Inclusive Education

Introduction Inclusive education is a process whereby the school systems, strategic plans, and policies adapt and change to include teaching strategies for a wider more diverse range of children and their families. Inclusive education implicitly means to identify a child’s learning style and adapt the classroom and teaching strategies to ensure high quality learning outcomes for all members of the class. Everyone is important, unique and valued for their contribution to the school. Kirk et al. ,(2009).In this assignment we are going to tackle about inclusive education, its advantage towards learners with and without special education in schools and also the characteristics of a school that make it effective for the implementation of inclusive education. We are also going to discuss about steps to follow in order to create an effective school for all in my region and to discuss the challenges of inclusive education in Namibia lastly we are going to make recommendation on how th e challenges of inclusive education can be met.Question 1 Discuss the advantages/benefits of inclusive education towards the learners with and without special educational needs in Namibian school. The learners will all feel accepted and loved In an inclusive classroom, disabled children have a chance to feel â€Å"like the other kids. † They are less likely to miss out on social events, and they have more opportunities to make friends. The chance to achieve alongside their non-disabled peers can help their self-esteem.With the support of a skilled teacher, they may become more socially competent and feel less isolated. There are potential benefits for non-disabled students, too, who may gain greater understanding and empathy as they learn to accept and appreciate their disabled peers. Non-disabled students may also benefit educationally from the more individualized and personalized approach that inclusive teaching can provide. They will all have effective learning In inclusiv e education, children with and without disabilities are all expected to study, learn, read, write.By having higher expectations for children with disabilities coupled with good and effective instruction, they quickly learn academic skills. Because the philosophy and mission of inclusive education is intended to help all students to learn, all children in the class benefit from the method of instruction. Children with disabilities in the classroom tend to show academic achievement in several areas including improved performance on mastery of IEP goals, standardized tests, motivation to study and learn, overall good grades and classroom behaviour.Also, children with disabilities who are instructed under general educational settings have scored higher on literacy than those children educated in segregated classrooms They have increased understanding and learn to accept diversity When students participate in classes that mimic the differences and similarities of individuals in the outsi de or real world, they naturally learn to accept diversity. Understanding, acceptance, and respect grow as the children with differing cultures and abilities interact with each other.Inclusive classrooms also create venues where children form and develop friendships with each other while strengthening their social and interactive skills. Children with differing abilities will learn from each other. Because it creates a solid group, the inclusive classroom promotes the civil rights of all students, provides support to the social value of equality and respect, teaches collaborative and socialization skills, builds interdependence and support between students, promotes social peace, and provides children a micro model of the real world. They all have normal livesFor families with disabled children, the dream of living a normal life comes true thanks to inclusive classrooms. Of course, all parents want their kids to live normally: have friends, be accepted by others, and have regular ac tivities. Inclusive classrooms make this a reality for children with disabilities. Through inclusive settings, children with disabilities can achieve a sense of belonging with diverse groups of people. Therefore, it provides a good venue for learning and growing. In terms of socialization, children learn to develop friendships while enhancing self-respect.It allows no discrimination as all learners are treated equally When students with special education needs are placed into a separate classroom from their peers, it puts a label on those students and marks them as â€Å"different. † Inclusion practices sort children into classrooms without the bias of special needs or non-special needs entering into the process. In this way, inclusion allows each student to have access to the same teachers, instructional materials, tools and lessons as every other student in the school. They will have real-world experienceWhen students leave school and enter the real world, they will not alw ays find themselves surrounded by other people who are exactly like them. Students with special needs will need to learn to function with people who do not have special needs, and the opposite is also true of students in regular education programs. An inclusive classroom helps students learn about the differences between people while they are still young and exposes them to diversity by allowing them to work and play alongside children who are different from themselves. A positive learning environmentEach and every learner feels welcome and is given the opportunity to perform at his/her educational needs; they are also empowered to participate frequently in cooperative learning, peer tutoring and decision making. Learners with and those without special needs they will have on going contact with each other both within the academic and social setting. They will feel empathy for one another, gain an increased sense of self-esteem, develop a positive understanding of each other, develop friendship and develop strong and social communication.Question 2 Characteristics of a school that make it effective for the implementation of inclusive education The school promotes a sense of belonging to all learners; all learners are treated equally despite their differences. Learners who can’t walk are provided with wheelchairs so that they can move everywhere they want without someone helping them and learners with hearing impairments are provided with earpiece to block any background noises which can affect them.Learners with visual impairment are provided with eye glasses and they are projectors in classrooms which can project texts so that they can see well and so that learning can be facilitated They are corridors that are designed to help learners on wheelchairs to move smoothly without any problem and they are also physical therapists, counsellors and support groups that help these learners. Question 3 You are appointed as inclusive educational officers at your r egion. You are given a responsibility to be one of the policy makers.What steps will you follow so that you create an effective school for all in your region? Developing a common philosophy and strategic plan The establishment of a school philosophy or mission statement serves as to define its intend in terms of how the needs of all learners will be addressed and to foster an individual and collective involvement and participation by all education professionals, families and communities towards acceptance and care for all learners included in the regular education classroom. Providing strong leadershipTo have responsibility to set the tone of the school and to ensure that decisions are made, challenges are met and interactions and processes are supported that are consistent with the school’s philosophy and defined purpose. Promoting school and classroom cultures that will welcome appreciate and accommodate diversity Make sure that schools have to acknowledge value, respect, e ducate and socialise all its learners. It has to develop a caring culture that welcomes, appreciates and accommodates all learners.The schools personnel have to attend to their learners needs for acceptance, belonging and friendships as the social environment significantly influences learning itself. The social interactions between the teacher and the learner and those among learners are critical ingredients in the learning process therefore each learner has to feel valued, safe, connected and cared for in order for inclusive education to succeed. Developing support networks It is important to develop school support networks for both teachers and learners needing encouragement and assistance in an inclusive education setting.The support network of a particular school may include various types of teams and other support systems that help ensure that the philosophy or mission statement of the school, to effectively meet the needs of all students, is operationalized. Using a deliberate process to ensure accountability Successful inclusion depends on a proactive process to ensure sufficient, effective and on-going planning and monitoring of the learners. Planning sessions must be treated as part of an on-going process and not as ends in themselves.Regular and efficient team meetings are necessary in order to monitor progress. Developing organised and on-going technical assistance There will be a need for regular, comprehensive and innovative staff development opportunities in schools, there will also be a need for a task force to provide technical assistance for all individuals involved in teaching learners with special educational needs in an inclusive education setting. Regular needs assessment should be conducted to identify the types and content of the technical assistance activities that are most needed.Maintaining flexibility To make sure that schools welcome and educate all its learners. It has to respond to the challenges posed by learners with diverse edu cational needs in their pursuit of education. Examining and adopting effective teaching approaches To see if they are best possible approaches and to ensure effective teaching and learning by all learners. L earners have varying strengths, weakness, needs and learning styles. Teachers need to know each learners well enough to have good sense of their, strengths and underdeveloped abilities.They also need to appreciate the varied talents and special abilities as well as the disabilities that their learners may bring to the classroom. Celebrating successes and learning challenges School staffs ought to be creative and innovative. They ought to demonstrate a positive focus and recognise the importance of acknowledging, celebrating and building on success. They also ought to develop a culture of self-reflection and continuous improvement. The schools needs to nourish and incorporate its successes into its school policy and day to day practice Being knowledgeable about the change process People experience and react to change differently. The change process can be slow and time consuming. Since change is considered a process, educators can use it as a rationale for slowly phasing in new practices in schools. to avoid implementation failure, all stakeholders at all levels must join together to facilitate a comprehensive planning of the new change that is consistent with the school’s mission statement. 3. 1 What are the challenges of inclusive education in Namibia? Not enough teachers trainingRegular education teachers often do not have the appropriate training or education to understand the needs of students who have disabilities. A teacher is not able to provide special needs students with enough care or attention in the classroom, so the student falls behind or acts out behaviourally. Even the most flexible teacher can have difficulty. Due to continued demands for standardized testing or other academic standards, she may be unable to be as creative in teachin g as she might otherwise be. General Education Practices Have Not Changed EnoughInclusion may not have changed teaching practices in the regular education classroom enough to benefit special needs students who are integrated into the classroom. Most classrooms tend to teach to average level students and it can be difficult for the learning disabled student to keep up with the pace of the classroom. Regular education teachers may resent slowing the classroom pace for the few special needs students, as they feel it might be detrimental to the majority of students in the classroom. Lack of Funding for Appropriate ResourcesSome of the detriments of inclusive education could be minimized if the regular education classroom had the appropriate resources available for teachers. For example, inclusive classrooms can be benefited by having a teacher's aid or paraprofessional in the classroom to assist the regular education teacher with behavioural issues, study skills and assignments of speci al needs students. Funding for these resources is sparse though, so the teacher may find that keeping control of a large inclusive classroom is beyond his abilities.Lower Educational Standards and Loss of Advocacy Parents and special education teachers may be concerned that the lesson plans in a regular education inclusive classroom will be watered down to accommodate the special needs students. This would end up being a detriment not only to the regular education student, but the special education student as well. Special education teachers are specifically trained to understand the strengths of individual disabled students. Therefore, lesson quality can be higher in the special education classroom.With the shift from special education classrooms to regular education classrooms, students could not only experience a loss of quality in the teaching, but a loss of advocacy from the teacher. 3. 2 Make recommendation how the challenges above can be solved. Having external support servic e This external support must be provided by an expert team (qualified staff) who needs to work at the regular school jointly with children, teachers, other services and education community as whole.Learners with special educational needs should receive additional instructional support in the context of the regular curriculum. Training regular teachers It is actually one of the foundations that can lead us to make inclusive education a successful reality. Qualified teachers know that classroom needs must be approaches from a curricular standpoint in which difficulties are defined depending on each specific task and activity and on classroom conditions. The types of curricula they develop are process based therefore they are flexible and they adjust to the unique diversity of each group.They are not based on learning goals that resort exclusively to testing to measure how much a child has learnt. Qualified teachers know that sometimes they need to modify materials, techniques, methods , etc. that when necessary they have to replace or skip activities that they might have to adjust scheduled times. Teaching-learning material Learners must have access to the materials that they need, learners with disabilities they are supposed to have in class-help, be extracted from certain activities, have additional after school-help and also to have additional homeworks.Physical access and learning environment Where physical factors pose barriers to learning and participation, simple ramps and internal classroom arrangements can easily help the situation. Furthermore, improvements in the physical environment of the centres of learning, such as the design of the building, the availability of water, electricity and toilet/sewerage facilities will enable students to participate in the range of learning activities in and out of the classroom and provision of necessary facilities learning aids and support materials.These changes benefit all students. Curriculum and Assessment Curri culum needs to be relevant to the children and flexible enough to respond to all children's needs. The curriculum can facilitate the development of more inclusive settings when it leaves room for the Centre of learning or the individual teacher to make adaptations so that it makes better sense in the local context and for the individual learner.Being re-trained in curriculum and evaluation, teachers need to be trained to change their attitude of special needs children. Conclusion In this assignment we mainly discussed about inclusive education, and we have seen that inclusive education is very important to our education system here in Namibia as it makes learners to accepted diversity and to make them feel that they are loved, cared for, valued and that they are important members of the society. It also improves the learning of learners and to know that they are all equal.Inclusive education must be implemented in schools and the steps we mentioned need to be followed in order to im plement an effective schools for all in my region as whole as Namibia at large. Challenges of inclusive education need to be addressed and solved, and also parents, teachers, learners and the community as a whole need to work together in order to have a successful inclusive education in Namibia. Reference list Haihambo, C. K. , Hengari, J. U. , & M? wes, A. D. (2010).Introduction to inclusive education. University of Namibia: Centre for external studies. Kirk,S. ,James. J,Coleman. M,& Nick,A. (2009). Educating exceptional children(13th ed. ). USA: Wadsworth. Walton,E. (n. d. ). Key challenges in inclusive education. Retrieved April 12,2013 from www. inclusion. co. za/media/docs/? key%? 20challenges%20of%? 20inclusive. Mae,L. (nd. ). Challenges of an inclusive classroom. Retrieved April 12,2013 from www. ehow. com  Ã¢â‚¬ º †¦Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ º Parents of Students  Ã¢â‚¬ º Early Childhood Education.

