Thursday, October 31, 2019

Discussing Ways of Dealing with Stress Term Paper

Discussing Ways of Dealing with Stress - Term Paper Example At the age of 18, I started working as a paraprofessional at a public high school, and was the youngest among the employees. I was energetic and enthusiastic, and assisted other teachers in the special education department. Dealing with different departments, different clients and different situations led to a lot of stress causing severe burnout. This was when I realized I had to communicate this to my supervisor. (Hughes & Wearing, 1996). Being the youngest and more knowledgeable than the other paraprofessionals, my supervisor involved me in most of the discussions, and all difficult-to-handle situations were assigned to me. I realized that the other paraprofessionals hardly had clients to deal with, either due to lack of training or lack of expertise. My discussion with the supervisor involved different ways to deal with the stress I faced; this resulted in a decision to have meetings between the professionals and paraprofessionals atleast once a week, which allowed us to discuss about the cases; this exercise was meant to improve knowledge and confidence levels in the other paraprofessionals .(Faberow, 1999). Better communication and good supervisory arrangements proved to be important to deal with stress. Sharing knowledge, keeping the entire team updated on the new developments regarding the clients, listening to their view points, and responding to what they had to say helped us in better understanding of the cases. This also led to equal division of work within the team. These steps helped me in reducing stress that was caused due to heavy workload. Better supervisory guidance also helped in handling cases with potential threat of physical or verbal abuse to the workers with much more confidence. These were the basic and important practices used in managing stress as they reduced the workload with the assistance of other professional human service

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Stragic Staffing Handbook Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Stragic Staffing Handbook - Research Paper Example ave policies 28 Communication processes 28 Employment termination process 28 Leaving procedures 28 Disciplinary procedures 28 Introduction to Strategic Staffing Strategic staffing is mandatory for every organization as they need to develop effective mechanisms in the organizations to ensure that the number of employees employed is proper (Abraham, 2007). The organizations need to ensure that appropriate staffing requirements are in place so that they have an idea about the direction in which the organization should move ahead. According to Naris and Ukpere (2010) and Noe et al. (2006), it is important strategic staffing handbook takes account of all the important rules and policies so that employees have an idea about the working environment of the organization. The strategic staffing handbook must be developed in consensus with the top management so that they are willing to contribute to the organization’s performance (Millmore et al., 2007). All the organizations need to ens ure that proper policies and guidelines are provided so that the organization’s performance can be judged and it can easily take into account of any problems that might occur in future (Naris and Ukpere, 2009). According to Holland et al. (2007), the primary aims of the strategic staffing handbook are: 1. Job Analysis: Provide description of the number of employees required alongwith the capabilities of the employees to perform the tasks. It will provide details about the way it should be done. 2. Postings: The ways in which posting will be done alongwith the process of doing the recruitment. 3. Recruitment and Selection Process: Identify the current and forecasted level of employees and ensure that the employees are retained in the organization. Describe the application process and final selection details alongwith interview. 4. Post-assessment strategies: The Company will provide guidelines about the way in which the employees will be motivated to work in the organization a nd will retain as well. Brief Description about the company The industry that our company has decided to enter is fast food industry and the range of products that will be offered will constitute of all kinds of fast food items. The test marketing of the products has been successful and the marketing activities will be designed to create product and brand awareness as well as grow customer base. Our company is medium sized in structure and it is important that we do proper planning for the set up of our organization. The company â€Å"Food Mania† has its own market and currently, there are few competitors that are making fresh and customized products. Our company is mainly targeting

Sunday, October 27, 2019

A Budgetary Control Systems Accounting Essay

A Budgetary Control Systems Accounting Essay I have re-read my last years HNC paperwork and used my current years HND paperwork to help with the various aspects of the report. I used my HNC costing booklets and lecture notes, HND Investment Appraisal literature, HND Business Tax literature, HND Capital Allowances literature and HNC Standard Costing literature. I went to the library and used college resources such as ebray for information of more in-depth budgeting control systems. I used Cost and Management Accounting books which covered cost assignment of direct and indirect costs. They covered issues about fixed, variable and semi variable costs. I used Accounting Theory and Practice for in-depth budgetary planning and variance analysis. I used an up to date Taxation book to allow me the most up to date tax percentages to be used, the correct Asset Investment Allowances applicable and the written down values for Capital Allowance calculations. CASE STUDY ANALYSIS This formal report has been requested by the Managing Director by Ergo design He requires a full business report which will appraise the launch of a new quality ergonomic chair. As well as the appraisal, the managing director would like advice on how to set up and implement an efficient budgetary control system. Ergo Design already make a different range of products and are wanting to find out if it would feasible to undertake the making of another new product. The company currently has spare capacity and as they dont want spare capacity are looking into making a new chair. This however involves the purchase or hire of a new asset namely a new machine which will be capable of making the new product. This asset is not inexpensive and cost  £125,000. Ergo Design are guaranteed an order for 1 year amounting to 1800 chairs to be distributed evenly over the month. The factory is only open 48 weeks of the year to allow for maintenance, repairs etc and therefore leaves 12 periods of 4 weeks to evenly distribute 160 chairs per 4 weeks. The company have had a trial p eriod and all seems to be well. The MD awaits reports before committing final sanctions. APPENDICES 1-9 Attached as appendices is the Activity Based Costing comparison followed by the functional budgets then Capital Investment Appraisal and lastly a Break Even Analysis based on my figures. Appendix 1. Activity Based Costing comparison. I have used Activity Based Costing (ABC) to work out the costs of producing the new product. Ergo Design in previous years have recovered costs using a blanket wide rate based on the number of machine hours. The last two years however they have changed to ABC. I have made a comparison using traditional overhead recovery and ABC. ABC was developed in order to more accurately reflect the factors which cause overhead costs to arise. Overhead costs are attributed to products on the basis that it is activities that cause costs to arise. Each activity can be identified with a cost driver and the cost drivers I have used are machine hours, Labour hours, number of orders, production runs, set up hours and inspections. After the cost drivers have been identified then each cost drivers overheads are collected together. These collections of costs are called cost pools. Each pool is then divided by its driver, for example all overheads in the cost p ool for the materials ordering process would be divided by the number of orders placed to give a value for the cost of placing an order. The costs of all activities relating to a product would be added together to give the overhead element of the cost of production. Because activity based costing shares out overheads using cost drivers compared with the traditional costing systems which use departments, then a greater number of drivers can be used, reflecting all the different activities taking place in the manufacturing process. This leads to a fairer and more accurate way of charging overheads to the products. The traditional methods ignore the detail of many of the activities that actually take place. In my findings the cost of producing the new product using ABC is  £167.95 per unit whereas the blanket method only  £150.18 is allocated for cost, This would give a higher contribution and a higher profit. I have assumed that we are going to be charging  £195 per unit and at this price we are still making a profit of  £63,975 for the first year. We can look at raising prices at the end of the initial 3 year period if the turnover is still constant. My creditors are to allow me credit purchases payable for : Aluminium Sheets. 1 month Memory Foam.2 months Fabric1 month Hardware3 months My debtors are to be allowed 1 months credit sales. A new asset is to be purchased at a cost of  £125,000, which will gather depreciation over 10 years straight line method. The new machine will need to be replaced after this time and will have a residual value of  £15,000. Maintenance will need to be carried out regularly to allow for optimum usage and guarantee residual value. The maintenance cost will be estimated at 5% of the capital cost per annum. The asset is purchased with a long term loan for the full  £125,000. The loan will have a 3% fixed rate interest per annum. The interest is added to the original amount and not compounded yearly. This is to be repaid over 10 years with repayments and interest payments split. The total cost of the loan is  £162,500 with repayments being  £62500 every 6 months and Interest being  £1,875. There is currently spare capacity within Ergo Designs production facilities and can therefore produce 2 batches of 20 chairs per week for the full 48 weeks that the factory is open. This allows for surplus stock of (1920-1800)=120 chairs surplus at the end of the year. We will supply 150 chairs per month to the customer and make 160 chairs to allow for full capacity, this will leave us a surplus of 10 chairs which will be opening stock for the month of Feb and the units will 10 more units every month compounded. The following budgets are prepared for the first six months of the new multi-level chair and include: Appendix 2. Opening Balance at beginning of the month of Jan. This is the beginning of the month and lists the purchases made to enable the company to begin production and sell them at the end of the month. Appendix 3. Key Variables input. As the figures were given for batches I had to break them down into single units costs so that a uniform approach was taken across the board. The direct material costs have accounted for the biggest costs followed by the labour then the variable overheads. Appendix 4. Sales budgets- This is also the main budget which has to be prepared first. It shows that we are to sell 150 units per month at a cost of  £195 creating a sales value of  £29,250. Production budget- This budget is prepared after the sales budget and states the amount of units to be produced within the period. I have carried over excess units in case of any unforeseen circumstances which will reduce production in later months e.g. machinery breaking down and staff absences etc. The machinery is also working at full capacity if I make the amount required as well as the excess. Direct Material usage budget is prepared next and the figures are for 1 single unit which is obtained from the key variables sheet shown in Appendix 2. Direct material purchases budget is next with figures for the required production for each month and the cost of goods to be purchased. The cost figure is taken from the key variable appendix 2. Direct labour budget figures come from the production budget for the amount to be produced multiplied by the cost of the direct labour unit from key variables appendix 2. Overhead budget gives us monthly fixed overheads and depreciation figures taken from key variables in appendix 2. Variable cost budget†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.This budget takes the amount of units to be produced multiplied by the variable cost per unit. Both these figures are from the key variables sheet. Production cost budget†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦This budget gives us a breakdown of how much each unit will cost to produce. It takes into consideration the material and variable costs and add the figure to the raw material costs. Debtors budget†¦..We have been giving our debtors 1 month to pay after receiving their finished goods. Creditors budget†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦We have 4 of these for each of the different raw materials we need. Each shows opening balances, purchases, payments and closing balances. Appendix 5. The Cash budget shows the inflows and outflows and gives a final figure for the bank balance to go into the Balance sheet. Appendix 6. The Operating statement lists the cost of sales when taken from sales will give us a profit. Expenses are then deducted leaving us with healthy net profit of  £25,744.25 Appendix 7. The Balance sheet is the 6 month balance sheet ending on 30th June 2013. Our current assets are a higher amount than our current liabilities and therefore give us net current assets to be added to the fixed assets. Once the long term liabilities come off then this leaves us with a balance of  £25,844.25 Appendix 8. Capital Investment appraisal. I have started this by working out the inflows for the first 3 years as we know the selling price and we know the change in production. After year 3, I have assumed that turnover will remain stable and have therefore carried out my Capital Allowance calculations over 10 years. I have deducted the Asset Investment allowance of  £25,000 and written down value for each year at 18%. I have assumed a residual value of the machine to be  £15,000 and added the balancing allowance figure to the capital allowances. Using the inflow figures and deducting capital allowances for each year, I was able to work out the taxable amount and tax it at this years appropriate amount. I carried out 2 Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methods , 1 being Net Present Value (NPV) and the other is the Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The DCF includes all cash flows and the time value of money telling you what you  £1 will be worth in X years ahead. The IRR also includes th e time value of money and includes all cash flows but the IRR if far more easily understood. If the net present value is zero or positive, the project is accepted, I have used 15% and 45% discount factors and they are both returning a positive number so the project should be accepted. You can think of IRR as the rate of growth a project  is expected to generate and a higher IRR value would provide a much better chance of strong growth. The rate for this project is 59.93 so again promoting the acceptance of this project.. Appendix 9. I have put in an extra break even analysis chart for your perusal as break even charts work well with a single product. The break-even analysis is a calculation of the approximate sales volume required to just cover costs, above which production would be profitable or unprofitable break-even analysis focuses on the relationship between fixed costs, variable cost, and profit. The summary shows that the BEP in units 1058 and the margin of safety in units is 742. Costs taken into account are distinguished by variable costs which change in according to the production level. BUDGETARY CONTROL SYSTEMS A budget is a financial plan for an organisation prepared in advance for a given period. Budgets can be prepared as a whole or broken down into component departments e.g. sales and production or purchases or cash or capital etc. There can be many different types of budgets and for a variety of departments such as sales or production or financial items such as capital, expenditure, manpower, purchase etc. The budgeting process is a vital part of a businesss planning and control. The overall objective of the company is prepared in advance and agreed with cooperation and detailed into a feasible plan of action. It is about planning, monitoring, reviewing and amending budgets to suit management objectives. When the long term strategies are written down everyone is starting from the same place and it will not matter if new people come and go, the long term plans will still be there. Long term objectives after being decided need to be broken down into manageable chunks of short term objectives. A limiting factor needs to be distinguished and a budget is prepared solely for this. The most common limiting factor is sales and this needs to be as accurate as possible as all other budgets will be based on the limiting factors budget. Once all the budgets are prepared a master budget is drafted and given to all of the budget holders for agreement. Once any tweaks or changes are made and an agreement reached then the master budget is presented to senior management. When the budgets need to be prepared again for the next period then actual figures are measured against budgeted figures and there are favourable and adverse variances produced showing management what areas need attention and where money is being lost, it may be efficiency problems that are highlighted for attention etc. There is actually an 8 step plan involved in advanced preparation budgeting. Step 1 is agreeing long term goals Step 2 Changing long term goals to short term goals Step 3 Identify limiting factor Step 4 Prepare limiting factor budget Step 5 Prepare all other budgets Step 6 Bring all budgets together to prepare the master budget Step 7 Agree with all budget holders Step 8 Present to the management There are many benefits to having financial planning and good budgetary control to name a few, by doing extensive planning there is a much clearer picture on where the business is going. It will reduce stress in the work place with all staff knowing where, when and how things are to done. Management can keep on top of things and have peace of mind. With budgeting control there is a more detailed structure of how the business is organised. With all the planning, organising and controlling it is easier for management to keep on top of changes and variances and make it easier to quickly adapt to the said changes. There is co-ordination with everyone working in the same direction. Budgets can be used to make communication and motivation more effective using them to exchange information concerning ideas, goals, achievements etc. thus giving staff a sense of togetherness and teamwork with everyone working towards the same goal. There is however barriers with a lack of knowledge, resources or motivation making the planning extremely difficult to start. Maybe not knowing where to start or even how to start. Maybe needing to sacrifice some things for others. Budgets are a time consuming job and to draw up each individual budget is a laborious task but it is still worthwhile as the benefits usually outweigh the efforts. If there is no co-ordination then the planning will fall apart. Preparing budgets is extremely subjective and they are based on predicted assumptions. ADDITIONAL AND ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES The company has taken out a loan for the CNC machine perhaps they could have hired it for a year or so, see how the product is doing then maybe buy it later on. Leasing equipment means there is not maintenance or repair costs to consider. Instead of keeping the CNC machine for 10 years with a value of  £15,000, Ergo designs can sell it sooner when it is worth more money. The company have adequate production facilities at this time and are therefore not considering contracting out however with proper budgetary controls in place it will be easier to spot any variance changes with efficiency or cost and it may be that in the future it may well be cheaper to contract certain parts of the process out to someone else. They do not run at full capacity in the other products they make and look at contracting out some of that work instead. The company should put in place an advertising campaign for when they believe sales will stabilize to generate renewed interest in the product which can be researched by potential buyers now as it has been on the market for 3 years. As Direct material has accounted for the biggest cost maybe Ergo Design can look around for cheaper suppliers or substitute certain ingredients for others. A price increase could be implemented in later years. CONCLUSIONS The launch of this new product is feasible. It is returning a good profit and there is lots of potential for increasing profitability in the coming next few years and there is room for selling price increases. The new asset can be used for its economical life, sold off earlier or can be hired out to other companies so more room for increased profitability. RECOMMENDATIONS A proper budgetary control system should most definitely be put in place. Future advertising is also a must. They need to do this sooner rather than later as they have only projected increases in turnover for the next 2 years. As the cost of materials are so high, I would recommend that the buyers look around for alternative materials or try to negotiate more with the current suppliers for larger discounts. Lets be aware of the future, this can be done easier with the budgetary control in place. We need to be aware of what our competitors are up to and trends in markets. We need to be aware of what the government is changing and how it will affect the business e.g. Higher corporation taxes, inflation rates etc.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Nietzsches Perspective on Abortion after Rape :: essays research papers fc

