Health Care Policy Issue- Stem Cell

Policy Topic: Stem Cell Research Health Care Policy: The Past and the Future: HCS/455 A very controversial subject in the United States has been Stem Cell research. The United States has a very complicated legal and political history when Stem Cell laws and policies come into play. Scientifically speaking, the practice of stem cell research and treatments consists of the use of cells found in all multi-cellular organisms. There are two different types of stem cells, adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells, each come from different places.The difference is that adult stem cells are derived from mature body tissue (bone, marrow, umbilical cord, etc. ) and embryonic stem cells are derived from human embryos. The argument or controversy comes mainly from the way embryonic stem cells are obtained. During vitro fertilization a pregnant woman may choose to have an abortion in which the embryo dies (NIH, 2010). Many religious groups and bioethicists are against this practice because they b elieve this constitutes killing a potential human being.Researchers have countered these people, saying that the embryo would have been destroyed anyway and the stem cells that live on may have the potential to save lives indirectly through research and directly through therapy (NIH, 2010). Before 2009 the Stem Cell policy in the United States was heavily regulated by a bill President Bush put into place that banned federal funding of research using new stem cell lines in 2001. To be clear, there has never been a law State or Federal that banned stem cell research in the United States, but only placed restrictions on funding and use under Congresses power to spend.In the United States, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been tasked with creating and enforcing guidelines that pertain to stem cell research and treatments. These guidelines created by NIH are backed by federal law. The NIH has published these guidelines known as â€Å"National Institutes Guidelines for Human S tem Cell Research. † These guidelines can be summarized as a set of policies and procedures under which the NIH will fund such research, and help ensure that NIH-funded research in this area is ethically responsible, scientifically worthy, and conducted in accordance with applicable law. President Barack H.Obama issued Executive Order 13505: Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells on March 9, 2009 which succeeded over President Bush’s executive order that created barriers for the research of stem cells. President Obama addressed the public saying (The White House, 2011): â€Å"Today, with the Executive Order I am about to sign, we will bring the change that so many scientists and researchers; doctors and innovators; patients and loved ones have hoped for, and fought for, these past eight years: we will lift the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic stem cell research.We will vigorously support scientists who pursue this research. And we will aim for America to lead the world in the discoveries it one day may yield. † Instantly one should notice that the stakeholders involved in stem cell research is very broad, from patient to researchers anyone who is concerned with the advancement of stem cell research is be considered as a stakeholder in stem cell policies and research. Stakeholders are individuals or groups in a society who are directly involved with or indirectly affected by the development of stem cell research.President Obama did a great job addressing all the stakeholders in his speech. Specifically, one could say patients are the largest benefactor or stakeholder in stem cell research policies. These patient groups are in alignment with the medical community which makes for the most visible of all stakeholders in stem cell research. Motivation is driven by promises of cures and treatments for diseases made by medical professionals, scientists and researchers. Reference Lee, Jesse. (2 009). The White House: Signing of Stem Cell Executive Order.The White House. Retrieved from http://www. whitehouse. gov/blog/09/03/09/A-debt-of-gratitude-to-so-many-tireless-advocates/ NIH. (2011). Federal Policy. Retrieved from http://stemcells. nih. gov/policy NIH. (2011). National Institutes of Health Guidelines on Human Stem Cell Research. Retrieved from http://stemcells. nih. gov/StemCells/Templates/StemCellContentPage. aspx? NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7bA604DCCE-2E5F-4395-8954-FCE1C05BECED%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2finfo%2ffaqs%2easp&NRCACHEHINT=NoModifyGuest#guide

