Inclusion1 essays

Inclusion1 essays According to the Curry School of Education, approximately 80% of students with learning disabilities receive the majority of their instruction in the general classroom (Inclusion. http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/curry/dept/cise/ose.html. 10 Oct. 1999). That number is expected to rise as teachers and parents become aware of the benefits of inclusion. Because there are so many disabled students in regular schools, it is important to look at whether or not mainstreaming is necessary for their education. For parents, having their disabled children mainstreamed into regular education can be a difficult choice. Although disabled childrens education can be more challenging in regular schools, the benefits of inclusion include enhanced self-esteem, development of social skills, and exposure to regular curriculum. Many people believe mainstreaming only helps disabled children, but there are many challenges that hurt their education rather than help. Both faculty and students can be cruel to disabled students. Because they are not used to interacting with disabled children, faculty and students may be uncomfortable with the situation and be insensitive to the disabled children. By ignoring the disabled children or treating them badly, the children will lose self-esteem and may disrupt the class in order to show their unhappiness. Some teachers are not familiar with teaching disabled children, so the education is lacking for the children. Teachers may continue to teach their classes at an accelerated level, forgetting about the slower students. The students will then fall behind and get frustrated with the situation. All these factors hurt disabled childrens education and will hurt their chances at succeeding in life. Being in a regular school can help disabled children feel better about themselves and their accomplishments. When disabled children complete a more challenging task, they may ...

The History of Modern-Day Myanmar (Burma)

The History of Modern-Day Myanmar (Burma) Burma is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia, which officially has been named the Union of Myanmar since 1989. This name-change is sometimes seen as part of an attempt by the ruling military junta to stamp out the populist, colloquial form of the Burmese language, and promote the literary form. Geographically situated along the Bay of Bengal and bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Thailand and Laos, Burma has a long history of odd decisions and peculiar struggles for power. Strangely, the military government of Burma suddenly moved the national capital from Yangon to the new city of Naypyidaw in 2005, on the advice of an astrologer. From Prehistoric Nomads to Imperial Burma Like many  East  and Central Asian  countries, archeological evidence suggests that humanoids have wandered Burma from as long as 75,000 years ago, with the first record of homo sapien foot traffic in the area dating back to 11,000 B.C. By 1500, the Bronze Age had struck the peoples of the region as they began producing bronze tools and growing rice, and by 500 they began working with iron as well.   The first city-states formed around 200 B.C.by the Pyu people - who could be attributed as the lands first true inhabitants. Trade with India brought with it cultural and political norms that would later influence Burmese culture, namely through the spread of Buddhism. However, it wouldnt be until the 9th century A.D. that internal war for territory forced the Burmese to organize into one central government. In the mid-to-late 10th century, the Bamar settled a new central city of Bagan, collecting many of the rival  city-states and independent nomads as allies, finally unifying in the late 1950s as the Pagan Kingdom. Here, the Burmese language and culture were allowed to dominate the Pyu and Pali norms that came before them. Mongol Invasion, Civil Unrest and Reunification Although the leaders of the Pagan Kingdom led Burma to great economic and spiritual prosperity - erecting over 10,000 Buddhist temples across the country - their relatively long reign came crashing to an end after repeated attempts by the Mongol armies to overthrow and claim their capital city from 1277 to 1301. For over 200 years, Burma fell into political chaos without a city-state to lead its people. From there, the country fractured into two kingdoms: the coastline empire of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom and the northern Ava Kingdom, who was eventually overrun by the Confederation of Shan States from 1527 to 1555. Still, despite these internal conflicts, Burmese culture greatly expanded during this time. Thanks to the shared cultures of all three groups, scholars and artisans of each kingdom created great works of literature and art that still live on to this day.   Colonialism and British Burma Although the Burmese were able to reunify under the Taungoo for much of the 17th century, their empire was short lived. The First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824 to 1826 suffered Burma a massive defeat, losing Manipur, Assam, Tenasserim and Arakan to British forces. Again, 30 years later, the British returned to take Lower Burma as a result of the Second Anglo-Burmese War. Finally, in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885, the British annexed the rest of Burma. Under British control, the rulers of British Burma sought to keep their influence and culture present despite their overlords. Still, the British governance saw a destruction of social, economic, administrative and cultural norms in Burma and a new era of civil unease. This continued up until the end of World War II when the Panglong Agreement forced other ethnic leaders to guarantee Myanmar independence as a unified state. The committee who signed the agreement quickly assembled a team and formed a doctrine to govern their newly unified nation. However, it wasnt quite the government the original founders were hoping for that actually came to be. Independence and Today The Union of Burma officially became an independent republic on January 4, 1948, with U Nu as its first Prime Minister and Shwe Thaik its president. Multi-party elections were held in 1951, 52, 56, and 1960 with the people electing a bicameral parliament as well as their president and prime minister. All seemed well for the newly modernized nation - until unrest shook the nation yet again. Early in the morning on March 2, 1962, General Ne Win used a military coup dà ©tat to take Burma. Since that day, Burma has been under a military governance for most of its modern history. This militarized government sought to streamline everything from business to media and production to form a hybrid nation built on socialism and nationalism. However, 1990 saw the first free elections in 30 years, allowing the people to vote for their State Peace and Development Council members, a system which remained in place until 2011  when a representative democracy was instated throughout the country. The military-controlled days of government were over, it seemed, for the people of Myanmar.   In 2015, the citizens of the country held their first general elections with the National League for Democracy taking the majority in both national parliament chambers and placing  Ktin Kyaw as the first elected non-military president since the coup of 62. A prime minister-type role, called the State Counsellor, was established in 2016 and Aung San Suu Kyi took the role.

Human Resource Plan in Zeagol Company Ltd Research Paper

Human Resource Plan in Zeagol Company Ltd - Research Paper Example Zeagol Company Ltd was established in 1986 and has been operating in the pharmaceuticals industry since then. This company produces and markets drugs, medicinal chemicals, and other pharmaceutical products to laboratories in the state of California. This company has a comprehensive compensation and benefits package that is aimed at retaining and compensating, its five hundred employee base, which has been responsible for its profitability and growth. This paper designs a project charter to give a face-lift to this compensation and benefits package. Project Charter to Revamp the Compensation and Benefits Package This charter is created to formally authorize a project to develop and implement an upgrade to the existing compensation and benefits package. Included in this charter is a scope statement; a communication plan; and a work breakdown structure. The scope of the Project 1. Background In the past two years this company boasted of having an employee base of seven hundred laborers. This indicates that the number of employees has decreased by nearly twenty-eight percent. One major reason for this decreased number is last year’s mass layoff that was carried out with an aim of doing away with the irrelevant and needles job positions. In this layoff, several departments were all also merged with an aim of reducing costs. Unfortunately, this layoff plan has not worked to the advantage of this company, since two years down the line this company’s profits have been declining ever since this mass layoff was carried out. Somehow this layoff plan affected the employees psychologically since the remaining ones either lost the morale to work or resigned for greener pastures. This resignation trend has increased since the beginning of this year, with some of the employees opting to leave unceremoniously without any formal notification. An attempt was made to solve this issue by changing the human resource manager, but this is not enough. It is important to t his company the greener pasture that will attract the best employees in the market, and this can only be done through major changes in the compensation and benefits packages. Currently, this company’s compensation and benefits package are structured as below, The employee’s benefits include the pension and retirement plans, life and health insurance packages, and the federally required unemployment and workers compensations. The employee compensation covers the wage and salary program and structure for the different job categories and levels. This company’s paying method has been conducted in line with the base pay method where employees are compensated depending on their role in the organization (Mathias & Jackson, 2010, p. 27).  Ã‚  

