Elevator Pitch

The concept of the Elevator Pitch is borne from the idea that if you met an investor on an elevator and only had 30 seconds to pitch your business, what would it sound like? In fact 30 seconds is about as much attention as you are going to get from an investor to begin with, so thinking in that time frame makes a lot of sense. The formula for the perfect Elevator Pitch involves three ingredients – the Problem, the Solution, and the Market Size. The Problem Every great company starts by solving an important problem.The more accurately you articulate the Problem, the more valuable the Solution will be. Think about how NetFlix. com solved the problem of having to go to the video store in order to rent a movie. No one enjoyed having to travel back and forth to the video store for a rental, nor did they appreciate paying late fees (which we all have done, and hate! ) NetFlix solved the problem of never having to visit a video store to rent a movie and never having to pay late fees again. It was a real problem that everyone could identify with (much to the chagrin of Blockbuster! The Elevator Pitch has three main ingredients: The Problem, The Solution and The Market Size. With only the Problem in hand, our Elevator Pitch would start like this: â€Å"Going to the video store is a pain. People don't like traveling back and forth just to rent a movie and they hate paying late fees even more. † What's important about this explanation of the Problem is that everyone can relate to the problem. The more relate-able the problem, the more likely you are to get someone's attention to it.Think about ways to modify your â€Å"Problem† so that anyone you meet could easily understand it. It’s more important that the problem is relate-able than complicated. Now let's find a solution. The Solution Once you've articulated the Problem your next step is to think about how your Solution fixes that Problem beautifully. Sticking with our NetFlix example, hereâ €™s how we might articulate our Solution: â€Å"NetFlix provides customers with a huge selection of movies that they can order right to their doorstep and never have to pay a single late fee for. Notice how the Solution ties directly back to the pain points of the problem, namely the fact that you don't have to leave your house and you don't have to pay late fees. A good Solution is a direct reflection of the Problem. As a side note, a Solution with no Problem preceding it is a lot less valuable. Take a second look at the Solution for NetFlix above without the Problem before it, and think about how much less exciting that Solution is without understanding the Problem that it solves. The Market SizeSolving the Problem beautifully is nice and all, but if the Market Size of the Problem isn't big enough, you're not likely get investors very excited. The Market Size explains just how big and widespread the market is, which implies how big of a company you can build by solving that p roblem. Investors want to know you're solving a painful problem in a giant market. If you can combine those two factors, you'll generate a lot more interest. Watch what happens when we reduce the size of NetFlix's Market Size by just adding a few words to the Problem: Going to the video store to rent the movie Fletch is a pain. People don't like traveling back and forth just to rent Fletch and they hate paying late fees even more. † We haven't even explained the Solution yet and already you're probably thinking â€Å"How big of a business could you build on helping people rent Fletch? I mean hey, it's a good movie, and probably a seminal work by Chevy Chase, but c'mon! † Now let's try that again, only this time we'll use a real Market Size: â€Å"For over 90 million Americans going to the video store is a pain.People don't like traveling back and forth just to rent a movie and they hate paying late fees even more. † Notice how with just a small modification we ga ve you a real good indication of how big this Problem really is. 90 million Americans represent a lot of dollars spent. Even if you don't entirely understand the problem, you can certainly understand that 90 million people probably add up to a pretty big market opportunity. Picking the right Market Size is about identifying a portion of the market that is likely to buy your product.It's not everyone that's ever seen a movie; it's everyone that is currently renting movies. Maybe it's less than that if some percentage of those consumers don't use the Internet. You don't need to have the world's largest market, but be mindful of going after a market that is obviously too small (like the people renting Fletch) for fear of turning people away before they even have the opportunity to hear you out. Put it Together, then Pare it Down Now we've got a nice understanding of the Problem, Solution and Market Size. The next step is to distill that explanation down to an easy-to-remember ite-sized sound bite that still covers all the bases. Let's try a shorter version: â€Å"NetFlix helps over 90 million Americans avoid driving to the video store by delivering movies directly to their doorstep without ever paying late fees. † In one sentence we've tackled the Market Size, Problem, and Solution in a way people can easily remember. Most importantly, in a way you can remember when you're explaining what you do a million times over! In many cases, you'll be lucky if you get just enough time to get this one message across, so refining the message is key.Don't worry about getting it right the first time. Pitch it a few times to strangers, get some reactions and modify. It takes some practice. The Tag Line Distilling the Elevator Pitch down to one sentence isn't always enough. You'll often need something that's just a few words in order to arm others with an easy explanation of your company. You'll personally remember that 90 million Americans have a movie rental problem and that you help people avoid late fees. No one else will. Investors won't remember more than the general concept.Your advisors who mention you at cocktail parties won't be able to recite your beautiful pitch. You need a Tag Line. The Tag Line is an explanation of what you do without the details. It's how people reference you before getting into the pitch. It's how you probably remember most of the products you use today. Here's a Tag Line for Netflix: â€Å"Mail Order DVD Rentals† Notice how simple that is? That's the point. In just four words it explains what NetFlix does, without going into the details of the problem it solves or how big that problem may be.Take some time and really refine your Tag Line. Put it on your Web site, your business card and all of your collateral items. You're building a brand after all, and your Tag Line is what makes that brand memorable. Summary Your Elevator Pitch may be one of the single most important tools you use to communicate your brilli ant idea to the world. Most great pitches you hear, like famous advertising slogans, are the result of countless hours spent refining, gathering input and refining some more.

