Torts 10 ind wrk 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Torts 10 ind wrk 1 - Essay Example But changes are made in some state laws to recognize the special bond between the animal and its owner (Randolph, n.d). Normally, the owner of the pet will try to reach a compromise with the vet. In other cases, the owner of the pet stores a complaint with the authorization of the state that issues licenses and supervises veterinarians. The Board takes the necessary measures as revealed through their review and investigation of the case (Randolph, n.d). The owner of the animal may even file a complaint against the veterinarian or veterinary hospital - even though the case may cost expensive and time consuming. These controls on veterinary practices will also help curb the malpractice veterinary possible (Randolph, n.d). The claim of the owner of the animal that has suffered damage and / or injury caused must prove that it occurred during the performance veterinary. Therefore, the jurisprudence of the Courts, in veterinary liability requires that the claimant prove the following requirements: The existence of a causal link between the damage and / or injury suffered and the negligence of the veterinarian (for example, the dog had not died, if the vet would not put a doubled amount of anesthesia necessary). Wet in result of claims can raised the argument that the teeth cleaning procedure was correct but due to negligence of the owner the dog died. The owner did not bring back the dog to me when its condition

Competition law Essay Example for Free

Competition law Essay A situation in which a single company or group owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service. By definition, monopoly is characterized by an absence of competition, which often results in high prices and inferior products. According to a strict academic definition, a monopoly is a market containing a single firm. In such instances where a single firm holds monopoly power, the company will typically be forced to divest its assets. Antimonopoly regulation protects free markets from being dominated by a single entity. Explanation Monopoly Monopoly is the extreme case in capitalism. Most believe that, with few exceptions, the system just doesnt work when there is only one provider of a good or service because there is no incentive to improve it to meet the demands of consumers. Governments attempt to prevent monopolies from arising through the use of antitrust laws. Of course, there are gray areas; take for example the granting of patents on new inventions. These give, in effect, a monopoly on a product for a set period of time. The reasoning behind patents is to give innovators some time to recoup what are often large research and development costs. In theory, they are a way of using monopolies to promote innovation. Another example are public monopolies set up by governments to provide essential services. Some believe that utilities should offer public goods and services such as water and electricity at a price that is affordable to everyone.

