer selects a brand only if it meets acceptable standards, the so-called cutoff point on each key attribute consumer regards as important (Assael, 1998). In the non-compensatory method of evaluation, a consumer would eliminate a brand that does not fulfill the standards on one or two of the most important attributes, even it is positive on all other attributes. Brands, which will be selected to group purchase options, will also be considered during the alternative evaluation process (Hawkins, Roger, and Kenneth, 1998). Purchase Decision and Post-purchase evaluation To select a specific brand after evaluation the buying and consuming it may consequently result in delighting, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and disappointment about the selected brand. It is essential to distinguish between the attributes per se and consumers perceptions of these attributes, because consumers differ in their perceptions. It is the perception that affects behavior, not the attribute itself. Attribute is often used to mean choice criteria, but this leads to confusion. A vast amount of research has been and is being conducted on many of them (factors) individually. Testing the product, the advertising, and the package, is an old story. But seldom has an adequate overview been taken. Does the consumer pay more attention to the advertising-beyond a certain point, at least-than to the dealers salesmen? Would lower prices or improved quality be more preferred by the buyer? How important are such factors as the recommendations of experts or of friends and to what extent may the individual marketing firm control them? The most effective direction of marketing activities requires accurate answers to all of these questions. The importance of the factors influencing choice has been recognized for many years by the researchers and marketers, as Brown (1950) identified as, Physical characteristics of the brand, Users experience with the brand, Packaging, Price, Premiums, guarantees, Habit, Recommendation by friends, Recommendation by experts, Convenience of dealers location, Personal salesmanship, Dealer services, Dealer prestige, Advertising and display, Special characteristics of the manufacturer, e.g., labor policy, location, etc., Novelty, Chance, Availability, Brand prestige or social acceptance. The weight of (no redundant) reasons in choice and, correspondingly, the degree to which the choice of reasons drives the choice of options vary across decisions and are likely to depend on the task, the context, the choice problem, and individual differences. In particular, when consumers are explicitly told to explain their decisions, it is reasonable to expect that the reasons that can be used to support considered options play a prominent role in the choice process. A question that naturally arises is what factors determine preferences for reasons and how does a need to provide reasons affect choice? (Itamar, and Nowlis, 2000). Wilson and Schooler (1991) found that subjects who had analyzed their reasons for liking different brands of jams subsequently expressed preferences that corresponded less well to those of experts than the preferences of subjects who did not analyze the reasons for their attitudes. Purchase decision Decision making is very complex phenomena where the consumer does not make a decision simply, and but to arrive at a final and concrete decision the consumer experiences sub-decisions (i.e.; What type of goods should be purchased, chased?, How much of an item should be purchased?, When should the purchase be made?, Where should the purchase be made?, How should the purchase be made, i.e., by telephone or in person, by cash or on credit, by husband or wife, and so on? What brand should be purchased? In many cases, the consumer is not conscious of the fact that he arrives at decisions with respect to all of these sub-decisions to purchase (Brown, 1950). 2.2 Consumer Buying Behavior Consumer Buying Behavior has been defined by Kotler, and Amstrong, (2001), as Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Most large companies research consumer buying decision in great detail to answer questions about what consumers buy, where they buy, how and how much they buy, when they buy, and why they buy A simple model of the consumer buying behavior deemed as the stimulus-response model. According to this model, marketing stimuli and other major force enter the consumers black box and produce certain responses. One in the black box these inputs produce observable buyer responses, such as product choice, brand choice, purchasing timing, and purchase amount. The consumer decision-making process does not occur in a vacuum. On the contrary, underlying cultural, social, individual, and psychological factors strongly influence (lam, Hair, and McDaniel, 2002). Cultural Factors Culture represents the behavior, beliefs, and in many cases, the way we act learned by interacting or observing other members of society. In this way much of what we do is shared behavior, passed along from one member of society to other. In order to increase customer satisfaction the managers and marketers are trying to understand the real behavior and attitude of consumers in a given situation. The better the marketer understand the factors underlying consumer behavior, the better able they are to develop affective marketing strategies to meet consumer needs (Assael, 1998). 2.3 Low Involvement Hoyer and Brown (1990), examining the heuristic for low-involvement decision making, and found that consumers who are aware of the name of one of the brands in a product category will repeatedly choose that brand, even when it offers objectively determined lower quality. Consumers who are unfamiliar with the brand names often will experiment with and eventually settle on a brand that offers higher quality. Time pressure commonly influences consumers opportunity to engage in effortful decision strategies. Payne, Bettman, and Johnson (1988) demonstrate that consumers who are faced with making a choice under time pressure (lack of opportunity) will accelerate information processing, ignore certain pieces of information, or shift to simpler heuristics. Perhaps the simplest low-involvement decision heuristic involves the retrieval of previously formed affect associated with the product (Peter and Nord, 1982). 2.4 Uniqueness/ Innovation Uniqueness and Innovation play a significant role in making choice of a brand particularly in unawareness condition, as (Tepper, 1997) view it as Conceptual models of social nonconformity recognize that behaviors that render a person different relative to other people may reflect several motivational processes, Although such a choice may at times differentiate the decision maker from others, this outcome is incidental to acting consistent with personal standards. Consumers need for uniqueness is also distinct from independence, a motivation that may inadvertently manifest in social different-ness as a result of adhering to ones personal taste. Decisions shift the focus from the choice of options to the choice of reasons. Buyers who explain their decisions and have high need for uniqueness tend to select unconventional reasons and are more likely to make unconventional choices (Itamar, and Nowlis, 2000). Itamar, and Nowlis (2000) further support their view that the effect of NFU (Need for Uniqueness) on choice emerges when consumers have the opportunity to explain their decisions and do not expect to be individually evaluated. That is, the ability to explain, without concerns about others criticism, may allow greater use of unconventional arguments and unconventional choices that express uniqueness and independence. Further they argue that the need for uniqueness and autonomy is usually dominated by the desire for social approval and other pre ssures for conformity, when consumers are encouraged to explain their decisions and are not concerned about others criticism, expressions of uniqueness come to the surface and affect choices. Consumers need for uniqueness may fit into a broader theory of consumption as an extension of self (Belk, 1988). This supposition is further supported by the work of Tepper (1997) that Consumers need for uniqueness could be examined as a trait influencing processes whereby situations that elicit consumer counter conformity motivation lead to conflict and acts of conflict resolution. In phenomenological interviews, Thompson and Haytko (1997) found that attempts to stay ahead in the realm of fashion trends by discarding fashions that catch on and seeking emerging innovations are interpreted as acts of resisting conformity. The concept is exemplified in the comments of one of Thompson and Haytkos (1997) interview participants: Usually if something is hot, Ill go out of my way to stay away from it. Even if I like it at first, if everyones wearing it, I dont want to be wearing it. The concept of consumers need for uniqueness derives from Snyder and Fromkins (1977) theory of uniqueness. According to this theory, the need to see oneself as being different from other persons is aroused and competes with other motives in situations that threaten the self-perception of uniqueness (i.e., situations in which individuals see them- selves as highly similar to others in their social environment). A unique product may be sought out to restore a persons self-view as one who is different from others, such as when an anonymous art collector bids via the internet or telephone for a rare painting she wants to display in her bedroom. (Tian, Bearden, and Hunte, 2001) McAlister and Pessemier (1982) suggest that a desire for social distinction via unusual products influences new product adoption and variety-seeking behavior. Where (Fisher Price, 1992). Commenting thatBecause consumer choices, particularly creative choices, may establish ones uniqueness, such choices are likely to attract followers who also seek to develop their special-ness or share a common link with early adopter groups. And Initially unpopular consumer choices may later gain social acceptance and thereby positively distinguish the consumer as an innovator or fashion leader (Heckert, 1989). It should be noted that changing from an initially preferred choice to a new one in order to avoid similarity is a criterion for distinguishing counter conformity from other motivations that incidentally result in being different (Nail, 1986). And even initially unpopular choices can gain widespread acceptance over time (Heckert, 1989). On the contrary Thompson and Haytko (1997) in his research concluded and suggested that this could be the time when innovation is less important than heritage, as brands with history can speak to consumers through nostalgia packaging, graphics and advertising messages. As a result of pursuing different-ness through no confrontational venues such as the purchase of unique products, individuals driven by counter conformity motivation should not perceive themselves to be similar to others with respect to their consumer choices (Kilduff, 1992; Snyder and Fromkin, 1977). This concept is further supported by Snyder and Fromkin, (1977) that specifically, uniqueness theory suggests that individual differences in motivation to seek different-ness arise from early childhood socialization that either emphasizes obedience and following norms or emphasizes creativity and individuality. Further, Thompson and Haytko (1997) have suggested that, for those who construct their personal identity through a contrast between their perceived fashion orientation and that of others in their social setting, personal identity does not reflect a stable set of essential features but is negotiated in a dynamic field of social relations. Bloch (1995) in his research concluded and proposes that individual differences in the need for uniqueness influence consumers product selections through its effect on affective and cognitive responses to the exterior design. This indicates that strategically marketers should place the greater emphasis on unique features may be a reasonable heuristic when subjects must choose between two alternatives (Meyer and Eagle, 1982). 2.5 Quality While making a purchase decision it was observed that the quality of the product was affecting intensively on the consumers ability to make a decision, because the consumer always expecting a good quality product at reasonable price. Since the consumer had no previous experience with the brand under consideration, the quality of the brand was being judged through the brand exposure and outlook. Garvin (1987) proposed that product quality can be captured in eight dimensions: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality (i.e., image). Quality assessment is very critical and personal that may be viewed from different dimensions, particularly the product attributes/features and its out look, its color and shape/design etc. Income of the buyer may determine the degree of quality of a product; a particular brand may be viewed as of good quality by the person having low income and low buying power, while a higher income person may see it as inferior. The price of a brand and company and store prestige may be considered as significant cues for quality. It is encouraging to be able to confirm that such stimuli as price information and the reputation of a store or company are used as cues to the quality of a product (Wheatley and Chiu, 1977). 2.6 Price Price and quality remained very interrelated factors those affect collectively on perception of a consumer and response toward the brand. A better understanding of how customers use price information in choosing among alternative brands within frequently bought product categories helps to evaluate it and knowing the intensity as compare to other factors or reasons. Andrews, I. R., and Valenzi (1971) found that when other cues are present, some researchers have found that price remains the dominant cue. It is also consistent with Shapiros (1973), and (Marketing Science Institute, 1972) suggestion that the use of price as an indicator of quality is a reflection of both its concrete, unambiguous nature and the faith that consumers tend to place in at least some price setters such as prestigious retail stores. Notions of the price customers use as a reference in making purchase decisions, such as fair price (Thaler, 1985), aspiration price, and list price (Klein Oglethorpe, 1987). Mostly the price we consider as the expected price should coincide with the fair price Where the perceived fair price may be lower than the expected price. Customer response depends not only on the retail price, but also on how it compares with the reservation price (Scherer, 1980), perceived price (Della Bitta and Monroe, 1974; Emery, 1970; and Monroe, 1973), or evoked price (Rao and Gautschi, 1982; Thaler, 1985; Winer, 1985) view that customers use the price they expect to pay for a brand on a given purchase occasion as a reference in forming price judgments. Nwokoye (1975) found evidence that some customers use end prices-the lowest and highest prices-as anchors in their price evaluations. A significant role of the expected price in customer brand choice was found by Kalwani, Sugita, and Yim (1986) which have modeled a brands expected price as a function of the last price paid, the deal proneness of the customer, and the frequency of sales promotions of the brand, and Gurumurthy and Little (1986) assume a reference price is formed as adaptive expectations of past prices and allow a latitude of acceptance of the reference price within which customers are insensitive to price gains or losses. Price declines in importance and may become insignificant in its impact on quality perception (Jacob, Olson, and Haddock, 1971; Vithala ,1971). This indicates that it is probable, however, that price effects on quality perceptions are product specific (Gardner, 1970). Price expectations of consumers are not a function of past prices only, but these expectations are influenced also by contextual variables. 2.7 Attributes /Packaging Packaging was considered as the leading indicator of quality and a dominant clue in selecting a brand when the consumer is completely unaware about the brands real quality and performance. According to Slovic (1975) decision makers faced with a need to choose between two equally valued alternatives tend to prefer the one that is superior on the more important attribute. In judging alternatives, consumers may combine evaluations on various attributes. The rules for combining evaluations are thus important aspects of the choice process (Bettman, 1979). Consumers make purchases by image and perception of value, packaging, color and other attributes of a product, and packaging is widely considered as the silent salesman, which helps in developing strategies for better marketing results. Packaging is very important instrument in the marketing mix. Packaging has two functions: (i) to protect and contain the product; and (ii) as an interface to sell the product to the consumer. High-quality packaging involves target market research, environment changes in market, society, and the technology. Product features/attributes have also proved as a significant importance in deciding for a brand to purchase. Research suggests that an important determinant of the extent to which a feature is contrasted or assimilated is the degree of feature overlap between the new feature and the brand to which it is added (Herr, 1989). In the present case, it was expected that when a brand with superior features or brand name adds yet another (positive) feature, the new feature is assimilated into the existing perception of superior performance and, thus, is unlikely to significantly affect the over- all evaluation of the product. Reference Gro

