Characters Of The Novel The Relay Of Stories - 1163 Words

Characters aid in the relay of stories, because they communicate values, morals, and situations that are difficult to talk about or catapult the audience into a world of fantasy. Their ability to capture the attention of the audience is essential to a good tale. Therefore, a reader must be able to feel the environment as surely as if they were actually in it. This is where the six types of characters set the tone for the story. The protagonist is usually a positive character, like the hero who saves the town from an evil fire breathing dragon. Of course, this is not always the case, as the protagonist can be the evil dragon who comes to some kind of life changing realization. The reader can usually recognize personal values or morals in†¦show more content†¦As a result, the Grinch is both the antagonist and protagonist. A deeper development of characters is essential to the story line, so the types of characters usually have a more depth. First, there is the round character, which is well developed through their actions, thoughts, and words (or lack of words). As the reader, we discover what motivates them by their about their concerns, wants/needs, doubts, and suspicions. In â€Å"AP,† it was evident that something substantial lacked from Sammy’s life. He had doubts about his life and its predictable plainness. He worried about his parents and how his quitting his job would affect them. Without the author’s insight into his psyche, the reader would be clueless as to the conflict that waged within him. Coincidentally, completely opposite to the information downpour that a round character provides; the flat character is void of any substance. This type of character is little more than a story filler, there is no back story to gain a deeper insight into what drives them. They serve as a general audience within the story, comparable to the artificial backdrop that photographers use in their pictures- it sets the tone and gives the illusion that the model is in a specific environment. Next, is the dynamic character that is directly affected by the events of the story. For instance, the metamorphosis can be languid or instantaneous, virtuous or unscrupulous. Just as LT. Cross slowly

Anglo Saxon Poetry Of Beowulf English Literature Essay Free Essays

BeowulfA is the most of import verse form in Old English and it is the first major verse form in a European slang linguistic communication, †¦ remarkable for its sustained magnificence of tone and for the glare of its manner, as has been remarked by Margaret Drabble. Beowulf has been categorized as a â€Å" Primary Epic † by C.S. We will write a custom essay sample on Anglo Saxon Poetry Of Beowulf English Literature Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Lewis. In wide footings, a primary heroic poem is drawn from the unwritten narrative stating tradition as opposed to what Lewis termed as a â€Å" Secondary Epic † which is a planned literary creative activity. A Handbook to Literature defines the undermentioned demands for a literary piece to be classified as an heroic poem: On the footing of these standards, which shall be examined in the undermentioned paragraphs, Beowulf can safely be characterised into the heroic poem genre. The hero of Beowulf is â€Å" a figure of heroic stature † . Beowulf ‘s physical stature mirrors his qualities and when we foremost see Beowulf as he arrives from his fatherland Geatland at Scyldings in the land of the Danes, attending is drawn to his stature by the Scylding guard who exclaims that he has ne’er seen a â€Å" a mightier baronial, / a larger adult male † ( 247-48 ) Beowulf is a hero of heroic strength with the strength â€Å" clasp † of 30 work forces, who kills nine sea monsters on a swim. Subsequently he establishes his strength by killing Grendel and his female parent. Though immature at the beginning of the verse form, Beowulf has all the devisings of a good leader. He reveals his line of descent to the reader when he mentions his male parent to the guard who is funny about him ( 251 ) . Beowulf besides reveals his male parents name and the name of his male monarch, Hygelac. On his meeting with King Hrothgar ( 418 ff. ) , we realise that non merely is Beowulf brave and brave but he besides is loyal and has come to refund the generousness and kindness of King Hrothgar to his male parent Ecgtheow. He besides divulges that he has cleansed his fatherland of its enemies and has killed a folk of giants. Thereafter he shows his strength when he kills the sea monsters while viing with Breca. Beowulf ‘s handling of Unferth ( 529 ) is a farther testimony to the wisdom of the immature hero. By his handling of Unferth, and the maner in which he reminds the assemblage of the certificates of Unferth and how he killed his ain brothers, Beowulf asserts himself even before he confronts Grendel. In the conflict with Grendel, Beowulf displays his accomplishments as an intelligent warrior as he allows Grendel to devour a Geat, while he lies still accessing his enemy. A s a consequence of analyzing his enemy he manages to rend Grendel ‘s right claw off from his shoulder socket. He farther strengthens his repute as a worthy and courageous warrior in the mode in which he deals with Grendel ‘s female parent. He besides shows himself as a loyal friend when Hygelac is killed in a conflict, since he does non claim the throne for himself but supports his boy. Merely when Hygelac ‘s boy is killed in a fued does Beowulf go up to the throne. The conflict with the firedrake in his old age once more proves his strength and him as a good warrior though a few critics found him reckless for non worrying about who would go up him to the throne. Beowulf besides makes the usage of the tools of heroic poems such as asides, addresss, and expeditions. There is besides a mirroring of the unwritten tradition of narrative stating in the text, as we see the â€Å" scop † who chants the occurrences of The Finnsburh Episode ( 1063-1159 ) . The asides though they appear cumbersome were feats of good known heroes and popular narratives. For case the blood-feud history of Finn and the Danes reverberations Cain and Abel in its misrepresentation, craftiness, treachery and disloyalty. The slaying of Finn to revenge the decease of Hnaf brings on the onslaught of the monster Grendel, who is eventually slayed by Beowulf. The narrative of this narrative non merely celebrates his triumph but besides highlights the triumph of good over immorality. Unlike the classical heroic poem, Beowulf does non get down â€Å" media RESs † and has no supplication to the Muse, but it is an heroic poem however, given the character of the hero, the events of great magnitude and besides the poetic composing. The verse form employs the usage of initial rhymes, which carry more significance than a rime. A important portion of the verse form does use the usage of rime as good. But over all it is evident from the scrutiny of the verse form that it was compose for unwritten narrative as opposed to a literary piece. Beowulf is a glorious merger of many subjects, viz. the subjects of Christian and Pagan rites, of light and darkness which mirror good and evil, of Men and Monsters, of Treasures, of the importance of Genealogy, of community, of Wyrd and of good Kingship which runs analogue in the narrative. In the book English Epic and Heroic Poetry, the writer W. Macneile Dixon, stresses that Beowulf is was perchance non â€Å" crude poesy † ( Pg. 14 )[ 5 ]when it was composed. Though the linguistic communication of the verse form appears to be simple, the poets have drawn on both the Pagan and Christian elements. Therefore Fitela, Scyld Scefing and Sigmund from heathen mythology are offered as defenders of demeanor and the monster Grendel ‘s household line belongs to the family tree of Cain ( 107 and 1258-67 ) . Again we see a strong heathen influence as the Anglo-Saxon construct of Wryd is a subject by itself in the text. Beowulf calls upon Wyrd when he battles the first sea monster of the nine that he killed, when he competed with Breca. Subsequently he attributes his endurance to the Christian God. ( 569-574 ) . He besides refers to Wyrd at his concluding reference. Hrothgar besides thanks God when Beowulf defeats the monster Grendel. Through the text Hrothgar ‘s advocate and warnings to Beowulf reflect the Christian dogmas of generousness and the pattern of gold giving followed at that clip. Three of the awful seven deathly wickednesss are besides mentioned as a warning to Beowulf. ( 1724-78 ) When Beowulf is deceasing ; Wiglaf tries to resuscitate him utilizing a ritual with H2O which calls to mind the Baptism. Beowulf is really heathen in the mode in which he chooses to contend the firedrake entirely, and it is in maintaining with the codification of behavior of the warrior. His subsequent funeral, with a adult female and 12 considerations mourning him name to mind, Christ ‘s adherents and Mary Magdalen forenoon Christ. Good and immorality is a nother subject running through the text and it is farther emphasised as we view the struggle of visible radiation and darkness, and heaven and snake pit. The text begins with a apposition of the light universe of the human warriors and their gay mead-hall with the dark universe of Grendel ‘s prevaricator ( 417-426 ) . The universes invariably clash as Grendel ‘s haterate and slaughter of the Danes brings Beowulf to him who is non afraid to face the darkness. ( 480-488 ) . Hrothgar ‘s soldiers though brave do non last boulder clay dawn. Where Grendel symbolises darkness, his female parent symbolises snake pit and somberness that is dark at its darkest. Continuing with the subject of dark and light is the subject of adult male and monster. While we are cognizant the Grendel is a monster ( 101-108 ) , we are besides reminded that possibly Beowulf is besides non wholly human, since he kills nine sea monsters, and about has the power equivalent to Grendel particularly s ince his feats of conveying the monsters to an terminal could easy be lines used for Grendel. ( 551-558 ) the subject of good triumphing over immorality besides runs through the heroic poem as even though Grendel is strong with crisp claws he is defeated non by the blade but by the bare custodies of the heroic Beowulf. ( 987-990 ) Again we are reminded of Beowulf ‘s strength which is more than human as he is contending Grendel ‘s female parent, and he is protected by his extraordinary armor which is adorned with two rings demoing the friendly relationship of the Geates and the Danes and their support of Beowulf. The heroic poem is rich in item since it has a hero who harmonizing to Hegel[ 6 ]the hero Beowulf is waited on manus and pes, and has to fight for basic endurance, and the necessities of life such as â€Å" Equus caballuss and arms and nutrient † . The subject of hoarded wealth therefore besides highlights the implicit in economic sciences of a feudal society while heightening the heroic poem. Harmonizing to W.P.Ker, in his book Epic and Romance, he mentions that Beowulf was likely written by two Scribes and has a construction with a â€Å" prologue at the beginning and a judgement pronounced on the life of the hero at the terminal † ( Pg.158 ) BeowulfA has an omniscient ( â€Å" omniscient † ) storyteller. The narrative voice remarks on the character ‘s actions, and knows and is able to describe on what they think. The storyteller is cognizant of things- for illustration, the expletive on the firedrake ‘s hoarded wealth ( lines 3066-75 ) -that are non known to the heroic poem ‘s characters. Beowulf portions this all-knowing narrative with other heroic poems, such as theA Iliad, A theOdyssey, A and theA Aeneid, A but remains subtly different. The storyteller ofA BeowulfA makes an expressed connexion with the audience, admiting a shared background of cultural cognition, in the gap lines of the verse form: A † WeA have heard of the thriving of the throne of Denmark † ( accent added ) . The storyteller ‘s voice is besides closely connected with those of the characters. Both use narrations in the same manner, to indicate a moral or to project†¦ .. How to cite Anglo Saxon Poetry Of Beowulf English Literature Essay, Essay examples