Christology of Jesus in the Book of Colossians Essay

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As hints from the book’s internal evidences point (Col.1:4, 23; 2:1), the church at Colossae was not founded by the Apostle Paul, but rather the fruit of one of his associates’ labor – namely, Epaphras. His words like â€Å"we heard of your faith,† â€Å"the gospel which you heard,† and â€Å"for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,† indicate clearly that these people to whom he was writing were known by him only through means other than himself. Nevertheless, they are close to him since they are the result of Eparhras’ bringing of the Gospel in their place (Aid to Bible Understanding 1971). Epaphras was Apostle Paul’s son in the faith much like Timothy and Titus. He had come to know the Lord through the preaching of Paul in Ephesus and eventually carried the message with him back to Colossae and the result was the founding of the church there. Like any father would feel of significant accomplishments of his son, the Apostle was exhilarated simply by reflecting on such achievement wrought by his son in the faith (Henry 1998). Indeed, it’s quite a feat. To the eyes of a true apostle of Christ who have grasped the vision of the Lord of the harvest, nothing more and none else bears the mark of indisputable success than the authentic surrender of previously rebellious sinners to the Lordship of Jesus (Walvoord & Zuck 1997). The church in Colossae is yet another landmark to the progress of the Gospel and the advancement of the kingdom of God as well. In Biblical perspective, this is true success. This letter, therefore, was Paul’s response to the report he received from Epaphras regarding the spiritual condition of the Colossians. The details of the report, however, are not thoroughly positive. Concurrently, the whole scenario was one of good prospects, with regard to what they are already enjoying being in Christ, and the possibility of some of them being dragged away to religious nonsense because of the presence of false teachers among them who actively engaging them into a kind of doctrines that sidetrack them from the right focus. These false teachers are so subtle in their approach that caught the Colossians off guard. The presence of these cultic teachings in their midst brought them to a situation that is very dangerous, and Paul had to write to them a polemic on the fundamentals of the Person of Christ and what He achieved on the cross for them (Duncan p.1 â€Å"The Incomparable Christ†). Historical & Cultural Background   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is interesting to note that Phrygians are one among the many peoples present in Jerusalem during the Feast of Pentecost at the time when the promised Holy Spirit descended upon the first band of disciples in the upper room (Acts 2:10). These people were there at the very center of God’s activity when He was mobilizing His first band of missionaries to reach the first of the target geographic spheres – Jerusalem. Earlier, Jesus pronounced that his disciples would become His witnesses in â€Å"Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.† At the brink of this massive missionary activity, a people who would eventually become direct beneficiaries of an apostolic letter were present – witnessing a poignant presentation of the gospel by Apostle Peter. The city of Colossae was once known to be a great city and was hailed by famed historic figures such as Alexander the Great and Herodotus. Both spoke, in their respective times, of Colossae as â€Å"a great city.† However, at the time of the writing of the Apostle Paul of his letter to the Colossians, the city was not as celebrated as Laodicea and Hierapolis (Smith The Letter To The Colossians, New Testament Introduction) in comparison. However, along with these greater Phrygian cities, Colossae was famed for its textile industry. In the ancient world, a variety of cloth called â€Å"Colossinum† with its purple wool was one of the exquisite that it was very much valued. Thus, Colossae was among the triad of known center of the textile industry. Geographically, it was positioned along the banks of the Lycus River, and was 160 kilometers travel to the east side of Ephesus. It’s easy to think of a Christian disciple from Ephesus to have gone to this nearby city to extend the gospel; and indeed, it might have been Epaphras who blazed the trail of evangelistic work there and probably since then holding the reins of pastorate there. Since Colossae was in the regions of Phrygia which was itself part of Greece, the population was naturally Phrygians, Greeks, and considerable number of Jews. In his book, â€Å"The Antiquities of the Jews,† Josephus Flavius recorded that during the reign of Antiochus the Great (223-187 B.C.), he banished into exile from Babylonia 2,000 Jewish families and relocated them into the districts of Phrygia and Lydia (Antiquities 12.147-153). The probability was high that the descendants of those Jews who immigrated there two centuries earlier, were without a doubt still living in the same region, and in Colossae particularly were rooted and settled by the first century A.D. Culture’s Influence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The mixture of population in Colossae undoubtedly contributed to the difficulty in determining decisively what kind of philosophies or false teachings have crept into the fellowship of Christians at Colossae. The manner through which the problem is identified in the book makes scholars conclude that it was syncretism. Because these false teachers have never outrightly denied Christ in their instructions, if looked at the surface, they appear to be Christian teachers in the eyes of the new converts whose level of understanding of the Christian doctrines was at this time not yet thorough strong. False teachers used Christ only as their launching station to bring these people into the true substance of their belief. For example, it would only disturb the Colossians if these teachers uncunningly had presented themselves as Gnostics, or Judaizers, or some pagan gurus propagating their paganistic philosophies (Bauer et al. 1979). Therefore, they stealthily conducted themselves among Christians and apparently they have successfully injected some of the important features of their doctrines into the forefront among the biblical truths which the Colossians were previously oriented to focus their minds on, namely, the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Paul elaborated on the implications of everything that the Person of Christ stood for. From unveiling the majestic Person of Christ to the natural ramifications of what it means he went on in scrupulous details. The confusion that these false teachers created among the Colossian church was very dangerous that it threatens the very character of their identity as Christians (i.e. disciples who follow Christ’s teachings). And besides, it endangers the spiritual lives of the believers at Colossae. Gospel truths will lead to true godliness while half-truths or the Gospel mixed with other philosophical elements which are not found in Christ will always lead to the destruction of life in general. According to Paul, it’s not possible for them to practice Jewish religious rituals, and embrace paganistic beliefs and philosophies, and still retain the true nature of Christianity. As can be seen, the cultural background through which Colossians was written played a huge role on how Paul developed his themes in the book. They could not have escaped the applications of Paul’s teachings since he made everything clear to them. The structure of Gnosticism’s philosophy was based on presuppositions such as, God is the Supreme Being who is spirit and good in nature. He is the unnamed Father, and out of the core of His being flows a series of emanations/aeons or mediators, and the material world is evil. Reading Paul’s letter in the midst of a culture that is so familiar with the Gnostic teachings, one would not miss the images he was using and its implications (Shelley 1982 pp.52-54). To the things advocated by these Gnostics, like for instance, that they needed â€Å"mediaries† to be able to tap to that special wisdom which alone could be received from God, Christ is the â€Å"wisdom of God.† The advocacy of Jewish traditions which are also present and rampant among these believers were just as attractive as all these Hellenistic philosophies in that it lay claim to the very roots of Christianity (Gaebelien 1998). To those who find the arguments of Judaizers logically appealing, the Apostle would say: â€Å"They are but a shadow of things to come.† All of the legitimate practices of the people of God as sanctioned by the Old Testament Scriptures were all types and only a shallow of the real thing (Gill 2000). They all pointed to Christ and when Jesus came all of them were done away with because the whole substance of those things is Christ. And Christ was manifested in the flesh. To the Gnostic who does not believe in the incarnation of the Christ in literal physical body, Paul’s word is: â€Å"In Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily† (Col.2:9). To those Jewish Christians who constantly were being â€Å"Judaized† by the Judaizers wanting them to incorporate certain elements of their tradition, Paul’s message is: â€Å"You were circumcised by the circumcision of Christ.† He made it in the spirit â€Å"without hands.† â€Å"God has forgiven all your trespasses because Christ has wiped out everything that the righteous requirements of the law have been demanding from you.† Christ neutralized all the incriminatory proofs written in the Jewish canon that would declare Christians guilty, whether Jews or Gentiles, before the bar of God’s justice (Metzer 1975). In Paul’s own words, â€Å"He (Christ) has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross† (Col.2:11-14). The Colossians were reminded of the all sufficiency of Christ (Wenham et al 1994). Overall Message of the Book   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since what is under attack is the very Person of Jesus Christ, and because this assault has far-reaching effects and naturally hit the Colossians at different fronts of their faith, Apostle Paul saw it necessary to concentrate his treatise on the Person and the work of Christ. For instance, as it was the assertion of certain teachers inside the church that the fullness of spiritual experience which until then had not been realized in their lives could be attained only through means other than Christ (e.g. worship of angels), Paul had to stress the distinctness and the exclusivity of the role of the second Person of the Godhead in salvation and in securing the fullness of experience of every believer in their relationship with God. The completeness and the comprehensiveness of Christ’s Person and work have covered everything that the Colossians could ever imagine. There is no angel, no religious practice/rituals, and no tradition could ever surpass Christ. Christ is supremely preeminent. The Colossians, contrary to what these false teachers wanted them to be convinced of with their teachings, has the fullness already in Christ. They needed only to realize this through the clear elaborations of an Apostle. Epaphras discovered the significance of this role of Paul, hence he asked for his reinforcement. During this time of the church’s history, Christ’s teachings were still significantly guarded by legitimate apostles. In Colossians 1:1, Paul opened his letter with this salutation: â€Å"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. . . to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse. . . .† He has not yet by this time visited the church at Colossae and therefore has not known personally many of them. They might have heard of him though through Epaphras. And so, his first words reflect the assertion that what will follow are instructions coming from the one who has been sent directly and authorized by Jesus Christ himself. Paul said, â€Å"I am an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.† This introduction stands in sharp contrast to the false teachers in their midst who go along professing to be spiritual elites who were privies to God, and possibly, Jesus. Therefore, the first few words of Paul are crucial and their force is carried through the entire letter. It bears the mark of apostolicity and hence it is not just an ordinary epistle. Paul was one of the privileged few in his time, like Peter and the rest of all the twelve authentic apostles, who had seen and were commission by Jesus personally. And at the time of his writing, there were many still living apostles who could attest to his claim, although it was not necessary. His apostleship was widely known among the first generation of Christians, and at Colossae, Epaphras was there as direct result of Paul’s apostleship – and the Colossians the indirect product of Paul’s commission. In setting forth very clearly the fact of his authority, what he had to say to them in this letter were not opinions or just lofty guesses coming from a person who mustered enough of his noble thoughts about Christ. His teachings were at that time the standard teaching of true apostles of Jesus (Clarke 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another paganistic element in the teachings of these false teachers was the contention that insights into spiritual powers – demonic powers – that could protect and shield the Colossians could be acquired through certain observances and rituals. In particular, rites that were thought of as effective in restraining the flesh from engaging even in legitimate use of the body in marriage between husband and wife, and lawful consumption of food and use of things were put forward as necessary for superior spirituality. Again, to battle these cultic emphases on the superficial appearance of spirituality among the Colossians, the apostle Paul presses over and over again the theme of Christ’s overall sufficiency. The absolute preeminence of Christ has overarching cosmic implications. To know Christ is to know God. To know Christ is to know the Creator who not only created the universe and all of the planets, but also by His power hold these things together (Col.1:15-20). If Christ is, as the Apostle’s Creed faithfully declares, â€Å"very God of very God,† then they have all good reasons to trust in Him alone. No religious leader should dare to compare Him to angels nor to spiritual mediaries because He Himself is God. â€Å"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him† (Col.1:15-16). Themes of the Book   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the pressing concerns that had seriously affected the demeanor of the Colossians was their fear of the â€Å"stoicheia† – Greek word for â€Å"elementary principles.† The source of the heresy that Paul was battling among the Christians in Colossae was the philosophy that had successfully sneaked into their consciousness. It was very unfortunate to see an apostolic congregation being victimized by this philosophical nonsense (Balz & Schneider 1990). Paul would have to tell them in his letter of the utter rubbishness of what they are entertaining in place of Christ. They were playing with â€Å"philosophy† which amounts to â€Å"empty deception† because it comes from â€Å"the tradition of men† (Col.2:8). In the ancient times, stoicheia means many things. But basically, it means, as it is translated in English, â€Å"elementary instructions.† These include the physical elements like earth, water, fire, and wind. Also, the ancient people would have meant it to be â€Å"elemental spirits.† These elemental spirits are believed to be those powerful beings that control nature. These are evil spirits and therefore hostile in nature. They command the respect and allegiance of human beings because they rule over the fate of humans. They can cause â€Å"sicknesses, effect a curse, bring in poor crops, plagues, earthquakes, and natural disasters† (DeWaay â€Å"Colossian Heresy† p.1). The Colossians find this kind of teaching so attractive. Their problem however was that in this kind of hodgepodge religion, they had already fallen into idolatry from whence they had been delivered when they believed the Gospel. In the first chapter of Colossians, Paul established the reality of Jesus’ divinity. Jesus Christ is the one who is truly in control of the â€Å"elemental spirits† because He is in fact the Creator of everything â€Å"seen and unseen.† In Colossians 2:15, Paul presented Christ as one who through His death on the cross, â€Å"disarmed principalities and powers,† and by the power of His resurrection, â€Å"He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.† The culture where they happened to be living in has much influence on their lives that they never have suspected. This sinister influence had been there all along and just biding time, and had found the occasion through the false teachers. It was observed that this belief in â€Å"elemental spirits† had been characteristic of ancient Pagans and Jews. It could be that some of the initiates to the Colossian church were looking for help in Christian religion to avert the spell of stoicheia in their lives. This belief in â€Å"evil forces† in the air might even be their common background. They were brought up from this superstitious environment. Paul, therefore, had to remind them of what has transpired when they surrendered and have put their trust in Christ. They â€Å"died with Christ from the basic principles of the world† (Col.2:20). There’s the word â€Å"stoicheia† again. The Colossians should have totally forsaken any trace of this paganistic reservation. If Christ rules the universe, why fear the evils that these sinister spirits could inflict them? And if Christ is the Creator and for whom all things were created, including â€Å"invisible elements,† and all the spiritual hierarchy in the heavens, then He must be Supreme and Sovereign. The Colossians did not have to subject themselves to useless regulations. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The understanding of the Person of Christ is crucial to the establishment of the Christian’s faith. After this elaboration of Paul on the majesty of the Person of Jesus Christ in his epistle to the Colossians, there should be none any more room for any additives to the faith and practice of the Christian life. Christ’s Person and His redemptive work are sufficient source of unshakeable confidence. Thinking about the Person of Christ, of who He really is as portrayed by Paul in Colossians, how could possibly anyone who knows all these things concerning Jesus add to Him the philosophies of mere men? What is it there that innovative human beings can add to Christ? False teachers of Paul’s day would say that if one wanted to be freed from the dominion and powers of darkness, even if he or she has Christ already, there needed to be certain things to be added. To this, Paul would retort: â€Å"Christ has saved us from the powers of darkness and there’s nothing to be added. He is enough and we are complete in Him.† To look for â€Å"fullness† somewhere else and other than Christ is to doubt His Person. All things consist in Him and in Him all the fullness dwells. In Christ we received redemption and the forgiveness of our sins. Works cited: Anonymous.   1971.   Aid to Bible Understanding. Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (Aid). Bauer, Walter; Arndt, William; Gingrich, F. Wilbur; Danker, Frederick.   1979. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Second Edition. Chicago, Ill: The University of Chicago Press. (BAGD). Balz, Horst and Schneider, Gerhard. 1990. Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. 2 Volumes.   Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. (EDNT). Barnes, Albert, Notes on the Bible. Electronic E-Sword Files.   E-Sword copyright 2000 – 2003 by Rick Meyers.   www.e-sword.net Beveridge, William A Short History of the Westminster Assembly. Revised, edited, and introduced by J. Ligon Duncan III. Greenville: Reformed Academic Press, 1993. Clarke, Adam.   Commentary on the Bible.   Electronic E-Sword Files.   E-Sword copyright 2000 – 2003 by Rick Meyers.   www.e-sword.net Duncan, Ligon. Christology, Soteriology, and Eschatology. Orlando: RTS Media Ministries, 1993. [with accompanying audio tapes].Ligon Duncan III. Greenville: A Press, 19911,    19932, 19943. Cunningham, William An Introduction to Theological Studies. Edited and introduced by J.Ligon Duncan III. Greenville:   Ã‚   A Press, 19911, 19932, 19943. DeWaay â€Å"Colossian Heresy† p.1. Retrieved   March 20, 2008 Douglas, J.D. and Comfort, Phillip.   The New Commentary of the Whole Bible: New Testament: Based on the Classic Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown.   Electronic STEP Files.   Cedar Rapids, IA: Parsons Technology (JFB). Gaebelien, Frank, editor. 1998. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary.   Electronic STEP Files.   Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. (EBC). Gill, John.   Exposition of the Entire Bible.   Electronic E-Sword Files.   E-Sword copyright 2000 – 2003 by Rick Meyers.   www.e-sword.net Henry, Matthew.   1998.   Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible.   Electronic STEP Files.   Cedar Rapids, IA: Parsons Technology. Metzger, Bruce M. 1975. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament.   3rd Edition.   Stuttgart, Germany: United Bible Societies. The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Power BibleCD Version 3.3 Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 Phil Lindner, Online Publishing, Inc. Shelley, Bruce. Church History in plain language. 1982 pp.52-54. Walvoord, John and Zuck,   Roy.   1997. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament.   Electronic STEP Files.   Cedar Rapids,   IA: Parsons Technology. (BKC). Wenham, G.J., Motyer, J.A., Carson, D.A. and France, R.T. 1994.   New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. (NBC).   

