Black People and Family Support Essay

The text â€Å"Dougy† by James Moloney captures interest of the young reader because of some of the main themes such as Family Support, Racial Conflict, Racial Discrimination and Determination, which is happening all around us today. One of the important themes in the book is Family support. Dougy and Gracey are from a very close family and are always there for each other. An example of this is when Gracey goes to Brisbane and her families supporting her run. Mum stretched out her arm around Graceys shoulder and hugged her close for a second. â€Å"You wont come last, Gracey, â€Å" she said. Another example is when Dougy is supporting Gacey on the hall roof waiting to be picked up by the helicopter. The quote for that example is â€Å"The Moodaguddas got Gracey. He’s taken her back into the water. The have to help her. † Looking after happens a lot throughout this novel and this is called family support. Another important theme in â€Å"Dougy† is Racial Conflict. Racial conflict arises in the book when the white people think they’re superior to the aborigines. An example of this is when Craig is upset with Raymond’s dad because he doesn’t pull his weight at work and Craig never gets to see his dad. â€Å"Your fathers never here and when he is he’s always drunk, he never does anything. † One more example of Racial conflict is when is when Cooper is in the hall having an argument with Dougy, Brett, Gracey and Tiny. The quote for this is â€Å"Johnny Warren hasn’t done a thing. None of the blokes have. Hell they haven’t† shouted Cooper. There’s already one man been shot one on our side. † Racial Conflict happens everyday in Dougys town and gets so serious it ends up a war. Another theme in †Dougy† is Racial Discrimination. Racial Discrimination is the way of life in Dougys town with the whites and the blacks. An example of this is when Dougys mum wanted to get into a taxi but the taxi driver didn’t trust her because of her skin colour. â€Å"I want to be sure you have cash on you. Sometimes I’ve driven YOU people around and gotten no money at the end. Another example of in the book â€Å"Dougy† is in Dougys town where the white people own everything and own the higher positions. â€Å"No blacks in our town were the boss of anything always the whites. † Racial Discrimination happens a lot in Dougys town and Dougy has to put up with it and cope. Determination is a theme not only found in the book but in everyday life. An example of this is when Gracey wants to run at state despite what the white kids say. â€Å"Gracey, you cant afford to run â€Å" Gracey just ignored those white kids say. Another example is when Dougy is trying to find Gracey when she’s in the water. â€Å"The Moodagudda has sucked her in. We have to find her† Determination is a big part of Dougys personality. The novel Dougy deals with many issues that relate to aboriginal people living in contemporary society through the experiences of Dougy and his family. We become more aware of the Aboriginal perspective as the novel explores the theme of Racial discrimination, Racial Conflict, Family Support and Determination. By Steve Jedrzejczak

An Evaluation of Amazon.Com

Many companies which embarked in e-commerce had failed especially during the period of the â€Å"dot. Com bubble†. The failure of these dot-comes were due to the fact that many of these companies do not have a viable business model and they were focus mainly on increasing their market share at the expense of their bottoming. Amazon. Com is one of those companies which had survived and grown to become the world's biggest online store. Several critical success factors have been identified which had played an Important role In Amazon's achievement. These can be summarized under Turban et. L's major SF, of which developing a good technical infrastructure and user friendly web interface, cultivating customer acceptance and Improving the level of trust between buyers and sellers through constant focus to satisfy customers' needs and expectations, understanding the market situation and competition and finding ways to overcome these external threats stands out amongst others as being practiced by Amazon. Amazon's success story can also be attributed to their adopting of Eisenhower and Gull's (2001) second strategy of nurturing and leveraging on unique resources and competencies.There is also an element of the first strategy recommended by Eisenhower and Soul lee to establish a position (build a fortress) and defend it. Amazon has managed to create a global brand name within the e-community, to the extent that whenever anyone wants to purchase any goods through the web, they will seek out Amazon's website without any hesitation. The burst of the dot. Com bubble that started on March 10, 2000 to October 2002 had wiped out $5 trillion in market value of technology companies and caused the failure of many e-commerce companies.Amazon. Com had managed to survive due to the strategies adopted, especially their strategy to nurture and leverage unique resources and competencies as recommended by Eisenhower and Soul. Other critical success factors of Amazon. Com are as li sted by Turban et al (2000), which states that for e-commerce to succeed, companies should provide user-friendly web interface, ensuring customer acceptance and high level of trust between buyers and toys sellers, creating new partners Ana alliance, mass customization.Amazon Ana always placed priority on ensuring customer satisfaction, and due to this are constantly reengineering their processes in marketing, sales and order management, customer service and procurement in order to provide the best value to customers. The fall of internet-based companies during the era of the dot. Com bubble can be attributed to the fact that many of these companies were not guided by proper strategies to succeed in e-commerce. Many do not have viable business models in place but were focused mainly on increasing their market share at the expense of their bottoming (Wisteria's article on â€Å"Dot. Mom bubble†). While Amazon had remained frugal, many of these failed dot-comes had spent lavishl y and used up most of their investor's funds for advertising and promotion purposes. Too much emphasis was placed on increasing stock-valuations and going public, instead of building a sound business that focus on strong customer relations (Gleaners, 2000). When the returns on their investments were low or not attractive enough, the investors started to pull out causing the collapse of these companies. I would like to take the example of Boo. Mom as one of the famous dot. Com failures. Boo. Com was launched in the Autumn of 1999, to sell branded fashion wear online. Within a short span of 18 months, the company had been placed into receivership after spending $188 million of venture capitalists' funds. The fundamental problem was that the company had been too ambitious and embarked on an extremely aggressive growth plan which is not sustainable. The company targeted itself to become a global company and simultaneously launched in multiple European countries.Its founders had relied o n the ready availability of venture capital money to see the company through the first few years of trading until sales caught up with operating expenses. From the 2nd quarter of 2000, such capital ceased to be available after dramatic falls in the NASDAQ and this affected the company very badly Boo. Com failed to follow the most important critical success factors recommended by Turban et. L ii to provide a user-friendly web interface and technical infrastructure. According to Wisped, the boo. Mom website was â€Å"widely criticized as poorly designed for its target audience, going against many usability conventions†. The article went on to elaborate that â€Å"The site relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash technology to display pseudo-AD views of wares as well as Miss Boo, a sales- assistant-style avatar. † Its interface was also very non user friendly, and required the user to answer four or five different questions before revealing that there were no products in st ock in a particular sub-section. The same basic questions then had to be answered again until results were found.During that time, dial up internet connections was the norm and when the web pages take too long to load, or too cumbersome to navigate on the site, visitors will be discouraged from visiting the site. Another critical success Doctor Is tenure must De a level AT trust Detente Dryers Ana sellers. Rejection and return rate of products sold was high. Although delivery for return of goods was free, confidence level of customers became low and affected the sales for the company. Due to the lack of confidence, customer acceptance is badly effected.Severe competition is another factor faced by many BBC companies and affected their chances to survive. Competition for market share is stiff amongst these dot- comes, and they also had to compete with existing brick-and-mortar companies which already had a dedicated and loyal customer base and trusted store names (Duncan, 2000). Thin gs worsened when the brick-and-mortars started going online. Robbing (2001) added that the dot-comes then had to spend more on advertising in order to gain brand recognition and this further strained their financial resources and caused their downfall.From its inception, Amazon. Com had in place various strategies which have helped it survive the dot. Com bust. In many ways, we can relate the strategies adopted by Amazon to the three distinct ways to compete in the marketplace as recommended by Eisenhower & Soul. In fact, Amazon has adopted a good mix of all the three approaches. Its first strategy was to establish a clear vision, ‘e to be the world's most customer-centric company and to establish a place where customers could buy anything.They have managed to build a fortress and positioned itself as the world's biggest online bookstore, and eve now become the world's most popular online store for almost any type of goods. Another strategy was to leverage on available resourc es especially from their technology standpoint. As the company had already incurred high fixed costs to develop the software for their online storefronts, it makes sense to expand into other product categories in order to reach out to a wider market, and share out the costs amongst the various product segments.By offering a bigger variety of products, the company can tap into a bigger market, while spreading out its risks as well as their axed costs amongst a large category of products, in order to generate more profits. In this instance, it has an advantage over specialty stores like Pets. Com, an online pet supplies store. It may not be practical to order products like pet food or other needs and have to wait several days for the goods to arrive, or in the case of Furniture. Com which sells basically furniture items, it does not make sense when the shipping costs may be more than the cost of the item itself.Amazon. Com was also mindful of the critical success factors expounded by Turban et. L by forming powerful alliances with other companies in order to increase their market share. Examples are their collaboration with rival Borders, the introduction of the Amazon's Associates and Affiliates Program, and partnerships with many other companies. I Nell alma to tall inelegance In e-commerce as tenet performance goal (Eisenhower and Soul) was evident from the numerous partnerships and strategic alliances formed with other BBC enterprises.In order to attract customers, the website must be user-friendly and easy to navigate, which Amazon had taken action to ensure. This is another critical success factor commended by Turban et. Al which Amazon had taken heed of, which makes them succeed where Boo. Com had failed. Amazon also offer personalized shopping recommendations, which add value to customers' shopping experience. On the other hand, Boo. Com operated a complicated Web site which relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash, and their web page was very slow to load . This became a distinct disadvantage especially during the time when Internet connection was usually dial-up.For many of the failed companies, the focus was not on creating value for customers but more to establish the company's worth. Amazon on the other hand placed priority on enhancing customer experience and trust which ultimately will translate to customer loyalty and repeat purchases. This strategy has always been in place since its early days and is articulated in their annual reports. According to their tradition, the annual reports will always carry a reprint of their 1997 Letter to Shareholders, in which they had stated their commitment to this mission.As Jeff Bozos stated in their 2008 Annual Report, their pricing objective is to earn customer's trust (Appendix – Message from Jeff Bozos to shareholders of Amazon. Com). Amazon. Mom has already established its dominance in the BBC sector and is now one of the biggest and most popular online store in the world. Their success can be attributed to the fact that they have strong strategies in place. In order to maintain their position as the leader in e-commerce, Amazon must ensure that all these strategies continue to be adopted and further enhanced.Amazon will have to constantly upgrade their website to keep abreast of technology development. Amazon has one of the most easy-to-use e-commerce platform in the world. They are constantly improving on their technology base with the aim to enhance customer experience and meet customers' expectations. They are able to provide personalized recommendations for customers, based on feedback provided by the customers on their likes and dislikes, tracks customer's browsing history and viewing records.They even track a visitor's recently viewed items even though the person was not a member at that point in time, or signed on to the account earlier. That is how customer-centric the company is, and how they make use of technology to enhance customer experience. Another example of the use of technology to meet customer needs is their launch of Kindle 2†³, which is an improved version of Kindle, a wireless reading device that is capable of holding 1,500 books and weighs a mere 10. 2 ounce.Digital books purchased are delivered within 60 seconds, and customers can enjoy their reading anywhere, anytime wilt ten mainly module evolve. Having learnt from the experience of those failed dot-comes which did not possess viable business models unlike Amazon, new players in e-commerce must now ensure that they draw up an effective marketing strategy so that they can attract customers to their site to generate sales. To become successful, companies embarking in the BBC business must reengineering their business process to suit the needs of the changing environment and business rules.While a viable business model is important, its successful implementation can only be possible through process re-engineering that covers various aspects of the value c hain. The fundamental area that needs to be targeted for process reengineering is in Sales and order management. In Amazon's case, customers can track the delivery of their orders, and this creates a sense of trust in the customers when they know the exact location in the shipment of the goods ordered. Amazon has always placed priority and strong values on developing top class customer service so that customers remain loyal to them, as this will generate repeat orders.Customer satisfaction can be achieved when the company is able provide a variety of products and services that meets their expectation. While the company expands its coverage and market reach, it must be able to develop a good distribution channel so that customers can expect to receive their goods in the shortest possible time. This will be possible through leveraging on the network of suppliers, business customers, partners and even their competitors. Amazon. Com has now become an icon of the e-commerce community.