Branding in FMCG Goods in Changing Economic Conditions

Branding in FMCG Goods in Changing Economic Conditions An energetic person in field of marketing with knowledge base of B.E mechanical Post graduate Diploma in Business management played a very important role for my thesis. He has an experience of more than tow years in Sales and Marketing, at Excell elevators and currently working at IIPM Ahmedabad, as a Senior Research Associate. Perfection and proper direction are his two keys to achievement for any work. Without his best guidance for this thesis, it would have been possible to complete this thesis. Sir, also helped me out in solving my queries related to the thesis. His immense knowledge in marketing field has helped me to a great extent to complete my thesis. His humble approach towards every students, gives a great encouragement to work with him. As a thesis guide he helped me out in every possible way he could. I specially thank him for taking out his precious time for helping me out in completing my thesis. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Research always start with a question or a problem. Its purpose is to question through the application of the scientific method. Its a systematic and intensive study directed towards a more completed knowledge of the subject studied.  · Primary Research: 1. Interaction with customers by filling up questionnaires 2. Interview with Marketing manager 3. Total sample size which is taken into consideration for research is 100 respondents  · Secondary Research: 1. Books 2. Internet 3. Articles and Magazines 4. Project Reports and News paper PREFACE Branding strategy : Every organization has a brand, whether they have consciously developed or not. A brand is an expectation or a promise of experience. Whether that expectation is trusting, authoritative, innovative, brands are the short hand for describing the way a business, organization, product, services, or a person relates to its stake holders. The way to build a strong to put their customers and their needs at the center of the every decision the organization makes. Overtime the customer centric action creates the differentiation in the marketplace and build an emotional connection with the customers. The process of managing brand as assets begins with the understanding the brand from the customers point of view. What image, reputation, perception does each customer and stake holder maintain that can be capitalized or corrected. Managing brand as assets also requires a considerable effort to measure and quantify the impact of the brand on customer, their decision, and the companies financial performance. BRAND STRATEGY: Brand strategy is the plan for the company how it is going to create the value for the customers by building its brands strength and addressing its weakness. Brand strategies manifest product innovation, graphic design, store layout, customer service and many other components of the brand experience. The strategy provides the foundation for development of brand building program and typically includes brand objective, consistent brand name and identity systems, target audience and positioning, key communication messages and prioritization of brand touch points. The recent global slow down as sent everyone in a tizzy. From financial institution to manufacturing industries, everyone has faced the heat of the slowdown. In this scenario I have taken up the matter of the Branding Strategy which is being applied in the FMCG sector. What kind of changes were applied or not and what were the strategies brought in to tackle the slowdown is the matter of study. Different companies have tried to tackle the situation by bringing in new changes in their branding strategy. Some organization may not have required to change their strategies in the market. It may be because of their strong market presence, brand loyalty or strong financial performance. Here some cases of the companies and their brand will be studied thoroughly. It will be seen that what kind of changes were made or no changes were made in the marketing strategy LITERATURE REVIEW A Brand is not a by-product, an ad-campaign, a logo, a spokesperson or a slogan. It is the differentiating identity and the most important reason for customers, employees, stake holders to do the business with you. In a real sense its a firms most important asset. The new era has come, where innovation is the only way to stay in the market. Whether be it a product, an ad-campaign or marketing strategy innovation is the tool to survive. But the recent recession gives us a thought, should the Branding strategy that is being applied remain the same? The answer can be found looking at different cases. It may be necessary to look after the branding strategy to be applied in a different manner even if the current branding strategy is alright and doing good to fetch the business in the market. Because sticking to the old branding strategy may not always be a big hit. As earlier said innovation is very much important. INTRODUCTION: Recession Marketing Success Requires Boldness Over the years hundreds of studies have been conducted to prove companies should maintain advertising during a recession. In the 1920s advertising executive Roland S. Vaile tracked 200 companies through the recession of 1923. He reported in the April 1927 issue of the Harvard Business Review that the biggest sales increases throughout the period were rung up by companies that advertised the most. After World War II, Buchen Advertising, Inc. decided to plot the sales of a large number of advertisers through successive recessions. In 1947, it began measuring the annual advertising expenditures of each company. When they correlated the s with sales and profit trends before, during and after the recessions of 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961, they found that almost without exception sales and profits dropped off at companies that cut back on advertising The conclusion of six more recession studies by the group present formidable evidence that cutting advertising in times of economic downturns can result in both immediate and long-term negative effects on sales and profit levels. Meldrum Fewsmiths former Senior VP, J. Welsey Rosberg reports â€Å" I have yet to see any study that proves apprehension is the route to success. Studies consistently have proven that companies that have the intelligence and guts to maintain or enlarge their overall marketing and advertising efforts in times of business downturns will get the edge on their hesitant competitors. Their studies also discovered that after the recessions ended, those companies continued to insulate behind the ones that had maintained their advertising budgets. In 1979 another study by ABP/Meldrum Fewsmith, covering the recession of 1974-75 and post-recession years, showed similar findings. They found that â€Å"companies which did not slash advertising expenditures during the recession years (1974-1975), experienced higher sales and net income during those two years and the two years following than companies which cut ad budgets in either or both recession years.† In an economic downturn, there may be a inclination to give up on new thoughts and thinking, and just hunker down, until the worst is over. But, what if this is really our chance to observe new possibilities? If freaking out doesnt make your numbers improve (and at this point you can lead a consumer to your product, but you cant make her buy), what might happen when you use that brainwave space to identify and integrate consumer trends you never actually noticed before? Possibly amazing things. Take Reena Janas quick hit Businessweek article and video with David Rockwell, architect/branding expert/set designer, as an example. He commented on hotel design, which has been on my mind a bit lately too. One of Rockwells thoughts: what about holding cooking classes in hotel kitchens? Such design thinking is worth a little hotelier attention these days, given the convergence of trends in staying home, cooking more, and being with family. What else, physical space or otherwise, is primed for such â€Å"transformability,† as Rockwell called it? Cooking classes in a hotel kitchen could serve consumers and add value on so many levels but without this â€Å"what now† sense of doom we feel, such ideas might never surface. Given extreme limitations, creative thinking is forced to be that much more bold, even as the solutions become more streamlined. Heres another example of transformability, in my mind: Consider how Subaru is handling the current â€Å"discount† season, with their â€Å"Share The Love† philanthropic campaign. Rather than promoting money-back at loan signing or one of the other classic year-end strategies for a car dealer, they kept within the tight parameters, learned more about their consumers and thought quite in a different way. What their research found was that a generous donation would very much resound with the types of people whod be considering a Subaru buy right about now. Inspiring customers into a car purchase during a downturn, and doing good at the same time? Wow. A tried and true, established auto industry tradition turned on its ear transformed! Without an extreme impetus to fill a void of ideas in a difficult consumer environment, such a concept might never have surfaced. If design thinking and transformability emerges only when long-established industries with entrenched business practices and ethnicity get hit this hard maybe we have something to be thankful for after all? This overwhelming bad may have opened a few more of us up to a very clever, possibly unusual and thereby all the more noticeable leveraging of consumer development. Theres a great deal of pluck and drag about the loss of fizz at Pepsi and questionably at Coke, as well. Both companies face declining sales of their flagship brands and have used to greater or lesser success predictable ways to mask the elementary issue: Fewer people are buying less and less of these iconic brands. conservative wisdom says do two things at once: Buy up more trendy beverages, like waters, sports and energy drinks; and work really, really hard to strengthen the base brands. So, Pepsi hires Peter Arnell (of Tropicana Disaster fame), fires its long-time ad agency and creates a proposal that calls for marketing its wares at the real me. According to BusinessWeek, the challenge was to make Pepsi as culturally relevant as the iPod. Good luck with that, Peter. The temptation of course is honest: Wouldnt it be great if brown, sugary water could be as cool as the latest touch screen gadget? Gosh, it would be great. However, its not going to happen. So rather than sending marketing execs on cool hunts for design inspiration, heres a more daunting trek: Take a look at what other brands have done, what Coke and Pepsi have to do to each other. Grow share in a declining market. It would be so great to imagine that theres something to be done with either of these brands that could forge an entirely new category of experience and therefore consumer behaviors the way the iPod has. But the truth is theyd learn much more by taking a commuter flight to Winston-Salem, N.C. Its so very transgressive to even suggest it, but the only people who have spent time trying to wrestle for share in declining markets are the tobacco brands. (a) FMCG SECTOR (i) Global Perspective: The FMCG industry, or alternatively named CPG, abbreviation for Consumer Packaged Goods, deals mainly with the production, distribution as well as marketing of packaged goods for all consumers. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) has to do with those consumables which are regularly being consumed. Among the first activities of the FMCG industry there is selling, marketing, financing, purchasing, and so on. Recently this industry has also launched in operations, supply chain, production, general management, etc. The wide range of consumable goods provided by the FMCG industry turns over a large amount of money, while competition among FMCG manufacturing is become more and more fierce. Investors are putting more and more into the FMCG industry, especially in India, where the FMCG industry is the fourth largest sector, having a total market size of more than US$13.1 billion, and still estimated to double by 2010. In New Zealand as well, the FMCG industry accounts for 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Some common FMCG product include food and dairy products, glassware, paper products, pharmaceuticals, electronics, plastic goods, printing goods, household products, photography, drinks etc, so here coffee, tea, greeting cards, gifts, detergents, soaps etc are all included. The factors that made the FMCG industry a highly competitive one are low operational cost, solid distribution networks, and emergence of new FMCG companies. In addition, the growth of the worlds population is another responsible factor for the huge success of this particular industry. Some of the leading FMCG companies all over the world are Sara Lee, Nestlà ©, Unilever, Procter Gamble, Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, Kleenex, General Mills, Mars etc. Not only does it provide the necessary goods for day to day life, but the FMCG industry has also created tremendous job opportunities and careers. It is a stable, varied, and highly profitable industry, and the jobs it provide range from sales, supply chain, finance, marketing, operations, human resources, development, general management, and so on. Recruitment has also grown together with the growth in the FMCG sector: * The working force within FMCG manufacturing in the UK accounts for 14% of the total workforce in UK; * Sales in the FMCG industry accounted for  £14.5 billion in 2000, spent on non-food UK products alone, in grocery retail sectors in UK; * In 2000 the non-food FMCG market in UK, raised to  £110 billon. Including sectors such as Food, Drink and Pharmaceutical the output registered by FMCG accounts for 19% of the UKs GDP i. Indian Perspective: The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy with a total market size in excess of dollar 13.1 billion. It has a strong MNC, presence and is characterized by a well established distribution network, intense competition between the organized and unorganized asegments and low operational cost. Availability of key raw materials, cheaper labor costs and presence across the entire value chain gives India a competitive advantage. The FMCG market is set to treble from $11.6 billion in 2003 to $ 33.4 billion in 2015. Penetration level as per capita consumption in most product categories like jams, toothpaste, skin care, hair wash etc in India is low indicating the untapped market potential. Burgeoning Indian population, particularly the middle class and the rural segments, presents an opportunity to makers of branded products to converts consumers to branded products. Growth is also likely to come from consumer upgrading in the matured product cat egories. With 200 million people expected to shift to processed and packaged food by 2010, India needs around $28 billion of investment in the food processing industry India has enacted policies aimed at attaining international competitiveness through lifting of the quantitative restrictions, reduced excise duties, automatic foreign investment and food laws resulting in an environment that fosters growth. Cent per cent export oriented units can be set up by government approval and use of foreign brand names is now freely permitted. Automatic investment approval including foreign technology agreements within specified norms, up to 100 per cent foreign equity or 100 per cent for NRI and overseas corporate bodies investment, is allowed for most the food processing sector except malted food, alcoholic beverages and those reserved for small scale industries. 