Behavioral Observations of Number of Items Bought in Chain Stores

Students: Egor Karpunin, 5006119 Dominika Majcher, 5028142 Behavioral observations of Number of items bought in chain stores by consumers according to their sex Assignment for the course â€Å"Consumer Behaviour† Introduction The general purpose of our study was to define, which part of the observed buyers (male or female) tends to buy more than 1 item. According to our assumptions, women buy more items than men. This could be a result of the women’s shopping nature.Usually women going to some shopping mall to buy, for example, the presents for Christmas (or even just doing shopping for themselves) for their relatives do not set a specific goal before actually go shopping. They just find some time and then decide to visit some shop. Then being already in the shop they choose to buy anything that seems attractive or could be somehow useful for those whom they buy the present. So this so-called „shopping strategy† means that at the same time they can like a lo t of things and buy not only one (for their husband or sun) but also for their friends, colleagues etc.They can also like some additional things like jewellery for the dress that they have just decided to buy. We can’t say the same about men’s shopping. Everybody tend to think that men do not like shopping. But actually when there are some who likes it or they just have to do it to make their couple (or kid, grandmother, colleague) fell â€Å"real† Christmas (etc. ) they go to the shop with an already defined objective. As a rule it means that they had already thought through the present itself in advance and now they just want to go to specific shop and buy one. But they also can buy several items in one shop.All in all we are going to confirm or reject our assumption. | Male Customers| Female Customers| | 1 Item| 24| 10| 34| 2 or more Items| 12| 34| 46| | 36| 44| 80| Procedure Our observation was made on Friday, December 7th, 2012, between 3 o'clock and 6 oâ⠂¬â„¢clock in the afternoon. We chose the time of Christmas shopping when everybody finished their work and a lot of people went to stores located in the city center. We went to the chain stores H;M, Zara, New Yorker and Peek;Cloppenburg located at Zeil street in Frankfurt am Main offering their products to both male and female customers.We observed the main check out in every of these stores (both groups of customers buy there) – stores like these are very popular among both groups of customers. We chose the ‘Zeil’ street in Frankfurt because of wide variety of customers shopping there and their random preferences. In every store we observed first 20 customers who paid for their shopping at the main check out. Every time we stayed near the check out place and noted the sex of every client as well as number of items they bought. Results We observed 80 customers (one by one, without breaks) in described chain stores.We got 80 observations, 44 of them were women an d 36 men. In 46 cases the customers bought more than 1 item and in 34 just one product (so 57,5% customers bought at least 2 or more items). Distribution of these purchases has been shown on the graph below: The graph follows that women buy more often at least 2 or more items (vs. 1 item) in chain stores than men. To check this conclusion we computed the Chi-Square-test (the analyses have been included as an appendix at the end of the paper). We got the Actual Chi-Square value on the level 15. 4. The Critical Chi-Square value with 1 degree of freedom and p-value 0. 05 is 3. 84. We compared Actual 2 with the Critical 2 and made sure that the given Actual Chi-Square value is bigger than the Critical one (15. 64 ; 3. 84). This means that women buy more often at least 2 or more items (vs. 1 item) in chain stores than men. Conclusions (Egor) According to the results of the observation our initial assumption that women tend to buy 2 or more items in the stores while shopping, whether men tend more often to by only 1 item, is right.As the observation took part on Friday (end of the working week actually) from our point of view the results could differ the other day from that we have now, but the difference would not be so significant that could refuse our initial hypothesis. The location (the place where we made the observation) change also would not change the results. The prerequisite of our observation is to look at behavior of people in chain stores, so it does not really matter for the final result whether to collect out observations in the shops at Zeil Street or in Nordwestzentrum shopping mall.Our survey could also be useful for marketers of the shops where the observation took place. For instance, if women tend to buy more than 1 item in a shop like H;M, Zara etc. , then chain stores should make some combinations of matching product, offer some additional accessories or just a pack of few clothes for a bit lower price(for example, skirt + blouse). So when wo men can get this ability to buy something more than just 1 thing that they chose, this ability can be used and they would make their choice into buying additional jewellery for their new dress or buying skirt+blouse together than buying only one item of clothes.Appendix 1. Collected data | Male| Female| Row| 1 item| 24| 10| 34| 2 or more items| 12| 34| 46| Column| 36| 44| 80| Hypothesis 0: Men buy more often 2 or more items (vs. 1 item) in chain stores than women. Hypothesis 1: Women buy more often 2 or more items (vs. 1 item) in chain stores than men. 2. Actual 2 2 = (Observed Cell Frequency – Expected Cell Frequency)2/Expected Cell Frequency} Expected Cell Frequency| | | | | Row 1| (24+10)/80 | 0. 425| | Column 1| (24+12)/80 | 0. 45| Row 2| (12+34)/80 | 0. 575| | Column 2| (10+34)/80| 0. 55| Row 1 Prob x Column 1 Prob =| 0. 91| Row 1 Prob x Column 2 Prob =| 0. 234| Row 2 Prob x Column 1 Prob =| 0. 259| Row 2 Prob x Column 2 Prob =| 0. 316| 0. 191 * 80 = | 0. 234 * 80 =| 0. 259 * 80 =| 0. 316 * 80 =| 15. 3| 18. 7| 20. 7| 25. 3| Actual 2 = (24-15. 3)^2/15. 3+(10-18. 7)^2/18. 7+(12-20. 7)^2/20. 7+(34-25. 3)^2/25. 3 3. Actual 2 vs. Critical 2 Actual 2 = 15. 64 Critical 2 = 3. 84 (1 d. f. , p-value 0. 05) 3. 84 ; 15. 64 =; Critical 2 ; Actual 2 Conclusion: The hypothesis 1 is true. Women buy more often 2 or more items (vs. 1 item) in chain stores than men.

Professional Interviews

Professional Interviews Socorro Contreras Psy/480 Elements of Clinical Psychology March 18, 2013 Dr. Carla Wright Professional Interviews Clinical psychology is a broad ranged profession but the main focus is based on assessment, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. Two interviews were obtained so that a comparison can be made between a clinical psychologist and a clinical therapist and the roles both professionals play in mental health. Some special areas are child, adult mental health, substance abuse, and abnormal emotional disturbances (Cherry, 2013).Therapists are just as important in the treatment of clients. The role in which a therapist plays is counseling one person or a group mostly in psychological or emotional issue. A clinical therapist uses tools to obtain information, such as a questionnaire. It is used to implement treatment. The main role of a clinical therapist is to modify behavior, for example stress by managing stress with relaxation (Dot-Job-Descriptio n, 2012). Interview with Dr. Steibe-Pasalich, PhD Dr. Steibe-Pasalich is a director of the counseling center at University of Norte Dame. She has been practicing for since 1978. Dr.Steibe-Pasalich’s area is individual, and group counseling, also outreach, and crisis intervention. Dr. Steibe-Pasalich also counsels faculty and family members. His specialty area is providing intake and emergency services to the students. She oversees internship programs and supervises unlicensed practioners. She also functions as the chief psychologist. Dr. Steibe-Pasalich does not hold any other special certifications but she has the knowledge to facilitate positive behavior. Dr. Steibe-Pasalich approaches therapy through regular APA standards and does use different techniques for intervention.Dr. Steibe-Pasalich state her challenges with ethical and legal issues include managing a talented mental health staff in which is respectful. Workload and self-care is just another challenging struggle a nd learning to delegate tasks appropriately. Dr. Steibe-Pasalich believes the future psychology is balancing the mission of counseling centers on campuses of higher education with respect to treating serious disturbed students while providing preventative outreach to those students experiencing developmental challenges.Second is the issue of privacy versus the role of consultation with parents and or other university administrators. Another emerging challenge is the role and place of clinical psychologists on threat assessment teams, groups designed to manage and assess risk as it pertains to high-profile or acting out students on college campuses. Another view is the salient issue and the need for education still to be done on campuses in reducing the stigma associated with emotional illness. She enjoys seeing the changes in individuals and enjoys being the director at a higher education setting.Interview with Kimberly Taylor Livsey, MS, LPC Kimberly practices in an outpatient sett ing and she treats patients at home as well. Kimberly has been in practice for nine years. Kimberly’s focus is in the child and adolescent population. Her specialty is sexual abuse, sexual offenders, substance users, depression, and anxiety. Some of the most common disorders in which Kimberly treats are Major Depression, Bipolar, General Anxiety, Cannabis Abuse/Dependence, ADHD, Adjustment Disorder, and PTSD.Certifications can be expensive but Kimberly has had extensive training in additional areas, such as evidenced-based treatments for trauma including TF-CBT and additional coursework in substance abuse treatment. Kimberly approaches treatment by using CBT and behavioral and play techniques. She also mixes other techniques to serve her purpose. The most challenging ethical and legal issue is with insurance companies, which Kimberly believes does not compensate as it should and the other challenge is working with children and not breaking confidentiality with his or her pare nts and struggle to contact DCFS in some cases.These cases make it difficult because of ethical guidelines she must follow. It was interesting to know that Kimberly thinks the field of psychology is losing ground because of health coverage but re-energizes when events, such as violent crimes because people need proactive mental health services other than reactive mental health services, which takes stigma away from receiving therapy. Kimberly enjoys about her work is to see the progress in which people make to get better.Kimberly’s advice to people who want to become either a psychologist or a therapist is stick through the struggles and obtain license right away if a person has the love for helping people. Important emotions to have when becoming a therapist include patience, empathy, and compassion. When reading these two interviews, one can acknowledge the similarities and differences. Both use techniques and therapeutic methods, which bring the change of individuals to ac hieve positive behavior and a successful lifestyle. Both can treat individual or group and organizations.Some differences between these two professionals, psychologist will diagnose a mental disorder and works together with a medical doctor. Psychologist can also do research. A therapist can be psychoanalysts, social workers, and counsel marriages and help clients to solve problems also provide guidance (All Psychology Schools, 2013). At the end both professionals work toward making people feel better about him or herself. Reference All Psychology Schools (2013). Therapist vs. Psychologist. Retrieve from http://www. allpsychologyschools. com/psychology-careers/article/therapist- psychologist