Compulsory education Essay

Everyone has their own opinions on beliefs about school. Many say school is the only way for children to go, and many are against it. John Holt wrote an inspiring story called â€Å"School Is Bad for Children† that has an outlook on all aspects of school and why it’s not for children. He elaborates on all points to argue the fact that children shouldn’t have to make life harder by going to school. Holt indicates certain points, but ones that stick out are the compulsory attendance policy and how it affects the child. Also, why we shouldn’t have grades and exams and lastly, teachers and their poor pedagogy. The compulsory school attendance protected the children’s right to school under the parents’ permission; unless the parents decide to exploit their labor. Holt states that the compulsory attendance policy commands children to go to school. If children are forced to go to school than there is a better chance they won’t like going. But, if the child had the option to go to school whenever they want, there us a better chance of them going; this being because school is where children meet new friends and communicate with others. And children need communication to get through life, like any other average person. Pedagogy is the art of the education and how a teacher conducts their class. Holt believes that poor pedagogy is another reason why school is bad for children. The art and styling of a teacher determines what the child will get and take out of the class. Many students are visual learners and some are auditory. Also, students are categorized between passive learners and active learners. Passive learners do what they need to, to pass the class and don’t take in any of the information that is being distributed to them. But, active learners enjoy their time in class and engage in the lesson of the day. Teachers need to take it upon themselves to make the class interesting and vibrant for all students. They always said â€Å"two heads are better than one†. Holt feels as if children work better in groups and collaborative work. It makes everything in their school experience and life a little easier. Letting them work together and help each other out, they can help each other fix their mistakes. He explains how children are often the best teachers of other children. Letting children judge their own work gives them a sense of how much they can handle. According to Holt, if a child is corrected too many times, he will shut down and not speak at all. Correcting a student over and over again begins to make them feel like being wrong, uncertain and confused is a crime. He feels that a child should learn on his or her own but with the help of other children his age. If the child is stuck and just can’t get the answer right and needs help then that is when we lend a helping hand. Helping a child too much can also lead to them depending on someone to give them the answer. They won’t know the right answer and they’ll wait for the teacher or the expert to give them right answer. Holt has given up ideas on why the right way isn’t always the right thing to do. He wants to correct the school curriculum. He shows that education back in the day is different than education now. Although students need education, we’re going about it all wrong. Children need to learn physically and mentally and not always with the help of an expert. Children need to work together to become more advance and progress.

Many MNEs may want to start operations in some foreign country Essay

Establishment mode means that the MNE starts its operations from scratch in the foreign country usually through a wholly owned subsidiary where as in entry mode; this can be accomplished by a subsidiary or through partnership with a local party which involves shared ownership. In this study the authors examine the effect of same variables on both these choices available to a company. They do it through a series of hypotheses. The first hypothesis measures the positive effect of greater institutional advancement on the choice that the company makes. Institutional advancement is defined in the study as pertaining to changes in formal institutions over a period of time. It is argued that regulatory forces are likely to be a big influence on a decision that an MNE makes with regard to its establishment or entry choice. Regulatory forces or rather Regulative forces as described in the study are not limited to laws and regulations only but also include political and other social factors. The authors conclude that institutional advancement has a positive effect on the choice to establish a subsidiary with shared ownership. The second hypothesis postulated by the authors’ measures the moderating effect of institutional advancement on the tendency of a technologically intense firm to either go for establishment mode or entry mode. It is argued that firms which are technology intense should go for establishment mode because their competitive advantages are embedded in their labor force skills and organizational practices so it is more efficient for them to start from scratch. They should hire and train the local labor force. Furthermore in case of a joint venture or share ownership of the subsidiary, protecting the intellectual rights can be an issue. Protection of such rights is dependent on the judicial system. In transition economics where the judiciary is corrupt and intellectual property rights are not respected, an MNE would be reluctant to transfer its technology. Therefore authors conclude that firm with advanced proprietary technology are likely to prefer establishment mode but level of institutional advancement has a positive moderating effect on such a firm going for entry mode. The third hypothesis measures the moderating effect of institutional advancement on a multidomestic MNE to either go for establishment of entry mode. Multidomestic firms are defined as those which pursue multidomestic strategy and want to establish a sustainable local market presence. For such MNEs acquiring a local company is a more attractive option because such acquisition can provide them with local brands, market knowledge, distribution channels and network relationships with the host country’s other businesses and government. How the restructuring and realignment of the acquired entity can be very challenging. The firms in the host country are likely to be following a different paradigm. But on the other hand if an MNE goes for shared ownership or entry mode, it can accomplish more without facing these difficulties. It is argues that a multidomestic MNE requires lesser control on the subsidiary. If this is so then subsidiaries in the host country can have considerable freedom and operate on their own fully leveraging their local expertise.Hence it is concluded institutional advancement has a positive moderating effect on a multidomestic MNE to go for entry mode. Finally the authors have used an international survey to gather the data to support their findings. The survey consists of a questionnaire with 33 open and close ended questions. Furthermore the MNE’s latest establishment mode choice or entry mode choice has been taken as the dependent variable. Critique This study is no doubt a valuable asset for managers and students alike in studying the behavior of MNEs in making their choices when it comes to Foreign Direct Investment but nevertheless it has a few shortcomings and weaknesses. But the biggest shortcoming of this study is the scope. The authors have primarily taken a sample of European MNEs. And the so called economies in transition are basically east European countries which were once under the iron curtain. Firstly we need to consider the fact that Europeans MNEs may be very different from Japanese or American MNEs and so forth. The establishment or entry mode choice for Japanese firms may be dependent on or moderated by variables other than the ones discussed here. Similarly an MNE whether European or Japanese may decide to invest in some country in Central Asia or North Africa or even South Asia. The market conditions in these countries are very different from those of the transition economies discussed by the authors. This means that the findings in this study are not universally applicable. Nevertheless it is a valuable addition to our knowledge regarding MNE behavior in making Foreign Direct Investment decisions. But for any researcher trying to consult this study, it is very important to keep the above mentioned limitations in mind.