An Analytical Remuneration of Writing Skills Personal Statement - 5

An Analytical Remuneration of Writing Skills - Personal Statement Example Initially, it was an intimidating experience filled with apprehensions and anxieties. However, the encouragement provided by a highly competent and qualified instructor prodded me to endeavor to enhance my writing skills. Through observing grammatical rules and by indicating weaknesses in structure and form, I had begun to improve in terms of gaining confidence in writing and in applying the rules for effective writing. In this regard, it is my personal conviction that I am given the privilege to pass the UWSK course as a prelude to more gratifying writing experiences in the future. The UWSK accorded me with the opportunity to develop diverse skills pertinent to writing. One of the major skills learned was an observance of essay structures which encompasses important rules in grammar, including observance of correct spelling and punctuation marks. My initial essay (Out of Class Essay #1) on Illegal Immigration observed appropriate structure by presenting an introduction (which could actually be fairly long), a body (with arguments presenting claims and reasons) and an appropriate conclusion. I took ample time to clearly evaluate correct spelling and phrasing with the use of the required punctuation marks. I realize that there is still a tendency for me to lengthen my discussion of a particular topic creating the tendency to divert into another topic. Of course, one cannot be expected to come up with a perfect essay in a few tries. Another skill that has been developed through the UWSK course is the skill of introspection – the ability to contemplate on one’s thoughts and feelings prior to writing. As indicated in the standard instructions prior to any writing experience, one must brainstorm to gather thoughts, information, details of what I want to write, and how I plan to write these ideas in a structure which would assist the reader in understanding the message that I want to relay.

Malaysian Economy Essay Example for Free

Malaysian Economy Essay The Malaysian economy is expected to strengthen further and projected to grow at a faster rate of 4.5% to 5.5% in 2013 supported by improving exports and strong domestic demand. In the Economic Report 2012/2013 released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) last Friday, it said the assumption was based on the global growth that will pick up especially during the second-half of 2013 (2H13). It said that it was also premised upon the expectation of an improvement in the resolution of a debt crisis in the euro-area and stronger growth in the economies of Malaysia’s major trading partners. The Economic Report 2012/2013 was released in conjunction with the national Budget 2013 that was presented by the prime minister last Friday. It said that given that the domestic economy is expected to strengthen further in 2013; inflation is estimated to increase moderately mitigated by further capacity expansion in the economy. On the supply side, growth in 2013 is expected to be broad-based supported by expansion in all sectors of the economy. Of significance, the external trade-related industries are envisaged to benefit from stronger global growth, particularly during the 2H13. It said that the services and manufacturing sectors are expected to contribute 4.2 percentage points to the gross domestic product growth. MoF said that the prospects in the services sector are expected to remain upbeat in 2013, with the accelerated implementation with major initiatives under the National Key Result Areas and continued investment in the seven services subsectors under the National Key Economic Areas. It said that these initiatives are expected to drive the wholesale and retail trade, finance and insurance, and communication subsectors, which are expected to grow 6.8%, 5.2% and 8.2% (2012 :5.7%; 4.2%; 9.3%) respectively. On the value-added of the manufacturing sector, MoF said that it is expected to grow 4.9%, (2012 :4.2%) with export oriented industries expected to  benefit from the higher growth of global trade, while domestic oriented industries expand in line with better consumer sentiment and business confidence. MoF said that the electrical and electronic (EE) subsector is expected to grow further, driven by higher demand for electronic equipment and parts as well as semiconductors in line with recovery in advanced economies. On the agricultural sector, MoF said that it is expected to grow 2.4% (2012:0.6%) following the recovery in the output of plantation commodities. MoF said that the production of crude palm oil is envisaged to rebound 2.5% to 18.9 million tonnes (2012: -2.5%; 18.4 million tonnes) on account of expanded matured areas to 4.44 million hectares (2012: 4.38 million hectares). On the mining sector, the report said that it is expected to expand 2.7% (2012: 1.5%) on account of higher production of crude oil and natural gas. â€Å"Production of crude oil is projected to increase 3.6% to 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) (2012: 1.6%; 579,000 bpd) due to higher regional demand,† said MoF. It added that several new oil fields are expected to start production in 2013, contributing to higher production of crude oil. On the construction sector, MoF said that it is envisaged to expand strongly at 11.2% (2012: 15.5%) with all the subsectors registering steady growth. On the domestic demand, MoF said that it is expected to grow at 5.6% (2012: 9.4%) and will remain the main driver of growth in 2013 underpinned by strong private sector expenditure. The report added that private consumption is projected to expand 5.7% (2012: 7%) on account of higher disposable income arising from better employment outlook, firm commodity prices and the wealth effect from the stable performance on the stock market following strong domestic economic activities. On private investment, Malaysia is expected to post a strong growth of 13.3% in 2013 (2012: 11.7%) attributed to the ongoing implementation of the Economic Transformation Programme projects. MoF said that public investment will continue to support growth and is expected to expand 4.2% in 2013 (2012: 15.9%) driven by higher capital outlays by the non-financial public enterprises (NFPE’s) and development expenditure by the federal government. It said that capital of the NFPEs will focus on the upstream oil and gas, transport, communication and utility industries. It added that in line with the expansion in domestic economic activities, national income in current prices is expected to increase 7.8% in 2013. The report also said that gross national savings is expected to expand strongly by 11.1%, with the private sector accounting 72.3% of total savings. On the balance of payments, MoF said that it is projected to remain favourable with current account continuing to record a higher surplus of RM71.9 billion or 7.3% of the gross national income. It said that the surplus in the goods account is projected to expand RM126.5 billion. â€Å"In 2013, exports are estimated to grow 3.9% (2012: 2.4%) supported by higher commodity exports and improving global EE demand. The MoF said that inline with increased domestic activity as as to meet increased inputs for the manufacturing sector, imports are projected to grow at a faster rate of 5.2% (2012: 6.5%). On the services account, the report said that it is expected to improve with a lower deficit of RM8.2 billion driven by large surplus in the travel account, following expectations higher tourist arrivals. MoF said that other components in the services account are expected to remain a deficit.