Beauty Pageants

Does competing in beauty pageants adversely affect a child’s development? Pageants are a way of forcing a child to act as an adult – smearing make-up on a child and making her dress up like an adults to â€Å"supposedly† build confidence but instead giving that child the wrong message. They are basically beginning to lose their childhood. Overtime, children get very competitive and at that point in their minds all they think about is winning, not about the true purpose of a beauty pageant. Beauty pageants have a negative influence on young children. A child’s life is supposed to revolve around academics and their social life in school, not about competing in back to back to back pageants. It is too much stress for a child to bare. Then later on, a child will acquire negative attitudes and inappropriate behavior. â€Å"Elementary school children are not aware of themselves as sexual beings†, say Rebecca A. Eder, Ann Digirolamo, and Suzanne Thompson. A child is not suppose to begin to describe themselves in that way or manner, but unfortunately this is what beauty pageants do to young little girls – develop a child too quickly. In addition, they have experiences that are abnormal for their developmental stage. A 6-year-old beauty queen is put at risk for problems in most major areas of development: cognitive development, peer relationships, adult relationships and self-concept. † A young girl would not have time for friends because they will be too busy to acquire any. Having friends is an important part of a child’s life because they help promote a child’s sense of adventure so they can be open to trying out new things. Make-up, acrylic nails, spray tans, false lashes, small dresses, heels. What? Is this what a mere child must face at such a young age? This is just destroying a child’s mental health. â€Å"At best, such pageants put little girls at risk for delays in most major areas of development†, says Rebecca A. Eder. Children do not have that state of mind yet the mentality to just focus on winning all the time and they are the being pushed into thinking that way but not purposely. After a beauty pageant is over and the child has not received any awards, she then begins to feel a sense of failure and feel unworthy about herself. This child clearly has been taught the wrong meaning of pageants and this will bring in all the stress and anxiety a child is not even capable of handling. One of the reasons why so many girls lack self-esteem is that we live in a culture that values women for how they look more than what they can do. † Children will grow up believing that life is mainly about physical appeal. â€Å"A childs world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood† Rachel Carson. Are beauty pageants really one of the first few things a child should be participating in during their first childhood years? I child should be outside playing with their friends, exploring the world all on their own and learning from mistakes. These are a child’s first steps; this is what makes them grow into a dependent young teen or adult. Parents are the ones who push their child into competing in pageants; this is where a child’s ability to think on their own is diminished. As many know, there are different categories in a beauty pageant a child may come under. Most of the time a child is placed in a certain category by the sponsors of the pageants and in other cases a parent is able to place their child in any category they please. Should 4-year-olds be beauty queens? This position is giving a child too much power and, of course, this child does not know how to handle that. This child may not even completely understand the importance and meaning of the title, so what’s the point? Besides the fact the pageants do indeed boost someone’s confidence young girl doesn’t need that. Pageant parents insist that competing in beauty contests is no different from playing a sport, which also requires time and money and puts intense pressure on young competitors. Like young athletes, little beauty queens learn discipline, feel great pride in their accomplishments, and form lasting friendships†, says Justin ONeill. This statement is partially true. Both activities do teach a child discipline and give a child a sense of accomplishment and pride but sports are something a child can find interest in because there are a wide variety of things they can participate in. As stated before children are pushed into participating in beauty pageants by parents not because they pleased. Further into the fact that a child is now forced into something she didn’t even know existed; the child is being focused to thinking a way she isn’t used to. Winning the tiara and the cash prize is the mind set at which a parents has their child at. This is not health for a child. The popular TLC show â€Å"Toddlers and Tiaras† shows the true side of a young girl participating in pageants on and off the stage; showing the world that pageants do, in fact, affect the behavior of a child. MaKenzie is one of the stars on the show, also known as a little diva by the way she would act off stage. She is an example of a child who has been corrupted by the fashion world. She loves herself; mirrors are her best friends. MaKenzie is just one of the many girls who think the are the best because they compete in pageants. Another one of these girls would be little Eden Wood. She has even made records and other novelty items because she feels her popularity. Most of the people of America beg to differ though. They think thats too much of her. Its one thing to participate in the pageants, alright fine we can live with that, but having to take it to the next level and going to the mall to sign autographs for the six or seven fans you have. Basically its just being show-offs and its rude. What can a child learn by being a professional/serial beauty pageant contestant? Well, encouraging the sense of competition is okay, having a hobby to be dedicated to is okay, spending time with mom is great, but when you become a winning machine, a 1st place chaser or a tiara collector, serious psychological problems are just around the corner. These contests promote physical beauty as a main value, complimented of course by the „special talent† and „warm hearts†. A child, especially a female that is going to pay so much attention to her looks and that knows she is being watched for it, is very likely to develop eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia. Also, paranoid features can occur as a response to the „no other girl is your friend here† speech, regarding the relationships between the participants (both mothers and daughters), usually all smiles and hugs at the surface but opposition can be sensed at a deeper level. And this brings another problem to my mind, dissimulation as a form of interraction, which can be used outside contests too and become a habit. Also, seeing screaming crowds, rivers of tears at all times and having to put on an act and playing a role could lead to learning hysteric behaviors. Anxiety is no stranger for these girls either. If at first sight they seem to learn how to be prepared for stressful situation, think of this: what if the girl does not really want to participate and does this only to please her mother? What if she can’t actually dance or sing, but she has to do that anyway? And what if she feels embarrassed? What if she would rather like to spend time with friends in her home town and not in some cheap hotel miles away from her house? Then I believe yes, anxiety and frustration are near these children at all times. These and many other psychological problems can emerge from having to be something that you are not at a very early age. And inner problems are not the only ones. Displaying such a mature look (these girls are five or six years old, yet their faces look like those of at least 16 years old) may attract unwanted public, such as pedophiles. Paying the fee for your child’s picture to be posted on a website with heavy traffic is again, in my opinion, not the best choice to be made. Unfortunately, there have been cases of young pageant participants that have been victims in murder cases, so things are not as simple as one might think. Mothers of these children are usually trying to live their own dreams through their young daughters. I am talking about dreams that they either could not accomplish or accomplished in such way that they’ve become a way of life. Playing dress-up with your daughter can be great, but why transform it into a full-time job? These contests usually take place on weekends, so the children that also go to school have no free time to invest into building healthy relationships, behaviors, attitudes or follow their own dreams. These parents, specifically mothers are the worst to compete with. Some pageantry moms and grandmothers are terrible losers. They blame everyone else when their kids dont win, instead of using the experience as a learning tool for sportsmanship. Kids are smart, and they absorb everything. They quickly pick up on the negatives of child beauty pageants. Or should I say on the negatives of bad behavior of some moms involved with child beauty pageants. As well, parents should not be living their dream of being the beauty queen, or sports star through their child. I tend to feel that the reason they act so intense with their children competing, is because they are living their dream vicariously. Parents, that is not fair to your child. Never force them into beauty pageants or anything competitive if they don’t want to become involved. If they should lose interest in pageantry or sports, search for something else they are interested in and most importantly, don’t take it as a personal insult. The parents who put their children in beauty pageants put their children under an extreme amount of stress. The instil the idea that success=beauty at an early age for a young girl. The also instil the idea that ugly=failure. This causes the young girl to become obsessed with looks as she ages instead of things society needs, like intelligent women who can be leaders or advance society. Childhood is very important to the development of a child into an adult, and there are not good values in child beauty pageants. These children often become vain and arrogant if they win, or depressed and have low self-esteem if they consistently lose. Making a child worry more about looks they their mental development makes stupid, ignorant kids. When you have to base your life on how you look instead of what you can do, you have to make a huge gamble, and it often leads to a child pursuing a dream job of being a model or actress. Then, if they cant get a job in either of these they often fall back into pornography and prostitution. Obviously, not all children who do beauty pageants follow this trend, and not all of them grow up to be dumb, but more of them than kids who kids who live normal lives do. The child doesnt want to do it too, its normally the parent making the decision. This causes the child to think winning is a way to gain affection from their parent and losing is disappointing their parent. Watch any kid make a mistake during one of these pageants and they will immediately break down in tears. Its just not good for their emotional stability, mental capacity, or their future. From an opposite perspective many people seem to believe its as good as others think its bad. The contestants have to showcase themselves and walk on the ramp. Greater emphasis is laid on the looks, although intelligence and promptness play a key role to elect the winner. Training programs are also organized prior to the live telecast of shows. There are divisions for different rounds and children have to clear the subsequent rounds of talents and interviews. Children, decked up with different kinds of apparels, have to walk on the ramp. Swimwear, sportswear, western wear, ethnic wear, theme wear, casual wear, decade wear, etc are some of looks adopted for child beauty pageants. They have to wear the typical makeup that involves glosses, lipsticks, foundations, mascara and eye shadows. I should not miss out the beauty pageant hairstyles for kids, that accentuates their hair and renders them a celebrity look. The hairdo includes styles with hair highlights and colors, being styled with the latest trends. All these activities are carried out systematically. Therefore, children become independent in the world of glamor. At a young age, they become confident and accomplished. Such shows inculcate patience and perseverance, making them practical. Sometimes, beauty contests are part of academics, helping children to boost up their smartness and confidence. Winners are awarded scholarships and the shows organized for charity service develop a sense of responsibility in them. Preparing for the pageant requires time and patience, hair lasting around an hour and forty-five minutes, make-up around an hour. Different performances for every pageant require some participants to practice for about seven hours a week. Stage mothers for the eight to ten age group in Universal Royalty, say it is worth all the trouble and effort since it instills happiness, poise in front of a crowd, confidence, pride and a sense of accomplishment. In this particular event, the eight to ten age group was the toughest competition in Universal Royalty because three of the girls were more experienced, one girl even having her mom coach other pageantry children. For example, Sabra Johnson, a ten year old experienced child contestant, one of the threatening ingredients in this competition has aspirations of landing a major modeling career and until then, modeling at the pageants. Sabra started competing in pageants at the age of four and was awarded three hundred trophies. While the child was interviewed by AE Network she kept looking over at her mom for reassurance of her thoughts. She never mentioned coming education; she solely relied on her appearance for her future. These pageants bring out the worst side of the girls who participate. They are as grown as can be without even being adults. These pageant children should not be flaunting themselves around all over stage being seen as â€Å"jail bait† to people watching which is roughly over ten thousand. The children should be doing something to better themselves rather than getting dolled up and looking older than their age to show who is the prettiest. Pageants are a bad example for everyone and should not be a glamorous as they are seen.