Managerial Finance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Managerial Finance - Assignment Example For example a firm is investing a sum of money in a project which promises to yield $200, $400 and $ 1000 in the next three years. Simply adding this figure would give us a wrong estimation as the money is to be received in the coming years and not today therefore we will have to discount these sums of money using a particular interest rate to know the actual worth of dollars that would be today. 2 ) Opportunity Costs are those costs that a firm foregoes in order to pursue some other investment or decision. For example a company has a plot of land that is vacant, it now has two options either to rent it and receive rent income or to use that land to construct its factories that will again earn it some benefit. Now, if the company decides to construct a manufacturing plant on that site it has to forego that rental income which otherwise it would have received if the factory was not built. Hence in finance and business we factor in that cost and include it as an expense to gauge the true outcome of our actual decision. 3) Cost of capital is the cost for a firm of raising capital either through equity or debt. A company has te decide the optimum mix of both as it will invest that money to gain higher returns therefore the lower the cost of capital the better. The cost of capital is determined by the firms target capital structure which is the weight ages in which it wants to raise equity and debt. It is the duty of the Finance Managers to manage a firms cost of capital and define an optimum kevel. 4) The firm’s optimum capital structure is the weight ages of both equity and debt for which the cost of capital is the lowest. We also know that a company cannot raise unlimited amounts of capital for that lowest cost and optimum weight age level. The WACC (Weighted Average cost if capital) changes after a particular level of capital is reached also

Sampling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sampling - Essay Example This is true in for example agricultural research organizations that test on the pesticides, herbicides and plants the farmers and consumers need. Since they cannot go round asking each and every stakeholder, the manager sends the team to sample a few of those for the market research (Hillger 2006). The other importance is that sampling cuts costs of organization especially that spend on market research. The cost reduction is in terms of sampling researchers and also sampling the participants. This is cost effective compared to employing the whole team of researchers which is expensive and time consuming. This is used by motor vehicle manufacturing companies in many parts of the world like Germany, America and Japan. This sampling decision is approved by middle-level and top-level managers of such companies (Danford 2009). Managers are tasked with staffing. This entails short listing candidates for interviews and hiring a few of those shortlisted. This process requires employment of sampling procedures. This is because when a job position is advertised, many qualified and some unqualified individuals apply and it is the work of human resource managers in collaboration with other managers to short list them based on the qualifications and this is mostly done through systematic or even random sampling (Caruth et al. 2009). One of the skills of the manager is to build power bases (Evans et al. 2007). This means that the manager will have to decentralize power and activities in the organization for effectiveness and achievement of organization’s goals and objectives. This power distribution can be done through cluster or stratified sampling. This means that the manager will divide the organization into different departments and have supervisors or line managers control it. This is common in banks which have decentralized the power of

Change of Demographics in Central America from 1450 to 1914 Essay - 2

Change of Demographics in Central America from 1450 to 1914 - Essay Example However, as soon as Columbus discovered America, the indigenous people were exposed to many kinds of diseases including measles and smallpox. Most of these diseases were brought to the land of Central America by the animals kept by the Europeans. In 1450, the total population of the people in Central America was some millions. 3 centuries later, in 1750, number of people left in the Central America was even lesser than 10 per cent of the population in 1450. Immigration, was one factor that particularly revered the conventional demographic pattern in the Central America. In 1500s, Europeans began to immigrate to the Central America in large numbers. Europeans brought new kinds of domestic animals including cows and horses as well as germs to the Central America. The indigenous people, who acquired the diseases and died away were replaced by the slaves from Africa. The Africans grew much more in population as compared to the Europeans. There were about 10 million Africans in Central America in 1750. In 1790, number of slaves in Haiti was 500000 while the number of whites was no more than 40000 and there were 30000 people of mixed colors. The Industrial Revolution that took place around the year 1914 improved the general health and safety conditions of the people of Central America, as a result of which, the population seared up. More and more people moved towards the cities to make use of the emerging employment opportunities and improve the quality of living. Most of the Central America was urbanized during this time, and the descendants of Europeans and Africans replaced the original indigenous people of Central America. Women in Judaism are considered equal to yet separate from men. Their responsibilities are totally different from those of the men but are equally important. In Judaism, unlike most other religions, God is not referred to exclusively as male.

Sears Auto Center Scandal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sears Auto Center Scandal - Research Paper Example This forced the administrators to begin to apply massive expense cuts throughout the company. Â  Many of the expense cuts directly impacted how work was performed by the auto service center at Sears locations. The salesmen and auto mechanics received a decrease in fixed wages and were instead offered a commission-based wage system that provided additional payment for specific types of parts sold and installed, as well as demanding a specific amount of these parts sold during a working shift. Employees began to concentrate on ways to make the most money instead of concentrating on the best quality for the customer. As consumers began to file formal complaints, a California audit and inspection was performed on Sears chains to discern the work involved. It was determined by government officials that the quality of work was below approved standards and the company’s employees were purposely misleading the consumers. Â  While the CEO of Sears issued statements contradicting these inspections results, the company issued changes in wage programs and earnings for the salespersons at Sears but did not change the commissions-system for auto mechanics. Chuck Fabbri, a Sears auto mechanic, wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate telling the truth about Sears’ wages program for auto mechanics and the dangers that it creates for consumers. These actions were performed by upper-level management at Sears to increase overall profits for the company as well as to provide increased earnings to company shareholders. The community was negatively impacted by these decisions because consumers were taken advantage of and misled. The government placed a 3-year probation on Sears and the company settled on nation-wide class-action cases amounting to multi-billion dollars worth. Â  

Identify and explain the historical significance of Benjamin Rush, Research Paper - 1

Identify and explain the historical significance of Benjamin Rush, particularly as he relates to the transformation of the medical profession in early America - Research Paper Example At this time he was under Rodman he attended many lectures which later helped him in his future life. He later began venturing into politics though not his own career. In all his education life he was been provided for by his mother since his father died when he was six years of age. He grew up as a strong man who later did great things which even to date is serving the whole world. He was really a man to be proud of. He wrote some books and he was well remembered for he wrote the first chemistry book in America. 2Benjamin Rush returned to Philadelphia from Europe in 1769 and he began practicing medicine when he got home. It was at this time that Philadelphia had begun entering a revolutionary period which ultimately played a key role in the American Revolution. This city was wealthy and it had many resources and also a high population. At twenty three years he was elected as a professor of Chemistry in Philadelphia College. This was just one year after he had come from Europe. He is the one who made the name of this school change to what is currently referred as ‘medical school of the University of Philadelphia.’ This man contributed greatly to mental medicine and physical medicine. He was interested in animals and this made him to do some contributions that are even important in the current society. Bloodletting was the main medical practice that Rush was associated with during his career. This method had been used since long by physicians but this time Rush was doing it with more improvements. He used it widely during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 which was making lives of many to be in danger in Philadelphia. This disease broke out in Water Street in the same town. According to Rush he believed that diseases and particularly yellow fever were caused by excessive accumulation of poison in the body of a human being which was toxic to the body and affected the small blood vessels. In his treatment therefore he aimed at removing the poison and let the

Health profile examining a health issue in the community i worked Essay

Health profile examining a health issue in the community i worked - Essay Example The disorder is a chronic inflammatory condition often linked to allergies, in which the airways develop increased responsiveness to various stimuli, characterized by bronchial hyper-responsiveness, inflammation, increased mucus production, and intermittent airway obstruction. The symptoms of asthma, which can range from mild to life threatening, can usually, be controlled with a combination of drugs and lifestyle changes. Many environmental factors are known to precipitate attacks of asthma. These factors are all either allergens or irritants. Allergic factors play a role in many, but by no means every, case of asthma. Some factors and triggers that can cause an asthma attack are: dust, animal dander, pollen, an infection, breathing cold air, exertion, reactions to certain medications, workplace chemicals and cigarette smoke. Asthma is increasingly becoming a public health concern because of its rapidly increasing prevalence, affecting up to one in four urban children.2 Susceptibility to asthma can be explained in part by genetic factors, but no clear pattern of inheritance has been found. Asthma is a complex disease that is influenced by multiple genetic, developmental, and environmental factors, which interact to produce the overall condition. The incidence of asthma seems to be higher among low-income populations, which in the western world are disproportionately minority, and more likely to live near industrial areas. Additionally, asthma has been strongly associated with the presence of cockroaches in living quarters, which is more likely in such neighborhoods.3 A genetic role in asthma has long been suspected, primarily due to the clustering of cases within families and the concordance for asthma in identical twins. Several studies conclude that heredity increases ones chances of developing asthma, particularly if allergies or other allergic conditions are present. Moreover, one may pass this tendency to asthma to the next generation. The

Introduction to the Jamaican Legal System Essay Example for Free

Introduction to the Jamaican Legal System Essay Legal Sources -Rules of law are derived from various sources in English Law. These include, The Constitution of Jamaica, legislation, judicial precedents, certain ancient textbooks among others. The Constitution of Jamaica: The Jamaican Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land of Jamaica and all other laws must conform with the Constitution or they will be struck down.1 In 2011 a new Charter of rights was passed by Parliament, known as The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Act, 2010 This significantly changed Chapter III of the Constitution. â€Å"Traditional human rights protected by our old arrangements, such as the rights to life, liberty, property, freedom of conscience, expression and movement remain protected by the new Charter. Additionally, we now have constitutional rights to equitable and humane treatment by public authorities, not be discriminated against on the grounds of religion, social class or being male or female, to vote in free and fair elections and to be granted a passport. The latter goes hand in hand with the now constitutionally recognized right to leave the island, previously excluded. The Charter provides a number of more modern rights, including the right of every child to public primary education and the right to enjoy a healthy and productive environment free from the threat of injury or damage from environmental abuse and degradation of the ecological heritage. These seemingly ambitious rights are nonetheless enforceable by the Charters express provision for redress, not just against the state but also in citizen versus citizen litigation. Claims may be brought by the person aggrieved or by civic organizations with the permission of the court, where there is an allegation that any of the provisions of the Charter has been, is being or is likely to be contravened.† The Judiciary is the branch of government that is primarily responsible for interpreting the law. The Structure of the Jamaican Court System1 The Courts have been given the duty under the Constitution to examine activities undertaken by the State and determine if acts by the State through its various agents are inconsistent with the Constitution and therefore of no legal effect. Acts of Parliament are also subject to review by the Courts to see if there is any inconsistency with the Constitution. The Constitution of Jamaica provides for the establishment of the Supreme Court as a Court of Origination. Decisions of the Supreme Court upon appeal are heard by the Court of Appeal which is the highest Court physically located in Jamaica, however under the Constitution, the highest Court in the Jamaican Court Structure and the final Court of Appeal from decisions of the Court of Appeal is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which is based in England. There are other Courts that are not created by the Constitution and have been created by Acts of Parliament. The Court System is looked at below. Petty Session The Petty Session Court is presided over by three Justices of the Peace. These are not Attorneys-at-Law. They preside over petty matters. These include pickpocketting, common assault and use of indecent language.