Struggles within the Younger family in the play A Raisin in the Sun Ess

Struggles within the Younger family in the play A Raisin in the Sun A Raisin In The Sun Rolling in the Dust â€Å"Oh- so now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life- now it’s money. I guess the world really do change†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (74). This quote reveals the economic struggles within the Younger family in the play A Raisin in the Sun. Throughout the play, Mama’s views are at odds with Walter’s views. For Walter, who feels enslaved in his job and life, money is the truest freedom. To him, money seems to be the answer to everything. Money, he believes, allows people to live comfortable and carefree lives. It also seems to him that money defines a man by measuring his success and ability to provide for his family. As for Mama, anything is more valuable than material wealth. The lack of money in the Younger family inhibited the growth of success. It is not easy for people to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty, exactly what happened with the Younger’s. To the characters in the play, lack of money is the root of all evil. Success is absent from the Younger family due to the lack of money. It comes from dreams that have been fulfilled, but for the Younger’s, it was impossible to fulfill any dreams without money. Walter had a dream of investing money in a liquor store to raise the standard of living for his family. Even if he wasn’t successful, he would always know that he tried his best, which would give him the pride and joy of not giving up again. Unfortunately, the family had no money that he could use for investing. â€Å"Yeah. You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see. T... ... friends to some financial issues. Another time when I was affected by lack of money was on my golden birthday. I was turning 5 and I had never been to India before. All I wanted to do for my birthday was go to India and see what it was like. It would’ve been like a dream come true to go. Unfortunately, my family did not have enough money at that time for all 10 of my family members to go, so I spent the birthday at home. In summary, success is not reached without the aid of money. In A Raisin in the Sun, no one was able to accomplish his or her dreams because their family lacked one thing, money. For that reason, the Younger family’s growth of success was inhibited. It is hard for people to succeed whose qualities are let down by poverty. Now days, thousands and thousands of people cannot complete their dreams for one simple reason- they have no money.