Civil Rights and African American Baseball Players

Civil Rights and African American Baseball Players How African Americans in Baseball Affected the Civil Rights Movement. 8th hour Segregation was the main core of what prevented African Americans from pursuing their dreams of being baseball players, up until a few very recognizable players influenced others to step in and help win freedom for playing baseball. All American baseball teams were consisting of mainly whites but some teams allowed African Americans into their teams up until 1890 when the National Association of Baseball rejected blacks from playing. This caused an uproar in the black community and lead to the creations of all black teams that would travel and play other all black teams and sometimes an all white team, like in 1888 when the Cuban Giants defeated the all white New Yorks 4 games of of a five game series. After many years of overwhelming segregation in the south many blacks moved up into the North where they sought the opportunity of creating their own league. In 1920, Rube Foster the owner of the Chicago American Giants brought other midwest teams together and created the first all bla ck league called the Negro Leagues.( Feature African-American Baseball. PBS. PBS, 2003. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.) The Negro Leagues had a very significant impact in the the entrance of blacks into the majors. After the first all black team was organized and the league was set up this opened up an opportunity for players to really show what they got. Before teams knew it they were winning championships. The first all African American league was starting to piece together. And with all this going on, one player had a goal set and that was to be the first black player in a white league. And that player is Jackie Robinson. In 1945 Jackie was the first black player to sign a formal contract with a white team. He took a big step into what led to the allowance of any black player to be in the majors. With the civil rights movement going on he endured hardships that no person could imagine, according to Duke Snider, He (Jackie Robinson) knew that the future of blacks in baseball depended on it. The pressure was enormous, overwhelming, and unbearable at times. I dont know how he held up. I know I never c ould have. By the end of his rookie career as a Dodger he was named rookie of the year, and as time went on all of his success of breaking the color barrier and becoming the first African American to get into the majors and accomplish many records. Even though Jackie is not around to see how the hardships he faced have made life on people today more easy, he is still remembered as the player who paved a path for our nation. The impact of not only Robinson but also Doby and Campy gave inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr. About a week before King died he stated, Youll never know how easy you and Jackie and Doby and Campy made it for me to do my job by what you did on the baseball field. Baseball was integrated before the army, before schools, and before many other things. It all happened without Jackie but someone had to be the first to step up and take a chance, and that was just what he did. (Bio.com. AE Networks Television, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.†) A few years before World War II, Max Manning had been pitching for the Newark Eagles as a phenomenal side armer. He never thought there would be a chance for him to go and become a pitcher on a white team. His thoughts change for a while when he was approached by an unfamiliar face, the coach of the Detroit Tigers. They were offering a tryout spot for pitching, but that changed when the rest of the team found out he was black. His Negro leagues career was interrupted as he was called into service during World War II. He then returned to pitch the final Negro Leagues World series where his team won. With all this going on Max never gave up and never really cared about what people cared about his color, he only cared about playing ball. After his baseball life was over he went back to school and decided to become a sixth grade teacher up until his death in in June of 2003. Feature African-American Baseball. PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.) Before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, ball players in Oklahoma had been playing in sandlot leagues and excelling in the sport. Willie Wells played in the sandlot â€Å"blackball† leagues all the way through his teen years in highschool as a shortstop. When he finally came up to the Negro leagues he became the best shortstop in the league. In 1997 he joined the Baseball hall of Fame. Along with Willie there were many other black players that had showed they were worthy of being in Baseballs Hall of Fame. In all there are about 18 players from the Negro Leagues in the Hall of Fame, and most had not been recognized till the 80s, all the way up to about 2002. The reason it took so long is because nobody really cared about blacks in baseball because they â€Å"never compared† to whites. After many years of segregation many white people started to gain respect for him, As Mickey Mantle said after one of the games BASEBALL, AFRICAN AMERICAN. BASEBALL, AFRICAN AMERICAN. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2014 : After the game, Jackie Robinson came into our clubhouse and shook my hand. He said, Youre a helluva ballplayer and youve got a great future. I thought that was a classy gesture, one I wasnt then capable of making. I was a bad loser. What meant even more was what Jackie told the press, Mantle beat us. He was the difference between the two teams. They didnt miss DiMaggio . I have to admit, I became a Jackie Robinson fan on the spot. And when I think of that world Series, his gesture is what comes to mind. Here was a player who had without doubt suffered more abuse and more taunts and more hatred than any player in the history of the game. And he had made a special effort to compliment and encourage a young white kid from Oklahoma.(Jackie Robinson Quotes. Jackie Robinson Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.) As time progressed more and more people started to show respect for Jackie and others that helped integrate baseball and this gave a boost too other players, according to a statement by Hank Aaron In baseball, there is something electrifying about the big leagues. I had read so much about (Stan) Musial,(Ted) Williams and (Jackie) Robinson. I had put those guys on a pedestal. They were something special. I really thought they put their pants on different, rather than one leg at a time.(Hank Aaron Quotes. Hank Aaron Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.) Near the end of World War II the attendance at Negro leagues took a major decline as the best players were called up into interleague which is the step right below major. With that happening the Negro leagues took a dip and fell apart. This lead to integration of blacks into baseball. What caused this greater decline was the focus of the fans only on the major players like Robinson and Doby. To gain more support teams called female players to stand at the gates just to attract more fans but in the end the players just kept on going to white teams. (Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.) When people think about integration of baseball, they think Jackie Robinson, but thats not all of it. It took a whole community, a whole league just to earn a chance on an all white team. This was a team effort, the biggest step in baseball history started with one big contract to Jackie and the rest took off. Baseball was never the same, and today it isnt a struggle. Without this happening, today baseball probably wouldnt be what it is.