Although continued industrial development is important and Essay

Although continued industrial development is important and inevitable,companies must take care of the environment in the process - Essay Example Environment protection is the method of preserving the natural environment regarding the interests of the stakeholders, including customers, employees, government and the other influencing bodies with utmost priority. It has often been argued in this regard that the pressure of over-population (allegedly encouraged by business sector growth within a given region) and continuous industrial development acts as the main determinants of environmental degradation (Tamazian and Rao 4-6). Subsequently, such external pressures in terms of the social responsibilities of the corporate bodies have recently been motivating them to go greener by lessening their rate of environmental degradation and at the same time, ensuring continuous growth to meet the customer demand to achieve economic development. Hence, a two way prolonged approach has to be followed in parallel by companies in the modern era. By following steps like switching from non-renewable sources of energy to renewable sources, targe ting cleaner and hygienic production procedures, reusing wastes and implementing strategies that focus on environment friendly product designing, an organization can easily maintain the sustainable growth (Koh, Ghazoul, Butler, Laurance, Sodhi, Mateo-Vega and Bradshaw 67-71). THESIS STATEMENT As can be observed from the above discussion, companies are certainly witnessing pressure to consider environmental sustainability with almost equal and even at times with more importance than their profitability concerns, in the advent of continuous industrial development. This thesis will correspondingly, aim at assessing the need for taking environmental care measures by companies and the associated challenges, by synthesizing on the argument that â€Å"Although continued industrial development is important and inevitable, companies must take care of the environment in the process†. NEED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CARE FOR COMPANIES IN CONTINUED INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT The series of debates emp hasizing industrial development implications on the natural environment in the forms of deforestation, climate change as well as air and water pollution has apparently contributed to the need for environmental care within the modern organizations (Esty & Winston 7-12). From a generalized point of view, it has been argued in the recent era that as a consequence of industrial development at a rapid and a continuous rate, need for resources among companies have also increased manifolds. In order to suffice this growing need for resources, especially energy resources and natural ingredients, companies have been sourcing large amounts of these assets from the environment. Such extractions have further resulted in various environmental challenges, majorly attributed in the form of climate change, unsustainable minimization of natural resources and imbalances in the biological cycle on earth (Esty & Winston 35-40). For instance, Geist and Lambin argues that the major proximate causes of en vironmental degradation through deforestation as a consequence of industrial development are unplanned agricultural expansion, irresponsible wood extraction and infrastructural expansion through building roadways and city areas in support of urbanization as observable in Africa, Asia and Latin America (5-15). Subsequently, these risk factors have been inhibiting the stability of the

Green Attitude Leads To Green Action Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Green Attitude Leads To Green Action - Case Study Example People find it difficult in differentiating what waste product can be recycled and which cannot. Taking the initiative to act green is quite a difficult task. 2) Incentives can be necessary to alter consumer behavior that is related to reusing and recycling. The advantage of this is that a lot of plastics and non degradable material can be reused and recycled. This can also save on a lot of expenses that might have been incurred. However, the disadvantage of this method is people may not get the sense of conserving the environment and put more focus of obtaining the incentive. People may focus on the incentive and not see the sense of protecting the environment. 3) As a green living consultant, I would advice Madhu to increase her awareness on electricity use. She should try to minimize on the use through turning any application off when not in use. She should also reduce driving the car for short distance that she can walk. This will help to reduce carbon emissions. Plant a tree to provide shade or start a garden because this will cut down on cost of buying vegetables (Kocsis, 2010). 4) I can help Madhu find organizations that provide an eco friendly seals of approval for household’s items like grocery purchase. This includes agencies like green seal which ensure that everything you buy has a green seal. There are sites on the internet like Eco friendly shopping. com and eco friendly products. com. The Green Seal TM is also a nonprofit organization that I will recommend for

Knowledge can be gained from books and scientific observation. What Essay

Knowledge can be gained from books and scientific observation. What are some other important sources of knowledge andd why are they valuable - Essay Example The people from whom we learn something from are normally designated as authority. Apart from family, other common authority figures are celebrities. There is a lot of information that you can learn from authorities. However, this does not mean that they are always right. You can use rationalization to come up with many amazing facts. This is to say that when you are presented with a fact, you can deduce something else from it. For example, if all cats have hair and Baggs is a cat. Then Baggs has got hair. When using deductions to learn something new, the original two statements have to be true. However, deduction and rationality has its own downsides which can be referred to as logical fallacies. An example of a fallacy is as follows: All cats have got hair. Baggs has got hair. Therefore, Baggs is a cat. The third statement is a fallacy in itself and it can apply in any complex situation. That is why there is need to be extra careful when deducing facts. If you do not have information at hand about something, it is better not to deduce anything as doing so might lead to problems and misinformation. Intuition is one of the natural reactions that are very hard to understand, but it is one of the most accurate sources of information. Insight is the knowledge you have about something and it can be learned from books, scientific observation or experience. In most cases, intuition and insight go hand in hand. Intuition and instinct are somehow interlinked. Intuition is a like a small voice that tells you what to do and instinct is the action that results from the intuitive feeling. If you have some insight into something, then you will intuitively react to it the right way. For instance, you will know to slap at a mosquito when it bites you. This intuitive action is as a result of the insight you have about mosquitoes. Relying on intuition alone to come up with solutions to tough

The drug-crime relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The drug-crime relationship - Essay Example The act aimed at curtailing terrorism is also charged with stopping drug smugglers before they cross the borders. On January 9, 2005, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the creation of new Border Enforcement and Security Task Forces, to increase control at the border. The groups will be nationally integrated teams with federal, state, and local representation specifically directed at cross-border criminal activity (DHS, 2005 http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic). Chertoff said: "These new task forces will take a comprehensive approach to dismantling criminal organizations that exploit our border. The task forces will be charged with sharing information, developing priority targets, and carrying out coordinated law enforcement operations that will enhance border security." ((DHS, 2005 http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic). However, prior to this recent development, The Homeland Security Act had already begun working to protect Americans. In the days following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Americans began questioning the security of our borders and the legislation in place aimed at keeping our country safe. In 20002, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act, a multi-layered approach to protecting Americans. The act did several things, but most importantly, it created a Department of Homeland Security with a mission â€Å"preventing terrorist attacks within the United States, reducing the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism at home, and minimizing the damage and assisting in the recovery from any attacks that may occur† (http://www.whitehouse.gov/deptofhomeland/analysis/title1.html#101, paragraph 1). The Department of Homeland Security was given five primary responsabilities: information analysis and infrastructure protection; chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and related countermeasures; border and transportation security; emergency preparedness and response; and coordination with other parts of the federal government (http://www.whitehouse.gov/deptofhomeland/analysis/title1.html#101, paragraph 1). It is under its border transportation and security mission that the act has impacted the drug-crime relationship. The Homeland Security Act consolidated many governmental departments under one Homeland Security Department heading. Among the departments effected were U.S. Customs and U.S. Border Patrol, two agencies charged with stemming the flow of drugs at the border. Although the two agencies had similar missions, they reported to different departments, and U.S. Border Patrol was an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration. Following the passage of the Homeland Security Act, the two departments were merged together under a new heading: U.S. Custom and Border Protection. From that, two new arms of the department were created, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Protection. The new department was given a new mission; "keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States - places CBP on the frontline of the war on terrorism. As the nation's unified border agency, CBP is strategically positioned at and between our ports of entry to prevent further terr orist attacks on our nation. This includes carrying out our traditional border-related

In this assignment you will draw two primary sources and two secondary Research Paper