Discuss the limited circumstances in which a duty of care might be Essay

Discuss the limited circumstances in which a duty of care might be imposed on a defendant for an omission - Essay Example The main reason why courts are reluctant to impose duties to act may be seen in the arguments made in the case of Stovin v. Wise. The court in Stovin found that requiring somebody to act is an invasion of individual freedom. Moreover, the court also found that the duty prevent harm or render assistance to others is one which is ascribed to a wide range of people, so to single out a person for failing to act is unjust, because one person should not be singled out to be held liable if there are a number of people who have the same duty. Moreover, imposing a duty on third parties for omissions is not generally done because of market distortions which might result. This is assuming that an activity should bear its own costs, and if some of these costs are imposed on others, then the activity might appear to be cheaper than it really is. Requiring compensation for negligent conduct reduces this effect. However, there is not this justification to impose liability on a person who is not vol unteering to spend resources on somebody else, therefore that person may not be rewarded. Just as the person is not rewarded, that person also cannot be punished, unless there is a special reason to do so (Stovin v. Wise). That said, there are exceptions to this general rule, which is the subject of this paper, which will examine these exceptions. Moreover, the cases where omissions were not held to be actionable may further illustrate why courts are hesitant to impose liability for omissions. Discussion There are exceptions to the general rule that omissions are not enough to give rise to negligence actions. For instance, if someone undertakes a duty to assume responsibility for somebody else, then the duty of care does arise, and an omission may give rise to a negligence claim. This was established by the case of Barrett v. MOD [1995] 1 WLR 1217. In the Barrett case, the claimant’s husband died after a night of heavy drinking. At some point, a Petty Officer Wells was instru cted to take the claimant’s husband back to the base and look after him. Although the Petty Officer did look after the claimant’s husband, the claimant’s husband was found dead at 2:30 AM. The Barrett court found that the claimant’s husband was responsible only for himself, but when the senior officer assumed responsibility for him, then the duty of care arose, and the senior officer was then responsible to go ahead and give appropriate supervision over the claimant’s husband. Therefore, once he took responsibility, if he did not act, in that he did not go and check on the man, then this omission would give rise to liability. Another example is the well-known case of Stansbie v. Troman [1948] 2 K.B. 48. In this case, a decorator was working on a house and went to buy wallpaper, leaving the door unlocked. Thieves came in and entered while he was away. The decorator was found to be negligent because he had a duty to take reasonable care to guard agai nst thieves entering the dwelling. Therefore, in the Stansbie case, although the ultimate cause of the theft was the positive act of the thief, it was the omission – the failure to lock the door – which made the decorator liable, because he was under the duty of care to make sure that the house was secure before he left. In this case, it was because there was a special relationship between the decorator and the claimant, because there was

HRM Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Strategic HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Strategic HRM - Essay Example The only difference is that in the game of business, teams compete against one another for customers, innovations, employees, and ultimately the profit margin they are able to accrue at the end of the day. The other difference is the time frame, whereas in sports the game is over a defined period of time, in the business, the time frame is unlimited as long as the business exists. Just like in the sports, the business empires that win indicate consistency in their preparation, planning, and skills in their execution plans. These business organizations do understand best their positions, where they are aiming at, and how they want to achieve their aim. It is also important to note that these winning business firms have constant touch with the customers needs and how to comply, the technological advancement that are relevant to the business as well as the market trends and innovations that will enable them be ahead of the park compared to their competitors in the market (Wal-Mart, 2011 ). Business organization then have to keep pondering on how best the cardinal factors in the business can be best satisfied to make then take the lead in either service delivery or product delivery to the customers. In this regard, all business owes allegiance to a strategy either planned or unplanned, strategy in this case is the language that implies a game plan. A business strategy is the lifeline of a business organization that drives both the short- term and the long-term projection and determines the success of the business in an ever-changing business environment and stringent competition. Overview of Wal-Mart Company Wal-Mart boost of being one of the largest family owned multinational retail cooperation. It is an American company having been founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. Walton family is arguably the leading shareholders in the cooperation, as they own about 48% of the total share of the business empire. The incorporation of the business took place in the year 1969 and by 1972 its shares were floated in the New York Stock Exchange for public trading (Wal-Mart, 2011). The corporation was branded Wal-Mart in 2008 having relinquished its former name of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in pursuit of the Forbes Global 2000, Wal-Mart was ranked 18th in the perking order of the largest public corporations in the world and the leading in the US. The cooperation also employs about two million employees which makes it one of the world largest private employers. The headquarters of the business is at Bentonville, Arkansas. In the United States, it is considered one of the leading grocery retailers having in the year 2009 collected 51% of the total sales it realized in the year i.e. US$ 258 billions. This percentage sale was realized on the grocery sale alone. Wal-Mart scope of operation in the global is equally expansive, it has a total of 8,500 functioning store in 15 countries operating under different references. In the United States for instance, the company operates under the name Wal-Mart including the 50 states of the US. In India the company is called Best Price, Mexico, its called Walmex, in UK it’s referred to as Asda while in Japan, it is referred to as Seiyu. Wal-Mart has expansive and extensive operation in Canada, Brazil, and Argentina (Wal-Mart, 2011). While in the North America, the business has registered performance of varied

The Success of Rio Tintos Moves to India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Success of Rio Tintos Moves to India - Essay Example Tinto’s machines include Bulldozer, compact excavation machines, shredders, and grinders2. The mine raw materials from the mines are treated using fans. After treatment stage, decomposition and purification process follows immediately. The result of the two phases is a semi-solid product. This product is concentrated to a finished final product. The report summarizes the results of feasibility study in India. Rio Tinto proposes to use India as a distribution centre for its copper products. This company has taken this decision because of limited copper ores in India. Their plans are to extract and smelt copper using the sophisticated machinery from their company in Australia. They will then export copper products to enormous market in India. In this way, Rio Tinto will tap the untapped Indian market. They intend to take advantage of the large populace population in India. Rio is confident that India will not import copper product anymore from other countries. It expects a fair marketplace in India. Expansion of market to any region of this world is a challenge3. This is a guiding principle at the heart of the Rio Tinto management. Rio Tinto seeks important details on India’s technology level, the available workforce, and the type of infrastructure. Since India will serve as a distribution point, the company does not require a manufacturing plant. Rio Tinto is aware of possible market risk in the foreign nations. Technology is a very critical in the expansion of Rio Tinto’s. This is the reason why it has to do an in-depth research on market prospects in India. The report seeks to address many issues, which are central to the success of Rio Tinto’s moves to India. To start with, it will evaluate political environment in terms of India’s government stability. Next, it will discuss the legal framework with key interest in business law, labor laws, and taxation law. This is very crucial because the laws stipulate the procedures of e xport and import trade. The report will investigate both economic and socio-cultural environment. It will endeavor to assess tax policies, currency exchange rates, and inflation rates in India. Later it will survey the technological aspect of business environment and analyze external and internal factors, which affect Rio Tinto. This is the SWOT analysis. Finally, the report will give its recommendations to the Rio Tinto’s management on the feasibility of India as their market target4. 2.0 Political Environment 2.1. Government stability The India’s current government under Pratibha Patil has sound policies to promote direct foreign investments. The government embraces global trade links. They have a stable political system whereby they hold elections after every five years. Their rich democratic system receives acknowledgement globally. 2.2 Government and contribution Health investment policies attract a large pool of both domestic and foreign investors. The Foreign in vestment policy came into effect back in 1991. This policy has undergone through major reforms to suit the interest of investors. Currently the policy allows automatic and government-administered ways of investment5. The foreign investment policy is friendly enough to permits investor from outside to collaborate with either local or their foreign counterparts. 2.3 Analysis Indian government shows political will.

Global and International Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Global and International Health - Essay Example These features lead to high prices of illicit drugs and ensure a continuous demand exist around the globe. Assistance from medical professionals like nurses, law enforcement bodies, drug educational services targeting the communities and youths, as well as federal and international counter drug initiatives (monitoring and interdiction operation, disruption of international illegal substance networks, and interception and disruption of foreign drugs shipments) are being used to reduce demand and supply in the market, and minimize the harm caused to the economies and health of drug abusers around the globe. Keywords: Illicit Drugs, Nursing, Trafficking, Supply and Demand, Markets, Consumers, Patients, Addiction, Prevention, Law Enforcement, Rehabilitation, Harm Reduction, Drug Education 1. Global nature of illicit drugs market The trade and use of illicit drugs is a common problem around the globe, affecting the consumers and nations they are trafficked into. Under the international co ntrol, the UNDC conventions describe them as those produced, trafficked and /or consumed against the law. Traditionally, most consumption exists in form of plant products, but due to scientific development, synthetically processed forms are now available. It’s the cheapest means to avail the illicit drugs to new consumers in the market, because it provides them with an alternative. However, the global trend has been driven by the market level demand and supply forces that influence the price and use of drugs (â€Å"Markets,†2010). This is because illicit drugs are limited (exist in low volumes), considering that their dealings are criminalized. This feature gives them another characteristic of association with high unit cost and value; meaning, the nature of the industry can call for very high percentages of their price mark up from production to consumer. The risks and the high degree of monopoly in the market contribute to the disproportionate aspect of the illicit d rugs’ prices and profits against the cost (â€Å"Economics,† n.d.). The other feature of the illicit drugs is the addictive nature to consumers, which ensures continuously high unregulated turnover, worth hundreds of billions in the industry, even though the consumers are few compared to other legal products. It is no doubt that operating in the industry (whether seller or buyers) is a risky move, but no matter how expensive the drugs are, consumers would risk purchasing them to satisfy their addiction. This is the main reason why drugs market continues to expand steadily, despite the legal, financial, and social effort to fight their use in the societies. 2. Evaluate the preventive measures to the increasing use of illicit drugs To reduce the increasing demand and proliferation of the illicit drugs market, primary, secondary and tertiary preventive measures are currently in place to support the US population. A common approach in the United States and around the globe is facilitation of drug education to the public. This is being achieved through mass education programs and in learning institutions in the states (Wodak, 2011). The strategy aims to reduce demand by educating potential users to reduce their possibility of consumption. The youths are the potential consumers and need accurate information before they engage into harmful addictions. Recent moves involve investing in the youth and keeping them involved in

GAP INC Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

GAP INC - Case Study Example The paper will later do a CSR audit as well as make recommendation to the company. Gap Inc. has experienced tremendous growth since its inception in 1969. Its expansion has led it to be among the top selling brands in the U.S. and abroad. Through its organization and ability to meet customer needs, Gap Inc. grew from single store in U.S. to over 3500 outlets distributed in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, German, and Japan. This expansion came with a number of issues that were environment associated thus leading the management to make decisions based on how to handle the issues. The first issue that Gap Inc. had to deal with was the decreasing sales of Levi’s products. This motivated the company to venture into private-labeled products that has been the main sale in the company to date. The company invested in strengthening brand royalty by enhancing advertising and marketing of the company products. When private labeled products suffered low sales, Old Navy products were invented as a way of attracting customers back to the company’s products. Old Navy products were low cost products yet similar merchandise to Gap stores. Changing fashion trends is one of the major issues experienced by every apparel company (Hines & Bruce 64). The company’s inventory is affected since retailers must order merchandise in advance. The preparation for peak selling calls for higher inventory levels that have to happen before the season. To manage such huge inventory, Gap is faced by an issue that expose it to price shifts and demand that are related to timing of merchandise purchases. Such issues expose the company especially when production is from foreign countries meaning currency differences may check in. Japan market is highly traditional. Gap’s consideration of establishing long-term business relationships is one way of ensuring that the