Bulgaria Economy Essay

Alongside the north coast of Black Sea, the Bulgarian state was first founded in 635 A. D with the Slav and Bulgar peoples. Between the year 893 and 927 the first Bulgarian Kingdom was established which is known as the â€Å"Golden Age† in the history of Bulgaria. In the early 20th century social and political disorders blemished Bulgaria and forced the country to participate in the First Balkan War in 1912 and then in the Second Balkan War in 1913. Bulgaria also took a part in the World Wars first by associated with the Central Powers and then with the Axis Powers. In the beginning of the Second World War, the country united with the Germany, but towards the end of the war it changed its position for fighting with the German troops that resulted in the killing of 30,000 Bulgarian soldiers. Communism came forward and materialized dominantly in the political environment of the country in 1944 when the Soviet soldiers entered into the territory of Bulgaria and the Axis power crushed in the Second World War. Gradually the country turned as the protectorate of the Soviet Union during the era of Cold War. With dethrone of Todor Zhivkov, thethen head of the Communist Party of Bulgaria, democratic change took place in the country. In 1991 the first egalitarian parliamentary elections occurred in Bulgaria. In 1992 the country experienced its first ever direct presidential elections. Bulgaria, which comes out through the agonizing struggle and trouble of communism, faced various social disorder and economic turmoil that ultimately ended with the huge economic and financial crisis in the period of the late 1996 and the early 1997. However, the economy of Bulgaria came back to the stabilizing path with a series of reforming initiatives taken by Ivan Kostov, the former prime minister of the country. (Background Note: Bulgaria, November 27, 2009). Overtime, Bulgaria has gradually emerged as a market-driven economy from an old command economy. In 1996, the country experienced major economic crises in the form of banking system disorder, depreciation of currency, reduction of production as well as foreign trade. Dwindling foreign exchange reserves and significant increase in rates of interest further aggravated both the burden of domestic debt and growth of the country. Within a period of one year gross domestic product dropped by almost 11% in 1996 while it experienced a 2% increase in 1995. In the late 1996 privatization model was accepted, but the privatization of the public sector industries declined. During this period the IMF disbursed almost $580 loan to Bulgaria. But the country failed to augment its structural reform process. This lack of progress of Bulgaria insisted the IMF to postpone the loan sanctioned to the country. For avoiding needless spending and huge inflationary pressure, the IMF proposed to form a currency board to renovate the confidence of the country. In this case Mr. Ivan Kostov (UDF), the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, who got the crown in 1997, played the leading role to launch the ambitious reform programs. With such initiatives the currency board was set up on July 1, 1997 to bring back the stability and growth in the economy of Bulgaria. The outcome of the formation of the currency board was seen by the fall in inflation rate. While the rate of inflation was a three digit number in 1997, it was slashed to 1% in 1998. A decrease in the inflation rate, a decrease in interest rate and an increase in the foreign investment were followed by the formation of the currency board. The government of Bulgaria also assured to sell off some of the assets of the country. Though the country faced a 7. 4% drop in its GDP in 1997, it expected the GDP to bounce back in 1998 to an estimated level of 2%. The government of Bulgaria also took some other initiatives like achieving the success of land reform policy, the process of privatization and the reform of the banking system, etc. as its other prime objectives. The government of Bulgaria has taken the steps to provide a strong and sustainable growth in the GDP of the country by learning the lessons from the fall of GDP in the years 1996 and 1997. For reducing the level of unemployment and sustaining the growth of production of the economy, Bulgaria has taken all the required steps from time to time. The governments have taken the necessary measurements to reduce the level of both the individual and the corporate taxes, curb the corruption and draw the flow of foreign investment into the country. The government of Bulgaria has also taken the steps to restructure the foreign debt policy of the country, restore and stimulate the stock market and aggravate the process of privatization of the some of the major state monopolies. All such steps of the country have led the European Commission to declare that Bulgaria is â€Å"Functioning Market Economy† in October 2002 as its main economic policy. (Background Note: Bulgaria, November 27, 2009). All the successive governments have maintained such reform and ultimately Bulgaria has taken the membership of the European Union in 2007. A World Bank report suggests that Bulgaria has been able to draw the maximum levels of flow of foreign direct investment among all the nations of Eastern Europe as a percentage of GDP in 2006. The government of Bulgaria has brought down the rate of corporate tax to 10% in 2007 to magnetize the additional flow of foreign capital in the country. Such a corporate tax rate has been reported as the lowest rate in the whole Europe. The cost of domestic labor has also dropped through the legislation of the flat personal income tax level of 10% in January 1, 2008. To enhance the stability in local economic functioning, the Bulgarian parliament has taken the policy of fiscal decentralization for the municipalities so as to provide them the power of collection and supervision of some taxes. Such a step was taken by responding the increasing demand for independence of financial procedures of the local governments of the country. The achievement of the country towards the restructure of its fiscal policies and tax reforms, however, somewhat wiped out by the recent global financial crisis and economic turmoil that started from the middle of 2007. Such a worldwide global dwindling phase has forced the Bulgarian economy to be trapped by the vicious circle of recession at the end of 2008 after experiencing a prolonged 10 years steady growth. The effect has been seen in the mounting household debt and the increased rate of unemployment in the country. In this situation the government has responded by taking an â€Å"anti-crisis† strategy for strengthening fiscal recovery and promoting economic stability. To increase the power over the funds of the European Union, the government has also given its commitment. Such governmental steps are also expected to fight the crime and the corruption in the Bulgarian economy in an organized way. (Economy in Bulgaria, n. d. ). Let us look at some of the basic statistics which are very helpful to assess the present economic structure of the Bulgarian Economy and its overall development. It is a known fact in the history of mankind that the identification of the goals of economic development has not been properly done by human. (Todaro and Stephen, 2009, p 16) The Bulgarian economy has been designated as an economy with an upper and middle income nation by the World Bank. Though in the recent past the country has exhibited a steady trend in its growth, it is one of the least developed nations of Europe. The economy of Bulgaria heavily dependent on the industrial sector, but in recent past the service sector has also contributed to the growth of the country’s GDP. Petroleum, copper, gold, coal, beverages and tobacco, fruits, electronic tools and items, vehicle machineries, nuclear fuel, iron, construction items, sunflowers, wine, barley, etc. , are some of the major products of the country. From 1996 to 2008, over a period of 12 years, the country has able to maintain a growth of 6% and more. The huge inflow of foreign direct investment in the country has helped it to maintain such a significant rate of growth. However, the latest global recession has adversely affected the country on its export sector as well as on its capital inflow. This in turn has affected the growth of the country. The GDP of the country has fall to 5% in 2009. In terms of purchasing power parity, the GDP of Bulgaria has dropped to $90. 54 billion in 2009 from the level of $95. 1 billion of 2008. In terms of absorption of the work force of the country, the agriculture sector contributes 7. 5%, whereas industry contributes 27. 6% and service sector contributes 64. 9%. According to the estimation of 2009, the total work force of the country is 2. 63 million. The share of unemployed population in 2009 stands almost 9. 1% in the total working population. The corrupted system of public administration, feeble judiciary system and the increasing criminal activities has led almost 14. 1% of the population of Bulgaria to live their lives below the poverty line and under a greater hardship. (Bulgaria Economy, n. d. ). The estimated per capita GDP of the country has dropped to $12,600 in 2009 from the level of $13,100 in 2008. The estimated percentage of GDP of the country in agriculture, industry and services sector are 7. 5%, 27. 6% and 64. 9% successively. The estimated level of unemployment of Bulgaria has risen to 9. 1% in 2009 in comparison with 6. 3% in the previous year 2008. Total estimated gross investment in 2009 of the country is 28. 6% of GDP. The estimated amount of public debt has risen to 21. 4% of GDP in 2009 from the level of 14. 1% in 2008. The growth rate of industrial production in 2009 has been estimated as negative and stands at -14% of GDP. The estimated foreign exchange reserve and gold has also dropped to $16. 49 billion on December 31, 2009 from the level of $17. 93 billion on December 31, 2008. In response to the unfavorable effect of the global financial turmoil on the economy of Bulgaria, the government has taken many steps to strengthen the economy. Such governmental initiatives are supported by various statistics. The estimated public debt of Bulgaria has dropped to 21. 4% of GDP in 2009 as compared to the 14. 1% of the year ago. Estimated rate of inflation in terms of consumer prices has also decreased to 2. 7% in 2009 from that of 12. 3% in 2008. The prime lending rate of the central bank of Bulgaria has been increased to 10. 86% in December 31, 2008 from that of 10% in December 31, 2007. The stock of domestic credit has increased to $32. 04 billion in December 31 which was $17. 03 billion in December 31, 2007. (Bulgaria Economy 2010, February 8, 2010). According to the latest available data as published by Nation Master, the external debt of Bulgaria has increased to $3488 million which is a very high amount. In terms of Gini index, which is the measure of degree of inequality in the distribution of family income, the country has been ranked as 103rd out of 133 nations in case of its equal distribution of family income. (Economy, 2010). For analyzing the socio-economic structure and development issues of Bulgaria we should study the basic education system, healthcare system, urbanization process and migration and the strategies of the country to develop the economy in the presence of corruption. The minority communities of Bulgaria are protected by many international instruments according to the 1991 new Bulgarian constitution. Such a constitutional structure has established the superiority of the international law over the national law of Bulgaria. Such international norms and regulations have made the basic principles of the legislation of the country through which the government of Bulgaria is able to control and adjust the common rights of its citizens who vary across the languages of their respective communities, religions and cultures. However, there are many problems in the country associated with the minorities. Such problems are not only related with the cultural or religious variations but also basically with the economic and social values of the citizens. (Karasimeonov, n. d. ). The government of Bulgaria is very concerned to respect its citizen’s human right. In past, there were, however, some problems in many areas. The citizens who were the member of minority population of the country were suspected by the law enactment officials. The prisoners were also mistreated and misbehaved. The degree of arbitrary arrest, police violence and exploitation were very common in the country. The prevalence of corruption and other problems associated with the system led the judicial structure of the nation to suffer greatly. The press was also restricted to freely expose the views. In Bulgaria there were also many barriers on some of the religious groups of the nation. They were strictly deterred to present their cultural and religious outlooks. Communal harassment was very common in the country. Social discrimination between the men and women was very high and the violence against the women was vastly prevalent in the society. The increasing problem of child labor in the country have also setback the economy of Bulgaria. Throughout the ruling of all the political organizations in Bulgaria, corruption and crime has remained the basic concerning factors of all the governments. To fight against the corruption and to increase the awareness of its citizens, the government of Bulgaria has formed the inter-ministerial anticorruption commission in 2002. To combat against corruption though the Bulgarian government has taken various methods, the European Union, however, has argued that the country is still facing many problems associated with the presence of corruption in the economy. The Union has recommended for the requirement of rehabilitated efforts to tackle such advanced and sophisticated corruption. (Corruption and Anti-corruption Policy in Bulgaria, 2002, pp 102-104; Bulgaria, February 28, 2005). The education system of Bulgaria is basically national in nature, but also affected significantly by foreign controls. In the 19th century the educational system of the country was highly motivated and influenced by the impact of Soviet Russia. The influence of Western Europe and the American educational culture are also significant on the overall educational environment of Bulgaria. However, to bring the country’s educational system in the line of Western European process of education the educational system of Bulgaria has been reformed. With such initiative to reform the educational system of the economy, Bulgaria has supported the agreement with the European Union. (Bulgaria- Educational System- overview, 2010). Development is the concept of freedom of human. The Human development index consists of the status of health, education and the income (Todaro and Stephen, 2009, p 19-21). The Human Development Index of Bulgaria is . 808 which has given it the rank of 55 among the 178 nations. (Economy 2010). In the early 20th century the proportion of residents who lived in the cities with their counterparts who lived in the villages were merely 20 percent. In 1945 the proportion has increased to almost 24 percent and at the end of 1990 it has been seen that more than 6 million people resided in the cities while less than 3 million population of Bulgaria resided in the villages. Such a change in demographic movement is well enough to argue that Bulgaria has experienced the pace of urbanization with the passage of time. Since almost 66% of Bulgarian migrants has relocated in the same states of the country, so there has not been seen any sharp decline in the regional population ratio. The demographers, however, are very concerned over the decline of the population of the villages. They are very concerned over the skewed distribution of population towards the cities. The 1990 democratization activities have raised many debates over the issue of agricultural privatization program of the government. (Curtis,1992). References: 1) Todaro, P, M and S, C, Stephen (2009), â€Å"Economic Development†, Pearson Education Limited, 10th Edition, England. 2) â€Å"Background Note: Bulgaria† (November 27, 2009), Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U. S. Department of State. Available at: http://www. state. gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3236. htm Access On: May 18, 2010 3) â€Å"Economy in Bulgaria† (n. d. ), World66 Available at: http://www. world66. com/europe/bulgaria/economy Access On: May 18, 2010 4) â€Å"Bulgaria Economy† (n. d. ), EconomyWatch Available at: http://www. economywatch. com/world_economy/bulgaria/ Access On: May 19, 2010 5) â€Å"Economy† (2010), Bulgaria, Europe, NationMaster. com Available at: http://www. nationmaster. com/country/bu-bulgaria/eco-economy Access On: May 19, 2010 6) â€Å"Bulgaria Economy 2010† (February 8, 2010), Countries of the World. Available at: http://www. theodora. com/wfbcurrent/bulgaria/bulgaria_economy. html Access On: May 19, 2010 7) Karasimeonov, G, (n. d. ), â€Å" The constitutional Rights of Minorities in Bulgaria† Available at: http://www. cecl. gr/RigasNetwork/databank/REPORTS/r9/BU_9_Konstantinov. html Access On: May 20, 2010 8) â€Å"Corruption and Anti-corruption Policy in Bulgaria† (2002), Open Society Institute Available at: http://info. worldbank. org/etools/antic/docs/Resources/Country%20Profiles/Bulgaria/OpenSocietyInstitute_CorruptionBulgaria. pdf Access On: May 20, 2010 9) â€Å"Bulgaria† (February 28, 2005), Bureau of Democr