Google Brand Strategy Essay Example for Free

Google Brand Strategy Essay This paper will give you an inside look as to how Google Inc. has evolved into a multi-billion dollar empire since it was first developed in 1996 by two Stanford University graduates working out of a garage. The paper will also compare Google to its strongest competitors in the search engine, web advertising and mobile phone industries. The paper will also reveal what the key elements to success are in those industries. The paper will also detail the resources and key competencies that Google has to make them the leading internet search engine with over 60 percent of market shares. The paper will also discuss the business model and strategies used by Google to help them become one of the fastest growing companies in history. The paper will also touch briefly on some of the threats and weaknesses they face in the marketplace. The paper will also include a recommendation to Google’s top management to help them sustain its competitive edge and financial success in the industry. Background History and Company Growth In 1996, Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin teamed up to develop a new search engine they named BackRub. They chose this name because of the engines ability to rate websites in relevancy based on metatags and keywords. Backrub was quickly gaining popularity and in 1998 Yahoo’s cofounder, David Filo talked Brin and Page into leaving school to put their focus making Backrub a major part of Yahoo. Backrub was later named Google, which was taken from the word googol. Googol is mathematical term for a number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. The founder of Sun Microsystems was the first person to invest in Google with $100,000 in August of 1998 which raised $1 million by the end of September. Google was named â€Å"Top 100 Web Sites and Search Engines for 1998† by PC Magazine and was recorded successes at record pace. Google saw potential for profits in other segments of the market and made innovative ideas to gain market share. In 2000, their innovations included wireless search technologies, search capabilities in ten languages, and Google Toolbar browser. Google expanded its product line again in 2004 with the launch of Google News, Google Product search, Google Scholar and Google Local. Google’s index of web pages also grew to more than 8 billion and increased its country domain to more than 15. Google then entered the mobile phone market in 2004 when they created a feature allowing users to text a search request and Google would provide results to the search. Google Earth was created in 2005, which was later enhanced in 2010 when it included an Earth View mode allowing users to view 3D images of various locations at ground level. Between 2005 and 2010, Google also added Book Search, Music Search and Video Search. Google created features for its website to include Gmail software, web-based calendar, web-based documents, spreadsheet applications and language translations to accommodate 51 languages. Discuss competition in the search industry. Which of the five competitive forces seems strongest? Weakest? What is your assessment of overall industry attractiveness? Google has been able to sustain its competitive advantage because of the strong relationships they have built with Internet users, advertisers and websites. In 2010, Google was the most visited website with more than 147 million internet users visiting their site on a monthly basis to search for information. Google’s management believes its strongest rivals are Microsoft and Yahoo, although market share rankings from June 2006, June 2009 and May 2010 showed Google has more than twice their competitors combined. Yahoo was first founded in 1994 and in 2010 held the top third position for most visited search engine site. Almost any information available on the web can be viewed through Yahoo’s portal. Yahoo has many of the same features as Google such as, personal calendar, email, news, weather, television listing and online photo albums. Yahoo has also partnered with mobile phones allows users to search from their mobile devices just as Google has done and the searches performed through Yahoo accounted for 35 percent of the market in 2010. Yahoo’s many features and services have generated revenues from many sources. Yahoo’s relationship with Google goes back to 2000 and has at times been cooperative and other times adversarial. In fact, Yahoo was one of Google’s first customers, but in 2002 they parted ways when Yahoo purchased other companies to develop search engines and since then they have been considered rival companies. Another of Google’s top competitors is Microsoft whose revenues in 2009 were approximately $58.4 billion, with $14.6 billion net income. They were able to make these impressive profits through sales of computer software, consulting services, video games hardware and online services. Microsoft’s computer software Windows 7 and Microsoft office raked in half the company’s revenues in 2009 and most of its operating profits. Their online sales of $3.1 billion showed a loss of $2.3 billion during 2009. The online services generated income came from banner ads on the company’s MSN web site and other affiliated sites, as well as search-based ads displayed with Bing results. Microsoft entered the search engine industry during 2004 in an effort to compete with Google. This happened because Microsoft noticed job postings for Google were nearly identical to Microsoft specifications. Microsoft believed Google was attempting to design software applications that compared to Microsoft office such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Google is well aware of the competitive pressures created by its rival and they fully understand what it takes to hold the competitive edge. They created a strategy that would allow themselves to hold their own against its rivals. In their mind, if the competition could do it, so could they. Competition stems from all sorts of directions for Google. They must compete against their rivals like Yahoo and Microsoft in the search engine industry, new entrants to this industry, the product innovations of their rivals, as well as the bargaining powers their rivals may have that they do not. One of the biggest forces of competition is website traffic. If Google can get more internet users to visit their site over MSN or Yahoo, they will have more bargaining power with advertising sales. Google must also obtain qualified employees with the capabilities to compete with the new and innovative products that Microsoft continues to create. Because the search engine sites are so alike, this causes the rivalry between competitors to increase because the products are less differentiated. What are the key factors that define success in the industry? What are the key competencies, and resources of successful search engine companies? Success in the search industry can be defined by looking at several different factors. One of the most obvious signs of success is revenue growth. Googles revenues from its websites have grown from $792,063 in 2003 to $15,722,486 in 2009 as stated on its 10-k reports. Revenues from licensing have grown from $45,271 in 2003 to $761,759 in 2009. However the value of their stock reached the high point in 2008 at just over $700 per share and has dropped to below $300 in 2008, gained a little in 2009 and dropped again in 2010 to around $450. Some analysts believe Google’s recent decline in revenue and earnings stemmed from their decisions to increase stock prices in order to achieve revenue and growth earnings that pushed the boundaries of their corporate philosophy of making money without doing evil. In order to be successful, Google must continue to develop innovative products at features to better meet the needs of its customers. They need to offer these products at lower prices than their competitors as well. Have Google’s business model and strategy proven to be successful? Should investors be impressed with the company’s financial performance? How does the company’s financial performance compare to that of Microsoft and Yahoo? Google’s innovative products and business acquisitions have all played a part into their strategy directed at increasing the company’s market share in internet advertising. The addition of these products has increased traffic to Google’s website, and therefore, has given them more opportunities to advertise to Internet users. The strategy to dominate the internet advertising market was designed to be worldwide. China was a market that they were particularly interested in taking over since they have more than 300 million users. Unfortunately for Google, China was not as interested in this and they were faced with challenges from their local search provider, Baidu and the Chinese government. As of 2009, only 31 percent of China’s internet users searched using Google and 64 percent used Baidu. Googles business strategy included creating new products and features for the mobile phone industry. In 2010, 234 million people owned mobile phones, with 30 percent having internet access from their devices. Google first introduced its Android operating system in 2008 free of charge to any phone manufacturer marketing mobile phones with internet capability. The applications included the operating system had Wi-Fi capability, email, web-based calendar, Google Earth maps, and GPS. T-Mobile was the first to use Googles Android operating system with the launch of G1 in September 2008. The G1 had many of the same features as Apples iPhone, but much less expensive. The Android operating system was extremely successful with its market share, increasing from zero in 2008 to 13 percent in May of 2010. Another area of Googles business strategy focused on computer software programs used by businesses. Senior management believed the programs would move from local hard drives to the Internet. These is referred to as cloud computing. The market was believed to grow to as much as $95 million by 2013. The move would offer many benefits to corporate users such as lower software acquisition costs, lower computer support costs, and easier collaboration amongst employees in different locations. Google first launched its beta version of free word processing and spreadsheet in 2006 and later relaunched in 2008 to compete with Microsofts Office products. In 2008, Google launched its Chrome Browser and Chrome operating system, specifically to accommodate cloud commuting applications. The Chrome browser was created with a multiprocessor design that allowed users to operate spreadsheets, word processing, video editing and other applications simultaneously. Each tab opened a new window so if one crashed the other applications running would not be affected. Also in 2009, Google made agreements with Acer, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo to start production of netbooks that used Chrome OS and Chrome browser to access cloud-based Google apps software. Googles business strategy also included expanding into the television market. In 2010, Google teamed up with Intel, Sony, Logitech, Best Buy, DISH Network, and Adobe to develop Google TV. Google TV was built on the Android platform, running the Chrome browser to search live networks and cable programming that streamed videos from providers such as Netflix, Amazon on demand videos, and YouTube. Google TV users would be able to use their televisions to browse the web and run cloud based applications. Googles business strategy also focused on the addition of targeted advertising placed alongside search results on its website. Google Adwords increased annual revenues from $220,000 in 1999 to more than $86 million in 2001. These ads were prices using an auction system, where uses bid on keywords that described their product or service. What are the company’s key resources and competitive capabilities? What competitive liabilities and resource weaknesses does it have? What opportunities exist? What threats to its continued success are present? In order for Google to have continued success in the search engine industry, they need to have resources and capabilities to create competitive advantage over its rivals. Many of theses resources needed for success are intangibles. They included human assets and intellectual capital. This means having employees with experience, education, creativity and innovation to develop new products and features to compete with its rivals. Another important resource is their company image. Googles 10 principles of Corporate philosophy includes You can make money without doing evil. Their image is different from many other businesses. Google believes in conducting business in unconventional ways. They believe their work should be challenging, but fun. The company puts emphasis on team achievement and individual accomplishments that contribute to the companys overall success. They work in a place where there is great communication and camaraderie in order to have the tools necessary to produced Google users with the information they are seeking. Google also believes being great will not make them successful. They must anticipate the future needs of its user and develop innovate product and services in order to be successful in the search engine industry. Building relationships or alliances with suppliers is another key component of success. These relationships can help to reduce costs and enhance product quality and performance. A perfect example of this relationship is Google offering its Android operating free of charge to mobile phone providers or its collaboration with Sony, Logitech, Best Buy and DISH network to develop Google TV. Some of the tangible resources needed for success include financial assets, technological assets and organizational resources. Google must have cash and marketable securities in order to finance new products and investments as well as pay dividends to its stock holders. Some technological assets are its copyrights and production technology. Production technology refers to the processes used to develop new products to compete with its competitors. Organizational resources included the companys workstations and servers used in developing these products. Some of the threats that Google faces in the industry include new entrants in the market and product innovations from its competitors. Overall, Google has done a relatively good job in competing with the development of competitors products. They created the Android operating system in order to enter the mobile phone industry and they are developing new applications for cloud commuting to compete with Microsoft office software. They need not worry too much about the entrance of new businesses as they have developed a brand and corporate image that has already earned loyalty from many consumers. What recommendations would you make to Google’s top management team to sustain its competitive advantage in the search industry? How should it best capitalize on its strategic initiatives in mobile phones, cloud computing, emerging markets, and other venues? Because Googles rivals are competing with relatively the same products, I would suggest to Goggles top management to focus in conducting business in an ethical manner that conforms with the business philosophy. They have received much criticism recently because of their impressive revenues growth during the recession. They need to focus on building their brand image that consumers are appealed by. I would also suggest finding ways to offer products and services at a lower price to its consumers in order to dominate the market. With products being so comparable and easily substituted they need to compete on price. It would be in Googles best interest to focus on the markets in the United States and Canada , rather than in China. China does not want them competing there and they are spending too much time and money trying to get in when there is plenty of opportunity here. The only thing they are gaining from this is bad publicity. It would be in the best interest of the company to put much of their focus on the thing they do best and that is the search engine. Google should stay with the industries they have performed well in, such as search engine and mobile phones. Their biggest competitor, Microsoft, is the leader in innovative products and they will most likely be more successful than Google in the cloud commuting market because businesses are familiar with their products and have already created a following where Google has not. They should focus on the areas they do well in and leave the other markets to competitors. Management needs to add features to make their current products more appealing to consumer rather than looking for new markets to enter. References Thompson, A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., Strickland III, A. J. (2012). Crafting and executing strategy. (18 Edition ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Thompson, A. A., Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J. E., Strickland, A. J. (2012). Cases m for crafting and executing strategy. (19 ed., Vol. 1). The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The ancient Greek olympics