Corporation Law Australian Business Number

Question: Describe about the Corporation Law for Australian Business Number. Answer: Part 1 Formation of Proprietor Ltd Company is needed to be created following various steps which is governed by ASIC. A company name should be chosen by the proprietor of the company before registering the company. The address of the company is needed to be stated while registering the companys name. The proprietor name and address is also required to mention. The office holder should have a unique entity where Australian Business Number (ABN) and Australian Company Number (ACN) should be described. The address of the company is also needed to describe for the registration process (Legislation.gov.au, 2016). Consent plan of the Company should be drawn. There are several directors in the company who follow the rules of Company Act. Shareholders should be limited up to 50 in number. The method of the form registration process is described below: Company Name Jacob Pty Ltd Company address 14 Lindsey street, NSW, Australia-2134 Proprietor name Jacob Atkinson Proprietors residential address 67 Saint Joseph avenue, NSW, Australia-2134 ACN/ABN no 0607888341 Telephone no 0895499006 Post code 2134 If the company has appointed a director for the company the following details must be presented- Name of the Director Andrew Wilson Address of the director 44, Johnson Street, NSW, Australia-1235 Date of Birth 24/07/1983 Place of birth Sydney If the company is limited by shares, there must be preference shareholders who in turn are members of the company. The following details can be given regarding them- Name of the Member Joseph Mines ACN 753922816 Address of the member 8/A, Bentley Road, NSW, Australia-1235 In this case the preference shareholder or the member is a company. Their share details can be showed as follows- Share class code Shares taken up Agreed money to be paid per share ( in $) Total paid up value (in $) Unpaid amount Unpaid money in $ Fully paid Held beneficially ORD 200 20 4000.00 0.00 0.00 yes yes RED 300 10 3000.00 0.00 0.00 yes yes ORD refers to ordinary class of shares. RED refers to redeemable class of shares. According to Corporation act of section 117 there are various regulations of company which is needed to be followed for registering a company[1]. Registration process shows the validity of the company. There are several exemptions as per section 150 of Corporation act which are needed to be remembered by the companys directors and proprietor. The resolution which is special should be declared on the basis of 14 days which is followed under section 233 of corporation act under constitutional rules[2]. There are several replaceable rules of the company which falls under corporation act of section 134 and section 135. The direction which is governed under replaceable acts should be followed with the rules of section 134 of corporation act[3]. The modification of constitutional and replaceable rules is followed under section 135 of Corporation Act of Australia. As per rules of section 135 of Company Act of Australia after 1st July 1988, some of the modifications were made and those rules are followed in a proprietor limited company recently[4]. Many share restrictions of the company is also described and those restriction and right of shareholders falls under section 254A (2) of Corporation Act 2001[5]. Cumulative and non-cumulative dividends with profit and capital repayment process is surplus led in the company as per section 254A (2) (Austlii.edu.au, 2016). Redeem of the liability with various conditions are declared with various regulations under section 254 A (3) of Corporation Act. As per Corporation act these sections rules are needed to be followed and companys regulations are directed by this methods. Part 2 Section 198A An organization is governed by its directors on the shareholders behalf according to Section 198A. There are certain onus imposed on the directors according to the Corporation Act 2001 applying to many organizational structures like public organizations and proprietary organizations etc. The powers of an organization are exercised by its directors. The only exception is if the constitution of the organization needs the organization to conduct a general meeting. The general meeting does not give express powers related to the business of the company. Powers of the members include the appointment of the directors and the directors should be paid the total remuneration cap and should be determined by the members of the general meeting. The members should also vote at the meetings of the shareholders and should amend the constitution. They should also amend the constitution and the shareholders should be registered by them. All members should be requested the circulation of a statement. The management of an organization is the responsibility of the members of the general meeting. It is not possible for the organizational business to be managed by the directors without the constitutional clause. A person using a registered trademarks relating to imported goods which are similar to goods respecting to which trademarks are not infringed. Section 191 According to the Section 191 of the Corporations Act, the material personal interests are revealed to the board and deals with the conflict of the interests. There should be a strict liability for any offenses based on a subsection and the directors of the company have material personal interests relating to the companys affairs. Notice of an interest is given to the directors which arise as the directors are the members of the organization held in common with other members of the company. The proprietary organization as well as the other directors is aware of the extent and nature of interests in relation to the company affairs. The extent and nature of the company are given notice by the directors of the organization. The notice is given to a person who is made the new director of the company. The extent or the nature of the interest has not materially enhanced above the disclosed in the notice. A standing notice of the extent and nature of interest and notice is successful to the interest relation. There is a relation of the interest to the affairs of the organization. A meeting of the directors is as soon as practicable after there is awareness among the directors in the matter[6]. Section 250R (2) An annual General meeting has its own business including the consideration of the annual financial report, report of the directors and the report of the auditors. It consists of the report of the directors and the auditor, the directors election and the auditors appointment. There is a vote on the resolution which is not binding to the organizational directors. There is a vote on the resolution which cannot be cast on behalf of a member of management personnel detailing the remunerations which are inclusive of the remuneration report. Such member should have a party. By the proxification of the writing specifying the vote on the resolution or the voter being the chair of the meeting or the proxification of the chairman. A vote casting on a persons behalf cast as a proxy of the person and respect the share in respect of which the person has the voting power and the exercising power, a right to vote. According to 250R of the corporation Act 2001 a person cannot cast a vote and company disregards any votes on Resolution 1. Reference list Symon, H,Corporations Act 2001. in , Melbourne, Leo Cussen Institute, 2006. "CORPORATIONS ACT 2001 - SECT 117". in , , 2016, https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s117.html [accessed 22 September 2016]. "CORPORATIONS ACT 2001 - SECT 134". in , , 2016, https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s134.html [accessed 22 September 2016]. "CORPORATIONS ACT 2001 - SECT 135". in , , 2016, https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s135.html [accessed 22 September 2016]. "CORPORATIONS ACT 2001 - SECT 233". in , , 2016, https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s233.html [accessed 22 September 2016]. "CORPORATIONS ACT 2001 - SECT 254A". in , , 2016, https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/s254a.html [accessed 22 September 2016].

Queen of the Amazons Essay Example

Queen of the Amazons Paper Lydia and Wickhams marriage is an illustration of a regretful marriage. Their marriage was dependent on appearance, exceptional looks, and childish life. Once these values can no longer be viewed by one another, the once passionate connection will gradually disappear. In the novel, Lydia and Wickhams marriage slowly breaks down; Lydia ends up being a typical guest at her sisters home when her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath. Through their association, Jane Austen indicates that quick marriage dependent upon meaningless reasons rapidly fails and leads to sadness. Midsummer Nights Dream is a play by William Shakespeare about four specific stories that change throughout the play. Passionate love shows up on numerous occasions in A Midsummer Nights Dream. Hermia and Lysander show young, foolish fondness, while Helenas cherish is that of desperation. Demetrius love is inconsistent. Theseus earns his affection, Hippolyta, as a trophy of war. Titania and Oberon, married for advances, dispense pain and slyness on one another normally. While there is no living relationship of love that suits all the couples together. The marriage between Theseus and Hippolyta is used by Shakespeare to show compelled affection: I wooed thee with my sword. Hippolyta, having been the Queen of the Amazons, has been prevailed over by Theseus and is in this way under commitment to marry him, consequently indicating compelled affection. She is devoted to Theseus, who in return treats her well. We will write a custom essay sample on Queen of the Amazons specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Queen of the Amazons specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Queen of the Amazons specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer When Theseus declared wooed it implies that Theseus is truthfully in love with Hippolyta and does wish to treat her properly. Hermia and Lysander are the lovers where nothing goes their way. Their affection is so solid that nothing would get in the way of their love. Hermia is confronted with a determination to marry Demetrius, the man she doesnt have feelings for. The father of Hermia is the one setting up the marriage. Their affection is so strong that they will let nothing stop them, so they run together into the woods. This sincerely is an indication of correct affection. Helena talks deeply describes, Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind and therefore is winged cupid is painted blind This implies that when you love someone, it doesnt matter what they look like but what is on the inside. Since Cupid is painted blind he doesnt love with his eyes but with his mind as he loves whats on the inside. One of the sorts of love that is not quite love but a large number of individuals oversight it as love is lust. This isnt being attracted with the person but loving one of their qualities. This is demonstrated with the association among Demetrius and Hermia. Demetrius just needs Hermia for the interest and not for who she is. An additional sort of adoration that might be exhibited is an unrequited love. This might be communicated by Helena and Demetrius. Helena adores Demetrius with every last trace of her heart but he doesnt want anything to do with her since there is no interest. Its a restricted sort of affection. Helena says, We should be wooed and were not made to woo. This means that she is attempting to tempt Demetrius, not him trying to tempt her.

Definition and Examples of Conjuncts in English Grammar

Definition and Examples of Conjuncts in English Grammar In English grammar, a conjunct, from the Latin, join together, is a word, phrase, or clause linked to another word, phrase, or clause through coordination. For instance, two clauses connected by and (The clown laughed and the child cried) are conjuncts. It may also called a conjoin. The term conjunct can also refer to an adverbial(such as therefore, however, namely) that indicates the relationship in meaning between two independent clauses. The more traditional term for this kind of adverbial is conjunctive adverb. Examples (Definition #1) George and Martha dined alone at Mount Vernon.The back of my head and the head of the bat collided.The dogs barked furiously, and the cat scampered up the tree. Take, for instance, the following sentences from The Revolutionist, [one] of [Ernest] Hemingways short stories [from In Our Time]: He was very shy and quite young and the train men passed him on from one crew to another. He had no money, and they fed him behind the counter in railway eating houses.​​ (Jonathan Cape edn, p. 302) Even in the second sentence, the two clauses which form the conjunct are linked by and, and not, as one might expect in such a discourse context, by so or but. The suppression of complex connectivity in this way seems to have baffled some critics, with comments on the famous Hemingway and ranging from the vague to the nonsensical. (Paul Simpson, Language, Ideology and Point of View. Routledge, 1993) Coordinate Structure Constraint Although a wide variety of structures can be conjoined, not all coordinations are acceptable. One of the first generalizations regarding coordination is Rosss Coordinate Structure Constraint (1967). This constraint states that coordination does not allow for asymmetrical constructions. For example, the sentence This is the man whom Kim likes and Sandy hates Pat is unacceptable, because only the first conjunct is relativized. The sentence This is the man whom Kim likes and Sandy hates is acceptable, because both conjuncts are relativized. . . . Linguists are further concerned with which material is allowed as a conjunct in a coordinate construction. The second example showed conjoined sentences, but coordination is also possible for noun phrases as in the apples and the pears, verb phrases like run fast or jump high and adjectival phrases such as rich and very famous, etc. Both sentences and phrases intuitively form meaningful units within a sentence, called constituents. Subject and verb do not form a constituent in some frameworks of generative grammar. However, they can occur together as a conjunct in the sentence Kim bought, and Sandy sold, three paintings yesterday. (Petra Hendriks, Coordination. Encyclopedia of Linguistics, ed. by Philipp Strazny. Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005) Collective and Average Property Interpretations Consider sentences such as these: The American family used less water this year than last year. The small businessperson in Edmonton paid nearly $30 million in taxes but only made $43,000 in profits last year. The former sentence is ambiguous between the collective and average property interpretations. It could be true that the average American family used less water this year than last while the collective American family used more (due to more families); conversely, it could be true that the average family used more but the collective family used less. As to the latter sentence, which is admittedly somewhat strange (but might be used to further the political interests of Edmonton businesspeople), our world [knowledge] tells us that the first conjunct of the VP must be interpreted as a collective property, since certainly the average businessperson, even in wealthy Edmonton, does not pay $30 million in taxes; but our world knowledge also tells us that the second of the VP conjunctions is to be given an average property interpretation. (Manfred Krifka et al., Genericity: An Introduction. The Generic Book, ed. by Gregory N. Carlson and Francis Jeffry Pelletier. The University of Chicago Pre ss, 1995) Interpreting Naturally and Accidentally Coordinated Noun Phrases [Bernhard] Wlchli ([Co-compounds and Natural Coordination] 2005) discussed two types of coordination: natural and accidental. Natural coordination refers to cases where two conjuncts are semantically closely related (e.g. mum and dad, boys and girls) and are expected to co-occur. On the other hand, accidental coordination refers to cases where the two conjuncts are distant from each other (e.g. boys and chairs, apples and three babies) and are not expected to co-occur. If the two NPs form natural coordination, they tend to be interpreted as a whole. But, if they are accidentally put together, they are interpreted independently. (Jieun Kiaer, Pragmatic Syntax. Bloomsbury, 2014) Declaratives Interrogatives Interestingly, an interrogative main clause can be co-ordinated with a declarative main clause, as we see from sentences like (50) below: (50) [I am feeling thirsty], but [ should I save my last Coke till later]? In (50) we have two (bracketed) main clauses joined together by the co-ordinating conjunction but. The second (italicised) conjunct should I save my last Coke till later? is an interrogative CP [complementiser phrase] containing an inverted auxiliary in the head C position of CP. Given the traditional assumption that only constituents which belong to the same category can be co-ordinated, it follows that the first conjunct I am feeling thirsty must also be a CP; and since it contains no overt complementiser, it must be headed by a null complementiser . . .. (Andrew Radford, An Introduction to English Sentence Structure. Cambridge University Press, 2009) Related Grammar Definitions Compound SentenceConjunction and Coordinating ConjunctionCorrelative Conjunctions