Public Company and Patagonia

As resources and commodity's decrease, it is harder and harder to make a difference in the world today. Patagonia continues to work hard to do their part with the resources that are available. Patagonia is a privately held outdoor clothing company based out of Ventura, California that generates yearly sales of approximately $540 million. Patagonia has developed outdoor apparel that is marketed towards outdoor sports, travel and every day wear. The company integrates Its core values into every product that it produces. They are known for their innovative designs, and environmental responsibility.Its high integrity and commitment to the environment has placed Patagonia on the Deciphers Institute's â€Å"WorldS Most Ethical Companies† list for SIX consecutive years since the list was first developed In 2007 (Unknown, WOMEN Honorees, 2012). This case analysis will examine the history of Patagonia, and Its business philosophy. Patagonians business model will be evaluated as well as the captured cost and value of the company. Next, we will examine Patagonians environmental position and its sustainability. The product lifestyle initiative will be analyzed and how well it worked for the company.Patagonians financial statements are important to determine the success of the company's financial goals. Lastly, I will share some lessons that I learned from Patagonia and this case study. History Patagonia was started from one entrepreneur's passion. Hypochondriac, founder of Patagonia, developed a passion for rock climbing. In 1953 his passions brought him west to the San Fernando Valley in California, where he became an expert at climbing. He knew that he couldn't explore his passion of climbing the way he wanted to because of limited appropriate climbing gear available.The only available climbing ear were pitons, which are metal spikes that were driven Into cracks or seams In the rocks. Pitons are left In the rock, meaning that a long climb could require hundreds of these tools. After frustration, and financial hardship, Schoolyard became Inspired after meeting a Swiss climber that had crafted his own set of iron pitons. He turned pitons that were stronger than what was currently on the market. Word of Cinnabar's invention spread, and he began selling his pitons out of the back of his car for $1. 50 each.Although the hobby was enough to support him, he often lived on less than a dollar day. Drifting along the California coast, climbing in Yosemite, and surfing in Baja, Cinchonas was happy with his lifestyle. By 1966 Cinchonas decided to partner with Tom and Doreen Frost to create Cinchonas Equipment. They quickly became the largest supplier in the United States. For nearly a decade Cinchonas and Frost made improvements on nearly every climbing tool. Tom and Doreen worked with Cinchonas â€Å"Just to pay the bills†. In 1972 Cinchonas Equipment added an outdoor apparel line called â€Å"Patagonia†.Patagonia grew very quickly. Cinch onas and his wife Melinda knew they wanted to sell items that would have a minimal impact on he environment. So they made many decisions in their business approach that would help the environment such as using organic cotton to make t-shirts. Soon after the establishment of Patagonia, it became its own company, no longer under the ownership of Cinchonas equipment. However, like many start-up companies, Patagonia tried to expand too quickly. Growing its sales from $20 million to $100 million as well as expanding its services into Japan and Europe.This wide-scale expansion placed Patagonia into a dire financial situation. The recession that took place in the ass's forced the company to lay off about 20% of its staff. Patagonia continued to grow despite some of the financial troubles that they faced (Reinhardt, Cascade's, & Hymn, 2010). Cinchonas did not allow the recession or the financial troubles of the company to stop his vision for Patagonia. Instead, he chose to go in a more sust ainable direction. The company switched to the more expensive organic cotton in 1996, a risky business move considering it increased the firm's supply costs.However, no other company was producing clothes with organic cotton. He invested in other sustainable materials and decided to make products more durable. This session a risky move because companies often rely on consumers coming back to get replacement products. Plausibly, the more durable the product, the less customers will need to purchase for replacement. However, the exact opposite occurred: consumers were more willing to do business with Patagonia due to its environmental consciousness and the fact that they could trust Patagonians products to last a long time.Connoisseurship's on Business Cinchonas used Patagonia as an experiment to â€Å"challenge conventional wisdom and present a new style of responsible business† (McAllen, 2011). He wanted to stay way from the traditional way of doing business, and focused his efforts on â€Å"doing the right thing†, rather than on profits. Doing the right thing for Cinchonas meant ensuring that every decision that was made regarding the business, was environmentally sound and responsible. One decision that he made was to no longer use anti-odor technology because it was not safe for the environment.The competition Patagonians products were comparable to those of their competitors. Other stores in the industry such as North Face, Marmot Mountain, and Mountain Hardware, all shared the same interest of selling outdoor apparel. However, because of quality, environmental impact, and innovation, Patagonia is able to charge more for their and some of the top outdoor sportswear companies in the industry during 2009. Patagonians gross profit margin for 2010 was 52. 6%. Whereas the average gross profit margin of the other five companies (Columbia Sportswear, V. F.Corporation, Nikkei, and Timberland) was $44. 95%. Not to mention Patagonians 12- month Net Inc ome Growth for 2010 was 42. 5%, which was substantially higher than the average net income growth of its competitors at 26. 525% (Reinhardt, Cascade's, & Hymn, 2010, p. 12). This goes to show that despite the company's more expensive product, consumers were willing to pay more for higher quality, and items that were environmentally safe. Marketing isn't that important Patagonia used a much different marketing approach than its competitors, using less than 1% of its sales towards marketing and advertising.They have strengthened their brand based upon their environmental commitment, and â€Å"profit sharing with environmental causes† (Alienist & Door-Near, 2012). As social media becomes more popular, and ads are now a part of what one sees when scrolling down their timeline, any companies get free advertising. The company took advantage of this and used it as an outlet to communicate to consumers and the public. Although it would have given them possibly some advantage, Patagon ia did not use its environmental stance as part of their marketing tool.However they educated the public on the impact that their company had on the environment. Doing so attracted more consumers. Patagonia uses its website not Just for selling outdoor apparel but also as an educational tool about the environment, and the products that the company uses in its production. The type of information that Patagonia put on their website shows that the company has taken their business very serious and that they are aware of their environmental responsibility. They use the website not Just to sell the items, but to showcase that they items that are produced show corporate responsibility.In addition to the information on their website, Patagonia at times did put out ads for their company. The advertisements were usually very short and included educational messages. They believe that it is more important to show people useful information that will help enhance their lives. In a recent intervie w Patagonia UP Joy Howard stated that their position is to â€Å"solve problems in the world,† and that advertising is the â€Å"dead last thing† to the company (McAllen, 2011). This goes to show that the company is more focused on the environmental sustainability than on profitability.Educating consumers about what they are buying and how it affects the environment, sells the product itself. Exhibit Use of organically grown cotton Patagonians concern for the environment also caused them to decide to use organic cotton in their clothing. They wanted to continue to follow their mission tenement of â€Å"Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis† (Unknown, Company Info, n. D. ). Cotton is one of the world's most insect dependent crops, therefore causing a risk to the environment because of the pesticides that are used.In 1996 Patagonia switched apparel to 100% organic cotton produ cts. They already had clothing that was made with conventional cotton, and made up about 20% of the company's sales, but switching to organic cotton was a risk that they were willing to take. Patagonia was not the first company to use organic cotton. The decision to clothing companies decided to cancel their organic cotton line, so it was perfect timing for Patagonia to drop their line. Although initially Patagonia found success in introducing its organic cotton products, they also faced some challenges.Because of the items and styles that were unavailable for production using organic cotton and because some of the suppliers refused to switch to organic cotton citing â€Å"lack of supplier alternatives and skepticism about the market potential†, Patagonia had to decrease its product line in order to stay in line with the 100% organic cotton initiative that they made. Due to the increased price for organic cotton, the company's costs increased. Product costs increased 25-30% w ith the use of the organic cotton. Organic cotton had a drastic decline in production, therefore costs were higher than normal.In addition, Patagonia struggled to maintain the quality of its product, once they switched. With cotton products making up more than 20% of the company's sales (Reinhardt, Cascade's, & Hymn, 2010), they were forced to get it right, and to make their product desirable enough to sell. Business Model: Does it really work? A business model is a model that is designed for the successful operation of the equines, identifying customer base, revenue sources, products and details of financing. Patagonia seems to have a business model that has helped the company be very successful and remain relevant amongst its customers and competitors.They have stayed true to their core values which is to provide quality, integrity, and environmentalism. Since the start- up of Patagonia, they have never operated under conventionalism, and has continued to stand out from every othe r outdoor apparel chain. Focusing more on environmental sustainability and social responsibility rather Han profits, Patagonia has become the worldwide leader of environmentally responsible business. They have continued to remain innovative in their approach to doing business, as well as in the product development and marketing.Creating and Capturing Value Achieving Growth, being Profitable, and minimizing ecological expenses are somewhat contradictory goals but somehow Patagonia has been very successful at achieving these goals. Their business model is based on making minimum environmental impact but creating products that have create value, without compromising the company's capital. In order to stand apart from competition, Patagonia has effectively positioned itself as a supplier of superior quality products and has continued to commit itself to minimize its impact on the environment, once again staying true to its core values, and mission statement.On the supply side of the bus iness the company uses activities and relationships along the value chain that provide the finished goods and create value. The company has been able to create value by creating integrity in its product and product's performance. The company shows confidence in the product that they create, by offering warranties and as well s the promise to provide replacement products when items become too worn. They also creates value by using only quality materials such as organic cotton when manufacturing its products.They have also created value by influencing the customer's experience. Patagonians uses catalogs that don't focus so much on selling their product as other companies do, but the catalogs are informational in nature regarding the environment (Wang, 2010). Patagonia also only works with suppliers responsibility, therefore never compromising the value of the company or its products. Patagonia has also created a social and psychological factor through their advertising, educational me ssages, donations, and campaigns.This has helped the company capture value because the company differentiated themselves from its competitors and other apparel companies, and it gave consumers the willingness to purchase a product with quality despite the fact that their apparel was more expensive than its competitors. The fact that Patagonia cares about the environment, and customers feel that they can trust their product, consumers are willing to pay more for Patagonians products.Sustainable future Patagonians business model is not one that is begging for consumers to come in a arches their product on an impulse. In fact their model is designed to do the exact opposite. In 2004 Hypochondriac, wrote in a black Friday ad â€Å"Don't buy this shirt, unless you need it† (Exhibit 1). This statement was not made because Cinchonas doesn't want his items to sell, or doesn't want the business, he made the statement because he wants his consumers to make responsible decisions that wi ll have a positive effect on the environment.He helps consumers make those smarter decisions by producing items that last longer and that do not need to be