Film language elements of a movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Film language elements of a movie - Essay Example On the contrary, Tom gets tired of Mamie and starts dating with the flamboyant Gwen. Tom surprises his mother by his wealth. His mother and straight forward brother, Mike, disapprove of his career choices. The battle of moral between the brothers culminates in a dinner table (Greatest Films, n.d.). Because Nathan, Tom, and Matt pursued lives full of crimes, they ended up dying out of crime. The mise-en-scene has been planned well. Tom brings a keg to celebrate Mike’s return from war. The beer displays Tom’s lifestyle. At dinner, Tom takes the head seat of the table, in his mother’s opposite direction. The mother has to hoist her neck in order to see her son beyond the keg. Cinematography has influenced the believability of the film. In the grapevine scene, Tom shocks his girlfriend by slapping her with the grapes. The development of the movie, including the episode where Tom places a keg of beer on the table and Mike getting infuriated by Tom’s display of illegally acquired wealth as he denounces him helps bring a clear picture of the cinema. Matt gets shot and dies in front of Tom in stakeout. Tom avenges his friend’s death by going to the opponents’ gang headquarters and opens fire. He overpowers them; however, he sustains injuries from gunshots and gets hospitalized. His mother jubilates upon hearing that her son has reformed and would join them. Later, Mike answers a door knock only to find Tom, murdered and buttressed up in the doorway (Bould 41). Other scenes include Tom and Matt appearing in expensive tailor made clothes and dancing with beautiful women after acquiring a lot of wealth through illegal business. Several outbu rsts of violence receive good production attention. They include the shooting of Putty Nose and the scene where Matt and Tom shoot the horse that fell killing Nathan, their crime boss. Sound has been used to bring various effects in the film. Both the human sounds, gunshots and music played in the film

Exhibition Paper; Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exhibition Paper; - Essay Example The most renowned statues from the era include the Donatello and Nanni sculptures (Burgio, Clark, & Hark, 2010). Both masterpieces are held at the Museo dell’Opera de Muomo exhibition. The study seeks to implement the visual description of the sculptures as seen in the exhibition with a contextual inclusion of sculptural production in the Florentine Age of the 15th century. The renowned sculpture of Donatello remains an uncontested artifact of the period because of its unique inclusion of proportion in a rather hard to shape material. The 1418 sculpture depicts a biblical version of the events surrounding Isaac’s sacrifice. The sculptor engaged in the use of marble, and it is apparent that his knowledge in the field compelled his conclusion that he would deliver an exemplary artwork in the end. Arguably, the sculptor developed a theological concept prior to the beginning of the work; hence, the evidence shown in the sculptures facial expressions depicts the application of â€Å"scientific naturalism† (Long, 2013). The prevailing evidence from the visual surveillance inclines knowledge to a contemporary viewer that the use of grey almost brown colors emerges from the philosophical freedom held by the sculptor during the Florentine culture. While at the exhibition, a viewer could define the emotional expressions shown in the sculpture of Donatello on Isaac’s sacrifice. Such credentials declare the fury that Abraham felt once ordered by God to honor him through sacrificing his only child. In the contemporary culture, a viewer would agree with the sculptor’s perspective in developing the 191-centimeters’ tall sculpture. The taller figure of the sculpture seems to dominate the smaller one who is in a kneeling position (Burgio, Clark, & Hark, 2010). The rust-brown sculpture depicts a Biblical expression that the sacrifice was to accord God’s will as the taller figure looks upwards while holding a knife on the smaller

FINAL WRITING PROJECT Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

FINAL WRITING PROJECT - Research Paper Example As a result, defendants do not have full access to their rights under the Sixth Amendment. Strickland v. Washington in 1984 depicts the problem of ineffective assistance. The US Supreme Court designed a two – prong test to set a standard for when counsel interfered with the rights of the defendant under the 6th Amendment. Despite the legal successes, practice is different. Missouri State Public Defender System (MSPDS) is a case of a system where public defenders are overworked, underpaid and insufficiently trained. This paper will first depict the development of the legal framework mandating every indigent defendant a right to counsel under the 6th Amendment. The cases Gideon v. Wainwright and Betts v. Brady will be discussed. Then, problems with effective counsel will be described and legal cases will be cited. The main case used will be Strickland v. Washington. Finally, MSPDS will be examined to argue that public defenders do not have adequate resources to properly prepare a case. Data on salaries, ratio of staff members and turnover rates will be used. John M. Walsh will be used as an example of an overworked defense attorney who ended up hurting not only his client, but also his entire career. The history of the 6th Amendment is often tracked to Gideon v. Wainwright. The case is important as the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the petitioner, thus setting a precedent for all other courts across the USA. After Gideon v. Wainwright, every indigent defendant could refer to one’s rights established by this case. This case opened the door to other cases dealing with issues not directly pertaining to the right to counsel. These issues involve effective counsel and at what stage of the trial is the defendant entitled to receive assistance free of charge. Following paragraphs will describe how Gideon started the entire process by demanding access to his rights. Gideon was charged with and convicted of a misdemeanor. He â€Å"was charged in a

The Importance of Marketing for Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Importance of Marketing for Business - Essay Example But Nike’s marketing success has more to it than just promotional hype. Nike gives its customers far more than just good sports gear. They make sure the customer doesn’t just wear his Nikes, he experiences it. Nike doesn’t just market sports shoes or athletic wear; it markets a way of life (Kotler). The Nike examples proves that through smart and innovative marketing businesses can create value for customers, build strong customer relationships and capture value from them in return. The importance of marketing to businesses: Helps businesses create value for customers: Marketing helps a business in creating value for its customers. Most companies today implement customer driven marketing strategies which allow them to create value for target customers. The process can be better understood through the following diagram: 1 Companies today identify and select marketing segments, develop products and marketing programs targeted to each and focus on the buyers who hav e more interest in the values that they create the best. They then decide on a value proposition by differentiating the market offering and positioning it in the minds of the target customers. Helps businesses create lasting relationships: The customer relationship management part of marketing is about maintaining and building profitable business relationships by delivering superior customer value and satisfaction. Just as companies are being very choosy about which customers to serve, they are serving the chosen customers in a more lasting way. Marketing today has become an art of finding, retaining and multiplying profitable customers Relating Directly: Apart from helping companies connect more deeply with their customers, marketing also helps companies connect to customers more directly. It helps customers buy virtually everything without going to a store through telephone, online, mail order catalogs etc. In fact, such has been the success of direct marketing that some companies such as Dell only use the direct channel to sell their products (Kotler). Social CRM: Marketing also helps businesses build strong, lasting and profitable relationships with customers through social media. The benefits that businesses achieve by effective use of social media are: 1. By effective use of social media companies can quickly build a network of core customers and supporters (Richardson). The feedback that loyal customers can provide is extremely valuable to businesses and can sometimes lead to major improvements in how a business offers a product or a service. Networks of loyal followers such as these can also help the company find new customers by referring the company’s product or service to others if they are pleased with what they have found. 2. Social media also helps a company attract more traffic to its website. The more traffic the company’s website continually obtains, the higher its ranking grows amongst the search engines (Richardson). High ranki ng with the search engines, in turn, helps the company attain better online exposure and visibility. More traffic to the company’s website also helps the company spread information about new products and services quicker 3. Apart from attracting useful feedback social

Financial crisis 2007-2012 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial crisis 2007-2012 - Essay Example The investments in the mortgage market in US were very lucrative as it offered high returns in short interval of time. More and more numbers of people considered the investments in US mortgage market as an instrument of short term gains. According to efficient market theory, the information flow from the market was such that it influenced not only the borrowers but also the lenders for purchase of housing properties (Harder, 2010, p.59). The policies of the US government also contributed to the flow of market information to the investors suggesting that the investments in the real estate and housing markets of US is likely to produce easy profits in a short span of time. The US government also made the ownership of houses for US citizens as a fundamental right. All these information flow from the markets influenced the investment decisions in the housing markets. Thus investments in the mortgage markets increased with instances of bank lending with open hands. On one hand when the ma rket information influenced the financial decisions, the underlying bubble of crisis was not noticed. Due to assumptions of the efficient market theory, the valuation of the underlying mortgages got overvalued. The banks provided finances for housing loans without adequate check on the credit parameters which led to the entry of huge borrowers who were not creditworthy (Carey and Stulz, 2007, p.44). The weight of bad loans started to increase when the borrowers defaulted in repayment of loans.... The US government also made the ownership of houses for US citizens as a fundamental right. All these information flow from the markets influenced the investment decisions in the housing markets. Thus investments in the mortgage markets increased with instances of bank lending with open hands. On one hand when the market information influenced the financial decisions, the underlying bubble of crisis was not noticed. Due to assumptions of the efficient market theory, the valuation of the underlying mortgages got overvalued. The banks provided finances for housing loans without adequate check on the credit parameters which led to the entry of huge borrowers who were not creditworthy (Carey and  Stulz, 2007, p.44). The weight of bad loans started to increase when the borrowers defaulted in repayment of loans. The valuation of the mortgages fell which were accepted as underlying securities at the time of financing the loans. This led to erosion of value of the company and the sharehold ers which eventually led to financial crisis of 2007-2012. The underlying causes of financial crisis were not reflected in the information flow to the investors that led to bad investments (Palan, 2007, p.25). This establishes the redundancy of efficient markets in explaining the financial decisions. Financial theories and models This part of the study will evaluate several aspects of Efficient Market Hypothesis and Random market Hypothesis. Efficient Market Hypothesis Efficient Market hypothesis is also known as joint hypothesis problem. It declares that the financial market is efficient. According to this hypothesis, an individual cannot