How Combinations and Permutations Differ

How Combinations and Permutations Differ Throughout mathematics and statistics, we need to know how to count. This is particularly true for some probability problems. Suppose we are given a total of n distinct objects and want to select r of them. This touches directly on an area of mathematics known as combinatorics, which is the study of counting. Two of the main ways to count these r objects from n elements are called permutations and combinations. These concepts are closely related to one another and easily confused. What is the difference between a combination and permutation? The key idea is that of order. A permutation pays attention to the order that we select our objects. The same set of objects, but taken in a different order will give us different permutations. With a combination, we still select r objects from a total of n, but the order is no longer considered. An Example of Permutations To distinguish between these ideas, we will consider the following example: how many permutations are there of two letters from the set {a,b,c}? Here we list all pairs of elements from the given set, all the while paying attention to the order. There are a total of six permutations. The list of all of these are: ab, ba, bc, cb, ac and ca. Note that as permutations ab and ba are different because in one case a was chosen first, and in the other a was chosen second. An Example of Combinations Now we will answer the following question: how many combinations are there of two letters from the set {a,b,c}? Since we are dealing with combinations, we no longer care about the order. We can solve this problem by looking back at the permutations and then eliminating those that include the same letters. As combinations, ab and ba are regarded as the same. Thus there are only three combinations: ab, ac and bc. Formulas For situations we encounter with larger sets it is too time-consuming to list out all of the possible permutations or combinations and count the end result. Fortunately, there are formulas that give us the number of permutations or combinations of n objects taken r at a time. In these formulas, we use the shorthand notation of n! called n factorial. The factorial simply says to multiply all positive whole numbers less than or equal to n together. So, for instance, 4! 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 24. By definition 0! 1. The number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is given by the formula: P(n,r) n!/(n - r)! The number of combinations of n objects taken r at a time is given by the formula: C(n,r) n!/[r!(n - r)!] Formulas at Work To see the formulas at work, let’s look at the initial example. The number of permutations of a set of three objects taken two at a time is given by P(3,2) 3!/(3 - 2)! 6/1 6. This matches exactly what we obtained by listing all of the permutations. The number of combinations of a set of three objects taken two at a time is given by: C(3,2) 3!/[2!(3-2)!] 6/2 3. Again, this lines up exactly with what we saw before. The formulas definitely save time when we are asked to find the number of permutations of a larger set. For instance, how many permutations are there of a set of ten objects taken three at a time? It would take awhile to list all the permutations, but with the formulas, we see that there would be: P(10,3) 10!/(10-3)! 10!/7! 10 x 9 x 8 720 permutations. The Main Idea What is the difference between permutations and combinations? The bottom line is that in counting situations that involve an order, permutations should be used. If the order is not important, then combinations should be utilized.

Cutting the budget to the education system will do more harm than good Essay

Cutting the budget to the education system will do more harm than good - Essay Example The recent case of the state of California grants insight into the immediate impact of budget cuts on education systems. As of 2009 the California government had enacted budget cuts of about 12 billion, with an additional 1.2 billion proposed (O’Connell). This has led to â€Å"class-size increases in Pasadena† and â€Å"the expected laying off of 2250 teachers,† both linked to lower graduation rates (O’Connell). The consequences, however, reach farther than immediate effects on classroom quality and graduation. Lower education rates seem to lead to lower economic performance. According to Business Weekly, even at current rates decreases in educational performance could lead to a cut of as much as 2% of GDP due to changes in demographics and expected graduation rates (Symonds). With the growth of global markets and the precedence placed on economic performance in the burgeoning economic powerhouses of India and China, for instance, the United States must wo rk harder to compete. Symonds warns of the possibility of â€Å"more US white collar jobs [moving] offshore† as high school graduation rates in the US’ competitors increase. We cannot neglect the other side of the budget cuts.

Businese Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Businese Law - Essay Example By this time Karter had not parted with the money to purchase the paintings. Therefore Karter purchases the paintings knowing very well that Jimmy had repudiated his offer and was not going to make any good payment of them. 1 In Dickinson Vs Dodds, 1876, the defendant gave the plaintiff a written offer to sell him his house for 800 on Wednesday. The offer was to be left open until next Friday 9 a.m. On Thursday the defendant sold the house to someone else. On that very evening, the plaintiff was told of the sale by a third party, but before 9 a.m. on Friday the plaintiff delivered his acceptance to the defendant which the defendant refused to receive. It was held by the court that there was a proper revocation of the offer and the plaintiff could not accept it. 2 Even though Karter had revoked his offer of purchasing the paintings, the revocation / refusal was not procedurally done legally. Under the rules governing any revocation of an offer, that withdrawal must be committed to the person to whom it was made. It means that had Karter not taken the initiative of calling Jimmy would have continued to be silent of his withdrawn intention to purchase the paintings. 3 On the other hand, Karter would be to blame because he had acted outside the agreed terms of their agreement with Karter. According to their agreement Jimmy had expressly told Karter not to spend more than $ 1,000 USD. These terms were very certain but Karter ignored them and purchase paintings worth $5,000 USD. The expression by Jimmy to Karter to only spend $1,000 USD was in fact a term that was too "heavy" to be overlooked. This is because: - (a) Jimmy would not have entered into the contract if the statement was not made. The statement was important because it showed the maximum amount of money that he had and which he was willing to spend on paintings. (b) The statement was made immediately alongside the other agreements meaning that the representer highly regarded its importance. But Karter can still argue that he had thought that the statement was not a term of the contract since it was not followed by a written agreement. Jimmy could have reduced his oral expression into writing. Though he did not expressly state that he could not purchase the paintings if they cost over $1,000 USD, it was implied that he was not going to spend over $1,000 USD in paintings. These are implied terms that parties probably had in mind but did not bother to express. They have to be implied by the courts. Additionally, the parties would have expresses this agreement in writing if they had foreseen the difficulty occurring. Such terms the parties could have expressed in writing had they seen the difficulties are implied by the courts because of the court's view of fairness or public policy. Vincent acted in good faith in selling his painting and cannot be held responsible. He was made to believe in statements that were not true. He was in fact misrepresented by Karter who told him that he had been authorized to purchase the painting on behalf of Jimmy. Misrepresentation renders the contract voidable at the option of the innocent party. The statement was made are the time the contract was made and it induced Vincent into the contract. 4 Vincent could not have entered into the contract if: - (i) He knew that Karter's statement was false. (ii) He would have made the contract despite the misrepresentation. (iii) He did not know that there had been a misrepresentation i.e. after entering into the

Shared Talking Styles Essay Example for Free

Shared Talking Styles Essay Communications General Communications Use the ProQuest database to locate and read the article entitled, â€Å"Shared Talking Styles Herald New and Lasting Romance†. Then, visit the Language Style Matching website and, using sample written communication between you and another person, follow the directions on the website to retrieve your language style matching score. Write a two-page paper (excluding title and reference pages) about your thoughts on this article and your language style matching score. In your paper, be sure to address the following: Do you think the results provide by the Language Style Matching website are accurate? Why or why not? Do you believe that language style matching is a comprehensive way to predict the quality of interpersonal relationships? Find a bank that offers free savings and checking accounts. Look around and go with an establishment that works often with students and doesnt charge you extra for a bunch of little things. Ask questions and find out if you can bank online so that you can manage your money when it is convenient for you.

Grapes Of Wrath Essay -- essays research papers

The Grapes of Wrath   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, a remarkable novel that greatly embodied the entire uprisal of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. The usage of imagery and symbolism help to support his many different themes running through the course of the novel. His use of language assisted in personifying the many trials and tribulations which the Joad family, and the rest of the United States, was feeling at the time. This was a time of great confusion and chaos because no one really knew what the other was going through, they were all just trying to hold their own. To display the many sides of the depression Steinbeck developed the use of intercallorie chapters, and he also manipulated them to posses many other functions; all of these adding to the many images and themes which he was insistent upon getting across to his readers, using a vast collection of techniques. One of Steinbeck’s favorite uses of language was the use of imagery. He used colors, animals, and people as his main sources of imagery. The most reoccurring images of color were red and grey. He used this to develop the reader into sensing the harshness, and yet the incredible dullness of the scenery, using red as the sun and grey as the land, at times interchanging. â€Å"In the grey sky a red sun appeared, a dim red circle that gave a little light, like dusk; and as that day advanced the dusk slipped back toward darkness, and the wind cried and whimpered over the fallen corn†(5). Steinbeck used his color imagery to display the almost separation of the two different worlds between the land, symbolically and literally.â€Å" †¦the grey country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover†(3). His use of red and grey represent the slow wearing away of the land and its people. â€Å"The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country, and white in the grey country.† This shows the way the earth was washed out and dimming under the abuse of the cotton farming, which stripped the land. Later in the story, Steinbeck continued his use of simple color imagery, typically describing the sun, dust and light. â€Å"†¦there was a layer of dust in the bed, and the hood was covered in dust, and the headlights were obscured with a red flour. The sun was setting w... ... Joads were taking to California was similar to the journey that the Jewish people made to the promised land, however California did not hold the opportunity that was promised, and many people left. Jim Casey is often compared to Jesus Christ, leading his 12 deciples to the promised land. For one he did not lead the family-Ma Joad did. He also was not leading them out of a belief in himself of anyother mystical idea. He just joined them for the ride. Another thing is, is that although Jim Casey died for his cause he did not preach anything remotely similar to Jesus Christ, unless that was the point-he was supposed to represent a neo-Jesus, and did not do his pilgrimage the same way. Basically, while their were many symbols along the way for the story to be taken as a allegory, it seems silly that it would be due to the fact that it would take away the powerfulness of the book. Many readers do not want to have to take the journey of the Joad’s and flip it all around and rui n it so that it becomes allegorical to others. It seems better and much more effective to society that The Grapes of Wrath is an allegory to life’s journeys and is a powerful representation of the time period.