Nietzsche's Perspective on Abortion after Rape â€Å"The will to power.† A strong statement made by the philosopher, Nietzsche. He explains this statement in his work, â€Å"Thus Spake Zarathustra.† It can be found in multiple sections explaining different topics. When Nietzsche uses the phrase, â€Å"the will to power,† he means the ability to extend oneself to the furthest of capabilities. He believes that humans have the ability to always do their best, and try their hardest to improve themselves. In this work, he says that humans must overcome themselves and move towards that which is hardest. Giving up is not an option for him, unless in giving up you are pushing yourself to be greater. Abortion due to rape cases is the most controversial reason for an abortion. For the most part, when you ask someone if they think abortions are moral, they will say yes or no. If they say no, half the time they say with the exception of rape cases. With this paper being about the morality of abortion due to rape cases, the â€Å"will to power† idea fits. It can be used to explain either side. Nietzsche explained the idea to mean working to be the best you can. Having an abortion can be looked at as using your will to power because having it done will make you to be a better person. However, it can also be used to back up someone choosing not to have an abortion in saying that by having the baby you are forcing yourself to do the harder thing, therefore helping yourself to grow. I think that even Nietzsche would have a hard time arguing the validity of both of those arguments. Pregnancy can be a way of extending yourself. Extending yourself means growing to be the best you can. Pushing yourself to do better is what Nietzsche feels every person should do. This is â€Å"the will to power.† A person should always strive to do the best they can, whether it is to make themselves feel better or in competition with someone else. In having a baby and going through pregnancy, a woman is pushing herself to do what she feels is necessary to become a better person. Extending yourself involves facing difficulties. Facing difficulties in life helps you to grow. Part of what Nietzsche is saying in â€Å"the will to power† is that you have to conquer the hardest obstacle to make yourself better.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Ordeal by Fire Essay

When Contrasting and comparing the two books â€Å"Ordeal by Fire† and â€Å"George B. McClellan and Civil War History† even though they are basically on the same subjects Thomas Rowland’s book deals with one subject exclusively, George B. McClellan. James McPherson is more of a chronological history of the Civil War that discusses McClellan’s efforts during the war. There is some mention of mental problems and indications of other problems he had, but most focused on the leadership and events of the war. Some of the problems with McClellan both books do address are his slowness and his problem with exaggeration. To understand where both authors are coming from and to understand George B. McClellan I first wanted to discuss his career and his abilities in the Civil War and to find out why he became known historically, as Rowland’s puts it â€Å"deranged and paranoiac† (Rowland, 1998 p. ix). Knowing what the man went through will help to understand possibly why he is generally considered a failure as a general. Let’s begin with the first campaign of the Civil War even though it was a minor battle it was the first win for the Union and these troops were under the command of George B. McClellan. This battle under McClellan’s leadership successfully drove confederate troops out of the Kanawha Valley of western Virginia during May and June of 1861 (McPherson, 1982 p. 159). McClellan’s victory gave this region a firm grip for the Union side and kept it from becoming in control of the confederates and eventually became West Virginia. But the first major battle was a different story. The battle at Bull Run Creek was a disaster and this is where McClellan was able to come in for his gleaming moment and save the day. This was where McClellan replaced McDowell who had been the General during Bull Run Creek. McClellan then later became general in chief (Rowland, 1998 p. 86). McClellan spent the fall and winter drilling his troops and whipping them into shape. This became the first incident that showed clearly McClellan’s contempt for Lincoln and probably began the rumors that spread about McClellan, I believe. President Lincoln couldn’t understand why McClellan was taking so long and to go into the field he began to express how he thought the general was being slow ordered the army into action. McClellan’s slowness is discussed many times in both books, some citing it as cautious or meticulous. Then even more bad decisions made by McClellan happened. Union forces in the West had won some very important victories before McClellan could make a move to aid those troops. Successes around the edge of the confederacy did not help to relieve northern frustration at the inactivity or failure of the Union forces on the eastern front and this helped to reinforce the general attitude towards McClellan’s generalship. Lincoln, because of this, relieved McClellan of his supreme command and ordered him to take the offensive command at the head of the Army of the Potomac and forced McClellan to begin campaigning (McPherson, 1982 p. 211). The overland route to Richmond was difficult so instead he moved his forces by water to the peninsula southeast of the confederate capital. After landing at Fort Monroe, a Union post, McClellan began moving up the peninsula in early April 1862. For months he was stalled at Yorktown which he chose to besiege rather than attack, another sign of slowness and stagnation (Rowland, 1998 p. 107). After the fall of Yorktown he pushed ahead to a point twenty miles from Richmond and waited for troops he had expected Lincoln to send but that didn’t happen. Lincoln instead had decided the troops were needed to defend Washington instead. Many think that if McClellan had moved more boldly and decisively he probably could have captured Richmond with the forces he had. But a combination of faulty intelligence reports and his own natural caution had led him to make the wrong decision in what he wrongly believed to be outnumbered by superior numbers (McPherson, 1982 p. 234). By the end of May the Confederates discovered that McClellan’s army were divided on each side of the Chickahominy River and attacked. In this battle named Seven Pines McClellan was barely able to hold his ground until corps from the other side crossed and saved the day. During this battle was when General Lee took command of the confederate army. At the end of June Lee began an all out effort to expel McClellan from his position on the outskirts of Richmond. In a series of battles that lasted seven days McClellan warded off Lee’s final assaults at Malvera hill and decided to retreat down the peninsula to a more secure point. In doing so it convinced Lincoln that the peninsula campaign was a wasted battle (Rowland, 1998 p. 66-67). On July 11th Lincoln appointed General Henry W. Halleck who had been in command of the western theater, to be the new general in chief. Halleck was ordered by Lincoln to order McClellan to withdrawal his army from the peninsula and join forces under General Pope that was preparing to move on Richmond by the overland route. As usual McClellan was slow in responding and the confederates got to Pope before he did. Pope was badly beaten before McClellan did arrive. McClellan was ordered back to Washington where he was stripped of command. But Lincoln desperate reappointed him to head the army of the Potomac (McPherson, 1982 p. 255-2160). Meanwhile Lee and his excited troops went on to invade Maryland in hopes o f isolating Washington from the rest of the North. But McClellan caught up with him near Sharpsburg and the bloodiest one day battle of the war happened. At Antietam on September 17th almost five thousand solders were killed on both sides and another eighteen thousand were wounded. The battle ended in a draw and Lee was forced to withdraw south of the Potomac River to protect his low supplies. McClellan was again slow in persuit6 and Lincoln blamed him for letting the enemy escape (Rowland 1998, p. 176-177). Lincoln believing he needed a stronger general because McClellan was so slow appointed Ambrose B. Burnside commander of the Army of the Potomac. A huge mistake on Lincolns part because Rowland put it he was â€Å"Replacing someone slow with someone considered dense† (Rowland 1998 p. 223). Rowland argues the war could be divided into two parts and each had demands on the commanders that fought them. In Rowland’s book McClellan is overly cautious, proud, psychologically impaired and an aristocratic officer that was brought up against very formidable commanders Lee and Jackson. With the battle of Seven Pines and Antietam campaign he had to face is what Rowland says, gave McClellan every reason for caution. Other reasons Rowland gave were that McClellan commanded a new hastily thrown together army in the beginnings of the war when the nation was expectations were huge and fast victories was wanted. Because of McClellan’s slowness I believe that is was not possible. Both books relied heavily on historical documents, letters and diaries to defend their thesis but Rowland’s book does give a lot more weight to the writing by other professors that wrote controversial books on the subject. But then again the type of book Rowland wrote needs those types of sources to make the valid stand he was taking. McPherson’s book uses a huge amount of historical documents, letters and diaries. His reference and bibliography totally impressed me. Rowland introduces more feeling into his book than concentrating on facts. But in my experience when using personal letters and notes, I believe, there is too much room for interpretation unless you know the author. Many letter were used that were between McClellan and his wife and granted they are useful, but I think we still have to keep in mind that unless the author or recipient of these letters are alive, it would almost be impossible to know the intent and unconscious meaning in them. If I was to choose which book that I would rely more of facts it would have to be McPherson’s book. Like I mentioned before it wasn’t filled with emotional feelings as Rowland’s book and to me used more reliable sources. Dealing with the Civil War and the historical documents can be a huge job and McPherson did an excellent job of using the mounds and mounds of documentation available. One thing I think both authors do agree upon was that McClellan, even though he wasn’t the best, he wasn’t the worst of commanders. One thing I did think was different in the authors accounting of the general was that McPherson did discuss a problem McClellan had with chronic exaggeration (McPherson, 1982 p. 212). And this attribute was mentioned many times when he discussed McClellan and opposing forces. McClellan would say he was waiting for more troops to arrive citing the numbers of the opposing force as the reason. This caution was seen as slowness. I do side with Rowland when he wrote that he wanted to give a balanced look at McClellan and recognition for his achievements. He did a good job of giving reason and theory to McClellan’s actions. Rowland’s statement, â€Å"McClellan’s strategy, though reflective of the unrealistic war aims of the years 1861-1862 was cogent, reasoned, and consistent with conventional military wisdom and his personal views of the nature of the conflict. It was not hallucinatory or deranged; it mirrored the views of the administration and of a sizeable, if not shrinking, majority† (Rowland, 1998 p. 237). The only thing that didn’t make him great was his inability for great wins. References: McPherson, J. M. (1982). Ordeal by fire: The Civil War and reconstruction. New York: Knopf. Rowland, T. J. (1998). George B. McClellan and Civil War history: In the shadow of Grant and Sherman. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. Similar link: https://studymoose.com/road-safety-essay