Why Do Cultural Differences Within Urban Chicago High Schools Results Essay

Why Do Cultural Differences Within Urban Chicago High Schools Results In So Many Discipline Problems - Essay Example The study intends to use questionnaires, interview schedules, observation as well as focus- group discussion in gathering relevant data for the study. Culture is people’s way of life. It denotes what a people value and abides to as normal. It is that complex whole of a people’s collective experience in life. It includes religion, political, economical, ethics, social and aesthetic. As the report declares ethnicity is an inheritance where members of a particular group perceive each other as emotionally bounded by a common set of traditional, worldviews, history, and heritage. The issue of ethnic and cultural identity has been a dominant and salient issue of many minority ethnic groups for along time. America institutions of learning have been the battlefield of this identity struggle. The high schools in urban Chicago have experiencing high incidences of racial and ethnicity related indiscipline where the students fail to uphold cultural tolerance towards teachers and other students from different cultural background. This has led to physical attacks, lack of respect and general deterioration of discipline in schools. There is increase in cultural related crimes and misbehaviour among students in urban Chicago. Chicago times reported that a group of white students attacked and racially abused a senior honour student. There have been incidences of violence every day and each time is a student from one race attacking another from a different race. Normally, they hail racial sentiments at each other. This has made many students to fear attending schools since a day cannot pass without a violence incidence in school. This has made school administration to hire security guards and seek police help in keeping law and order in schools in Chicago (Chicago Sun Times, November 8th, 2006). Bona in his article mentions riots, mass protests and violence as some of the poignant index of student indiscipline among college and university students in India. He also identifies incidences where students disrupt examinations, physical attacks on respected professors and administrators as pointers of indiscipline among students. He attempts to explain the causes of students' indiscipline as falling into three major categories namely; psycho-social, economic and political. For him, students in developing nations are most likely to misbehave due to political reasons when institutions raise student expectations too high and fail to deliver. However, for minority groups in a dominant culture, students' misbehaviour may be as a result of economic suppression and psycho-social reasons. A look at the highly respected cultural values of Indian community no one would ever associate students unrest with their cultural

Experiecing Cosmetology Essay Example for Free

Experiecing Cosmetology Essay Cosmetology is fun and It’s a great way to express your creativity. There are so many styles and ways to do things in cosmetology. I’ve always loved to do hair and make-up, I like to do a lot of experiments and that’s why cosmetology is so interesting to me. These past couple weeks I’ve learned so much about cosmetology. I had the chance to meet so many talented people. I’ve also had the chance to go to places that are known for their awesome work. I’ve even experienced the life before becoming a cosmetologist. Its been a great life changing experience and I’ve learned so much from it. Make-up is one of my favorite things to do. I thought I knew so much about make-up but the truth is that I didn’t. There are so many things to learn about make-up. When I was at M. A. C Cosmetics in the Lehigh Valley Mall I learned so many new things. I even learned about what to do when the make-up is off your face. When a girl is using make up she should constantly be taking care of her face. She should be cleansing her face everyday twice a day, day and night. There are cleansers for different skin types. Milk or cream cleanser is for dry skin and a foam or gel cleanser is for oily skin. She should also tone her face, toners refresh, hydrate, and soften the skin. Toners should also be used twice a day everyday; after cleansing and before moisturizing. Moisturizing should also be done; oil free moisturizer is for oily skin and richly emollient cream is for dry skin. Moisturizer should have UVA and UVB protection. Exfoliating is also another thing to do after make-up is off the face. Exfoliating scrubs helps smooth the skins surface. Last but not least, masking; masking soothes the skin and draws out all of impurities that have been deep in skin. It should be applied at least once a week. Now the fun part is putting on the make-up. Its fun but it also has to be done right if you want to look good. When using make-up the right shade of foundation needs to be used. There are three types of shades; fair, medium, and dark. When in process of choosing the right shade the client should start with two or three different shades that are close to skin tone. Apply a little bit of each shade on the cheek and start blending each one. The one that seems to disappear is the right shade. To apply the foundation the right way a dot needs to be applied on the forehead, nose, and both cheeks. Start blending downward and outward with fingertips, make-up sponge, or foundation brush. The downward motion prevents build up of make-up under fine facial hairs. There also a lot of different foundation types. We have sheer which provides light, transparent coverage. There’s also medium coverage which provides semi-sheer coverage; and last we have full coverage which provides opaque color and a great finish. The eyes are always the attention grabber when it comes to make-up. The magic behind eye make-up is so cool. To begin with concealer is needed to even out the shades. Concealer is also good to keep eye make up from smeering. To apply concealer its needed to start at the bridge of nose, under the eyes, and on the eye lids. Concealer is applied with a concealer brush. Another good thing to do is to apply concealer on the trouble spots so that they are less noticeable. There are also many different concealer types. There’s cream to powder concealer which provides medium-full coverage and a creamy finish. Theres the liquid concealer with a sheer coverage and a light finish. Finally, there’s cream concealer which gives full coverage and a dewy finish. The powder is the next step. Powder is applied with a brush across the forehead and down the bridge of nose. The brush is used in downward motion along the sides of the face to avoid buildup under the fine facial hairs. Then there’s the blush which is like the same process but gives a nicer color. Blush is applied on the apple of the cheek and outward towards the hairline. There are also a lot of different blush types. We have the cream, the powder, and the liquid stains. The powder is good for oily skin, the cream is good for dry skin, and the liquid stains are good for all skin types. Shadow casting to me is the best part because all the colors are available and this where creativity comes to use. There are so many styles possible when it comes to shadow casting but they have to be done right. First, start by taking a large shadow brush and sweep light color over the whole lid; it brightens the area. Then use a medium to dark color on the crease; starting at the outter corner and working inward. It turns out to look beautiful. Then the eyeliner comes in to make the eyes pop out even more. There are so many different ones to use. There’s liquid, to crayon, to pencil, its just so great how there’s so much variety. The one that fits the face best is the one to choose. Then after the eyeliner comes the finishing touch which is mascara. It makes the eyes look so fabulous! The way to get the best curls is by using a lash curler before applying the mascara on the lashes. The lips always make a statement and the one that goes best with lips is the right one. If a girl has big luscious lips and she’s going for a casual look its not a good idea to use a bright vibrant color. She’s better off going with something light. If her lips are small she can use a bright color to make them a little more live. She can have gloss which provides a great shine. The sheer tints go more for a natural look. The mattes are more a flat and opaque finish. I’ve learned so much with this experience and I even got to interview a real make-up artist! Her name was Kim Clouser, she showed me so many things. She’s actually a make-up artist for Clinique. Kim actually didn’t got to school to learn to be a make-up artist she just learned through on-sight training. Kim loves her career as a make-up artist. When I asked her if she loved her career as a make up artist she clearly stated, †yes, nothing better than making a woman feel beautiful. † I felt so inspired when I was interviewing her because she seemed liked she really loved what she did. Kim actually decided she wanted to pursue this career when she was in her â€Å"teenage years†. In her opinion she says that â€Å"M. A. C Cosmetics† is the best make-up. At M. A. C you can find the best quality make-up to feel beautiful! I use it myself and it’s the best I’ve ever used. Through my experienced I’ve also learned a lot about hair. I love doing hair but not as much as doing make up, because with hair you really have to be careful with what is being done. With hair a hair stylist is working with chemicals and irons and she really has to be good at what she does. I got the chance to spend a little time at empire beauty school and at a salon. Through my experience I learned how to wash hair. Washing hair is actually cool because it feels good on the person you’re washing it. Professional shampoo and conditioner has to be used. The hair has to be washed at least three times and it needs a good treatment as well. Then afterwards the rollers should be put in the hair. Putting rollers in is actually pretty complicated. Its not as easy as it looks. The hair has to be parted in different sections and they have to be even. It must be done with a small comb. Then when the rollers are done the customer needs to be in the hair dryer for at least 45 minutes. Afterwards the hair needs to be blow dried. I love the blow drying part because that’s when the end results start showing up. Blow drying is tricky; the Hair Stylist needs to know how to hold the hair blower and the brush at the same time! She also needs to know how to move the brush and what type of brush to use depending on the length and type of hair she’s blow drying. After that’s done she gets to straighten or curl the hair depending on what style. If curling the hair she uses a curling iron. That’s the tricky one because she needs to know what curls to do and how to hold the iron. Straightening is the easiest part. With curling she needs to know how to do convex curls and concave curls. Convex curls give a lot of volume and it lifts the curls. Concave on the other hand creates a hollow flat design. My favorite ones are the convex curls they’re so full of volume! I also had the chance to interview a hairstylist her name was Alexandra Pontoski. When I asked her if she loved her career she shouted† I love my career!! †. She was â€Å"21† when she decided that doing hair was what she wanted to do. In her opinion â€Å"Sebastian† hair products are the best because â€Å"it’s the brand that she was trained with†. Alexandra went to â€Å"Metro Beauty School† to learn how to become a hair dresser. Alexandra really loves her career and she’s planning on staying in the field for a long time. My experience has been great! I’ve met wonderful people who are passionate about what they do. I am so grateful that I got to meet all of those wonderful people and that I learned so much from them and that I got the chance to hang with them for a little. They took they’re time and dedicated themselves to helping me with this project. I really didn’t like the hair part because its so complicated. The make-up was my favorite and I’ve always loved to do other girls make-up. Like Kim said â€Å" nothing better than making a woman feel beautiful† that’s how I see it too! To me this is a life changing experience its something that I can look back at and tell my children and grandchildren about. I got to live one of my dreams for a little.