The ancient Greek olympics Many people know a lot about the Olympic Games. Ancient games were a lot smaller than the Olympic Games today with only 300 contestants from 11 different countries. All of America has heard the devastating news that occurred this year at the 2010 Olympics. Nodar Kumaritashvili died after crashing into a metal pole during a luge race. He was only 21 years old competing at the Vancouver Olympics and it took his life. Many people do not realize how violent and dangerous certain Olympic events are. To fully understand the importance of the Olympics you need to know about the Ancient Olympic Games (Papantoniou). According to Findling, Heracles, Zeuss son, founded the ancient Olympics. Yet the first Olympic Games were held in 776 BCE. At this Olympic Games, a runner named Coroebus, won the running event. Coroebus became the very first Olympic champion. The ancient Olympic Games became bigger and more popular so they continued to be played every four years for nearly 1,200 years (Findling). At the beginning, the Olympic Games were played as part of a religious practice. People put their passion for religion into sport and competition. This hereby became a religious ritual for the Greeks (Papantoniou). The Olympic Games were the most famous of all other games by far and they were held in Olympia. According to Papantoniou, the idea of rebirth soon came along and when it did many cults were formed. The idea of rebirth came from the idea of creation. We are created from the coming together of a male and female, which was obvious. During this process of birth, the Earth has been said to give us life. The Earth, with the help of Mother Nature, contains everything that people need to live. The divine force of Mother Nature created the idea of rebirth. Soon the religious cults were formed and competition became an important ritual (Papantoniou). The purpose of the Olympic events was to demonstrate bodily strength and vigor (Papantoniou). According to Findling, once the first full moon came out the games were able to begin. At the beginning, the games only lasted a day but soon the games became so popular new sports were added. Soon, the games lasted a full five days. The first day of the festival was meant for sacrifices for the Gods. Some athletes liked to pray alone and make sacrifices themselves. Most Greek athletics were for one person to compete with another as opposed to playing on teams. The athletes took part in running, wrestling, disc-throwing, boxing, javelin-hurling and many other sports. The second day of the games was the day of the foot-race. There was not merely one type of race that the athletes took part in. There were four different kinds. The first and oldest was stadion, where runners sprinted for 1 stade, which was the length of the stadium. The other races were a 2-stade and long-distance races. The fourth type of race involved runners wearing full armor. This race was good for preparing men for the military. It increased strength and stability for the men competing to get them ready for war. The other events besides the races were held after the second day of the Games. Pancratium, which was a mix of wrestling and boxing, got kind of intense. To succeed in wrestling the player was to heave the other wrestler on the ground three times. It was not that simple, however. The opponent couldnt just land any such way. They were to land on their hip, back or shoulder. To avoid any serious injury, ancient Greece had specific rules that were to be followed. Biting your opponent and grabbing their genitals was frowned upon during wrestling or the pancratium. When the games had first begun, boxing was not very violent. Although boxing was not too intense, protection was very important. The Greeks were always looking for ways to avoid injury in games like this. In this case, the boxers put leather on their fingers, much like a modern day boxing glove. These leather straps helped with the pain of being hit. However, as time went on, the players came up with more and more violent strategies to make their way to the top. After this more protection was necessary and new finger straps were created. The intensity of boxing was nothing compared to that of the pancratium. It was so brutal that it was not declared over until one of the players accepted defeat. The people who had enough money to own horses were able to train their horses to compete in races. There were races where the horse wore a saddle to make riding easier but in other races the horse had to be bareback. Bareback riding is riding without a saddle which was very difficult because the riders had nothing to hold onto. Much like when a man wins a competition he receives an olive branch, so does the winning horse. The person who trained and rode the horse to victory receives no credit. In the Olympics there were also Chariot races. These races included small chariots led by 2 horses and larger ones led by 4 horses. The pentathlon came after the day of the horse races. The pentathlon included five sports for the athletes to take part in. The events were all very different from one another. Sprinting and wrestling were two of the five events. It was tough since all of the events were so different. If an athlete succeeded at one event he might fail at another. Many of the athletes had to throw javelins and discuses as part of their competition. The final event in the pentathlon was the long jump. Not only was strength important but also stamina and precision (Findling). In order to succeed at jumping the farthest many men would use weights to make them jump further. Many people from out of the area would come to Olympia for their religious festivals. These popular festivals brought many more athletes to the area looking to play in the Games. Gymnasiums were built in Greece for people to practice and play less serious games. The gymnasiums were not only a place to practice but also a place to get protection from the sun. Each gymnasium contained a bath for men to not only clean but also to oil themselves. Athletes often covered themselves in oil before competing in the hot sun for protection (Findling). These competitive games were taken very seriously and they symbolized many things. According to Papantoniou, if you won a game, instead of getting a medal or a trophy, you were crowned with a wild olive branch. The olive branch symbolizes God so if you are crowned, the olive branch promises godliness and that you will live forever. According to Findling, after winning a competition, the winners would return home only to be escorted to their own town. According to Papantoniou, if you won a competition you would therefore have a divine presence and just the thought of you would bring up the word fertility. After these competitions were made-up, fertility of nature became associated with these human activities. A triumph in any one of these games was seen as a direct effect of divine will. The winners were looked upon as heroes or even gods to everyone. These physical activities both influenced the ritual process and were influenced by it in turn (Papantoniou). According to Fling, rewar ds were given to the winners of certain events such as wrestling and boxing from the pain that one must endure. According to Findling, Greek literature and art all included athletics in some way shape or form. Physical ability was extremely important to the Greeks. Not only physical strength was important but also strength of the mind. According to Papantoniou, some people believed that the Olympic Games were a creative way to select their king. When the King competed in the games, if he was not the winner, everyone would know that he was not a worthy leader. He cannot continue to be King if his power and vigor begin to decline. For this reason the Olympics was to be held so that the Kings strength could be put to the test. In the mythical era, everyone believed that if the King won it was because he was chosen by God. If the King lost, God has chosen someone else to take over. Cronus, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes and Ares were the first to participate in the games, followed by Idaean Heracles, Pelops, Oenomaeus, Heracles, the Dioscouri and a whole host of kings and rulers (Papantoniou). According to Papantoniou, the Olympic Games were mostly for men to watch. Unmarried women were allowed to attend to find a husband. However, married women were not allowed to watch on pain of death (Papantoniou). According to Fling, although unmarried women were allowed to attend the Olympic Games, there were only certain days on which they were able to. If any woman was to be caught at the Olympic Games on a day that they were not supposed to be, they were to be pushed down Mount Typaeum. Mount Typaeum was a tall mountain that expanded from Scillus to Olympia and it would be torture for anyone who fell down it. The only woman who has ever been caught at the Games when she wasnt supposed to be was Callipateria. Her son was to compete in the Olympics so she disguised herself as a trainer. Her son, Peisirodus was victorious. Soon Callipaterias identity had become known. She was scared for her life. Her father, brother and son all competed in the Olympic Games and all were victorious. B ecause of this, there was an exception to the rule and she was left unpunished. Because of her mistakes there has been a new law put in place for trainers to show themselves before coming into the area with the players (Fling). According to Durrant, The real question here is not who can attend the Olympics but who can compete. Of course not all people who want to participate can participate. Like many things in life there were restrictions for the Olympic Games. Only free-born Greek citizens were allowed to participate in the Olympic Games (Durrant). Boys competed with boys. Men competed with men of the same age. Only at Sparta, did girls take part in the contest. To be eligible for participation in the Olympic Games, a competitor must observe the traditional Olympic spirit and ethic and have always participated in sport as an avocado without having received any remuneration for his participation (Durrant). According to Durrant, Amateurs are frowned upon during the Olympics. An amateur is anyone who decides to participate in the games merely for their own benefits. These benefits may include social benefits, physical or mental benefits. Its better to see a man take on a task just to test himself. There is n ot a problem as long as the competition is constrained to a distinct population. There will be a problem when a competitor moves to a different population that has more rigid rules and standards. Professionalism began in the sixth century B.C. when Solon decided that anyone who won in the Olympic Games would be given 500 drachmae. Soon after the invention of professionalism, athletic games became a full time job for some. Plato said that the athlete who ends by becoming a hater of philosophy, uncivilized, never using weapons of persuasion,à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬he is like a wild beast, all violence and fierceness, and knows no other way of dealing; and he lives in all ignorance and evil conditions, and has no sense of propriety and grace (Durrant). You may be wondering what the proper attire for the Olympic Games were in ancient times. According to Fling, The Lacedaemonians were the first players who decided that being naked during the games were easier. They also are the ones who discovered the protection that oil gave their bodies. Before nudity, the competitors wore nothing but loin cloths (Fling). According to Fling, the ancient Olympic Games ended 393 AC. The modern Olympics began at the end of the XIX century. Baron Pierre de Coubertin brough back the Olympics with his impressive proposal. Everyone was so excited about the return of the Olympics that the first Modern Olympic Games were to take place in Athens in 1896. Before Baron, other people had tried to bring the Olympics back but no one was successful. So as we can see much about the Olympics has changed. Although the Olympics were invented in ancient times, they still live on today. Works Cited Durrant, Sue M. And Who May Compete?. Quest (00336297) 22.(1974): 104-110. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 4 Feb. 2010. Findling, J. E., Pelle, K. D. (1996). Historical Dictionary of the Modern Olympic Movement. Westport: Greenwood Press. Fling, Fred Morrow. A Source Book of Greek History. 1907. 04 February 2010 . Papantoniou, G. Religiosity as a main element in the ancient Olympic Games. Sport in Society 11.1 (2008): 32-43. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.

Best Practice Merchandising :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Best Practice Merchandising Introduction Retailing is around us everywhere. Whenever you buy something, it is usually from a retail outlet. Everywhere that you go, there is a retail outlet begging you to buy a new car or a jumper or a can of baked beans for only 39c. The world is also full of huge shopping centres and malls packed with retail outlets trying to make you purchase from their particular store. The competition in the retail industry is tremendous and these outlets all have to use certain techniques to try and make you buy from them. What are these techniques? Why do some retail outlets go bust and others flourish into multi-national organizations positioned all around the world? It all has to do with their retail strategy; which includes: - Retail branding and positioning within the market - Their merchandise range - Their product selection and pricing - Their in-store layout - How well their stores are merchandised Customer base Customers are the people that make retail outlets money. Marketing campaigns are directed at the customers in the hope that they can be enticed into the stores so that they will spend money. New customers and current customers are given offers everyday of the week. However studies have shown that current customers generate more revenue than new customers. Existing customers tend to purchase more than new customers and studies show that costs to retain customers are 80% lower than costs to generate new customers. There are also many benefits associated with existing customers. An increase in existing customer satisfaction leads to: - Increased positive word of mouth - Less reason to offer costly loss-leaders to generate traffic - Existing customers usually spend more than new customers - The profits earned from each individual customer grow the longer they remain loyal to the firm. (McLaughlin et al 1998) Retail Brand The retail brand is one thing that customers will always look at. What makes up the retail brand? Everything in the store that makes that particular store different from every other store makes up the retail brand. The lighting, the atmosphere, the music, the colour and the layout all go into making up the brand. The perception that a customer has of the stores image is the retail brand. In today’s competitive market where many retailers have a similar product range, the retail brand can be the key to customers.