The Luxury Food Service Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Luxury Food Service Industry - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that marketing concentrates on the most fundamental necessities of companies to identify customers, their needs, and preferences, and to analyse their attitudes to promotion and other factors that influence their purchasing decisions; it also focuses on what influence them to buy products and services from the firm rather than a competitor. The selected three different venues from the high-end foodservice industry based in London are Jumeirah Carlton Tower, Radisson Edwardian Hotel, and the Langham London. This assignment tends to analyze the marketing strategy for these three choices. Jumeirah Carlton Tower: The luxury, five-star Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel is located in the heart of Knightsbridge. The demographical advantage which makes the Jumeirah one of the most preferred hotels is its location within the walking distance of Harrods and Harvey Nichols department stores and the exclusive designer boutique of Sloane Street. Moreover, th e highlighting points that make Jumeirah Carlton Tower one among the most chosen is that it has been voted Europe’s leading Business Hotel 2011 at the World Travel Awards; top three best hotels for service in the UK in the Conde Nast Traveller Gold List 2011 and 4th place for Best UK Business Hotel in the 2010 Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards. Radisson Edwardian Hotel Radisson Edwardian Hotel is located in the very heart of London’s theatreland, a five-star hotel of a Leicester Square landmark. The hotel is with the accent on contemporary elegance that has the potential to drag the customers into it. The luxury fabrics and muted shades of the individually designed rooms are much liked for its calming and comfortable experience. Moreover, the hotel’s warmth and hospitability belie the red-carpet glamour of its location. In the same way, the Hampshire Bar and Restaurant buzzes suit well for al fresco dining on the square. Today, the hotel has bec ome a part of the Green Tourism business scheme and has received the Silver Award, which proves that it is working well with the high standards set by Green Tourism. The Langham London is a renowned luxury hotel situated in London with more than 140 years of history. Guests can discover its 380 luxurious guestrooms and suites, 15 function rooms and the dazzling Palm Court, a place known for the tradition of afternoon tea. The hotel remains high having enchanted royalty, dignitaries, and celebrities since 1865 when the first grand hotel was opened in Europe by the firm. The Langham Hotel London continues to impress the potential travelers with its legendary ‘service with poise’. The well-celebrated history and renowned reputation of the obviously fine company make it different from other everyday London hotels. Moreover, it offers impeccably luxurious surroundings on Regent Street, one of the city’s premier locations. The service marketing mix, also known as an ex tended marketing mix is an essential element of a service framework design, which comprises of 7 P’s as compared to the 4 Ps of a product marketing mix. In another word, the service marketing mix presumes the service as a product itself but adding 3 more P’s which are required for optimum service delivery. The product in service marketing mix is intangible in nature, which cannot be measured like the physical products such as soap or toothpaste. Tourism industry or the luxury food industry can be an excellent example.