Social Class Essay

When sociologists talk of social class, they refer to a group of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of production. Within that system occupation is very important because it provides financial rewards, stability and benefits like healthcare.Social classes are very complex, but â€Å"the relationship between power and wealth is undeniable.† (Marger 40) People can change the social class they are in, but it is not simply one factor that determines one’s social class. Occupation, income, wealth, education, and status are all major factors that can help determine which of the five social classes a person belongs. An individual can change his or her social class if they have the desire to do soMany sociologists suggest five:Upper Class – EliteRepresent institutional leadership, heads of multinational corporations, foundations, universities Capitalist elite – owners of lands, stocks and bonds and other assets – wealth derived from what they own Forbes magazine publishes a list of the 400 wealthiest families in America. In 1997, net worth had to be at least $475 million.Bill Gates, in that year, had net worth pf 39.8 billion. Of all the wealth represented on the Forbes list, more than half is inherited. Newly acquired wealth, nouveau riche, have vast amounts of money but not often accepted into â€Å"old money† circles.Upper Middle ClassRepresent scientific and technical knowledge – engineers, accountants, lawyers, architects, university faculty, managers and directors of public and private organizations. Have both high incomes and high social prestige. Well-educated. Difficult to define a â€Å"middle class† (i.e. upper middle, middle middle and lower middle) probably the largest class group in the United States – because being middle class is more that just income, about lifestyles and resources, etc.Lower Middle Class Clerical-administrative Provide support for professional s Engage in data collection., record-keeping Paralegals., bank tellers, sales Blue-collar workers in skilled trades Working Class Craft workers Laborers in factories Restaurant workers Nursing home staff Repair shops, garages Delivery services Poor Working poor – work full-time at wages below poverty line Social services UnderclassSocial class is one of the most important concepts that sociologists discuss and yet its definition is often illusive. There are two classical sociologists who are most important in the discussions about class .Karl Marx and Max Weber have different views upon social class in contemporary societies. In Karl Marx's perspective, social class has a two-class system whereas Max Weber argued that social class has three dimensions of stratification: class, status and party And what is frustrating about both is that they did not produce a viable definition of the things that they wrote extensively about.Karl Marx: 1818-1883 Karl Marx argued there are two major social classes, the ruling class who own the means of production and the subject class, who don't own the means of  production and are a diverse group of people controlled by and working for the ruling class. These two groups are better known as the bourgeoisie and proletariat. In particular, the bourgeoisie use a mode of production, in the form of capitalism, to oppress the proletariat. Whereby the owners of production (bourgeoisie) use the (proletariat) workers labour to produce their surplus value. In turn they pay their workers the smallest amount possible to make a profit, thus exploiting the working class.The defining factor in what makes them a separate class is the bourgeoisie's ownership of the means of production, not their wealth, because they don't produce the surplus value, the proletariat do. The bourgeoisie only appropriate the surplus. In essence the bourgeoisie are a ‘class for itself' whereas the proletariat are a ‘ class in itself'. Marx identifies that the reason we have classes is due to a group sharing a common interest and economic position. The bourgeoisie own the capital of land, machinery and raw materials. Whereas the proletariat own nothing, they can only sell their labour power in an attempt to survive and provide for their families. This in turn results in the social/power relations between the bourgeoisie and proletariat.Max Weber: 1864 – 1920 While Weber agrees with Marx's theory of the class distinction between the bourgeoisie and proletariat, he is more interested in the individual's market value. For Weber, an individual's class position is determined by their current market value. This market value is established by the individual's level of education, natural talent, skills and acquired knowledge. With these skills the individual is opened to numerous life chances and opportunities to further their career and increase their standard of living. Their market value equals their economic gain. Market value is defined by their ability to market themselves to a particular job opportunity. For instance, a university degree makes an individual more marketable and as such they have greater chances to work in their preferred field. They are given greater financial rewards and in turn move up the social ladder.Consequences of social classDifferent consumptions of social goods is the most visible consequence of class. In modern societies it manifests as income, inequality, through the subsistence societies it manifested as malnutrition and periodic starvation. The conditions at work vary greatly depending on class. Those in the upper-middle class and middle class enjoy greater freedom in their occupations. They are generally more respected, enjoy more diversity and are able to exhibit some authority. Those in lower classes tend to feel more alienated and have lower work satisfaction overall. The physical conditions of the work place differ greatly between classes. While middle class workers may † suffer alienating conditions† or † lack of job satisfaction†, blue-collar workers suffer alienating , often routine, work with obvious physical health hazards, injury and even death.In the more social sphere, class has direct consequences on lifestyle. Lifestyle includes tastes, preferences, and general style of living. These lifestyles could quite possibly affect education attainment, and therefore status attainment. Class lifestyle also affects how children are raised. For example, a working class person is more likely to raise their child to be a working class and middle class are more likely to be raised in middle- class. This perpetuates the idea of class for future generations.Since social class is often self-reported, it is difficult to assure the accuracy of the information collected. Even if the data is accurate, social classes are not the same in each region or city. What constitutes upper class in one location may be middle class in another. The lack of consistency involved in researching social class accounts for the difficulty in using it as a reliable variable. Schools and the workplace are greatly influenced by social class.The look of employment is changing because workers can no longer expect to work their way up through a company. Many companies look outside of the company for people with the right educational background instead of hiring from within . This greatly limits the potential for advancement of workers  who lack formal education. For people to move up in the social hierarchy, they must obtain higher education. Instead of spending years at a lower level position, people are spending more time in school and moving directly into management. . Therefore at this day and age, more importance is givin to education in order for one to work his way up the social ladder.