Satellites :: essays research papers

Satellites orbit the earth doing our bidding in ways that enrich the lives of almost all of us. Through electronic eyes from hundreds of miles overhead, they lead prospectors to mineral deposits invisble on earth's surface. Relaying communications at the speed of light, they shrink the planet until its most distant people are only a split second apart. They beam world weather to our living room TV and guide ships through storms. Swooping low over areas of possible hostility, spies in the sky maintain a surveillance that helps keep peace in a volatile world. How many objects, exaclty, are orbiting out there? Today's count is 4,914. The satellites begin with a launch, which in the U.S. takes place at Cape Canaveral in Florida, NASA's Wallops Flight Center in Virginia, or, for polar orbiters, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. One satellite in 20 is crippled by the jolt of lift-off, or dies in the inferno of a defective rocket blast, or is thrust into improper orbit. A few simply vanish into the immensity of space. When a satellite emerges from the rocket's protective shroud, radiotelemety regularly reports on its health to round-the-clock crews of ground controllers. They watch over the temperatures and voltages of the craft's electronic nervous system and other vital "organs", always critical with machines whose sunward side may be 300 degress hotter than the shaded part. Once a satellite achieves orbit--that delicate condition in which the pull of earth's gravity is matched by the outward fling of the Page 2 ------ crafts speed--subtle pressures make it go astray. Solar flares make the satellite go out of orbit. Wisps of outer atmosphere drag its speed. Like strands of spiderweb, gravity feilds of the earth, moon, and sun tug at the orbiting spacefarer. Even the sunshine's soft caress exerts a gentle nudge. Should a satellite begin to wander, ground crews fire small fuel jets that steer it back on course. This is done sparingly, for exhaustion of these gases ends a craft's useful career. Under such stresses, many satellites last 2 years. When death is only a second away, controllers may command the craft to jump into a high orbit, so it will move up away from earth, keeping orbital paths from becoming too cluttered. Others become ensnarled in the

Thermodynamics of the Dissolution Borax

Thermodynamics of the Dissolution of Borax Lina Jawadi Objectives: * Study a system of salt and water solution. * Determining a variety of important thermodynamics quantities from the solubility information at various temperatures. Background: The salt and water solution in this experiment has relatively simple solubility equilibrium of borax in water. Na2B4O7 . 10 H2O 2Na + + B4O5(OH)42- + 8H2O This reaction is an equilibrium process and 8 water molecules from the hydrated salt are lost to the reaction medium. The equilibrium constant expression for this reaction is:K = [Na+]2 [B4O5(OH)42-] [H2O]8 [Na2B4O7 . 10 H2O] In this experiment we will always make sure there is some solid borax remaining in the sample mixture before removing some of it to analyze it. Therefore, we can assume that the concentration of solid borax is constant. In addition, the water molecules which were originally part of the borax’s crystalline matrix is lost to the sample mixture; however, it doesnâ₠¬â„¢t significantly affect the concentration of the water. The equilibrium constant expression can now be simplified to become: K = [Na+]2 [B4O5(OH)42-]The first equilibrium expression and the balanced solubility equilibrium reaction allow us to express either borate ion or sodium ion in terms of the other. So, it is possible to determine the constant in terms of either ion. After substituting borax ion in place of the sodium ion, ([Na+] = 2 [B4O5(OH)42-] , K = (2 [B4O5(OH)42-] )2 * [B4O5(OH)42-] ) we get: K = 4 [B4O5(OH)42-]3 . Finding the concentration of borate ion in any sample at any given temperature gives us the solubility product at that temperature. Equipment: * 5mL pipet * Test tubes * Marker * Hot plate * 250 mL beaker * Flask Electric balance Procedure: 1. Using the pipet add 5mL of distilled water to 10 test tubes. 2. Mark the level with the marker and pour the water out. Mark the test tube with the assigned temperature. 3. Weigh 30-32g of solid sodium borate decahydrat e (borax) in a 250 mL beaker and then add 150 mL of water. 4. Place the mixture on a hot plate, but don’t allow its temperature to exceed 50oC. 5. After all the borax dissolves, add more and let the temperature reach 45oC. 6. Once it starts slightly exceeding 45oC, remove it from the hot plate and place instead a beaker filled with 150 mL of distilled water. . Continue stirring the mixture until it reaches the desired temperature. 8. Quickly pour 5 mL of the mixture in two test tube without transferring any solid borax. (record the temperature before and after the transfer. ) 9. When the water bath reaches 45oC, place the test tube in it until precipitation of borax has dissolved. 10. In a flask with 50-75 mL of water and 10 drops of bromocresol green indicator, add 125 mL of the borax solution. 11. Before titrating the borax with acid make sure that it has a blue color.Using buret filled with 50 mL oh HCl, add the acid to the borax until it reaches the endpoint, which is whe n the solution turns from a blue color to a yellow. Record the initial and final volume. (For calculations: find the moles of borax using the volume of HCl and its molarity. Then find the solubility product constant and plot the ksp vs. (1/t) graph and from it obtain the values of ? H and ? S. Make sure the temperature is in kelvin when doing the calculations. Finally, find the value of ? G using both equations and plot the ? G vs. time graph. )

Okonkwo Essay

Some regard the arts as having an extra-artistic cognitive function, that they have a message about man’s place in the world which might have social or political implications. For example, there might be a case for supposing that the arts have an important function as a medium for social criticism and transformation. In any case, there is a widespread belief that the arts have a higher purpose to educate by encouraging introspection and sometimes making us think about how we should live our lives. Two heads are better than one. Learning nd working in groups involves shared or learned values, resources, and ways of doing things. Group projects can reinforce skills that are relevant to both group and individual work, including the ability to: break task into parts, plan and manage time and gain communication skills. What strategies were used? Many of my classmates including myself would have preferred to work on this project individually, however every now and then â€Å"more hands make for lighter work†. When my partner and I got together to begin our project we had decided to split the project in half. Same an equal amount of work. I wouldn’t say we used and specific strategies to begin the Mexican Revolution project. We did however follow the some of the guidelines of the design cycle to begin which included: plan, investigate, design and create. What knowledge was acquired? Because my partner had so much knowledge of the Mexican Revolution, she was able to help me clearly understand/clarify certain things that had occurred that I was uncertain of. Because we had to do some research on our own I gained more on the revolution, to the porfiriato era where porfito Diaz himself introduced railroads, to ow important the constitution was for the people. What skills were utilized and developed? Group projects can also help students develop skills to collaborative efforts, allowing students such as myself to: delegate roles and responsibilities, share perspectives, knowledge and skills, hold one another and be held accountable. (We were able to use pervious knowledge from class and what we have been taught to be able to complete the project. I was able to develop and gain more knowledge of the Mexican revolution because of my partners knowledge. ) What will be done ditterently in the tuture? A lot of things will be done differently in the future. Time management of course. We ended up doing it the same week it was due which caused some stress on each of us individually. Although we completed out project in time I would have liked to have started planning the week she told us Just to have had a head start and know what we were doing then actually doing it last minute and not really knowing what we were going to do. Even if we decided to split the work, I would have wanted to still worked together since it was a group project. But above all, it was a great experience working with another individual. 378

Atticus Finch Character From To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

In the final courtroom scene in the movie â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird†, Atticus Finch is given the case of a lifetime when he gets the chance to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who is being falsely accused of raping a white woman in the 1930’s when inequality and racism was very prevalent during that time in the deep South. The odds he faces are terrible because he is defending an African American which during that time would always be an uphill battle and very few had the audacity to even try. Atticus Finch is delivering a speech trying to encourage and persuade a court who is biased against Robinson to believe that the crime he had been charged with never even took place. Despite the fact that Tom is soon going to be found guilty for a crime he didn’t do, the speech appealed to all of the audience and jury in the courtroom logically, emotionally, and in justice using the appeals of Pathos, Logos, and Ethos (To Kill a Mockingbird). Atticus Finch’s speech displays pathos by provoking the thoughts and emotion of the jury and audience through persuasive and appealing statements. He stated many important points all while his voice was full of trust; trust in the jury to make the right decision, which had the courtroom stirring and this created favorable emotions. Finch creates a feeling of guilt when he states, â€Å"I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt† (To Kill a Mockingbird). Another emotion brought into play by Atticus was empathy when he says, â€Å"There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never looked upon a women without desire† (To Kill a Mockingbird). With the use of empathy he establishes a relationship between Tom and the audience because they were able to put themselves in T om Robinsons’ shoes and feel the same pain. Atticus’s use of the rhetorical appeal pathos was very powerful in creating feelings within the courtroom in an attempt to get the audience to believe in what he is saying and ultimately see past their prejudice ways. This piece of rhetoric also gives a logical appeal through logos which makes the speech a solid logical argument; facts are used in Atticus Finchs’ closing argument to portray a more logical appeal. He starts his speech out by saying there isn’t enough medical evidence to prove that the crime even took place. Finch has a very solid point and statement when he proceeds to say, â€Å"Now there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led, almost exclusively, with his left hand. And Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken â€Å"The Oath† with his only good hand he possesses, his right† (To Kill a Mockingbird). Atticus Finch backs this up in the first sentence of his speech when he says, â€Å"It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses† (To Kill a Mockingbird), stating that this is the only solid evidence that they have in place. Atticus Finch does a good job of presenting a logic al argument while backing up everything he says. Atticus Finch also displays ethos in his speech through his tone and style which also has a major impact on his audience. Atticus Finch having lived in this culture during this time of segregation also gives him a sense of what Tom Robinson and his audience was feeling. By using ethos, he makes a statement that shows how society looks at a white women kissing a colored man, â€Å"Now what did she do? She tempted a Negro. She was white and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable† (To Kill a Mockingbird). All throughout the speech Atticus sounds very professional and knowledgeable on the information he is talking about, he seems as if he invested much of his time to that one case and is determined to free Tom Robinson. During the court case, Atticus Finch states, â€Å"Now, gentlemen, in this country, the courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal† (To Kill a Mockingbird). Atticus uses this very statement in order to elevate the importance of maintaining equality and unbiased opinions to the jury and show his understanding of the court system. Atticus Finch, by using ethos; has proven himself to his audience. I feel that if I was in the audience during the time that Atticus Finch was giving his closing argument I would be utterly and totally convinced because in the speech he uses the rhetorical appeals pathos, logos, and ethos very well which made his speech fit and connect together. Atticus knew just exactly how to appeal to his audience through logic, emotion, and in justice so that an innocent black man isn’t falsely accused. Works Cited To Kill a Mockingbird. Dir. Robert Mulligan. Perf. Gregory Peck, Mary Bedham, and Phillip Alford. Universal Pictures, 1962. Film.