Lean Operations Essay

Task 1: To what extent could or should Deane expect to apply the philosophies and techniques of JIT/Lean to the running of a staircase cell? Staircases Production Company (SPC) is a small, successful, privately owned timber and building materials company based in a small city in the UK. The company offers a wide variety of timber products, from regular doors, windows and staircases to special products such as non-standard sections or special profiles (i.e. old designs of skirting board). Its products stand out from its main competitors (small joinery businesses) with high levels of quality. Due to the quality of its products as well as the huge demand of special stairs in the region, sales has been increasing steady year by year particularly special stairs. However, the business is not as profitable as it was expected and some important customers have been complained recently due to late deliveries. Because of the loss of profitability, Dean Hammond, the new appointed General Manager of SPC, is thinking about carrying out some changes in the organisation in order to cope with the current problems. Precisely, he thinks Lean and Just-in-Time principles and techniques might help SPC increase its profitability as well as improve the performance of the whole organisation. However, although this philosophy has been applied successfully to manufacturing and operations environment (Chowdary and George 2012), Mr. Hammond unknowns if the application of Lean principles in a company that produces a high variety and low volume of products would make sense. The Lean management approach, developed by Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990) at Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan, forms the basis for the Toyota Production System. The term Lean was first introduced in 1990 in the book entitled The Machine that Changed the World by Womack, Jones and Roos. In â€Å"Lean thinking†, 5 principles were put forward an implementation framework to be used by an organisation (Womack et al. 1990): †¢Specify value from the customer’s perspective, †¢Identify and understand the value stream, †¢Improve work flow (minimize interruptions during processing), †¢Let value flow only through the customer’s pull (all work is initiated by customer demand), and †¢Pursue perfection continuously (the goal is zero waste) The core idea of Lean philosophy is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. From a production perspective, Lean manufacturing uses Just-in-Time (JIT) approach as its production strategy for minimizing waste and improving quality (MindTool 2013). JIT provides for the cost-effective production and delivery of only the necessary quality parts, in the right quantity at the right time and place, while using a minimum of facilities, equipment, materials and human resources. JIT is accomplished through the application of specific techniques which require total employee involvement and teamwork (Lee and Ebrahimpour 1984). The application of these principles in the manufacturing and assembling processes characterized by a high variety and high volume (HVHV) of activity has been widely proven a great success. However, the difficulties associated with applying Lean principles within HVLV organization have been identified and analysed by Jina et. al (1997). The analysis of the applica bility of Lean principles in SPC has been carried out taking into consideration some aspects analysed by Jina et al. (1997): †¢Product and product demand. The manufacturing and assembling process of SPC begins with a customer’s order (simple dimensioned sketches of the required product) what is called â€Å"pull system†. Customer’s pull demand is one of the principles of Lean and it enables a company to produce only what is required, in the correct quantity and at the correct time. However, the nature of the orders (called â€Å"make to order†) makes the application of the Lean principles a huge challenge for SPC due to small changes of the inputs (changes in the schedule, differences of product mix between one period and the next one, volume changes between periods and the frequency of product changes within time-frame of customer lead time expectations) generates a large impact on the performance of the manufacturing system (Jina et. al 1997). Nevertheless, the result can be levelled within a set of well-defined flexibility parameters (Jina et. al 1997), to give some examples: commonizing raw material and finished parts and organizing for high and low level demand. †¢Process. It can be said that processes currently do not follows any flow structure: production is planned without any solid criteria and there is no single flow route for either materials or machinery. This unstructured work floor causes: joinery department job shops are untidy and congested (joiners are working on several part-finished items at once, single pieces of equipment are shared  by 10 or more joiners, joiners try to fit in with each other over the use of machinery, etc.) and big allowance of waste and timbers defects are found around the workshop. Despite of this chaos, it has been identified that the specific case of the manufacturing and assembling staircases follows a repeatable process steps (although staircases are different): cutting ti mber, sanding, machining and tenoning, which makes this process potentially standardised. Therefore, it can be said that Lean principles can be applied to this process. However, in order to identify the applicability of Lean principles to the rest of the processes, more information should be provided. †¢Workers. The processes disorder is supported by the fact that, on one hand, SPC’s joiners are capable of making any product and, on the other hand, because they enjoy the wide variety of challenging work. Despite of this, workers’ flexibility to carry out a wide range of tasks is considered as a factor that would help the implementation of Lean. To sum up, it can be said that the application of Lean principles is possible but it will be a great challenge for SPC. Task 2: What are likely to be the main categories of costs and benefits in establishing the cell? Are there any non-financial benefits which should be taken into account? Listed below, there is an analysis of the benefits (financial and non-financial benefits) and the costs (financial costs) expected to be achieved with the implementation of Lean principles in SPC: -Benefits. The company will gain financial and non-financial benefits which will affect the revenue stream of SPC and the level of satisfaction of both customers and employees. †¢The financial benefit of Lean for the company expected is an increase in its revenues as a consequence of increasing the productivity by finding and eliminating the waste within the process. This is achieved through reorganising and tidying the manufacturing floor (using 5S/CANDO or visual management), improving work flow to eliminate motion and transportation between stages of production (workshop layout) (Page 2004), and increasing employee efficiency by specialising and standardising the work and cutting out wasteful work; †¢Non-financial benefits are shown by the level of customer and employee satisfaction. On one hand, customer satisfaction increases by meeting requirements and on-time delivery; improving customer retention and attracting new customers by, for example, word of mouth (Cudney, Furterer and Dietrich 2013). And on the other hand, employee  satisfaction increases by empowering them and taking into consideration their opinion. -Costs. There are two aspects that would affect the cost stream: cost reduction within the process and cost of lean implementation. †¢Cost reduction can be located from different attributes of the manufacturing process: inventory, defects, maintenance, labour cost, compensation, etc. (Ross 2002; Stegall 2012). Each task in the process gets specialised and standardised, the employee can stop the production line if they detect defects, thereby reducing the number of defects and work-in-process; production line productivity is improved to deliver products on time, helping the company to avoid compensation and discount, and reducing over-time working. Specialised jobs require particular machines or tools, to be handled with care and regularly maintained by the employees using it, reducing risk of break-downs and repair/replacement costs. And also, a reduction of raw materials inventory (waste) is expected. †¢Cost of Lean implementation can be located from: training for employees for redefinition and re-assignment, production line stoppage, workshop layout re-organising, information technology systems and management cost for implementing new system. These costs might be quite high when the company implement the whole system, therefore in the short-term it could overcome the profit of the company. However, because Lean is a long-term commitment, it will help transform the company and enhance the profit for the long term.â€Æ' Task 3: At what stage, and how, should Deane sell his idea to the Joinery Manager and the workers? To sell the idea of Lean implementation and cellular manufacturing to the Joinery Department, Dean should have a strategy to approach first the Joinery Manager (JM) and a its employees (once the manager is already convinced). Frist, Dean needs to sell the idea to the JM because he is the one who will decide whether this plan will be done or not because his commitment and leadership are essential to achieve a successful implementation (Wrye 2013). To convince and engage the Manager with the idea, Dean needs to conduct and present a business report of the company: an analysis of the current status of SPC (covering both quantitative and qualitative aspects), with the pros and cons of Lean implementation in a HVLV organisation. A strategy and implementation pl an which shows the roadmap, methodology, goals, and objectives to be introduced. Dean can then work with the JM to customise the implementation  of the plan to suit with SPC current situation. After gaining the approval of the JM, Dean needs to prepare actions to sell the idea to employees, to create an organisational understanding of the philosophy, methodology, implementation process, in order to take full advantage of the significant changes. The JM and Dean need to explain to the workers the current situation of the company, an overview of Lean and its benefits for the whole company and for each employee’s job. The workers also need to be acknowledged for the value of their work, their power over the production line and their responsibility of product’s quality. Some training and information about the new system might also need to be provided before actual implementation. Some details should be taken into account when the department start implementing Lean: †¢Because SPC is a HVLV manufacturer should adapt Lean principles to the reality of the organiation: product design geared to logistics and manufacture; organising manufacturing along Lean principles; and integrative supplier relationships (Jina et al. 1997); †¢The manager should have a clear goal for implementing Lean for the worker to follow (Womack and Jones 2003); †¢Lean is a new concept so it should be explained without technical terms or phrases to avoid confusion or resistance (Wrye 2013). The strategy of implementation should contain small steps to give the workers time, and help them gain their confidence a nd build momentum to continue with Lean.â€Æ' Task 4: How different would the cell work be from that in the main Joinery Department? Traditionally, each worker has their own zone and working on different product or order. Each worker goes through the same process, uses the same tools so they have to wait for the tools and their turn to use the machine. Lean cell manufacturing is a common workplace that has become an integral part of Lean manufacturing because it seeks to take full advantage of the similarity between parts, through standardisation and common processing. Its implementation in the work floor implies the specialisation of each step so that one person is in charge for one activity, using one particular tool or machine to eliminate delay time (Lean Enterprise Institute 2009). The worker will have space to move for their job but the movement and motion will be minimised by eliminating the gap between their tools and each other so that they can pass the finished part to the next stage immediately. Julian Page (2004) suggested the outward facing U-shape cells which taking up the same amount  of space and give the worker more options to communicate with each other with the least movement required. For the staircases, the workshop new layout will have 5 major cells: cutting timber, sanding, machining, tenoning and assembling: †¢Each cell have its own tools and machine that only that cell uses. The machine which will be used for different purpose will be placed at machining cell; †¢Machining cell will be placed near the middle of the whole workshop so that if any other cell needed to use the machines, they can access them with the least movement; †¢Cutting timber cell: after the order was placed, timber will be delivered by vendor on to the fir st station. Here timber will be cut to required shape. Off-cuts will be at the same place and the workers at this cell know how many and what shape there are, so they can be used for future occasions; †¢Assembling cell can be spilt into 3 smaller cells: glue, wedges and treated. After this cell, the product will be finished and transported straight to packing or delivery; †¢Workers can rotate within or between the cells if they want flexible jobs, since they can all do every stage of the manufacturing line. †¢Kanban card can be used between part manufacturing cells and assembly cells to limit the level of work-in-process (Jina, Bhattacharya and Walton 1997). Further information should be needed in order to assure if this layout can also be apply to the rest of the products of SPC. Another technique to be taken in is CANDO (clean-up, arranging, neatness, discipline and on-going improvement) to help maintain the Lean workshop, control obsolescence and inventory, preserv e working tools (Page 2004). The cells and workshop is presented below: Figure 1. SPC AS-IS workshop layout Figure 2. SPC TO-BE Lean cellular workshop layout Task 5: What risks are associated with Deane’s proposal? The main risks associated with Mr. Hammond’s proposal are listed below: †¢People. Behaviours exhibited by people in the workplace such as the lack of trust and commitment is the main risk identify in Mr. Hammond’s proposal. It is also one of the main reasons for unsuccessful implementation of Lean. oJoiners’ procedures to manufacture and assemble products might experience  changes with the implementation of Lean and, therefore, it may cause stress and rejection to them. Lean manufacturing requires constant employee input on quality control, which some employees may feel disinclined or unqualified to do (ÄÅ'iarnienÄâ€" and VienaÃ… ¾indienÄâ€" 2012). oDifficulties in finding managers with sufficient leadership and persuasion skills to overcome this can be also another risk to bear in mind (ÄÅ'iarnienÄâ€" and VienaÃ… ¾indienÄâ€" 2012). †¢Investment. Inability to make invest properly in the change. oDue to the unstructured work flow, SPC will need to make significant upfront investment in achieving a level of standardized processing. oImplementing Lean manufacturing often means completely dismantling previous physical plant setups and systems. The re-location of the machinery as well as training employees can increase considerably companies’ expenses. †¢Duration. The implementation of Lean philosophy and principles is a long journey process and not easy implemented. Bibliography and references CHOWDARY, B. and GEORGE, D. (2012). Improvement of manufacturing operations at a pharmaceutical company: A Lean manufacturing approach. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 23 (1), 56-75. ÄÅ'IARNIENÄâ€", R. and VIENAÃ… ½INDIENÄâ€", M. (2012). Lean Manufacturing: Theory and Practice. Economics and management, 17, 732-738. CUDNEY, E.A., FURTERER, S.L. and DIETRICH, D. (2013). Lean Systems: Applications and Case Studies in Manufacturing, Service, and Healthcare. 1st ed., CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. JINA, J., BHATTACHARYA, A. and WALTON, A. (1997). Applying Lean Principles for High Product Variety and Low Volumes: Some Issues and Propositions. Logistics Information Management, 10 (1), 5-13. LEAN ENTERPRISE RESEARCH CENTRE (2013). What is Lean thinking?. [online]. Last accessed 28 November 2013 at: http://www.Leanenterprise.org.uk/what-is-Lean-thinking/what-is-Lean-thinking-and-key-Lean-thinking-principles.html LEAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE (2009). What is Lean?. [online] . Last accessed 28 November 2013 at: http://www.Lean.org/whatsLean/ LEE, S.M. and EEBRAHIMPOUR, M. (1984). Just-In-Time Production System: Some Requirements for Implementation. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 4 (4), 3 – 15. MELTON, T. (2005). The Benefits of Lean Manufacturing: What Lean Thinking