In this assignment you will draw two primary sources and two secondary sources written after 1990 to explore a topic addressed i - Research Paper Example There are several factors that played a key role in the collapse of one of the greatest empires in the world. According to Bauer (84), several factors that occurred within a span of approximately 500 years were instrumental in the collapse of a strong empire, the Roman Empire. Expansion of the Rome Empire can be referred to as one of the major causes of its collapse. Rome kept conquering many nations and therefore there was rapid growth in the land they owned. Consequently, there was great need to defend the borders and the territories of Rome. As they struggle to keep this under their control, emperors increased taxes on non-Romans and these created more enmity where frequent rebellions arose. Lack of enough solders to safeguard their territories forced them to employ foreigners who were against them resulting in the collapse of the empire. Since the empire was growing at a rapid rate, it needed more soldiers for it to remain a great conqueror. As such, militarism was adopted as a m ean of the emperor and his compatriots remaining in full control. In this case, constant fighting needed heavy military spending. This demand for the military was high since the Roman Empire became over stretched, and the need for more solders was proportional to its needs for expansion and protection of their overstretched territories. Due to this, there was overspending in the military body, hence other fundamental activities were left with few resources. Vital issues such as provision of houses to the public, quality roads and channel were left untouched. This also resulted in emperors raising taxes repeatedly resulting in increased levels of inflation. Roman Empire faced a failing economy and increased levels of inflation. Inflation is a state where prices increase and the purchasing power of currency declines. The Rome Empire was in this situation and the government was threatened of impoverishment as it did not have sufficient cash to cater for its needs. Overexpansion and eff orts to protect their territories resulted in this. For instance, the increased population required more militaries and the demand forced them to recruit and train more people. This process was demanding and more money was used in paying the large numbers of military personnel .The other factor is that after they diminished new lands conquering, the flow of gold to their economy decreased. This resulted to less use of coins and the coin become less valuable. Due to over-expansion of the territories, there were more merchants from the conquered places who raised the prices of the goods that they sold. Several persons changed their way of trading and butter trade erupted eventually. People stopped using coins and they began to undertake barter trade in order to get what they wanted from others. This went to as far as paying salaries in the form of food and clothing while tax collection also changed and vegetables and fruits were used to pay taxes. In this case, the expansion of territ ories shows how the economy was affected resulting to its decline. According to Goldsworthy(72) Over expanded Roman Empire territory had people from different ethnic groups and was over populated. As a result, the labor force was composed of slavery resulting in unemployment. Plebs in

Different learning styles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Different learning styles - Essay Example These different learning styles are visual, auditory, and tactile (Call and Featherstone 45). An individual is with visual learning style if learning is through images and visual representations of ideas, opinions, theories, and knowledge. Visual learning is the first learning style. Visual learners will also easily understand symbols that show the relationship of one idea to another. Key words or key phrases can help make the meanings clearer, but the information should still be outlined with images to help visual learners grasp the information easily. These learners are usually with good visual memory and they retain more information when learning is done through knowledge maps, concept diagrams, tables, charts, and other graphic organizers. They mostly use the eyes to learn (Call and Featherstone 47-8). The second learning style is auditory, which utilizes an individual’s sense of hearing. An individual with auditory learning styles learn better through speaking and listening. They usually do not respond well to written information. They need to hear the information for them to be able to retain it. For example, an auditory learner will easily memorize a phone number by saying it aloud and then memorizing how it sounded. Most of them benefit well in lectures and do well in oral exams and speeches. They mostly use the ears and hearing the lessons will help them retain the knowledge (Call and Featherstone 55-6). The third type of learning style is the tactile learning or kinesthetic learning. Tactile learners learn better when they are physically doing something. They are also considered the doers. According to experts, individuals with this learning style usually learn through discovery or action. They usually act first before learning from that action. They are also good at doing 2 things at the same time. What normally happens is that tactile learners will remember things

JAPANESE PUBLIC SCHOOLS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

JAPANESE PUBLIC SCHOOLS - Essay Example Instead, students from America have pressure to attain satisfactory grades despite the period they spend in school being minimal. This is unlike in Japan where students attend school for 240 days per year with the holidays being during the spring season a period that the students work on their homework and projects. This makes the students to be skillful in comparison with those of United States. United States is a multicultural state which makes it hard for schools to be managed. This is unlike in Japan where the culture is uniform making it easy to manage the students and treat the students uniformly. This has an impact on the overall performance of students. School curriculum in Japan is effective with the aim being to pressure students to work hard in school. It has various tests that the student must pass in order to move to the next level. In case, a student fails to pass these exams, there are career oriented schools that are aiming at nurturing the students’ talents. This is unlike in America where those who fail to pass to the next level look for their fate in the society making some of them venture in criminal activities. American curriculum varies depending with the state. This division weakens their curriculum as different states have their methods of teaching. This is unlike in Japan where they use a unified curriculum giving the educational ministry a chance to strengthen the

Seminal Works Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Seminal Works - Annotated Bibliography Example hysics has been one of the many philosophical fields which have been found interesting by the greatest of philosophies in the world over the past years. Having been able to develop for the longest time, it has been adopted in explaining very many things by man, and because of this it has been able to become a major field which has seen very many students behind it. While there are other fields and concepts of philosophy such as epistemology, the concept of metaphysics has been greatly considered as major concept which has a lot foundations in defining the qualities and existence of objects and beings, and because of that there have been other concepts which have been developed through itself, and a good example include expressionism and existentialism. â€Å"Films are created and written with intentional meanings embedded in almost all aspects such as settings, sets, props, music and even title and props.† These are used to persuade and pass a given message to the audience. Bound can be analyzed as a rhetorical artifact delivering the above qualities. Beginning with the title of the film ‘bound’, the viewer understands the lesbianism between Violet and Corky. The settings and sets in the film also represent the intended themes of the film. For example, Corky and Violet meet and Violet requests her to help in retrieving an earring. The characters in the film have also helped pass a given message thereby persuading the audience. Following the originality of metaphysics, man wanted to understand the concepts and manner in which human existence was, and how he did relate with the other objects and things having physical bodies and which existence in the world. As well, the non-existence of objects and materials would also become something worth understanding, and thus the field would come up with more foundations aimed at underpinning the major thoughts and understanding of the ancient philosophers with their metaphysics and epistemology. In present days, there

Gullivers Travels Essay Example for Free

Gullivers Travels Essay The saga of Lilliput is more fun and entertaining than that of Brobdingnag. Discuss. Gullivers Travels is a classic example of eighteenth century satire, one of Swifts greatest works in an outcry against the values and practices of his time. While his words ruthlessly attack numerous aspects of human society and human character, by the nature of satire his weapon is humour. So there is plenty of amusement to be had through the course of the book, most notably in the first two adventures, in Lilliput and Brobdingnag. On Gullivers first adventure to Lilliput, he awakes on the island to find himself bound and tied to the ground by the six-inch tall Lilliputians. After being stung with arrows and stabbed with spears, he decides to obey, and then help the Most Mighty Emperor of Lilliput and his country. So we see the foremost target of Swifts humour and satire, that surrounding Gulliver himself, as Richard Rodino said, Gulliver is a satirical device enabling Swift to score satirical points. In Lilliput he subjects to the Emperors imprisonment and his wishes, some strange, such as when he desired I would stand like a Colossus, draw up the troops in close order, and march them under me. Some others were simply humiliating, however, such as when, upon receiving his decree of liberty, he swears to it with great cheerfulness and content, despite the fact that he does not agree fully with all of the articles within, and proceeds to be grateful for the honour of the Emperors presence, to whom he prostrates himself. This acquiescence on the part of Gulliver to a people who, to him, are little more than dolls that walk and talk, is degrading on Gullivers part, yet also funny, since his lack of humour and perspective leaves him open to ridicule. He, who can tow whole fleets and span an entire blustrug with a single step, is reduced to begging a miniature monarch for his freedom. Later on, he receives the ingratitude of the Lilliputians for the desecration of the royal palace, when he put out the fire by urinating on it. The result, due to his enmity with Skyresh Bolgolam, was that he was sentenced to have his eyes cut out. While most others in such a position would have laughed at being threatened by a people a twelfth their size, he is worried and scared by the decree to have his eyes put out. Despite the fact that the sentence expects him to gratefully and humbly submit, depending on him not resisting as very sharp-pointed arrows are discharged into his eyes, he decides to run anyway, to the court of Blefuscu. This cowardice amplifies the humour in his behaviour, the image of a giant being scared and running away from midgets is one that is contrary to the one we would expect. Compare this behaviour to the way that Gulliver presents himself in Brobdingnag. At almost every turn his diminutive size is ridiculed, he becomes the plaything of a nine-year old girl, the rival of a thirty-foot dwarf, and is forced to perform a debasing show till I was half-dead with weariness and vexation. While he is as subservient, indeed, perhaps even more than before, he is no longer doing so to a people far smaller than him. This image of Gulliver being overworked by people far bigger, more important than him, is only funny from the big peoples point of view. As we read it, there are, instead, distinct undertones of slavery and torture. Another example is when the Maids of Honour would sometimes set me astride upon one of her nipples, as well as various other appalling things, leaving Gulliver far from giving me any other emotions other than those of horror and disgust. While one could find comedy in this passage, it is much cruder and less funny than similar passages in Lilliput, a typical example of the type of humour found in this second adventure. Although Swift is satirising our fascination with beauty and appearances, the power of this extract stems not from underlying implications but from the shock of having the human body so cruelly assaulted. Thus, instead of subtly hinting his satire as he does in Lilliput, Swift takes a far harsher line in Brobdingnag, using Gulliver to demonstrate the shortcomings and failings of the human race, through the medium of his various adventures there. Its always entertaining when youre dealing with those smaller and weaker than you are, but a great deal less funny when its someone more powerful dealing with you. The affairs and events which occur in the two adventures also contribute a great deal to the humour. When Gulliver is in Lilliput, one of the first curious things he relates to us is the practice of choosing ministers for governmental and court positions by the nominees skill at dancing on a tightrope or leaping under or over the Emperors stick. This idea seems ridiculous to us, it probably elicited a few smirks when you first read it, but Swift is alluding to the way that in his day and age, many government officials achieved their positions from skill with words or putting money in the right places. Politics becomes a mad ballet, says Philip Pinkus. When we learn that Flimnap would have infallibly broken his neck, if one of the Kings cushions had not weakened the force of the fall, Swift is protesting against the way the favour of a powerful minister could easily protect a man from the loss of his position if they strain so far as to overreach themselves and make a fatal mistake. In Brobdingnag, much of the humour revolves around the way that Gulliver must make his way in a world where everything is too big, John F. Ross says that he retains a pride and self-esteem which would be perfectly normal for him among his physical equals, but which is ridiculous under the circumstances. One time, above twenty wasps, allured by the smell, came flying into the room These insects were as large as partridges. The image of Gulliver surrounded by bird-sized wasps is immediately funny, but aside from the comedy value, there is little satirical content in this passage. There are many other comical stories in both adventures, which can entertain, but also have other layers of meaning. In Lilliput, one of the most amusing anecdotes is that of the war between Lilliput and Blefuscu, largely because of its origins: It is allowed on all hands, that the primitive way of breaking eggs before we eat them, was upon the larger end: but his present Majestys grandfather, while he was a boy, and going to eat an egg, and breaking it according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of his fingers. Whereupon the Emperor his father published an edict, commanding all his subjects, upon great penalties, to break the smaller end of their eggs. The result is that the inhabitants of the two islands go to international war over so minor an event as breaking an egg. We find this hilariously funny, thinking the Lilliputians and Blefuscudians stupid and petty to allow this incident to escalate so to such an extent. However, when the Blefuscudian king listens to Gullivers praise of my own dear native country in a style equal to its merits and felicity, he sees through the pompousness and self-importance of Gullivers account of Europe, seeing the corruption in government, the prejudice in law, the inefficiency in politics, the mismanagement of the economy. Swift is hinting that the two situations are not so different, since little people tend to place great significance upon little things, and when we are the little ones, it is brought home to us that the vast majority of our affairs are of little consequence in the long run. While the story found in Gullivers Travels is highly entertaining, it is, primarily, a work of satire, and this adventure is designed as a message to the people and government of Swifts 18th century Britain, to change, or even just to reflect upon, the way in which they go about their lives. Upon reading both Lilliput and Brobdingnag, there is an evident trend in how Swift has written his book. In Lilliput, Swift uses engaging, fine humour to disguise his satire, whereas in Brobdingnag he moves onto rougher, coarser humour, with a far more obvious attack on European society, a trend which is continued through to the end of the book, culminating in a scathing assault on our perceptions of human nature itself, in the fourth adventure. Therefore, due to the ways in which we respond to the portrayal of Gulliver, and the events and humour found in the two passages, I conclude that the saga of Lilliput is funnier and more entertaining than that of Brobdingnag. Bibliography Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels, 1726 Richard Rodino, The Study Of Gullivers Travels, Past and Present, 1992 Philip Pinkus, Sin and Satire in Swift (1965)