replaced as often. Patagonians Environmental Position Patagonians business model supports environmental position in that the company makes a deliberate attempt to focus more on the products that they sell rather than on the profits that they make. They do so by launching such initiatives as their Product Lifestyle Initiative where they encourage consumers to reduce, repair, reuse, and recycle their Patagonia purchased products.This particular initiative does not focus on profit, it actually costs the company more money, however, they choose to stay focused on acting environmentally responsible, and not causing unnecessary harm to the environment. For the most part, Patagonia has used the same business model since it opens its doors in 1972. Their focus has always been the same, â€Å"inspire and implement solutions to the enviro nmental crisis† (Unknown, Environmental and Social Responsibility, n. D. Over the last 40 years, Patagonia has become a leader in the industry have implemented many environmental and social initiatives such as; using only organic cotton in its cotton products since 1996; redefining corporate transparency through its Footprint Chronicle† website – documenting what is working in the supply chain, what's not, and steps the company is doing to address TTS challenges; launching its Common Threads Partnership, which invites customers to take mutual responsibility for the entire life cycle of the company's products through the 5 Or's: reduce, repair, reuse, recycle and remained; becoming the first brand member of the [email  protected] system; being one of the first California companies to switch to wind energy upon deregulation and adding on-site solar energy systems; being the first company in California to incorporate as a benefit corporation launching $20 Million & Change, a fund to help like-minded responsible start-up companies; and Becoming one of he first U. S. Outdoor apparel companies to introduce Fair Trade Certified†* garments (for fall 2014). (Elks, 2013) resources to help the environment and still maintain its integrity as well as follow its mission statement. They have continued to remain as the leading outdoor apparel company with more than $600 million revenue in 2013. Patagonia has not slowed down.Their business model has worked for them over the last 40 years. As times continue to change and other retailers pick up on Patagonians business practices, such as being more environmentally conscience, the use of organically grown cotton, he product differentiation threatens the sustainability of Patagonians business model. Other retailers offering a similar product as Patagonia, affects their gross profit margin, therefore causing Patagonia to continue evolve and spend more money to create product differentiation within their o rganization. Patagonians business model does place some pressure on their environmental stance and could cause some conflict in providing high quality products.Although consumers are willing to purchase products from Patagonia at a high price, with initiatives such as the Product Life Cycle, consumers are purchasing less, and Patagonia will overall have more overhead, due the repairs that they are offering their consumers. If consumers aren't buying as often, it will be difficult for Patagonia to continue to purchase the high quality materials that they use to produce their garments. Product Lifestyle Initiative: â€Å"Reduce, Repair, Reuse, and Recycle† The Product Lifestyle Initiative was a plan by Patagonia to help customers to buy only what they really needed, and encourage them to reduce their consumption.Patagonia would promise to provide their customers with high quality garments, and roved a guarantee that would allow customers to have their items repaired if anything ever happened to them as many times as needed. Once the products are no longer wanted, the customers are asked to â€Å"facilitate its reuse† (Reinhardt, Cascade's, & Hymn, 2010). The store planned on doing this by creating an online swap meet. Once all options were exhausted and there is no longer use for the product, customers are asked to recycle their items with Patagonia. In planning for this initiative to take off, the executives acknowledged many obstacles that would hinder the success of the initiative.Analysis of the Initiative As Patagonia stays focused on doing their part to not cause unnecessary harm to the environment and plans to reach and maintain 10% annual growth in sales other a five year timeshare, starting in 2010, their Product Lifestyle initiative would likely hinder the type of above average growth that they are seeking. The initiative is expected to cost $60,000 over the course of the first year of implementation (Reinhardt, Cascade's, & Hymn, 2010). Although that amount is very small compared to the amount of profit the company makes, sales would drop and cost of labor would increase. Patagonia is one of the only companies that offers to fix damaged items for customers. Through the Product Lifestyle Initiative, they will repair products from other brands, and â€Å"encourage customers to limit their consumption to only essential products,† (Reinhardt, Cascade's, & Hymn, 2010, p. 8).The Product Lifestyle Initiative however, it seems as though it will cost more to implement and maintain the initiative, than revenue that will be generated from the initiative. The initiative will cause a higher rate of product returns, and new team members will need to be hired in order to create a repair department or use a third-party vendor. In 2010 the company was insignificantly staffed to handle the existing returns. In order to accommodate the increase of returns, the stores were told to provide replacement products in order to reduce wait times. Furthermore, in order to increase â€Å"the percentage of recyclable products from 65% of products in June 2010 to 90% in spring 2011† investment in research and development would have to increase (Reinhardt, Cascade's, & Hymn, 2010).All of the things that are involved in this portion of the initiative cost more money for the company, but it does not mean that there would be more profit. The initiative does not seem to generate any venue. Although Patagonia focuses more on the environmental footprint than on profits, realistically, in order for them to stay in business and continue to grow at a steady rate, it is not beneficial for them to implement initiative that cost a more than they will be able to bring in. The replacement portion of the initiative could increase revenue for the company. Since Patagonia is willing to allow customers to bring in garments purchased from other retailers for repair, they could charge those customers a small fee.Customers who pur chased their products directly from Patagonia and are able to provide a except or some proof of purchase, could get their products repaired for free. For customers who own Patagonia products, but bought them from other sources such as used clothing stores, could still bring in their garments for repair, but at a small fee. The initiative would have no affect on the way that customers purchase products in the store nor customer behavior, but it could potentially have a negative effect on the business if implemented. Although implementing the initiative will promote responsible behavior for customers and the company, it may do more harm than good to gross profit margin.If the company is serious about continuing to grow the company 10% over the five year time frame, they would want to think about how they can implement initiatives that not only help maintain their environmental position, but also that increase their profit. Has Patagonia been successful in achieving its goal of profit? Although Patagonia spends most of its efforts focusing on its environmental responsibility, in order to remain in business and profitable they must also set financial goals. While focusing on their environmental responsibility, they set a goal to increase sales by 10% annually. Patagonia has been successful at achieving this goal. For 2011 fiscal year, Patagonia reported annual sales of $417 million.During the 2012 fiscal year Patagonia recorded its best year financially. They increased their sells by 30% earning $543 million (Shannon, 2013). As of 2012 Patagonia has doubled its revenue and tripled its profits since 2008 (Martin, 2012). They continue to perform financially although not at a consistent rate. However they have come very close to their sales goals each year and some years far exceeding that goal. Patagonia has done many things to continue to remain competitive in the outdoors apparel industry. In 2010 Patagonia Cost of goods sold and the company's sales have not been truly consistent, but they remain successful in their efforts.Although Patagonia has a history of doing well financially, Yves Chicagoan admitted in 2012 that he did not expect the company to continue to grow at the same rate as other retailers are catching on and trying to adopt some of their philosophy. Richard Jeff, a retail and apparel expert, says that Patagonia â€Å"is doing things incrementally better† (Martin, 2012). Which means that the competition is lurking closely behind. As Meany's catch on to their philosophy, Patagonia will need to be more innovative in its approach in order to continue to grow at a steady rate. What if Patagonia were publicly traded? Some of the most successful organizations are publicly traded. Companies that are publicly traded allow the market to determine the value of the company through daily stock market trading (Unknown, Public Company, 2014).Publicly traded companies have less control over the organization structure and must answer to shareholders' on certain decisions. They also give less control to the owner and company founders. Patagonia has an organization structure that is different than any other organization out there. The structure of the organization allows the company to focus on environmental awareness as opposed to profits as most companies. If Patagonia were publicly traded, the dynamic of the organization would be completely different. Being a private company, Patagonia is not required to report to stockholders or gain their approval in any way. This is one of the biggest advantages for Patagonia and their business structure.If Patagonia were publicly traded they would have to change the organization Truckee to focus more on the profit, as shareholder's would have an interest in the company, and would want to ensure that they are able to profit from any decisions that are made regarding the organization. The decision to use only organically grown cotton may not have been approved had Patagonia bee n publicly traded, because to shareholder's they could see it as a potential risk. They are able to take on greater risk because there is no one to tell them that they can't. As a publicly traded company Patagonia and its founder would have much less control over the business structure, ND every decision would be about how to gain profit. Publicly traded companies have many pressures on them including how quickly the company is expected to grow. The business model would not focus on being responsible.Not to mention as a private company, Patagonia is not required to make their financial information public, as publicly traded companies are. With sales growth reaching an average of 6% each year, and the company closely reaching their sales growth goal of 10% the current strategy works very well for Patagonia. The decision to utilize organic grown cotton in its garments, has been very successful. Patagonia has been innovative and works diligently to stay ahead in sales as well as it env ironmental operations. Being a private company has allowed Patagonians decision-makers to not only focus on what they want, but also on what is best for the company.Patagonians market strategy, though exceedingly bold, is sustainable in the sense that eccentric ideas have become their norm. In Cinnabar's book Let My People Go Surfing, he said, â€Å"it's okay to be eccentric, as long as you are The sustainability of Patagonia also falls in line with the sustainability of the planet. There are many companies that can learn from Patagonians business model forever in order to remain successful it would be difficult for some of the top retailers to remain competitive in the market should they change and adopt Patagonians practices. Patagonia has built their business and brand around a philosophy instead of around products.Their business strategy has driven up sales to 6% and continues to offer high-quality premier garments. Patagonians business model being much different than its compe titors, leaves room for continued growth and innovative ideas. Would other firms choose to follow Patagonians environmental practice? Although Patagonia has been successful in its business approach and environmental practice, it would be difficult for already established firms to successfully fully take on Patagonians environmental practices. All things being equal, if Nikkei and Patagonia were to share their practices, they would reach a Nash equilibrium. Lessons Learned Patagonia continues to focus on the environment and making a difference one step at a time.This action is commendable, especially because they are not following the norm for the industry. With the success of Patagonia I have learned that in order to be successful, you must also do what you are passionate about, and allow everything else to fall into place. That is what Cinchonas did with Patagonia. He was passionate about the environment and the affect that his decisions had on it. Although he wasn't as focused on profits as other organizations, he was able to follow his passion and have the most successful outdoor apparel company in the country. The type of passion that Yves Cinchonas has for the environment and Patagonia can definitely be applied to many aspects in life.