Learning Summary (HRM) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Learning Summary (HRM) - Essay Example Behavioral Performance Evaluation is measured by determining the quantity of exertion on the job, reliability, faithfulness, motivation, and quality of service of an individual. Goal accomplishment for short term is less preferred, whereas, long term personal growth and customer relationships and rising market share (Cascio, W; 2006) are given importance. Since goals are not quantifiable, employees cannot be compared with each other. Utilization of compulsory distributions inflicts evaluations that are wrong. Focus on employee's activities will record effectual and unproductive incidents. Evaluation of performance for individual objects and goals can be equated against other employees' performance. It depends on an employee's contribution towards the accomplishment of a unit or organization. Although this appraisal is based on short term goals, it leads towards organizational performance. Alternatively rating established on individual's conducts can help the individual's growth but w ill be subjective and lengthy. Evaluation of a workers' job on attitude, behavior and personality are important in their growth within the organization. The results on objectives are not the capacity of the individual, for the outcome may be good or bad. When an employee works to achieve his targets he may not accomplish it due to lack of training, support, motivation etc. These factors impact on the employee's performance rating and competencies count in team work, guidance etc. They are intangible and can be divided as doing the right thing, dependability and accountability behaviors, integrity, eagerness to learn and innovate, openness to change and adaptability, quality-centric, and teamwork. Assessment on this and the feedback will help him to have the desired orientation. 3. Which career management perspective most resembles your current work place (individuals focusing on themselves, organization focus on individuals or organizations focusing on themselves) Please explain and provide some examples. Career has a crucial role to play in every employee's life. He may try every chance to succeed. The success will force him to acquire new skills. Organizations try to retain these skilled employees, so that they will leave not leave them seeking other prospects. Our organization focuses on individual's career and job satisfaction, and we are mentored and tailored to its culture and practices through apt training implemented from the start of our career. General Electric use mentoring practice of reverse mentoring, through the interaction between young subordinates with older superiors to acquire skill, and knowledge Informationsystems.and electronic commerce (Cascio, 2006). Policies of promotion and motivation aid the employees to handle their careers and ambitions. Organizations promote employees considering their performance levels. Our organization does not hire employees from outside for higher positions, so that our chances are not lost. This policy recognizes our performance an d makes us motivated. Our

Assessment of the Investment Procedures of Metrobank Essay Example for Free

Assessment of the Investment Procedures of Metrobank Essay I. Metrobank A. History Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank) was established by a group of businessmen on September 5, 1962 at the Wellington Building in Binondo, Manila. In August 1963, the bank’s first branch was established in Divisoria. Four years later, Metrobank opened its Davao branch, the bank’s first provincial branch. At the onset of the 70s, Metrobank opened its first international branch in Taipei. The Central Bank, on April 1977, authorized Metrobank to operate a Foreign Currency Deposit Unit (FCDU). In the same year, branches and offices totaled 100 and the bank inaugurated its new Head Office at Metrobank Plaza in Makati. On August 21, 1981, the Central Bank authorized Metrobank to operate as a universal bank. Following the grant of the universal banking license, Metrobank entered the following ventures: the acquisition of majority ownership of Philippine Savings Bank (the second largest savings bank in the country at that time); the establishment of a joint travel agency venture with Thomas Cook Group in Thomas Cook Phils., Inc. in 1986; and the tying-up with Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan and Mitsui to put up Toyota Motor Philippines in 1988. Metrobank subsequently entered into joint ventures with several renowned corporations like Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation of Japan to create Sumigin Metro Investment Corporation; the National Mutual Holdings Ltd. of Australia to create Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corporation; and the ORIX of Japan to create ORIX Metro Leasing and Finance Corporation. The Old Metrobank Logo used until 2009 In September 1982, the number of Metrobank branches, offices and subsidiaries surpassed the 200 mark. A year later, Metrobank topped the entire private domestic bank in total resources with P8.8 billion. The bank continued to experience steady growth through the years and in September 1989, it increased its authorized capital stock from P2 billion to P5 billion. The bank’s total capital funds on June 30, 2006 stood at P57.3 billion. Its consolidated resources amounted to P588.1 billion as of the same period. As of June 2007 assets reached P669.1 billion ($14.5 billion) (P46=$1). Metrobank’s subsidiaries are Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation, Philippine Savings Bank, First Metro Investment Corporation, Metrobank Card Corporation, ORIX Metro Leasing and Finance Corporation, SMBC Metro Investment Corporation, First Metro Travelex (formerly Thomas Cook (Phils.)), Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corporation, Mirant Global Corporation, Philippine Charter Insurance Corporation, MBTC Technology, Inc., Toyota Financial Services Corporation, Toyota Cubao, Inc., Toyota Manila Bay Corporation, First Metro Securities Corporation, First Metro International Investment Co. Ltd., Metropolitan Bank (Bahamas) Ltd., MB Remittance Center Inc. (USA), Metro Remittance Singapore, Metro Remittance UK Limited, Metro Remittance (Italia) SpA, Metro Remittance S.A. (Spain) and MBTC Exchange Services GmbH (Austria). The Metrobank Group has a combined network of over 800 local and international branches/offices, remittance offices and subsidiaries worldwide. It has 557 domestic branches and 32 offices in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Pusan, Guam, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Madrid, Barcelona, Vienna, Rome, Bologna, Milan, Singapore, Chicago, Hawaii, and Shanghai. On September 28, 2009, Metrobank is the first local bank to offer a line of CNY denominated offerings B. Company Profile Founded in September 5, 1962, Metropolitan Bank Trust Co. (Metrobank) has since become the premier universal bank and among the foremost financial institutions in the Philippines. It offers a full range of banking and other financial products and services, including corporate, commercial and consumer banking, as well as credit card, remittances, leasing, investment banking and trust banking. Metrobank currently spans a consolidated network of over 1,400 ATMs nationwide; over 760 domestic branches; and 38 foreign branches, subsidiaries, and representative offices. II. Investment A. Definition Investment is the action or process of investing money for profit or material result or a thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future. B. Investment Procedures Described here are the norms, infrastructure, standards, and procedures by which we can continually safeguard customer information and ensure its confidentiality, with your help, subject to the limitations prescribed in Section V (Limit on Liability) of the Terms and Conditions for Individual customers and Section XI (Limit on Liability) of the metrobankdirect Memorandum of Agreement for Corporate customers. In order to help you clearly understand our commitment in keeping the privacy of your information and upholding the security of your transactions, please note that the words â€Å"we†, â€Å"us†, and â€Å"our† refer to Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank), the flagship company of the Metrobank Group. The words â€Å"you† and â€Å"your† refer to the individual/s or corporate customer/s who opened and maintain/s one or more account/s with Metrobank and enrolled in metrobankdirect.

Legal vs Illegal Drugs Essay Example for Free

Legal vs Illegal Drugs Essay Drugs are a common part of everyday life. In fact, it is highly likely that there are drugs of some sort in your cupboard. They are classified into two categories: legal and illegal. Legal drugs include alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical drugs, while illegal drugs include marijuana, amphetamines and heroin. The media often portrays a biased, negative view on illegal drugs, however legal drugs often have the same effects as illegal drugs, if not worse. Illegal drugs can cause severe damage to the body, especially those of a teenager, whose bodies are still growing. The brain, heart, and other important organs are all affected by drugs. . For example, cocaine can cause heart attacks and in severe cases, deaths may occur. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as well as other published literature, researchers estimate that between 149 and 271 million people worldwide use illegal drugs, and data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests that a quarter of a million people die from this drug use in 2004. This amount is relatively small compared with the 2. 25 million deaths caused by alcohol, and the 5. 1 million deaths caused by tobacco, which are both legal drugs. However, it cannot be denied that illegal drugs can lead to harsh physical health problems, and are a serious problem. Although illegal drugs may provide a short-lived burst of pleasure, longer-lasting harmful effects are often experienced afterwards, leading to long-term mental health problems. They affect the mood, behaviour and perspective of an individual, and often cause serious misjudgements. In severe cases, this may lead to death. LSD is one hallucinogenic drug that can cause serious mental health problems. After taking LSD, flashbacks may occur, days or even moths afterwards. The sudden appearance of these flashbacks result in disorientation, anxiety and distress. In fact, the experience of hallucinating may cause paranoia, phobia and ideation, which all may last for long periods of time, if not permanently. Often, a growing tolerance to illegal drugs may occur, leading to users being forced to take higher dosages in order to achieve the same result. This is extremely dangerous. Long lasting psychoses such as schizophrenia or severe depression may manifest as a result of a discontinuation of a drug, as well as prolonged anxiety and depression. The mental state of an individual will almost indefinitely deteriorate trough the use of illegal drugs. The use of illegal drugs can have devastating effects on your life. Due to the difficulty in obtaining these drugs, the street prices are much higher. Cannabis, for instance, costs $30/gram. Therefore, to support an illegal drug habit, you may have to be involved in criminal activity, such as theft. This will indefinitely have legal consequences. Just this month, in Malaysia, police have uncovered a new trend where youngsters are stealing motorcycles in order to trade them for drugs. Twenty -three motorcycle thieves were arrested, aged between 17 and 38. In addition to the illegal behaviour itself, the use of illegal drugs may make you less likely to keep appointments or engage with health services, making it much harder to seek help. Illegal drugs can cause vast disruption and destruction to your life, and is extremely hard to seek support for. On the other hand, in Australia, there are far more health problems and drug-related deaths from legal drugs. Legal drugs are approved after testing on limited populations. Everybody reacts differently, and there is a chance that you may be the person with the genetic predisposition that reacts differently than any other person who had previously been tested. These side effects can damage serious organs, and possibly be fatal. In June 2012, one such instance occurred. Nineteen-year-old Alex Heriot died after taking Benzo Fury at a Scottish music festival, which is a legal substance with a similar effect to ecstasy. Benzo Fury is one of the cheap new legal highs developed to bypass the banning of similar, illegal drugs. In the US, at least 106,000 people die each year even from properly prescribed drugs, with more than two million suffering serious side effects, which is an extremely high amount compared to the 10,000-20,000 deaths per year in America due to illegal drugs. Although pharmaceuticals may be prescribed by a doctor, there may still be serious side effects, and pose a high risk to your health. The false sense of security provided by pharmaceutical companies feeds into dependency and outright addiction more than illegal drugs. Although they were created to help individuals cope with the effects of illness and injury, many prescriptions drugs have become the â€Å"substance of choice† for the addicts who use them illicitly. The most commonly abused prescription drugs fall into three categories: Opiods, which produce a euphoric effect due to their pain killing abilities for short-term or chronic pain, Central Nervous system depressants, which have a calming, relaxing effect on the brain, and Stimulants, which increase brain energy for alertness and energy, and they are often abused for these effects. Xanax, for example, is a highly addictive benzodiazepine. Usually used to treat panic disorder and serious anxiety, many people have become addicted to it due to its fast acting sedation and relaxation effects. In Victoria alone, Benzodiazepines were responsible for 3, 135 deaths in 2010 and 2011, and in terms of drug related deaths, they were the second highest to alcohol. A 2012 Victorian report found that 65% of all forged Benzodiazepine prescriptions were for Xanax. Pharmacists have also reported that it is not uncommon for them to see prescriptions for 100 or 200 tablets, which is extremely worrying for a product that has no proven benefit beyond short-term use. Legal drugs are highly addictive and commonly abused. Alcohol and tobacco are one of the leading contributors to drug –related deaths. There are many effects of alcohol, including cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, obesity, physiological disturbances, and many more. Similarly, tobacco and smoking also lead to many adverse physical health effects, such as various forms of cancer (predominately lung cancer), infertility, and cardiovascular disease. According to the Government of South Australia, alcohol is a leading contributor to 30% of road accidents, 12% of suicides, 44% of fire injuries, and 34% of falls and drownings. There are roughly 3000 deaths and 65,000 hospitalisations from alcohol, each year, costing a community a sum of around $15 billion, according to the Australian Government, whilst an illegal substance such as cocaine is the cause of only 15-25 Australian deaths every year according to the ABS. In Australia, smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease, and around every 28 minutes, an Australian dies from tobacco-related diseases. In fact, more deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. From a survey conducted in 2002, by the age of 14, around 90% of children have tried alcohol some time in their lives. These two drugs are one of the most dangerous drugs, and the increasing number of people abusing them is highly worrying. In conclusion, both legal and illegal drugs pose a great danger. Illegal drugs are prohibited due to their strength and addictive qualities, however many legal drugs replace the illegal ones, and cause thousands of deaths and millions of diseases every year. I believe that legal drugs are worse than illegal drugs, as they are both cheap and easy to abuse due to their availability. However, with the right prescriptions and control, I believe that legal drugs could become less of a problem.