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Postmodernism in Literature

Postmodernism is difficult to define, because we go through it on a daily basis. Some would say it began in the 1950’s, and others say it began with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Postmodernism is characterized by a variety of elements that question the reading experience. Postmodern authors celebrate this by using humour and absurd experiences to create a bizarre alternate reality. The different elements that are used throughout postmodernism stories include magic realism, metafiction and irony.Magic realism is where the supernatural is not displayed as questionable. Magic realism differs from fantasy because it is set in a normal, modern world with accurate descriptions of humans and a society that does not question it. Another element is Irony. Irony is used in postmodernism literature. Irony is when that which one would not expect occurs is true. Finally, Metafiction is a device that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. This often happens by the author introducing themselves into the story. Post modernism and post colonialism are linked.The use of these techniques and elements encourage the reader to contemplate or query their reading experience and ones understanding of life and societies political and cultural values. Magic realism is where the supernatural is not displayed as questionable. Characters accept rather than question the logic of the magic element. Magic realism is displayed in a short story; A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Marquez. The story is about an old distorted man with enormous wings found on the beach by a couple. They try to communicate with him but find it is useless as he speaks a different language.The neighbor comes over and tells the couple that he is an angel that has come to take their sick child. The community and people from all over the world were astonished and wanted to see the angel. The couple grew tired of having so many people at their house that they began to charge mo ney to see the angel they became rich and built a mansion. After a while the community grew tired of the angel because a woman who had turned into a spider by disobeying her parents arrived to town to share her stories with the community. Eventually the angel began to roam free and finally took off into the sky.This story directly relates to magic realism because the crowd does not question the angel or spider woman. The couple’s neighbor does not question it at all, but she is quite familiar with it â€Å"He's an angel,† she told them. â€Å"He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down† (3). The woman is not shocked or surprised to see this man at all, in fact she is not questioning it either, but in reality it would seem very bizarre. The use of magic realism makes the reader question the reading experience and reality itself.Magic realism also plays a role in The Snow Horse by J. Winterson, A story about a man who drives to a party in a horrible snow storm but is stopped by a strange man who insists on telling him a ghost story. After dropping the strange man off he decides to take a short cut that his wife warned him not to take and ends up in a car crash, but as it is crashing he sees a horse running up beside the car. The story that the strange man told him consisted of a man getting ambushed and robbed and was left for dead his horse died beside him as well.The story exhibited a richness of details that the man believed in the snow horse and seen it as he was crashing. When he gets home and into bed he hears something â€Å"Then I heard it, unmistakable, the steady clip of hooves under the window and towards the drift, and out, further and further, faster and faster, on the high old coaching road, beneath the rack of stars. †(6). Here Winterson is making a reference to Santa’s reindeer. This effect leaves the reader uncertain, whether to believe the magical elemen t of the snow horse or the realist events in the story.Last but not least magic realism is displayed in The Night Face Up by Julio Cortazar. This story is about a man who is running from the Aztecs but is dreaming of being on a motorcycle and ends up in a car crash, yet the way Cortazar sets up the story makes it seem the opposite way around. This story is a good example of magic realism because it makes the reader question which world is reality and which one is a dream â€Å"It was unusual as a dream because it was full of smells, and he never dreamt smells† (266).Here is a distinct part where reality is being confused with a dream. The story is very descriptive of both worlds which makes the reader uncertain and question which is world is real and which is not. This disrupts the reading experience. Irony is when that which one would not expect occurs is true, when reality is different from appearance. Irony is seen in Araby by James Joyce. Araby is about a young boy who fa lls head over heels for his friends older sister. He has never spoken to her but he seems to be deeply in love with her.When he finally speaks to her she mentions the Araby Bazaar and how she could not go, the boy brings himself to go to this bazaar to bring her back something but realizes it is not as he imagined it. This narrative is ironic because it is perceived as the boy writing it, but in the ending it confirms that the narrator has learned his lesson and the reader learns it is an older, mature and more emotionally experienced version of the boy â€Å"I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make my interest in her wares seem the more real. †(4).The young boy went through tough situations to get to the bazaar and when he got there it was not what he pictured it to be. When he describes his anger it then tells the reader it is an older version of the boy telling his experience from the past. By using this technique it creates an ironic tension because it is human nature to change what was said, how it was said and how other people acted, so it makes the reader question the reading experience by thinking whether he told the story correctly or not. Irony also plays a role in A Girls Story by David Arnason.This story is ironic because it is not â€Å"a girls story† it is a man who is stereotyping a female. It is the opposite of a girl’s story. Arnason is constantly stereotyping women and predicting what the reader expects out of the story. Arnason seems to stereotype how a woman would write the story as well â€Å"I’m going to have trouble with the feminists about this story. I can see that already. †(228). Here you can tell that it is a man stereotyping a woman because of the fact he is directly addressing women who will read this story and how they will dislike it.Irony also occurs in The Happy Man by Naguib Mahfouz. The happy man is about a man who wakes up extremely happy and cannot understan d why. He is usually faced with strain and contemplation, but he wakes up happy. He then goes about his day and cannot even stay at work or sleep because of this strange happiness. He goes to a doctor to see why he is so happy â€Å"I haven’t come to see you because I’m ill,† he told the doctor in a hesitant tone of voice, â€Å"but because I’m happy! † (240). It is ironic because being happy is not an illness is very ironic to go to see a doctor because of it.He questions himself because he usually is not a happy man, but because of the grief and contemplation he has gone through has cause him to lose his mind and become inconceivably happy that he goes to doctors to try to cure it. This makes the reader question the reading experience and life itself. Metafiction is a device that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. This often happens by the author violating narrative levels by intruding to comment on their writing, involving his or herself with the fictional characters or even directly addressing the reader.The use of metafiction makes the reader contemplate their reading experience. In A Girls Story by David Arnason metafiction is strongly used. Satire is also used throughout the story as well. Satire is the use of irony, sarcasm and ridicule. Here Arnason disrupts the reading experience by satirizing what the reader would think of this part of the story by saying â€Å"I could do a lot more of that but you wouldn’t like it† (228). Arnason predicts what a reader would like or dislike in the story.Another strongly use of metafiction in the story is where Arnason directly mentions himself â€Å"He even looks a little like me and he smokes the same kind of pipe† (232). Here Arnason is directly addressing the reader by involving himself with the fictional characters. This disrupts the reading experience and makes the reader question the cultural and political views held by society. Another e xample of metafiction is displayed in Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth. Barth displays reflexivity where this enables to reader to understand the process by which he or she reads the world as a text.He casually interrupts to explain how he created the story â€Å"Description of physical appearance and mannerisms is one of the several standard methods of characterization used by writers of fiction. † (54). Barth tells the reader how describing physical appearance is important Alex 7 to keep the reader’s imagination and interest going. Throughout the story Barth interrupts to comment on his writing to explain what is going on and why he is using these different techniques.This makes the reader question the reading experience and their understanding of Barth’s writing. Finally metafiction is used in Araby. The reader perceives it as being the young boy telling his story, but in the end it is shown to be a more mature, older version of the boy. Usually when telli ng a story from the past people tend to change what happened, so this makes the reader question whether the narrator has changed anything about the story or not â€Å"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger. (4). Here we see a different side of the boy, a more experienced angry version. This shows the reader the man who is now telling the story from a past experience. These elements and techniques that the postmodern use disrupt and question the reading experience and encourage the reader to question it. Postmodernism and Post colonialism are linked through these techniques, magic realism, irony and metafiction.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Sophie Tucker Biography

Sophie Tucker Biography Dates:  January 13, 1884 -  February 9, 1966 Occupation:  vaudeville entertainerAlso known as:  Last of the Red Hot Mamas Sophie Tucker was born while her mother was emigrating from the Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire,  to America to join her husband, also a Russian Jew. Her birth name was Sophia Kalish, but the family soon took the last name Abuza and moved to Connecticut, where Sophie grew up working in her familys restaurant. She discovered that singing at the restaurant brought in tips from customers. Playing piano to accompany her sister at amateur shows, Sophie Tucker quickly became an audience favorite; they called for the fat girl. At age 13, she already weighed 145 pounds. She married Louis Tuck, a beer driver, in 1903, and they had a son, Albert, called Bert. She left Tuck in 1906, and left her son Bert with her parents, going to New York alone. Her sister Annie raised Albert. She changed her name to Tucker, and began singing at amateur shows to support herself.   Her divorce from Tuck was completed in 1913. Sophie Tucker was required to wear blackface by managers who felt that she would not otherwise be accepted, since she was so big and ugly as one manager put it. She joined a burlesque show in 1908, and, when she found herself without her makeup or any of her luggage one night, she went on without her blackface, was a hit with the audience, and never wore the blackface again. Sophie Tucker briefly appeared with the Ziegfield Follies, but her popularity with audiences made her unpopular with the female stars, who refused to go on stage with her. Sophie Tuckers stage image emphasized her fat girl image but also a humorous suggestiveness. She sang songs like I Dont Want to Be Thin, Nobody Loves a Fat Girl, But Oh How a Fat Girl Can Love. She introduced in 1911 the song which would become her trademark: Some of These Days. She added Jack Yellens My Yiddishe Momme to her standard repertoire about 1925 the song was later banned in Germany under Hitler. Sophie Tucker added jazz and sentimental ballads to her ragtime repertoire, and, in the 1930s, when she could see that American vaudeville was dying, she took to playing England. George V attended one of her musical performances in London. She made eight movies and appeared on radio and, as it became popular, appeared on television.   Her first movie was  Honky Tonk  in 1929. She had her own radio show in 1938 and 1939, broadcasting for CBS three times a week for 15 minutes each. On television, she was a regular on variety shows and talk shows including  The Tonight Show  and  The Ed Sullivan Show.   Sophie Tucker became involved in union organizing with the American Federation of Actors, and was elected president of the organization in 1938. The AFA was eventually absorbed into its rival Actors Equita as the American Guild of Variety Artists. With her financial success, she was able to be generous to others, starting the Sophie Tucker foundation in 1945 and endowing in 1955 a theater arts chair at Brandeis University. She married twice more: Frank Westphal, her pianist, in 1914, divorced in 1919, and Al Lackey, her fan-turned-personal-manager, in 1928, divorced in 1933.   Neither marriage produced children. She later credited her reliance on financial independence for the failure of her marriages. Her fame and popularity lasted more than fifty years; Sophie Tucker never retired, playing the Latin Quarter in New York only months before she died in 1966 of a lung ailment accompanied by kidney failure. Always partly self-parody, the core of her act remained vaudeville: earthy, suggestive songs, whether jazzy or sentimental, taking advantage of her enormous voice.   She is credited as an influence on such later women entertainers as Mae West, Carol Channing, Joan Rivers and Roseanne Barr.   Bette Midler more explicitly credited her, using Soph as the name of one of her on-stage personas, and naming her daughter Sophie. Sophie Tucker on this site Sophie Tucker Quotations