Marks And Spencer Strategy Analysis

Marks And Spencer Strategy Analysis Executive summary Marks Spencer is one of the UKs leading retailers with over 21 million people visiting their stores each week. However, in the fiercely competitive market environment, operational management strategies are quite important for retailers to obtain a competitive advantage and access to greater income. This report will introduce the history of MS and different market segment in MS, and analysis how MS can running there business in the competitive environment. Some operation management theories are applied in the process of analysis. Instruction Marks Spencer is one of the UKs leading retailers with over 21 million people visiting their stores each week. Now they sell stylish, high quality; great value clothing and home products and outstanding quality food. However, in the fiercely competitive market environment, operational management strategies are quite important for retailers to obtain a competitive advantage and access to greater income (Chase, 2001). First, it will introduce the history of MS and different market segment in MSà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’and have an overview of Porters models of competition. Second, analyze how MS can running there business in the competitive environment, trying to explain more different market segment in MS and how the different market segment works together, analyzing their competitive advantage in this cloth industry. Finally, it will use Porters global generic strategy to analysis MS, discussing how MS attract different customers by using different strategy in the global environment. Discussion and Analysis Introduction about MS and Overview of Porters Models of Competition Martha is a retail business founded by a Jewish immigrant in United Kingdom 1884. 1884, 21-year-old Michael à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Marcos in Kekegaite open-air market of United Kingdom Leeds City had opened a unique small stalls, which is the embryonic form of Marks and Spencer. Marcos. He displayed goods by category and price tag, getting rid of the bargaining traditional transactions. Most notably one is a billboard in his stall: Do not ask the price, a penny can be. This simple and eye-catching slogan quickly spread among the people in the middle and lower classes. By 1894, the British Spencer Tom with 300 pounds, and Marcos had co-founded Marks Spencer. The company from the early 20th century has become a national chain store. In 1926, MS in all major cities in United Kingdom has established a branch to become the UKs largest retailer. Until today, MS is still one of the worlds most profitable retailers (John Stanley, 1991). Porters competitive strategy theories are mainly five force model, general strategies, value chain, diamond system and industrial clusters. 1) Five Forces model provides a very useful analytical framework to study the competitiveness of industry, competition in the corresponding morphology and how to design a strategy. Porter believes that the intensity of competition in any industry is generally affected by five kinds of factors. The industrys competitive position and comprehensive degree lead to economy structure changes within industry, to determine the intensity of but from industry inner competition and determine the ultimate profitability within the industry. The companys core strategy should be to choose the right industry, as well as the industrys most attractive competitive position. 5 kinds of factors are the threat of potential entrants, threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of buyers, suppliers and the bargaining power of existing competition within industry. 2) The general strategy theory: Porter believes that the struggle with the five forces of competition, each company should only have two basic types of competitive advantage, namely, low-cost and product differentiation, which both with a special scope of business combination can be drawn from three types of successful strategic thinking, these three ideas is the overall cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy and centralized business strategy. 3) Value Chain: Value Chain is an essential tool for analysis of source strengths. It can dissociate a variety of business activities with the value of transmission methods in order to understand the cost features of enterprise, as well as existing and potential differentiation sources. Business activities are independent and dependent. 4) Diamond system: the State plays an important role in the success of enterprise competition. Thus, Porter makes an extension of his research into the national competitiveness. In response to this theme, Porter puts forward the analytical framework of Diamond System (also known as diamond theory). He thinks factors that may strengthen their national enterprises to create competitive advantages include factors of production, demand conditions, business strategy, structure and competitors, related industries and support for industry performance. 5) Industrial clusters: regional competitiveness has a great impact on competitiveness of enterprises. Porter through the study of industrialized countries finds industrial cluster is a common phenomenon in the process of industrialization, in all developed economies, are it is clear that a variety of industrial clusters. Industrial cluster is defined as a specific area, with competitive and cooperative relations, and geographically concentrated, with interactive relevance enterprise, specialized suppliers, service providers, financial institutions, related industries such as manufacturers and other relevant bodies composed of groups. Complex ity and depth of different level of industrial clusters is different (Francisco J, 2009; Mohr, 2002). Analyze market segment and competitive advantage of MS In 1992, the company has 280 chain stores in the United Kingdom with sales of 75 billion dollars. From the view of Sales category, MS accounts for 15% of the UK clothing sales, food sales 4.6%. Guinness World Records reveals that volume of the companys flagship store in London MarbleArch is 3700 dollars per square foot. MS offers clothing having exquisite style, quality and value for money and household items, as well as outstanding quality foods, all products undergo rigorous screening, from more than 2,000 suppliers around the world. M S in the UK and other countries, more than 75,000 employees in the UK, currently has 622 stores in the international context, MS is also actively developing business. In the 07 and 08 fiscal year, sales exceeded 90 billion pounds. From a market positioning perspective, since the 20th century, 30 years, MS makes middle-class as a sale object, and make every effort to provide them with quality-price ratio appropriate goods. For customers to eat well a nd well dressed has always been motto of MS, which is also main historical reason for 100 years of food and clothing at the same time. After the First World War, due to a shortage of materials, a penny sales strategy is difficult to sustain. MS decisively changed its thinking, making sell project focused on clothing and food, and expanding rapidly, with unprecedented turnover. Until 20 the eighties and nineties, MS gained unprecedented praise in terms of quality, service, diversification. However, from 1998 to 2001, MS operating profit had been on the decline. MS decided to change strategy, developed a new program in overseas sourcing and manufacturing goods. This saved a lot of costs, and profits began to improve. With the emergence of electronic commerce, MS also creatively establish a website, combining traditional retailing with e-commerce. This allows people to see a century-old shop in the face of challenges, courage to change themselves and innovative vigor (Jemmeson, 1997). Most traditional retail stores are selling a variety of brands of goods, of course, there are also some traditional retailers also selling a small amount of own-brand goods, such as designers for Target to sell tailored specialty products. MS has sold almost all own-brand goods. And it has also characteristic of its own brand, types of goods is not exhaustive, but rather selective to provide customers with the best-selling inexpensive goods. At present, 80% of MS operating goods have the brand of St. Michael. MS approach is: from store to collect from the customer views and demands for commodities, and then from Marthas technical development department for product innovation and design (or with the manufacturer to design), and then delivered the manufacturer to produce the final re MS Sales through distribution systems. Thus, Martha has become the worlds largest no plant manufacturers. MS persists in shaping its own brand into image of a healthy environment, in its own brands contai ns a fair trade, sustainable, non-genetically modified products, animal welfare and so on. Almost 100% of sales of own-brand are a biggest difference for MS with the general retailers. This unique brand strategy makes its own brand has become endemic in the United Kingdom as part of shopping culture, while Marks Spencer thus have unmatched brand equity. Marks and Spencer is known to the world due to a standardized and information-oriented management style of supply chain management and suppliers to make it a truly meaningful win-win situation. Standardization is Marks and Spencers consistent style, product quality, type and design of store layout, product display, and even the staff of the service program has a meticulous standard. Standardization Management greatest advantage is that we can save a lot of management costs, while consumers can enhance the overall impression of the Marks and Spencer, giving them a home away from home shopping experience. Marks Spencer has achieved a paperless management, which ensures that all over the world Martha chain can continue to run in an orderly manner. Marks Spencer and suppliers have far more than a general partnership, but rather become a complicit relationship to work. Marks and Spencer has nearly a thousand of suppliers, and suppliers Dibos companies having more than 100 years cooperat ion, with more than 60 suppliers with more than 50 years of partnership. On the one hand, Marks Spencer suppliers guarantees strict demands on product quality; the other hand, Marks and Spencer takes it as its responsibility to help suppliers reduce costs, care providers technological transformation and staff welfare (Tony Grundy, 2003). As a result, suppliers are also with the development of the development of Marks Spencer. Close cooperation of both sides ensures Marks and Spencer to achieve its corporate objectives provide its goal customers with high-quality product within the ability to purchase. Customer satisfaction business philosophy: customer satisfaction has always been Marks and Spencers business philosophy. Customer firstly thinks a lot of commodities with high-quality and low price, which is Marks Spencer sought-after standard. Customers are also increasingly focusing on product design and after-sales service, so Marks Spencer has also taken a series of measures accordingly. In recent years, Marks and Spencer pay more attention to understanding customer needs, internal management structure to take the simple and rapid decision-making mechanism, the focus from how to buy to how to sell. Customers buy Martha not satisfied with the goods that can be unconditional refund. Carried out on the part of the membership-based customer and sales records of the Commissioner of the members on a wide range of information, including birthdays, clothing numbers, special preferences, and settlement accounts. Marks and Spencer will be in the form of time by phone to inform new member s of the listing, the monthly will be in the form of a letter seeking the views of members. 