Reflection on Return to Education

Reflection on Return to Education What are some of the changes I can make in my routine for success in my return to college? I am a 38 year old working husband and father thats going back to school with the hopes of getting into the nursing program at Coahoma Community College. Getting back into school has been fun and enlightening, but Im also quickly reminded of the time and commitment required. The intent of my paper is to enlighten my teacher and my schoolmates my ideas to help me prepare for a successful collegiate experience. As a returning college student, my challenges include waiting until the last minute to start assignments, being unorganized, paying too much attention to distractions such as social media, television, noisy settings, and unwillingness to get started. This paper discusses the academic issues that I have and my plan for solutions in each paragraph. Out of all my bad habits, my biggest one is waiting until the last minute to start assignments (Carter 12). My plan is to not procrastinate when I know I have assignments and quizzes due. I need to arrange my study times in advance (Carter 13) and place an emphasis on responsibility and self-regulation (Adams 19). Finding time to do homework assignments and study is hard for me to do. Working a full time job during the week and some weekends, being a musician, and raising two school age children takes a lot of my time. Weekends seem to present the best times for me to study, but my assignments are usually done in between work and bedtime during the week. Recently, my wife purchased a nifty new dry erase board calendar that Ive found really helps me keep on track with assignment and project due dates. At the beginning of each week, I mark down everything that is due for the rest of the week so I can clearly see it listed in front of me. I mark each assignment out as I do them. This ca lendar has really helped me see a specific timeline in which I know when to start and when to have my schoolwork done for the week. I think its a good step for to helping me address responsibility with my work. Ive also blocked time in the afternoon and evenings to work on assignments and study after work in between dinner, helping the kids do their homework, and putting them to bed. My most productive times during weeknights are after 8 p.m. when everything has calmed down. I often seem to be unorganized (Carter 12). My result will be taking the time to look at all my assignments for the week and getting a timeline for deadlines, and mapping out assignments on a planner (Carter 13). Being unorganized is something that Ive always had problems with. I always seem to have many things going on in my life that prevents me from doing one thing at a time. This issue creates clutter on my workspaces and work areas. Along with placing my new assignment calendar where I can clearly see it, Ive made efforts to clean up my messy and untidy workspace. From now on, everything from assignments to syllabuses have a particular place on my desk and will be easy to find and identify. I have also planned to look over all my assignments in Canvas every day and mark them down for the week so I am able to see them written in front of me as I work. I pay too much attention to distractions such as social media, television, and noisy settings (Carter). My fix is to pay attention to how much time I spend on my phone, television, and my noisy environment and make proper adjustments to help with the distractions. Put away electronic devices and find a quiet place to do work and study (Carter 13). As long as I can remember, Ive been a big fan of television and various social media. Although I do not watch nearly as much television as I used to, I have plenty of family members in my household that do. Our house isnt that large and televisions can be heard throughout it. Even when I am not particularly not watching television, it can still be distracting. Social media apps on my phone and computers are distracting and detrimental as well. My short attention span keeps me wanting to be entertained constantly, and I get distracted very easily. The best way for me to handle these distractions is to isolate myself completely from them. I h ave a room I can go to in my home that doesnt have a television and get away from my children playing. I can also leave my phone in another room while I quietly do my work and study, away from those distractions. I am often unwilling to get started (Carter 12). I plan to change my approach to school work by adding new daily routines to help me focus on efficiency. Join a study group (Carter 13), add a set of reminders, and hold myself responsible (Adams 19). Aside from my issues with disorganization and distractions, I have problem with procrastination as well. In the past, I leisurely did assignments as I felt that they needed to be done. That process ended up hurting my averages as some assignments were sometimes late and even incorrect because they were done at the last minute. My untimely starting has prompted me to take charge of my academics by focusing on each assignment and deadlines for that assignment. Adding several intervals of work and study time throughout my days and weekends have also made a big difference. I have started looking out for study groups for various classes within my school to help with my efficiency, along with assignment reminders at work and at home. This new s tructure will surely help my efforts for better achievements with class. In my return to college, I have had to readjust a few of my old ways of applying myself academically. The ways of learning I had been used to no longer worked the same way for me.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Introducing a suitable schoolwork schedule, assignment calendar, planner, organized work area, and getting away from distractions have made a positive impact on my school performance. For anyone who finds themselves with similar issues like mine, I suggest utilizing some or all of these ideas to their routines as I have found them beneficial. Works Cited Adams, Caralee J. Soft Skills Seen As Key Element For Higher Ed. Education Digest 78.6 (2013): 18-22. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=aphAN=85157969site=ehost-live Carter, Claire. From Vegetation to Procrastination: Breaking Bad Habits. (Cover Story). Collegexpress Magazine (2015): 12-15. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=aphAN=110434600site=ehost-live

Free Essays - Anklyosing Spondylitis Will Not Dictate My Life :: Personal Narrative Essay Example

Anklyosing Spondylitis Will Not Dictate My Life Anklyosing Spondylitis. When I first heard these words, I was tempted to say "God bless you," because I had never heard of such a disease. I could not appreciate that I would be living with it for the rest of my life. Anklyosing Spondylitis (AS) is a form of arthritis that affects the peripheral joints of the body, including the spine, bowels, and even the eyes (iritis). It causes the joints and ligaments that allow the back to move to become inflamed. It often begins in the late teens or early 20's and if it is not treated correctly, it can cause the spine, hips, and ribs to become rigid, which will make bending, turning, flexing, and breathing difficult. The actual severity of these symptoms vary a great deal from person to person. An early diagnosis along with proper treatment can help pain and stiffness be controlled and reduce or stop major deformity. It is important for all those afflicted with this disease, their families, and their friends, to fully understand the causes and effects of this arthritis and the ways to manage it throughout life. The exact cause of AS is still unknown. Over 90 percent of people with AS possess a genetic marker called BLA-B27. This gene is involved in the body's defense against infection. It has been confirmed that other genes are involved in this disease as well, but they have yet to be identified. A person can have this gene and not have AS. There also exists an environmental factor in the onset of AS. It appears to be normal bacteria in the bowel. I was diagnosed with AS after several occurrences. I suffered a head injury during a wrestling match. My skull was cracked and I was put on an antibiotic to fight off any possible infection. This drug caused my bowels to become infected by another disease called C-Difficile bacteria. After that was cured, I became afflicted with a Septic Hip. My hip was filled with infectious fluid. During this time I developed iritis, an inflammation of the eye. I had suffered iritis before. To make sure the infections would not come back, I had to stay on a home IV for six weeks. I was also identified as a carrier of the gene BLA-B27. During this time my doctors simply put the pieces together.

Mesopotamia Is Great :: World History

Mesopotamia Is Great The "Land Between the Rivers" has been a source of both savage barbarism and great civilizations. Mesopotamian culture reached its peak between ca 3000-550 BCE. Yet, much of Mesopotamian culture goes unnoticed, despite its rich heritage. A vast bulk of the great early civilizations developed in the land known as Mesopotamia. It can, in fact, be proven, without question, that because of Mesopotamia's extensive trade routes, its excellent leaders, and the astronomical growth in technology that occurred, that Mesopotamia was one of the greatest civilizations to have ever existed. For its time, Mesopotamian culture had the greatest trade routes. Its trade network reached from the sands of Egypt to the deserts in India. Most certainly no civilization in the western world at that time had not heard of the great cultures that existed between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Egypt, in itself, had an excellent trade route with its access to the Mediterranean sea. Mesopotamia, however, had trade routes not only in Egypt, but in many other locations to the east as well. All previous trade routes had been confined from village to village. Through its extensive trade route, it can be seen that Mesopotamia was a great civilization. Mesopotamia did not only have trade routes as a testament to its greatness, but a flourishing government as well. As Mesopotamia was racked with barbarian invasions, the rise of some of History's most fearsome and great leaders can be seen. Sargon I, for example, managed to unify one of the largest areas of civilization at that time. Sargon I is also noted having never lost a single war in his entire life. As well, with Mesopotamia, the first system-and indeed the most extensive in that point in time-of codified law. King Hammurabi's aptly titled system of codified law, the Code of Hammurabi, while seemingly harsh in today's view, was heralded as a just and fair law back in its day. History also shows that one of the greatest Ziggurats of all time was created in the land of Mesopotamia.. Nebuchadrezzar II's Hanging Gardens of Bablyon is noted as being one of the greatest marvels of the ancient world. With such a glorious string of leaders, it is obvious to conclude that Mesopotamia w as one of the greatest civilizations ever to have existed. Aside from its string of incredible leaders, History shows that Mesopotamian culture gave birth to some of the greatest technology man has ever developed.