Monday, October 21, 2019

Nothing Like the Sun (1964) by Anthony Burgess

Nothing Like the Sun (1964) by Anthony Burgess Anthony Burgess’s Nothing Like the Sun (1964) is a highly fascinating, albeit fictional, re-telling of Shakespeare’s love life. In 234 pages, Burgess manages to introduce his reader to a young Shakespeare developing into manhood and clumsily fumbling his way through his first sexual escapade with a woman, through Shakespeare’s long, famed (and contested) romance with Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton and, ultimately, to Shakespeare’s final days, the establishment of The Globe theater, and Shakespeare’s romance with â€Å"The Dark Lady.†    Burgess has a command for language.  It is difficult not to be impressed and a little awed by his skill as a story-teller and an imagist.  While, in typical fashion, he does tend to break-off at points of leisurely prose into something more Gertrude Steine-like (stream of consciousness, for example), for the most part he keeps this novel in finely tuned form. This will be nothing new for readers of his best known work, A Clockwork Orange (1962). There is an exceptional arc to this story, which carries the reader from Shakespeare’s boyhood, to his death, with common characters interacting regularly and to an end result.  Even the minor characters, such as Wriothesley’s secretary, are well-established and easily identifiable, once they have been described.   Readers might also appreciate the references to other historical figures of the time and how they affected Shakespeare’s life and works. Christopher Marlowe, Lord Burghley, Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth I, and â€Å"The University Wits† (Robert Greene, John Lyly, Thomas Nashe and George Peele) all appear in or are referenced throughout the novel. Their works (as well as works of the Classicists – Ovid, Virgil; and the early dramatists – Seneca, etc) are clearly defined in relation to their impact on Shakespeare’s own designs and interpretations.  This is highly informative and simultaneously entertaining. Many will enjoy being reminded of how these playwrights competed and worked together, of how Shakespeare was inspired, and by whom, and of how politics and the time period played an important role in the successes and failures of the players (Greene, for instance, died sickly and shamed; Marlowe hunted down as an atheist; Ben Jonson’s imprisoned for treasonous writing, and Nashe having escaped from England for the same).   That being said, Burgess takes much creative, though well-researched, license with Shakespeare’s life and the details of his relationship with various people.  For instance, while many scholars believe â€Å"The Rival Poet† of â€Å"The Fair Youth† sonnets to be either Chapman or Marlowe due to circumstances of fame, stature, and wealth (ego, essentially), Burgess breaks from the traditional interpretation of â€Å"The Rival Poet† to explore the possibility that Chapman was, in fact, a rival for Henry Wriothesley’s attention and affection and,  for this reason, Shakespeare became jealous and critical of Chapman.   Similarly, the ultimately under-established relationships between Shakespeare and Wriothesley, Shakespeare and â€Å"The Dark Lady† (or Lucy, in this novel), and Shakespeare and his wife, are all largely fictional.  While the novel’s general details, including historical happenings, political and religious tensions, and rivalries between the poets and the players are all well envisioned, readers must be careful not to mistake these details for fact.   The story is well written and enjoyable. It is also a fascinating glimpse at history of this particularly time period.   Burgess reminds the reader of many of the fears and prejudices of the time, and seems to be more critical of Elizabeth I than Shakespeare himself was.  It is easy to appreciate Burgess’s cleverness and subtlety, but also his openness and candor in terms of sexuality and taboo relationships.   Ultimately, Burgess wants to open the reader’s mind to the possibilities of what could have happened but is not often explored. We might compare Nothing Like the Sun to others in the â€Å"creative nonfiction† genre, such as Irving Stone’s Lust for Life (1934). When we do, we must concede the latter to be more honest to the facts as we know them, whereas the former is a bit more adventurous in scope.  Overall, Nothing Like the Sun is a highly informative, enjoyable read offering an interesting and valid perspective on Shakespeare’s life and times.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Business Management of Cloud Services

Business Management of Cloud Services 1. Establish executive support Senior management team must understand and take responsibility for the successful adoption of cloud services. Pressures will come from a number of key players in any cloud decision: IT, finance, procurement, and the user community. The IT community is most concerned about global access and impact on networks, security, user performance, etc. The key to their support is a globally-aware architectural plan for cloud implementation. Finance and procurement are most concerned about saving money. The key to executive support is a well-thought ROI rationale and calculation. Users are often most concerned scaling the environment in lock-step with changes to the business. The key to executive support from this group is to demonstrate higher elasticity from the cloud. 2. Address organizational change management Management must understand and address the pressures introduced by cloud computing on the organization. Cloud computing will introduce change to the normal IT development and deployment processes, breaking down many organizational barriers and norms. At the heart of change is fear of loss-primarily, loss of control. The change must have a well-managed, well-planned process for mitigating fear of loss. Embracing change is critical to success. 3. Establish commitment The organization must be fully committed to developing and executing a strategic plan for cloud computing within the enterprise. Adoption of cloud computing should be led by senior management including the CEO and CFO with the CIO and CTO playing a role of key enablers. 4. Carefully evaluate cloud service agreements to ensure critical business needs Do not use service agreements for a fundamentally broken system that cannot meet the expectations being set. The service agreement is a shared responsibility and simply moving a service to a cloud provider does not mean that the service will magically work. Buy service, not servers. Look for complete managed s ervices where you rely on the cloud provider to integrate all the parts into a complete solution. A properly negotiated service agreement will ensure there is a partnership between the customer and provider for the overall success of the service. 5. Address federated governance Cloud services are by nature distributed, but most command-and-control systems for managing IT are hierarchical. To succeed, some degree of distributed control and federated governance is necessary to match the model of cloud service delivery. Before making a decision on a cloud service provider, it is important to understand how the cloud service will be managed and what processes need to be integrated into the existing IT environment. 6. Rationalize security and privacy At the heart of security is trust. Often cloud providers have a deeper awareness of what is required to provide good security than the customers they serve. However, the customer and cloud service provider must work together to estab lish a trust relationship and to establish the security and privacy required. Document the level of security required to properly protect the service and data and let the provider confirm how the requirements will be met. Objectively measure the provider’s true security capabilities. It is critical that sensitive information does not find its way into the wrong hands. The provider is responsible for ensuring that the data has appropriate protection, consistent with the requirements of the SLA. 7. Comply with legal and regulatory requirements An organization must be aware of and plan for adherence to legal and regulatory requirements, including those related to security, privacy and accessibility. Failure to comply can derail the cloud computing effort and result in costly lawsuits. 8. Define metrics and a process for measuring impact Create operational metrics which define steady state success – define how the metrics will be measured. Use metrics to assess cos t savings and revenue enhancement, and to validate SLA compliance, including elasticity, availability, performance globalization, etc. By measuring results, there will be a baseline from which to make better decisions for future cloud services with the goal of continual ROI improvement

Friday, October 18, 2019

A Strategic Plan for Personal Development Research Paper

A Strategic Plan for Personal Development - Research Paper Example Though the general notion is to think that leadership and power are synonymous, to me what Martin Luther King Jr. said makes more sense, â€Å"I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right, and that is good† (as cited in Ng, 2012, p.88). I look up to Gandhi as a model in this respect though I can in no way put a claim to achieve the level of his leadership legacy. It is important for my quest to find a leadership model that combines business or politics with personal integrity, that I learn what kind of a leader Gandhi was. As put by Nair (2010), â€Å"Gandhi wore no resplendent uniform, commanded no armies, and held no government position,† yet he had a whole nation behind him, ready to respond to his every uttered word (p.2). All this was achieved through non-violent means, which is nothing less than a miracle. Renowned leadership expert, Karl Moore has observed two key leadership qualities in Gandhi and added that they are also what many leaders of today lack- â€Å"leadership by example† and â€Å"persistence† (2011). It is the high standard of leadership practiced by Gandhi that I would like to set as my notion of perfect leadership, and aspire to at least work towards it with the self-reassurance that Gandhi was also an ordinary human being like I am. I believe, towards building and maintaining a peaceful world, which is day by day becoming a distant mirage, I owe this quest to myself, my future generations, and to my society. I envisage finding a high standard of leadership using the model of Gandhi as my idealized and ultimate paradigm. As a path for traveling in this direction, it is necessary that I seek the support of already evolved and well-defined paradigms for leadership. The leadership qualities that I look forward to cultivate include an ability to lead from the forefront yet walk with the group, exercise power where necessary yet make that power emerge from a common will, a vision of a world that is a more equal and just society, and the willingness to let others grow and become leaders themselves. Given the present situation where idealism looks good on paper but is mocked when it becomes real, I understand that it is a quite challenging task ahead of me. To make creative use of the scholarship on leadership that has been built by great academicians and visionaries, will be the best possible option for me to begin with. Hence I searched for theories, paradigms and models put forth by scholars in the field in an attempt to locate a paradigm that genuinely moves me and synchronizes with my vision of leadership. The paradigms that I found to be having the closest potential to achieving my end are, transformational, transactional and servant leadership paradigms. This is also in view of the fact that Gandhian model of leadership has been already described as transformational and transactional (Moore, 2011). Before I go deeper into the rele vance of these paradigms for me, I need to consider some definitions of leadership. Academic definitions go as follows: â€Å"

Jefferson's view about the Missouri Compromise Assignment

Jefferson's view about the Missouri Compromise - Assignment Example It is interesting to consider the view of Jefferson with the benefit of hindsight. The admission of Missouri as a slave state would have meant that the number of slave states within the Union would outnumber the free states by one, hence the compromise of allowing Maine to enter the Union as a free state. By the start of the Civil War, 25 states supported the federal government and 11 states were part of the Confederacy, and by the end of the Civil War the Union had prevaled. In a sense, Jefferson was right to have misgivings because the Union as it was in 1820 was destroyed, and the Missouri Compromise was one of the triggers for the start of the Civil War (McPherson & Hogue, 2009, p19). The Missouri Compromise is said to have exposed slavery as a contentious issue, and of course the Civil War was a response to slavery. However, Jefferson was not completely wrong. He also described the Missouri Compromise as the knell of the Union, where knell is taken to mean a solomn announcement of death. The Union as it was then died, perhaps, but the Civil War did end in a Union victory and thus the Missouri Compromise can be said to have strengthened the Union infinitely. The Missouri Compromise was not the only source of growing tensions in the US. In the 1840s, the American-Mexican war took place in response to the Mexican designs for the state of Texas (one of the states supporting slavery in the Confederacy). It was the American victory (and subsequent permanent acquisition of the state of Texas, amongst others) that led to the next Compromise with regard to slavery, that of 1850 (McPherson & Hogue, 2009, p88). The Compromise of 1850 was a bill defining the status of the newly aquired states within the United States, something that diffused the immediate political problems but did not, evidently, remove the need for the Civil War. We can say that

Feminist Political Thought Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Feminist Political Thought - Essay Example God has created her, given her the status of more equal. None can amend that right. It is the woman, in her role and condition as mother, gives protection in the initial nine months in her womb, to the creative force of the nature for perennial continuity of the human race, male or female. But unfortunately, a female child is victimized at every step of life, from the moment of birth, notwithstanding the fact that it is she who sacrifices at those steps. The main disadvantage of the woman is her body. Simone de Beauvoir, an avowed life-long existentialist, presents a different and somewhat confusing picture of human freedom, in which women struggle against the inherent disadvantages of the body, changing contours of her body and bodily functions, and how society casts its impact on this issue. Beauvoir presents female body in both its positive and negative aspects. She considers women partly oppressed and partly free and this condition depends on the disposition of the concerned woma n to the challenges posed by the society, especially the male section of the society. Regarding the status of the body of the woman Beauvoir raises questions, provides answers and again raises questions and finally she finds it difficult to provide the final answer. Her opinions raise conflicting reactions not only for the men but also to women. What is important is her seriousness and earnestness to find an amicable solution to the vexed men-women issue? She sums up her quest and argues, â€Å"Within the given world, it is up to man to make the reign of freedom triumph, to carry off this supreme victory, men and women, must, among other things and beyond their natural differentiations, unequivocally, affirm their brotherhood.†(766) Beauvoir doesn’t visualise much of an issue for the woman on account of her biological conditions. The problem is about the attitude of the woman to such conditions, whether they are positive or negative. She argues, â€Å"But is also true that there are conditions without which the very fact of existence would seem to be impossible. Presence in the world vigorously implies the positing of a body that is both a thing of the world and a point of view on this world: but this body need not possess this or that particular structure.†(24) The observation of Beauvoir regarding the pre-adolescent boys and girls that they are not very different is notable. De Beauvoir points out that pre-adolescent boys and girls are really not very different: they â€Å"have the same interests and the same pleasures† (295). The initial psychological differences between them are relatively negligible. The interference and influence of the flesh brings forth new issues for the feminine gender. The changed conditions give rise to change in perceptions. With each brisk change, her experiences are traumatic and distance her more sharply from the opposite sex. Beauvoir argues about this condition of the female body, â€Å"The young girl feels that her body is getting away from her†¦ on the street men follow her with their eyes and comment on her anatomy. She would like to be invisible; it frightens her to become flesh and to show flesh† (p333).Whether the body is a condition for the woman? In her efforts to find an answer to this question, Beauvoir is both confused and conciliatory about the physical and mental condition of an adolescent girl. She justifies her stand by giving