24% foreign equity is permitted in the small scale sector. Temprorary approvals for imports for test marketing can also be obtained from the Director General of foreign Trade. The evolution of a more liberal FDI policy environment in India is clearly supported by the successful operation of some of the global majors like PepsiCo in India. The Indian government has abolished licensing for almost all food and agro-processing industries except for some items like alcohol, cane sugar, hydrogenated animal fats and oils etc. and items reserved for the exclusive manufacture in the SSI sector Quantitative restrictions were removed in 2001 and Union Budget 2004-05 further identified 85 items that would be taken out of the reserved list. This has resulted in a boom in the FMCG market through market expansion and greater product opportunities. TRENDS AND PLAYERS The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy and creates employment for three million people in downstream activities. Within the FMCG sector, the Indian food processing industry represented 6.3% of GDP and accounted for 13 per cent of the countrys exports in 2003-04. A distinct feature of the FMCG industry is the presence of most global players through their subsidiaries (HLL, PG, NESTLE) which ensures new product launches in the Indian market from the parents portfolio. Demand for FMCG products is set to boom by almost 60 per cent by 2010 and more than 100 per cent by 2015. This will be driven by the rise in share of middle class from 67% in 2003 to 88 percent in 2015 The boom in various consumer categories, further, indicates a latent demand for various product segments. For example, the upper end of very rich and a part of the consuming class indicate a small but rapidly growing segment for branded products. The middle segment, on the other hand, indicates a large market for the mass end products. The BRICs report indicates that Indias per capita disposable income, currently at $556 per annum will rise to $1150 by 2015-another FMCG demand driver. Spurt in the industrial and services sector growth is also likely to boos the urban consumption demand. HOUSEHOLD CARE The size of the fabric wash market is estimated to be $ 1 billion, household cleaners to be $ 239 million and the production of synthetic detergents at 2.6 million tones. The demand for detergents has been growing at an annual growth rate of 10 to 11 per cent during the past five years. The urban market prefers washing powder and detergents to bars. The regional and small un-organized players account for a major share of the total volume of the detergent market. PERSONAL CARE: The size of the personal wash products is estimated at $989 million: hair care products at $831 million and oral care products at $537 million. While the overall personal wash market is growing at one per cent, the premium and middle end soaps are growing at 10 per cent. The leading players in this market are HUL, NIRMA, Godrej and Reckitt Colman. The oral care market, especially toothpastes, remains under penetrated in with penetration below 45 per cent. The industry is very competitive both for organized and smaller regional players The Indian skin care and cosmetics market is valued at $274 million dominated by HUL, Colgate Palmolive, Gillete India and Godrej Soaps. The coconut oil market accounts for 7 per cent share in the hair oil market. In the branded coconut hair oil market, Marico and Dabur are the leading players. The market for branded coconut oil is valued at approximately $174 million FOOD AND BEVERAGES The size of the Indian food processing industry is around $65.6 billion, including $ 20.6 billion of value added products. Of this, the health beverage industry is valued at $ 230 million: bread and biscuits at $1.7 billion: chocolates at $73 million and ice creams at $188 million The size of the semi processed ready to eat food segment is over $1.1 billion. Large biscuits and confectionery units, soya processing units and starch glucose sorbitol producing units have also come up, cater to domestic and international markets. The three larges consumed categories of packaged foods are packd tea, biscuits and soft drinks. The Indian beverage industry faces over supply in segments like coffee and tea. However, more than half of this is available in unpacked or loose for. Indian hot beverage market is a tea dominant market. Consumer s in different parts of the coutry have erogenous taste. Dust tea is popular in southern India, while loose tea is preferred in western India. The urban rural split of the tea market was 51:49 in 2000. Coffee is largely consumed in southern states. The size of the toatla packaged coffee market is 19600 tonnes or $87 million. The total soft drink market is estimated at 284 million crates a year or $1 billion. The market is highly seasonal in nature with consumption varying from 25 million crates per month during peak season to 15 million during offseason. The market is predominantly urban with 25 per cent contribution from rural areas. Coca cola and Pepsi dominate the Indian soft drinks market. Mineral water market in India is a 65 million crates ($50 million) industry. On an average, the monthly consumption is estimated at 4.9 million crates, which increases to 5.2 million during peak season. RURAL MARKETS : SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL By the early nineties FMCG MARKETERS HAD D OUT TWO THINGS 1) Rural markets are vital for survival since the urban markets were getting saturated. 2) Rural markets are extremely price sensitive Thus, a number of companies followed the strategy of launching a wide range of package sized and prices to suit the purchasing preferences of Indias varied consumer segments. Hindustan Unilever a subsidiary of Unilever, coined the term nano marketing in the early nineties, when it introduced its products n small sachets. Small sachets were introduced in almost all the FMCG segments from oil, shampoo, and detergents to beverages Cola major, coke brought down the average price of its products from around twenty cents to ten cents bridging the gap between soft drinks and other local options like tea, butter milk or lemon juice. It also doubled the number of outlets in rural areas from 80,000 during 2005 to 160000 the next year almost doubling its market penetration from 13 per cent to 25 percent. This along with greater marketing, led to the rural market accounting for 80 per cent of new coke drinkers and 30 per cent of its total volumes. GLOBAL BRANDING: I. Introduction In this day and age, consumers automatically recount a product to the name of a particular brand. More specially, the status of the said brand tends to trigger signals of whether a product is cost-effective, superior in quality, or even connect to a particular social status. Numerous studies have maintained that brands have become powerful tools in modern marketing. It has become one of the major factors that consumers consider in their purchasing decisions. Any commercial organization knows this as a fact. That is why they are inclined to place their attention to brands and the demands of the consumers. It has become an requisite component of the marketing operations of the modern organization. For existing multinational companies, having a global brand name has been massively helpful in expanding their operations the world over. Presenting their products and services as the top alternative in the market nowadays is not enough to ensure the success. In this era where the consumer is independent, every company needs to build a brand that will be universally familiar in any market. Companies seek to establish a global brand with the ends of acquiring a bigger market share and a better position in the market. Though it is a common belief that having a global brand name equate to success in terms of business, there are still existing issues that comes with it. This paper will be considering the minutiae of establishing a global brand name. Similarly, the key reasons why this is being considered by most, if not all, companies will be taken into account along with the other alternatives that these companies have in marketing a global product. II. Marketing Under a Global Brand Name The term â€Å"global brand† is often interchanged with the term â€Å"global product.† However, there are studies that pointed out that the two are completely different terms. Basically, a global product connotes merchandise sold all over the world that share standardized attributes. This means that these products have a propensity to have a uniform set of characteristics and normally take on common brand names. On the other hand, a global brand tends to characterize the identity and image close to a specific product. More importantly, it is the blend of both tangible and intangible attributes that constitute a global brand. Recent studies of global branding designate that the said concept is subject to the view of the individual consumer. More specifically, the more recent views of international branding strategy tend to reflect the demands of the consumers. As puts it, these global brands are subjected to the global culture. In its simplest terms, global culture pertains to a set of consumer tastes and values. These tastes and values do not necessarily share the same standards and often show conflict with one another. Thus, global brands have to take on a certain level of flexibility in their operations. In its face value, this seems quite a daunting task for any company. However, this does not stop them from seeking to establish a global brand name and take on in global branding strategies. Why? The reason is that despite these complex concerns of the consumers, these brands have become embedded in their consciousness. The bottom-line is that, despite their best efforts, consumers cannot ignore global brands. The following parts will discuss the other advantages that companies enjoy in operating a global brand. A. Creation of Demand on Other Countries One of the advantages of having a global brand is the possibility of demand spillovers. This means that the marketing efforts held in a particular country could essentially multiply out to markets of other countries. Basically, the image of the global brands encapsulates this advantage. The concept of brand popularity and the country of starting point often establish this type of demand spillover. Share this suggestion of demand of global brands. Mainly, they call this element of global brands as the â€Å"global myth.† Simply put, demand of global brands tends to provide the consumers a feeling of having a â€Å"global identity† or having a feeling of being a â€Å"citizen of the world.† Studies on the effect of brand popularity on the company maintained that it has major implications on its market share. In the study of they pointed out that the company acquires benefits from brand popularity. One benefit is that having brand popularity provides the consumers more confidence in their purchasing decisions with particular reference to giving the implied assurance that a popular brand is better than the alternative. Another benefit of brand popularity is the association of assessment to the product. Coined this dimension of global brands as â€Å"quality signals.† Thus, issues of price of the product with a global brand are often regarded as â€Å"reasonable† because of its perceived high value among consumers. B. Strategic Appeal Another perceived reason why organizations seek to establish a global brand is because of its strategic appeal. Indicated in their study that global brands tend to have more opportunities than their equivalent in the local markets. This is supported by the earlier studies on the markets in the US, Japan, and EU.Noted that global brands offers companies an efficient way of exhausting its resources. More specifically, maintaining global brands tend to offer the possibility of lower costs and having the highest quality product. Aside from the earlier fact pointed out on the demand spillover, a consequent outcome of that phenomenon would be the demand for standardized products. This means that modifications to meet the local demands are significantly lessened as the demand replicate greater value with the unaltered global brands. In this regard, time and resources in the amendment processes is taken away which equates to cost reductions and further profit for the company. On the whole, the creation of global brands creates a much greater economies of scale and scope for companies. III. Brand Management in the Global Setting Recent marketing initiatives in the global setting have acknowledged the importance of bands in dealing with the dynamic business environment. Recent studies maintained that it is important for companies to treat their brand management initiatives as they treat their strategic management processes. ( 2001, 75) This means that the battle of brands in both their local and domestic counterparts have intensified throughout the years. This increase in the demands on the part of the organizations has given them the responsibility of making their brand management more systematic, scientific and a continuous process. The study of (2001, 75) basically maintained that companies should bake sure that their brand will be remembered constantly. Be it through logos or taste, the consumer has to readily recognize the brand right away. This is where brand management comes in to the picture. There are studies that maintain initially what their brand intends to represent. In doing so, the company is able to find a way to position its brand with reference to the other players in the market. ( 2001, 75) This is seen in the case of global brands like Nike and Coca-Cola. In the case of Nike, they have decided to package themselves as a brand associated with winning. On the other hand, the Coca-Cola brand tends to place value on their universal taste. ( 2003, 198) A case study of Procter Gamble maintained that a use of a brand portfolio would be able to help a company in managing its brand in the global setting. (2003) With such a tool at their disposal, PG is able to make sound decisions with regards to their brand management initiatives. In doing so, PG are able to position their products properly with reference to the other players like Unilever, Kimberly-Clark and Colgate-Palmolive. Studies pertaining to branding strategies and theories point out two important components organizations should consider in their brand management initiatives. These are brand equity and brand value. A. Value Creation in Branding Brand value is the perceived worth of the consumers on the brand. The most notable form of value creation in brands is through advertising. (2003, 53) There are three known approaches in the creation of value in brands: decoration, gluing, and mascot approach. The decoration approach basically shows a branding strategy displaying differentiation by connecting the brand to completely different cues presented by the other players in the market. ( 1999, 51) The gluing strategy of value creation associates their product to certain emotional cues of the consumer. These are seen in advertisements that attempt to stir the emotion of the possible buyers. (1992, 10) The mascot approach on the other hand indicates the use of a human-like entity that is believed to be able to establish a connection to the potential buyers. The use of charismatic non-human characters (Pillsbury Dough Boy) tends to reflect this type of value creation approach in branding. ( 2004, 188) Basically, these approaches of value creation tend to be influential for the buying decisions of the consumers. In the same regard, the use of brands could also be a way towards building this value to the company. B. Using Brand Equity The term brand equity denotes the net revenue of the brand which it is expected Branding in FMCG Goods in Changing Economic Conditions Branding in FMCG Goods in Changing Economic Conditions An energetic person in field of marketing with knowledge base of B.E mechanical Post graduate Diploma in Business management played a very important role for my thesis. He has an experience of more than tow years in Sales and Marketing, at Excell elevators and currently working at IIPM Ahmedabad, as a Senior Research Associate. Perfection and proper direction are his two keys to achievement for any work. Without his best guidance for this thesis, it would have been possible to complete this thesis. Sir, also helped me out in solving my queries related to the thesis. His immense knowledge in marketing field has helped me to a great extent to complete my thesis. His humble approach towards every students, gives a great encouragement to work with him. As a thesis guide he helped me out in every possible way he could. I specially thank him for taking out his precious time for helping me out in completing my thesis. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Research always start with a question or a problem. Its purpose is to question through the application of the scientific method. Its a systematic and intensive study directed towards a more completed knowledge of the subject studied.  · Primary Research: 1. Interaction with customers by filling up questionnaires 2. Interview with Marketing manager 3. Total sample size which is taken into consideration for research is 100 respondents  · Secondary Research: 1. Books 2. Internet 3. Articles and Magazines 4. Project Reports and News paper PREFACE Branding strategy : Every organization has a brand, whether they have consciously developed or not. A brand is an expectation or a promise of experience. Whether that expectation is trusting, authoritative, innovative, brands are the short hand for describing the way a business, organization, product, services, or a person relates to its stake holders. The way to build a strong to put their customers and their needs at the center of the every decision the organization makes. Overtime the customer centric action creates the differentiation in the marketplace and build an emotional connection with the customers. The process of managing brand as assets begins with the understanding the brand from the customers point of view. What image, reputation, perception does each customer and stake holder maintain that can be capitalized or corrected. Managing brand as assets also requires a considerable effort to measure and quantify the impact of the brand on customer, their decision, and the companies financial performance. BRAND STRATEGY: Brand strategy is the plan for the company how it is going to create the value for the customers by building its brands strength and addressing its weakness. Brand strategies manifest product innovation, graphic design, store layout, customer service and many other components of the brand experience. The strategy provides the foundation for development of brand building program and typically includes brand objective, consistent brand name and identity systems, target audience and positioning, key communication messages and prioritization of brand touch points. The recent global slow down as sent everyone in a tizzy. From financial institution to manufacturing industries, everyone has faced the heat of the slowdown. In this scenario I have taken up the matter of the Branding Strategy which is being applied in the FMCG sector. What kind of changes were applied or not and what were the strategies brought in to tackle the slowdown is the matter of study. Different companies have tried to tackle the situation by bringing in new changes in their branding strategy. Some organization may not have required to change their strategies in the market. It may be because of their strong market presence, brand loyalty or strong financial performance. Here some cases of the companies and their brand will be studied thoroughly. It will be seen that what kind of changes were made or no changes were made in the marketing strategy LITERATURE REVIEW A Brand is not a by-product, an ad-campaign, a logo, a spokesperson or a slogan. It is the differentiating identity and the most important reason for customers, employees, stake holders to do the business with you. In a real sense its a firms most important asset. The new era has come, where innovation is the only way to stay in the market. Whether be it a product, an ad-campaign or marketing strategy innovation is the tool to survive. But the recent recession gives us a thought, should the Branding strategy that is being applied remain the same? The answer can be found looking at different cases. It may be necessary to look after the branding strategy to be applied in a different manner even if the current branding strategy is alright and doing good to fetch the business in the market. Because sticking to the old branding strategy may not always be a big hit. As earlier said innovation is very much important. INTRODUCTION: Recession Marketing Success Requires Boldness Over the years hundreds of studies have been conducted to prove companies should maintain advertising during a recession. In the 1920s advertising executive Roland S. Vaile tracked 200 companies through the recession of 1923. He reported in the April 1927 issue of the Harvard Business Review that the biggest sales increases throughout the period were rung up by companies that advertised the most. After World War II, Buchen Advertising, Inc. decided to plot the sales of a large number of advertisers through successive recessions. In 1947, it began measuring the annual advertising expenditures of each company. When they correlated the s with sales and profit trends before, during and after the recessions of 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961, they found that almost without exception sales and profits dropped off at companies that cut back on advertising The conclusion of six more recession studies by the group present formidable evidence that cutting advertising in times of economic downturns can result in both immediate and long-term negative effects on sales and profit levels. Meldrum Fewsmiths former Senior VP, J. Welsey Rosberg reports â€Å" I have yet to see any study that proves apprehension is the route to success. Studies consistently have proven that companies that have the intelligence and guts to maintain or enlarge their overall marketing and advertising efforts in times of business downturns will get the edge on their hesitant competitors. Their studies also discovered that after the recessions ended, those companies continued to insulate behind the ones that had maintained their advertising budgets. In 1979 another study by ABP/Meldrum Fewsmith, covering the recession of 1974-75 and post-recession years, showed similar findings. They found that â€Å"companies which did not slash advertising expenditures during the recession years (1974-1975), experienced higher sales and net income during those two years and the two years following than companies which cut ad budgets in either or both recession years.† In an economic downturn, there may be a inclination to give up on new thoughts and thinking, and just hunker down, until the worst is over. But, what if this is really our chance to observe new possibilities? If freaking out doesnt make your numbers improve (and at this point you can lead a consumer to your product, but you cant make her buy), what might happen when you use that brainwave space to identify and integrate consumer trends you never actually noticed before? Possibly amazing things. Take Reena Janas quick hit Businessweek article and video with David Rockwell, architect/branding expert/set designer, as an example. He commented on hotel design, which has been on my mind a bit lately too. One of Rockwells thoughts: what about holding cooking classes in hotel kitchens? Such design thinking is worth a little hotelier attention these days, given the convergence of trends in staying home, cooking more, and being with family. What else, physical space or otherwise, is primed for such â€Å"transformability,† as Rockwell called it? Cooking classes in a hotel kitchen could serve consumers and add value on so many levels but without this â€Å"what now† sense of doom we feel, such ideas might never surface. Given extreme limitations, creative thinking is forced to be that much more bold, even as the solutions become more streamlined. Heres another example of transformability, in my mind: Consider how Subaru is handling the current â€Å"discount† season, with their â€Å"Share The Love† philanthropic campaign. Rather than promoting money-back at loan signing or one of the other classic year-end strategies for a car dealer, they kept within the tight parameters, learned more about their consumers and thought quite in a different way. What their research found was that a generous donation would very much resound with the types of people whod be considering a Subaru buy right about now. Inspiring customers into a car purchase during a downturn, and doing good at the same time? Wow. A tried and true, established auto industry tradition turned on its ear transformed! Without an extreme impetus to fill a void of ideas in a difficult consumer environment, such a concept might never have surfaced. If design thinking and transformability emerges only when long-established industries with entrenched business practices and ethnicity get hit this hard maybe we have something to be thankful for after all? This overwhelming bad may have opened a few more of us up to a very clever, possibly unusual and thereby all the more noticeable leveraging of consumer development. Theres a great deal of pluck and drag about the loss of fizz at Pepsi and questionably at Coke, as well. Both companies face declining sales of their flagship brands and have used to greater or lesser success predictable ways to mask the elementary issue: Fewer people are buying less and less of these iconic brands. conservative wisdom says do two things at once: Buy up more trendy beverages, like waters, sports and energy drinks; and work really, really hard to strengthen the base brands. So, Pepsi hires Peter Arnell (of Tropicana Disaster fame), fires its long-time ad agency and creates a proposal that calls for marketing its wares at the real me. According to BusinessWeek, the challenge was to make Pepsi as culturally relevant as the iPod. Good luck with that, Peter. The temptation of course is honest: Wouldnt it be great if brown, sugary water could be as cool as the latest touch screen gadget? Gosh, it would be great. However, its not going to happen. So rather than sending marketing execs on cool hunts for design inspiration, heres a more daunting trek: Take a look at what other brands have done, what Coke and Pepsi have to do to each other. Grow share in a declining market. It would be so great to imagine that theres something to be done with either of these brands that could forge an entirely new category of experience and therefore consumer behaviors the way the iPod has. But the truth is theyd learn much more by taking a commuter flight to Winston-Salem, N.C. Its so very transgressive to even suggest it, but the only people who have spent time trying to wrestle for share in declining markets are the tobacco brands. (a) FMCG SECTOR (i) Global Perspective: The FMCG industry, or alternatively named CPG, abbreviation for Consumer Packaged Goods, deals mainly with the production, distribution as well as marketing of packaged goods for all consumers. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) has to do with those consumables which are regularly being consumed. Among the first activities of the FMCG industry there is selling, marketing, financing, purchasing, and so on. Recently this industry has also launched in operations, supply chain, production, general management, etc. The wide range of consumable goods provided by the FMCG industry turns over a large amount of money, while competition among FMCG manufacturing is become more and more fierce. Investors are putting more and more into the FMCG industry, especially in India, where the FMCG industry is the fourth largest sector, having a total market size of more than US$13.1 billion, and still estimated to double by 2010. In New Zealand as well, the FMCG industry accounts for 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Some common FMCG product include food and dairy products, glassware, paper products, pharmaceuticals, electronics, plastic goods, printing goods, household products, photography, drinks etc, so here coffee, tea, greeting cards, gifts, detergents, soaps etc are all included. The factors that made the FMCG industry a highly competitive one are low operational cost, solid distribution networks, and emergence of new FMCG companies. In addition, the growth of the worlds population is another responsible factor for the huge success of this particular industry. Some of the leading FMCG companies all over the world are Sara Lee, Nestlà ©, Unilever, Procter Gamble, Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, Kleenex, General Mills, Mars etc. Not only does it provide the necessary goods for day to day life, but the FMCG industry has also created tremendous job opportunities and careers. It is a stable, varied, and highly profitable industry, and the jobs it provide range from sales, supply chain, finance, marketing, operations, human resources, development, general management, and so on. Recruitment has also grown together with the growth in the FMCG sector: * The working force within FMCG manufacturing in the UK accounts for 14% of the total workforce in UK; * Sales in the FMCG industry accounted for  £14.5 billion in 2000, spent on non-food UK products alone, in grocery retail sectors in UK; * In 2000 the non-food FMCG market in UK, raised to  £110 billon. Including sectors such as Food, Drink and Pharmaceutical the output registered by FMCG accounts for 19% of the UKs GDP i. Indian Perspective: The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy with a total market size in excess of dollar 13.1 billion. It has a strong MNC, presence and is characterized by a well established distribution network, intense competition between the organized and unorganized asegments and low operational cost. Availability of key raw materials, cheaper labor costs and presence across the entire value chain gives India a competitive advantage. The FMCG market is set to treble from $11.6 billion in 2003 to $ 33.4 billion in 2015. Penetration level as per capita consumption in most product categories like jams, toothpaste, skin care, hair wash etc in India is low indicating the untapped market potential. Burgeoning Indian population, particularly the middle class and the rural segments, presents an opportunity to makers of branded products to converts consumers to branded products. Growth is also likely to come from consumer upgrading in the matured product cat egories. With 200 million people expected to shift to processed and packaged food by 2010, India needs around $28 billion of investment in the food processing industry India has enacted policies aimed at attaining international competitiveness through lifting of the quantitative restrictions, reduced excise duties, automatic foreign investment and food laws resulting in an environment that fosters growth. Cent per cent export oriented units can be set up by government approval and use of foreign brand names is now freely permitted. Automatic investment approval including foreign technology agreements within specified norms, up to 100 per cent foreign equity or 100 per cent for NRI and overseas corporate bodies investment, is allowed for most the food processing sector except malted food, alcoholic beverages and those reserved for small scale industries. 