Edward Kennedy Ellington :: essays research papers

The man was born Edward Kennedy Ellington; but he exists in the eyes of American culture as the Duke. He received the nickname from a childhood friend who recognized his style and debonair. That style would carry him around the country and eventually the world as one of the music world’s most prolific composers. His life began in Washington DC on April 29, 1899. Duke did not start up as a child prodigy; while he took piano lessons, he leaned more to sports in his formative years. His parents were strong role models who supported his interests and taught him how to be successful in life. As he grew up and made his way through high school, he developed artistic talent which would lead him to seek higher education in that field. He turned down and prestigious scholarship to Pratt Institute of Fine Art and stayed in Washington to attend Armstrong Manual Training School instead. It was during college that his interest in music took off. He was intrigued by Ragtime style pianists in Washington and would seek out Jazz piano players wherever he went. His earliest personal influence was a piano player named Harvey Brooks. Combined with his early teachers, Oliver â€Å"Doc† Perry and Louis Brown, Duke Ellington found the encouragement and skills necessary for him to go out and become successful . He left school to pursue music as a career and found some work in Washington with his first band – The Duke’s Serenaders. They played in Washington for six years before making an important move to New York in 1923 at the advice of Jazz great Fats Waller. In that year Ellington recorded his first record and changed the band’s name to The Washingtonians. Radio was the big key to the foundation of Ellington’s success in New York. It was radio which had prepared New Yorkers for his sound and once his band made connections with the major New York clubs, it was radio which made their sound a national phenomenon. The most important of the clubs which Duke Ellington played for was the Cotton Club. The combination of the national radio broadcasts that aired from the Cotton Club and the addition of Irving Mills as the bands manager launched Ellington from running a great band to being a star. His fame gave him the ability to develop his band and add in the best musicians from around the country.