Michele de Montaigne on Making Decisions

Michel de Montaigne on Making Opinions In his three books of essays, Michel de Montaigne reflects upon his life to uncover some of the stable truths that will help to guide a man’s opinions. He claims that man is â€Å"miraculously vain, various and wavering. It is difficult to found a judgement [sic] on him which is steady and uniform† meaning that man and his opinions are unstable and fluid. It is possible for a reader of the essays to see how Montaigne employs his theories within his own life as he searches for the truth the natural world can provide. A flaw of humanity, according to Montaigne, is a lack of healthy doubt.Man takes facts and â€Å"ignore[s] the whats and expatiate[s] on the whys. † Instead of questioning facts from outside sources, man takes them as being the truth and blindly follows them. Humanity looks to tradition and history — the way things have always been done — and assumes them to be correct instead of being skeptical of the fluidity of events. In traditions of old, the â€Å"wavering† quality is found in Alexander the Great and causes him to change paths. He was considered â€Å" the most generous toward the vanquished† yet, unpredictably, had Betis brutally dismembered.Montaigne suggests that in order to enter the realm of well-considered judgment, one must first begin to reject commonly accepted traditions and historical ideas and instead look within for the beginnings of truth. Humanity, and everything in life is unstable and changing. Making sound judgments is difficult because the man and what is being judged are constantly in states of flux. Montaigne says to be â€Å"suspicious of the things discovered by our minds†¦of which we have abandoned Nature and her rules†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Through saying this, Montaigne declares that one needs to be faithful to his unchanging nature in order to find truth.As an example in his own life, Montaigne relates that he considers his actions a s â€Å"ruled by what I am and are in harmony with how I was made. † Montaigne believes that the first step to good judgment is finding stability in one’s self. Humans believe that experience is the key to understanding things. If one experiences, he can better form opinions. However, according to Montaigne, reasoning and judgment based on experience is just as unstable as reasoning based on thoughts. If experience could uncover the truth, why is it still that doctors all have different opinions?Years and years of experience do not improve the authority of the doctors because they still cannot come to a common judgment. What Montaigne appears to say is that the path to well-considered opinions comes from the search for truth in all aspects of life. And this search for truth requires man to take a skeptical view on everything and to turn away from the â€Å"truth† found in science and scholarship in favor of the power of nature—to look to what is unchangea ble, his own nature, rather than what is constantly in flux.Not only must man experience things, he must look at them skeptically and reject commonplace ideas and traditions to look within and to nature in order to uncover the truth in all things. Man needs to create an internal model of himself in order to find stability. In order to find certainty, one must discover stable truths, which can only happen through the questioning of everything and the doubting of all things, because this doubt will allow one to be constantly aware of the changing of the world.In Montaigne’s essays, it is possible to see the effects of this â€Å"healthy skepticism† in his experiences, especially in his continued reflection on life. Montaigne questions all things that can change in order to make sound judgments. He lives a life of skepticism and reflection because he sees it as a â€Å"mighty endeavor and a full one† and this reflection helps him to better consider his opinions. Ho wever, it is also possible to see that this search for truth is a lifelong process.Montaigne says clearly that â€Å"I speak as an ignorant questioning man: for solutions I purely and simply abide by the common lawful [Church] beliefs† and he makes no effort to prove that he has succeeded in finding pure stability of ideas in anything but Christian doctrine. Montaigne shows that skepticism must be a way of life in order for one to develop meaningful opinions. Bibliography de Montaigne, Michel, The Complete Essays. Translated by M. A. Screech. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd. , 1987. ——————————————– [ 1 ].Michel de Montaigne, â€Å"We Reach the Same Ends by Discrepant Means,† in The Complete Essays, trans. M. A. Screech (London, England: Penguin Books Ltd. , 1987), 5. [ 2 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On the Lame,† 1161. [ 3 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"We Reach the Same End s by Discrepant Means,† 5-6. [ 4 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On the Resemblance of Children to Their Fathers,† 866. [ 5 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On Repenting,† 916. [ 6 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On the Resemblance of Children to Their Fathers,† 871. [ 7 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On Repenting,† 911. [ 8 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On Three Kinds of Social Intercourse,† 923. [ 9 ]. Montaigne, â€Å"On Repenting,† 909.

Essay on BEN AND JERRY

Essay on BEN AND JERRY Essay on BEN AND JERRY BEN AND JERRY’S INTRODUCTION Ben and Jerry’s is an American Ice-cream company that manufactures ice cream novelty products, sorbets, frozen yogurt and ice cream. It is a division of Unilever an American-Dutch Company. It started in 1978 trading under the name Ben and Jerry’s Homemade Holding. It started by selling in an ice cream parlour in Vermont. By 1980, it expanded by packaging its ice cream in pints and selling to grocery stores. It continued to grow in operations, profits and income and by 2000 it was acquired by Unilever. This acquisition however, did not change anything as per operations and manufacturing of Ben and Jerry’s products. It still operates autonomously even with the founders names still on the ice cream. Ben and Jerry’s is also known for its commitment to using eco-friendly materials and ingredients in their ice cream and entire business activities and process. ICE CREAM AND FROZEN DESSERT MARKET SEGMENT IN AMERICA The ice cream and frozen desert market in America is a highly competitive and large one. Not one brand can claim a large significant domination of the market. However, Hagen-Dazs, Dreyer’s/Edy’s, BlueBell, Klondike, Blue Bunny, Klondike, Breyers and Drumsticks are Ben and Jerry’s closest competitors. With Hagen-Dazs, Dreyer’s/Edy’s, BlueBell controlling 9.2%, 8.9% and 6.4% respectively while Ben and Jerry’s controls 4.8% of the total market share (Euromonitor international, 2014). The Ice cream and frozen Desert market is estimated to be about $25 billion in America (Food Navigator, 2012). The ice cream market also competes against snack products like confectionaries, cookies and other sweet biscuits. This has even given rise to the introduction of confectionary branded ice creams such as Mars which combines both elements and ice cream with elements of cookies. These are still very much popular among ice cream lovers. Generally the market is into three major segments namely Premium brands, Standard brands and private labels. Premium brands compete on the basis of indulgent flavours, coating, topping or extras. For example Magnum ice cream bars boost the use of Belgian chocolates in its coatings. Premium branded ice creams have higher butter fat and are creamier in texture. According to a research by Research and Markets, These brands of ice cream are more preferred than other brands by 79.9%. Consumers are drawn towards premium and luxurious ice cream brands with nuts (e.g. almond, pistachio). Standard brands compete on the basis of affordability and wide availability. It still has variety of flavours, but not as rich in flavour or texture like the premium brands, it is also less creamy with lesser butter fat. The Private labels are the traditionally homemade ice creams. They engage the services of ice cream factories that have the capital, infrastructure and resources that these homemade makers do not have. Basically, it’s a co-packaging relationship that exists whereby the ice cream maker comes with their recipe and flavour and produces by leasing a factory for a period. Ben and Jerry’s compete in the premium brand segment. CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR The ice cream market is moving towards  ´premiunisation† (people tend to go more for the premium brands). Ice cream is usually consumed by people in all geographical segments, but those who reside in cosmopolitan cities like London, New York, Sydney tend to consume more ice cream than those in other areas. This is not only due to the fact that they have the purchasing means, but because people in these areas are always the first to try out new flavours and keep up with the trends. With higher disposable incomes and higher purchasing power, consumers most times buy ice cream as a reward to them and find themselves indulging their cravings. Sales of ice cream products are higher during summer. Initially people enjoyed visiting ice cream parlours to purchase and eat their ice cream, but now the take away is a huge of the consumer buying pattern.