24% foreign equity is permitted in the small scale sector. Temprorary approvals for imports for test marketing can also be obtained from the Director General of foreign Trade. The evolution of a more liberal FDI policy environment in India is clearly supported by the successful operation of some of the global majors like PepsiCo in India. The Indian government has abolished licensing for almost all food and agro-processing industries except for some items like alcohol, cane sugar, hydrogenated animal fats and oils etc. and items reserved for the exclusive manufacture in the SSI sector Quantitative restrictions were removed in 2001 and Union Budget 2004-05 further identified 85 items that would be taken out of the reserved list. This has resulted in a boom in the FMCG market through market expansion and greater product opportunities. TRENDS AND PLAYERS The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy and creates employment for three million people in downstream activities. Within the FMCG sector, the Indian food processing industry represented 6.3% of GDP and accounted for 13 per cent of the countrys exports in 2003-04. A distinct feature of the FMCG industry is the presence of most global players through their subsidiaries (HLL, PG, NESTLE) which ensures new product launches in the Indian market from the parents portfolio. Demand for FMCG products is set to boom by almost 60 per cent by 2010 and more than 100 per cent by 2015. This will be driven by the rise in share of middle class from 67% in 2003 to 88 percent in 2015 The boom in various consumer categories, further, indicates a latent demand for various product segments. For example, the upper end of very rich and a part of the consuming class indicate a small but rapidly growing segment for branded products. The middle segment, on the other hand, indicates a large market for the mass end products. The BRICs report indicates that Indias per capita disposable income, currently at $556 per annum will rise to $1150 by 2015-another FMCG demand driver. Spurt in the industrial and services sector growth is also likely to boos the urban consumption demand. HOUSEHOLD CARE The size of the fabric wash market is estimated to be $ 1 billion, household cleaners to be $ 239 million and the production of synthetic detergents at 2.6 million tones. The demand for detergents has been growing at an annual growth rate of 10 to 11 per cent during the past five years. The urban market prefers washing powder and detergents to bars. The regional and small un-organized players account for a major share of the total volume of the detergent market. PERSONAL CARE: The size of the personal wash products is estimated at $989 million: hair care products at $831 million and oral care products at $537 million. While the overall personal wash market is growing at one per cent, the premium and middle end soaps are growing at 10 per cent. The leading players in this market are HUL, NIRMA, Godrej and Reckitt Colman. The oral care market, especially toothpastes, remains under penetrated in with penetration below 45 per cent. The industry is very competitive both for organized and smaller regional players The Indian skin care and cosmetics market is valued at $274 million dominated by HUL, Colgate Palmolive, Gillete India and Godrej Soaps. The coconut oil market accounts for 7 per cent share in the hair oil market. In the branded coconut hair oil market, Marico and Dabur are the leading players. The market for branded coconut oil is valued at approximately $174 million FOOD AND BEVERAGES The size of the Indian food processing industry is around $65.6 billion, including $ 20.6 billion of value added products. Of this, the health beverage industry is valued at $ 230 million: bread and biscuits at $1.7 billion: chocolates at $73 million and ice creams at $188 million The size of the semi processed ready to eat food segment is over $1.1 billion. Large biscuits and confectionery units, soya processing units and starch glucose sorbitol producing units have also come up, cater to domestic and international markets. The three larges consumed categories of packaged foods are packd tea, biscuits and soft drinks. The Indian beverage industry faces over supply in segments like coffee and tea. However, more than half of this is available in unpacked or loose for. Indian hot beverage market is a tea dominant market. Consumer s in different parts of the coutry have erogenous taste. Dust tea is popular in southern India, while loose tea is preferred in western India. The urban rural split of the tea market was 51:49 in 2000. Coffee is largely consumed in southern states. The size of the toatla packaged coffee market is 19600 tonnes or $87 million. The total soft drink market is estimated at 284 million crates a year or $1 billion. The market is highly seasonal in nature with consumption varying from 25 million crates per month during peak season to 15 million during offseason. The market is predominantly urban with 25 per cent contribution from rural areas. Coca cola and Pepsi dominate the Indian soft drinks market. Mineral water market in India is a 65 million crates ($50 million) industry. On an average, the monthly consumption is estimated at 4.9 million crates, which increases to 5.2 million during peak season. RURAL MARKETS : SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL By the early nineties FMCG MARKETERS HAD D OUT TWO THINGS 1) Rural markets are vital for survival since the urban markets were getting saturated. 2) Rural markets are extremely price sensitive Thus, a number of companies followed the strategy of launching a wide range of package sized and prices to suit the purchasing preferences of Indias varied consumer segments. Hindustan Unilever a subsidiary of Unilever, coined the term nano marketing in the early nineties, when it introduced its products n small sachets. Small sachets were introduced in almost all the FMCG segments from oil, shampoo, and detergents to beverages Cola major, coke brought down the average price of its products from around twenty cents to ten cents bridging the gap between soft drinks and other local options like tea, butter milk or lemon juice. It also doubled the number of outlets in rural areas from 80,000 during 2005 to 160000 the next year almost doubling its market penetration from 13 per cent to 25 percent. This along with greater marketing, led to the rural market accounting for 80 per cent of new coke drinkers and 30 per cent of its total volumes. GLOBAL BRANDING: I. Introduction In this day and age, consumers automatically recount a product to the name of a particular brand. More specially, the status of the said brand tends to trigger signals of whether a product is cost-effective, superior in quality, or even connect to a particular social status. Numerous studies have maintained that brands have become powerful tools in modern marketing. It has become one of the major factors that consumers consider in their purchasing decisions. Any commercial organization knows this as a fact. That is why they are inclined to place their attention to brands and the demands of the consumers. It has become an requisite component of the marketing operations of the modern organization. For existing multinational companies, having a global brand name has been massively helpful in expanding their operations the world over. Presenting their products and services as the top alternative in the market nowadays is not enough to ensure the success. In this era where the consumer is independent, every company needs to build a brand that will be universally familiar in any market. Companies seek to establish a global brand with the ends of acquiring a bigger market share and a better position in the market. Though it is a common belief that having a global brand name equate to success in terms of business, there are still existing issues that comes with it. This paper will be considering the minutiae of establishing a global brand name. Similarly, the key reasons why this is being considered by most, if not all, companies will be taken into account along with the other alternatives that these companies have in marketing a global product. II. Marketing Under a Global Brand Name The term â€Å"global brand† is often interchanged with the term â€Å"global product.† However, there are studies that pointed out that the two are completely different terms. Basically, a global product connotes merchandise sold all over the world that share standardized attributes. This means that these products have a propensity to have a uniform set of characteristics and normally take on common brand names. On the other hand, a global brand tends to characterize the identity and image close to a specific product. More importantly, it is the blend of both tangible and intangible attributes that constitute a global brand. Recent studies of global branding designate that the said concept is subject to the view of the individual consumer. More specifically, the more recent views of international branding strategy tend to reflect the demands of the consumers. As puts it, these global brands are subjected to the global culture. In its simplest terms, global culture pertains to a set of consumer tastes and values. These tastes and values do not necessarily share the same standards and often show conflict with one another. Thus, global brands have to take on a certain level of flexibility in their operations. In its face value, this seems quite a daunting task for any company. However, this does not stop them from seeking to establish a global brand name and take on in global branding strategies. Why? The reason is that despite these complex concerns of the consumers, these brands have become embedded in their consciousness. The bottom-line is that, despite their best efforts, consumers cannot ignore global brands. The following parts will discuss the other advantages that companies enjoy in operating a global brand. A. Creation of Demand on Other Countries One of the advantages of having a global brand is the possibility of demand spillovers. This means that the marketing efforts held in a particular country could essentially multiply out to markets of other countries. Basically, the image of the global brands encapsulates this advantage. The concept of brand popularity and the country of starting point often establish this type of demand spillover. Share this suggestion of demand of global brands. Mainly, they call this element of global brands as the â€Å"global myth.† Simply put, demand of global brands tends to provide the consumers a feeling of having a â€Å"global identity† or having a feeling of being a â€Å"citizen of the world.† Studies on the effect of brand popularity on the company maintained that it has major implications on its market share. In the study of they pointed out that the company acquires benefits from brand popularity. One benefit is that having brand popularity provides the consumers more confidence in their purchasing decisions with particular reference to giving the implied assurance that a popular brand is better than the alternative. Another benefit of brand popularity is the association of assessment to the product. Coined this dimension of global brands as â€Å"quality signals.† Thus, issues of price of the product with a global brand are often regarded as â€Å"reasonable† because of its perceived high value among consumers. B. Strategic Appeal Another perceived reason why organizations seek to establish a global brand is because of its strategic appeal. Indicated in their study that global brands tend to have more opportunities than their equivalent in the local markets. This is supported by the earlier studies on the markets in the US, Japan, and EU.Noted that global brands offers companies an efficient way of exhausting its resources. More specifically, maintaining global brands tend to offer the possibility of lower costs and having the highest quality product. Aside from the earlier fact pointed out on the demand spillover, a consequent outcome of that phenomenon would be the demand for standardized products. This means that modifications to meet the local demands are significantly lessened as the demand replicate greater value with the unaltered global brands. In this regard, time and resources in the amendment processes is taken away which equates to cost reductions and further profit for the company. On the whole, the creation of global brands creates a much greater economies of scale and scope for companies. III. Brand Management in the Global Setting Recent marketing initiatives in the global setting have acknowledged the importance of bands in dealing with the dynamic business environment. Recent studies maintained that it is important for companies to treat their brand management initiatives as they treat their strategic management processes. ( 2001, 75) This means that the battle of brands in both their local and domestic counterparts have intensified throughout the years. This increase in the demands on the part of the organizations has given them the responsibility of making their brand management more systematic, scientific and a continuous process. The study of (2001, 75) basically maintained that companies should bake sure that their brand will be remembered constantly. Be it through logos or taste, the consumer has to readily recognize the brand right away. This is where brand management comes in to the picture. There are studies that maintain initially what their brand intends to represent. In doing so, the company is able to find a way to position its brand with reference to the other players in the market. ( 2001, 75) This is seen in the case of global brands like Nike and Coca-Cola. In the case of Nike, they have decided to package themselves as a brand associated with winning. On the other hand, the Coca-Cola brand tends to place value on their universal taste. ( 2003, 198) A case study of Procter Gamble maintained that a use of a brand portfolio would be able to help a company in managing its brand in the global setting. (2003) With such a tool at their disposal, PG is able to make sound decisions with regards to their brand management initiatives. In doing so, PG are able to position their products properly with reference to the other players like Unilever, Kimberly-Clark and Colgate-Palmolive. Studies pertaining to branding strategies and theories point out two important components organizations should consider in their brand management initiatives. These are brand equity and brand value. A. Value Creation in Branding Brand value is the perceived worth of the consumers on the brand. The most notable form of value creation in brands is through advertising. (2003, 53) There are three known approaches in the creation of value in brands: decoration, gluing, and mascot approach. The decoration approach basically shows a branding strategy displaying differentiation by connecting the brand to completely different cues presented by the other players in the market. ( 1999, 51) The gluing strategy of value creation associates their product to certain emotional cues of the consumer. These are seen in advertisements that attempt to stir the emotion of the possible buyers. (1992, 10) The mascot approach on the other hand indicates the use of a human-like entity that is believed to be able to establish a connection to the potential buyers. The use of charismatic non-human characters (Pillsbury Dough Boy) tends to reflect this type of value creation approach in branding. ( 2004, 188) Basically, these approaches of value creation tend to be influential for the buying decisions of the consumers. In the same regard, the use of brands could also be a way towards building this value to the company. B. Using Brand Equity The term brand equity denotes the net revenue of the brand which it is expected