1999 opened on-line shopping service, but also a cadre of loyal customers, people satisfaction with Marks and Spencer increasing. Oxford Street is a well-known British commercial street on the number of stores, the London crowd to get on the top spot. MS in such a competitive market environment also pursues their usual high quality of goods and services, and provide an elegant display of the environment. In this area, Marthas main competitors are facing the department store, and Saier Fu Leach youth-oriented casual relaxed style of the shops, in addition to including many other stores. The advantage that MS is different from these competitors is its depth and breadth of product portfolio and a unique marketing strategy (David Campbell, 2009; Lowson, R.H. 2001). Strategy Theory and Practice Analysis about MS M S retail as an industry has its own specific competitive structures, which can be analyzed from the Porter five forces of competition: 1) Entry threat. The low-cost of commercial retail enterprises, lead to lower barriers to entry the retail industry, retail businesses are always faced with the threat of new entrants. 2) Replacement threat. As the retail business operated products, the technical content of most is not high, more likely to imitate, so facing a greater alternative threats. 3) The bargaining power of suppliers. From the most developed countries show that, in the retail business and manufacturing enterprises bargaining in retail enterprises grow in power. 4) The bargaining power of buyers. As the retail business more and more abundant supply of commodities, increasing the power of buyers, which forced more and more retailers adopt the low-cost, low-cost, high-quality service strategy, retailers profiteering opportunities less and less. 5) Existing competitors. At pres ent, the existing competitors in the competitive retail industry has become a variety of forms, a variety of tissue types, regions and business scope of the three-dimensional cross-competition. Facing fierce competition, M S retail businesses have successfully used a variety of competitive strategies to improve their competitiveness. To face the future social development, to further advantage, M S should be good at using the Porters competitive theory, adopting strategy and measures suited to the situation on their own (Dinesh, 2008; S. Ambec, 2002). (A) Differentiation strategy Competitive differentiation is the basic strategy, to pursue I have what people dont have, my superior that what people have customer value that is different from other competitors. Differentiation strategy is that the business through the characteristics production makes their product or service unique, and thus consumers are willing to pay a higher price. Successful examples adopting differentiation strategy are such as the United States Norton department stores, its different, nuanced human service has won praise from consumers, so that no rival can match. Commercial retail enterprises implement differentiation strategy with mainly the work to be undertaken: first, accurate positioning for the enterprise. The main way to differentiate their market position, that is, to determine a companys market position is different from other enterprises or image. Second, establish and run enterprises to brand image. Large-scale commercial retail enterprises shall include at least the brand con notation of the brand of goods, services, brands, and on the basis of the previous two derived from the three-tier corporate brand meaning. Retail business once chooses differentiation strategy, it must be based on its own seeking to establish a brand image to reflect this brand image on the one hand business activities, on the other through the advertising campaign to promote this brand image. Third, long-term to maintain brand image. After companies establishing their own unique brand image, they should make long-term planning to maintain its own brand image (Harry J.P., 2000). (B) Cost leadership strategy Cost leadership strategy is to low operating costs or fees. Retail business goals taking cost-leadership strategy is to become the industrys low-cost firms, which tend to have economies of scale, proprietary technology, preferential supply of commodities prices, lower transaction costs and management fees and other advantages. When enterprises have become a cost leader, they can effectively compete against the other forces of competition, obtaining advantage in competition. The most successful retailer using cost leadership strategy the worlds largest retailer, Wal-Mars. The 20th century, 80s, it began to lease satellite transmission, integrated global marketing data, the commodity management, logistics and distribution, global procurement and data processing of all applications of advanced modern information technology to significantly reduce the cost, annual savings of more than competitors) 750 million of dollars in spending. Commercial retail enterprises can be achieved through t he following areas cost leadership (Voss, 2003). First, they can through cost analysis identify the greatest impact factors on the business cost, controlling systematically cost. Second, it is to establish alliances among commercial enterprises, reducing procurement costs and jointly developing the market. Third is using capital operation, expanding the enterprise scale. Through joint, mergers, acquisitions, joining, enterprise implements chain operations, the rapid expansion of operation scale, to achieve business activities standardization, specialization, centralization. Fourth is scientific management with application of advanced technology. Retail enterprises further reduce business costs through the use of POS (selling real-time systems), MIS (management information systems), EDI (electronic data interchange), EOS (Electronic Ordering System) and other modern management techniques (Shankar, 2004). (C) Objectives accumulation strategy Retail enterprises to implement the strategic objective is to choose one or the accumulation of a group of market segments as part of its services, target markets, strategic optimization, to seek their presence in the target market on the competitive advantage. Because it takes a specific consumer group focused to meet their needs, so companies can be more economical than the other competitors, more thoughtful to meet their needs (Mittal, 2004). In addition, the strategy also adopted by the choice of the target market to find the weakest link in the existing competitors cut into, to avoid a competitor with a strong head-on collision. Select the target build-up strategy, first, to conduct market research and market segmentation. According to differences in consumer demand will be divided into different consumer market segments, so that enterprises can more effectively meet their needs. Second is to determine the target market. Not all segments have value to enterprise. Companies shoul d choose a potential market segment as its target market that will not conflict with a strong competitor. Generally speaking, potential market segments should also have the following three conditions: 1) adequate, the reality of unmet demand or potential demand; 2) Enterprise has ability to provide products or services to meet these needs, and helping the can map; 3) Business in this market segment can achieve certain competitive advantage. Third, accounting for the characteristics of the target market, it is to develop practical sales strategy, including determining the number of sales outlets, choice of a commodity business scope, pricing strategies. In addition, the in the implementation process of objectives accumulation strategic, the cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy can also be used at the same time. Conclusion MarksSpencers is a leading retailer of clothing, food, home ware and financial services. Marks Spencer is one of the UKs leading retailers with over 21 million people visiting their stores each week. However, in the fiercely competitive market environment, operational management strategies are quite important for retailers to obtain a competitive advantage and access to greater income. It could supply goods whatever customer needs timely whether it is the variety of food products or clothing style. This paper first introduces the history of MS and different market segment in MSà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’and have an overview of Porters models of competition. Second, analyze how MS can running there business in the competitive environment, trying to explain more different market segment in MS and how the different market segment works together, analyzing their competitive advantage in this cloth industry. MS is changing the business strategy timely when market environmental change, while the contin uous improvement on strategy goes along with the change of customer demands. Finally, it uses Porters global generic strategy to analysis MS, to face the future social development, to further advantage, discussing how MS attract different customers by using different strategy in the global environment. The outcomes through analysis and discussion give a useful help to retail industry. The experience of the old brand department store tells the world that they can create their own lands as long as the constant innovation even in a traditional industry. Recommendations Through the above analysis, MS has made a great progress, getting over lots of difficulties. However, in todays fiercely competitive market environment, MS should also adopt optimal strategy to obtain a stronger competitive by reducing human and material costs by exploring overseas cheap labors and improving their quality of service and giving full play to their creativity.