How and why did the wind-turbine industry in Denmark become so strong Essay

How and why did the wind-turbine industry in Denmark become so strong - Essay Example Short term goal for 2020 is to achieve a 15% renewable energy component in the over all energy mix in the country. Replacement of existing facilities with import substitution and self reliance, and  de-carbonizing  the atmosphere to ward off extreme climatic changes are among other priorities. These goals for 2020 and 2050 can be met better by Offshore Wind Power Projects. The option to go for increased production of renewable energy sources will also help curtail the dependence on fossil fuels, and help meet the government’s goal of energy security and reliability. U.K.’s predominant position in the World as a major off shore producer of renewable energy will further facilitate this change. Export Income (GBP  8Million) and local employment generation (up to 70,000) are by-products of this initiative, (Connor, 2003). At the same time, a stable regulatory regime is a must for the fulfillment of these expectations. Support to investors in the prevailing uncertain e conomic conditions is another prerequisite.    Awareness of the potential of the Offshore Wind Power Resources to serve the Environmental  Ã‚  goals and the thrust towards developing these has to be tempered with a concern for its impact on the other users of the Sea and Coastal environment and for the purpose of sustainability. The existing capacity of 8GW energy production of Wind Energy in the country was sought to be raised by 25GW in 2007. The impact of this policy was reviewed later through a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) and concerns about adverse impacts on other energy systems addressed through mitigation measures, (Connor, 2003). Incentives for investment and innovation underpin these efforts in the energy sector. Consistent with the findings of the SEA review referred to above, the UK government has now decided to go  Ã‚  ahead with Round 3 to grant leases for locations for Wind Power facilities in the Territorial  Ã‚  Waters and Economic Zone of U.K and Wales.  There is no denial that the work in this segment is good for the Environment and Economy of  Ã‚  the U.K.    2.0 Fast Market Growth of the Wind Power Sector    From the days of tiny wind power units in farms, to the current stage of giant wind farms with utility level capacity for massive energy generation, the development of wind energy technology has helped bring down the cost of production. The cost in areas with good wind speeds compare well with the cost of  Ã‚  generation  Ã‚  in new plants using other conventional generation methods, (Porter, 1998). At this rate, within this decade wind power is poised to become the cheapest energy source.  Further reduction in costs will call for massive increase of capacity and a corresponding  Ã‚  growth of this particular energy market. New large capacity generators are being installed in Germany, Denmark, Spain, U.K., India, China and the United States.                3.0 UK Case Study    Following its acceptance of the European Union target of achieving a 20% renewable energy component in the overall energy consumption as power and heat, and in transport, U.K. is committed to enhance its production of offshore wind energy. From consultations made by the U.K. Government in 2008, numerous measures have been initiated to achieve the goal. On shore and off shore wind energy will make up 30-35 % of the over all increase in production.