To What Extent the East Asian Model Is Transferable To Other Developing Countries1 Essay Example for Free

To What Extent the East Asian Model Is Transferable To Other Developing Countries1 Essay The economic status of East Asia has become one of the most flourishing and positively growing regional economies in the globe in recent times and something to reckon with. The region has turned to be the home of the global significance as well as the most affluent economy consisting of countries such as; Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore South Korea and Taiwan. There have been numerous and major factors that have turned the economic success of the region to be a positive gain to the countries (Chang, 14). Some of the key constructive factors that have contributed to the developments of the positive economic status in the region includes: positive legal and political environments for both commerce and industry, through the plentiful natural wealth of different kinds, to ample supplies of comparatively low-cost, trained, and flexible employment. The success of the regional economic developments can highly be adopted in many other developing countries. This paper looks into the extent into which the model that has been adopted by the East Asian region, and how well is it suited to be adopted by other developing countries globally (the suitability of the East Asian model into the development of developing countries’ economies) (Hira, 21). Literature review The most successful developing countries over the last over the last half a century have come from East Asia. The rapid economic growth of the eight Asian economies which is often referred to as ‘East Asian Miracle’ brought along two major questions; (I) what policies and other factors contributed to that growth? (ii) And can other developing countries replicate those policies to stimulate equally rapid growth? There have been numerous analyses on the success and also based on case studies econometric data, and economic theory, offers a list of the ingredients that contributed to that success (Kwon et al, 32). Researchers have been done, concerning the model deployed by the East Asian economies and how the countries have managed to navigate through economic crises. World Bank and financial institutions, has conducted the applicability of the development model applied by the East Asian countries into the developing countries. The development evidence of the East Asian fin ancial system has been impressive, especially when compared to that of other developing countries. How can such a record be accounted for? What lessons can we draw from it? What has been the role of public policy? These are questions that have aroused heated debate in recent years, especially among the mainstream neoclassical school and the non-orthodox or revisionists (Saggi, 36). According to World Bank 1993, the ‘East Asian Miracle’ model has been a positive gain to the Asian economies which can as well be adopted in the developing countries. In addition, Haggard, 2004 noted that, there is no fixed definition of what is contained in the ‘East Asian model’ of development. How economies grew, how industrial structures were transformed, how governments intervened in solving coordination problems, pursuing efficient policies, making credible commitments, etc. varied depending on time and location (Hughes, 18). Different writers select different characteristics, often depending on what country (or countries) they are studying, and, at times, in function of their ideological preferences. At the clear risk of over-simplification, but so as to maintain the discussion manageable, four major features will be selected that have, arguably, been both common to, and crucial for, the experiences of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea over the periods he re examined (Chang, 26). Introduction The historical, trade and industrial growth in East Asia described as ‘East Asian Miracle’ brought a huge attention into the world and has provided a large literature on the economic development theories since then (World Bank, 1993). The countries, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, followed Japan, which itself was the very first country that succeeded, becoming an industrialized country outside the famous western economy, and achieved similar economic success in the phase of development following the Second World War from the 1950s to the 1970s and named as the four Asian Tigers. Then the three newly Industrializing economies (NIES) of Southeast Asia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia also managed to take off becoming large enough to reach the respective status of middle income countries in the second phase from the 1970s to the 1990s. (Chang 2006, World Bank, 1993, Jomo, 2001).The adoption of the given model led to the adoption of a strategies directed towards t his regional economic development and in turn coming to be a central aspect in development these economics and the model was denoted as the ‘East Asian Development Model (EADM)’. The model has different defining clauses and includes factors such as state control over finance, direct support for state owned enterprises by the government, import substitution industrialization in heavy industry and shift to export-led industry, a high dependence on export markets and a high rate of domestic savings among other practices. The nature of this model EADM was opposed to the protestations of the IMF-led Washington Consensus, model, which itself constitutes principles, and policies that are aimed at global economy work through the act of harmonizing the way that national economy operates. For example, the models work through the act of reducing barriers to international trade such as tariffs deregulation led to reductions in government control with the pushing for free trade practices. However, the World Bank’s influential study, on the East Asian Miracle represents the neo-classical claim in the current East Asian debate by acknowledging that, the frequent use of state intervention in the East Asian development process, but also inefficiency of the intervention. According to World Bank (1993), the intervention was not harmful, though still not helpful. However, it is widely recognized now that the export-push strategies in East Asia are very much linked to selective industrial policy and state intervention actively promoted economic growth in the region. According to Wade (1992), the development of a concept of the governed market theory, explains the East Asian success by three causes; (I) high levels of productive investment. (ii) Relatively an increased investment in certain key industries and finally (iii) exposure of many industries to international competition. It is argued that such economic policies, incentives, controls and risk spreading mechanism allow them to sustain rapid development, which produces different level productions and its huge outcomes in the private sector. This theory emphasizes on capital accumulation rather than resource allocation as per the orthodox theory as the principle source of growth (Nissanke Ernest, 11). It is unrealistic to assume that there is only one development model and it can be mostly agreed that nations have been taking their own or different ways of pursuing the EADM model with diverse development strategies. Hence, this paper will argue based on the World Bank’s famous distinctions of the model; Northeast Asian model; based on the Japanese paradigm of industrial policy and more active state intervention, which refers namely the NIEs countries Southeast Asian model; described that more open and market-friendly regimes, which refers ASEAN-3 countries; Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia It is often criticized that, the re-applicability of the Northeast Asian model by claiming is not possible in the contemporary context, not only because it ignores the importance of the global market, but also owing to the Unique historical context of Northeast Asia and the constraints under the new regime of the ‘WTO’. Therefore, the first goal of this paper is to refute the initial condition argument while addressing analytical shortcomings of this orthodoxy theory; it deals mostly with static concerns and thus has little say about dynamic changes, and also it downplays the social-political dimensions of the economic development, adopting just a kind of ‘economic determinism’ in their approach (Richter, 44). Positives from the East Asian Model Diversity in ecosystem, population, ethnicity, religion, social structure, and political regime Equally great diversity in GDP, per capita income, and economic development High growth sustained over a long period almost throughout the region. Associated with this high growth are high, savings and investment rates, active, but managed external opening, export orientation, industrialization, and general improvements in social indicators. Accomplishments and Characteristics of the East Asian Development Paradigm One of the major achievements of the model is the rapid economic growth of the region. For example, the implementation of the model led to the real income per capital grow four times bigger than it was previously in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea. Another accomplishment of the model was declining inequality. This is whereby; the positive gains and economic developments were evenly distributed throughout the populations. Thirdly, the model led to a quick reduction of the technology gap through massive investment in human capital, importation of foreign technology, export orientation, and the opening of markets for foreign direct investment as a means of introducing advanced technology. Finally, the model led to reduction of poverty rates in the region (Saggi, 51). Adaptability of ‘East Asian Miracle’ into the Developing Countries (To What Extent Can the Model Be Used By the Developing Countries) Less developed, countries or better still developing countries globally are nations denoted by the poor living standard as well as underdeveloped in industrial aspects. Base as well as a low human development index, when compared to other countries. One of the aspects used to differentiate between a developed and an underdeveloped country is the value of the county’s GDP per capita. Less developed nations are countries that have not realized a considerable degree of industrialization in relation to their populations. In most cases, they are said to have medium or poor standards of livelihood. There is a well-built relationship connecting low earnings and high populace growth. Once an expansion strategy is chosen, the proper policy systems will in turn certainly be formed or laid down as the foot print to development, and in turn the outcome of economic growth is, to a greater extent, determined by whether the preferred developmental strategies are right or wrong. If only the m acroeconomic setting and government guiding principles are well thought-out, and not looking into positives and negatives of the given development plan, then a general idea of where the problems lie is impossible. Modification plans thus raised can barely give solutions to problems existing in the wealth of African states (Hughes, 40). The implementation of the East Asian Model in the developing countries would somehow be of great achievement in terms of development. One of the major contributors to the development of the East Asian is the growth driven by trade and investment. For each of the countries in the region, the long term growth path as well as the achievement of industrialization can be tracked by income trends as well as structural shifts in GDP and exports. The exceptional feature of East Asian growth is that it has been achieved through the very existence of East Asia as a powerful arena of economic interaction among its members, and not merely by â€Å"market-friendly† policies or good governance of individual countries alone (Kwon et al, 57). One of the achievement or realization that has contributed to the development of the East Asian regions in terms of economy is the realization of the economic growth through participation in a series of dynamic production network that is generated by pri vate firms. This has been benefited by Linked by trade and investment, a system of international division of labor with clear order and structure exists in the region. Taking this approach into the developing country, the model can be of positive gain to the developing nations. The model also explains the importance of the private sector in the economic development of a nation. This can be adopted in the developing nations as it would lead to the increase of the country’s GDP (Kwon et al, 68). Another point that can be borrowed from the East Asian development model is the interaction among the members of the region. Thus, can be deployed in other regions such as Africa and also becomes a success. This would lead to the formation of powerful arena in terms of economic interactions between different countries. Moreover, good governance should be adhered in order to achieve the benefits from the model implementations. For the developing countries to develop and adopt the model into positive gains, the developing countries, have no choice but to initiate development, and undertake international integration via trade and investment. The East Asia model has also described the need to have well established political, social and economical conducive environment for a better economic development. This van as well be adopted in the developing nations which are greatly denoted by poor political establishments, and deteriorated social and economic aspects (Hira, 71). One of the developing regions or countries is the African states. The biggest question that remains for the African states is: Can African learn from the ‘East Asia miracle’ development model? Yes, the model can be of great help to a number of African nations as majority of them are categorized as developing countries. Since 1970’s all the way to the late 1990’s, East Asia has experienced has embarked on a model that has resulted in an outstanding evidence of high and unrelenting fiscal growth. The model has become a development model to other developing regions as is the case of African states (Chang, 49). One