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Case Stady#2 Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stady#2 - Case Study Example matter of concern, in respect with her Doctor’s advice for her to continue with working since it would help allay the spread of cancer: I would still let her retain her job, but would have to decrease the expected work load owing to her weak and now frail disposition. I would advice her students and colleagues not to put a lot of unnecessary pressure on her. 1I would also have another teacher ready on the standby-just in case the illness happens to take an unprecedented toll upon her, and which may require that she be rushed again back to the hospital. I would urge the school’s staff and the entire student community to accord her total cooperation and respectfully understand her plight. Finally the office staff must take pride in being overly kind, caring and attentive to the needs of the students, teachers and even parents (LeBlanc, 2009). 2In spite of the fact that she is currently ill but still determined with continuing with her work, technically, she still remains an employee of the school because she has found herself in a contentious position, not out of attaining retiring age or out of an act of misconduct; but rather from an unfortunate physical. Therefore a lot of consultation and research on my part must be carried out so that my final decision is informed by integrity and acceptable conduct of professional ethics. I would start with the ministry of education (U.S.) and find out what the ethics and academic duty and laws says about a scenario such as this. 2This is because: Members of a profession agree to maintain high degree of performance, to restrain self-interest, and to promote ideals of public service in the area of their responsibilities (Hamilton, 2002).Therefore it is necessary for me as the principal to strive not to be rash but rather exercise objectivity in my judgment, while not making worse the said teacher’s predicament. 3As I m, mentioned earlier in my introduction, this teacher is not just one of the best in school. She

How Financing is Important for the Success of the Company Case Study - 37

How Financing is Important for the Success of the Company - Case Study Example As the paper outlines, sourcing finance is one of the critical factors determining the success or failure of a company. For example in 1971 Phil Knight was faced with a crunch situation regarding his company Nike. The company had at that point of time owned several stores and sales turnover was nearly $300,000. The company was poised for expansion. But the problem the Knight faced was that the company needed capital to finance the growth and this capital was not available with Knight at the point of time. It got this much-required finance from Nissho Iwai Corporation, a Japan-based trading company. Through this finance, the company could start manufacturing its own line of products outside its home country and then bring the finished goods back to the USA in order to market those. Any firm has access to mainly three sources of finances Debt, Equity, and Retained earnings. Different sources of finance have different associated costs. The cost of debt is calculated as the coupon rate ( 1-tax rate). Cost of equity, on the other hand, is calculated as = (Dividend per share/ Market price of the share (MPS)) + growth rate of dividends. Normally debt capital is considered as a cheaper source of capital than equity capital. However, both Debt and Equity come with associated advantages and disadvantages. Normally the firm should go in for a balance of debt and equity financing. The total debt capital used by Nike is $2,743,000 whereas the total equity capital of the firm is $10,824,000. The viability of a financing option depends primarily on the issue of whether the return of the investment proposal is greater the cost of the particular source of finance. For example, in 2002 Nike decided to enter into a contract with the University of Alabama whereby it agreed to pay them $100,000 annually (Kish, 2013). Whereas this deal may sound as too expensive but such deals are pretty important for sports giants like Nike.  

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Reseach Designs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Reseach Designs - Essay Example are real life or assumed scenarios of any situation in which the readers are asked to access and understand the real problem in that situation and then to implement the best possible way to solve that problem. Case studies or case histories can be used to effectively study behavior of many individuals. Case histories are real life situations therefore; others can take the lead and try not to make the same mistakes again as the ones made in the case history. Another example would be that they can be used to evaluation of the people who have the similar kind of personalities like Type A, and Type B and Type C present will react in different situations. So companies and organizations can use these cases to understand how different kinds of people will react in similar situations. For example, if there is a case history present about how a type personality person will react when faced with failure, it can be used to estimate how others will the same personality traits will be reacting in similar situations. 2. Meta-analysis and traditional literature reviews are two different research techniques. Meta-analysis is used to analyze a wide variety of questions by amalgamating and summarizing and reviewing of a previous quantitative research. Certain parts of the research already done are entered into a database where it is analyzed to give another comprehensive view of the research. In the database, all the similar kind of information is gathered to give a common review that might be difficult to interpret meaningfully. Traditional literature review on the other hand, provides an overview of the research findings done by an individual. It is written by actually examining a body of published work and writing a critical ceremony of the body of the text. Literature reviews are usually used to put up different policies forward and indicate future research directions. One of the major advantages of traditional review is that if properly done by an expert, valuable unique

How Financing is Important for the Success of the Company Case Study - 37

How Financing is Important for the Success of the Company - Case Study Example As the paper outlines, sourcing finance is one of the critical factors determining the success or failure of a company. For example in 1971 Phil Knight was faced with a crunch situation regarding his company Nike. The company had at that point of time owned several stores and sales turnover was nearly $300,000. The company was poised for expansion. But the problem the Knight faced was that the company needed capital to finance the growth and this capital was not available with Knight at the point of time. It got this much-required finance from Nissho Iwai Corporation, a Japan-based trading company. Through this finance, the company could start manufacturing its own line of products outside its home country and then bring the finished goods back to the USA in order to market those. Any firm has access to mainly three sources of finances Debt, Equity, and Retained earnings. Different sources of finance have different associated costs. The cost of debt is calculated as the coupon rate ( 1-tax rate). Cost of equity, on the other hand, is calculated as = (Dividend per share/ Market price of the share (MPS)) + growth rate of dividends. Normally debt capital is considered as a cheaper source of capital than equity capital. However, both Debt and Equity come with associated advantages and disadvantages. Normally the firm should go in for a balance of debt and equity financing. The total debt capital used by Nike is $2,743,000 whereas the total equity capital of the firm is $10,824,000. The viability of a financing option depends primarily on the issue of whether the return of the investment proposal is greater the cost of the particular source of finance. For example, in 2002 Nike decided to enter into a contract with the University of Alabama whereby it agreed to pay them $100,000 annually (Kish, 2013). Whereas this deal may sound as too expensive but such deals are pretty important for sports giants like Nike.  

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Using Statistics To Describe A Study Sample Essay Example for Free

Using Statistics To Describe A Study Sample Essay Most studies describe the subjects that comprise the study sample. This description of the sample is called the sample characteristics which may be presented in a table or the narrative of the article. The sample characteristics are often presented for each of the groups in a study (i.e. experimental and control groups). Descriptive statistics are used to generate sample characteristics, and the type of statistic used depends on the level of measurement of the demographic variables included in a study (Burns Grove, 2007). For example, measuring gender produces nominal level data that can be described using frequencies, percentages, and mode. Measuring educational level usually produces ordinal data that can be described using frequencies, percentages, mode, median, and range. Obtaining each subjects specific age is an example of ratio data that can be described using mean, range, and standard deviation. Interval and ratio data are analyzed with the same type of statistics and are usually referred to as interval/ratio level data in this text. RESEARCH ARTICLE Source: Troy, N. W., Dalgas-Pelish, P. (2003). The effectiveness of a self-care intervention for the management of postpartum fatigue. Applied Nursing Research, 16 (1), 38–45. Introduction Troy and Dalgas-Pelish (2003) conducted a quasi-experimental study to determine the effectiveness of a self-care intervention (Tiredness Management Guide [TMG]) on postpartum fatigue. The study subjects included 68 primiparous mothers, who were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (32 subjects) or the control group (36 subjects) using a computer program. The results of the study indicated that the TMG was effective in reducing levels of morning postpartum fatigue from the 2nd to 4th weeks postpartum. These researchers recommend that â€Å"mothers need to be informed that they will probably experience postpartum fatigue and be taught to assess and manage this phenomenon† (Troy Dalgas-Pelish, 2003, pp. 44-5). Relevant Study Results â€Å"A total of 80 women were initially enrolled [in the study] †¦ twelve of these women dropped out of the study resulting in a final sample of 68.† (Troy   Dalgas-Pelish, 2003, p. 39). The researchers presented the characteristics of their sample in a table format for the experimental and control groups (see Table 1). The researchers found no significant differences between the control and experimental groups for any of the demographic or attribute variables. TABLE 1 Sample Characteristics by Group STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What demographic variables were included in this study? 2. Which of the demographic variables provided ordinal level data? Provide a rationale for your answer. 3. What level of measurement is the data for race? 4. What statistics were used to describe race in this study? Were these appropriate? 5. Could a mean be calculated on the race data? Provide a rationale for your answer. 6. Describe the race of both the experimental and control groups. What does this tell you about the population of this study? 7. What statistics were used to describe age in this study? Were these appropriate? Provide a rationale for your answer. 8. Were the groups similar in age? Provide a rationale for your answer. 9. What was the mode for the type of feeding provided by the experimental and the control groups? Is this mode what you would have expected? 10. Did the experimental group earn similar income to the control group? Provide a rationale for your answer. ANSWERS TO STUDY QUESTIONS 1. Demographic variables described in the study were: age, income, length of labor, return to work, number of hours working per week, race, marital status, education, type of feeding, and amount of household and infant care responsibilities. 2. The variables education and amount of household and infant care responsibilities are both measured at the ordinal level since the data for each is sorted into categories that can be rank ordered. With education, high school is the lowest level of education, some college is the next level of education, and college graduate or higher is the highest level of education. Care responsibilities include ordinal data that are ranked from a low of â€Å"None† to a high of â€Å"All.† 3. The data collected for race is nominal level since race was measured using mutually exclusive categories of White, Black, Interracial, and Middle Eastern that cannot be rank ordered.  4. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe race for the exper imental and control groups. Since the data are nominal, frequencies and percentages were appropriate. The researchers might have also identified the mode, which was White. 5. No, a mean cannot be calculated on the race data. A mean can only be calculated on interval and ratio level data that have numerically equal distances between intervals and not on nominal level data that can only be organized into categories. (See Exercises 1, 2, and 3, which are focused on identifying the level of measurements.) 6. Both the experimental and control groups are predominantly White, 92% and 96.55%, respectively. Thus, the sample is predominately White, and the results are reflective of a White or Caucasian population and not Black, Interracial, or Middle Eastern populations. 7. Age was described for both the experimental and control groups using means and standard deviations. The exact age of the subjects was obtained, providing ratio level data that are descriptively analyzed with means and standard deviations. The researchers might have also provided the range for age for both experimental and control groups. 8. The groups were very similar in age since the mean age for the experimental group was 26.72 and the mean age for the control group was 26.89. The distribution of the ages for the experimental and control groups were also very similar, with standard deviation of 5.05 for the experimental group and 5.25 for the control group. 9. Bottle-feeding was the mode for the experimental (53.1%) and the control (50%) groups since it was the most frequent type of feeding used by both groups. Either a â€Å"no† or â€Å"yes† answer is correct here as long as you provide a rationale. No, one might expect the mode to be breastfeeding since these were first-time mothers (primiparous) and breastfeeding has such positive outcomes for both infant and mother. Yes, one might expect bottle-feeding to be the mode since many of these mothers planned on returning to work. 10. No, the incomes were not similar for the two groups, but nor was the income significantly different for the groups. The means (M) and standard deviations (SD) for income indicate that the experimental (M = $35,675; SD = $23,969) and control groups (M = $41,450; SD = $17,527) were different. The control group subjects had an M, or mean, that was $5,775 higher than the experimental group, and the SD was much higher ($6,442) for the experimental group, indicating a larger range of incomes for that group. However, the narrative from the study indicated  that the groups were not significantly different for any of the demographic variables. 1. What demographic variables were measured at least at the interval level of measurement? 2. What statistics were used to describe the length of labor in this study? Were these appropriate? 3. What other statistic could have been used to describe the length of labor? Provide a rationale for your answer. 4. Were the distributions of scores similar for the experimental and control groups for the length of labor? Provide a rationale for your answer. 5. Were the experimental and control groups similar in their type of feeding? Provide a rationale for your answer. 6. What was the marital status mode for the subjects in the experimental and control groups? Provide both the frequency and percentage for the marital status mode for both groups. 7980 7. Could a median be determined for the education data? If so, what would the median be for education for the experimental and the control groups? Provide a rationale for your answer. 8. Can the findings from this study be generalized to Black women? Provide a rationale for your answer. 9. If there were 32 subjects in the experimental group and 36 subjects in the control group, why is the income data only reported for 30 subjects in the experimental group and 34 subjects in the control group? 10. Was the sample for this study adequately described? Provide a rationale for your answer.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Geography