Travelodge

Travelodge Travelodge is private hospitality industry. The Travelodge brand was founded by Scott King (Travelodge Corporation Founder) from America. And the first Travelodge was established in San Diego in 1940. Travelodge has several hotel chains around the world and many of them are operated under independent companies without having connection with brand operating in other countries. Travelodge in UK Travelodge in UK was founded in 1985 which brand was bought in 1980 by the same person Lord Forte. It is the first budget hotel brand and now the fastest growing hotel company.Currently Travelodge is serving all over the UK and in Republic of Ireland and Spain. Travelodge has become second largest budget hotel brand and third biggest hotel chain in UK as it contains approximately 26,148 rooms’ within 368 hotels. And since August 2006, till now Travelodge in UK is operated under Dubai International Capital. Newly designed rooms are decorated in new buildings and refurbished hote ls. Every Travelodge in UK contain family rooms, double rooms and disabled rooms. Each rooms feature en-suite bathroom and heater attached in lower wall.Free tea and coffee with kettle is available on attached table. Wi-Fi internet connection is available at all hotels with the small charge add. Whereas for food and beverage there is bar cafe and vending machine in those almost every hotel except very old ones which are very near to other restaurant. These are overall facilities and other more are there. Situation Analysis PEST Political Analysis The rules and regulation is being changing very frequently for the international students which will affect the daily purpose of the Travelodge. Because than half of the workers are international students inTravelodge. But due to the changing rules and regulation, the under graduate students don’t get work permit from 2012 and those workers must leave the job at once. Last time when there was a great festival of Nepalese people the 5 0% of Travelodge in UK were in shortage of housekeepers because most of those international workers and students went back to there country for celebrating their festival. So the changing regulation might affect the smoothness of Travelodge because more than half of the workers are international students in almost every Travelodge.Economical Analysis Economically Travelodge is in very good situation as it is fastest growing hotel and is providing the room in low price. This year Travelodge is proving various special discount offers in every month. Just this March, Travelodge provide a room in ? 10 per night. And Travelodge in UK is also adding 3000 room per year which shows their economic situation is quite good. Social Analysis Nowadays the peoples travel more due to the availability and flexibility of the Travelodge. Their living style is changing as they can afford the hotel rooms.Travelodge has become the needy facility and services in society due to the cheapness, flexibility a nd mobility of it. Technical Analysis Online reservation system is very famous in Travelodge. 80% of booking is made online in Travelodge. The room’s door is opened with car key. Even check-in and check-out can be done in machine inside the Travelodge. Advance online payment is most famous and profitable for both the Travelodge and customers. SWOT Strength In present situation, Travelodge in London is considered as fastest growing hotel chain.It is providing good services like online reservation, excellent customer services plus quality food services. Special disability access rooms are available for handicapped guest. Due to it’s availability in most of the places there is no transportation problems. Good car parking system is provided by Travelodge. Plus point the rooms are cheaper. And the company brand is famous through out famous countries like America, Canada, Australia, etc. Travelodge in UK is providing the room in cheapest price where there are no other compet ators in that matter. WeaknessThere’s no room service in Travelodge and there is no refund policy after the reservation is made. Sometimes there is shortage of workers. And there is problem in personal development of junior staffs. Travelodge also lacks party place. Some workers might be good in work but lack the communication skills. Though the hotel is growing faster, its facilities are stable still. There are no any new promotions. Due to the increasing number of Travelodge there seems to be lacking of marketing expert. Opportunities Travelodge should must make some party place and function rooms.More permanent workers should be collected and hire more marketing experts. With various offers the promotion and advertising is needed. And as being responsible of their workers, Travelodge must fight against the changing rules and regulation. And being in Growth stage, the right place must be filled with Travelodge with proper plan. Threats The changing rules and regulation of U KBA is making hard for more than half of workers in Travelodge as many of them are not going to get the work permit from this coming 2012. And maximum numbers of workers in Travelodge are par time workers including those international students.Premier Inn has more number of hotels and rooms than the Travelodge and it’s only the one which has largest budget hotel brand even being founded after Travelodge. And right now Premier Inn has made the Travelodge second in budget hotel brand. Seasonality Travelodge in UK are very busy in summer. Most of the every people in the UK have holidays from their work in summer season. And in this season it’s favorable for them to travel. Due to cheap and sweet facilities of Travelodge, almost every those travelers prefer more to spend their nights in Travelodge.They visit the place whole day and to spend night there is availability of Travelodge in most every place. Travelodge can be found in most of every famous place. And nowadays the holiday travelers travel many places rather than spending whole holiday by traveling in one place. It’s easy to switch the Travelodge anywhere within the UK for travelers because of its availability. So Travelodge seems abit busy than usual. The traveling to the beach in the summer is very famous in UK. In comparison it’s found that these years more number of UK residents are traveling within the UK than traveling outer country.Where the Travelodge grab the chance to attract the customers and become successful due to it’s reasonable facilities for guest. It has become most flexible for the travelers traveling within the UK. It’s just opposite in winter. Travelodge keeps running but not as much as usual because the people in UK prefer to stay inside home being warm in this season. Whole UK is full of snow in winter season. So most of every peoples do not travel around rather than staying home being warm. Travelodge is quite in this season. So winter seaso n is considered as off pick season of Travelodge in UK;Travelodge occupancy is average in other seasons. This same trend goes every year. And in weekly basis, Travelodge in UK seems busy in the weekend than in weekdays. Product Lifecycle Introduction Growth Maturity Decline [pic] Fig :- Product Lifecycle of Travelodge in UK The figure above shows that, there is Four Stage in Product Lifecycle of Travelodge in UK. In Introduction stage there is one product, limited place and penetrating situation. The size of Market and Growth is very slight and the competition is very few.The marketing cost is high in this stage to test the market. Moreover in this stage it's hard to gain more profit. So in this stage the product must be carefully monitored to ensure the product development or market development. This is necessary because it’s the stage where the business is starting from zero level. Gain awareness is the main marketing objective in this stage. Secondly in Growth stage there is more versions of product and more outlets and start gaining market and cost of product is reduced. The competition is more.The demand increases so the product too, and the sales increases dramatically in this stage. Stress differentiation is the main marketing objective in this stage. Thirdly in Maturity stage there is full product line and maximum outlets. There are many more competitors and every companies fight for market share. It is stage when the high profit is earned by market as a whole. In this stage both marketing and finance become key activities. Pricing is forwarded defending the market share and profit. And the main marketing objective in this stage is maintaining brand loyalty.Lastly in Decline stage there are only best sellers. The competition goes down to normal. Every company tries to stay profitable and promotional activities are quite silent. The profit keeps reducing so the final stage of company is indicated in this stage. The product management is done very carefully to control the amount of stock of the product. In present situation, Travelodge in UK is in Growth stage. Rising profitability is one of the indicators of Travelodge being in Growth stage. Due to the increasing competition Travelodge has reduced the price of room according to the guest’s early booking time. More the advance you booked the room , more the cheaper you will find the room in Travelodge’. And in the present condition sales volume is increasing very significantly. Due to increasing sales volume Travelodge in UK is in process of adding more outlets. It is gaining market share and promotion is automatically increasing. In over all we can say that there is rapid in sales and profit. Travelodge in UK is increasing it’s availability by building more Travelodge. In other words the product lines of Travelodge in UK are widening. Its main reason is because of increasing profit and competition. Marketing ReportGeographically the Travelodge in UK is segmented within whole UK focusing more around the Central London. Few of them are can be found in Country side. Numbers of Travelodge in UK are constructed according to the density. Numbers of Travelodge’s are established inside and around the Central London to make it available within short distance of travel. And wherever the density is high, Travelodge with more rooms is constructed over there. Famous places in the country side are focused and Travelodge are constructed over there. Demographic segmentation is done in Travelodge focusing to the different family sizes.Travelodge in UK are available with family rooms, double rooms and disable rooms where the family rooms are managed separately with different set up for single person, two person or couple, family with one child, family with two child, etc. Same way the double rooms are also managed with different set up for single person and two people. Families with different age can enjoy the Travelodge rooms up to four peo ple. Different rooms are segmented according to the floor and mostly disable rooms are available in ground floor which makes it easy and fast to move to disable peoples.Pshychographically Travelodge is established focusing the social class. According to the location the price of room differs in Travelodge. And to make it affordable for everyone, Travelodge is available with various discount offers. . Travelodge in UK is grabbing the guest while they are in holiday. Every weekend there is holiday for the almost every official worker or any other workers. So Travelodge get busy in weekend. And mainly it is found around the busy places. It is made affordable in such a way that, regular customer, light customer or heavy customer everybody can afford it. Product of Travelodge in UKThe main product of Travelodge in UK is clean room to provide lodging service. And as a side facilities bar cafe is available for food and beverages. As hospitality industry, Travelodge in UK mainly focus for t he guests who are seeking for spending there nights outside. For which Travelodge is available with fresh cleaned rooms. Rooms are with limited facilities according to the number of guest to be inside room. The main things in Double room are like, King size double bed with small attached furniture and dim light. And attached furnished small and big wardrobe with table where LCD TV is also attached on the table.Tea, coffee, sugar and milk packs are arranged in cuddy according to number of guest. Kettle with cups and spoon are sorted on a side of attached table. En-suite attached bathroom is available inside room. Small bins are kept under the table and inside the bathroom. Heater for winter season is attached in lower side of a wall. Breakfast menu, Main menu and Wi-Fi menu are arranged on the table just below the big mirror on the table. Finally the needed linens are fixed inside the room. Similarly the main things in Family room are as same like in Double room but are abit bigger i n size and one sofa is added with single bed under it.More number of wardrobe and single duvets are kept as per the number of guest. And sofa can be converted into single bed and under it there is another single bed. And disabled room is also with the same facilities as in double room but are bigger in size as Family room. Bathroom is bigger than in Family and Double room with special arrangements to make easy for handicapped ones. Bed can be separated into two parts if it’s difficult to the disable guest. And there is one rope to pull for emergency help which alarm’s immediately to the reception after pulling it.Room is as bigger as family room but there is no sofa because of which it is abit wider and easy to move for the handicapped guest. There are other different facilities like daily cleaning the room even if the guests are staying over. More number of pillow, duvets, etc are available for free. And many other services like iron, baby cot, hair dryer, etc are ava ilable with small charge. Even Wi-Fi internet connection facility is also available here with small amount of charge. Bar cafe is there beside the reception for food and beverages. And the vending machine for chocolate, water and cold drinks are available.Pricing Strategy Travelodge in UK is using Skimming strategy. In statistics it’s called riding down demand curve. [pic] Fig:- Skimming Price of Room of Travelodge in UK. The figure above shows the present pricing strategy condition of Travelodge in UK. The X axis is room price whereas Y axis is Quantity of Room. And the curve in the middle that’s the Demand curve of room which is increasing. Lower the price, higher the demand is shown clearly by the figure. In past years rooms of Travelodge in UK used to cost higher than now because it was only the hotel chain with highest budget within the UK.The other reasons are that Travelodge was new hotel in UK and was in its beginning stage. But these years the competitors have arrived. And the usage of Travelodge is increasing day by day. So nowadays the price of room goes like this; If the guest booked the room in seven days advance then it cost ? 29. If they booked the room twenty-one days advance then it will cost only ? 19. For walk-in guest it cost more than ? 45. Generally starting room price is ? 15 for Double room. And also that Travelodge charge the price per room but not per person. According to the season the different offers comes with amazing lower prices.And now Travelodge is renowned as the cheapest hotel in the UK. It is focusing the every type of middle class and normal guest. Travelodge in UK is providing the room in very lower price with very limited and reasonable facilities. Price differs according to the guest behavior. Advance booking and Booking on same day makes the difference in room price. And little amount of charge is asked for other small services like wi-fi, baby cot, etc. The reasons for using such pricing strategies are a s follows: 1. To keep the hotel busy. 2. To compete in market. 3. To maximize the demand. 4. To stay in profit. 5.To satisfy the guest and travelers. Promotion of Travelodge in UK Travelodge in UK promote itself through advertisement. They advertise through various means every time when they bring the new offer. Advertisements are conducted through TV channels, Newspapers and Internet. Even a huge flex just around every Travelodge (? 