of the major aspects of the model is the East Asian regions embarked on the plan to increase the value and the amount of exported goods and as well reduce the number of imported goods. Through the increase in the volume of exports from the Asian countries, there was an increase in the volume of finished goods and the success in export trade has seen maintenance of high deposition and domestic venture rates. This provides the capital essential for economic expansion. Consequently, reducing the dependence on foreign investment and embark on home trade, investment and in turn increasing the value of GDP (Nissanke Earnest, 63). Following the attainment of independence, the third world countries were faced with the task of identifying the right approaches to build up their economies. This was meant to exterminate poverty as soon as they could. Many of these countries (developing) turned to strategies that targeted industrialization acceleration. This opted choice by some countries brought along an economic system that was an unclear macro policy setting and designed distribution structures for properties and the micro-management need for self-sufficiency. The result of the countries that deployed this approach to develop their economy, were shocked as such economic structures smothered economic growth. In return the economies of these countries which followed such strategies didn’t step forward at all, as some of the nations fell behind development as they were faced with more problems (Chang, 80). In contrast to this scenario, the development plans adopted in the East Asia signified an extra choice and approach to economic development. The region members gave massive contemplations to their resource state of affairs, and in turn they took advantage of their ample labor availability resources which provided them with low costs of labor. This approach allowed them to establish industries that are labor intensive as an economy development take-off. In addition, in order to achieve positive results in their economy development, the countries had to adjust their industrial organization. This approach was deployed in the ‘East Asia miracle’ model, which turned to be a success in the region. However, the approach of the same by the developing countries would be of great benefit to the countries and their regions such as Africa (Richter, 55). Another advantage of the miracle model for the developing countries is that, it teaches the developing economies to sustain a constructive macro-economic situation as well as the correct basic policies. The Asian countries have maintained their debt within bearable limits. One of the factors that has dragged the economic development and prosperity of the developing economies is the massive and inability to control their debts. The countries are heavily indebted to the financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, such that, they are unable to control their debts owed to another stable and developed countries. With the inability to control their debts, the developing countries couldn’t control their inflation as well as both their home and foreign debts to a definite extent. Most of the developing countries are agriculture products dependent in terms of their productions. The East Asian models for economic development guaranteed the effectiveness of their policies whic h in turn was to enhance an increase in agriculture production (Jomo, 76). Other positive which can be of great advantage and can also be adapted into other developing countries includes the foundation of fundamental sound development policies. A large portion of economy development in East Asian can be attributed to getting the fundamentals needed correctly. These factors or fundamentals include responsible and disciplined fiscal and monetary policies, which are beneficial in maintaining moderate rates of inflation in the developing countries. Inflation is one of the factors that are a hindrance to economic stability in these developing countries. In addition, the model called for the conducive economic environment for private investment. For the developing countries, it helps realize the vital and the importance of the private sector in the economic development of the countries. In addition to the importance of the private sector in the economic development, the East Asian â€Å"miracle† model also advocated for high investments in education. To th e developing countries, investment in education, such as post secondary education, vocational and technical skill training developed a better educated labor force suited for rapid economic development (Kwon et al, 86). High rising and saving rates were also a practice advocated by the model. The East Asian governments developed a relatively sound and stable financial system. This was achieved through strengthening prudential regulations and supervision of financial institutions and setting limits on competition. They also expanded the financial system network by promoting postal saving systems to successfully increase the accessibility of financial savings instruments to non-traditional savers. Finally, the fundamentally sound development policies included actively seeking foreign technology through foreign licensing, capital goods imports, and liberalization of foreign direct investment. The policies were some of the adaptable policies what would work well with numerous developing countries globally (Hughes, 98). In fact, since the 1970s, Africa nations have continuously explored and re-assessed their development strategies, so as to seek out with a unique development pattern suited to Africa. This exploration is still underway. In this regard, African country can gain some ideas from the experiences of East Asia. A favorable macroeconomic policy environment is needed to support the practice of comparative advantage development strategies. For this purpose, productive factor markets and finished products, markets, which are feasible and fully competitive, must be established, so as to conform to the smooth operation of the market mechanism. Some African countries are making efforts in this direction while adjusting their structure. Meanwhile, they should pay special attention to adjusting policies (Hira, 89). Agricultural policy for agriculture remains the mainstay of the economy in most African countries; the support of the agricultural sector is significantly to economic development. The experiences in East Asia have shown that with the right agricultural policies and a measure, agriculture plays an important role in pushing the national economies forward. Many African countries have improved, to differing degrees, in prices and the circulation of goods, as well as agricultural tax policies. But there is a long way to go. Improving the management of State assets and raising profits in most African countries. State enterprises play a significant role in production and employment. However, poor profits and large losses have become an emerging problem facing economic development. Many countries have proposed the privatization of State enterprises. So far, the process has made little progress and has had little effect. In this aspect they still need to explore new methods of reform (Nissank e Ernest, 78). Defining government functions either under the marketing economy or the planned economy, government plays a very important role in economic development, only differing in its functions. The experiences in East Asia have indicated that the government should intervene only in the fields where it is needed, leaving markets to operate freely. Only in those fields, such as developing human resources, constructing and protecting infrastructure, environmental protection and so on. Where markets are not able to operate, will the government need to intervene? This will create a stable, sustainable and fair environment for the operation of market mechanisms. Choosing suitable development strategies and forming correct policies, this is a precondition for achieving favorable results, but not the full condition for ideal development. An effective and powerful government is a basic guarantee for the realization of the development aim. During the past three years, the African economies have contin ually risen and the overall situation has been improved. But the adjustment of strategies and improvements in external conditions requires time. Africa will be able to step on the path of continuous economic growth only if it undertakes long-term efforts and carries out suitable economic reforms (Chang, 101). Reasons why the development model won’t work with other developing countries Letdown of the East Asian growth Model Despite the progress made by the East Asia region in terms of economic developments, criticisms of the model have been raised as well as the models, adapted to other countries such as the developmental one. In addition, the adaptability and sustainability of the model have been questioned. The path trodden by East Asia has not always been smooth as some nations in the region failing to achieve high growth, and the states were hit by occasional setbacks. East Asia has had its share of hardships in its history, with hot and cold wars, social instabilities and financial crises. In addition, the structural weakness of the model is a posing threat to the adaptability of the system into other countries economy development. Despite the weakness, not a sign of the end of the system, it may instead be a signal that the model in dire need of repair in order to be a success even to other different regions (Nissanke Ernest, 92). Moreover, the East Asian model has evolved over time and adapted to the changes that has occurred in the region such a political, societal and economic changes which have not only occurred in Asia but also in other parts of the world. The fundamental question from this is whether the model can adapt to some of the most significant changes and developments that change the economic landscape of the developing countries such as democratization and domestic economic liberalization, globalization in parallel with regionalization, and the emergence of a new economy driven by information technology. The model can be able to adjust to significant changes in the region, but at the same time fail to adapt to the same changes in other regions such as Africa (Chang, 120). East Asian countries were constantly showing a lot of structural strains and rigidities. The model was hampered by four main failures that affected the credibility and applicability of the model into the developing nations globally. One of the failures is that, the model neglected the differences involving the government mechanism and the elected policy as well as the market liberalization. In addition, the failure to reorganize the financial structure was a stumbling block for the model to be adopted in the developing countries. Finally, the congested and non-transparent corporate sector within the developing countries such as the African states was a stumbling block to the implementation of the model (Kwon at al, 136). Asian Financial Crisis In 1997 Despite the growing status as one of the blossoming economic growth globally, the east Asia economy had to overcome some worrying and threatening financial crises. The Asian region was at some time faced with a severe financial crisis, Fro example is the ‘Asian financial Crisis in 1997’ also known as Asian Contagion. This was a succession of money devaluations that had spread through a good number of Asian markets. This financial menace started in Thailand, and spread to other Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea. The  Asian financial crisis  was a period of  financial crisis  that gripped much of East Asia beginning in July 1997, and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to  financial contagion (Harrold, 66). The currency markets first failed in Thailand as the result of the governments decision to no longer peg the local currency to the U.S. dollar. Currency declines spread rapidly throughout South Asia, in turn causing stock market declines, reduced import revenues and even government upheaval. According to Krugman’s Paul view, the east Asia economic growth had historically been due to the increase of capital investment. However, the total factor productivity of the region had only increased marginally or not increased at all. In the case of long term prosperity, there ought to have grown only in total factor productivity and not capital investment. The collapse of the Thai Baht in July 1997 was followed by an unprecedented financial crisis in East Asia, from which these economies are still struggling to recover. A great deal of effort has been devoted to trying to understand its causes. One view is that there was nothing inherently wrong with East Asian economies, which have historically performed very well. These economies experienced a surge in capital inflows to finance productive investments that made them vulnerable to a financial panic. That panic–and inadequate policy responses–triggered a region-wide financial crisis and the economic disruption that followed. In addition, The weaknesses of the financial sector in the East Asian region were masked by rapid growth and accentuated by large capital inflows, which were partly encouraged by pegged exchange rates (Harrold, 103). Key Root Causes Of The Asian Financial Crisis In summary, the main causes of the financial crises in Asia were: Large current account deficits that left the countries vulnerable to changes in investor confidence and macroeconomic conditions (i.e., slower growth). Overvalued exchange rates that were often pegged to the U.S. dollar, which was, at that time, appreciating quite rapidly. Rapid and unsustainable increases in asset prices, especially stock market and real estate prices. A currency mismatch between assets and liabilities that left banks and enterprises vulnerable to exchange rate devaluations. Inadequate bank regulation and supervision. Implicit and explicit government guarantees that made high-risk projects (including projects which relied upon continued appreciation in real estate prices) attractive to investors. Political instability Lessons learned from the Asian crisis In East Asia, in addition to supporting the International Monetary Funds programs, the Bank provided