Marketing Management paper Essay

Questions: 1. Explain how Marketing affects the outcome of the financial equation: Sales-Expense=Profit. What risk the company might be facing in this equation with regards to marketing? Expound on the importance of marketing in sustaining business growth. (5 points.) In the equation, Sales-Expense=Profit, activities done in Marketing can be said or considered as marketing expenses that includes advertising costs, promotions, PR events and Marketing Research costs (e.g. FGD, etc.). Through the income statement, we can get the Profit or Revenue and costs or expenses. These may include the costs of marketing the product or services with other costs that is deducted from the amount of sales or total sales. The idea is to increase the revenue while costs are incurred through marketing activities. However, in order to achieve this, marketing activities must be done effectively and the costs or expenses should be managed correctly in order to create good results. Marketing activities that are not managed properly may incur additional costs to the company and continue on to increase. This is especially applicable to companies with different product portfolios and margins, wherein they can incur losses once the profitability of a product decreases. Read more:  What is New Public Management? 2. Why do companies resort to market segmentation? Explain why or how segmentation can be an effective market entry/penetration strategy. Give an example not discussed in the class. (10 points) Better matching of customer needs Customer needs differ. Creating separate offers for each segment makes sense and provides customers with a better solution. Enhanced profits for business Customers have different disposable income. They are, therefore, different in how sensitive they are to price. By segmenting markets, businesses can raise average prices and subsequently enhance profits Better opportunities for growth Market segmentation can build sales. For example, customers can be encouraged to â€Å"trade-up† after being introduced to a particular product with an introductory, lower-priced product Retain more customers Customer circumstances change, for example they grow older, form families, change jobs or get promoted, change their buying patterns. By marketing products that appeal to customers at different stages of their life (â€Å"life-cycle†), a business can retain customers who might otherwise switch to competing products and brands Target marketing communications Businesses need to deliver their marketing message to a relevant customer audience. If the target market is too broad, there is a strong risk that (1) the key customers are missed and (2) the cost of communicating to customers becomes too high / unprofitable. By segmenting markets, the target customer can be reached more often and at lower cost Gain share of the market segment Unless a business has a strong or leading share of a market, it is unlikely to be maximizing its profitability. Minor brands suffer from lack of scale economies in production and marketing, pressures from distributors and limited space on the shelves. Through careful segmentation and targeting, businesses can often achieve competitive production and marketing costs and become the preferred choice of customers and distributors. In other words, segmentation offers the opportunity for smaller firms to compete with bigger ones. 3. What can be a good segment to target for a facial care product? Why? What can be a compelling consumer insight and your corresponding value proposition? Illustrate your brand DNA diagram and prepare a positioning statement and a tagline. Outline your IMC campaign. (15 points) Segment – Facial products made especially for men Customer insight – There are many facial products available in the market but focused only on female needs, including anti-ageing products. Facial care products for men are very limited as not all facial care companies delve into the market. However, due to the growing number of men getting more conscious of their appearance, they look for products that are made especially for us. This is also because Men’s skin differs from Ladies thus their skin needs differ. Value proposition – â€Å"Complete men’s facial care regime line: products range from facial soaps, scrubs, non-alcohol based cleansers, and facial lotions. Brand DNA: Category – Facial care for men Character – Clear and Clean for the real man Credibility – Should be tested and approved by Dermatologists and Dermatological Institutes Benefit – Complete men facial regimen: Cleans and Clears the face, while moisturizing he skin. Difference – Made especially for men and men’s skin. Positioning statement – The Product For men of different ages and skin types which provides clear and moisturized skin. Taglin – â€Å"Complete facial regimen for the new man†Ã‚  IMC campaign: TV Advertisements, Newspapers, Men’s Magazines, Bus posters. Storyboard – A construction worker, after a long day building a wall is then seen by his co-workers using a facial wash for women. Co-workers laugh when they see the man has a white face after washing. Co-worker gives the man the facial care product for men. 4. Assuming that you are hired as a marketing manager of a publication company. Your primary task is to develop a new magazine that has a strong  market potential. a. What type of magazine will it be? b. Who will be your target market? c. Estimate or extrapolate the market value potential. What should be the subject mix (topics) of your magazine to attract and sustain readers? d. How will you promote this new magazine? e. What can be a good name for your new magazine? f. Develop DNA diagram and the positioning statement including the tagline. g. What are your pricing and distribution strategies? (20 points) 5. Hair Salons are almost in every corner, be it commercial or residential area. David’s Salon is one of the successful salon chains in the country that is targeting the mid-end of the market. A new phenomenon however took shape in recent years in the form of F Salon Chain and Reyes Cutters that are charging very low fee for a haircut (45.00-50.00 pesos only). For a while the two salons have mushroomed until they suddenly lost esteem. Assuming, you have the capital to establish a hair salon chain, how will you build your brand? Discuss your 7-P strategies. Make sure you provide a brand name and a tagline for your hair salon chain. (20 points.) Brand name: â€Å"Hairline, Careline† Tagline: â€Å"hairline, gone in 60 minutes† People: Adults with receding hairlines. Only a handful of salons or barbershops really focus on people with hairloss or receding hairlines. Product: A line of hair salons especially for individuals losing hair – services would involve scalp treatments, scalp massages and mainly haircuts that hide hair-loss and receding hairlines. Price: Haircut – Php 150; Massage – 200; Scalp treatments – 200-300 (depending on the treatment: e.g. spa or menthol) Placement: SM Malls, Robinsons malls (non-high end malls) Process: Customers come in and is assisted by the front desk for introduction of services. Customer chooses the service. An expert to that service is provided to the customer. Promotion: Newspaper ads, TV commercials, Flyering activities and on-line advertisements and postings on websites like  SULIT.COM, and/or Coupon websites like CASHCASHPINOY. 6. Illustrate the Marketing process that was introduced to the class. Discuss each of the steps in this process including their respective decision points/criteria. (20 points) Discovering / Identifying the Value Segmenting: Identify all possible segments Profiling: Determine the most vulnerable and profitable segment Targeting: Choose your target market Consumer Insighting: Gain consumer insights through research, focus group discussions and/or surveys. Value Offering: Determine your value which is relevant and distinct. This becomes your unique selling proposition. Creating the Value Product Concept: Determine product type, line, depth. Product Development: Determine the features and attributes of your products and how to improve it so that your value proposition will be realized. Branding: Determine Category, Character, Credibility, Benefit and Difference and an appropriate brand name. Positioning: Formulate what you want your target market to perceive about your product and how you want them to understand and accept your value proposition. Create a tagline. Pricing: Determine if higher, parity or lower based on mark-up, targeting or value pricing. Making the Value Accessible Distribution: Determine how you want to go to market (i.e. channels of distribution) Placement Channel Marketing Communicating the Value IMC: Determine how you want to promote your product. EMC 7. Discuss Ansoff’s Growth Matrix. Give examples. (10 points) The Ansoff Matrix, designed by Igor Ansoff, classifies and explains different growth strategies for a company. This matrix is used by companies which have a growth target or a strategy of specialization. This tool, crossing products and markets of a company, facilitates decision making. The Ansoff matrix offers four strategies to achieve the objectives. Market Penetration Trying to make a greater share of an existing market with an existing product. This could involve product re-launch or increasing brand awareness. For example, Ipods can be used for file storage as well, this gained them market share in the storage devices market. Product Development Develop new products to target the company’s existing market segments. For example, Coca Cola introduced Coke Zero and Coke Cherry. Market Development Finding or creating new markets by targeting new parts of the market or by expansion into different markets. For example, San Miguel introduced San Mig Zero targeting the health conscious people that wanted lesser calories but still enjoy beer. Product Diversification Seeking to create or develop new products, lines or product ranges for new markets. For example, when Apple introduced the IPad tablet, which revolutionized how people work and manage taske with tap and swipe on the screen. Existing Products New Products Existing Markets Market Penetration Product Development New Markets Market Development Diversification 8. Discuss BCG Matrix/Grid (10 points) The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix is a simple tool to assess a company’s position in terms of its product range. Question Marks Question marks are products that grow rapidly and as a result consume large amounts of cash, but because they have low market shares they don’t generate much cash. The result is a large net cash consumption. A question mark has the potential to gain market share and become a star, and eventually a cash cow when the market growth slows. If it doesn’t become a market leader it will become a dog when market growth declines. Question marks need to be analyzed carefully to determine if they are worth the investment required to grow market share. Stars Stars generate large sums of cash because of their strong relative market share, but also consume large amounts of cash because of their high growth rate. So the cash being spent and brought in approximately nets out. If a star can maintain its large market share it will become a cash cow when the market growth rate declines. Dogs Dogs have a low market share and a low growth rate and neither generate nor consume a large amount of cash. However, dogs are cash traps because of the money tied up in a business that has little potential. Such businesses are candidates for divestiture. Cash Cows As leaders in a mature market, cash cows exhibit a return on assets that is greater than the market growth rate – so they generate more cash than they  consume. These units should be ‘milked’ extracting the profits and investing as little as possible. They provide the cash required to turn question marks into market leaders. 9. Discuss Product Life Cycle (10 points) The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is used to map the lifespan of a product. There are generally four stages in the life of a product. These four stages are the Introduction stage, the Growth stage, the Maturity stage and the Decline stage. The Four Stages of the Product Life Cycle 1. Introduction: The Introduction stage is probably the most important stage in the PLC. In fact, most products that fail do so in the Introduction stage. This is the stage in which the product is initially promoted. Public awareness is very important to the of a product. If people don’t know about the product they won’t go out and buy it. There are two different strategies you can use to introduce your product to consumers. You can use either a penetration strategy or a skimming strategy. If a penetration strategy is used then prices are set very high initially and then gradually lowered over time. This is a good stategy to use if there are few competitors for your product. Profits are high with this strategy but there is also a great deal of risk. If people don’t want to pay high prices you may lose out. The second pricing strategy is a skimming strategy. In this case you set your prices very low at the beginning and then gradually increase them. This is a good strategy to use if there are alot of competitors who control a large portion of the market. Profits are not a concern under this strategy. The most important thing is to get you product known and worry about making money at a later time. 2. Growth: If you are lucky enough to get your product out of the Introduction stage you then enter this stage. The Growth stage is where your product starts to grow. In this stage a very large amount of money is spent on advertising. You want to of telling the consumer how much better your product is than your competitors’ products. There are several ways to advertise your product. You can use TV and radio commercials, magazine and newspaper ads, or you could get lucky and customers who have bought your product will give good word-of-mouth to their friends/family. If you are successful with your advertising strategy then you will see an increase in sales. Once your sales begin to increase you share of the market will stabilize. Once you get to this point you will probably not be able to take anymore of the market from your competitors. 3. Maturity: The third stage in the Product Life Cycle is the maturity stage. If your product completes the Introduction and Growth then it will then spend a great deal of time in the Maturity stage. During this stage sales grow at a very fast rate and then gradually begin to stabilize. The key to surviving this stage is differentiating your product from the similar products offered by your competitors. Due to the fact that sales are beginning to stabilize you must make your product stand out among the rest. 4. Decline: This is the stage in which sales of your product begin to fall. Either everyone that wants to has bought your product or new, more innovative products have been created that replace yours. Many companies decide to withdrawal their products from the market due to the downturn. The only way to increase sales during this period is to cut your costs reduce your spending. 10. How can Marketing help in nation building? What marketing concept(s) can be more useful for nation building? (5-point bonus) Nation building can be done through promotion of the wonders of the Philippines using advertisements that can be shown using international programs such as CNN and BBC. Commercials that would emphasize the talents of the people, as well as promote investments of foreign companies or investors. References: http://www.tutor2u.net/business/marketing/segmentation_why.asp http://www.nku.edu/~issues/internet_marketing/newwebpage1.html http://www2.accaglobal.com/documents/boston_consulting.pdf http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/Ansoff-matrix.html

Lotus Rental Car essays

Lotus Rental Car essays With fuel costs rising, Alternative Fuel Vehicles are becoming more and more attractive to the consumer. After thorough research, it is our opinion that Lotus Car Rental Corporation should invest in the purchase of a small fleet of these cars in a test marketing effort. Lotus Rental Car can reduce expenses and increase their customer base by adding alternative fuel vehicles to their fleet. A wide variety of alternative fuels, excluding gasoline and diesel-for powering vehicles, exist. Some vehicles can be special ordered from the manufacturer, already adapted to accommodate these alternate fuels. In the case of hybrid cars, no special order is needed as models have been on the market since 1999 and are increasing in popularity. In the non-commercial arena, hybrid vehicles and 100% electric fuel vehicles are more widely used than other alternate fuel vehicles at this time. Commercially, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has become very popular especially in the public transportation industry. According to the "Transit Resource Guide" a publication of the American Public Transportation Association, "As of January 2001, approximately 25% or all new buses on order in the U.S. are natural gas-powered" (apta.com, 2003). Many of those municipalities ordering them are striving for a 100% conversion. Compressed natural gas, propane, methanol, and ethanol are growing in popularity as fuel sources, as more vehicles are being made that can burn them. Today we understand that the wholesale burning of petroleum cannot continue forever. As the new century opens, alternative fuel vehicles are becoming more and more common. Major manufacturers such as Ford, Daimler/Chrysler, and Fiat now offer dual fuel cars and trucks. These vehicles allow a choice between electric, hybrid, bio-diesel, and compressed natural gas (CNG) for cleaner emissions. Other large manufacturers such as General Motors, Toyota, and Honda are concentrating on electric...