Management Accounting for Cadbury Schweppes plc Case Study

Management Accounting for Cadbury Schweppes plc - Case Study Example The most important information requirements which could aid the managers of the business include the information that are related to issues like planning & decision making, monitoring the business performance, building and maintaining a competitive advantage. In planning and decision making the managers are guided to what will produce the attainment of the companies’ corporate financial objectives. Planning is not only limited to day to day operation of the business but also how the business maximizes its revenues and profits and many areas of its operation. Updated information of revenues and expense accounts of the company are therefore very relevant for the company managers to effectively plan and make decision. Revenue accounts refer to accounts as a result of delivering goods and services to clients. Expense accounts include the cost of production like direct labour cost, raw materials and the factory over head associate with production. Monitoring the business performance presupposes knowledge of data of measurements that would tell managers whether they are accomplishing their objectives are not. The financial information on revenues, expense, assets and liabilities are therefore relevant information for the company to effectively have monitoring activities. The following are the chosen methods or techniques: Budgeting, Variance Analysis, Absorption Based Costing and Cost Volume Profit Analysis. Budgeting techniques is applicable to the information needs of company. ... requirements which could aid the managers of the business include the information that are related to issues like planning & decision making, monitoring the business performance, building and maintaining a competitive advantage.In planning and decision making the managers are guided to what will produce the attainment of the companies' corporate financial objectives. Planning is not only limited to day to day operation of the business but also how the business maximizes its revenues and profits and many areas of its operation. Updated information of revenues and expense accounts of the company are therefore very relevant for the company managers to effectively plan and make decision. Revenue accounts refer to accounts as a result of delivering goods and services to clients. Expense accounts include the cost of production like direct labour cost, raw materials and the factory over head associate with production.Monitoring the business performance presupposes knowledge of data of measu rements that would tell managers whether they are accomplishing their objectives are not. The financial information on revenues, expense, assets and liabilities are therefore relevant information for the company to effectively have monitoring activities. 2.1.2 The four suitable costing and management accounting methods/techniques applicable to the information needs earlier identified. The following are the chosen methods or techniques: Budgeting, Variance Analysis, Absorption Based Costing and Cost Volume Profit Analysis.Budgeting techniques is applicable to the information needs of company for activities like planning & decision making and monitoring the business performance of the company. A budget includes revenues and accounts that are projected

What should Paul do to determine how Plastec compares with other area Essay

What should Paul do to determine how Plastec compares with other area employers in terms of wages and benefits - Essay Example Compensation administration is a section of   human resources focusing on planning, organizing, and controlling the payments that staff gets for the work they carry out. Compensation includes direct forms such as merit, incentive and base pay and indirect forms such as holiday pay, health insurance and deferred imbursement. The final objectives of compensation supervision are: proficient maintenance of a productive  labor force,  just pay, and agreement with state, federal and local regulations based on what companies can meet the expense of. It is a major concern and drawback for Plastec that their turnover has increased. This could further affect their production and the development of the company. Plastec needs to critically analyze their employees working conditions and point out where they lack. One of the reasons for the workers resignation is better packages that are being offered by other companies. Having a sound knowledge of the environment is very crucial for the com pany. Plastec offers less money and health insurance than other companies do. The job is also stagnant as some workers pointed, â€Å"there was no place to go†.   How could Plastec use variable pay to motivate its machine operators to stay? To increase their productivity?     Variable pay, also famous as "pay for performance", is given for particular performance results rather than for routine time worked. While incentives are  not  the answer to all personnel challenges, they can contribute much to motivate the employee. Plastec could use it effectively to enhance the performance of its workers. It is natural instinct of humans to strive for reward, thus variable pays would be a good source of motivation. They could give a month’s free health services, extra pay for over time, or form and evaluate different work groups and rewards on who performs the best. Such positive competition would make them work harder and increase their productivity (Variable Pay: Ho w to manage it effectively, 2011). The majority of the machine operators are in their mid to late forties, some with families, and some without. What types of benefits would you suggest offering?   To make an employee work effectively and efficiently, a company needs to offer him some benefits. One way of keeping a worker content is by offering him bonuses with competitive salaries. Though salary is one of the important incentives that keeps employee satisfied with his job, but it can be the least effective. People eventually get used to their paychecks and increased salary fails to keep the morale of the workers high. Giving out a bonus when employee’s performance is outstanding encourages him to work better (Marr, n.d.). As, majority of the machine operators are in their late or mid forties, there is a very thin chance of them switching jobs. They must be offered retirement benefits. Middle-aged workers usually place a high value on good retirement plans. Employees must b e given reasonable healthcare, vacation days and sick and annual leave. When going out of station for meetings or conferences, the married employees must be allowed to take their spouses with them if feasible. Which employment laws or regulations should Paul pay the most attention to and why? When Paul joined the business firm, the owners gave him two instructions, â€Å"use HR to keep us staffed up so we can grow† and â€Å"keep us out of court†. Hence, it is very essential for Paul to see that the organization is carefully following all the rules and regulations and is free from employee discrimination and harassment. Ensuring the prevention of discrimination and harassment is not just the right thing to do, it is a good business decision. Organizations can avoid costly lawsuits, fines, and settlements by fostering a workplace that is free from harassment and discrimination. The first step is to hire the right people for a specific job to be performed. The workforce hired should be diverse and

CCDC Organization Chart for HR Leaders Research Paper

CCDC Organization Chart for HR Leaders - Research Paper Example Completing a merger and financially sound, this construction company is located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and looks to the future to gain further competitive advantage with its’ human resource strategies. b. Key HR Objectives for Year Five i. Establish an HR Framework (See Appendix A) ii. Establish HR Measures aligned with Customer metrics iii. HR Strategic Objectives to work toward - Five priorities in Year Five (Five in Five): 1. Develop a culture that reflects CCDC Today and in the Future 2. Develop a succession planning process and implement process 3. Establish proper HR staffing levels and HR Staff as Strategic Business Partners 4. Identify key HR functions/objectives in relationship to Framework Stages 1 – 4 to allow maximum HR goal setting and achievement. 5. Develop and Implement a Performance Management System. 2. Introduction a. The purpose of this report is to present a brief summary of the case study for CCDC based on the company profile and circums tances and a recommendation for human resource (HR) strategy. The creation of the company, CCDC, is a result of two smaller construction companies merging in 2007. The services provided are project management and civil engineering, full design and construction services, and construction services for public and private clients. ...ategic business objectives involve reducing the levels in the chain of command; implementing a coaching method of management rather than autocratic; maintain financial success; and ensure high quality services, meet the health and safety needs of staff, meet environmental standards, and improvements made in networks and purchasing agreements. c. While there has been an emphasis on HR policies and initiatives to support these objectives, there is also a question as to whether HR practices add value and how the effects of HR on the organizational culture may be evaluated. 3. Problems and Issues a. First, Cabrera and Cabrera (2003) and Rose and Kumar (2006) wo uld note the lack of a human resource strategic framework. CCDC lacks an overall HR strategic framework that HR objectives, programs, training, and policies can fall within or under. The framework could then be used by the leaders when they are conducting their strategic planning to avoid placing the leaders in the position to do the business planning, then step out of the planning and pass the business objectives to HR to do the work from a support standpoint – resulting in a disconnect (Porter, 1996). Both HR and the business need to be operating as one. There are resulting comments regarding HR functioning in a support role, which is counter to business needs. b. Second, once the framework is in place, CCDC needs the development of human resource strategic objectives and tactics that are an extension of the framework and the operational strategies as found in the literature rather than a reaction to operational requests.