Geography Geography Location The community lies in the Weschnitz valley in the Odenwaldsome 25km north of Heidelbergand about 20km northeast of Mannheim. It is on Bundesstraße38, and the river Weschnitz flows through it. The land is hilly, green and dotted with horse farms and forests. Neighbouring communities Birkenau borders in the north on the community of MÃ ¶rlenbach, in the east on the community ofAbtsteinach, in the south on the community ofGorxheimertaland in the west on the towns of Weinheimand Hemsbach(both in Rhein-Neckar-KreisinBaden-WÃ ¼rttemberg). Constituent communities Birkenaus Ortsteileare Birkenau, Buchklingen, Hornbach, Kallstadt, LÃ ¶hrbach, Nieder-Liebersbach, Reisen and Schnorrenbach. Climate Owing to its location near the Bergstraße, a mild climate prevails in Birkenau, which can often be seen in what for Germany is a very early blossoming ofalmondtrees. History Schloss Birkenau Birkenau had its first documentary mention in 795 in the Lorsch Codexas a cell of the Lorsch Abbey. As one of the Abbeys holdings, it passed into the ownership of the Archbishopric of Mainz in 1232. The centres of Hornbach and Balzenbach, on the other hand, belonged to Electoral Palatinate, meaning that after the Reformation, they belonged to different denominations. In 1532 the town hall was built, and in 1771 the palace, Schloss Birkenau, of the Lords of Wambolt von Umstadt. By 1964, the population had grown to more than 5,000. In 1967 the community was recognized as a recreational resort (Erholungsort) and in 1979 as an open-air resort (Luftkurort). Owing to the only slight tourism, however, it has not reapplied for this designation. In 1995, Birkenau celebrated its 1,200-year jubilee.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Beowulf As Christian Allegory :: Epic of Beowulf Essays

Beowulf As Christian Allegory Beowulf’s story is somewhat of an allegory in which he is depicted as the Christ figure. The theme of Beowulf is a contrast of good and evil which is manifest in both Christian and pagan elements; Beowulf represents good, while Grendel, his mother, and the dragon represent evil. The first monster our hero, Beowulf, faces is Grendel. Grendel is said to be a descendant of Cain. â€Å"Unhappy creature (Grendel), he lived for a time in the home of the monsters’ race, after God had condemned them as kin of Cain† (Norton, 28). Cain is the son of Eve, the woman who bore sin into the world. A connection, however vague, can be made between the maternal relations of Eve and Cain and Grendel and his mother. Grendel’s mother can be considered to personify man’s fall from grace and Grendel himself might embody sin. Furthermore, the dragon Beowulf battles can be said to be a picture of Satan: â€Å"the smooth hateful dragon who flies at night wrapped in flameâ⠂¬  (56). When facing Grendel, Beowulf relies on God alone to protect him, saying, "†¦may wise God, Holy Lord, assign glory on whichever hand seems good to Him† (36). When Beowulf tears off Grendel’s arm, Hrothgar remarks, â€Å"I endured much from the foe, many griefs from Grendel† (39). It could be said that the Christian foe is sin, which causes much grief. Against Grendel’s mother, original sin, Beowulf becomes the Christian soldier. When Beowulf struggles against Grendel’s mother, God grants him a precious gift: â€Å"The Wielder of Men granted me that I should see hanging on the wall a fair, ancient, great-sword – most often He has guided the man without friends – that I should wield the weapon† (Norton, 48). This great sword is further described as â€Å"a victory-blessed blade, an old sword made by the giants†¦ the work of giants† (Norton, 47). The sword used to slay Grendel’s mother is work of her ancestral giants, who were godly until they fell from grace. â€Å"From (Cain) sprang all bad breeds, trolls and elves and monsters – likewise the giants who for a long time strove with God† (Norton, 28). Therefore, the sword was god-forged and godly. Here the hero is using â€Å"the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God† to prevail (The Book of Ephesians 6.17, Bible). In his battle with the dragon (which may represent Satan) Beowulf is martyred, losing his life in the of the killing the dragon.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Faust: Book Review :: essays research papers

Faust: Book Review   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This novel written originally by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and translated by Walter Kaufmann. There are 201 pages in this novel.. This book is a poem divided into two parts and has many adventures in it. The point of view is from the writer of the play, 3rd person narration. The theme of this novel is Don't always take the easy way out of things because in the end you will pay for them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This novel starts off with Mephisto the Devil asking God to be able to tempt a scholar named Faust. Mephisto talks with angels and God. Mephisto tells God that Faust is loyal to him but will no be for long. Mephisto is going to take Faust from him. Faust is sitting in his study most of the poem. He looks up information to gain more knowledge. When he is looking one day through his study he notices a book that he has never seen before. Faust takes it out and examines it and finds out it is a book of spells, With this spell book he calls on Mephisto. Faust finds out that Mephisto never wants to say his name just describe his great power and plans that he can give Faust. Mephisto fails the first time to get Faust to give in. He comes back the next day and tries again but doesn't gain his  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   hand in this deed. After Faust calls on Mephisto they make a deal. Mephisto would serve Faust in this life and when Faust would die he would come to hell and help Mephisto in return for giving Faust all this power. Faust agrees and this is the start of the deed. Mephisto would do anything in his power for Faust. These things that Mephisto did was to try to get Lady Gretchen (that Faust liked dearly) to notice him. Mephisto would give Gretchen diamonds and other assortment of jewelry to tempt her. This did not work. Over the years of Mephisto doing all these deeds for Faust, He gained a lot of knowledge. Faust started to get real old and very ill. He started to see ghosts and other kinds of unnatural things in front of his eyes that he never saw before. Over more time Faust becomes blind and can no longer do anything. When Faust is dying Mephisto gets ready to take him to hell to serve him in eternity. When Faust dies God comes into the picture again. He gets angels to distract Mephisto and take Faust into Heaven. God forgives Faust for all he has done.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey” Essay

In Homer’s epic poem, â€Å"The Odyssey,† the protagonist, Odysseus, has spent ten years fighting in the Trojan War. Due to the gods’ anger against Odysseus, he is destined to have a very long and difficult journey home. Odysseus proves to be brave because he overcomes both external and internal conflicts on this long journey home. The external conflicts that Odysseus overcomes show that he is highly courageous. For example, the episode with the Cyclops proves he is clever because he tricked Polyphemus into thinking that his men were sheep. Another example of Odysseus’ braveness was his encounter with the suitors. He was very strong and confident which caused him to fight the hundreds of suitors and win even though it was only he and his son against the other men. These external conflicts prove Odysseus’ strength and cleverness, and show how strong and brave he is. Odysseus also had to deal with internal conflicts that affected him personally. For instance, when Odysseus had to pass Charybdis, he knew he would lose some of his men. This hurt Odysseus because him an his men became close during their journey home, so he had to struggle with the fact that he’d have to leave some people behind. Secondly, when Odysseus finally returned home, he didn’t want to tell his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus, who he was right away. He felt that they would not believe him and he wanted to see if they could figure out who he was on their own. These are examples of conflicts Odysseus dealt with within himself, and prove that he is brave. These facts show that Odysseus is fearless and courageous during his external and internal conflicts. He knows how to deal with his troubles, and is a very strong person. Odysseus had many problems on his long journey home, but he made it through and accomplished his main goal; to return to his family and home in Ithaca.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Growth of Fmcg Products in Rural Market