Bats Essay Research Paper BatsINTRODUCTIONThere are an

Bats Essay, Research Paper Bats Introduction There are an countless sum of carnal species in the universe. They all hold adapted and evolved to last in their milieus. Some have grown fives, others legs, and still others wings. One of the animate beings that has grown wings is the chiropteran. The chiropteran is a genuinely great animal. It has all the features of mammals while besides possessing the accomplishment in flight of a bird. There are more than 800 species of chiropterans in the universe. They are of many different sizes, forms, and life styles. They live all over the universe and have drawn the wonder of 1000000s. Bats besides have the alone quality of echo sounding that it uses to catch insects. Though other mammals, like the winging squirrel seem to wing but really glide the chiropteran is the lone mammal that can truly fly ( Lauber 1 ) . A Bat? s Body Due to the great assortment of species of chiropterans some features vary greatly but the Little Brown Bat is a good illustration of a chiropteran. It has fur on its organic structure, big bare ears, its rear legs have claws, it has a tail membrane, and it has the most distinguishing characteristic of a chiropteran, wings ( Lauber 9 ) . The upper arm of the chiropteran is short while the forearm is really long. The carpus is really little and from it comes the pollex and the four longer fingers. The pollex is short and used for mounting or walking. The fingers are long and thin. Interlocking the fingers is the wing. This set up of holding the fingers in the flying gives the chiropteran astonishing flight manoeuvrability ( Honders 22 ) . These castanetss expression similar to a human manus. They are connected by rubbery tegument to the chiropteran # 8217 ; s organic structure enfolding all the fingers but the pollex ( Bats in CT 1 ) . Echolocation Bats have a # 8220 ; 6th sense # 8221 ; called echo sounding. This was foremost proved by Donald Griffin. Bats produce supersonic sound moving ridges and so utilize the reverberation of the returning sound to feel the universe around them and in peculiarly to catch insects. These sounds are normally out of the worlds range of hearing ( Fellman 42 ) . This system is similar to that of mahimahis. The sound is in the signifier of chinks that increase as the chiropteran gets closer to the insect or whatever it is tracking ( Bats in CT ) . Unlike worlds most insects can hear the chiropteran # 8217 ; s echo sounding sounds. David D. Yager of the University of Maryland has found that the praying mantid has used this to its advantage. When being pursued by a chiropteran the mantid can hear the chinks of the chiropteran behind it and to avoid being eaten goes into a series of evasive manoeuvres. First they extend their bow limbs and so widen their venters that stops them. Then they go into a honkytonk traveling twice their usual velocity and if still being pursued will crash into the land to avoid being eaten. This and other insects besides use hearing to their advantage ( Amato 781 ) . Moths besides do astonishing manoeuvres in efforts of flight similar to the mantid. Tiger moths even make their ain supersonic chinks. It is non known whether these are to galvanize the chiropteran or to warn it that the moth is unsavory. Despite the insects great attempts to foil the chiropteran? s sonar the chiropteran still gimmicks its quarry more than 50 % of the clip ( Fellman 93 ) . Some chiropterans even have different frequences than insects can hear. The competition between insects and chiropterans will travel on everlastingly because they will counter each others counter steps of how an animate being can germinate to how astonishing abilities. Bats have evolved to wing, utilize echo sounding, hibernate, slumber in the twenty-four hours, bent by their pess, and many other things that single species have developed. Some big chiropterans, called fruit bats, are even thought by some scientists to be closely related to Primatess because of their similar encephalon tissue. Bats are extremely evolved animate beings that hold astonishing features. ( Edward gibbons 1992, Bailey et Al. 1992 ) HIBERNATION AND MIGRATION The nutrient of chiropteran normally becomes scarce during winter months so some chiropterans hibernate while others migrate ( Honders 75, Bourliere 95 ) . When chiropterans migrate they normally move from the South to far north during the summer and they return during the autumn. Bats that hibernate prepare for the winter by acquiring fat in fall. Then they fall into a slumber more utmost than their normal day-to-day slumber. As in most animate beings, when hole uping their major bodily maps, such as heart-rate and external respiration, are suppressed greatly. Bats are known to disrupt their hibernation because they have been seen in the winter. Disturbing chiropterans during hibernation can be really destructive ( Pistorius 94 ) . This is because the chiropterans have a limited supply of energy. The energy used when the chiropteran is awake is immense compared to that when it is hole uping. Bats arise on juncture anyhow to prepare, or sometimes take a flight exterior, and even to travel to colder topographic points, where they can last with lower metamorphosis and salvage energy. Repeated waking ups can ensue in famishment in the late winter from deficiency of energy shops. In an utmost instance in Kentucky, during the 1960? s where a cave was a tourer attractive force, the population of 100,000 chiropterans starved to decease after being awakened so many times. Reproduction Bats have internal fertilisation and give birth to extremely full-blown immature like worlds ( Lauber, Honders 75, Ezzel 92 ) . Most chiropterans merely have one babe a twelvemonth. The chiropterans mate in the roost and hold small or no wooing. The pregnant female parents form separate nursing settlements from the others. Some species like the Mexican free-tailed chiropteran, who migrate instantly after copulating, produce a secernment that preserves the male? s sperm until they reach their new roost. When their babe is being born the female parent bents by her pollexs to a tree subdivision. Its tail membrane acts as a cradle and the babe is born into it tail foremost. Then the female parent bents by one wing and cleans the babe with the other. IT is so attached to the female parent? s nipple where it will keep on during flight. In some species the babe is left at the roost when the female parent is runing, in others the babe is taken along. In the species that carry their immature finally the babe grows to large for the female parent and is left in the roost. The chiropteran so learns to fly and Hunt its quarry by itself ( Lauber ) . SPECIALIZED BATS Some chiropterans have developed particular ways of accommodating to their milieus. Though most chiropterans eat insects some provender on fruit, nectar, little craniates, fish, and blood ( Bourliere 95 ) . The chiropterans that eat fruit aid scatter seeds by eating fruit and so dropping the seeds in their dungs during flight. Those that imbibe nectar act like hummingbirds pollenating flowers ( Warning from Bat Conservation International 91 ) . Bats that eat little craniates along with insects and fruit are frequently called false lamias. These chiropterans eat lizards, tree toads, birds, gnawers, and smaller chiropterans. They kill their quarry by utilizing thier strong jaws and dentitions to interrupt their cervix. These chiropterans have merely about a two pes wingspreads so thier prey tends to be little. Bats that catch fish fly merely above the H2O and catch the fish with its hind pess and utilize its crisp claws to keep it. It so maneuvers the fish to kill it by seize with teething it ( Novick 73 ) . The most celebrated of chiropterans is likely the lamia. The lamia chiropteran drinks the blood of big craniates, to make this they have developed big incisors, a specialised lingua, and specialized spit to forestall blood from coagulating, and they are able to travel rapidly on the land in the instance of its quarry waking up and it is excessively full to wing off ( Honders 75 ) .

Western Cultural Influence on Japanese Artistry Essay

Western Cultural Influence on Japanese Artistry - Essay Example Between the Meiji Restoration in the latter half of the 19th century and the Taisho Era prior to the First World War, Japanese culture was significantly changed due to Western influence and the styles of traditional Japanese art were changed or largely abandoned for Western artistic techniques. During the period of Japanese isolation, artists were inspired to draw from their own cultural history and to create artwork based on the development of traditional techniques. Their work was heavily influenced by religious beliefs such as Buddhism and the Yoga lifestyle; after Western cultures were introduced to the nation, artists would study abroad and bring home classic European techniques such as impressionism, post-impressionism and eclecticism that would both stand alone and change the traditional Japanese techniques into new styles. During the early years of Western perception of Japanese art, many traditional styles were viewed as identical, due simply to the fact that European and North American audiences were not accustomed to them (Tipton, pp.53-55). While post-war Japan would be indisputably influenced by international cultures, it was the years of the Meiji Restoration and the Taisho era that started the artistic shift from traditional Japanese to modern Western styles. ... Aside from sculpting Buddhas and the development of early ceramic techniques that would become invaluable throughout the world, Japanese artists took quite easily to painting as a major form of art. The fact that calligraphy was in itself an art form, rendered not only for function but for beauty, had a direct hand in the large-scale development of Japanese painting because both involved the use of a brush. Brush skills were such a rudimentary part of Japanese life that it was second nature for artists to pick up a paintbrush and work on complete pictures instead of just characters. Because of this initial correlation between calligraphy and painting, one can easily see how the latter developed from the former. Japanese painting has traditionally utilized the same brush techniques as were necessary for the formation of calligraphy characters; these were further developed however the origins of such painting techniques can easily be discerned. Where traditional European painting was characterized by the use of the paintbrush to show objects in realistic form by making use of light and shading, Japanese painting formed as an offshoot of calligraphy and therefore objects were portrayed in a basic style that used individual lines in a form of impressionism. Artwork in the Edo Period, immediately prior to the Meija era, encompassed not only painting and ceramics, but architecture and woodblock prints. Stunning architectural styles were not only beautiful when standing alone, but they were created in conjunction with various gardens that were designed to showcase the buildings in the best light. Traditional Japanese architecture is internationally famed alongside the country's ceramics, silk weaving and other art forms, but perhaps most unique

The Brand Positioning and The Brand Perception of The Grand Hyatt New Dissertation

The Brand Positioning and The Brand Perception of The Grand Hyatt New York City Hotel - Dissertation Example As the report declares through a basic technical understanding about the life cycles of a product in the market, it can be seen that marketability and acceptance of the product in the market not only depends on the product design and benefits, but on several critical factors that the product has to accomplish in order to capture the attention of the target market and to continually get its support for competing successfully in the marketplace. Two of the most important factors that the product needs to have are a proper brand positioning and an appropriate brand perception. In this research several questionnaires and interviews are conducted to find out about the brand perceptions of customers and prospect customers of The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel in order to get primary data that are assessed in connection with the brand positioning of the hotel under study. In the same way, several questionnaires and interviews are conducted to find out about the brand positioning efforts of some key employees of The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, especially the marketing staff. These questionnaires and interviews are implemented with an unbiased perspective to a significant sample of customers, prospect customers and employees in order to gain valid, reliable and possibly even representative findings about the correlation between the brand positioning and the brand perception of The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel. ... In order to succeed with the branding efforts of an enterprise the powerful concepts of positioning and differentiation are critical factors that can determine the success or failure of a particular brand. But positioning is a battle that takes place in the mind of the consumers. So brand perception plays a very significant role in the war of positioning. In this research, the concept of The ID Branding Framework (Hahn, 2007b) is undertaken as a holistic model that sheds light about the core disciplines of branding (brand strategy, brand identity, brand management, and brand experience) as well as its various elements. This is an integrated model of branding that it is used with the fundamental concepts of brand positioning and brand perception in order to study the correlation between the brand positioning and the brand perception of The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel through a comprehensive literature review of secondary data and the use of questionnaires and interviews as primary data for gathering useful information about the opinions and insights of The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel's guests and prospects. The research findings reveal that there is a positive correlation among customers of The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, but at the same time there is a mild correlation among prospects due to the fact that the respondents most probably do not belong to the target market of The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel. This correlation can be enhanced with new branding efforts by The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel's staff and owners. In order to get a better position in the minds of guests and prospects it is necessary for The Grand Hyatt New York Hotel to make radical decisions. One of those decisions is related

Persuade speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Persuade speech - Essay Example Firstly, it should be discussed that the main reason that people traditionally opposed such a construct was due to the fact that there was a prevailing cultural norm surrounding premarital sex. Because of this, society of previous generations was not necessarily opposed to couples having the opportunity to get to know one another better prior to becoming married but more opposed to the implication that such an arrangement would necessarily lead to premarital sex between the two partners (Taiibi 1). However, it is the belief of this speech-giver that the practice is not only moral but extremely beneficial in helping the individuals in the relationship to determine the overall level of compatibility that they might share. Whereas the dating process is useful in coming to understand key elements of a person’s behavior, world view, attitude, and various other elements, each of these factors as well as many others can be much more plainly manifested when the couple chooses to live together prior to taking the step towards marriage (Jay 1). In this way, if there are any issues that have been covered up or successfully hidden from the other partner during the course of the dating process, it is highly likely that this will come into a much clearer focus once the couple begins living together. Additionally, living together gives both partners a very clear view of precisely what a marriage situation would be like with their partner. Moreover, rather than just a process within the dating game, the object of living together is meant to determine whether or not the relationship should proceed to a further step. Whereas emotions and hormones can oftentimes run wild and encourage young people to make lifelong mistakes by rushing into a marriage that they would ultimately become unhappy with, when the option of living together prior to marriage comes up, it