Critical Evaluation of International Essay

A review of literature on international HRM reveals three different approaches (Dowling et al. , 1999, p. 2): Comparative, Cross-cultural and multi-national. Firstly, according to Adler (1997), the early approaches to researching international HRM focused on cross-cultural differences and examination of human behaviour from an international perspective. Certainly, research on cross-cultural organizational behaviour has become a conduit for the understanding of the dynamics of multicultural domestic and international workplaces within the advent of globalisation. There are different levels of analysis within cross-national HRM, national factors, contingent factors and organisational level. Cross-national HRM researchers claim that it is at the levels of national factors and contigent variables that they can make useful contributions through the examination of the impacts of such determinants of HRM policies and practices (Boxall, 1995; Brewster et al, 1996). However, other researchers (Budhwar and Sparrow, 1997; Jackson and Schuler, 1995) argue that national factors and contingent variables are not enough in themselves to provide an understanding of the context-specific nature of HRM practices. It is important therefore, to consider analysis of the impact of organisational-level strategies (Budhwar and Sparrow, 1997). Secondly, the comparative approach focuses on similarities and differences in HRM practices within an international context. Undeniably, Budhwar & Sparrow (2002) note that the increase in globalisation of business transactions, the emergence of new markets such as the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as hyper competition among organisations at equally the domestic and international level have been associated with an increased significance and need for comparative human resource management (HRM) studies. As a result, there has been a growing number of studies addressing the configuration of HRM in different national contexts (Budhwar & Sparrow, 2002). According to Rechie, Lee and Quintanilla (2009) one of the most significant role of comparative HRM research is to provide managers, principally those working in multinational firms, with specific guidelines concerning how to design and implement an effective HRM system taking into consideration cultural differences especially when their business operation enters into different cultural contexts for example western multinationals seeking to do business in China. This notion of being responsive to the context and standardisation of HRM policies and practices has generated controversial but nonetheless critical topics of discussion in comparative HRM, such as the debate on localization versus standardization, and the process of transferring HRM policies and practices across nations (Rechie et al, 2009). The thirdly, multinational approach, tends to focus on HRM practices in multinational organisations. The HRM extant literature reveals that there are two distinct schools of thought as regards approaches to managing people within MNCs: (i) convergence and (ii) divergence. According to Brewster et al. , (2007), the convergence approach is said to be one of the most dominant strands in international management research. On the one hand, the convergence approach has three main assumptions: firstly, the ultimate aim in all organisations is to improve performance through high-performance work systems (Brewster, 2001). Secondly, the universal aim of performance improvement can be achieved by using sound and effective management philosophies that hold true despite of differences among national environments (Girgin, 2005). Thirdly, proponents of the convergence approach argue that if local practices are different from these principles, they are expected to be replaced with ‘the one best way’, converging mainly on the American model as the leading industrial economy (Dowling et al. , 1999). According to Girgin (2005) the concept of convergence towards the one best way practice has been encouraged and/or supported by the forces of globalisation, which has led to the opening of world markets, deregulation, regional integration and improvements in communication technologies. Although HRM as a field of practice was developed in America, the principles and practices designed for America may not hold for other parts of the world. Barlett and Ghoshal (1989), say that, the main suggestion of the globalisation argument is that nationality factors in the operation of national systems and of companies are no longer influential or important as international companies become ‘trans-national’ which converge to a new ‘best model’. Yes, the IHRM literature shows that because multinational corporations are embedded in their home institutional environments, they may attempt to transfer ‘home’ practices to their foreign operations in different cultural environments (Edwards et al. , 1999). However, the study of HRM practices in Europe (see Brewster et al 2007) suggest that national differences are significant in the determination of HRM practices. On the other hand, the divergence approach or contextual paradigm searches for contextually unique practices and approaches to management, it does not search for evidence of similarities (Brewster, 2001). Within the IHRM literature, the focal point of the divergence standpoint is the dissimilarity of policies and applications across different national and regional contexts and tries to understand the particularities of the context with a view to interpret why and how such differences have emerged in these settings (Brewster, 2005). Within the divergence school of thought, there are two distinct approaches to managing human resources in multinational organisations: (i) the culturalist and (ii) the institutionalist perspectives. Based mainly on Hofstede’s (1980) value-based behavioural dimensions and concepts of national culture which have made an attempt to explain the influence of culture upon Multinationals’ behaviour, the culturalist approach has found widespread acceptance in the IHRM literature. Hofstede (1980) came to a conclusion that culture was the main determinant of the variations in work-related values, attitudes and behaviours among employees and managers within the same organisation, and of the same profession, age, or gender. Hofstede found that there were four dimensions that explained the differences in work-related values and behaviours: (i) Individualism and collectivism, (ii) Uncertainty avoidance, (iii) Power distance and (iv) Masculinity and femininity According to Girgin (2005), the culturalist approach endeavours to build an understanding of differences in work organisations, managerial behaviour and human resource practices based on attributes of national cultural distinctiveness in terms of values, ideas and beliefs shared by people in a given society. Under the divergence school of thought, the institutionalist perspective is the second. The main argument of the institutionalist perspective is that national institutional contexts (for example, government systems, training and development systems) play a major role in determining structures and strategies of organisations (Girgin, 2005). According to Girgin (2005), those who support the Institutionalist perspective stress the pressures on companies to acquire and maintain legitimacy in relation to the environment and the way that interlocking practices can bring benefits in particular systemic contexts. This perspective presents itself as a more comprehensive framework for the comparative study of different national systems (Girgin, 2005). For example, despite the knowledge of the influence of culture on organisational behaviour, HR practitioners cannot simply measure cultural values across their operations and predict behaviour, due cognisance must be given to various institutional contexts. As noted by Dewettinck and Remue (2011) certain practices are shared across or within particular contexts; some are distinctive of certain countries; some are unique to certain sectors or sections of an organization or even individuals. Without doubt, while each of the above approaches sharpens the focus on some aspects of HRM, it is possible that solely focusing on one aspect may unavoidably, hinder capturing the positive aspects from other perspectives(Mayrhofer and Brewster, 2005). Indeed what appears to be more significant in researching international HRM is the context. According to Dewettinck and Remue (2011) the notion of context and/or focus on contextual factors has been reflected in the cross-cultural embedment of many international HRM studies (Brewster, Mayrhoferand Morley, 2004), in addition, the Globe project which was focused on leadership also reveals that context is important (House and Javidan, 2004). For example, a recent study by Hartmann et al. (2010) of western multinationals operating in China shows that these organisations implement relatively unchanged HRM practices from their home country in their Chinese subsidiaries. The study of Hartmann et al. , reveals that consideration of contextual factors is important in the understanding of HRM practices and the management of people in an international context. As a matter of fact, results of Hartmann et al. ’s study indicate that, although the Chinese subsidiaries of Western multinationals were able to implement unchanged HRM practices such as talent management from their headquarters, the practices were not successfully internalised. This demonstrates the significance of national cultures and being responsive to local needs in implementing HRM practices. The example above actually shows that context is an important aspect in researching international HRM regardless of the approach taken. In conclusion, there is indeed something to be learnt from each of the perspectives. Each of the perspectives do make considerable contribution to the understanding of international HRM.