Service Marketing Management

TITLE PAGE Subject:   Ã‚  Ã‚  MKT8003 Service Marketing Management Assignment 1 (Individual assignment) Title of Assignment:   Ã‚  Ã‚   Marketing Audit Report – Camp Five Sdn Bhd Total Word Count   Ã‚  :  Ã‚  Ã‚   2000 words Date of Submission:  Ã‚  Ã‚   31 August 2012 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This marketing audit report is prepared for Camp Five to indicate how the organization is currently performing in their service level. The report is prepared based on secondary data gathered from reliable sources which is available online.In this report the background of Camp Five climbing gym is explained to understand the current internal resources and capabilities in its preparedness for servicing their target customer in Malaysia local market. The finding of issue status as, overall and major issues of the company as below, Overall Camp Five are current in high-end customer focus and in fact the majority of regular climbers are not in the high-end categories. Although the facility and technology is excellent advance compare to others competitors, the price of service has clearly show it is unaffordable to the middle class, therefore that is lack of daily head counts.The major problem is lacking of promotion, Camp Five current uses the strategy of word-of-mouth, as per research 100% of interviewee get the know Camp Five as from friends-to-friends referral only, many other promotions shall be implemented as to improve on the performance will be shown in TOW analysis in this assignment. TITLE PAGE Contents TITLE PAGE1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2 1. 0 PURPOSE OF REPORT4 2. 0 THE INTRODUCTION4 3. 0 TARGET CUSTOMER7 4. 0 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS8 5. 0 INTERNAL ANALYSIS12 6. 0Service Quality Analysis13 7. 0 SWOT ANALYSIS16 8. 0 TOW17 9. 0 CONCLUSION19 10. 0 LIST OF REFERANCE19 1 APENDIX –SURVEY FORM21 How Do You Rate Your Climbing? 22 1. 0 PURPOSE OF REPORT (222words) This is a continuous of audit report of Camp Five Sdn Bhd, The purpose of this report is to present the ser vice quality from organization perspective and customer perspective point of view in delivering and receiving the service in service marketing aspect. The elements covers include the internal & external analysis of organization, gap between the customer's perception and expectation. Those factors will influence on to the organization and its services from the gym toward the end consumer directly or indirectly.It is to help the organization to understand more about their customer and positive of new customer. Same time the current marketing promotion plan must be implementing in an effective way on it services quality ; reach the company targeted headcount for the gym. Scope of report, this report will cover the analysis in phase one, the sources of the report is based on some level of internet resources, but mostly is from interview with customers and my friends as the employee which is working in the company as manger positions.The recommendation of this service marketing audit wil l be done in phase two of the following of this report. The monitoring of service will be from time to time based and this marketing service audit report accuracy credibility will remain valid for the next six month period. 2. 0 THE INTRODUCTION – OVERVIEW OF THE SERVICE ORGANIZATION (335words) 2. 1 Brief Background Camp Five is a place provides training and a place for training, working out and meets new friends. It is facilitated with climbing wall, cafe, Pro shop, high technology shower, kid place area and inspectorial training programs.Training program is designed for children, beginners, leisure and advance climber or people can come for Yoga classes too. The climbing gym is operating under Switzerland management. The wall was built by climbing wall BLOCX Sdn Bhd, which is the partnership company with Camp Five, Blocx's current major project are building and developing rock climbing wall around Asia region, they head quarter is located in Oberwil Switzerland, the other o ffice is located New Mexico America, Colombia South America and Shah Alam Malaysia.Camp Five Sdn Bhd started its operation since 2005 in Malaysia, located inside famous landmark shopping center of Kuala Lumpur – The One Utama Shopping Complex. The internal gym's environment is housed in 10m high air-conditioned glass tower, a-state-of-the-art climbing facility inside a shopping center, next to major business suite like TV3 and IBM office, Hotel, colleges and international schools like KDU and KBU, hotel and the high end household area.For first time customer, it is a must to join the climbing class they need to pass on climber safety examination and If you are first time in this gym customer need to pass personal climbing skill testing section is needed before customer are able to check-in and use for the service. 2. 2 The Service Blue Print The steps of servicing process of Camp Five has provided as per below (Regular Customer) Regular Customer Steps of Blueprint – Ca mp Five |Step 1| Customer Arrived to gym | Step 8| Interact with friends ; start to climb| Step 2| Registration | Step 9| Trainer provide training| Step 3| Check in, payment and rental of gears | Step 10| Customer received training| Step 4| Collect entrance fee and drop the member card | Step 11| Take beg from lock, shower and change attire| Step 5| Updates system with payment | Step 12| Return the member card ; collect rented gears| Step 6| Change attire and keep beg at locker| Step 13| Collect member card and process check out| Step 7| Put on climbing gears| Step 14| Customer leaving the gym|The servicing blueprint of Camp Five has provided as per below (Regular ; New customers) It is content with 14 steps of service blueprint for regular and new customers with the service supports, support process, back stage, on stage and customer action show. 2. 3 The Marketing Mix 7’Ps According to Kotabe and Helsen (2011, p332) companies can pursue three global strategies to penetrate foreign market, which is product extension, product adaptation and product invention.THE MARKETING MIX FOR CAMP FIVE SERVICES | Product | Climbing gym, Yoga class, Climbing training, Corporate team building, Sales of climbing gear, Rental of gear| Place | Outlet location- Gym center| Promotion | Membership fees discount, Training course discount, Selected item discount via Internet, Face-to-face, Facebook. | Pricing | High price for per entry; Average price for membership 3 month-1 year. People | Student, Professional climber, Leisure climber, Working Adult, House wife, Children, Trainer| Physical Evidence | Innovative design, Well maintain of climbing equipment, Tidy uniform, Membership cards, Clean and advance washroom. | Processes| From they enter the gym to exiting the gym. Fast payment process, Paid before entered, Simple check in process, High customer involvement, Well of training flows. | 3. 0 TARGET CUSTOMER (116words) The type of target customer is sports oriented they may be experience climber, leisure climber and explorer.This is Malaysian or non-Malaysia, working, living and studying within 15km from Bandar Utama area, male 50% and female 50% with the minimum earning of salary RM4000 to RM20,000 with some western culture background. Camp Five's targeted customer can be separated into the following groups, 1. Student 2. Foreign Resident 1. Working Adult 1. Corporate & School Group| Description| 1| Student| Majority are from 15-25 years old, young male and female. Foreign students who follow their family came and living in Malaysia or coming in alone with the purpose of further educations.As financial supported by their parents with background mostly associated with high-end society, therefore cultural is more open to adventure sports with more buying power for entertainment good. | 2| Foreign Resident| Work migration under the foreign resident, coming in and working here as temporary for certain project for 1-5 years, with very high income on averag e at lease RM 20,000 or more per month. Seeking for high quality lifestyle with high purchasing power, Caucasian or Asia came from high-technology's country. 3| Working Adult | Locate Malaysian customer, working, living or studying around Petaling Jaya or KL area. In average a working person with personal income of minimum RM4000, male or female with high education level, outgoing personality and like sport. | 4| Corporate ; School| Group customer is those will like to come for as a company or schools event targeted for corporate team building function is not a routine activity. | Table 3a In the hierarchy of effect model, customer was visit to this gym are experiential influence on behavior. Affect – Behavior – Cognitive.First come from their feeling want to try this climbing experience, and then they took action to climb lastly learning process. 4. 0 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS 4. 1 PESTAL ANALYSIS OF CAMP FIVE (290words) A PESTEL Analysis of Camp Five Sdn Bhd, this model is d esigned measure on the macro-environment could effect on the organization. Includes with Political, Economic, Social, Technical Environmental and Legal issue, on average social issue carries the most weight in the climbing gym industrial, due to it is an experiential goods and services. Factor| Includes:|Political| Change trading rules, tax, change in government. | Economic| Interest rates, exchange rates, national income, inflation| Social| Ageing population, attitudes to work, income distribution, customer taste, education levels, migration flow and working hours of customer| Technological| Innovation, new product development, rate of technological obsolescence, safety drinking water system, online advertising| Environmental| Reduce use of paper, encourage cotton towel, global warming, environmental issues| Legal| e. g. competition law, health and safety, employment law, business law| Table 4aDETAIL OF PESTEL ANALYSIS IN CHART | Political Factors| Change in trading rules, Camp Fiv e it is owe by a Sweden Company may influence the business trading terms. Tax, the rate will change in rock climbing product and equipment, all climbing equipment is imported good. If government is not stable company may re-locate in the investment in other part of SE Asia. | Economy Factors| Exchange rates will influence of company income, because company HQ is in Europe. National incomes and unemployment rate, determinate customer willingness to spend on leisure product like gym servicing.Inflation rate will influence on the wages of staff and operation expense, exchange rate of equipment, due to the product are all imported, when Euro and Dollar price down. | Social Factors| Customer change in taste in switching of interest in this gym, aging of society, if this city gets older than the target group (aged of 14-45) will the target customer group will get smaller. Education and income level increases, people tent to concern more with health issue and increase in working-out in gym . If working hours increase the number member able to visit at week days will decrease.Migration flows increases; our customer will increase, and due to climbing sport is more popular in foreign country. | Technology Factors| The uses and for sales climbing devices and equipment is important product in our Pro-Shop, and the technology being use to with in the gym, free Wi-Fi connection, fully air-conditions, high technology shower systems, water filler give customer with a confinable gym environment as well as the auto- belaying device, customer can still climb while waiting for their buddies arrived. | Legal Factors| Climbing environment is designed with anti-fire and safety pat material and cushions.It is always monitored by instruction eying around. Safety training and handbook ensure all customers understand the safety rules in the climbing gym and rules of use climbing equipment. Employment rules follow as per Malaysia government guideline in employment handbook. Camp Five appl y Malaysia Law system where the mother company from Sweden applies EU law. | Environmental Factors| Encourage customer and staff reduces on use of plastic water bottom and encouraging drinking in refilled directly from pipe, recycle bin services is provided. Encourage customer to use cotton towel in the gym and cafe instant of paper.Weather change, determines people likeness to climbing indoor or outdoor the day and the location, easy access to gym. | Table 4b 4. 2 Porter Five Forces of Macro Environmental Analysis The use for porter five forces analysis is the measure the threat within the competitor and business. The key rating system have been applied as per following, Key Rating System (1. Very Poor, 2. Poor, 3. Neutral, 4. Good, 5. Very Good) The Rating System Porter 5 Forces of Camp Five| 5 Forces| Camp Five| Cyberjaya Adventure | Mad Monkey| 1. Existing rivalry | 3| 3| 2| 2. New entering | 3| 2| 1| . B. P of Buyer| 5| 3| 3| 4. Threat Substitute| 5| 3| 2| 5. B. P of Suppliers | 3| 4| 2| Total| 19| 15| 10| | | | | | Rating System: very poor-1 ; very good- 5 | Table 4b The detail of Porter Five Forces will be explained as per below chart (4c) Porter's Five Forces of Competitive Position | | | | | | | 2. New entering | | | Medium there is the only gym within 20km from the resident, technology is in way advance than other, due to the built cost is high, but competitor can built in cheaper gym with lower cost. | | 5. Bargaining Power of Supplier | | | | 3.Bargaining Power of Buyer | | | 1. Existing Rivalry | | | Medium, the product has substitutes and minimal switching costs, which result in low competitive pressures in the supply side. | | | at the medium stage, although the quality and service is very good but there is still many customer prefer to go for low price choice lead to high degree of differentiation, therefore can be competitive. | | Buyer low stage the high end customer will preferred to purchase with receiving the best quality of service than s witching to look for other alternative. | | | | | | | 4.Threat Substitute | | | Low level, as the product is similar but the quality of facility and lifestyle is unlikely to be change by it taste. | | Table 4c 4. 3 Industry Analysis Due to this is a experiential goods in terms of economy and political will influence on change in it price, the long run of bargaining power with buyer and supplier are at every low risk, only seeing the possibility of new gym within this area can be compete with Camp Five but the possibility is still low, high chance of customer may lost interest and less visiting, due to friends, time of work and other reason. . 4 Customer Analysis The collection of data from customer analysis is conducted in face-to-face interview and survey format, it is target to understand the customer needs and current marketing trends towards satisfaction measuring in the climbing gym environment by service provided located with Klang Valley area. 4. 5 Competitor Analysis Major c ompetitor rock climbing gym within Malaysia, provided climbing service to rock climber, will be cyberjaya adventure center in Cyber Jaya, MadMonkey indoor bouldering center in Wangsa Maju, Shah Alam outdoor adventure in Shah Alam and The factory climbing gym in Subang Jaya. They provide service like top-rope climbing, bouldering wall, travels walls and lead wall climbing, however only Camp Five and Cyber Jaya Adventure was able to provide all the service in one center. The price as quality show as below, 5. 0 INTERNAL ANALYSIS 5. 1 Resource Competency Analysis The uniqueness of Camp Five has believed in providing the best environment and the best service in Asia, with high quality level of modern lifestyle and beauty of sports.And all employees in any position and time are responsible to customer safety first, staff must take action to help and remain ensuring the individual safeness in climbing environment. 5. 2 Share Holders Analysis The matrix below shown in table below is applie d to show the internal and external stakeholders that have direct or indirect impact on the growth of the business. | Importance of stakeholder | | High | Low | Influence of stakeholder | High | Key group | Silent group | | | Partners | Government – Ministry of Environment | | | Management, | | | Shareholders |   | | | New investor |   | | Low | Vocal Group | Irrelevant group | | | Employees | Individual customers | | | Marketing teams | Contractor | | | Agents, | Cleaner | | | Distributors |   | Table 5a– Stakeholder Analysis | The key groups are partners, management, other shareholders and new investor. The customer groups are the key to the survival of the business. The faster the target market will turn into royal customer, gym can sustain and growth in its business operation and provides in positive growth. 5. Performance Analysis Current the sales of the organization is the low head count especially in low season like long public holiday times, although we have a big number of members but however they are non-actives, the targeted market share of customer group has not been achieved, overall survive on the long term membership customer which sign up for 6month-1 years membership. That could count on average of 40% of total business. The others revenue are selling on climbing equipment, team building outdoor projects for groups and climb pays per entrance. . 