Religious Symbols in Society: Church vs. State Essay -- Religion

In our daily lives, without even recognizing it, there are religious symbols present all around us. If we are carrying money, â€Å"In God We Trust† is a religious symbol that is present on our currency. If we happen to say the pledge of allegiance we are saying â€Å"one nation under God† which alludes to God and the Catholic religion. Around the holidays, there are Christmas decorations present everywhere, which are religious symbols of the Catholic faith. None of these things seem bad or harmful to anyone in any way. They are not harming anyone. Are they? Well, they are not harming anyone directly, but have impacted people because it is through the presence of these symbols that neglects all other religions and is feeding into the issue of the ongoing church versus state argument for separation. Religious symbols are aspects of all different religions that strengthen faith, promote certain beliefs, and represent the fundamentals of that specific religion. According to Furst’s article on the use of physical religious symbols, â€Å"As beings that are both body and spirit, humans use symbols in order to perceive and to grasp realities that are not empirical. As social beings, humans use symbols to communicate with others,† (p 2). But, there are many issues that arise when these symbols are involved and existing in the media, the state, our government, and the public. Mainly this is because symbols are truly powerful and represent controversies that come along with different religions. Furst also states that, â€Å"symbols play a powerful role in the transmission of the culture of human society,† (p 2). If religious symbols transmit culture into society, then people in our society are going to pay very close attention to what symbols are present... ... Case may Determine Direction of Church-State Law." Church & State 62.10 (2009): 220-2. Web. Boston, Rob. "Prayers, Preaching & Public Schools: Religious Right Activists use Wide Variety of Tactics to Evangelize in the Classroom." Church & State 62.10 (2009): 223-6. Web. Furst, Lyndon G., and Stephen J. Denig. "The use of Physical Symbols to Transmit Culture in Religious Schools: A Comparison of Adventist and Catholic Schools in America." Journal of Empirical Theology 18.1 (2005): 1-21. Web. Stevenson, Dwight Eshelman. "Religious Symbols and Religious Communication." Lexington Theological Quarterly 1.3 (1966): 69-79. Web. "Wandering in the Desert: Justice Scalia's Dangerous Plan to Secularize the Cross." Church & State 62.10 (2009): 230-318. Web. Zenit. "Christmas Symbols Not Welcome in Many U.S. Classrooms " National Catholic Register 77.51 (2001) Print.

Sci 275 Week 8 Assignment Energy Resource Plan

Water Resource Plan Written by EMMANUEL MCCLAIN Axia University of Phoenix SCI 275 Instructor TED BREWSTER Eutrophication is the depletion of oxygen in an aquatic ecosystem. Eutrophication occurs when a body of water enriched with excess nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus from dead plant material and waste. Nitrogen pollution largely derived from agricultural fertilizers and emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. Phosphorus pollution comes from wastewater treatment and detergents. These elements and compounds make their way to coastal areas through the drainage networks of rivers and streams. This nutrient and phosphorus mix results in increased algae growth that makes water cloudy and unhealthy. There are two ways for eutrophication to occur; the first is artificial eutrophication through the release of sewage, fertilizers and grey water into natural waterways. The second occurs is naturally occurring over lakes and tributaries that flood and pick up dead vegetation, cattle manure and fertilizer. This can lead to loss of biodiversity, global warming, and pollution of drinking water, fish kills, acid rain, and ozone depletion. However, the main culprit behind human caused eutrophication is the phosphorus released from sewage, septic systems and fertilizers. This point source pollution enriches the water and causes a buildup of algae and cyanobacteria in the ecosystem. The process of photosynthesis then starts as the begin feeding on the nitrogen and phosphorus enriched environment leading to murky and hard to see through water this is a sign of eutrophication. My sustainability plan is to educate others on the causes of eutrophication and the effects it has on ecosystems. Increasing awareness will allow many to pinpoint possible sources and causes of eutrophication in their local ecosystems. My first step is to educate myself on the causes and effects of eutrophication. I will research the internet as well as peers reviewed articles. I will then develop an educational tool such as a PowerPoint Presentation to highlight how humans through artificial eutrophication add to the already naturally occurring process. I will include how eutrophication affects humans, animals, fish and plant life. I will then schedule a meeting with the community board members and invite local residents to discuss eutrophication. 1) I will spend the first three months studying and learning about the cause and effects of eutrophication on ecosystems. 2) I will use the library to research the topic to find peer reviewed articles. Using the internet to research magazine, newspaper articles, and DOH and EPA websites, I will gather information regarding how phosphorous and nitrogen get into ecosystems what it involves and how to stop them from forming. ) I will spend several weeks creating a PowerPoint presentation that explains what eutrophication is how it develops, what cause it, and how to prevent it. 4) In the final month, I will schedule the time and day of the presentation. 5) I will invite the community and homeowners. I will first spend time at home gathering the necessary information and research. I will then incorporate this data together to create a cohesive story involving eutrophicati on. I will then place all this into speaker notes and find scenes for use as pictures in the presentation. In order to schedule a meeting with the Homeowners Association I will first create time to introduce myself to the homeowner’s committee. I will use several friends and associates to make introduction easier. I will then request permission to present information to the committee at the next available meeting. After scheduling the meeting, I will proceed to invite fellow businesses and homeowners to attend. The research will require anywhere from 1-3 months to finish while the PowerPoint presentation will take anywhere from 1-3 weeks. Scheduling time with the homeowners association will be at the next scheduled meeting. Overall, it will be an ongoing process but should take no more than 5 months to complete altogether. The problems that may occur are that point source pollution is not the only cause of eutrophication. There can be several causes of eutrophication including nonpoint source pollution such as urban runoff. There are areas that have limited supplies of drinking water and count on areas infiltrated by eutrophication. The local vegetation that live and thrive in this infected ecosystems are choked and killed off. The dead vegetation allows many different species of algae to thrive and form. While the lack of oxygen created from the photosynthesis kills many species of fish. There is an upside to this plan the excess phosphorous taken from these areas can be placed into landfills. There is a shortage of phosphorus on land and this would help revitalize many fields. There are several limitations to the plan the plan would need the community as a whole to effectively combat eutrophication. This would require not only the cooperation of the local Home Owners Association but every local business in the community. Eutrophication also increases with the rising demand of meats and fossil fuels. Developed nations and developing nations alike will see a rise in eutrophication. The problem overall would be resources funding an operation to clean up local waterways and make local industry and sewage systems compliable can cost millions of dollars easily many cities and states are cash strapped and tightening their budgets. References Eisberg, N. (2009, August 10). Getting to the clean point of use. Chemistry & Industry , 11. retrieved from Pheonix University online library website Powersearch . Welch, M. A. (2009). Lake Clean up Plan Panned. Winnepeg Free Press , B. 2. retrieved from Pheonix University online library website Powersearch . Writers, S. (2009). Nutrient Pollution Chokes Marine And Freshwater Ecosystems. Space Daily . retrieved from Pheonix University online library website Powersearch .