Certificate This is to certify that Ms. Vrushali Awachar of IBS Nagpur has submitted her report titled, â€Å"Growth of FMCG products in rural market† for the year 2009-2010 in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the completion of practical study at the first semester of MBA programme. Place: Date: _ Preface As part of course in MBA for the first semester, we have to make a report based on sector analysis; which I am presenting is on Growth of FMCG products in rural market. This opportunity allows the students to study the real business environment and a consequent report further helps in improving on the communication and presentation aspects which are highly essential to be inculcated amongst Management students. This practical training at MBA programme develops a feeling about the difficulties and challenges in the business world. Only theory knowledge does not impart complete education. To fulfill these objectives these reports play an essential part in MBA programme. In this direction, I have tried my level best to analyze the various information obtained and have presented in a logical and understandable format. Acknowledgement I forward gratitude to respected Dean Sir of our Institute. I am heartily thankful to the management for providing me the opportunity to make a study of practical training in their organization. I express my sincere thanks to the staff of the unit who have given us all the information and who guided us. I am also thankful to Prof. Upal Sinha and Dr. Sarita Modak with whose help; the study was conducted and made possible they provided full guidance, cooperation and valuable suggestion about the Report. I am thankful to my college friends and all those who have helped me directly or indirectly in the preparation of this report. With thanks†¦ Place: Nagpur Date: 28th/08/2009 Yours Sincerely, Vrushali Awachar 09BS0000502 Contents of the Report Table of Contents Certificate Preface Acknowledgement 1. Abstract Growth of FMCG products in Rural Market P. Balakrishna 2. Introduction Sales zoomed from 35,000 sachets to 12 lakhs. Initially they took any sachet but now they are restricted to Chik sachets. Now at present, rural market is one of the best opportunity and focusing sector for the major FMCG companies in India. Each and every company is set to invest a huge capital for competition in rural market. According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the number of rural households using FMCG products has grown from 136 million in 2004 to 143 million in 2007,a clear indication that rural consumers are shifting from commodities to branded products. Urban consumers on the other hand could go slowly on FMCG expenses, thanks for inflation spiral, rise in fuel cost and costlier credit. Evidence suggest that for the first time, that the rural market has grown faster than the urban market in key product categories in April-May 2008, the latest months for which such information is available, according to market research firm NC Nielson. Market and Indian companies, in India. * To study the challenges faced by rural marketers in India. * To study the reasons of popularity of rural markets in India. 5. Need of the study To determine the demand of FMCG products in rural India. Know about the different choice of rural consumers. Rural and Urban potential _(table 1. Rural and urban population)_ _(Source: Statistical Outline of India (2001-2002) NCAER_ According to a study by Chennai-based Francis Kanoi Marketing Planning 7. Growth Prospects With the presence of 12. 2% of the world population in the villages of India, the Indian rural FMCG market is something no one can overlook. Increased focus on farm sector will boost rural incomes, hence providing better growth prospects to the FMCG companies. Better infrastructure facilities will improve their supply chain. FMCG sector is also likely to benefit from growing demand in the market. Because of the low per capita consumption for almost all the products in the country, FMCG companies have immense possibilities for growth. And if the companies are able to change the mindset of the consumers, i. e. if they are able to take the consumers to branded products and offer new generation products, they would be able to generate higher growth in the near future. It is expected that the rural income will rise in 2007, boosting purchasing power in the countryside. However, the demand in urban areas would be the key growth driver over the long term. Also, increase in the urban population, along with increase in income levels and the availability of new categories, would help the urban areas maintain their position in terms of consumption. At present, urban India accounts for 66% of total FMCG consumption, with rural India accounting for the remaining 34%. However, rural India accounts for more than 40% consumption in major FMCG categories such as personal care, fabric care, and hot beverages. In urban areas, home and personal care category, including skin care, household care and feminine hygiene, will keep growing at relatively attractive rates. Within the foods segment, it is estimated that processed foods, bakery, and dairy are long-term growth categories in both rural and urban areas. Indian Competitiveness and Comparison with the World Markets The following factors make India a competitive player in FMCG sector: Availability of raw materials Because of the diverse agro-climatic conditions in India, there is a large raw material base suitable for food processing industries. India is the largest producer of livestock, milk, sugarcane, coconut, spices and cashew and is the second largest producer of rice, wheat and fruits &vegetables. India also produces caustic soda and soda ash, which are required for the production of soaps and detergents. The availability of these raw materials gives India the location advantage. Labor cost comparison {draw:frame} (Fig. 2 Labor cost comparison) (Source: www. equitymaster. com _ _Low cost labor gives India a competitive advantage. India's labor cost is amongst the lowest in the world, after China & Indonesia. Low labor costs give the advantage of low cost of production. Many MNC's have established their plants in India to outsource for domestic and export markets. Presence across value chain Indian companies have their presence across the value chain of FMCG sector, right from the supply of raw materials to packaged goods in the food-processing sector. This brings India a more cost competitive advantage. For example, Amul supplies milk as well as dairy products like cheese, butter, etc. 8. Indian FMCG Sector The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest in the economy and has a market size of US$13. 1 billion. Well-established distribution networks, as well as intense competition between the organized and unorganized segments are the characteristics of this sector. FMCG in India has a strong and competitive MNC presence across the entire value chain. It has been predicted that the FMCG market will reach to US$ 33. 4 billion in 2015 from US $ billion 11. 6 in 2003. The middle class and the rural segments of the Indian population are the most promising market for FMCG, and give brand makers the opportunity to convert them to branded products. Most of the product categories like jams, toothpaste, skin care, shampoos, etc, in India, have low per capita consumption as well as low penetration level, but the potential for growth is huge. The Indian Economy is surging ahead by leaps and bounds, keeping pace with rapid urbanization, increased literacy levels, and rising per capita income. The big firms are growing bigger and small-time companies are catching up as well. According to the study conducted by AC Nielsen, 62 of the top 100 brands are owned by MNCs, and the balance by Indian companies. Fifteen companies own these 62 brands, and 27 of these are owned by Hindustan Lever. Pepsi is at number three followed by Thums Up. Britannia takes the fifth place, followed by Colgate (6), Nirma (7), Coca-Cola (8) and Parle (9). These are figures the soft drink and cigarette companies have always shied away from revealing. Personal care, cigarettes, and soft drinks are the three biggest categories in FMCG. Between them, they account for 35 of the top 100 brands. THE TOP 10 COMPANIES IN FMCG SECTOR (table 3: top 10 co. ’s) Source: Naukrihub. com The companies mentioned in Exhibit I, are the leaders in their respective sectors. The personal care category has the largest number of brands, i. e. , 21, inclusive of Lux, Lifebuoy, Fair and Lovely, Vicks, and Ponds. There are 11 HLL brands in the 21, aggregating Rs. ,799 crore or 54% of the personal care category. Cigarettes account for 17% of the top 100 FMCG sales, and just below the personal care category. ITC alone accounts for 60% volume market share and 70% by value of all filter cigarettes in India. The foods category in FMCG is gaining popularity with a swing of launches by HLL, ITC, Godrej, and others. This category has 18 major brands, aggregating Rs. 4,637 crore. Nestle and Amul slug it out in the powders segment. The food category has also seen innovations like softies in ice creams, chapattis by HLL, ready to eat rice by HLL and pizzas by both GCMMF and Godrej Pillsbury. This category seems to have faster development than the stagnating personal care category. Amul, India's largest foods company has a good presence in the food category with its ice-creams, curd, milk, butter, cheese, and so on. Britannia also ranks in the top 100 FMCG brands, dominates the biscuits category and has launched a series of products at various prices. In the household care category (like mosquito repellents), Godrej and Reckitt are two players. Goodknight from Godrej is worth above Rs 217 crore, followed by Reckitt's Mortein at Rs 149 crore. In the shampoo category, HLL's Clinic and Sunsilk make it to the top 100, although P's Head and Shoulders and Pantene are also trying hard to be positioned on top. Clinic is nearly double the size of Sunsilk. Dabur is among the top five FMCG companies in India and is a herbal specialist. With a turnover of Rs. 19 billion (approx. US$ 420 million) in 2005-2006, Dabur has brands like Dabur Amla, Dabur Chyawanprash, Vatika, Hajmola and Real. Asian Paints is enjoying a formidable presence in the Indian sub-continent, Southeast Asia, Far East, Middle East, South Pacific, Caribbean, Africa and Europe. Asian Paints is India's largest paint company, with a turnover of Rs. 22. 6 billion (around USD 513 million). Forbes Global magazine, USA, ranked Asian Paints among the 200 Best Small Companies in the World Cadbury India is the market leader in the chocolate confectionery market with a 70% market share and is ranked number two in the total food drinks market. Its popular brands include Cadbury's Dairy Milk, 5 Star, Eclairs, and Gems. The Rs. 15. 6 billion (USD 380 Million) Marico is a leading Indian group in consumer products and services in the Global Beauty and Wellness space. 8. Outlook There is a huge growth potential for all the FMCG companies as the per capita consumption of almost all products in the country is amongst the lowest in the world. Again the demand or prospect could be increased further if these companies can change the consumer's mindset and offer new generation products. Earlier, Indian consumers were using non-branded apparel, but today, clothes of different bra nds are available and the same consumers are willing to pay more for branded quality clothes. It's the quality, promotion and innovation of products, which can drive many sectors. . 2 Sector Outlook Threats: 1. Removal of import restrictions resulting in replacing of domestic brands 2. Slowdown in rural demand Tax and regulatory structure The rural market may be alluring but it is not without its problems: Low per capita disposable incomes that is half the urban disposable income; large number of daily wage earners, acute dependence on the vagaries of the monsoon; seasonal consumption linked to harvests and festivals and special occasions; poor roads; power problems; and inaccessibility to conventional advertising media. However, the rural consumer is not unlike his urban counterpart in many ways. The more daring MNCs are meeting the consequent challenges of availability, affordability, acceptability and awareness (the so-called 4 As) The first challenge is to ensure availability of the product or service. India's 627,000 villages are spread over 3. 2 million sq km; 700 million Indians may live in rural areas, finding them is not easy. However, given the poor state of roads, it is an even greater challenge to egularly reach products to the far-flung villages. Any serious marketer must strive to reach at least 13,113 villages with a population of more than 5,000. Marketers must trade off the distribution cost with incremental market penetration. Over the years, India's largest MNC, Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of Unilever, has built a strong distribution system which helps its brands reach the interiors of the rural market. To service remote village, stockists use autorickshaws, bullock-carts and eve n boats in the backwaters of Kerala. Coca-Cola, which considers rural India as a future growth driver, has evolved a hub and spoke distribution model to reach the villages. To ensure full loads, the company depot supplies, twice a week, large distributors which who act as hubs. These distributors appoint and supply, once a week, smaller distributors in adjoining areas. LG Electronics defines all cities and towns other than the seven metros cities as rural and semi-urban market. To tap these unexplored country markets, LG has set up 45 area offices and 59 rural/remote area offices. The second challenge is to ensure affordability of the product or service. With low disposable incomes, products need to be affordable to the rural consumer, most of whom are on daily wages. Some companies have addressed the affordability problem by introducing small unit packs. Godrej recently introduced three brands of Cinthol, Fair Glow and Godrej in 50-gm packs, priced at Rs 4-5 meant specifically for Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — the so-called `Bimaru' States. Hindustan Lever, among the first MNCs to realise the potential of India's rural market, has launched a variant of its largest selling soap brand, Lifebuoy at Rs 2 for 50 gm. The move is mainly targeted at the rural market. Coca-Cola has addressed the affordability issue by introducing the returnable 200-ml glass bottle priced at Rs 5. The initiative has paid off: Eighty per cent of new drinkers now come from the rural markets. Coca-Cola has also introduced Sunfill, a powdered soft-drink concentrate. The instant and ready-to-mix Sunfill is available in a single-serve sachet of 25 gm priced at Rs 2 and mutiserve sachet of 200 gm priced at Rs 15. The third challenge is to gain acceptability for the product or service. Therefore, there is a need to offer products that suit the rural market. One company which has reaped rich dividends by doing so is LG Electronics. In 1998, it developed a customized TV for the rural market and christened it Sampoorna. It was a runway hit selling 100,000 sets in the very first year. Because of the lack of electricity and refrigerators in the rural areas, Coca-Cola provides low-cost ice boxes — a tin box for new outlets and thermocol box for seasonal outlets. The insurance companies that have tailor-made products for the rural market have performed well. HDFC Standard LIFE topped private insurers by selling policies worth Rs 3. 5 crore in total premia. The company tied up with non-governmental organizations and offered reasonably-priced policies in the nature of group insurance covers. With large parts of rural India inaccessible to conventional advertising media — only 41 per cent rural households have access to TV — building awareness is another challenge. Fortunately, however, the rural consumer has the same likes as the urban consumer — movies and music — and for both the urban and rural consumer, the family is the key unit of identity. However, the rural consumer expressions differ from his urban counterpart. Outing for the former is confined to local fairs and festivals and TV viewing is confined to the state-owned Doordarshan. Consumption of branded products is treated as a special treat or indulgence. Hindustan Lever relies heavily on its own company-organized media. These are promotional events organized by stockiest. Godrej Consumer Products, which is trying to push its soap brands into the interior areas, uses radio to reach the local people in their language. The key dilemma for MNCs eager to tap the large and fast-growing rural market is whether they can do so without hurting the company's profit margins. Mr. Carlo Donati, Chairman and Managing-Director, Nestle, while admitting that his company's product portfolio is essentially designed for urban consumers, cautions companies from plunging headlong into the rural market as capturing rural consumers can be expensive. Any generalization† says Mr Donati, â€Å"about rural India could be wrong and one should focus on high GDP growth areas, be it urban, semi-urban or rural. † ISIC 5211 retail sales in non-specialized stores ISIC 5219 other retail sale in non-specialized stores ISIC 5220 retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialized stores ISIC 5231 retail sale of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articl es ISIC 5251 retail sale via mail order houses ISIC 5252 retail sale via stalls and markets ISIC 5259 whole sale goods Supplier industries for FMCGs include 1511 meat and meat products, 1512 fish and fish products, 1513 fruit and vegetables, 1514 vegetable and animal oils and fats, 1520 dairy products, 1531 grain mill products, 1532 starches and starch products, 1533 animal feeds, 1541 bakery products, 1542 sugar, 1543 cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionery, 1544 macaroni, noodles, couscous, 1549 other food products, 1551 spirits; ethyl alcohol, 1552 wines, 1553 malt liquors and malt, 1554 soft drinks, mineral waters, 1600 tobacco products, 2101 pulp, paper and paperboard, 2102 corrugated paper, containers, 2109 other articles of paper and paperboard, 2424 soap and detergents, cleaning preparations, perfumes. 9. 1 Impulse to go Rural 1. Large Population (_Source: NCAER). _ 2. Rising Rural Prosperity twice as many ‘lower middle income’ households in rural areas as in the urban areas. Distribution of people income-wise (Table 5. ) (Source:NCAER) against is Rs. 3,500 crores in rural India . 3. Growth in Market 4. Effectiveness of Communication 5. IT Penetration in Rural India Into rural India, the possibilities of change are becoming visible. 