Product life cycle and its concept

Product life cycle and its concept All products and services have certain life cycles. The life cycle of a product, also known as PLC, is a model that illustrates the six different stages that a product/service will go through. The PLC shows the life of a product from its conception to its final withdrawal and each phase has its own characteristics and varies in length depending on the product/service. When a company introduces a new product in the market is very important to identify the six stages of its products life cycle because it has to take specific marketing actions in each stage in order to have the more profits it can. The understanding of the PLC can help the businesses to find out the right timing to introduce or withdraw a product from the market and realize whether their products are successful or not. THE HISTORY OF THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE AND ITS CONCEPT The product life cycle concept was developed in the 1950s and became very popular during the next decade. Up until now, it represents a core element of marketing theory and it is widely accepted because of its extensive applications. The PLCs concept can be applied to other theories such as new product development, portfolio analysis etc. The concept of PLC involves that: All products and services have a limited life similar to the human life (or the life of any other living organism). The product sales range. They pass through several and unique stages which pose certain challenges, opportunities and problems. The profits of a product/service range also. During different stages the profits are bound to rise or fall accordingly. Finally, at each stage of PLC, the firms must alter their strategies and their marketing in order for their product to be as profitable as it can. The product life cycle and its stages refer to three production levels: As far as it concerns a specific product (brand) of a company (e.g. Samsung captivate Galaxy S cell phone). A specific company that produces similar and parallel products (e.g. Samsung cell phones). And the whole industry. The group of companies that produce competitive products (e.g. the whole cell phone industry). The brands usually have shorter product life cycles. The products on the other hand, follow standard PLC, while the product categories (industries) have the largest PLCs and stay in maturity phase for a long time, sometimes indefinitely. THE PLC STAGES The products life cycle consists of six phases: Development Introduction Growth Maturity Saturation Decline Fig.1 3821925.gif PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PHASE The development phase begins when a company generates and develops a new product idea. Its a process that demands the translation of different kinds of information (market and consumers trends, competitors products, environmental analysis etc.) which will have to be organized, combined and incorporated into the new product. This product must pass several test market and laboratory tests (Beta testing) in order for the company to see if it will be profitable and if the customers will benefit from it. Only those products that survive the tests can be introduced into the real market. Its obvious that during the development stage the company does not have any sales or profit. INTRODUCTION PHASE The introduction phase begins with the launch of the product in the market. The company tries to promote the new product, develop a market for it and spends a great deal of money in order to achieve this. During this phase the sales generally are low and the profits of the company even tend to be sometimes negative (low sales, high unit costs). The companies produce a small amount of products and their employees must be highly educated. Expertise is needed now. There is little or no competition and there may be high skim pricing for the company to recover the development costs. Finally, the distribution is very selective until the consumers start showing acceptance of the product and start buying it. Sadly, most of the times, the new products fail this stage and the company must withdraw them early from the market. GROWTH PHASE The products that managed to pass the first two stages with flying colors can now proceed to the growth stage. Thats the most profitable stage for the firms. The product takes-off in the market place and the sales increase rapidly. Costs decline on a per unit basis and we have scale economies in production. Thats the time that the company wants to increase the market share and find loyal customers (brand loyalty). However, the success of the product draws the competitors attention. The pricing, which would have be maintained with little competition, starts changing. The company must now become the leader, indicate all the products offerings and differentiate the brand from those of competitors. Basically, the companies during this phase try to find sources of competitive advantage and establish position in the market. The promotion continues as well, but not in the same extend that was needed in the second phase and is also aimed at a broader audience. Finally, distribution channels are added since the product is now successful and the demand continues to increase. MATURITY PHASE Its the stage where the sales have reached to their maximum point (peak) and now start decreasing. The strong growth in sales diminishes and the competition becomes harsher. Now there is a plethora of similar products in the market and the first basic product becomes less wanted. However, if the company managed to achieve its market share goal, now is the time to enjoy the most profitable period. The maturity stage is a period that the firms try to extend their products life as we will show further down. During this stage, pricing strategies change and usually the companies lower their prices because of the new competition. Price wars start. Discounts, coupons, BOGOF offers etc. give an advantage to those who are leaders, helping them to withstand the crisis caused by the low prices. Promotion changes and focuses in finding new buyers. Emphasis is given to the product differentiation especially in terms of quality, use, reliability and price. The distribution becomes more intensive and the use of multi distribution channels begins. The phase of the maturity is a period that drives many companies to stop the production and withdraw (shake-out) since they cannot handle the competition. Its a phase that lasts for a long time and includes the majority of products (mature products of mature industries). SATURATION PHASE This phase usually is excluded because it has many characteristics of the maturity phase. However, the saturation stage is even more extreme. During this stage, sales are impossible to increase and the profits decline sharply. The competition becomes more and more austere and relentless and the customers now search for the low cost substitutes. Meanwhile, the quality of the similar products gradually rises and the previously new product straggles to keep up and not fade away. DECLINE PHASE This is the final stage. In the decline phase sales decrease rapidly either because new products are launched in the market or the buyers behavior starts to change. Its the time that the companies start to withdraw their products, minimize the promotion and lessen the distribution channels. Sometimes, the firms continue to sell their products in a lower price to their loyal customers but that cannot continue for a long time since ultimately the costs will exceed the profits. At this phase the firm has several options such as: To maintain the product by adding new features or by finding new uses of it (extension strategies). Sell the product to another company which is willing to continue the production. This is called divestment and basically refers to companies that want to associate the dying product with their production line or sell it to a different market. Harvest the product. With this option, the companies reduce costs and offer the product until they run out of stock. Most of the times the product is sold to the loyal customers who already know the product and the places where they can acquire it. The group of these loyal customers is also called Niche segment. Withdraw the product. (Sometimes this becomes a 7th phase called the abandonment phase). Fig.2productLifeCycle.gif Fig.3product_life_cycle-2-797072.gif Fig.4 (a PLC compared to the companys profits) product_lifecycle.jpg In the table bellow there is a summary of the strategies that the companies must follow in each product life cycle phase. The table has been taken from the book Strategic Industrial Marketing Development Phase Introduction Phase Growth Phase Maturity Phase Decline Phase Strategic Goal Make your product known and establish a test period Acquire a strong market position Maintain your market position and build on Defend market position from competitors and improve your product Milk all remaining profits from product Competition Almost not there Early entry of aggressive competitors into the market Price and distribution channel pressure Establishment of competitive environment Some competitors are already withdrawing from market Product Limited number of variations Introduction of product variations and models Improvement upgrade of product Price decrease Variations and models that are not profitable are withdrawn Price Goal High sale to middle men Aggressive price policy (decrease) for sales increase Re-estimation of price policy Defensive price policy Maintain price level for small profit Promotion Goal Creation of public market product awareness Reinforcement of product awareness and preference Reinforcement of middle men Maintain loyal to middle men Gradual decrease Distribution Goal Exclusive and selective distribution trough certain distribution channels and creation of high profit margins for middle men General and reinforced distribution through all distribution channels available General and reinforced distribution with good supply to the middle men but with low margins of profit for them General and reinforced distribution with good supply to the middle men but with low margins of profit for them Withdrawal from most channels of distribution except those used in development phase Source: Avlonitis G. THE DIVERSITY OF PRODUCT LIFE CYCLES Beside the usual and common product life cycle that we have just analyzed, there are some special categories. They are usually called alternative Product Life Cycles and appear very different PLC patterns. As the majority of products go through the normal six stages of their PLC, there are many that do not or will not follow them. These special categories of PLC are mainly five: the style, the fashion, the fad, the low learning and the high learning. However other PLC patterns are also the instant bust, the aborted introduction, the market specialty, the growth stump -maturity pattern, the cycle recycle pattern, the scalloped pattern etc. STYLE Style is a basic and distinctive model of expression appearing in a field of human endeavor. Once a style is invented it can last for generations Examples of Style appear in clothes, home art etc. FASHION Fashion is a currently accepted and popular style in a given field. It passes through four stages. The stage of distinctiveness, where some buyers approve something new and innovative that will characterize them. The stage of emulation, where other buyers approve this fashion in order to imitate the fashion leaders. The stage of mass fashion, where fashion becomes very popular and companies start producing in large quantities (mass production). The stage of decline, where the customers live behind the particular fashion and begin heading towards a new one. FAD Fads are fashions that rapidly appear to the consumers. They become accepted with great enthusiasm, peak early and decline very fast. Their acceptance cycle is very short and products that we will come across in this category are the tattoos or the body piercings. HIGH LEARNING PRODUCTS High learning products are products which have very long introductory phases. After their appearance in the market, they need time in order to become accepted either because they are complicated (require significant education of the customer) and expensive or simply because they are not compatible with the existing values of the society (e.g. Video phones, microwave ovens etc.). LOW LEARNING PRODUCTS Low learning products are the exact contrary of the high learning ones. Their introduction is very fast and some time it is difficult to separate the introductory and the growth stage. They peak rapidly because of their high relative advantage. The customer already knows how to use them and understands the benefits of having them. ALTERNATIVE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLES As we have already mentioned, there are also other product life cycles which do not exhibit a bell shaped PLC. Growth slump maturity pattern Its a pattern that usually comes up in new drugs. At the beginning, the products success leads to a high sale level but later slumps. After that point the sales fall to petrified level (other examples are the kitchen supplies like spoons, mixers, kitchen knives etc.). Cycle recycle pattern Cycle-recycle pattern often suits in the pharmaceutical industry. At start, the firm aggressively promotes the product. As a result sales grow producing the first cycle. After their peak, sales start declining and the firms give another promotion push in order to have other smaller growths which produce a second, third cycle and so on. The Scalloped pattern The scalloped pattern on the other hand, differs from the other two. Here sales go through a series of PLCs. This succession of life cycles is the result of good marketing. The company finds new uses of the product, discovers new future customers and sometimes the launches the product to new foreign markets. A great scalloped pattern example would be again a certain drug which company found new applications of it. Other Other alternative Product Life Cycles would be the Instant Bust, the Aborted Introduction, The Market Specialty and the Extended Life Cycle which is the most common type and we are going to analyze next. EXTENDING PLC EXTENSION STRATEGIES The life cycle of the products varies, as we have already mentioned, but sooner or later all products will eventually reach the maturity stage which will be followed by the decline stage. Since the most profitable period of the PLC is during the stages of growth and maturity, companies pay strong attention on the life cycle of their products and try hard to extend them especially as those life cycles near an end. This kind of extension can be achieved by operating certain strategies which usually are introduced during the maturity phase. The most usual and effective PLC extension strategies are the following: Re-Packaging Re-Branding Pricing Re-Designing Promotion New Markets RE-PACKAGING Re-packaging the product means