Structural Adjustment Loans to prop up and re-capitalize on selected banks by supporting bond issues. In addition, the World Bank set up credit lines to help finance imports. The Asian crisis menace came as an eye opener and as a surprise to policymakers, investors, and academics alike, where buy despite majority accepting the menace was expected it would have been controlled and avoided too. This would be of great help to the developing economies such as the African States cases. The recommendations that were passed for the prevention of Asian financial crisis prevention would be of great help to prevent the re-emergence of such a case again. In addition, the crisis was an eye opener to the economies of developing countries as well as the importance of the IMF. These include conditional financing, bail out from the such menaces as well as the structural adjustment package. As seen from the Asian Financial Crisis case, financial intervention from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank played a vital role in reversing the scenario. As a result of the crisis, many nations adopted protectionist measures to ensure the stability of their own currency. Often this led to heavy buying of U.S. Treasuries, which are used as a global investment by most of the worlds sovereignties. Financial and government reforms in countries like Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia. It also serves as a valuable case study for economists who try to understand the interwoven markets of today, especially as it relates to currency trading and national account management. In summary, of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the East Asia’s experience suggests that while a classic panic may have played a role, financial sector weaknesses were a major contributor to the recent financial crisis. Such weaknesses appear to reflect the inability of lenders to use business criteria in allocating credit and implicit or explicit government guarantees against risk. This implies that it would be prudent to accompany efforts to spur recovery in East Asia by reforms designed to strengthen the financial system. ‘East Asian Miracle’ Application To African Countries (Kenya) From the early 1970s onwards, the nations of East-Asia, also known as the Asian Tigers due to their astounding growth and expansion economically that demystified the conformist economic theory based on the western model of growth that adopted industrial development as an approach for overall development. Numerous researchers have pointed out that, contrasting the western model, the Asian model is premised on capital build up as well as that of human capital, which are seen as influential in the growth of these countries economies. The Asian economic growth has been very notable such that it has served as a textbook case for strategy makers in numerous Least Developing Countries such as is the case in Africa (Nyongo, 2007). This growth incident has baffled various economic historians as well as geographical experiences recorded so far leading to researchers to argue that, success in Asian countries was based on an updated version of primitive accumulation and that, their success can be a model if only their high savings rates can be replicated. This is in   contrast to African economies such as Kenya, which took off at the same time and indeed rate as the Asian economies. Contlarry of the Asian countries, Kenya recorded dismal and unsatisfactory growth and development over the last two decades prompting a number of scholars to call the incident â€Å"a crisis of proportion. This rather tremendous contrast between the two regions, that so recently shared a similar turbulent past, raises many questions which should be of interest as well as a challenge to policy makers, especially in Africa to discern what went wrong with their policies and policy implementation, against what went right with Asian coun tries. Such questions that beg urgent answers are even more pertinent when one considers that, Kenya was poised to grow faster than the Asian countries considering its resource advantages. For example, at the time of self-government countries such Kenya and Ghana were said to have had a healthier growth prediction than any country among the Asian tigers. According to the world bank, (2003) â€Å"it would be hugely important for African researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to have the opportunity to observe directly the economies of East Asia and Southern Asia themselves to discuss economic policy reform directly with the academics, practitioners and policy makers from the Asian region.† However, one point that should be kept in perspective is that, there are no two nations that are similar so as to assume that expansion and growth in one can be replicated in the other. One point to be noted in cases of development, there are some fundamental factors that must be in place for a country to latch into the development phase and the rest depends on the model the country pursues to sustain the development. Many policy makers and indeed some academics in Kenya, and Africa at large have, for quite some time now, tended to attribute Africa’s poor development record of its historical past, specifically blaming it on her colonial legacy, and later neo-colonial ‘manipulation by western countries’. Such attitude holds no ground when one considers that Asian countries had a comparable historical environment, which limits the extent to which these arguments can be held to justify the poor development record of many African states 50 years on. One point to be noted when it comes to Kenyan case and other African countries is that, African economies at the time, were not capable of creating good governance on their own, nor could they be expected to assemble the human and capital resources necessary to ensure a development process. According to Nissanke (1998), the failure of African states to economically develop like the Asian case, after independence is that, whilst all seemed to have a common goal of accelerating the pace of economic growth and thus development, they tended to diverge on such issues as: the role of the state, the degree of openness that could be accommodated, the desirable partner of investment in social services versus economic services, and the government-private sector relations. The long-standing results obtained   were not dissimilar, suggesting that, failure was the outcome of a wrong mix of policies which are uncoordinated, absence of institutions, external environment, lack of societal prepared ness, which were by and large   constraints overcame by their Asian counterparts. Elsewhere O’Connel (1996) commenting on such failure, emphasized that, African states and especially Kenya, have evolved from a shortage of capital diagnosis of the 1960s and 1970s, to a diagnosis of policy failure of the 1980s and, finally, to a diagnosis of institutional failures of the late 1990s. However, other researchers who, when comparing the source of growth in Asia with those of Germany, UK, USA and Japan, conclude that, by far the most important source of economic growth in these countries is capital accumulation, accounting for between 48% to 72% of their economic growth (Nyongo, 2007). Others have pointed out that, it is rather a combination of both capital accumulation and human capital accumulation (learning by doing) which have been the productive engine behind the unprecedented growth, pointing out that, physical capital critical in the growth process, is rather passive and subsidiary to human capital accumulation. This contrasts to the above group of industrialized nations where technical progress played a vital role in their development, accounting for between 46% and 71% of their economic growth (Aryeetey International Conference). Whereas capital accumulation and indeed human capital development accounts for growth differentials between Africa and Asian countries, it all depended on policy choices each the countries in Asia took, for such development has not been uniform in most Asian economies either. Rather, Asian countries which have recorded unprecedented growth episodes have combined not only right and consistent policies over time, but also their societal preparedness had an even greater role to play to this end. It has thus been pointed out that, countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and of late Vietnam have all had an element of societal preparedness, which is highlighted in the culture of hard work, drive to succeed, and high propensities to save (Nyongo, 2007). Others even argue that, the Chinese culture (of hard work and their strive for excellence) entrenched in most of these countries in part explains their drive to grow at the rates that far exceed the growth recorded elsewhere. The dismal performance of a number of African economies has also been explained in the context that, factors attendant in the Asian region, were not to be found in African countries, and no wonder that, no one country latched into development phase close to the Asian Tigers (Aryeetey International Conference, 2003). Although many African countries have borrowed a leaf from their Asian counterparts, especially in the areas of human capital development, the new paradigm shift has mainly focused on institutional development. This is even more pertinent considering that, Africa has not been short of capital. Indeed, despite the massive foreign aid and to a lesser extent direct capital flows, African economies have not developed as expected. This reinforces the belief that, capital inflows, whether local or foreign, cannot make an impact in the absence of a conducive environment characterized by transparency, governments, good governance, democratic political economy, conducive economic, social-cultural, and legal environment (Harrold, 96). Findings and conclusions At the turn 21st century, there has much dialogue and discussion about the ‘miracle model’ in East Asia and its effectiveness in the economic development and its sustainability. The East Asian economic development model, which built the hypothetical and institutional structure of growth in the area, is liable along with the rest of what was one time called the East Asian Miracle. In an attempt to give a rich, textured analysis, it’s clear from the paper that, the model can be of positive gain to the developing countries in terms of economic development. Despite the ‘East Asian development model’ a workable option for the developing and less developed countries, it had its own shortcomings. The contributors provide a cohesive review of the East Asian development model, exploring its cultural heritage, the political context through which it arose, its basic assumptions, and its recent failures. In particular, they identify the causes and consequences of the Asian economic crisis, describe the features of economic development throughout the region, and discuss the strategic responses of Asian firms to newly  developing economies of countries such as African states. The sustainable and swift economic growth in East Asia has attracted wide attention in Africa, and they believe the successful experiences of East Asia should be followed to develop African national economy vigorously. It’s clear that the model deployed by the countries in the region (East Asia) was effective in raising the country’s GDP and in turn it was worthy to be deployed in the African countries which are an example of developing states. Despite the growing challenges over the time, the model can be of great help to numerous growing economies. However, the fact that the East Asian model is so attractive to many African countries is bound to have profound implications for development practitioners. Western aid is not the only game in town anymore, and the global development  agenda is no more immune from the influence of a rising Asia than the global economic system has turned out to be. Developing countries can now choose between an ever-growing variety of donors, trading partners, investors and development strategies. Whether or not we agree with the models they pick or even with the idea of a development model at all we would do well to listen to and engage with these views. Therell be no point in trying only to reform and improve western aid if the real debate is happening somewhere else. References Adams, Francis G.  Public Policies in East Asian Development: Facing New Challenges. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Praeger, 1999. Print. Aryeetey, E., International Conference Asia and Africa in the Global Economy. (2003).  Asia and Africa in the global economy. Tokyo: United Nations University Press. Chang, Ha-Joon.  Rethinking Development Economics. London: Anthem Press, 2004. Print Chang, Ha-Joon.  The East Asian Development Experience: The Miracle, the Crisis and the Future. London: Zed / TWN, 2006. Print. Harrold, P., Jayawickrama, M., Bhattasali, D. (1996).  Practical lessons for Africa from East Asia in industrial and trade policies. Washington, DC: World bank. Hira, Anil.  An East Asian Model for Latin American Success: The New Path. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2007. Print. Hughes, Helen.  Achieving Industrialization in East Asia. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Print. Jomo, K S.  Growth after the Asian Crisis: What Remains of the East Asian Model? New York: United Nations, 2001. Print. Kwon, Jene K., and Jung Mo Kang. The East Asian Model Of Economic Development.  Asian- Pacific Economic Literature  25.2 (2011): 116-130.  Business Source Complete. Web. 11 May 2014. Nissanke, Machiko, and Ernest Aryeetey.  Comparative Development Experiences of Sub- Saharan Africa and East Asia: An Institutional Approach. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate, 2003. Print. Nyongo, P. A. (2007).  A leap into the future: A vision for Kenyas socio-political and economic transformation. Nairobi: African Research and Resource Forum. Richter, Frank-Jürgen.  The East Asian Development Model: Economic Growth, Institutional Failure and the Aftermath of the Crisis. Basingstoke [u.a.: Macmillan [u.a., 2000. Print. Saggi, Kamal.  International Technology Transfer to Developing Countries. London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 2004. Print. Source document