The Right to Vote Essays

The Right to Vote Essays The Right to Vote Paper The Right to Vote Paper Antonym mentions the word right or rights many different times in this excerpt. How does she use and refine this key term over the course of her speech? Use evidence from the passage to support your response. Your writing will be scored on organization, development of ideas, and use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. At first Anthony main focus is the right to vote because she was arrested for voting. And, that this right was guaranteed to her by National Constitution, beyond the power of any State to Deny. Next rights become something people are born with; they are God-given. Anthony points out that she always has had the right to vote because the government doesnt give rights; she was born with that right. It says In the speech that when 100 or 1,000,000 people enter Into a free government, they dont barter away their natural rights. Accordingly, Anthony then turns to the concept of rights as they are defined In the Declaration of Independence which shows that governments dont give rights; they protect rights. Also shown in arcograph 4 line one it says nor can you find a word in any of the grand documents left us by the fathers that assumes for government the power to create or to confer rights. She is saying here that not only are these rights inalienable and natural and hence not given by governments but that our grand documents recognize this. Anthony then links rights to orderly and peaceful government: The Declaration also shows that the government is formed by the consent of the governed, which implies that people need the right to vote in order to make laws and to change laws. After establishing these principles about the right to vote, Anthony expands her focus to equal rights for all. Its clear that women are not treated well by the laws of this country. They are being denied other rights besides the right to vote. She ends this excerpt with the idea that the founding documents show that women and men have the same rights equal political rights and by the practice of those declarations all class and caste distinction will be abolished bound to the proud platform of equality.

Unit I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Unit I - Essay Example It was formed 15 years ago and has had stable growth till the last three years when it started incurring high costs. The company feels that issues like unexpected temperature drops, outbreak of pests and rising labor costs has lead to the increase in costs in recent years. Moreover, the company intends to expand its facilities and so it must address this major issue of employee turnover. In the recent past employee turnover has increased and key personnel are leaving. This is having a broad effect on internal costs. The acts of hiring new employees, training them, enabling them to grow as professionals all incur huge costs. This is evident by the statistics presented which indicate that company growth is stable at 5% but costs have been rising at an average of 2.5-4% in the past 3 years. If this trend continues then ultimately JRT will head towards major financial losses. Such losses can be very heavy for a consumer product company which needs to invest substantially in marketing and advertising. However, losses would mean slashing advertising budgets. Moreover, JRT’s reputation in the industry will be effected which will lower the moral of the existing employees and in turn reduce their productivity. Key personnel turnover can occur if managers feel dissatisfied and do not see opportunities to grow. The most basic problem arises when senior managers feel their productivity is reaching a stage of stagnation. This could be possible if they feel their job is not challenging enough, or perhaps if they consider it monotonous and boring. For this purpose it will also be important to talk to as many people as possible to gauge the nature and extent of the issues involved. Several in depth interviews need to be conducted in order to find the main cause of dissatisfaction at work To get a better hold of the issue we also need to survey and analyze existing financial documents of JRT. This would include

Divine Law in Islam Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Divine Law in Islam - Research Paper Example Sunni is the largest Muslim sect in the world, accounting for approximately 70% of Muslims worldwide. Sunni has for major schools of Islamic law; Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali (Central Intelligence Agency, 2009), (Pew Research Centre, October 2009). Sunni Islamic law traces its roots back to the late Umayyad period in the second Islamic century. In addition to the role of the Quran and hadith, the geographical variations influenced different doctrines (Ziadeh, 2010). The most widespread school of Sunni law is the Hanafi School, founded by Abu Hanifah and located at Kufa in Iraq. The legal doctrines of Abu Hanifah are relatively more liberal and display a unique sense of respect for personal freedom. He was the first to formulate rules concerning contracts based on the principle of freedom of contract (Ziadeh, 2010). This fact is reflected in the contracts of Salam and Murabahah. The former allows the immediate payment of the price of goods for future delivery, although the contract of sale stipulates the immediate exchange of an object and its price.  The most widespread school of Sunni law is the Hanafi School, founded by Abu Hanifah and located at Kufa in Iraq. The legal doctrines of Abu Hanifah are relatively more liberal and display a unique sense of respect for personal freedom. He was the first to formulate rules concerning contracts based on the principle of freedom of contract (Ziadeh, 2010). This fact is reflected in the contracts of S alam and Murabahah. The former allows the immediate payment of the price of goods for future delivery, although the contract of sale stipulates the immediate exchange of an object and its price; the latter allows a merchant to sell what he had bought at the original price plus a stipulated profit if usury is not involved.  

Foundation of Human Resources Management- (case study) Essay - 1

Foundation of Human Resources Management- (case study) - Essay Example Employment turnover is a serious problem in GS Plumbing, which found most of the plumbers work alone each day although some jobs require two or more plumbers to work together. In GS Plumbing, it has been observed among 37 percent of total employees some resigned and some are terminated which results to employee turnover. One of the possible reasons for employee turnover at GS Plumbing is better compensation and rewards are offered by the GS competitors and better working environment. Therefore, Alan, HR manager is concerned with other companies offering financial and non-financial rewards aiming to create a balance of work and personal lives of the employees. In GS Plumbing, the works are not properly allocated among the new and old staff members, which lead to job satisfaction among the employees (Zhi, Kaur & WeiBo, 2010, p.4146). When GS employees leave the organization possible actions are taken, retention strategies are adopted in order to retain the employees in the organization . The retention strategies followed by job enrichment, employee involvement, talent management and many other things. In order to stop the employees leaving from organization it is necessary GS Plumbing need to create an environment of employee engagement, which will help the organization to satisfy the working conditions of the employees. Through the case study the long term staff members are unhappy with the allocation of work since routine plumbing task are given to them, which should be actually assigned to new staff members. At this point of time, redesigning of works will help to remove the boredom among the new and old staff members and help them to acquire the new skills in the job. In this way, it will help the older staff members to gain knowledge and skills whereas newer staff members will be facing new challenges Therefore, in this way it will help the Alan and Greg to achieve the balance

Discrimination and Domestic Violence against Women in America Essay

Discrimination and Domestic Violence against Women in America - Essay Example Gender-based violence is global and varies from one society to another only in scope; the United States is not an exception. The United Nations Declaration on Violence against Women defines gender based violence as: â€Å"Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life" (Article 1) The scope of forms of discrimination is huge and includes, though is not limited to forced abortion, forced pregnancy, prostitution and sterilization, rape, domestic and community violence, sexual abuse of female children, sexual harassment, intimidation at work and social institutions, marital rape. All these forms can be grouped into broader sections: socio-cultural discrimination and violence, discrimination at work, and, finally, home abuse. The dramatic influence on women and society in general of any type of discrimination can hardly be overestimated, while the reasons underneath and direct course of actions to be taken are still not clear and hardly will ever be. When it comes to speaking about socio-cultural discrimination, the majority does not realize to what extent beliefs termed â€Å"culture† shape women’s lives and the understanding of the personal role in society. Cultural values rooted in unequal distribution of power between women and men limit, subordinate and discriminate female population; traditions formed for centuries become a justification for  denial of basic human rights, the principle of equality is challenged when it comes to women. Cultural discrimination that women experience in the USA can hardly be compared to India or Iraq: â€Å"Kajal Khidr was accused of adultery by her husband's family and held hostage by six family members in Iraqi Kurdistan. Kajal Khidr was tortured and mutilated; family members cut off part of her nose and told her she would be killed after the birth of her child.†Ã‚  

Vodafone international strategic development Essay

Vodafone international strategic development - Essay Example The initial acquisition move of the company was a merger with AirTouch Communications Inc. of the United States in a $61 million deal. The company briefly renamed itself as Vodafone AirTouch in a gradual move towards aligning AirTouch to its global strategy (Johannes and Ashok, 2009, P.263). The company’s North American branch was integrated into a new entity branded Verizon Wireless together with Bell Atlantic’s mobile business with the company retaining 45% stake in the new venture. Verizon wireless was the largest mobile phone operator in the North American market with 36 million customers and 24% market share in 2003. The targeting of large firms is in line with literature that suggests that large scale acquisitions provide potential scale economies and are expected to outperform small scale acquisitions (Risberg, 1999, P.76). The targeting of large firms is also observed in the acquisition of Mannesmann in a deal that helped it own D2 mobile phone business, which w as the private market leader in Germany. This deal made Vodafone one of the 10 largest companies in the world helping it achieve scale and scope economies (Johannes and Ashok, 2009, P.264). ... was a good strategy as mobile companies shared some similarities with Vodafone in capabilities and were likely to exhibit some level of homogeneity with its structure. Such acquisitions also helped Vodafone secure a platform for acquiring the existing business position (Risberg, 1999, P.82). Unlike its competitors, the company used shares for its acquisitions. This strategy helped the company emerge from the telecom crisis relatively early so that it could concentrate on growth while virtually all of its competitors were preoccupied with debt reduction (Johannes and Ashok, 2009, P.264). The company had acquired other businesses along with the mobile phone business as was the case of Japan Telecom and Mannesmann where it owned fixed line operations. Vodafone had an explicit desire to concentrate on its core business of mobile telecommunications, and this made it look for ways to dispose of the other non-core businesses. Vodafone insisted that it was mobile focused and intended to stic k to that strategy in all of its acquisitions and subsidiaries. The emphasis on only retaining those operations in the acquired firm that were core to its expansion strategy is in line with literature that suggests that strategic fit is important in creating shareholder value (Risberg, 1999, P.81). Vodafone’s strategy was to increase revenue growth and margin improvement by providing enhanced services to its customer base. This principle had three tenets. The company would increase voice and data revenues through increased marketing focus on its established high-quality customer base. It intended to extend its operational leadership of the mobile industry through maximizing the benefits of scale and scope by using partner network agreements, increasing equity investments in firms where