basically that you alter the image of a mature product. The companies try to give a new image to their products in order to make them look more appealing to their existing customers and/or attract new customers. This slight alteration can be done by changing the materials, the size or the messaging on the package. Take for example a chocolate that a company has been selling for decades. Though the product was popular in the 1970s, the new generations will not buy it because is not as modern as they would like it to be. However, if the company changes it just a bit, then it can reach out to those people who will start buying it. RE-BRANDING Re-branding a product is a difficult extension strategy because the companies must change the packaging, the name and the total appearance of their product. This strategy is usually followed when the company wants to reach out to a different audience, target a different market. Take for instance a shampoo. The firm must consistently offer improved versions of this product to maintain the interest of its customers. Re-branding this product would mean giving it a fresh look and name and can involve developing comparative ads that explain how the product has changed and is now better than ever before. PRICING A widely used extension strategy is the re-designing of the products pricing strategy. This can be done by either reducing the products existing price, discounting, or by offering different pricing options. By using this technique, the companies reach out to target markets that couldnt afford the product, gain customers and sustain market share for the products that they offer. RE-DESIGNING Re-designing a mature product is actually the modification of the products features. This strategy is usually followed when the product must adapt to market changes or changes in buyers preferences (customers behavior). In order to do so, the companies, can change the color, the shape or the decoration of the product depending on what their target groups want. Additionally, the companies can add new features to a product providing alternative uses for it. These modifications must be noticeable to the buyer and satisfy his needs in a better way than before, or satisfy him in more ways. Finally, there are two types of value adding modifications: The retention type modification that increases the attractiveness of a product/service to the loyal customers of the company. The conquesting type modifications that allow a company to attract another companys loyal customers by increasing the appeal of its product/service to them. PROMOTION Promotion is used for every single product no matter the stage they are in. However when a product nears the end of its life cycle, the company tends to increase the advertising in order to increase awareness and remind customers the benefits of purchasing this product. The marketing departments can develop new advertising campaigns or stick to the old ones but increase the frequency of the ads. By using persuasive promotional techniques such as BOGOF (Buy One, Get One Free), companies try to stimulate demand. NEW MARKETS Companies can always expand abroad and launch in new markets. By expanding their products abroad, they can reach out to completely different customers (numerous cultural, social, political or geographical differences) and extend the PLC. This strategy can be very expensive since the market will be new and unknown, however, if its done properly, the product will be very profitable and wont fade away. To sum up, if the above product life extension strategies are done properly and be successful, then they can increase the profitable period of a product, generating additional profit from a mature or declining product. THE PROBLEMS OF PLC MODEL As mentioned above the standard PLC model is not followed by each and every product/service. In spite of the companies efforts, sometimes the poor marketing or the misunderstanding of the environments and the consumers messages can lead a product straight to the decline stage. Usually, the firms cannot predict the time that their product will need to go from one phase to another and sometimes they cannot even realize their products current stage. All these ultimately will lead the firm to take marketing actions too early or too late. Since every product is bound to spend different lengths of time in each stage there is no physical way of showing this on the PLC model. As Day (1981: 65) points out: The identification of the boundaries between phases will be affected by the variety of product life cycles patterns. The more variations of the PLC identified, the more difficult the positioning process becomes. Through the years, several scientists and authors have criticized the PLC model and have questioned its validity. In the table below we present some of those along with the problems that they found in this extraordinary model. Major criticisms and problems Authors The PLC concept has no practical use Levitt (1963: 93) It is still difficult to determine at which phase of the PLC a product or service is Levitt (1963: 93) Dhalla and Yuspeh (1976: 102-110) Grantham (1997: 9) The PLC concept has not yet been tested systematically Polli and Cook (1969: 385-400) The PLC led many companies to make costly mistakes and to neglect opportunities. It is often difficult to accurately determine in which phase of the PLC a product actually is. Shortcomings on the practical application of the PLC concept Dhalla and Yuspeh (1976: 102-110) There is still no evidence of the efficacy of the PLC as a tool to predict marketing strategy Dhalla and Yuspeh (1976: 102-110) Grantham (1997: 9) Most empirical studies testing the product life cycle concept have found that it lacks validity or usefulness for explaining sales growth Weber (1976: 125-132) The problem with the PLC concept is that sales are modeled primarily as a function of time and are expected to produce curves that display growth, leveling and decline Tellis and Crawford (1981: 125-132) In many markets the product or brand life cycle is longer than the actual planning life cycle or organizations Mercer (1993: 269-274) There is still serious doubt about the application of the product life cycle as a marketing tool Grantham (1997: 4) THE INVERTED PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE The inverted product life cycle was first invented by John A. Weber. Its a new framework that provides new aspects for viewing and understanding the possible growth opportunities for the organization. It is nothing more than the classic PLC concept. However, this inverse expands it into a detailed, inquisitive and intuitive tool for planning future growth. According to Weber the inverted product life cycle will help organizations to estimate the sales likely to result from taking advantage of available growth opportunities. The inverted PLC uses the industrys life cycle and not the products itself. It can be used in plenty ways such as to help the top management and the product line managers, assess alternative growth choices and international markets, separate the market segments etc. PRODUCT CANNIBALISM Product cannibalism is a phenomenon that appears when a company launches a new product, similar to other pre-existing ones, regardless of their market position. This is mostly due to the introduction of new technologies in the market, which makes cannibalism common among technologically advanced companies. When a firm decides to follow this strategy, it launches a new product to replace previews ones, which cannibalizes on the market share of its predecessors. The favorable case of cannibalism Product cannibalization has both a negative and a positive side. In a usual case of cannibalism, the improved product is introduced to the market when the older one reaches its peak sales. Prices for the new product are high, in order to sustain profit, as the previous version reaches the end of its life cycle. Sometimes, companies introduce a new product, before the existing one even reaches its maturity phase. It is important, for managers, to know exactly the right moment to introduce the new product, as mistimed actions can be catastrophic. The unfavorable case of cannibalism If cannibalism is implicated without caution, the results might be harmful for the company. These are: Smaller contribution to profit, as the new product sold at a lower price, does not yield as much profit as the previous one and does not expand the companys market share. Switching to a new product causes smaller combined profits from both products, compared to not cannibalizing. Changes in the manufacturing process may be too expensive to handle and cause a decrease in profit. A new product with higher risk may cause an unexpected rise in production cost and a decrease in profit margin. Offensive and Defensive Cannibalism strategies Product cannibalism can be used in order to hit the market leader, or repel competitive companies from stealing market share. Offensive cannibalism is useful when a company wishes to establish itself in a new market or expand its market share. For the market leader it is advisable not to cannibalize, until it is necessary. Companies should wait for the right moment, when they have developed or acquired technology allowing them to develop an innovative product. When competitors arise, they will be ready to quickly launch their new product, not only sustaining their market share, but increasing it as well as gaining larger profit. This is not always the case, as delays give competitors the opportunity to attack market share, before the leader is able to react. Defensive cannibalism strategies include: Cannibalizing before competitors, using proper timing. Early use of this strategy causes profits to drop, while late use causes a loss in market share. Using product cannibalism as a way to maintain a technological advantage over competitors. The market leader adjusts the length of the products life cycle this way. This is the case with Intel corp. cannibalizing its older processors in favor of new ones. Adjusting the cannibalization rate to pricing. The price of a new product determines the mix in sales between new and old. Giving the new product at a lower price causes cannibalization to be slow. In the opposite case, cannibalization becomes fast, as the new product is considered to be superior to the previous one. Minimizing cannibalization with the introduction of a new product to specific market segments. This strategy helps the company to maintain a balance between gain and loss in the market. Cannibalism and e-commerce Cannibalism is also common among companies that operate on the internet. Their strategy is to offer products at a lower price on the internet, compared to retail prices. Since buyers are affected by prices they choose to buy online, causing a reduction in volume for retail sales. Large companies such as Toys R Us (United States of America), have launched online ventures in order to achieve this result. THE PLC AND PRODUCT PORTFOLIO THE BCG MODEL Bruce Henderson of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has developed a matrix called BCG matrix. The BCG matrix is a portfolio planning model which is used to identify products, current and future market position, profitability, capital requirements and development opportunity. The BCG matrix is based on the theory of product life cycle and it is a well-known portfolio management tool. The BCG matrix is often used to know which products in company gets more funding and attention. Each product has its product life cycle and each phase in the product life cycle represents a different profile of risk and return. A company should retain a balanced portfolio of products that includes both high growth and low growth products. The high growth product is a new product that has to get to the market and it takes a lot of effort to get it there. The high growth products are those which are expected to bring the most profit in the future. A low growth product is already established and known by th e market. In other words these products are the milking cows that brings a constant cash flow. It is important for the companies to know what phase their products are in and in order to find this out they can use the BCG matrix. The model has four categories in a portfolio of a company. These four phases are: Star. If a product is placed in the category of stars it has a high growth and a high market share. The products are also those which are the leaders in the business but still they need to retain the market share with a lot of marketing and promotions. If the company manages to keep the market share the stars will grow into cash cows. The most important thing for a star product is to maintain the strong market position to later develop into a cash cow and try to avoid moving to a dog. Cash cow. When a product has reached a high market share in a mature market it becomes a cash cow. It is characterized by a low growth but a high market share. Due to the high market share there is no reason to invest on the product. A cash cow generates a lot of cash flow because of the high profit margins. This phase of the product life cycle is what every business strives for. Question mark. This phase of the products life cycle exists when the product enters the market and is waiting for the buyers to discover it. The strategy is to get the customer use the products. It is about a high growth and a low market share therefore question marks have high demands and low returns due to the low market share. If the managers do not manage to increase their market share these products will become dogs. When a product reaches this phase the company has to decide if they want to invest in it or to sell it. Dog. When a product has reached the low growth limit and when it has a low market share it is time for the company to remove the product from the market because expensive turn around plans do not help. One possibility the company has is to focus on a defensible niche. Generally, dogs should be avoided and minimized. These four steps of the BCG model can be compared to the model of the product life cycle. When the product life cycle is compared to the product portfolio concept, the marketing manager can take strategic decisions with greater certainty. We can compare the question mark phase to the introduction phase. When the product has evolved to become a star it has reached out to the market and also managed to get a strong market position. This can be compared to the phase of growth. After the period as a star the product turns to a cash cow which is also the maturity stage. Finally a declining product can also be called a dog. CONCLUSION The product life cycle model has been a central and crucial element of marketing theory for four decades. It has been helpful to marketers in their attempt to understand, conceive and analyze their products success and profitability and has proved itself to be an important research tool. Despite the criticism that it has received and the g