French Rev essays

French Rev essays True the ideas that were promoted by the philosophies were a contributor to The French Revolution but they were not the cause. The cause was the economic and social problems that faced France in those years of turmoil. I believe that The French Revolution was caused by The Social and Economic woes of the days. "The rule of the aristocracy lasts as long as the rural population continues to ignore or neglect the crafts, and the ownership of land continues to be the soul basis of wealth." "When handicrafts and commerce take hold among the people and create a new source of wealth benefiting a new class of working people, this paves the way for a revolution in political structure. A new distribution of wealth opens the way to a new distribution of power. In the same way that the possession of land creates an aristocracy, industrial property increases the power of the people; it provides the means to achieve its freedom." Antoine P. J. M. Barnave also believed that without the economic tribulations that were pending in France there would have been no need for change. The third estate could be broken down into three parts: the rich, bourgeoisie; the middle, lawyers, doctors, businessmen; and the poor, the peasant, farmer. There was much change in the economic world of the third estate. For instance the bourgeois were gaining land and therefore making money. 35% of the land was left to the 22 to 23 million peasants, the bourgeoisie held about 30% of the land, the 350 000 members of the nobility held about 20% of the land, and left with an unequally shared 10% the 130,000 member of the clergy. This shows how much land the bourgeois actually had. They were making large amounts of money off this huge percentage of land. Like those today who make money they needed to be taxed, there was only one difference between now and then, they [the third estate] were the only ones being ta...