0Service Quality Analysis (298words) To measure the service quality of Camp Five I have provided the analysis based on face-to-face survey with interviewee with purchasing experience in Camp Five Climbing Gym, the analysis result show as below. (The full version of service survey form is reference in the appendix) The SERQUAL Model analysis will based on question 3-15 only, show as per below, SERQUAL Model of Service Survey Q| Survey Questions | 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| Q being answers| Total score| No. f Interviewee| Means| 1| First time to this gym|   | 60|   |   |   | 600| n/a| 60 | n/a| 2| How do you know this Gym|   | 60|   |   |   | 600| n/a| 60| n/a| Rate you overall experience (Scoring System data are serve for the GAP analysis)| 3| Were you server – Courteous? (If No-1, Yes- 5)| |   |   |   | 60| 60| 300| 60| 5| 4| Were you server -Informative? (If No-1, Yes -5)| 20|   |   |   | 40| 60| 260| 60| 3. 7| 5| Rate of total expectation |   |   |   | 60|   | 60| 240| 60| 4| 6| Staff helpfulness |   |   | 10| 40| 10| 60| 240| 60| 4| 7| The price of entrance fees| 20| 10| 20| 10|   | 60| 140| 60| 2. | 8| The attribute of the gym |   |   | 10| 40| 10| 60| 240| 60| 4| 9| Varieties of climb|   |   | 10| 40| 10| 60| 240| 60| 4| 10| Convenience of this location|   |   |   | 40| 20| 60| 260| 60| 4. 3| 11| Clean |   |   | 10| 20| 30| 60| 260| 60| 4. 3| 12| Environment safety|   |   |   | 40| 20| 60| 260| 60| 4. 3| 13| Training experience |   | 10|   | 10|   | 20| 60| 60| 3| 14| Quality gear for rent |   | 10| 20| 10|   | 40| 120| 60| 4| 15| Rate over climb experience|   |   |   | 50| 10| 60| 250| 60| 4. 2| Personal particulars | 16| Gender| 20| 40|   | 60| The details of this survey are provided in survey form on appendix at last page of this report. 17| Age|   |   | 20| 30| 10| 60| | 18| Monthly Income group |   |   |   | 50| 10| 60| | 19| Frequency of visiting| 40|   | 10| 10|   | 60| | 20| Plan to join membership | 30| 10|   |   |   | 40| | 21| Already member? | 30| 30|   |   |   | 60| | 21A| Which member plan? | 10|   |   | 10| 10| 30| | Table 6a As per the rating system and survey 100% of customer gets to know about this gym by friends’ referral, as per survey the promotion is not strange enough in its attraction to new walk in customer. QUOTA SAMPLING QUOTA SAMPLING | Race | No. Survey | % | Chinese | Male | 8| 13%| Female | 12| 20%| Malay | Male | 5| 8%| | Female | 5| 8%| Indian | Male | 2| 3%| | Female | 2| 3%| Forigner | Male | 13| 22%| | Female | 13| 22%| Total | 60| 100%| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Table 6b| | | | As per quota sampling analysis shows that the 34%Chinese, 16% Malay, 6% Indian and 44% Foreigner participant in the survey analysis. Overall customer were being serve courteous in scoring at the highest at 5, and the price of entrance fees score at the lowest at 2. only. Interpreted the staff has a good relationship and treated customer as very important, but however the price is disappointing from customer's point of view. GAP ANALYSIS CUSTOMER PERCEPTION ; EXPECTATION ANALYSIS | Provider Gap | Customer Expectation | Customer Perception | GAP | Listening Gap | 4 | 3 | (1)| Service Design and Standards Gap | 4 | 4 | 0 | Service Performance Gap | 4 | 1 | (3)| Communication Gap | 5 | 5 | 0 | Total| 17| 13| -4| | | | | | Dis-confirmation GAP: Low-1, High-5 | Table 6c – Disconfirmat ion GapAs Disconfirmation model, as in the GAP model table shows in total of -4 dis confirmation Gap between customer perception and expectations. Overall they score the highest gap -3 of performance gap, operation staff need to improves on its service performance skills in term of the cleanness of toilet, change in water filler, repairing of rental climbing equipment, quality of training and redesign the current price package. The communication and listening wish is very good scored at 0 gap means the customer is very satisfied with the current communication service of employee. . 0 SWOT ANALYSIS (242words) As per chart, show CAMP FIVE has more advantage in strengths and opportunity as compare to the weakness and treats; it has shown a positive growth in the future. The further explanation will be shown as below. Strengths | Weakness | High in technology | To pricy | Strong employee capital | High operation expensive | Largest climbing gym in Asia | Limit to a small customer group from interests | Convenience of location |   | Good environment |   | Opportunity | Treats    | Expend to new customer via more promotion | Product substitution |Give FOC test climb section and tight-up promote | Change of customer taste | Tight up with government | Low season | International and locate competition |   | Table 7a SWOT ANALYSIS IN DETAILS | Strengths| The strengths of Camp five they provides high technologies in wall climbing technologies following the latest and most up-dated as Europe standard, they’re the largest gym also the best climbing in Malaysia, further Malaysia Climbing Campion is working under Camp Five, all others is also professional certified training by UIAA. They are 10,000 square feet with located inside a shopping hall, gives customer all connivances, right in the middle of city. | Weakness| Price is too high for medium end climber or either some student which have time to come as compare to the others gym is about 25-40% higher than other like PutraJaya adventure and Mad Monkey gym, although they does not have the same location advantage. High operation cost, due to the rental, hiring of employee with design maintain and operating, they also have small customer group with attracted to this sports. Opportunity| Customer group can be increase into varies of group including, student, working, employee and government, open new market, increase in brand royalty and awareness. Increase in open competition number of event for member’s link with international, tight up with UIAA| Treats| Customer may change in interest of climbing, low season people prefer going for holiday, change location to climb. | Table 7b 8. 0 TOW TOWS (50words)A TOW Analysis to the advance of SWOT to specific the elements of service marketing address Intangibility, perishability, co-production, customer contact people, physical evidence using â€Å"Strength and Opportunity†, â€Å"Weaknesses and Opportunity†, â€Å"Strengt h and Threat†, lastly â€Å"Weaknesses and Threat (WT)† exhibiting as per followings. | INTERNAL STRENGTHS | INTERNAL WEAKNESS | | 1. High in technology 2. Strong employee capital 3. Largest climbing gym in Asia 4. Convenience of location 5. Good environment | 1. To pricy 2. High operation expensive 3.Limit to a small customer group from interests | EXTERNAL OPPRTUNITIES | SO: STRATEGIES | WO: STRATEGIES | 1. Give FOC test climb section and tight-up promote 2. Tight up with government 3. International and locate competition | 1. Increase on marketing tight up with government project. 2. Tight up with more international competition host in Camp 5 3. Create more events and create awareness through press and news. 4. Get free climb section with event tight up with mall. 5. Advertise in Asia Climbing magazine. | 1. Re-structure the price 2.Increase the sales volume after to co-operate rate, eg. IBM, One World Hotel staff and tourist discount rate, increase customer group. 3 . Promote in tourism Malaysia. 4. Reduces on the use on electricity saving operation cost. 5. Attract external customer to try rock climbing | EXTERNAL THREAT | ST: STRATEGIES | WT: STRATEGIES | 1. Product substitution 2. Change of customer taste 3. Low season | 1. Increase in brand royalty 2. Arrange more activity to get member together again 3. Give special promotion at low season/ week days . Target more office people and encourage them to come after office hours. | 1. Avoid too much promotion rules in joining the membership 2. Promote friends-friends or buy one get one member free to crease interest of new members. 3. Let people enjoy this place more than other gym 4. Promote gym member switching discount or give 3 hours free personal training. | Table 8a Strength and Opportunity (SO) – By increase project from different dimension, attract more opportunity and take advantage of the good location.Increase events example: in 2006 the World Cup Europe climber from UIAA atten ds to climbing during preparation for competition includes with national climbing team from Italy, France, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany etc. Weaknesses and Opportunity (WO) – Make adjustment to the price and open up new market group like one world hotel tourist discount or business discount, VISA card member promotions, one-card member test climb section, promote the selling hardness in Point-to point exchange gift credit card promotion.Strength and Threat (ST) – Use event to increase the brand royalty to passed , current and future customers. Target more people from the office around the gym to come, make road show to promote the gym and facilities. Weaknesses and Threat (WT) – Try to make the promotion easy for customer to purchase try to avoid many Purchase to Purchase rules, try to give customer benefit able and interesting, when the headcount reaches the target (set a target) than cut of the special promotion and keep the regular promo tion just to keep the royalty customers. 9. 0 CONCLUSION (215words)This report concludes that Camp Five is good place to youth people to work-out and meet new friends, Camp Five has the great quality and it is very suitable for the Malaysian marketing in it expansion. However in total they are lack of awareness, as rock climbing is still a very new sport for Malaysia as compare to the west, therefore promotion is an essential. Overall customer has a good rating with the service provided by Camp Five but however due to the other competitor in the marketing has some influence on customer perspective therefore the building the brand and royalty customer with in the climbing network is important.Customer overall has a high interest in rock climbing and I can see they are quite royal to the interest, but due to the most majority of climbing is in the low-middle end, rating of customer the price over is too high and not expectable by most long term climber, they will prefer to seek for ot her alternative to climb although the location may not be as convenience. Camp Five should take customer in as lower price and get more royalty customer, focus on headcount is not important, however the suggestion for Camp Five will be presented in phase 2 of the assignment. 0. 0 LIST OF REFERANCE Company Research 1. Camp Five Sdn Bhd 2012, viewed 31 July 2012, ;http://camp5. com/; 2. BLOCX Sdn Bhd 2012, viewed 30 July 2012, ;http://www. blocx. com/projects/camp5. html ; 3. Alpine 2012, viewed 2 Aug 2012, ;http://amga. com/programs/alpine_AGE. php; 4. UIAA 2012, viewed 21Aug2012, ;www. theuiaa. org/; PESTEL Analysis 5. PESTEL analysis of the macro-environment by Oxford University Press. 2007, viewed 31 Jul 2012, ;http://www. oup. com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_12. htm; 6.PESTLE analysis history and application by CIPD. Retrieved Nov 2010, viewed 30 Jul 2012, ; http://rapidbi. com/the-pestle-analysis-tool/; Blue Print 7. Kotler,P,Brown, L, Adams,S ; Armstrong, G2004, Marketing, 6th edn, Pearson Education, Australia 8. Shostack, GL 1992, ‘Understanding services through blueprinting’, in T Swartz, D Brown ; S Brown(eds), Advances in services marketing and management, vol. 1,JAI Press, 9. Greenwich, CT, pp. 75-90. 10. Dr C. Thomas Oliva(2012), Basic blueprint reading and sketching 50 th edn, Thomas Delmar. 11.Newell Frederich(1926), customer relationship management in the new era of internal marketing, New York, London: McGraw-Hill, 2000 12. Valarie A. Zeithaml, Mary Jo Bitner and Dawayne Gremler (2008), Service Marketing Integrating customer focus across the firm 5th ed. Service Marketing 13. Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz (2011), Services Marketing – People, Technology, Strategy. 7th ed. , Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Porter’s Model 14. Chapman, A 2004-2009, Porter’s Five Forces Model, BusinessBalls. com, Leicester, England, viewed 19 August 2011, ;http://www. usinessballs. com/por tersfiveforcesofcompetition. htm; Others 15. CIA 2012, The worldfact book, viewed 10 Aug 2012, ;https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook; 16. Konopka, G. (1973) â€Å"Requirements for Healthy Development of Adolescent Youth†, Adolescence. VIII(31), p. 24. 17. Thomas, A. (2003) â€Å"Psychology of Adolescents†, Self-Concept, Weight Issues and Body Image in Children and Adolescents, p. 88 11 APENDIX –SURVEY FORM A survey forms has attach as the result outcome of interview with Camp Five’s customer. CAMP 5 THE LARGEST IN ASIA How Do You Rate Your Climbing?We are committed to providing you with the best climbing experience possible, so we welcome your comments. Please fill out this questionnaire and place it in the box in our check-out reception counter. Thank you! Are you a first time coming to this climbing gym? YesNo How do you know about this climbing gym? AdsReferralOnline/LearnOthers Website from Vision Please specify: _____________ _____ * * How do rate the total expectation with us, please rate as per below†¦. The reliability of the staff 12345 DisappointingExceptional The willingness the staff – Helpfulness or friendliness 12345DisappointingExceptional Was you serve†¦ Courteous? Informative? YesNoYesNo The price of entrance fees. 12345 DisappointingExceptional The attribute of the gym – Does the climbing level fits you? 12345 DisappointingExceptional Your favorite climbing level is ________________ (FRANCH or USA) Is there enough variety of climb. 12345 DisappointingExceptional Please rate the connivance of this location? 12345 DisappointingExceptional CAMP 5 THE LARGEST IN ASIA How Do You Rate Your Climbing? We are committed to providing you with the best climbing experience possible, so we welcome your comments.Please fill out this questionnaire and place it in the box in our check-out reception counter. Thank you! Are you a first time coming to this climbing gym? YesNo How do you k now about this climbing gym? AdsReferralOnline/LearnOthers Website from Vision Please specify: __________________ * * How do rate the total expectation with us, please rate as per below†¦. The reliability of the staff 12345 DisappointingExceptional The willingness the staff – Helpfulness or friendliness 12345 DisappointingExceptional Was you serve†¦ Courteous? Informative? YesNoYesNo The price of entrance fees. 12345DisappointingExceptional The attribute of the gym – Does the climbing level fits you? 12345 DisappointingExceptional Your favorite climbing level is ________________ (FRANCH or USA) Is there enough variety of climb. 12345 DisappointingExceptional Please rate the connivance of this location? 12345 DisappointingExceptional Was our gym clean? 12345 DisappointingExceptional Safety of environment and climbing area? * * 12345 * Disappointing Exceptional Please rate your overall training experience. (If any) 12345 DisappointingExceptional Name of course ______________________ Please rate the quality of gears. If any) 12345 DisappointingExceptional Please rate your overall climbing experience. 12345 DisappointingExceptional Personal particulars Please be assure as this particular will only be analysis on a positive bases as for the profiling and not for individual use, be assure those details will not be use for another purpose. Gender Male Female Age 15 and 15-20 21-3031-4040 and Below More Monthly Income Student 20002000- 4001- 6000 or No Income or lower 4000 6000 higher How frequently do you visit our gym? -5 times per month 1-2 times per month Once every 2 months Other Do you plan to join to our gym’s membership? Yes No You already have the membership? Yes No ? 10pass 3mths6mths12mths 12mths (Prepaid) (Installment) Was our gym clean? 12345 DisappointingExceptional Safety of environment and climbing area? * * 12345 * Disappointing Exceptional Please rate your overall training experience. (If any) 12345 DisappointingExce ptional Name of course ______________________ Please rate the quality of gears. (If any) 12345DisappointingExceptional Please rate your overall climbing experience. 12345 DisappointingExceptional Personal particulars Please be assure as this particular will only be analysis on a positive bases as for the profiling and not for individual use, be assure those details will not be use for another purpose. Gender Male Female Age 15 and 15-20 21-3031-4040 and Below More Monthly Income Student 20002000- 4001- 6000 or No Income or lower 4000 6000 higher How frequently do you visit our gym? -5 times per month 1-2 times per month Once every 2 months Other Do you plan to join to our gym’s membership? Yes No You already have the membership? Yes No ? 10pass 3mths6mths12mths 12mths (Prepaid) (Installment) * Would you recommend our climbing gym to a friend? Why, or why not? * How might we have made it more memorable to you? What training course did you taken? How is your experience? ( if any) * Please share any additional comments or suggestions. Camp 5 Climbing Gym Camp Five Sdn bhd EZ501, 5th Floor, 1 Utama Shopping CentreBandar Utama, 47800, Selangor, Malaysia Phone (603) 77260420/410 Fax (603) 77260210 http://www. camp5. com [email  protected] com * Would you recommend our climbing gym to a friend? Why, or why not? * How might we have made it more memorable to you? What training course did you taken? How is your experience? ( if any) * Please share any additional comments or suggestions. Camp 5 Climbing Gym Camp Five Sdn bhd EZ501, 5th Floor, 1 Utama Shopping Centre Bandar Utama, 47800, Selangor, Malaysia Phone (603) 77260420/410 Fax (603) 77260210 http://www. camp5. com [email  protected] com