Business description and market analysis for cadbury

Business description and market analysis for cadbury Cadbury is a global manufacturer, marketer and distributor of branded confectionery. The companys confectionery business operates chocolate, gum and sugar categories. The company along with its subsidiaries primarily operates in the Eurozone, the US, Central and Southern America, Australia and other parts of Asia Pacific. Chocolate business represents the biggest business segment of the company with around 46% of the overall revenues FY2008. The companys chocolate business is carried out on a regional basis according the tastes of the consumers in each market. The company operates its business through four business segments namely: Britain, Ireland, Middle East and Africa (BIMA), Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Britain and Ireland (BI) is the largest business unit in the Group. The company has strong market position in the UK (30% market share in FY2008), and Ireland (42%). The companys main markets in Middle East and Africa include South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, Kenya, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, and Ghana. The company American business comprises the US, Canada and Mexico, three of the largest confectionery markets in the world, and extends through Central America and the Caribbean. The company also has its operations in South American countries including Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. The company is the leading player in South America with a market share of nearly 20%, with core strengths in gum and candy. In Europe, the company has significant gum and candy businesses, with strong gum market shares in the majority of Western Europe, Scandinavia, Turkey and Russia. The companys chocolate business is concentrated in Poland, Russia and France.The companys biggest European operating unit is in France. The companys Asian businesses are concentrated in India, Malaysia, Thailand and China. The companys key brands in these regions include Cadbury Dairy Milk, Bournvita, Halls, Eclairs/Choclairs, Clorets, and Dentyne. In the Pacific regions the companys operations are primarily located in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Cadbury has a leading position in Australia with an overall 30% market share. While in New Zealand, the company holds a market share of around 41% in FY2008. 3.2 HISTORY Cadbury Schweppes (which was split into: Cadbury plc; and Dr pepper Snapple Group in May 2008) was actually formed in 1969 by the merger of Schweppes and Cadbury Group. Over the years, Cadbury Schweppes expanded its business through organic growth and acquisitions. In 1982, it acquired Motts, which was engaged in the production of apple juice and sauce. The company further strengthened its portfolio of key brands through the purchase of Canada Dry (1986), Trebor (1989), and Bassett (1989). In the 1990s, Cadbury Schweppes acquired 14 more companies, including the US soda giant Dr Pepper/7 UP (1995). Cadbury acquired Snapple Beverage Group in 2000. In the same year, the company also made acquisitions of Hollywood, and Kraft Foods in France, and Wuxi Leaf Confectionery in China to strengthen its chewing gum portfolio. Other acquisitions in the year included Spring Valley Juice and Wave flavored milk in Australia; and Mauna LaI tropical juice drink in the US. In the following year, Cadbury Schweppes acquired Pernod Ricards soft drinks brands and businesses in Europe, North America and Australia. Also in 2001, Cadbury Schweppes acquired the Slush Puppie, a frozen, non-carbonated beverages firm; and Carteret, a contract packer mainly of Snapple. The company also purchased La Casera, Spains third largest soft drinks manufacturer. In 2002, Snapple Beverages, a subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes, purchased Nantucket Nectars, a producer of premium high juice content drinks. In the same year, the company acquired Brau und Brunnens 72% interest in the Apollinaris Schweppes joint venture in Germany. In 2003, Cadbury completed the acquisition of Adams Confectionery from Pfizer with its brands included Halls, Trident, Dentyne and the Bubbas bubblegum range. In the same year, Cadbury Schweppes main UK operating arm, the Cadbury Trebor Bassett division, announced the closure of two of its factories located in Greater Manchester and Chesterfield. In 2005, the company invested  £40 million (approximately $74.2 million) at its Bournville factory in Birmingham, UK to meet the growing demand for Cadbury Dairy Milk. In the following year, Cadbury sold its business division of Europe Beverages. The company fully acquired the Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group in the same year. In 2007, Cadbury Schweppes acquired the Southeast-Atlantic Beverage, the second largest independent bottler in the US, by Americas Beverages. In the same year, Cadbury Schweppes acquired Intergum, the leading Turkish gum business. In the same year, Cadbury Schweppes announced its plan to split itself into two separate businesses focusing on chocolate and confectionery on the one hand and the US soft drinks on the other. In February 2008, Cadbury Schweppes sold its Monkhill business, a manufacturer of sugar confectionery and popcorn for the UK market. In May 2008, Cadbury Schweppes completed its demerger and was split into: Cadbury plc, the new holding company of the worldwide confectionery operations and the Australian beverages business; and Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), the new holding company of the Americas beverages business. Further in December 2008, Cadbury plc sold its Schweppes Beverages business in Australia to Asahi Breweries for a total consideration of approximately  £550 million ($1,020 million). In May 2009, Cadbury Schweppes Overseas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cadbury purchased 4% of the share capital of Kent Gida Maddeleri, a Turkey base supplier of confectionary products, from Tahincioglu Holding. In September 2009, Cadbury rejected a  £10,200 billion (approximately $18,922 million) offer from Kraft Foods to combine the two businesses and create a global manufacturer of snacks, confectionery and quick meals. 3.3 MAJOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES Cadbury is an international manufacturing and marketing company of branded confectionery products. The companys key products and brands include the following: Products: Chocolates Candy Candy bars Chewing gum The key chocolate brands of the company include Caramilk, Cherry Ripe, Crunchie, Five Star, Freddo, Mieszanka Wedlowska, Milk Tray, Moro, Mr. Big, Old Gold, and Perk. The company also offers a cocoa based food drink beverage under Bournvita brand name. Gum business offers chewing gum with a number of flavors including strawberry splash, strong mint, peppermint and watermelon wave. The business contributed around 33% of the companys overall sales in FY2008. The key gum brands of the company include Bubblicious, Falim, First, Stride, and V6. The company offers a number of functional candies including cough drops, indulgent candy such as premium toffees. The company offers its candy products in a number of flavors including American hard gums, mints, sherbet lemons, pear drops, everton mints, imperials, mint creams, and fruit, lemon, and strawberry. The key brands of the company under this category include Bassetts, Kent, Maynards, Pascall, Sour Patch, and Swedish Fish. 3.4 CADBURY, INDIA 3.4.1 COMPANY BACKGROUND à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Cadbury India is a subsidiary of Cadbury Plc, with Cadbury Schweppes holding a 97.61% stake in its local subsidiary. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company operates in the hot drinks and packaged food industries. In packaged food it is present in confectionery, biscuits and dairy products. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The companys strategy is to cater to all price segments and consumer groups have a strong presence across the major impulse and indulgence categories in India. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ It has national coverage with manufacturing and distribution facilities in all four regions. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In March 2009 the company re-launched Cadburys Perk with a new image, and employed up and coming bollywood actress as its new brand ambassador. The Perk brand portfolio was also extended with the launch of Cadburys Perk Poppers a selfline positioned as direct competition to Nestlà ©s Munch Pop Chocs. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company launched Cadbury Bournville Fine Dark Chocolate from its parent companys international brand portfolio in India in October 2008. The company also launched Cadburys Dairy Milk Shots in late à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In a bid to cater to all consumer groups, the company launched Cadbury Lite in February 2008. This is a smooth milk chocolate with no added sugar, which is suitable for diabetics. 3.4.2 PRODUCTION à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company supplies the local market through its local production units. Cadbury India has five factories, located in Thane, Pune, Induri and Malanpur in West India, and Baddi in North India. Cocoa is one of the major raw materials used by the company, and is procured mainly from plantations in South India, in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company exports its products to Sri Lanka, Dubai, the US and the Maldives. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Cadbury India is not known to be involved in third party manufacturing. 3.4.3 COMPETITIVE POSITIONING à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company ranked seventh in packaged food in India in 2008 with a 3% value share. The company is the leading player in confectionery, with its Cadburys Dairy Milk brand accounting for over 13% of total confectionery value at the end of the review period. The companys other brands, such as 5 Star and Cadburys Gems, have been favourites across several generations, and the company is highly visible in the mass media channels with its tagline of kuch meetha ho jaye (lets have something sweet). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company is also very active with media and consumer promotions, as well as flavour innovations for its malt-based hot drinks brand Bournvita. While its presence in biscuits is very low it has represented the sole driver of sales in filled biscuits with Bytes. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company is a key innovator in packaged food in India as it has pioneered several new product concepts, including Chocki and Bytes, and has been active in flavour innovation with products such as Fruity Gems and Bournvita 5 Star Magic. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company strives to maintain its leadership in confectionery in India and expanded its presence in Confectionery in 2007 with the launch of Bubbaloo its first gum product in India. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The companys presence in packaged food in India is mainly concentrated in confectionery, where it is present across almost all categories. Its product portfolio outside confectionery is limited to flavoured powder milk drinks and filled biscuits. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company is mainly present in well-established and mature categories in India. However, several of the categories in which it is present, including malt-based drinks, filled biscuits and chocolate confectionery, are fast growing with double digit constant value forecast CAGRs. Moreover, the company heavily leverages new product launches and brand re-launches to boost growth rates in the categories in which it is already well established. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company has a very large product portfolio within confectionery. However, its brand portfolio is very limited in biscuits and flavoured powder milk drinks. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The company is positioned in the standard and premium price segments in confectionery and in the premium price segment in biscuits and flavoured powder milk drinks. 3.4.4 SWOT ANALYSIS Cadbury is a global manufacturer, marketer and distributor of branded confectionery products. The company has a strong market presence across all its operating regions. It is the market leader in the global confectionery sector with a market share of 10.5%. Strong global market position would boost the revenues and profitability of the company. However, the rising raw material prices and intense competition would affect the companys market share in certain geographies. A very peculiar characteristic of the chocolate consumers is that there is an overwhelming awareness among the users about different brands that exist in the market. There is however very little brand loyalty in users. People always are ready to try out new brands and keep on switching from one brand to another. This behaviour poses lot of challenge, as the job of designing of marketing strategies becomes two fold. Firstly non-users need to be converted to users and more importantly the existing customers should be retained. Organisational analysis of Cadburys Organizational analysis identifies the knowledge, skills, and abilities that employees will need in the future as the organization and their jobs change. Organizational analysis is a holistic approach which involves looking at the entire organization; the overall structure, the departments, functions, processes, jobs, the interplay between groups, system dynamics, human energy alignment, and other issues. It explores what is as compared to what should be and the gaps between the two. Strength Cadbury is a company, which is reputed internationally as the topmost chocolate provider in the world. The brand is well known to people they can easily identify it from others. Users have a positive perception about the qualities of the brand. Cadbury main strength is Dairy milk. Dairy milk is the most consumed chocolate in India. By using popular models like Cyrus Brocha, Preety Zinta and others Cadburys has managed to portray a young and sporty image, which has resulted in converting buyers of other brands to become its staunch loyalists. By roping in Amitabh Bachchan as its brand ambassador, Cadbury has succeeded in portraying itself as an evergreen, credible, trustworthy and eternal product. Cadbury has well adjusted itself to Indian custom. With the brilliant marketing campaign of Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye on every small or big family or social occasion, Cadbury has been able to create the notion that any occasion has to go along with a Cadbury. It has also catered to all the age groups across various demographics. It has properly repositioned itself in India whenever required i.e. from children to adults, togetherness bar to energizing bar for young ones etc. Weaknesses There is lack of penetration in the rural market where people tend to dismiss it as a high end product. It is mainly found in urban and semi-urban areas. It has been relatively high priced brand, which is turning the price conscious customer away. People avoid having their chocolate thinking about the egg ingredients. Cadbury offers a limited variety of products as opposed to other leading competitive brands, e.g. Amul and Nestle that offer an array of products like biscuits, dairy products, etc. One of the major raw materials i.e. cocoa has to be imported, leading to bunched imports and higher inventory. Majority of the markets in India are not air conditioned, hence cannot store chocolates, at least during hot summers, which limits market access. Environmental Analysis of Cadburys Opportunities The chocolate market has seen one of the greatest increases in the recent times (almost @ 30%). There is a lot of potential for growth and a huge population who do not eat chocolates even today that can be converted as new users. Infrastructure and potential to expand (other countries and markets) Narrowing down on their most popular and highest selling items (dairy milk) to increase sales (including brand ambassadors) Venture into new segments individually or jointly (food and beverages) Introduce their foreign products in India Targeting urban areas and developing sectors- by working on availability and affordability Using information and technology to bring efficiency in logistics and distribution. Though small now, fast growing modern trade with A/c and good ambience suitable for Cadbury products offers huge growth opportunity. Increase related category offerings like snacks (Cadbury bytes) Introduce Schweppes non carbonic drinks in India. Increase the chewing gum market. Threat There exists no brand loyalty in the chocolate market and consumers frequently shift their brands. New brands are coming and existing brands are introducing new variants to add up to an already overcrowded market. Competitors could use scandals in the past and company problems against the company (worm scandal). This could put the reputation of the company at stake. Stiff competition in the confectionery segment. (Amul, Nestle, etc.) New competition including global majors like mars Hersheys expected to enter the fray due to opening up of the Indian economy. The company has large exposure to foreign currency exchange rate risk, mainly on account of imported cocoa beans and cocoa butter in US dollars and Pound Sterling. Significant increase in the food snacks segment offerings which means high indirect competition with low cost local players as well as high brand recognition global players. As Cadbury produces chocolates and a few related products, effective management of all the areas proves to be difficult at times. Trends of purchase may change with the ever-changing taste preference of consumers. Changing restrictions and rules from Government quality control boards may result in pressure on the production of the company cost increase Cadbury is exposed to rise in the cost of cocoa beans, dairy products and other vital ingredients. Increase in modern trade will increase competition especially from global players will also increase cost pressure thru malls negotiating higher discounts from suppliers. 3.4.5 PEST ANALYSIS Demographic factor 1. Population growth:-chocolates have wide impact on population growth. 2. Educational groups:-target population is all age groups but the education group will have more influence on it. As this is used as 2 celebrate events such as birthday, days. 3. Population age mix:-both men and women would like 2 prefer dairy milk. 4. Household patterns:-consumption and need is according to the household patterns. 5. Population age group: Preschools:-5% School-age: 15% Teens:-40% 25-65:-38% 65+:- 2% Political factor Increase in the tax rate by the government on chocolates will force a customer to pay more for it An increase/decrease in inflation rate can affect the FMCG sector and thereby also increase/decrease the price of Cadbury products Economic In festival seasons the demand of chocolates increases. Willingness to buy Demand of chocolates depends on the persons willingness to buy, which in turn is affected by the persons needs and requirements. Taste and preference Cadbury has wide variety of products and a particular product like lets say Dairy milk is also differentiated in many ways such as fruit and nut, raisins, almond. So the demand will be according to the taste and preferences of the variety. Income Variation in income will affect positively or negatively on Cadbury products. Sale is directly proportional to the income of an individual keeping other factors constant. Social Social factors includes such as norms, beliefs, values of the company. Cadbury has created a positive impact on customers in terms of belief and values. Advertisement Dairy milk, a brand of Cadbury renews its advertisement in every 6 months. The advertisements convey that it can be consumed by people of all ages. The type of advertisement also affects the buying interest on customers. They get known about new products and variety. Technological Milk quality can be improved much by technology. Refrigeration power can be improved by new technology so that cold storage product such as dairy milk and other milk products can be stored well and for a longer duration. 3.4.6 COMPANY FACTFILE Corporate Summary Cadbury India Ltd is a subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes Plc, with Cadbury Schweppes holding a stake in excess of 90% in its local subsidiary. The company was incorporated in 1948 and formerly called Hindustan Cocoa Products. It has four factories located in Thane, Induri and Malanpur in West India and Baddi in North India. The production facilities in India are not only used for domestic production but also for the export of finished products to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Dubai, Ghana and the Maldives. 3.5 CADBURY AFTER KRAFT Wider geographic reach but still developed markets bias à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢The acquisition of Cadbury provided Krafts confectionery operations with a better balanced geographic mix between developed and developing markets, although the share of combined North American and Western European retail value sales remained at 55%. However, its exposure has increased in North America and decreased in Western Europe. Competition in both developed regions is fierce from well-established, domestic confectionery conglomerates, such as Mars/Wrigley and Hershey in North America, and Nestlà © and Ferrero in Western Europe. Market gaps to fill in emerging regions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Krafts Asia-Pacific confectionery revenues in 2008 were just above US$100 million, and with the integration of Cadbury it is expected to exceed US$1.4 billion. However, over 50% of this retail value is generated in just two national markets: Japan and India. China, the regions most attractive confectionery market accounts, for around 8% of the joint entitys confectionery revenues. Although China is forecast to grow by a more modest rate than India, at a CAGR of 4% over 2009-2014, in absolute value terms it makes up over 50% of the Asia-Pacific confectionery market growth over the period. The next step in Krafts strategy should be to focus on strengthening its position in the Chinese market, potentially with further acquisitions/partnerships to gain a larger slice of this dynamic market.