Cawow Essays

Cawow Essays Cawow Essay Cawow Essay California WOW Xperience Public Company Limited (CAWOW) is at first known as Thailand’s leading fitness center operating with 9 branch locations and 35,000 square meters of fitness facilities serving more than 80,000 members. CAWOW came into Thai market since the year 2000, first known as California Fitness Centers, the most complete and modern fitness center in Thailand. The company formed by Fitness Holdings International Corporation which is the company under 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide Inc, America, administrate by Eric Mark Levine. The first branch opened at Liberty Tower on Silom road since midyear of 2000. During the first three year, the number of club members reached about 12,000 people. Mr. Eric Mark Levine, CAWOW’s CEO and founder, a global fitness executive with more than 30 years of proven experience developing and building fitness companies. As CAWOW’s Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, Eric has developed a unique â€Å"Exertainment† (Exercise+Entertainment) concept combining fitness, fashion and entertainment within state of the art fitness centers that exude high levels of positive energy. CAWOW joined forces with Major Cineplex Group Public Company Limited (Major Cineplex) Thailand’s leading total lifestyle entertainment company which has strength in being the Entertainment Complex or Lifestyle Center not just cinema business like before, in 2003, 51% share holding by Mr. Eric group and 49% holding by Major Cineplex Group and change the name from Fitness Holdings International Corporation to Elite Power Holdings Inc. and FDE of the World Co. , Ltd. by Eric Mark Levine and also change the trademark from ‘California Fitness Centers’ to ‘California WOW Xperience Public Company Limited’ (CAWOW). This strategic partnership has enabled CAWOW to leverage the marketing and property development expertise of the Major Group to become Thailand’s leading Fitness Company. SITUATION ANALYSIS Market Analysis 1) STP Segmentation Demographically, CAWOW segments customers mainly according to their ages, which mostly categorizes as university students and working people in various ages. Psychographically, CAWOW segments customers focusing on lifestyle, mainly young people who are health conscious, interested in exercising, and care about their body image. Targeting CAWOW’s target group is the people of age 21-40 years old which can be categorize as university student and office people who looking to take care of their health. The target group also required to have a medium to high purchasing power in order to be able to afford the club fees. Apart from that, in tern of lifestyle, the target group of CAWOW is those people who care about putting up an appearance and health through exercising. Each branch also target on people who live around the area so the target group for the brand will be differ from place to place. As they segment according to the type of lifestyle, the age group leading the similar lifestyle will have different paths home and will have different locations in which they pass by. For university level target groups will have more focus upon classes like that of dance, and perhaps Yoga etc. however, in terms of first jobbers are those that have been working for a period of time, their focus will be upon Yoga and Pilates to maintain their healthy sense of mind and body. Positioning The positioning of CAWOW is the worlds’ number one fitness center, and the number one fitness center in Thailand. 2) Marketing Mix Product CAWOW’s fitness centers offer members hundreds of Group Exercise Classes per week, such as Body Balance, Body Jam, Body Combat, Step, Tai-Chi, Spinning, etc. They also offer Personal Training, Yoga and Pilates. Personal Training is a one-on-one service helping each member design the appropriate program to reach their fitness goals. Yoga is the highest growth service among these three services. CAWOW offers 2 forms of Yoga; Bikram Yoga and Planet Yoga with hundreds of Yoga classes offered per week. They also offer Pilates, the ultimate physical and mental conditioning program. They also provide lockers, sauna, and steam rooms for their members. Price Their prices are mainly determined according to both the degree of need of exercise and the qualities of a customer. The company uses the free floating membership price system which means that it does not have the published prices and there is no information on their website about pricing as well. The only way for customer who wants to know the price is physically going to their club and talk to their sales. The membership price will be different for each of customers. Some people may pay a cheaper or a higher price for the same membership that may receive variety of service package, being able to bargain with CAWOW salesperson. Place CAWOW has opened their branches in the high traffic point in Bangkok including Siam paragon, Silom, Chanegwattana, Pinklao, Sukumvit23, Sukumvit31, Ratchayothin, and Ratchada. After joining with Major Cineplex, they try to expand the branch into Major branch to save the cost under the fact that the company expects to gain more sales revenue in opening each new branch, especially in the first two year from opening. Since the contract of membership is at least one year, most of customers do not renew the contract and the customers who plan to play for long term paid for life membership so that a great way to gain the money is to find new customers is by opening new branch. Also, the location they choose are all able to see through glass windows so that other people can be able to see them working out. Promotion Their promotions are normally changing from time to time. They have weekly promotion that will change every week, and within the week also have another promotion which will give the customers more benefits such as free Yoga, free one time personal trainer, etc. The most common one is that if you pay for long term membership you will pay cheaper for each month. CAWOW also offers the member privilege; for example, discount for some spa and restaurants. Their promotion activities vary to make sure that it can effectively access to customers. These promotion activities include; Advertising Mass media: As a health, fitness and lifestyle company, CAWOW promotes their benefits to fitness enthusiasts’ via media channels thus increasing brand awareness and health consciousness in Thailand. The Company has launched the â€Å"Yoga For All† TV Series and their â€Å"California WOW 20 Minute Workout† broadcast on Chic Channel – True Vision, UBC which can target directly on the potential customers, as well as creating chic image for the brand. Magazine: CAWOW has launched the â€Å"WOW† Fitness Magazine with 50,000 copies circulated to their members and on newsstands each month to help promoting the brand and also create the health conscious trend. Personal selling Sales person offers several promotions to all the guests and current members either by phone or face to face. This kind of promotion is often be found after free trial of the current member’s guest where the sales person will offer special promotion for them and if they do not sign for membership that day, the sales person will continually calling them to offer more promotion and benefits. Website One of the tools that CAWOW often used to communicate to their current customers and other potential customers is through their website. CAWOW official website provides all sort of the company’s news, and any all other information about CAWOW. 3) SWOT Analysis Strengths Experience and reputation The founder of CAWOW is an experienced professional that has worked in the health and fitness industry for over 30 years. He, Mr. Eric Mark Levine is both the founder and the CEO and has intensive knowledge about the industry. Indeed, CAWOW is a well-known brand that expose in several countries. First-mover advantage In Thailand, the firm is the longest established fitness center. With their advertising and their locations, they have the highest brand visibility in terms of time frame. Their long establishment will also help building up a foundation in providing fitness services to their clients. In addition, the fact that they were established first helps them grab and maintai n a substantial amount of this industry’s market share due to the constant strong brand awareness. Benefit from alliance with Major Cineplex group CAWOW also entered into a beneficial joint venture with The Major Group. This provided several benefits for CAWOW as it helped increase the total amount of new customers for the fitness center. In addition, their fixed costs will have decreased because their cost on rent is shared with the Major group and its facilities. High level of brand awareness Since CAWOW choose â€Å"Lukked Metinee Kingpayom†, the famous star and super model as a presenter, it can create high level of brand awareness and image of good body shape and entertainment. As with most of the trends that come by into society, it is usually led by a celebrity. For Thailand, this famous celebrity is thought of to be a trendsetter in many ways, and is constantly kept in the spotlight. With her as the brand presenter will allow an optimal amount of attention to be fixated upon CAWOW. Not only will this help increase in the brand awareness but it may also lead to an increase in total consumers. This may result from the self-fulfillment of a self-concept by consumers that look to be like this celebrity. Hence, they will correlate the look and to be her as including CAWOW in their life day to day activities. Variety of exercises CAWOW offers members hundreds of Group Exercise Classes per week, such as Body Balance, Body Jam, Body Combat, Step, Tai-Chi, Spinning, etc. They also offer Personal Training, Yoga and Pilates for customer can choose the class they like. As the trend nowadays tends to lean towards exercise types that many of the celebrities take- Yoga and Pilates- CAWOW offers a substantial amount of classes. The main benefit of variety is that it can accommodate the need of members. High-quality equipment CAWOW’s facilities are well taken care of so that the equipment is not only easy to use, but also appealing to their consumers. Long opening hours CAWOW provides long opening period for their members. This longer period of opening time helps CAWOW as a categorical point of parity. This is because all CAWOW fitness centers are opening at all times of the day and night to cater to the needs of their different consumers. With longer working hours, it allows their consumers to use the club whene ver they want. Weaknesses Aggressive Sales person CAWOW’s sales persons are famous in selling their member packages too aggressively. That makes customers annoyed and potential customers who know about this behavior may avoid to talk to CAWOW’s sales persons. This also create bad image of the company when the customer feels like they are forced to buy the package that they do not need. Low customer service (After sales) Many customers complain that after sale service is not as good as before they buy the package. They think that the sales persons ignore them because they already paid for the package fee then it is not essential to take care them any more. In contrast, the trainers who can still get advantage from taking care of customers still keep calling them to go to the club and use the personal trainer service which they have to pay extra money. High-cost personal trainers CAWOW’s members have to pay extra money for personal trainer who will give suggestion to use the equipment in the most effective way. The fee is many times said to be too expensive that may make customers think that it is not worth to pay. Busy during peak hours During peak hours for CAWOW which is 18. 00-21. 00, the fitness centers are extremely crowded; for example, it is normal during peak hour to see people lining up in front of the lift. In addition, over crowdedness and lack of personal space within the fitness center will lead to less privacy which is not a preference that most consumers have. They prefer a substantial amount of proximity between one another, and to not waste more time lining up then actually working out. Opportunities Unsaturated Market From CAWOW’s research conclude that the ratio of Thai people who is fitness member is still much less than neighbor country such as Japan 4. 5% of the people is the fitness member, Hong Kong 4%, Taiwan and Korea 3%, while ,Thailand only has 1% of people who is fitness member. It is show that there is much chance for fitness industry to grow more than now. Health Conscious Trend Nowadays, people are becoming more concerned about their health. Therefore, exercising tend to become more popular among various activities during free time to satisfy the trend. Threats High competitive market CAWOW is the first in the fitness center market after that is Fitness First which expands their branches to the high traffic points of Bangkok and some branches near CAWOW branches which means that they target more or less the same gro up of customers around those locations. In addition, fitness centers like that of Fitness First seems to be a higher positioned fitness center. They also seem to have targeted a lot of CAWOW’s weaknesses. For example, their congested fitness center during peak hours is controlled by a slightly higher price. When one first applies to be a member of Fitness First, they give you a free personal trainer to help you get to know the equipment and to work out a suitable work out routine that is adapted to your personal needs. After that, there are a series of trainers around that remember you buy name and remember the type of activities that you need to complete in your routine and they help you out often providing service in after you’ve subscribed to be a member. Substitute activities For exercising there is much more substitute ways to do, especially those exercises that cost less that fitness center such as jogging in the park, riding a bicycle, or swimming.

Analysis of primary Document.DOCUMENT 15.1, Magazine article on the Essay

Analysis of primary Document.DOCUMENT 15.1, Magazine article on the changing caracter of immigration, by Kate Claghorn,in Wori - Essay Example Kate Claghorn considers the new system of presenting the statistics of immigration, introduced by Edward F McSweeney, as an effective system of classification, as it helps in disengaging the racial facts and the grouping of same race elements from different countries. According to the author, the predominance of the racial stocks of the Slavs, the Italian, and the Hebrews is the most noticeable feature of contemporary immigration, and these racial stocks are usually considered as lacking social and industrial values. Another characteristic of the recent immigrations is that it is mainly the patient family groups consisting of father, mother, children, grandparents, etc. that composes the major sections of the immigrated population, and the land of freedom and opportunity attract them. Immigration from city slums is practically diminutive, and there is very little immigrant population from cities.

Online marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Online marketing - Essay Example This makes, the study of the concept of online marketing all the more interesting and inevitable, in order to ascertain the various methods, policies and strategies applied by successful online marketing firms, to provide a broader idea about the concept and a wider understanding of the subject. For the purpose of this study, Amazon.com Inc, is chosen as a case study, which shall be used to understand a range of concepts, and theoretical aspects concerning online marketing. Amazon.com Inc., an American based (headquartered in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.) multinational e-commerce organization and is one of the largest online retailers in the country. It was founded by the Jeff Bezoz, in the year 1994 and was launched online a year later in 1995. Initially it was established as an online retail book store, however, in the wake of the overwhelming response of its largely diversified customer base, it was subsequently diversified to include a range of other products such as CDs, music, games, computer software, electronic equipments, apparels, food, furniture, toys, and the likes. At the time when Amazon debuted on the online retailing scene, there were already several other companies doing brisk business, owing to the internet boom. However, Bezos, with the help of innovative online marketing strategies along with revolutionary internet technologies which made the online shopping experience - faster, better and more comfortable and more personal as compared to the traditional retail, managed to survive, outsmart and eventually lead the pack of online stores. The success of the company could be ascertained from the consecutively profitable performances, which it has been able to deliver. Currently, the company has managed to achieve almost $6.8 million, in sales which includes books, DVD players as well as miter saws1. Products and brands are the inevitable