6. Impact of Globalization FMCG Products and Categories – In recent years, rural markets of India have acquired significance, as the overall growth of the Indian economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. On account of green revolution, the rural areas are consuming a large quantity of industrial and urban manufactured products. In this context, a special marketing strategy, namely, rural marketing has emerged. Rural India with its traditional perception has grown over the years, not only in terms of income, but also in terms of thinking. The rural markets are growing at above two time’s faster pace than urban markets; not surprisingly, rural India accounts for 60% of the total national demand. Today, rural market occupies a larger part of our economy and it is expected to grow at least four times the existing size. Another contributing factor for rural push was growing saturation in urban markets. To be precise, rural marketing in Indian economy covers two broad sections: 1. Selling of agricultural products in the urban areas 2. Selling of manufactured products in the rural regions In present situation, our huge population is helping marketers to think new marketing strategies. 630 Billion rural populations are greater than total consuming markets of many countries like Canada, South Korea, etc. Tapping the rural market is one of the most important marketing strategies followed by various MNCs and Indian companies now-a-days. A number of companies in FMCG, consumer durables as well as telecom sector have adapted strategies to expand their base in rural market. Among those who have already taken remarkable initiative in rural market are HLL, Colgate, LG Electronics, Philips, BSNL, LIC, Britannia and Hero Honda. Rural Marketing in simple word is planning and implementation of marketing function for rural areas. Rural marketing has been defined as the process of developing, pricing, promoting, distributing rural specific products and services leading to exchange between urban and rural markets which satisfies consumer demands and also achieves org. objective. Of the two million BSNL mobile connections, 50% are in small towns / villages. Of the six lakh villages, 5. 22 lakh have a Village Public Telephone (VPT). 42 million rural households are availing banking services in comparison to 27 million urban households. Investment in formal savings instruments: 6. 6 millions households in rural and 6. 7 million in urban India. Large Population: Approximately 75% of India's population resides in around 6,38,365 villages of India spread over 32 lakh square kilometer. 41% of India's middle class resides in rural areas. Higher Purchasing Capacity: Purchasing power of rural people is on rise; Market Growth: Market is growing at a rate of 3-4% per annum. The journey of markets to the rural markets has indeed been one of surmounting one hurdle after another; these include the 4 As – Availability, Affordability, and Acceptance & Awareness – adopting themselves to the rural atmosphere marketers. So, in the context of growth aspects of the Rural markets and their adoption and application by major MNCs and Indian companies, I want to take this Project as my Research Project so that I could go in to the in-depth study of the rural markets- their future scope, challenges etc. in the context of India Rural markets are future battlegrounds' Icfai University Journal of Rural Management: â€Å"The very nature of economic activities of rural market extending the provision of quality access to financial solutions is vital for the development of people residing in rural areas†. * Khan N. A. , B uilding Competitiveness in Small-Scale and Rural Industries in India; Icfai University Journal of Rural Management: â€Å"The significance of competitiveness in the rural marketing was neglected for a long time in India, but now it is being recognized†. {draw:frame} It is interesting to note that consumers will almost always buy exactly what they put on their shopping list. If they write down flour, they are going to buy flour. What do you think will happen if they write Gold Medal Flour on their list? Getting the consumer to write your brand name on their shopping list almost guarantees they will buy your product instead of your competitors, but how do you get them to do that? The simple answer is continued brand advertising overtime. This helps cement your brand with consumers, but where do you advertise? Having your advertisements running next to the online recipes that mention your product will certainly build brand awareness. Especially since the consumer is usually looking at related recipes while they are planning their trip to the grocery store. Of course, you could even take that whole concept a step further by providing the recipes on your website where you could also provide the shopping list for that recipe complete with your products brand name. Think of the possibilities†¦Some consumers don’t write their shopping list down or maybe their printer is out of ink. What would happen if they could get that branded recipe or shopping list sent right to their cell phone by email or sms text? How about a branded iPhone application that would allow the consumer to look up the recipe and download their shopping list right in the grocery store while they are trying to decide â€Å"what’s for dinner? † The possibilities are endless once you start thinking outside the box of conventional advertising and meet the consumer right where they live. Technology is becoming more and more integrated with our lives and the consumer is using the internet and their cell phones to help them with just about everything including planning their meals and grocery shopping list. FMCG ( fast moving consumer goods ) is a great career opportunity for any professional worth his salt. The success in the sales and marketing division of any FMCG company will depend on great team work. The results are almost directly proportionate to the effort of the field personnel. As the classic saying goes in cricket the longer you stay in the middle the chances of scoring more runs is inevitable unless he is a Boycott type of batsmen. Similarly the more the field work put in by the field staff the greater the results in terms of volume in general. The flip side is that the wholesale channel of distribution is highly unpredictable. They attract customers based on the simple premise that they sell it cheaper when compared to company recommended billing price to retailer. How does the wholesale sell cheap, by the virtue of their volume purchase they manage to get better discounts, which is primarily cash discount. If they get 2 percent discount they pass on 11/2 percent to the retailer, which obviously explains the deep discount. Many a times some wholesaler go to the extent of selling even below the cost price, they discount the schemes and packing material cost, which is the precise deep discount which in whole parlance is also known as undercutting. Many company personnel are baffled by this phenomenon. {draw:frame} Merchandising: This aspect of sales promotion is ignored by most companies. But in today’s modern trade context, special sales team is deployed to ensure Merchandising on the shelves. P & G always believe in merchandising their product at prominent and eye catching level. The company used to buy the shelf space for a period of time by paying monthly rental to the shopkeeper. In this manner they established Gillette range against stiff competition from Malhotra blades. Many of the Mega Malls bargain for higher rentals from companies for hiring out their shelf space. In fact some malls collect as much as rent as possible to cover all the overheads in running the establishment. Jo dikta hai woh bikta hai seems to be the philosophy of most street smart sales team. 13. 1 Rural FMCG sales outrun towns FMCG growth (in value terms) in rural markets has far outpaced the sector's growth in urban markets during the first nine months of the current financial year. Though rural markets are growing from a smaller base, the numbers are stark. In the case of chyavanprash, the whole of urban market has shrunk, while the rural market has grown as much as eight per cent. â€Å"This is a new trend. Normally we do not see rural India dominating all categories,† said an FMCG analyst. Successive good monsoons and a corresponding growth in farm income have raised the purchasing power of rural households. This, in turn, has fuelled FMCG sales growth in rural markets. Products that have seen significant growth in rural markets include toothpaste, hair oils and shampoos. Shampoo sales in rural India, for instance, have gone up by 30. 8 per cent compared with just 11 per cent in urban areas. Kunal Motishaw, analyst, Equitymaster, pointed out, â€Å"The rural hinterland is more attractive for FMCG companies compared with tier I and II cities as penetration levels are drastically lower for numerous products, unlike urban markets which are highly saturated. † According to Dabur India CEO Sunil Duggal, while the figures may speak of value growth (because there has been no significant change in prices or the product mix in rural markets), in most cases these are also indications of a growth in volumes. HK Press, executive-director and president, Godrej Consumer Products, said as far as the company's products were concerned, the sales of soaps and hair colors had grown substantially in rural markets in the October-December quarter. 13. 2 The five rupee FMCG lure {draw:frame} The colas may have jettisoned the paanch strategy but a host of branded products are now realizing the importance of being present at the Rs 5 price point. Although brands such as Pepsodent, Maggi, Clinic Plus and Rin have been communicating, through ads, their availability at this price, the phenomenon isn't limited to any specific category: products such as pens, razors, fruit drinks and adhesive tubes too are on the bandwagon, with the price prominently displayed on their packs. A HLL spokesman says the ready availability of the five-rupee coin has been an advantage; but that isn't the only plus. The offerings mirror consumers' buying behavior: many consumers are not so concerned about grammage as much as price, he says. A relatively bigger pack, compared to the Re 1 and Rs 2 ones, also give consumers enough opportunities to try out the brand, says he, while declining to comment about the impact on volumes and margins. Some of the brands that HLL sells for Rs 5 are Pepsodent, Pond's Talc, Pond's Cold Cream, Rin, Taaza, Fair & Lovely, Clinic Plus and Lux. Mr K. Radhakrishnan, Vice-President, FoodWorld Supermarkets, sees growth in the user-base of brands that have introduced such packs. â€Å"Category penetration is the aim. Coke and Pepsi have hugely succeeded in achieving this over the past year,† though much of the gain was lost due to the pesticide issue. The consumer-base for soft drink increased from 160 million in 2002 to 240 million in 2004, a two-year period during which the Rs 5-price point remained in force. The Coca-Cola India President and CEO, Mr. Sanjiv Gupta, says: â€Å"The first half of this year has been good but growth has not been what it was in the same period last year. We continue to make money on Rs 5 pricing but now the quantum of money I make per bottle is squeezed. † And this squeeze, brought about by a two per cent cess and higher input costs, has forced cola companies to hike prices by a rupee each on 200 ml and 300 ml pack sizes. And though the colas no longer sell for Rs 5, they have played a big role in sensitizing the consumer to the price-point, says marketing professional Ms Sangita Joshi, who reckons the Rs 5 packs to play an important role in spurring impulse purchases as well as giving a brand the first-mover advantage in a competitive market. Adds Mr. R. Subramanian, Director of discount chain, Subhiksha: â€Å"The small packs will increase user base and usage occasion and can explode the market. † He makes the point that it's more likely that a customer will guzzle a soft drink three separate times when it costs Rs 5 or Rs 6 a bottle than have a single shot at 600 ml of the cola at Rs 15. According to industry observers, the price point will also help branded FMCG categories which are battling fakes from the unorganized sector. 14. Share of FMCG sector showing a receding trend in Television as well as Press over the past four years: an AdEx India Analysis  · In the year 2003, the FMCG sector had a share of 27% in total print and TV advertising contributing 24760 million out of the total advertising of 90520 million.  · Share of FMCG in total advertising (TV Press) has shrunk by 11 percentage points in the past four years  · Share of FMCG advertising in TV has declined from 57. 6% to 48. 7%, while the same for press has come down from 12. % to 7. 9% during the four year period.  · The share has decreased considerably for major categories like aerated drinks and toilet soaps. It is common knowledge that the advertising pie for press and television has shown a steady increase over the past half a decade. However, the following chart presents certain facts that wo uld be a revelation to quite a few of us. The proportion of ad spends by the FMCG sector has been consistently declining over the past four years. The contribution of FMCGs to total advertising has come down by 11 percentage points during the four-year period. {draw:frame} (Fig. 6 contribution of FMCG) (Source: Adex india) A similar trend was witnessed across both the media – Television and Press. While the contribution of FMCG advertising to total TV spends has diminished from a healthy 57. 6% in 2001 to 48. 7% in 2004 (Till May 15th), the press component of FMCG industry has shrunk from 12. 2% in 2001 to 7. 9% in 2004. {draw:frame} (Fig. 7 source: adex india) {draw:frame} (Fig. 8 source: adex india) LOne crucial point to be noted is that although the total ad spends incurred by the FMCG sector have gone up, it has still not been able to match the pace with which the total pie has grown. One important reason for this is the ever increasing ad spends by new-economy sectors like services, lectronics and automotives, a phenomenon that we would study in detail in the forthcoming special newsletters from AdEx India {draw:frame} (Fig. 9 source: adex india) Now, let us have a closer look by splitting up the various categories within the FMCG sector. The category within the FMCG sector that has pulled down the total share the most has clearly been Food and beverages. The category that used to account for a chunk of TV & press advertising at 45. 5% in 2001 now accounts for 42. 6% while â€Å"Others† mentioned in the above chart has also gone down from 6. 7% in 2001 to 4. 1% now. This category of â€Å"others† consists of such advertisers as tobacco, liquor, OTC products, etc. The â€Å"Personal care† segment was also showing a receding trend from 2001 to 2003, but it has improved during the first five months of 2004, a trend which may well not continue till year-end. {draw:frame} (Fig. 10 source: adex india) Now, let us look at one major sub-category from each of the main FMCG categories – F, Home care & Personal care. The following chart shows some of the traditional advertising heavyweights in the FMCG sector whose share has shrunk as a percentage of total spends over the past four years. The chart shown above throws up certain interesting numbers, especially in relation to aerated drinks advertising. While the popular perception would be that the cola giants have upped their spends in the recent years, the numbers suggest that their advertising has not grown as fast as some of the other advertisers. The â€Å"Oral care† segment comprising of advertisers like toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc has also declined considerably from a proportion of 7. 6% in 2001 to 6. 1% in 2004 (up to May). Similarly, Toilet soaps and face wash advertisers also been contributing progressively lesser to the total advertising in recent times, with the proportion going down to a level of 7. 8% in 2003 as compared to 10% in 2001. Finally, to reiterate the main point, it is possible that total spends for a certain category might have gone up over the four year period. But a decreasing share in spite of increasing spends reflects the fact that the category hasn’t grown as fast as some of the other heavy-spending categories. The forthcoming special newsletter from AdEx India would attempt to throw some light on some of these booming categories. 15. Company experiences in Going Rural According to a study by the National Council for Applied Economic Research 16. Rural Vs Urban Consumers – Challenges Conclusion After analyzing the various data I have reached to a conclusion that HUL’s products are most known and popular brand in context of home FMCG products in rural market followed by Dabur, ITC and P. Because of huge product line, cheaper cost and brand loyalty, good publicity and advertisement, the rural consumers generally prefers the products of HUL in all segments. Except it, people prefer for good quality and comparatively low price of products. Recommendation The rural market is very large compared to urban market as well it is more challenging market. The consumer wants those products which are long lasting, good, easy to use and cheaper. The income level of rural consumer is not as high as income level of urban consumer’s that’s why they want low priced products. So, we can say that that’s the reason why sell of sachet is more in rural area in all segments. Its necessary for all major FMCG companies to provide those products which are easy to available and affordable to consumers. It is right that the profit margin is very low in FMCG products, but at the same time market size is quite larger in the rural area. The companies can reduce their prices by cutting down the cost on packing. Application of 4A* is also a major task for all the big players in this segment. 19. Bibliography For my Report on â€Å"Growth of FMCG products in rural market† I have referred to the following sites – Websites (Search engines) www. assocham. org www. equitymaster. com www. exchange4media. com www. wikipedia. com www. business-standard. com www. thehindustanbusinessline. com www. economictimes. com www. google. com www. marketerstoday. com www. ncaer. com www. statisticaloutlineofindia. com 20. Declaration I, hereby declare that the Report titled â€Å"Growth of FMCG products in Rural market† is original to the best of my knowledge & has not been published elsewhere. This is for the purpose of partial fulfillment of Dehradun University for the award of degree of the Master of Business Administration. (Vrushali Awachar) En. No. 09BS0000502 1st Semester IBS, Nagpur 21. Annexure Rural and Urban potential (table 1. Rural and urban population) (Source: Statistical Outline of India (2001-2002) NCAER {draw:frame} (Fig. 2 Labor cost comparison) (Source: www. equitymaster. com) THE TOP 10 COMPANIES IN FMCG SECTOR (table 3: top 10 co. ’s) Source: Naukrihub. com (Table 4 % Distribution) (Source : NCAER). Distribution of people income-wise (Table 5. ) (Source:NCAER) Contribution to press and ad {draw:frame} Contribution to total ad {draw:frame} {draw:frame}