The Diet Dr Pepper Campaign Paper Marketing Essay

The Diet Dr Pepper Campaign Paper Marketing Essay The taste of Dr Pepper is the well-known to be oldest soft drink over the world. The taste is unmatched and it is 23 delicious flavours have withstood the test of time. The competition in trying to take a firm hold a firm hold of potential customers is a never-ending, ascending battle in any industry. This is a fight that takes place in the product market. In the U.S. soft drink market is a highly competitive. In order to command market share a brand should be able to differentiate itself from its rivals. In this point, Dr Pepper has always been finding position itself in the world unique soft drink market since it is comprised of 23 flavours. The current slogan is One Taste and You Get It (Dr Pepper Snapple Group, 2008). Currently Dr Pepper holds the third place in market share for the U.S. They fall behind major players Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola which account for 74 % of the market. With consumers embracing the current health trends, diet Dr. Pepper was named one of the top 10 soft drink in 2002 due to health conscious attitudes. This market is predicted to continue its growth worldwide. Diet Dr. Pepper is a yummy drink, and indeed it does, as its ads assure us, taste more like regular Dr. Pepper [assuming we understand: than Diet Coke tastes like Coke or Diet Pepsi like Pepsi, though 7-UP and Sprite might give it a run for its money on that account. Not to mention that the slogan as it stands is nonsensical. Tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper. Of course it does! It is Diet Dr. Pepper, and thus is bound to taste more like regular Dr. Pepper than, say, Pepsi, coffee or mustard! ike a vegetarian who still wants a burger and so eats BOCA, the diet soda drinker longs for the days when 140 calories meant nothing and so diet drinks function as a kind of bubbly nostalgia for youth, even when the consumer has long since convinced him- or herself that he or she prefers diet sodas According to marketline research, the global diet food and drink market is forecasted to reach $113 billion by 2010. As well as Diet Dr. Peppers growth among users, Dr Pepper is one of the few non-diet soda brand to gain market share Diet Dr Pepper Diet Dr. Pepper is liked for its unique, non- cola taste, its ability to maintain its carbonation, and its zero calorie content. More than anything, Diet Dr. Pepper is the absence of cola flavour that seems to turn reviewers on, since there are already so many diet colas on the market. Diet Dr. Pepper is sometimes the only diet soft drink some can tolerate, like Finally Found a Diet Soda That Tastes Good and anther reviewer who also likes the unique qualities and uses for Diet Dr. Pepper and says When Im Feeling Under the Weather, I Reach for a Dr. Pepper. (www.viewpoints.com) Campaign Objectives and Marketing Situation When considering a marketing objective it begins with the companys financial objectives. Profitability, return on investment, and cash flow are the most common elements. The financial objectives are converted into marketing objectives. After marketing objectives are determined, then the company creates new marketing strategies, strategic marketing plan. Marketing strategy is the process of evaluating the options for achieving the marketing goals. Consumer in a market are seldom uniform and often have different needs and wants (Rodengen, 1995). Diet Dr. Peppers advertising campaign is based on an assumed nostalgia for days when drinking regular soft drinks did not reflect some form of moral failure to avoid excess calorie intake. Not only that. The form of this nostalgia is telling: a sleazy lawyer-type makes faulty arguments based on the assumption that Diet Dr. Pepper tastes so much like regular Dr. Pepper that any legal claim brought to bear with regard to Diet Dr. Pepper must be w rong because it has mistaken it for a diet beverage when it clearly tastes like a non-diet beverage. Therefore consumers need to be segmented. That called market segmentation strategy. From this segments marketer identifies, evaluates and select target market based on similarities of needs. Diet Dr Pepper competes in a dynamic and constantly changing category that makes it difficult to increase market share and sustain long-term brand growth. Main factors that challenge the brands growth include the following: Sluggish category growth. The diet, carbonated-soft drink category was growing at an average annual rate of only 1.4 percent. Growth of new-age beverages. The new-age segment-consisting of sparkling juices, natural sodas, flavoured sodas, and other items-was growing at a rapid rate (10 percent annual growth), posing a strong challenge to diet Dr Pepper and other diet soft drinks. Price sensitivity of soft-drink category. Price is a main brand-choice determinant in this category, but Diet Dr Pepper is at a competitive disadvantage inasmuch as it is priced higher on a cents-per-ounce basis than Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola brands. Lack of bottler attention and focus. Approximately three-fourth of Diet Dr Peppers volume is distributed via the Coke and Pepsi bottler distribution network, which in many instances causes Diet Dr Pepper to be a low-priority item with insufficient retailer support. Inadequate distribution. Relative to its larger competitors, Diet Dr Peppers distribution is insufficient in trial-inducing outlets such as food service/fountain and vending machines. Greater spending by main competitors. Diet Dr Peppers share of voice at the onset of the advertising campaign was only 4.8 percent in this highly competitive and advertising sensitive category. Campaign Target and Objectives The target audience for Diet Dr Pepper consists primarily of adults aged 18-49 who are present or prospective diet soft-drink consumers. In view of the above marketing challenges, the objectives for the Diet Dr Pepper advertising campaign (titled The Taste Youve Been Looking For) are as follows: To increase Diet Dr Pepper sales by 4 percent and improve its growth rate to at least 1.5 times that of the diet-soft drink category. To heighten consumers evaluations of the key product benefits and image factors that influence brand choice in this category: it is refreshing, tastes as good as regular Dr Pepper, is a good product to drink at any time, and is a fun brand to drink. To enhance those key brand-personality dimensions that differentiate Diet Dr Pepper from other diet drinks-particularly that Diet Dr Pepper is a unique, fun, entertaining, clever, and interesting brand to drink. The Proposition The proposition strategy for Diet Dr Pepper is The Taste Youve Been Looking For. The Competition The success of Dr Pepper in the soft drink industry illustrates the coupling of realistic knowledge of corporate strengths with sound industry analysis to yield a superior bussiens strategy.The major competitors of Diet Dr Pepper are; Coca-Cola products (Diet Coke), Pepsi-Cola Products (Diet Pepsi) dominates Dr Peppers industry. According to Porter (1998), Dr Pepper choose a strategy of avoiding the largest-selling drink segment, maintaining a narrow flavour line, forgoing development of a captive bottler network, and marketing heavily. The company positioned itself so as to be least vulnerable to its competitive forces while it exploited its small size. The U.S. beverage market is a highly competitive and crowded field. In order to command market share a brand must be differentiate itself from is competitors. To make this differentiations, Dr.Pepper positioned itself as the the wolds uniqe soft drink since it is comprised of 23 flavours. Dr Pepper currently controls 15% of sales volume in the beverage market and has a market value of $6.5 billion. Creative Strategy and Supportive Promotions The creative strategy for Diet Dr Pepper positioned the brand as tasting more like regular Dr Pepper. This is a key claim based on research revealing that nearly 60 percent of initial trial users of Diet Dr Pepper are motivated by the desire to have a diet soft drink that tasted like regular Dr Pepper. The cornerstone of the campaign entailed the heavy use of 15 second commercials, which historically had not been used by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, which instead preferred the entertainment value of longer commercials. The aggressive use of 15 seconds commercials enabled Diet Dr Pepper to simply convey its key taste claim (tasting more like regular Dr Pepper and differentiate the brand from competitive diet drinks. Moreover, by employing cheaper 15 seconds commercials, it was possible to buy many more commercial spots and hence to achieve greater reach, frequency, and GPRs for the same advertising budget. Diet Dr Peppers advertising expenditures totalled  £10 million. In addition to advertising campaign, the brand marketers for Diet Dr Pepper implemented several sales promotion programs to achieve their lofty goals. From January through April, a trade promotion called The Pepper Advantage provided bottlers with  £20 gift certificates that they could distribute to retailers to encourage greater display space for Diet Dr Pepper. In additional, attractive coupons were placed on 2- and 3- litre bottles of Diet Dr Pepper to encourage repeat purchasing by consumers. From April to September, during baseball season, the Pepper Pastime promotion was run to enhance sales of Diet Dr Pepper to consumers in convenience stores. Promotions included free bottles of Diet Dr Pepper and Premium objects, including autographed baseballs and baseball jerseys emblazoned with the Diet Dr Pepper brand name. During May through August, a promotional tie-in with the Foot Locker chain of athletic stores was undertaken. Purchasers of 12- and 24- packs of Diet Dr Pepper received Foot Locker gift certificates if their pack contained a winning game card inside. Collectively, these sales promotion programs were designed to complement the advertising campaign and substantially boots immediate sales of Diet Dr Pepper products. We can see that selection of advertising media is one of the most important and complicated of all marketing communications decisions. Media planning must be coordinated with marketing strategy and with other aspects of advertising strategy. The strategic aspects of media planning involves include four steps: (1) selecting the target audience toward which all subsequent efforts will be directed; (2) specifying media objectives, which typically are stated in terms of reach, frequency, gross rating points (GRPs), or effective rating points (ERPs); (3) selecting general media categories and specific product within each medium; (4) buying a media. Media selection are influenced by a variety of factors such as most important are target audience, cost, and creative consideration. Media planners should select media vehicles by identifying those that will reach the designated target audience, satisfy budgetary constraints, and be compatible with and enhance the advertisers creative message. Basically, companies must market their products with creative, informative, and interesting messages that show how the products meet the needs and wants of consumers. A key factor in marketing a product is communication.

Good and Evil in The Devil and Tom Walker :: The Devil and Tom Walker

Good  and Evil in The Devil and Tom Walker    The concept of evil in the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker" can be shown in many ways, by Irvings' symbolism. In the short story, Tom Walker symbolizes all of mankind by portraying him as being "sinful" and evil. When there is an intent to destroy, then we get a different level of hatred. We see that good vs. evil has been a theme that is ubiquitous in many writings. The story "The Devil and Tom Walker" is a story about a man who lives an immoral life of greed. Walker lives in a wooded area, where it is solemn, and quiet area of New England. Walker runs into the devil and sees that the devil is cutting down someone else's timber. The evil is shown, by the devil in how he is premeditating the murder of a "Deacon Peabody". Walker contemplates this meeting with the devil, and recognizes that evil is wealth is the first priority for him. Tom Walker's wife, was filled with cupidity and wanted to acquire the gold that the devil had promised. Walker hadn't obliged to his wife, and due to his wife's acute cupidity set out on her own journey to acquire that gold. She had been killed because of her greed, and lack of morals for self-prosperity, which resulted in her death. This is an important example of the use of evil within "The Devil and Tome Walker". Walker is told from the devil that he could earn money through usury and extortion. Walker commits to usury and makes a generous sum of money. Walker has no repentance for such a sin and continues to his usury. The evil accumulates in the story as Walker accumulates more and more money, resulting from more and

Respect for Persons,Beneficence, and Justice :: Research Researching Privacy Essays

Respect for Persons,Beneficence, and Justice In July of 1974 The National Research Act was signed into law. Through this act, The Belmont Report was developed over 4 year period of time that included an intense four day conference followed by monthly meetings until it was completed in April of 1979. The Belmont Report sets out to define the ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. The report was established prior to Barney Clark and the artificial heart and therefore was the guidelines that the doctors and researchers had to follow. The report highlights three essential ethical elements that are pertinent in human research and their applications. It was the professional responsibility of the doctors and researchers involved to abide by previously established ethical guidelines. Respect for Persons Respect for the Persons as it relates to the Barney Clark case can be broken down into three important issues. Autonomy The doctors made the assumption that Barney Clark was a fully autonomous person at the time of the artificial heart experiment. In general it is not in doubt that Mr. Clark was an autonomous being, however his terminal condition could have affected his capacity with in the case. While he might have been autonomous in many areas of his life the issue that is relevant to the case was whether he possessed the capacity to make an informed consent. Informed Consent The nine basic rules4 for an informed consent are 1. Identifying the appropriate decision maker 2. Having the discussion at a time when the patient is not distracted or in great pain. 3. Determine that the patient is communicating voluntarily 4. Disclose a. Nature of the proposed intervention b. The purpose c. The risks and consequences d. The benefits e. The probability that the intervention would be successful f. The feasible alternatives g. The prognosis is the intervention/therapy is not given 5. Offer a recommendation 6.