How Fast Food Affects Child Obesity

Obesity has become and increasing problem in the United States for the past few years. Not only has it affected adults but now children at an alarming rate. Fast food is the cause of a lot of overweight children and needs to be addressed immediately. According to CBS news, billions of dollars each year are spent buying fast food. Parents have become lazy when it comes to providing their children with basic essential nutrients. I feel as though children are becoming more overweight because they’re eating very fattening foods and not having any extracurricular activities. Schools must become more aware of the situation and make physical education a priority. If certain schools don’t enforce physical education then the parents have to involve their children in after school activities. CBS news expresses concern that children are becoming more prone to serious health risks and life altering illnesses because of obesity. Fast foods are filled with high doses of sugar, fats, starch and salts which are served in large portions. Rutuja Jathar feels consumers are tricked by fast food companies because of their low prices but evidently are paying a high price when it comes to their health. I have seen documentaries and reality shows such as supersize me, fast food nation and the future of food which talk about overweight children and adults who are constantly eating fatty foods and drinking large amounts of soda every day. Parents do not realize the amount of damage they are causing and potentially leading their child to death. I believe that children who are overweight are not only affected physically but emotionally and mentally. Based on personal experiences children who have been overweight for majority of their lives are more likely to become depressed, teased and may lead to other dangerous routes such as suicide. To support my statement an article called â€Å"Childhood Obesity: Effects on your Child† says being overweight can cause low self esteem, behavior and learning problems, stress and anxiety, comfort eating and depression. They become very self conscious and shy because they feel as though people will look at them differently due to their weight. Children who are obese are not to blame; it’s the parents who are at fault. A child only does what their parents allow them to do. Children do not have money to go out and buy these foods for their selves; their parents to do it. Parents need to become more responsible when it comes to what their children are eating. A child does not know any better but their parents do. According to Rutuja Jathar’s article studies show that boys and girls between the ages of four and nineteen eat fast food on a regular basis. That would includes fattening foods not just from McDonalds but from restaurants such as Friday’s, Chili’s, Cheesecake Factory, etc. It is my belief that parents are enabling their children to live unhealthy lives which will lead them on a path of never ending health issues. Also children are still growing so they need the essential vitamins to help with their growth. An article posted by Michael Adams say that statistics are showing that between 10% and 15% of children within the United States are overweight and does not include the ones who are at risk of becoming overweight. He also discusses other factors that contribute to children being overweight such as television, video games and advertising. Interesting enough he talks about most parents living hectic lives so in many cases they don’t have time to prepare a healthy meal and therefore resort to fast food. It continues saying the bad part about it is that parents who have that hectic lifestyle end up making it an everyday routine where their children are eating fast food. Adams makes an important point stating that if a child wants a double cheese burger, a large order of fries and coke that child will end up consuming 1340 calories and 53 grams of fat in one meal. Adults are to consume 2,000 calories a day and children less than that. Basically what Adams is trying to say is childr en are eating a whole days worth of calories and fat in one meal. To relieve this crisis parents can look at more creative ways of serving their kids healthier food. Rutuja Jathar says that fast food doesn’t make a child full, but because of the high amount of starch in the servings they will only become hungrier. As a result they will acquire more weight. An idea that parents can use to get their kids eating healthier is to make them involved with preparing their own meals. This way kids will be more motivated to eat the healthier choice and will feel a sense of accomplishment. Instead of frying the foods try to use healthier methods of cooking such as baking and broiling. Also like I stated earlier getting children involved in extracurricular activities will help kids burn off the carbohydrates and fat. To conclude child obesity is becoming an increasing issue. Children who are growing up in today’s society who are obese are most likely to be obese into adulthood. We have to stop making excuses as to why this problem is what it is. These children are not adding value to their lives and can die at such young ages. Fast food plays a large role in the amount of overweight children but it is not to blame. Parents are responsible for the livelihood of their children and must do better. Doctors must do better also when it comes to educating parents about the important nutrients and foods their children need stay healthy. Our society needs to encourage kids to become more active and choose healthier eating habits. The children are our future and without them there wouldn’t be one.

Free Essays on My Lai

were, or the amazing story behind them. I first heard about the massacre at My Lai in my sociology class at the beginning of this semester. As she was telling us this story, I could feel all of these emotions begin to rise up in me. Feelings of compassion, anger, sadness, and confusion were all present at the same time. I did all I could to hold back the tears. Sadly, whether it is due to my apathetic ways or my previous educational experiences, I have to admit that I do not know very much about Vietnam. But after hearing the story, I felt more than motivated to learn as much as I could about Vietnam, and especially about the village of My Lai. William Calley was a 24 year old platoon leader for the Charlie Company, which was commanded by 33 year old Ernest Medina. Calley was not exactly thought to be officer material. He had a lack of respect for the indigenous population and knowingly allowed misconduct amongst his soldiers. On March 14, 1968 a popular sergeant was killed by a booby trap, and several other soldiers were wounded. After the funeral, the Charlie Company had revenge on their minds. Captain Medina informed his soldiers that the Viet Cong’s 48th Battalion was residing in a small village called My Lai. He told them that their mission was to engage in battle with the 48th battalion and to destroy the village of My Lai. The small village of My Lai inhabited about 700 residents. Their houses consisted of red brick homes or thatch covered huts. In the middle of the village, there was an open plaza area used for holding meetings. It consisted of women, men, children, and elderly- the average for any community. On March 16th, at 7:22 a.m. nine helicopters lifted off towards My Lai. By 8:00 a.m., Calley’s ... Free Essays on My Lai Free Essays on My Lai The Massacre at My Lai Two months ago, if someone had said the words My Lai to me, I probably would have looked at them unresponsively and thought nothing else about it. At the time, I didn’t know what those words were, or the amazing story behind them. I first heard about the massacre at My Lai in my sociology class at the beginning of this semester. As she was telling us this story, I could feel all of these emotions begin to rise up in me. Feelings of compassion, anger, sadness, and confusion were all present at the same time. I did all I could to hold back the tears. Sadly, whether it is due to my apathetic ways or my previous educational experiences, I have to admit that I do not know very much about Vietnam. But after hearing the story, I felt more than motivated to learn as much as I could about Vietnam, and especially about the village of My Lai. William Calley was a 24 year old platoon leader for the Charlie Company, which was commanded by 33 year old Ernest Medina. Calley was not exactly thought to be officer material. He had a lack of respect for the indigenous population and knowingly allowed misconduct amongst his soldiers. On March 14, 1968 a popular sergeant was killed by a booby trap, and several other soldiers were wounded. After the funeral, the Charlie Company had revenge on their minds. Captain Medina informed his soldiers that the Viet Cong’s 48th Battalion was residing in a small village called My Lai. He told them that their mission was to engage in battle with the 48th battalion and to destroy the village of My Lai. The small village of My Lai inhabited about 700 residents. Their houses consisted of red brick homes or thatch covered huts. In the middle of the village, there was an open plaza area used for holding meetings. It consisted of women, men, children, and elderly- the average for any community. On March 16th, at 7:22 a.m. nine helicopters lifted off towards My Lai. By 8:00 a.m., Calley’s ...