The Inundation of North American Coasts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

The Inundation of North American Coasts - Essay Example During coastal inundation, areas nearing the meeting points of creeks and rivers tend to be more susceptible since high seas can lead to the backing up of rivers. Coastal inundation is also accompanied by rising sea levels, which may lead to high intensity storms in the future (Spaulding 588). Several factors can be attributed to be the causes of coastal inundation; one of the main causes of coastal inundation is storm surge. Storm surge details the rise of water abnormally as a result of a storm that may be above the wave conditions that have been predicted. A combination of astronomical tide and storm surge leads to storm tide in the North American Coasts. Storm surge contributes to coastal inundation since it leads to the rise in water level. The rise in the level of water leads to flooding in the coastal areas. A storm surge may emanate from low atmospheric pressure that may emanate from hurricanes (Spaulding 588). Another notable cause of coastal inundation includes large waves that may be experienced in the coastal region. These waves may be caused by local winds or they may emanate from storms that occur from a distance. The waves lead to a rise in the water level, thus causing devastating effects of floods on the land adjacent to the North American Coast. The inundation of the North American Coasts is also caused by wave set-up. This takes place when the average sea level rises, especially in the zone referred as the surf zone. The other cause of coastal inundation includes the flooding of rivers as a result of rain. The flooding of rivers as a result of rain increases the severity of the flood. Seasonal cooling and heating of the oceans can also be referred as another cause of coastal flooding; this is because such variations contribute to high levels of water in the sea (Spaulding 590). Inland floods can also cause coastal inundation; these floods take occur during a fall in the moderate

Discrimination and Domestic Violence against Women in America Essay

Discrimination and Domestic Violence against Women in America - Essay Example Gender-based violence is global and varies from one society to another only in scope; the United States is not an exception. The United Nations Declaration on Violence against Women defines gender based violence as: â€Å"Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life" (Article 1) The scope of forms of discrimination is huge and includes, though is not limited to forced abortion, forced pregnancy, prostitution and sterilization, rape, domestic and community violence, sexual abuse of female children, sexual harassment, intimidation at work and social institutions, marital rape. All these forms can be grouped into broader sections: socio-cultural discrimination and violence, discrimination at work, and, finally, home abuse. The dramatic influence on women and society in general of any type of discrimination can hardly be overestimated, while the reasons underneath and direct course of actions to be taken are still not clear and hardly will ever be. When it comes to speaking about socio-cultural discrimination, the majority does not realize to what extent beliefs termed â€Å"culture† shape women’s lives and the understanding of the personal role in society. Cultural values rooted in unequal distribution of power between women and men limit, subordinate and discriminate female population; traditions formed for centuries become a justification for  denial of basic human rights, the principle of equality is challenged when it comes to women. Cultural discrimination that women experience in the USA can hardly be compared to India or Iraq: â€Å"Kajal Khidr was accused of adultery by her husband's family and held hostage by six family members in Iraqi Kurdistan. Kajal Khidr was tortured and mutilated; family members cut off part of her nose and told her she would be killed after the birth of her child.†Ã‚  

The Inundation of North American Coasts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

The Inundation of North American Coasts - Essay Example During coastal inundation, areas nearing the meeting points of creeks and rivers tend to be more susceptible since high seas can lead to the backing up of rivers. Coastal inundation is also accompanied by rising sea levels, which may lead to high intensity storms in the future (Spaulding 588). Several factors can be attributed to be the causes of coastal inundation; one of the main causes of coastal inundation is storm surge. Storm surge details the rise of water abnormally as a result of a storm that may be above the wave conditions that have been predicted. A combination of astronomical tide and storm surge leads to storm tide in the North American Coasts. Storm surge contributes to coastal inundation since it leads to the rise in water level. The rise in the level of water leads to flooding in the coastal areas. A storm surge may emanate from low atmospheric pressure that may emanate from hurricanes (Spaulding 588). Another notable cause of coastal inundation includes large waves that may be experienced in the coastal region. These waves may be caused by local winds or they may emanate from storms that occur from a distance. The waves lead to a rise in the water level, thus causing devastating effects of floods on the land adjacent to the North American Coast. The inundation of the North American Coasts is also caused by wave set-up. This takes place when the average sea level rises, especially in the zone referred as the surf zone. The other cause of coastal inundation includes the flooding of rivers as a result of rain. The flooding of rivers as a result of rain increases the severity of the flood. Seasonal cooling and heating of the oceans can also be referred as another cause of coastal flooding; this is because such variations contribute to high levels of water in the sea (Spaulding 590). Inland floods can also cause coastal inundation; these floods take occur during a fall in the moderate