Financing the Short Term Obligations of The Business Coursework

Financing the Short Term Obligations of The Business - Coursework Example Sources of short term finances available to a business 1. Trade credit – this is also referred as suppliers’ credit, ledger credit or open book account. It is needed when commercial purchases are not to be cleared immediately. In this case the company holds an accounts payable for the amount it owes to the suppliers while in turn running business on not paid for bills. Trade credit varies in length, type of customers and terms prevailing in a particular industry. However, the customer has to forego any discounts that would have been offered on prompt payment. The company can resolve to one month single statement bill or even the open book; this is where they have an extra ten days to clear the bill (Guerard, 2007, 108). 2. Bank loans – companies source for commercial loans from banks in order to meet or cover temporary gross working capital needs. The loan can either be secured or nonsecured. Secured loans have a lien against a company’s asset e.g. invento ry, outstanding receivables et cetera, or a pledge of credit, to back the loan. Unsecured loans are issued depending on creditworthiness of the business. The cost of the loan varies with its size and rates charged on the loan. However, a prime rate is used as a benchmark for these types of loans. Other methods used are revolving line where money is lent on a recurring basis; letters of credit where the bank guarantees by writing, the payment of a company’s overdraft for a given period of time and for specified amounts (Gitman, 2003, 24). 3. Open market commercial papers – these are negotiable notes with maturities from a range of one to nine months which are floated on the market by big corporations. Commercial paper dealers sell the issues to pension funds, smaller commercial banks, corporations, insurance companies to raise funds. The rates on commercial papers are however, below the prime rate for loans. The advantage to the company using commercial papers for borro wing funds is that the issue is widely distributed in the national market. This frees the company from relying on commercial banks. 4. Finance companies and factors – large commercial companies are deemed as the departmental stores of the financial world. These companies have subsidiaries or branches where they practice direct sales financing. They are in close contact with dealers of their merchandise therefore can offer goods to be paid for on installments. Their rates are much higher than commercial banks. Factoring arrangements are based on an advance of funds to a company by the factor against an assignment of trade receivables. An agreement is signed between the two companies to govern their relation. This is usually on a continuous basis depending on the terms applied by the two companies. Nonrecourse factoring allows the factor to buy the accounts of the company and takes up the losses thereto. However, in recourse factoring, the factor does not take up the loss on ba d accounts. Either case, factoring charges are based on a firms daily balance, general interest rate, specific factoring agreement and outstanding credit (Guerard, 2007, 115). Question two a) Financing Mark and spencer uses short term borrowings from banks and medium term notes to source for funds. Trade credit has been used for meeting financial obligations. Morrison on the other hand, has applied trade credits, borrowings from banks to source for short term funds. b) Liquidity ratios liquidity ratios for Mark & spencer Current Ratio = Total

Project proposal Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Project - Research Proposal Example These agents are known to possess a wide variety of applications, which can facilitate various non-viral systems for the introduction of DNA into the host body and enable easy and effective genetic therapy for the cure of dreaded diseases such as cancer. This study, attempts to identify and illustrate third generation polylysine dendrons as a potential source for the development of a non-viral platform for gene delivery. The study will delineate the characteristics of various dendrons to demonstrate their potential as a non-viral source of gene delivery. In addition, it will also illustrate the specific traits of third generation polylysine for potential use in gene delivery and gene therapy. To establish this, the study will comprise lab testing of mice to show that gene delivery can be efficiently be done using third generation polylysine dendrons. The goal of the research is to add value to the existing body of knowledge in this regard and to make it a more effective system for gene delivery as well as gene therapy. While the use of viral-vectors is an efficient method to introduce genes into host cells, they entail several cellular as well as extra cellular barriers. Though viral-vectors have both efficiency and high gene expression they ail from the major limitation of vulnerability to immunogenic reactions. Therefore, the medical fraternity’s interest rather slants to the alternative method of deploying non-viral methods for the delivery of genes into the host body as it entails lesser complexity. Thus, the use of dendrons or dendrimers has been gaining popularity in the field of genetic medicine, especially in its application for gene delivery and gene therapy. This is especially so because they provide a multifunctional platform by virtue of being synthetically capable of attaching tumour-targeting antibodies. Many studies confirm the validity of third generation polylysine as an effective monomer that has the potential to deliver