The Driving Force Behind Macbeth Essay

Throughout the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth takes part in many self-destructing acts driven by many external forces, among which the witches’ prophecies are most influential. The three weird sisters initially led him to believe he is soon to be the king of Scotland. The idea the witches planted in Macbeth’s head, â€Å"all hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!† (I, iii, 50), began his conceded way of thinking. With this new false knowledge, Macbeth’s conscience begins to disintegrate and he decides that he must do anything to fulfill his destiny to be king. Ironically, this highly respected warrior who once was the king’s most loyal knight, suddenly is becoming a malicious animal willing to rip away the life of any person or thing impeding him from achieving his potential greatness. One main contribution to this change in priorities is the knowledge gained from the witches of Banquo’s sons becoming heir to the throne. T his is viewed as a threat to his success, providing an incentive to carry out the murder of Banquo and Fleance, which was the goal of the witches. When thinking of ridding of Banquo, Macbeth declares to himself, â€Å" Which in his death were perfect† (III, i, 115). This gives him a false sense of security knowing that he no longer has to compete for the throne. To complete this act all morals are put aside, parallel to his original decision to promote his self desires above all else. Of the three apparitions presented by the witches, one concerned with the disloyalty of Macduff seals Macbeth’s fate; leading him to take drastic measures against Macduff and his family. When going to carry out this act, Macbeth states, â€Å" This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool† (IV, I, 161). This shows that he feels urgency to commit the murder in a timely matter, before he has the chance to think twice. Although murdering an entire family would seem absurd to an average person, Macbeth finds no wrong in it, as he can only focus on becoming king. The predictions that the witches have led the naà ¯ve Macbeth to believe are the main influences that lead him deeper into his inevitable, corrupted future of self-destruction and denial.

Difference in The Supply Chain of B2B and B2C Website

E-Business implies revolution of the vital business processes via the usage of Internet technologies. The Internet is transforming every facet our daily lives and is hard to find any other area which is going through as fast and remarkable change, as the manner in which businesses function. When businesses espouse Internet technologies into their main processes, they begin to reap real business value. Companies irrespective of their size are utilizing the benefits of the Internet to establish communication with their partners besides connecting with their back-end data systems and transacting commerce. Business to Consumer E-Commerce) Points of difference in the Supply Chain of B2B website and B2C website: The most important difference between B2B and B2C lies in the role of the B2B website in Internet terms. B2B websites is concerned mainly with Supply Chain Management — SCM. SCMs constitute web portals that facilitate businesses to enter business transactions directly with their suppliers and distributors in an online manner thereby permitting electronic transfer of orders, preparation of invoices and also payments. Wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers come under this group. On the other hand, B2C websites constitute intermediary portals to connect customers to suppliers. Among the leading ones are ebay. com which is an auction site, yell. com a yellow page website and ZDNet. com which is a technology marketplace. Transactions of the above business happen on the Internet and hence known as e-business. B2C is concerned with the objective of selling to the end user. Normally these are websites like amazon. com, which is the world largest virtual bookstore, which sell goods to the end user. Thus a B2B website deals mainly with other businesses whereas a B2C site provides products to the end user. What is the difference between B2B and B2C? ) Even though any e-business solution is a unique one; it boils down to the categorization level of either B2B or B2C. B2C normally indicates the online trading and auctions, for instance on-line stock trading markets, on-line auctions for computers and other articles. B2C e-commerce points to the budding commerce model in which businesses and consumers communicate through the electronic mode or digital mode in some manner. Taking the example of B2C e-commerce, the aim is more regarding attracting the prospects and making them into sales. The final objective lies in the conversion of shoppers into buyer as quickly and constantly as might be possible. Under the B2C, the flow of information among the business and consumer typically is through Internet. This flow comprises of services, product orders/ service requests from the customers, product information. Apart from that it might also involve flow of tangibles like goods ordered from customers, transfer of documents among business and customers. (Business-to-consumer E-Commerce) The services that are typical of B2C e-commerce comprise of (i) auction stores for instance e. ay. com (ii) online stores for instance amazon. com and (iii) online services for instance travelocity. com. Among the intense outcomes of the information revolution lies in the influence regarding the manner in which economic value gets built and extracted. Access of information is easier as also the price. The benefits of the company are (i) There is an enhanced demand (ii) The entire globe becomes the market place at a fraction of a cost (iii) There is a huge advantage of cost-reduction as regards promotion and sales. (iv) Costs are much lower. The benefits for the customers are that they are able to get a lower price and they are faced with a wider choice and better information and increased convenience. Conducting shopping by the online stores is becoming popular and its acceptance is also increasing. Even though B2B sales constitute the major earner of revenue, yet B2C sales are also supposed to better in the forthcoming years. But for this to happen, online stores are required to provide increased value to the customers and concurrently found novel ways to generate revenues. However there are major challenges confronting the B2C initiatives. These are â€Å"organizational challenge, business process reengineering, system integration problems, problems in matching technology to the needs of the business, the role of business intermediaries, getting browsers to purchase articles, building customer loyalty and fulfillment†. (Business-to-consumer E-Commerce) Under the B2C system the SCM hovers around managing service quality albeit with strong technology mediation. As it is known that internal marketing is required to inspire the staff to become outstanding service providers, it is crucial that internal managerial processes are required to built a friendly, high-availability, high performance website and a seamless delivery and returns procedure. A huge difference among the traditional and B2C services is the surfacing of a complex order taking and fulfillment systems as a replacement of the front-line employees. Therefore it needless to say that service problems in B2C often come from the breakdown of such systems. The front-end processes are concerned with the design and maintenance of websites, attracting visitors to their websites, and making them customers and getting repeat orders. In the back-end processes constitute system dealing with order fulfillment, delivery and returns. The managers' in charge of B2C are required to govern the processes to get optimum performance. A point to be noted here is that the customers get the experience of those elements comprised of the front-end and back-end processes which impact them in a direct fashion. Failures in B2C have every chance to happen in these visible processes; however they can also happen in the background and the failure of managers to steer these processes in appropriate methods. (Conceptualizing B2C Businesses as Services) B2C relationships are present as a crucial part of the e-commerce business. Web sites applying these relationships rely on the performance and design of the website. Consumers make decisions depending on just these needs sometimes and a business requires doing well in the required needs of the consumer. These categories of businesses also deal with marketing, and the most popular websites have been introduced before the general public through advertisements fueling interests to the consumer. After gaining recognition, these business model sites improve their selling for a long-term period. (Lengkeek; Solack; Preston; Ritzema; Tapia, 2004) One more angle to B2B initiative in the Supply Chain Management — SCM space is the rise of the B2B Trading Community Evolution. The surfacing and popularity of the Internet trading communities have been exciting. Although it is still in its infancy, there is more to it in the coming years. Majority of the trading communities presently are supporting the two fundamental works of e-commerce that are Dynamic Product Catalogues and Order Processing that are Buy/Sell and related deals. It is envisioned that the final capability and the ultimate evolutionary results of the trading community explosion locates a net of five leading functions that the entire trading community will present in the years to come. These five functions transcend simple systems functionality and include everything that is needed for most efficient delivery of a holistic supply chain solution. To be more specific these are â€Å"Dynamic Product Catalogues, Order Processing, Multi-Firm Logistics Planning, Multi-Planning Logistics Operations and Consolidated Transportation and Delivery†. (B2B Trading Community Revolution) In order to completely exploit the capability of B2B, companies are required to concentrate in terms of eHubs that are web enabled platforms that permit trading partners to locate exchange and share information connected to buying and selling activities. A number of transactions regardless of them being inbound or outbound needed in customer order fulfillment are carried out in an automated fashion. A definition of eHub given by Kevin McKelvie and Mark Simmonds state eHub as a â€Å"set of technologies that give end to end Supply Chain integration and collaboration, sharing of information, visibility into a wide array of activities connected with demand planning, direct procurement and execution of order†. (Business-to-consumer E-Commerce: The eHub Concept) In this act, the eHub makes an optimum use of the supply chain itself and all its participants. It gives a full transparency at every stages of execution of a transaction. Implementation of the incoming transaction of the customer present in the â€Å"far up' in the channel to contract manufacturing inside the supply chain is automated. In doing this, the inventory is optimized. (Business-to-consumer E-Commerce: The eHub Concept) Through the use of the eHub information flow is facilitated to everybody concerned in the supply chain thereby facilitating them to react in a timely and efficient fashion. Therefore the eHub primarily matches the supply chain collaboration as it is accessible to several different parties. All the constituents contribute their share of information to build a collection of dynamic information inside the critical area of the eHub. As all the trading partners are able to use the information, it caters to multiple functions. It supplies not just the present view o the order but also supplies visibility into other related parts of fulfilling that order, like production capacity, availability of inventory and logistics and fulfillment status. (Business-to-consumer E-Commerce: The eHub Concept) There is a difference exists in the B2C and B2B marketing which has to be kept in mind while developing marketing activities. The terms were formed to differentiate Internet Commerce business that sold mainly to consumers and those whose markets constitute other businesses. These expressions have been broadened their definitions to imply any business which primarily sells to the ultimate customer — B2C or to other businesses which is B2B. Even though marketing programs are identical for each type of business, the difference lies in the manner of their execution, the message and the outcome of the marketing activities. At the core of successful B2B or B2C initiate is an efficient Supply Chain Management — SCM which can make or mar an e-commerce transaction. However, the presence of SCM appears in more visible form in case of B2B as businesses have to keep in touch with suppliers, databases and warehouses present at multiple locations, which are connected through computer networks. Presence of eHubs a recent addition will be playing an important role in the coming years to boost e-commerce transactions. The role of SCM in case of B2C on the other hand deals with the customer order processing, payment acceptance in a secured manner, order tracking while the product is in transit, shipping details and handling returns.