Learning strategies Essay Example for Free

Learning strategies Essay Learning or instructional strategies determine the approach for achieving the learning objectives and are included in the pre-instructional activities, information presentation, learner activities, testing, and follow-through. The strategies are usually tied to the needs and interests of students to enhance learning and are based on many types of learning styles (Ekwensi, Moranski, Townsend-Sweet, 2006). Thus the learning objectives point you towards the instructional strategies, while the instructional strategies will point you to the medium that will actually deliver the instruction, such as elearning, self-study, classroom, or OJT. However, do not fall into the trap of using only one medium when designing your course. . . use a blended approach. Although some people use the terms interchangeably, objectives, strategies, and media, all have separate meanings. For example, your learning objective might be Pull the correct items for a customer order; the instructional strategies are a demonstration, have a question and answer period, and then receive hands-on practice by actually performing the job, while the media might be a combination of elearning and OJT. The Instructional Strategy Selection Chart shown below is a general guideline for selecting the learning strategy. It is based on Blooms Taxonomy (Learning Domains). The matrix generally runs from the passive learning methods (top rows) to the more active participation methods (bottom rows. Blooms Taxonomy (the right three columns) runs from top to bottom, with the lower level behaviors being on top and the higher behaviors being on the bottom. That is, there is a direct correlation in learning: Lower levels of performance can normally be taught using the more passive learning methods. Higher levels of performance usually require some sort of action or involvement by the learners. Instructional Strategy Selection Chart Instructional Strategy Cognitive Domain (Bloom, 1956) Affective Domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, Masia, 1973) Psychomotor Domain (Simpson, 1972) Lecture, reading, audio/visual, demonstration, or guided observations, question and answer period 1. Knowledge 1. Receiving phenomena 1. Perception 2. Set Discussions, multimedia CBT, Socratic didactic method, reflection. Activities such as surveys, role playing, case studies, fishbowls, etc. 2. Comprehension 3. Application 2. Responding to phenomena 3. Guided response 4. Mechanism On-the-Job-Training (OJT), practice by doing (some direction or coaching is required), simulated job settings (to include CBT simulations) 4. Analysis 3. Valuing 5. Complex response Use in real situations. Also may be trained by using several high level activities coupled with OJT. 5. Synthesis 4. Organize values into priorities 6. Adaptation Normally developed on own (informal learning) through self-study or learning through mistakes, but mentoring and coaching can speed the process. 6. Evaluation 5. Internalizing values 7. Origination The chart does not cover all possibilities, but most activities should fit in. For example, self-study could fall under reading, audio visual, and/or activities, depending upon the type of program you design Instructional Skills: What are Instructional Skills? Instructional skills are the most specific category of teaching behaviors. They are necessary for procedural purposes and for structuring appropriate learning experiences for students. A variety of instructional skills and processes exist. Explaining Demonstrating Questioning Questioning Techniques Levels of Questions Wait Time Explaining The teacher spends much classroom time explaining or demonstrating something to the whole class, a small group, or an individual. Student resource materials typically do not provide extensive explanations of concepts, and students often need a demonstration in order to understand procedures. Demonstrating The teacher spends much classroom time explaining or demonstrating something to the whole class, a small group, or an individual. Student resource materials typically do not provide extensive explanations of concepts, and students often need a demonstration in order to understand procedures. Questioning Among the instructional skills, questioning holds a place of prominence in many classrooms. When questioning is used well: a high degree of student participation occurs as questions are widely distributed; an appropriate mix of low and high level cognitive questions is used; student understanding is increased; student thinking is stimulated, directed, and extended; feedback and appropriate reinforcement occur;students critical thinking abilities are honed; and, student creativity is fostered. Questioning Technique The teacher should begin by obtaining the attention of the students before the question is asked. The question should be addressed to the entire class before a specific student is asked to respond. Calls for responses should be distributed among volunteers and non-volunteers, and the teacher should encourage students to speak to the whole class when responding. However, the teacher must be sensitive to each students willingness to speak publically and never put a student on the spot. Levels of Questions While the need for factual recall or comprehension must be recognized, teachers also need to challenge students with higher level questions requiring analysis, synthesis, or evaluation. The consideration of level is applicable at all grade levels and in all subject areas. All students need the opportunity to think about and respond to all levels of questions. Teacher probes or requests for clarification may be required to move students to higher levels of thinking and deeper levels of understanding. Wait Time  Wait time is defined as the pause between asking the question and soliciting a response. Providing additional wait time after a student response also allows all students to reflect on the response prior to further discussion. Increased wait time results in longer student responses, more appropriate unsolicited responses, more student questions, and increased higher order responses. It should be noted that increased wait time is beneficial for students who speak English as a second language or English as a second dialect. Instructional Strategies: 1. Direct instruction 2. Indirect instruction 3. Interactive instruction 4. Independent study 5. Experiential learning 1. What is Direct Instruction? The Direct instruction strategy is highly teacher-directed and is among the most commonly used. This strategy is effective for providing information or developing step-by-step skills. It also works well for introducing other teaching methods, or actively involving students in knowledge construction. Possible Methods Structured Overview Lecture Explicit Teaching Drill Practice Compare Contrast Didactic Questions. Demonstrations Guided Shared reading, listening, viewing, thinking What is Structured Overview? Structured Overview is verbal, visual or written summary or outline of a topic. It can occur at the beginning of a unit, module or new concept, or it may be used to help relate a learned idea to the big picture. A Structured Overview distills difficult or complex idea into simple definitions or explanation, and then shows how all the information relates. It is the process of â€Å"organizing and arranging topics† to make them more meaningful. What is Lecture? Lecture is a valuable part of a teachers instructional repertoire if it is not used when other methods would be more effective. If the presenter is knowledgeable, perceptive, engaging, and motivating, then lecture can stimulate reflection, challenge the imagination, and develop curiosity and a sense of inquiry. Criteria for the selection of the lecture method should include the types of experiences students will be afforded and the kinds of learning outcomes expected. Because lecture is teacher-centred and student activity is mainly passive, the attention span of students may be limited. Many students, because of learning style preferences, may not readily assimilate lecture content. In addition, lectured content is often rapidly forgotten. What is Explicit Teaching? Explicit teaching involves directing student attention toward specific learning in a highly structured environment. It is teaching that is focused on producing specific learning outcomes. Topics and contents are broken down into small parts and taught individually. It involves explanation, demonstration and practise. Children are provided with guidance and structured frameworks. Topics are taught in a logical order and directed by the teacher. Another important characteristic of explicit teaching involves modeling skills and behaviours and modelling thinking. This involves the teacher thinking out loud when working through problems and demonstrating processes for students. The attention of students is important and listening and observation are key to success. What is Drill Practice? As an instructional strategy, drill practice is familiar to all educators. It promotes the acquisition of knowledge or skill through repetitive practice. It refers to small tasks such as the memorization of spelling or vocabulary words, or the practicing of arithmetic facts and may also be found in more supplicated learning tasks or physical education games and sports. Drill-and-practice, like memorization, involves repetition of specific skills, such as addition and subtraction, or spelling. To be meaningful to learners, the skills built through drill-and-practice should become the building blocks for more meaningful learning. What is Compare Contrast? Compare and Contrast is used to highlight similarities and differences between to things. It is a process where the act of classification is practiced. It is effectively used in conjunction with indirect instructional methods, but can also be used directly to teach vocabulary signals, classification, nomenclature and key characteristics. It is often presented in either written text paragraphs or a chart. Its most common use is as a graphic organizer of content. What are Didactic Questions? Didactic questioning offers the teacher a way to structure the learning process (McNeil Wiles, 1990). Didactic questions tend to be convergent, factual, and often begin with what, where, when, and how. They can be effectively used to diagnose recall and comprehension skills, to draw on prior learning experiences, to determine the extent to which lesson objectives were achieved, to provide practice, and to aid retention of information or processes. Teachers should remember that didactic questions can be simplistic, can encourage guessing, and can discourage insightful answers or creativity. However, effectiveness of this method can be increased by the appropriate addition of why questions, and the occasional use of what if questions. What is Demonstration? A method of teaching by example rather than simple explanation What are Guided and Share? Prioritizes intrinsic motivation and helps students to become more engaged in learning experiences through connecting their beliefs and life goals to curricular requirements 2. What is Indirect Instruction? In contrast to the direct instruction strategy, indirect instruction is mainly student-centered, although the two strategies can complement each other. Indirect instruction seeks a high level of student involvement in observing, investigating, drawing inferences from data, or forming hypotheses. It takes advantage of students interest and curiosity, often encouraging them to generate alternatives or solve problems. In indirect instruction, the role of the teacher shifts from lecturer/director to that of facilitator, supporter, and resource person. The teacher arranges the learning environment, provides opportunity for student involvement, and, when appropriate, provides feedback to students while they conduct the inquiry (Martin, 1983). Possible Methods Problem Solving Case Studies Reading for Meaning Inquiry Reflective Discussion Writing to Inform Concept Formation Concept Mapping. Concept Attainment Cloze Procedure What is Problem Solving? There are two major types of problem solving – reflective and creative. Regardless of the type of problem solving a class uses, problem solving focuses on knowing the issues, considering all possible factor and finding a solution. Because all ideas are accepted initially, problem solving allows for finding the best possible solution as opposed to the easiest solution or the first solution proposed. What are Case Studies? Case studies are stories or scenarios, often in narrative form, created and used as a tool for analysis and discussion. They have a long tradition of use in higher education particularly in business and law. Cases are often based on actual events which adds a sense of urgency or reality. Case studies have elements of simulations but the students are observers rather than participants. A good case has sufficient detail to necessitate research and to stimulate analysis from a variety of viewpoints or perspectives. They place the learner in the position of problem solver. Students become actively engaged in the materials discovering underlying issues, dilemmas and conflict issues. What is Reading for Meaning? Children become curious about printed symbols once they recognize that print, like talk, conveys meaningful messages that direct, inform or entertain people. By school age, many children are eager to continue their exploration of print. One goal of this curriculum is to develop fluent and proficient readers who are knowledgeable about the reading process. What is Inquiry? Inquiry learning provides opportunities for students to experience and acquire processes through which they can gather information about the world. This requires a high level of interaction among the learner, the teacher,the area of study, available resources, and the learning environment. Students become actively involved in the learning process as they: act upon their curiosity and interests; develop questions; think their way through controversies or dilemmas; look at problems analytically; inquire into their preconceptions and what they already know; develop, clarify, and test hypotheses; and, draw inferences and generate possible solutions. Questioning is the heart of inquiry learning. Students must ask relevant questions and develop ways to search for answers and generate explanations. Emphasis is placed upon the process of thinking as this applies to student interaction with issues, data, topics, concepts, materials, and problems. What is Reflective Discussion ? Reflective discussions encourage students to think and talk about what they have observed, heard or read. The teacher or student initiates the discussion by asking a question that requires students to reflect upon and interpret films, experiences, read or recorded stories, or illustrations. As students question and recreate information and events in a film or story, they clarify their thoughts and feelings. The questions posed should encourage students to relate story content to life experiences and to other stories. These questions will elicit personal interpretations and feelings. Interpretations will vary, but such variances demonstrate that differences of opinion are valuable. What is Writing to Inform? Writing that reports information to others can vary greatly in content and format. Many learning experiences culminate in expository or informative writing activities. Students must have opportunities to read a variety of resources and printed materials for information. During writing, students can apply their knowledge of the structures and formats of these materials to organize and convey information. What is Concept Formation ? Concept formation provides students with an opportunity to explore ideas by making connections and seeing relationships between items of information. This method