HEB Grocery Store Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

HEB Grocery Store - Case Study Example It holds the largest market share in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Austin. HEB is owned by the H.E. Butts since the commencement of the 21st century when it was established and is the major private company in the state of Texas. The H-E-B slogan possesses the same acronym as its slogan, which reads out, as â€Å"Here Everything is better†. To accomplish this, HEBN has committed itself to low prices, exceptional service, and friendly shopping. HEB has altered its marketing mix in accordance to the environment. Since the company is popular with Americans of Mexican origin, they carry many Mexican vegetables that might seem foreign to most Americans. HEB thrives on the unique skills and talents of its diverse, dedicated partners who embody their commitment to excellence and provide a strong, competitive advantage in the extremely competitive Texas market. One show of HEB’s internal strength is the consistently high ranking in industry magazines like Forbes and Progressi ve Grocer. The company’s long-standing support for charity has also grown a loyal base of customers. However, one of its major weaknesses is the demographical limitation as they mainly serve Texan towns. Externally, the company could look to increase its market share in towns outside Texas. They could also explore the opportunities from setting up shop in Mexico. The threats faced by HEB can all be tied to its numerous competitors, with Walmart a particularly fierce competitor. Various macro-environmental factors will affect the operations of HEB. These are economic factors like the economic crisis and technological ones too like social networking, which provides for a cheaper advertising platform. Additional factors are political and cultural in nature. HEB GROCERY STORE 1. Introduction & Background HEB Grocery Company is America’s fifteenth largest chain of grocery stores in terms of revenue, as well as being a market leader in Texas. It holds the largest market shar e in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Austin. As the largest private company in the state of Texas, HEB is owned by the H.E. Butts since the beginning of the 20th century when it was founded. With 269 stores in operation, most of its business revolves around combination food and pharmacy stores (Plunkett, 2009). Approximately 90 of the stores are small sized pantry stores that boast low prices, are built for convenience purposes and are located between Southwest Louisiana and South east Texas’ rural area. Sixty of the stores feature Gas N Go gasoline self-service islands. HEB also runs stores in Mexico, on top of those in Louisiana and Texas. Among the many products that they process are fruit drinks, meat, tortillas, baked goods, ice cream, cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and milk. HEB also manufactures its own bottles and runs a photofinishing laboratory. The company does not have an official mission statement, although the H-E-B slogan, values, and commitments reveal t he daily mission that they are involved. The H-E-B slogan possesses the same acronym, which reads out, as â€Å"Here Everything is better†. To accomplish this, HEBN has committed itself to low prices, exceptional service, and friendly shopping. HEB has always believed that hard work is vital, as well as given extra attention to caring for their employees. Additionally, they have always dreamt big, hired great employees, offered the best customer service, as well as sold the safest and freshest product (Hylton &

Violence Is a Weapon of the Strong Essay Example for Free

Violence Is a Weapon of the Strong Essay Equality has been a right that African American has been fighting for over the years. To stay non-violence is never easy. â€Å"Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.† Mahatma Gandhi. The grievance from being discrinated must never been good to African American. It is hard to control our anger, especially when someone hurt you when you have did nothing wrong. We should attack the system itself but not the individuals that were involved in the system. By remaining non-violent, the focus and aim in a movement can stay focus and clear. The southern civil rights movement illustrated a great success of the use of non-violence resistance in a movement. In the southern civil rights movement, what the African Americans wanted to attack was the unfair and injustice segregation law and also segregated society but not the Americans who were in the system. If they turn it into violent, they would have attacted the white people but not the law itself. Then the Americans would only continue to grow hatred on them without seeing and regenizing the problem and injusticeness in the segreagation law and system in the society. Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. The power of non-violent is incredibly strong. The Afican Americans used the Mongramery Boycott, they walked insteateed of taking buses. This non-violent act directly affected the ecnomy and yet the society. It becomes a great force in the society that the white could not ignore. It becomes a great force forcing the white to make a change. Believing in the power go faith in God. The power of religious idea is strong and powerful. A strong religious belief could strongly bond people together, which is a great help leading to the success in a movement. The problem will never end if use violence. Peace could never be achieved by violence. It can only be obtained through understanding. Violence is a weapon of the strong.