Communication in the Courtroom Essays

Communication in the Courtroom Essays Communication in the Courtroom Essay Communication in the Courtroom Essay This paper will discuss communication techniques largely used by the attorneys. After all, who are best actors? When does communication start? The communication process begins when potential Jurors are summoned by written communication through the united states Postal system to attend court for jury selection. Each Juror is directed to the appropriate courtroom through verbal communication by court officers. Once inside the courtroom, the court clerk verbally calls out each Jurors name to complete attendance. Jurors raise their hands to acknowledge their presence. A written questionnaire Is distributed to each Juror to omelet while simultaneously viewing a video covering the history of jury duty. Judges Introduction The Judge verbally Introduces himself. As a form of Introduction, the Judge then visually and verbally directs the Jurors attention towards the court clerk. The stenographer, the court officers, and the attorneys representing the plaintiff and defendant. After introducing key players in the courtroom, the Judge gives a brief overview of how Jury duty has been conducted throughout history. Rules and procedures of the court are verbally reviewed and presented to all Jurors by the Judge. This communication process informs the jurors what to expect and allows them to feel comfortable and at ease. Jury Selection (Over Dire) The second process off court trial proceeding is Jury selection. Jury selection is also referred to as vote dire. An attorneys goal during the vole dire process is to get to know the Jury, their experiences, and any blabs or prejudices which may Influence their responsibility as jurors to reach a verdict. The attorneys other goal during this process Is to educate Ana persuade ten Jury regarding ten Tact AT ten case. Ho goals to be accomplished, appropriate and effective communication skills between he attorney and Jurors are important. Questions presented by the attorney to the Jurors include, but are not limited to: age, marital status, employment history, hobbies, volunteer activities, religious beliefs, and education. The attorney must present these questions to the Jury with thoughtful and planned verbal communication. Blackman Brinkman, 2010) While asking these questions, words such as prejudice, bias and stereotype should be avoided. Instead, focus on more neutral words like discomfort. (Blackman Brinkman, 2010) This period of questioning, during the over dire process, is an important stage of communication between the attorney and the Jurors. Gender and race related prejudices are unacceptable to society; Jurors will not openly admit their prejudices. The prosecutor and defe nse attorney must consciously select words which will offer Jurors an opportunity to share their concerns. Carefully chosen words are demonstrated in the following expert. (Blackman Brinkman, 2010) My client is an African American man. Sometimes people have strong feelings about certain groups of people that can get in the way of rendering a fair and impartial verdict. Or, some people may feel uncomfortable about a case in which an African American man is accused of attacking a white woman. Or, there may be other aspects of this case having nothing to do with my clients race or gender that make you feel uncomfortable and that we have not already discussed. If you have any such discomfort for any reason, please raise your hand. (Blackman Brinkman, 2010) Opening Statement Each attorneys opening statement is, again, an important part of communication with the Jury. In light of initial impressions, several members of the Jury interpret all of the evidence presented and form strong opinions after the statements. During this stage of communication, the attorneys exhibit both verbal and non- verbal communication skills to begin persuading the Jury in their favor. The opening statement will include not only the facts of the case, but emphasis on particular words and catch phrases to capture the Jury attention and sympathy toward each attorneys case. While the verbal language describes emotion and rationale, non verbal language is subjective, exhibited both consciously and unconsciously, and expresses emotion. Physical appearances, tone, gestures, facial expressions, and distance are all non rebel sources of communication which can modify or contradict the verbal message. Natural kinesics conveys an emotion before weve expressed it in word. (Morgan, 2008) An attorney will pay close attention to each of the Jurors body movements and facial expressions to ensure his communication is understood and holding the attention of all Jurors. Another commonly used non verbal communication an attorney uses to keep the Jury attentive is Proteomics. (Withal, 2006) Proteomics refers to the distance or space between speakers. The planned distance enhances the attorneys ability to generate Jury participation in his clients cause. He must be able to sell his client to the Jury. (Withal,2006) The attorney may physically move the podium to visually block the Jury view of the prosecutor, while simultaneously manipulating the space to provide a better visual of the defendant. Moving the pool closer to ten Jury Dog wall also project ten attorneys assonance Ana tone while he communicates his opening statement. This non-verbal communication modifies the attorneys words while provoking sympathy towards the defendant. An opening statement commonly used to gain a Jury sympathy and persuade the jurys first impression of the case, is a story telling technique. An attorney may verbally tell a story using time, personal names, and descriptive adjectives. The following expert is an example of this technique of communication: Prosecutor: This is a case of being in wrong place at the wrong time. Maria Zen left her house at 7:00 a. M. To drive to the supermarket. She put on her seat belt and drove west on Third Avenue. As she passed Little Peoples Day Care on her right, she slowed down. She was watching the road in front and the circle of children in the schoolyard on her right, when she heard a sudden screeching of tires and was smashed into by the pendant coming rapidly out of a side street on her left. At the end of the prosecutors opening statement, he will forewarn the Jury of the tactics opposing counsel will employ to counter-persuade the facts presented. The prosecutor will advise the Jury defense counsel will likely use specific arguments to persuade them to arriving at the scenario of the defendant. By verbally communicating to the Jury what to expect from defendants counsel, the prosecutor forms a trust with the Jury. At this time, several Jurors formulate opinions as to the guilt of the defendant. Defendants attorney will have to work twice as hard on his opening statement to persuade the Jury the prosecutor has Just manipulated their minds. Witnesses The goal of both attorneys is to interview witnesses to secure information on behalf of their clients, persuade the witnesses to answer questions to the advantage of their case, and to establish credibility of the witness. (Grub Homey, 2003) For an effective interview process, both attorneys must prepare, maintain control, listen, be alert, be patient and most of all be a good actor. (p. 140) Preparation includes pre-trial interviews with attorneys witnesses and review of case. In the courtroom, the prosecutor will verbally question the witness regarding the facts of the case. His tone and volume of his voice should be audible to the Judge, the witness and the jury. The questions the prosecutor presents to the witness should be asked in a chronological order for the Jury to absorb. Long winded verbal statements will derail the Jury understanding of the facts. The Jury will focus on the witnesss appearance, body language and speech. A witness, such as a security guard, should present himself in a clean, crisp professional uniform as well as a clean shaven appearance. While answering questions his body should not slouch but instead be upright and attentive, hands on lap, with eyes focused on the attorney or Jury. Several Jurors will see the witness as a professional incapable of giving misleading information due to rank or social standing. The prosecutor must prove the defendants guilt through burden of evidence. In order to prove the guilt of the defendant, the prosecutor must present evidence beyond the reasonable doubt. Written communications such as affidavits, medical records and other legal documents are presented to the court to support verbal facts given by the attorney. Verbal testimony is given by witnesses to the prosecutor and witnesses to the defense attorney. The prosecutor must verbally interview his wellness to gather cements Tact to support Nils case. He must teen Walt Tort Nils opportunity to cross examine the defense witness in order to persuade the testimony to support his case and discredit the testimony. Effective use of tone, body language and clear and accurate statements will provide him with the effective tools to persuade. The defense attorney does not have to prove the innocence of the defendant. The defendant can choose not to testify. It is the responsibility of the offense attorney to persuade the Jury the testimony provided by the prosecutors witnesses and written documentation provided by the prosecutor is not sufficient evidence to prove defendants guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Defendants attorney will use persuasive language, eye contact with the Jury and will, again, use techniques to gain the sympathy of the Jury towards the defendant. Closing Statement The prosecutor will verbally communicate to the Jury the evidence presented to the court. He will remind the Jury of the credibility of his witnesses as well as point out written documentation to support his case. The burden of responsibility will be laid at the feet of Jury by the prosecutor. He will tell the Jury it is their civil and judicial responsibility to see through the smoke screen presented by the defense. The prosecutor will not have another opportunity to speak with the Jury or refute the defense attorneys closing statement and will verbally communicate this message to the Jury in hopes the Jury will close their minds to the defense attorneys closing statement. The defense attorney will verbally tear apart the evidence presented to the Jury by the prosecutor. He will try to discredit the testimony given by the prosecutors attorney as well as demonstrate the written documentation is not sufficient to prove the defendants guilt. Eye contact by the defense attorney is shared equally with the jury and the defendant to solidify the tactic of sympathy. Just as the prosecutor laid the burden of responsibility at the Jury feet, so does the defense attorney. Such phrases as let the little guy be the on top this time, show the prosecutor he hasnt pulled the wool over your eyes, do what you feel is right, and the prosecution Just hasnt done his Job of establishing proof beyond the reasonable doubt are all persuasive tactics used in verbal communication. Deliberations The Judge will verbally go over the rules and procedures the Jury should follow during deliberations. He will recite the charges in the case and remind the Jury there must be sufficient evidence to prove the defendants guilt beyond the reasonable doubt. The Judge will then appoint a Jury chairman who will be responsible for organizing the deliberations, acting as liaison between the court and the Jury, and reading the final verdict of the Jury. The leaders and the followers are quickly labeled inside the Jury deliberation room. The leaders will all begin by verbally communicating the facts presented. The followers will listen, agreeing with opinions of the leaders. In order to arrive at a verdict, the Jury reviews photographs, written documentation and verbal testimony. In most cases, as previously stated, there will be several Jurors who have made their decision of guilt or innocence based on either the opening statements or the closing statements. The crucial Job of picking through the evidence is left with a handful of jurors to decide a verdict. During alternations Jury memoirs oxen I D t Don vernal Ana non vernal Torts AT communication. Verbal communication is exhibited through the use of volume or one as well as persuasive statements towards either sides case. Non verbal communication is exhibited through body language. Some Jurors may Just sit in silence indicating the desire to be a follower and to decide with the majority of the jury. Other forms of non-verbal communication exhibited by the Jury are body movements such as standing while presenting opinions, and slamming of fist on a conference table to show dance towards their point of view. In the end, the Jury comes to a verdict and proceeds back into the courtroom. Verdict At the end of deliberations, the Jury takes a vote by show of hands or paper ballot. The Jury then notifies the court officer they have come too verdict. The court officer escorts the Jury back into the court room to relay the verdict. The Judge will verbally recite each charge one at a time. The Jury chairman will either say guilty or not guilty. The Judge will then render the final verdict by verbally communicating each charge with each of the verdicts to follow. After the verdict is read, counsel will again communicate with the Jury through non verbal body language such as rolling of eyes in displeasure of the verdict or a positive nod of the head in agreement of the redirect. Finally, the Judge verbally thanks the Jury for conducting their civil and judicial duty in his courtroom. Conclusion Several types of communication skills are exhibited in the courtroom during a court trial proceeding. Verbal communication is demonstrated through tone, volume, emphasis on words or phrases and through persuasive language skills. Non-verbal communication is exhibited through the use of kinesics and proteomics both enhancing the each attorneys verbal communication. Although testimony of witnesses and exhibits are all forms of communication, the most crucial ammunitions between the attorneys and the Jury are during over dire, the opening statements, and closing statements.

Assessment of the Dell Multinational Company

Assessment of the Dell Multinational Company Dell Inc. is a multinational company that deals with the production of products and services for computers ad is rated among the largest computer manufacturers in the world. It was established by Michael Dell in November 1984 in Austin Texas. The Turbo PC was first produced in 1985 after Michael Dell dropped out of school in order to concentrate in his business. His belief was that by selling the computer products directly he would have a better understanding on the needs of his customers. The company changed its name to Dell Computer Corporation in 1988 and that marked the beginning of its worldwide expansion. The headquarters of Dell are located in Round Rock in Texas. As of 2010 it currently employs over sixteen thousand people. Dell Company has a global market share of more than 15%. The direct model has been the main core success strategy for Dell Company. Company name: Dell Computer Corporation Mission statement Dell’s mission is to be the leading and the most successfu l computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in the world that we serve. This is achieved through its products that target different people such as the consumer class and the corporate class. Products, goods and services Among the products produced by Dell Computer Company include: Adamo Laptops. These range from high end product laptops and come fitted with extra luxury. Power-connect- a high end switch product by Dell Company for high performance in switching. It is mainly used by middle enterprises. N series- this is a computer that is shipped without having the installation of Microsoft windows. Instead, open source operating system or the Linux is installed. Precision- this is a workstation that is rated very high by the dell computer. It is mainly targeted by graphic professions such as engineering, animation, imaging and product design. EMC/Dell- this is a Dell and EMC product that is mainly created for backup. It consolidates the storage and the reby creates a seamless automated storage. This goes a long way in catering for data storage. Studio- this comprises of a given range of desktops and also laptops and include studio 15, studio 17and also studio hybrid. Vostro- this is a range of affordable computers from the Dell Company though the support hours from the technicians is very little. Power-vault- these are products from Dell that are usually have storages and networks that are directly connected. However these products are in partnership with EMC Corporation. Competitors In the information and technology industry, there is a lot of competition. Among the rated competitors of Dell Company include the Hewlett Packard and the IBM. Others include Apple, Toshiba, Acer, Gateway, Sony, Lenovo, Samsung, Asus and Sun Microsystems. This is a generalized category of competitors as the Dell Company is a manufacture of different kinds of products. Other products that Dell produces include peripherals such as LCD televisions, USB d rives, monitors and also projectors. Lenovo, Acer, Apple, Toshiba, Hewlett Packard and the IBM are in competition with Dell Company in the production of computers both on laptops and desktops though with differing aspects. This is due to different needs of the customers. Sony and Samsung are in competition with Dell in the production of LCD televisions, USB drives, monitors and also projectors