can help students develop and refine their ability to recall and discriminate among key ideas, to see commonalities and identify relationships, to formulate concepts and generalizations, to explain how they have organized data, and to present evidence to support their organization of the data involved. What are Concept Maps? A concept map is a special form of a web diagram for exploring knowledge and gathering and sharing information. Concept mapping is the strategy employed to develop a concept map. A concept map consists of nodes or cells that contain a concept, item or question and links. The links are labeled and denote direction with an arrow symbol. The labeled links explain the relationship between the nodes. The arrow describes the direction of the relationship and reads like a sentence. What is Concept Attainment? Concept Attainment is an indirect instructional strategy that uses a structured inquiry process. It is based on the work of Jerome Bruner. In concept attainment, students figure out the attributes of a group or category that has already been formed by the teacher. To do so, students compare and contrast examples that contain the attributes of the concept with examples that do not contain those attributes. They then separate them into two groups. Concept attainment, then, is the search for and identification of attributes that can be used to distinguish examples of a given group or category from non-examples. What is Cloze Procedure? Cloze procedure is a technique in which words are deleted from a passage according to a word-count formula or various other criteria. The passage is presented to students, who insert words as they read to complete and construct meaning from the text. This procedure can be used as a diagnostic reading assessment technique. It is used: to identify students knowledge and understanding of the reading process to determine which cueing systems readers effectively employ to construct meaning from print to assess the extent of students vocabularies and knowledge of a subject to encourage students to monitor for meaning while reading  to encourage students to think critically and analytically about text and content 3. What is Experiential Learning? Experiential learning is inductive, learner centered, and activity oriented. Personalized reflection about an experience and the formulation of plans to apply learning to other contexts are critical factors in effective experiential learning. The emphasis in experiential learning is on the process of learning and not on the product. Experiential learning can be viewed as a cycle consisting of five phases, all of which are necessary: experiencing (an activity occurs);sharing or publishing (reactions and observations are shared); analysing or processing (patterns and dynamics are determined);inferring or generalizing (principles are derived); and, applying (plans are made to use learning in new situations). Possible Methods Field Trips Narratives Conducting Experiments Simulations Games Storytelling Focused Imaging Field Observations Role-playing Model Building Surveys What are Field Trips? A field trip is a structured activity that occurs outside the classroom. It can be a brief observational activity or a longer more sustained investigation or project. While field trips take considerable organization, it is important to: be clear about what the field trip will accomplish prepare students for the learning have a debriefing session for students to share their learning when they return to the classroom What are Narratives? Narrative essays are told from a defined point of view, often the authors, so there is feeling as well as specific and often sensory details provided to get the reader involved in the elements and sequence of the story. What are Conducting Experiments? Is an orderly procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, refuting, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated. What are Simulations? A simulation is a form of experiential learning. Simulations are instructional scenarios where the learner is placed in a world defined by the teacher. They represent a reality within which students interact. The teacher controls the parameters of this world and uses it to achieve the desired instructional results. Simulations are in way, a lab experiment where the students themselves are the test subjects. They experience the reality of the scenario and gather meaning from it. It is a strategy that fits well with the principles of constructivism. Simulations promote the use of critical and evaluative thinking. The ambiguous or open ended nature of a simulation encourages students to contemplate the implications of a scenario. The situation feels real and thus leads to more engaging interaction by learners. They are motivating activities enjoyed by students of all ages. What are Games? Is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as  an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements. What is Storytelling? Is the conveying of events in words, and images, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters, and narrative point of view. What is Focused Imaging? Imaging, the process of internally visualizing an object, event, or situation, has the potential to nurture and enhance a students creativity (Bagley Hess, 1987). Imaging enables students to relax and allow their imaginations to take them on journeys, to experience situations first hand, and to respond with their senses to the mental images formed. What are Field Observations? The process of filtering sensory information through the thought process. Input is received via hearing, sight, smell, taste, or touch and then analyzed through either rational or irrational thought. What is Role Playing? In role playing, students act out characters in a predefined situation. Role playing allows students to take risk-free positions by acting out characters in hypothetical situations. It can help them understand the range of concerns, values, and positions held by other people. Role playing is an enlightening and interesting way to help students see a problem from another perspective. What is Model Building? What is Survey? is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal that publishes papers related to the development and application of survey techniques. 4. What is Independent Study? Independent study refers to the range of instructional methods which are purposefully provided to foster the development of individual student initiative, self-reliance, and self-improvement. While independent study may be initiated by student or teacher, the focus here will be on planned independent study by students under the guidance or supervision of a classroom teacher. In addition, independent study can include learning in partnership with another individual or as part of a small group. Possible Methods Essays Computer Assisted Instruction. Journals Learning Logs Reports Learning Activity Packages Correspondence Lessons Learning Contracts Homework Research Projects Assigned Questions Learning Centers What is Essay? is generally a short piece of writing written from an authors personal point of view, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article and a short story. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. What is Computer Assisted Instruction? Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) refers to instruction or remediation presented on a computer. Computer programs can allow students to progress at their own pace and work individually or problem solve in a group. Computers provide immediate feedback, letting students know whether their answer is correct. If the answer is not correct, the program shows students how to correctly answer the question. Computers offer a different type of activity and a change of pace from teacher-led or group instruction. Also, computer-assisted instruction moves at the students’ pace and usually does  not move ahead until they have mastered the skill. What is Journal Writing? Journal writing is a learning tool based on the ideas that students write to learn. Students use the journals to write about topics of personal interest, to note their observations, to imagine, to wonder and to connect new information with things they already know. What are Learning Logs ? Learning logs are a simple and straightforward way to help students integrate content, process, and personal feelings. Learning logs operate from the stance that students learn from writing rather than writing what they have learned. The common application is to have students make entries in their logs during the last five minutes of class or after each completed week of class. The message here is that short, frequent bursts of writing are more productive over time than are infrequent, longer assignments. What are Reports ? Written reports are documents which present focused, salient content to a specific audience. Reports are often used to display the result of an experiment, investigation, or inquiry. The audience may be public or private, an individual or the public in general. Reports are used in government, business, education, science, and other fields. Learning Activity Packages Correspondence Lessons What are Learning Contracts ? Learning contracts provide a method of individualizing instruction and developing student responsibility. They permit individual pacing so that students may learn at the rate at which they are able to master the material. Learning contracts can be designed so that students function at the academic levels most suitable to them and work with resource materials containing concepts and knowledge that are appropriate to their abilities and experiences. Although this method focuses on the individual, learning contracts also provide an opportunity for students to work in small groups. The teacher may select this approach for some students to support them as they learn to work independently. What are Homeworks ? Refers to tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside the class. Common homework assignments may include a quantity or period of reading to be performed, writing or typing to be completed, problems to be solved, a school project to be built (such as a diorama or display), or other skills to be practiced. What is Researching? Research projects are very effective for developing and extending language arts skills as students learn in all subject areas. While doing research, students practice reading for specific purposes, recording information, sequencing and organizing ideas, and using language to inform others. A research model provides students with a framework for organizing information about a topic. Research projects frequently include these four steps: 1. determining the purpose and topic 2. gathering the information 3. organizing the information. 4. sharing knowledge. What are Assigned Questions ? Assigned questions are those prepared by the teacher to be answered by individuals or small groups of students. Students discuss their responses among one another or with the teacher. Particular positions or points-of-view should be supported by evidence. In some instances, it may be desirable for students to generate their own set of questions. What is Learning Center? There are eight basic learning centers in an early childhood/elementary classroom, according to the Stephen F. Austin State University Charter School program, each structured to expand the students’ experiences in a variety of meaningful and effective ways. Each center is constructed to encompass numerous objectives, including state and federal standards, school standards, and community standards. The learning centers approach focuses on student autonomy and learning style by giving each student an opportunity to explore his learning environment hands-on in a developmentally appropriate classroom 5. What is Interactive Instruction? Interactive instruction relies heavily on discussion and sharing among participants. Students can learn from peers and teachers to develop social skills and abilities, to organize their thoughts, and to develop rational arguments. The interactive instruction strategy allows for a range of groupings and interactive methods. It is important for the teacher to outline the topic, the amount of discussion time, the composition and size of the groups, and reporting or sharing techniques. Interactive instruction requires the refinement of observation, listening, interpersonal, and intervention skills and abilities by both teacher and students. The success of the interactive instruction strategy and its many methods is heavily dependent upon the expertise of the teacher in structuring and developing the dynamics of the group. Possible Methods Debates Role Playing Panels Brainstorming Peer Partner Learning Discussion Laboratory Groups Think, Pair, Share Cooperative Learning Jigsaw Problem Solving Structured Controversy Tutorial Groups Interviewing Conferencing What is Debating? Debating is a structured contest of argumentation in which two opposing individuals or teams defend and attack a given proposition. The procedure is bound by rules that vary based on location and participants. The process is adjudicated and a winner is declared. What is Role Playing? In role playing, students act out characters in a predefined situation. Role playing allows students to take risk-free positions by acting out characters in hypothetical situations. It can help them understand the range of concerns, values, and positions held by other people. Role playing is an enlightening and interesting way to help students see a problem from another perspective. What is Panelling? Panel discussions, however, differ from team presentations. Their purpose is different. In a team presentation, the group presents agreed-upon views; in a panel discussion, the purpose is to present different views. Also in a team presentations, usually speakers stand as they speak; in panel discussions, usually speakers sit the whole time. In panel discussion each speaker prepares separately, the other speakers here one another for the time at the session itself. What is Brainstorming? Brainstorming is a large or small group activity which encourages children to focus on a topic and contribute to the free flow of ideas. The teacher may begin by posing a question or a problem, or by introducing a topic. Students then express possible answers, relevant words and ideas. Contributions are accepted without criticism or judgement. Initially, some students may be reluctant to speak out in a group setting but brainstorming is an open sharing activity which encourages all children to participate. By expressing ideas and listening to what others say, students adjust their previous knowledge or understanding, accommodate new information and increase their levels of awareness. What is Peer Partner Learning? Peer partner learning is a collaborative experience in which students learn from and with each other for individual purposes. Students reflect upon previously taught material by helping peers to learn and, at the same time, develop and hone their social skills. What is Discussion ? A discussion is an oral exploration of a topic, object, concept or experience. All learners need frequent opportunities to generate and share their questions and ideas in small and whole class settings. Teachers who encourage and accept students questions and comments without judgement and clarify understandings by paraphrasing difficult terms stimulate the exchange of ideas. What is Laboratory Groups? What is Think, Pair, Share? Think-Pair-Share is a strategy designed to provide students with food for thought on a given topics enabling them to formulate individual ideas and share these ideas with another student. It is a learning strategy developed by Lyman and associates to encourage student classroom participation. Rather than using a basic recitation method in which a teacher poses a question and one student offers.