19 – steal the room) is displayed clearly. Public awareness is in process itself automatically as far as Travelodge can be found in most of every place within and around the London city. There is increasing awareness in public due to its flexibility services and its various discount offer.It is necessary to promote through channels as far as TV has been one of the daily needs in this 21st century. Similarly, it’s same with newspapers which we can see in every peoples hand mostly in the morning time. And through internet, the whole world ca n search and find out about it in details. And the flex around it makes people to know about its cheap room price. Here the URL link is given which directly shows the latest TV advertisement: http://www. youtube. com/user/MrSleepZzzSquad For more you can visit Mr Sleep & the Zzz Squad channel in website called www. youtube. comDistribution Channel Travelodge in UK has direct distribution strategy. The customer is guest and the product is room. As soon as the customers checked-in, they will get a card key, this directly let them inside the room. The rooms are cleaned by the housekeepers and are supervised by supervisor. The new linens enter inside the Travelodge everyday and same way the dirty linens are separated in cage to send it to laundry. The rooms are checked properly after it’s cleaned. Now a product is ready. This product is directly handed to the customer by the Travelodge after the guest paid for it.There is no complicated distribution strategy in Travelodge. It dir ectly hands the product to the customer. Branding Branding is really very important to this organization. ‘Travelodge’ is the brand name which signifies the every Travelodge in UK wherever they are. Travelodge brand name was founded in America but now it’s already been in UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland and Spain. These hotel chains are of same brand name even if it’s under the other independent companies. Yes, we can say its brand name is important because even though it’s controlled by different independent organizations, the brand name is same everywhere.This brand is international brand. ‘Travelodge’ brand name itself is the combination of word travel and lodge. This also means the house where we can stay while we travel. This brand name directly attracts the travelers even from it’s name. Strategic Planning Travelodge need to increase the number of rooms within the busy areas without changing the room price offers of present situation. Travelodge in UK is right now in growth stage. Due to increasing demand Travelodge have great opportunities to upgrade. In my opinion, I think it’s time to increase the number of Travelodge choosing the busy area.The lower price room with safety lodging is everybody’s demand. Travelodge is very suitable for that. More other Travelodge near the famous place must be established. Travelers traveling inside the nation are increasing in UK and for that more rooms must be created in busy destinations. The changing rules and regulation is pushing back the under graduated international students to their own country. And most of every Travelodge in UK are filled with international student’s part time workers. So for this, the fulltime workers with work permit must be searched to replace them.Right these days Travelodge in UK is having very reasonable price for room i. e. , ? 19 if booked in 21 days advance. This offer is amazing that more than 85% of rooms are sold out through online booking in 21 days advance. This offer must be going on. Strategic Aims of Travelodge in UK Travelodge in UK has step up with aggressive growth strategy. As Travelodge is in Growth Stage, it is looking for adding the 3000 rooms per year and 10000 rooms within 3 years. In this coming Olympic 2012, the maximum hotels will be very busy and Travelodge is also going to be one of them. So for that, more rooms are being constructed.It is already press released that 20 new hotels in capital is going to be established with 3500 new rooms for upcoming Olympic 2012. And 750 new jobs will be offered as planned. Travelodge in UK is coming up with more ambitious plans growing its brand name significantly and has already covered the republic areas of Ireland and Spain. It is growing rapidly by choosing the area with strong domestic tourism market. And in this upcoming year 2012 the decoration and furniture inside room is changed to new style ones. The LCD TV is on the tabl e will be on wall in 2012. And other new changes are also arranged.A new biggest low cost hotel called London CityRoad Travelodge is already in release and has five meeting rooms. Travelodge in Heathrow Terminal 5, Euston and Southwark with total 699 rooms is already done. This is established because Heathrow Terminals are going to be busy in coming Olympic year. And there is noticed free shuttle service within the Travelodge of those 5 terminals in Heathrow Airport. The main motive is that everybody would prefer to spend their night under ? 30. Travelodge in UK is already working for 2012 Development Programme with Flagship London Hotel Opening.A new product called Kipshaw is also already introduced by Travelodge in UK. It’s a bicycle rickshaw with complete attached single bed with mattress, duvet and pillow. This service right now is only available in London CityRoad Travelodge and is in process of spreading. SMART objectives Specific Travelodge in UK is growing aggressivel y under certain strategies. It is increasing 3000 rooms per year. It specifies that within upcoming year Travelodge in UK increases 20 more hotels. In total 3500 rooms will be added within Olympic 2012. And it’s also creating job opportunities.It is also specifying to be the biggest hotel brand within the Olympic 2012. There upcoming target is fully linked with Olympic 2012. Measurable The plan to increase numbers of hotel can be measured according to the project starting and ending time. It also depends in counting of how many projects are under process. And it also can be done by estimating the project contract period. For example – there was a project to be finished within six months to construct 3 hotels in Heathrow Terminal 5, Euston and Southwark with 699 total rooms and was successful. AchievableThey are achievable since it’s carried out in many places at once. And also The Flagship London Hotel Opening is helping them for this 2012 development project. I t is moreover almost completed. And it’s becoming fast because some new Travelodge’s are acquired one. Like Chaucher hotel is now going to be converted into 60 rooms Travelodge. Realistic It is in smooth under process as far as 2012 is coming nearer. But it wasn’t that complicated because this project was started from 2007. So every developments are being conducted slowly by estimating the proper time and plan.No longer period is needed to complete it. Flagship London Hotel Opening assist to Travelodge in UK from the very first of this development plan. Time This set objective is to be achieved before the 2012 Olympic starts. Within the starting of Olympic the Travelodge will be success to achieve its target. And seeking the chance Travelodge in UK is in target to gain the name of biggest hotel brand by running together with the Olympic 2012. Ansoff Matrix [pic] http://www. marketingteacher. com/lesson-store/lesson-ansoff. html Fig :- Ansoff MatrixHere in above the figure, we can see there are four strategies in Ansoff Matrix. The first one is Market Penetration where we market our existing product in existing market to customers. It’s also a stage of productivity. We promote our product to increase the revenue with present product. It can be break down into different product and different segments to know in which segment there is market growth or market share growth. After that there’s nothing to do within the Market Penetration to grow the sales and profit. The second one may be any of it among Product Development, Market Development and Diversification.In Product Development strategy, new products are introduced in existing market. It’s done by updating the existing products by changing some features and its looks. Those products replacing the older ones are marketed to existing customers to increase the profit. And In Market Development, the products are not changed but the existing product is introduced in the ne w market. This means to introduce the existing product to new customers by widening the market. It is done by exporting the product and marketing in new region. Lastly Diversification means to be completely in the new market with new product.The Diversification is of two types and are Related Diversification and Unrelated Diversification. Related Diversification means to be diversified in the business which is familiar to previous one. For e. g. – to be diversified from bus business to rail business. Whereas Unrelated Diversification means to be diversified in completely unfamiliar business. For e. g. – to be diversified from noodles business to cloth business. It’s explained more clearly in this video: http://www. youtube. com/user/OxfordLearningLab#p/a/u/0/AORoMxgp428 Among these strategies, the Market Development Strategy is most suitable for the Travelodge in UK.It is suitable because the price quoted by the Travelodge in UK is very reasonable one comparing to the service and facilities that it provides. And the occupancy rate is almost always full i. e. more than 85%. The room price is very cheaper than the other hotels all over the UK and available with sweet service. The many peoples, guest and travelers are attracted to Travelodge and the main reason behind it is that it cost less than ? 30. Most of every customer and travelers in Travelodge are to sleep tight and have safety. So, the product should not be changed inside the Travelodge and its rate of room must be stable.The price of product must remain same to challenge the competitors and to be forward in the market. Whereas the existing product should find new market. The market area must be wide and introduce the same existing product to every other new customer. It should do as it has done in the Republic of Spain and Ireland. Travelodge in UK must wide it’s market internally as well as externally in my view. Keeping the Product Development stable and increasing the Mar ket Development widely seems to be most suitable for the development of the future of the Travelodge in UK. Market Research of Travelodge in UKAccording to the DJS Research Ltd, â€Å"Market Research is a systematic, objective collection and analysis of data about a particular target market, competition, and/or environment. It always incorporates some form of data collection whether it be secondary research (often referred to as desk research) or primary research which is collected direct from a respondent. † Purpose of Research The main purposes of research are as follows: -To find out what’s the satisfaction level of customers with the services of Travelodge. -To find out which aspects of the service makes them happy and which aspect doesn’t make them happy.Both the primary and secondary research must be done to find out the as a whole outcome of Travelodge in UK Firstly let’s outline the stages of marketing research. 1st – Identifying the target group estimating the size of sample for meaningful outcome 2nd – Recruiting, screening and selecting target sample 3rd – Designing Survey questionnaire or guide 4th – Hiring and Training data collection team 5th – Checking and cleaning the data 6th – Analyzing the data and studying the findings (last stage) Identifying the target group estimating the size of sample for meaningful outcomeThere are more than two hundreds of Travelodge in UK. So I think in every Travelodge the occupied costumers must be made as target rather than asking outside pedestrians. This should be done with the customers in and out from Travelodge because outside customers haven’t experienced it yet to tell their satisfaction level. It’s just a waste of time and budget if we do it in society. But doing it inside the Travelodge without missing the customers saves the time and budget. The customer who has already left the hotel must be kept in link by saving there e-mail address.And every customer inside the hotel must be asked without filtering the customers. Each and every customer must be listed in target list. The sample size may differ among the Travelodge’s but is doesn’t matter as far as the number of rooms in them also vary. Recruiting, screening and selecting target sample Travelodge mostly is busy in the weekend and mostly in the weekdays, it’s not so busy. So the research should be done as a whole week occupying customers. The every customer but only the ones inside the hotel must be listed in target. And they should be researched either while they stay more or just before they leave.As far as we are doing everything inside the hotel, every check-in and check-out must be checked and observed properly and manage the sample in time. It is necessary because in Travelodge the some guest may leave without informing. Even the used rooms must be observed to know that how they have used the product. The targets should not be forced if they don’t want to participate. Designing Survey questionnaire or guide For collecting the primary data the questions must be asked to the existing customers about their preferences with the service and about their expenses made on it.The customers should be made easy and free feel to reply while in the process. Hard questions and unnecessary questions should not be asked. The questions must be limited and must meet the objective with its answers. The questions must in both the interview-administered form and self-administered form. Interview-administered form is for the customers inside the hotel whereas self-administered form is for the customers who are linked through the internet. The questions should be framed correctly by avoiding ambiguous words, personal questions and other negative questions.Questions must be sorted in easy way form. Firstly classification question secondly list question thirdly rating and lastly open-ended question. Some of questio n examples are written below: And they can be used as both Interview-administered form and Self-administered form. Classification question Age 18 or under 18 19 to 25 26 to 40 41 to 60 61 over Sex Male Female Members in your room of hotel 1 2 3 4 5 or more List Questions . Why did you choose Travelodge? (Tick all that apply) Cheap Facilities Flexible Comfort Other (please specify) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Which of these services you enjoyed inside Travelodge? (Tick all that apply) Sleeping Bathing Eating Extra service like wi-fi, baby cot, hair dryer, iron, etc. Daily cleaning service Rating Questions: How good do you feel Travelodge services? Very good Quite good Neither good nor bad Quite bad Very bad Open-ended Questions: What do you think about our services? Is it your first time? If then how did you know about Travelodge? What did you like most about Travelodge?Do you have any feedbacks and any recommendation? I f then you can say and suggest without hesitation? Hiring and Training data collection team A separate team should be made to do the research. The active ones with good speaking and smooth fluent communicator must be there. Somebody may not know English, so for them the writing sheet must be prepared in different language. And we can translate those later on. No. of teams must be arrange according to the size of Travelodge. They should be trained properly before starting the research. Data collection methods and process should be clearly mentioned while training.Here now research is done in field, starting primary research according to guide and with the help of trained team. Weekly progress also must be drawn in chart for future purpose. Checking and cleaning the data The collected data must be re-checked and re-arranged. The mistakes in data must be corrected and should be ready by arranging it systematically. The data should be true where fault data should not be mixed. It should be easy to read and understand. The fresh data will be prepared from it. Analyzing the data and studying the findings . The fresh prepared data are inspected, transformed and modeled in this last process.This process concludes the answers of the objectives of individual Travelodge. Now finally, the secondary research starts where the every analyzed data are collected in headquarter of Travelodge in UK located at Thame, England UK. Then, main data analysis is done here to know the answers of the research. This way we can achieve the objectives of our research. ———————– X Room Sales and Profit O Y Stage of Product Life Cycle Total Industry room sales Total Industry Profit O Price of Room Quantity of Room Y X Decreasing Price due to increasing demand Demand