Brand Building And Positioning For Cadburys Marketing Essay

Brand Building And Positioning For Cadburys Marketing Essay The history behind marketing efforts of most modern businesses is that the company should recognise the needs of their customers and produce products and services to gratify those needs. Like this, the customer is in the middle of the business and the decision-making process. A business which monitors this viewpoint is a market-orientated. In this unit Im going to be focusing on Cadburys and House of Fraser and how they operate. Im also going to talking about the marketing techniques and relationship marketing. The production concept this is where a business concentrates on producing economies of scale in production and distribution of product or service. This undertakes that customers will purchase items that are lower priced; this is so that the demand is driven by availability. Examples of this can be found in construction suppliers, where construction firms will purchase cheaper building materials to increase their profit margins. Cadburys and House of Fraser do not come under the product concept. For example, a builder selling bricks to someone comes under this section, whereas the two other organisations dont. The sales concept this is mainly known as the hard sell this is because the product or service is produced and personal selling and other high pressure selling skills are used to convince customers to part with their money. Example of this could be in a place where double glazing is sold. The marketing concept unlike all the others above, the marketing concept puts all t heir customers first, they want to put their customers in the centre of all decisions before the product or service is developed. By doing this the business is likely going to be more efficient and doing this will benefit the company and/or market. Focusing investment on products that customers are going to need and use instead of investing in products that customers may not like which means they wont purchase it. Cadburys uses a good strategy to connect with people, the way they achieve this is by sponsoring and promoting their products or even TV programmes. Cadburys In 1824, John Cadbury opened a grocers shop at 93 Bull Street, Birmingham in the 1830s. Among other things, he sold cocoa and drinking chocolate, which he prepared himself using a pestle and mortar. Johns wares werent just inspired by his tastes; they were driven by his beliefs. Tea, coffee, cocoa and drinking chocolate were seen as healthy, delicious alternatives to alcohol, which Quakers deemed bad for society. House of Fraser House of Fraser is a British premium department store group with over 60 stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. Although established in Glasgow House of Frasers largest store is located in Birmingham. By 1891 it was known as Fraser Sons. Marketing Techniques (Growth Strategies) The business analyst Igor Ansoff outlined some important strategies for business growth. He identified four key approaches to growing a business in 1957. Market penetration is a group of customers who may buy a product, so if someone was to produce a video game for the PS3 to be sold in the UK, your market would likely to be people in the UK who own PS3s. A business could grow by increasing the number of people in the market who purchase your product. Market development is when a company markets an existing product to a new market. For example, the PS3 game, you might want to sell your game to different countries. Nothing about the product changes it just gets sold to another market. Product development is when a business develops a new product to sell to the existing customers. So once a customer has bought your product you could sell them something else such as, an expansion pack that may include more content. Diversification here is where a business markets new products to new customers. This works two different ways, the business could produce a new product in that area that it understands or it could go into a completely different area that is an unrelated area. House of Fraser uses the flexible incentive by allowing these things: Ease of ordering Online services Free, fast and a secure delivery Fulfilment House of Fraser Business Incentive vouchers are available in denominations of  £1,  £5,  £10,  £25,  £50 and  £100. You can order by post with a cheque or credit card using the enclosed order form, or by phone with a credit card. Credit account customers may order via email. All vouchers can now be redeemed online. Your House of Fraser vouchers will be despatched next day if the order is received by 11.00am. The Business Incentives team will be happy to arrange delivery direct to multiple addresses, on request. A small handling fee is levied for this service. n order to increase sales Cadburys needs to undertake a range of marketing activities before deciding upon the best way to encourage the purchase of its product. When identifying the basic principals which Cadburys must apply to its marketing will be its basic objectives because all business must have objectives it allows them to increase sales and make profit. Corporate aims are the long term intentions of a business, whereas corporate objectives are the specific targets required to achieve the aims. The common aim and objectives of the corporation such as Cadbury includes the following: Survival Profit maximisation- which is often taken to be the reason why firms exists and to be the primary objectives in practices most firms have a hierarchy of objectives when a firms survival is threaten it may profit maximise in order to restore its financial health. Growth- which includes Cadbury selling new products or expanding overseas. Diversification- which is the spreading of business risks by reducing dependence on one product. Sales maximisation- which is the increasing of sales Improving the product image-which includes creating a new logo or launching a new brand of product and creating more attractive packaging. For example, Cadbury set out two objectives for the development of their chocolate, Fuse. These were: 1. To grow the market for chocolate confectionery 2. To increase Cadburys share of the snacking sector Cadbury promotes its products in various ways such as the use of above the line promotion, which is where a product is advertised through consumer media such as television, magazines, newspapers and radio. Relationship marketing (Cadburys House of Fraser) Relationship marketing is where a business concentrates on the long term value of a customer. This means knowing who the valuable customers are, starting relationships, maintaining enhancing and terminating them in order to produce a sustainable profit. Cadbury Schweppes is a marketing focused company. Its success depends on on satisfying the needs of its consumers. It is able to do this by frequently listening to consumers and learning about their changing necessities. In response to these requirements, Cadbury Schweppes strives to create new products, build on existing core brands and find new ways to add value to existing products. By gaining the visibility, profitability and volume in the global market, a business is best placed to provide its consumers with quality products and the best value for money. House of Fraser are responsible for all central marketing communications sent directly to customers this includes all email newsletters, messages in their Recognition Card member statements, local targeted mailings on behalf of stores or suppliers and national mailings/emails about events and offers for example, sales, launch of new season. Brand awareness A common marketing objective is to raise customers brand awareness. This could relate to a businesss overall brand for example, BMW or to a product brand within the company for example, Mini. Effective raising of brand awareness can raise sales; this is because customers will subconsciously or consciously try to find a brand when buying an item or service. A high level of brand exists where consumers start to use the brand name in place of the product type. The House of Fraser brand is differentiated from other department store groups in the UK by our 160 year history in the UK retail market, their wide geographic reach (across the UK and on-line), broad range of high quality premium branded merchandise offered at competitive prices, our increasing exclusive House Brand offering and our commitment to providing an imaginative, exciting and relevant shopping experience to their customers. The Cadbury brand has a profound impact on individual product brands. Brands have individual personalities aimed at specific target markets for specific needs e.g.TimeOut, for example, is an ideal snack to have with a cup of tea. These brands derive benefit from the Cadbury parentage, including quality and taste credentials. To ensure the success of product brands every aspect of the parent brand is focused on. A Flake, Crunchie or TimeOut are clearly different and are manufactured to appeal to a variety of consumer segments. House of Fraser have a voucher discount scheme their vouchers carry exceptional discounts as shown below. The discount may be deducted from the invoice or taken as additional vouchers. As a finishing touch we can supply complimentary wallets and envelopes in which to present the vouchers. These can also be personalised with your companys logo, if required (there is a print cost associated with personalisation, please ask the Business Incentives team for details). Brand building and positioning It takes time, patience, effort and investment for brand building and maintenance. It is essential for a business to first recognise its brand values. The central messages that it wants is its customers to understand when they think of the brand. For example, the car Mercedes- Benz, this car is high performance, safety and prestige. Brand building and positioning for Cadburys Cadburys has identified these brand values and adjusts its advertising strategies to reflect these values in different markets. Its strategy can vary from increasing brand awareness, educating potential customers about a new product, increasing seasonal purchases, or as is currently the case in the Choose Cadbury campaign to highlight the positive emotional value of the brand. In Ireland, Cadbury has identified three key consumer segments of impulse, take home and gift. These segments reflect consumers decision-making processes. Since its inception, Cadbury in India has stayed ahead thanks to their constant marketing initiatives, that have at all points in time understood the needs of and opportunities in a changing nation but Nestle had stood firm in second position resulting from their responsibilities and providing quality products. Amul an Indian company has been able to create brand quality and thus selling their product through their name. Brand building and positioning for House of Fraser One of the most valuable aspects of the House of Fraser brand is the equity built up over many years as an endorser of the prestigious brands they have as part of our portfolio. Their ability to have a uniform and clear brand identity across all our channels is therefore of paramount importance,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨as so that they look to leverage this heritage in the exciting development of our brand. The House of Fraser Business Incentives team is available to advise you on how to maximise the effectiveness of our vouchers. Well be happy to discuss your objectives, make recommendations and, if required, create an individually tailored package. Our experience in the field can help you develop promotional ideas and we can suggest ways of adding value for example, through use of the House of Fraser Personal Shopping service. OBJECTIVE OF ADVERTISING To educate the Market Building brand awareness To encourage seasonal purchases To increase consumption

The Rise Of Facebook In Vietnam Media Essay

The Rise Of Facebook In Vietnam Media Essay Reading Public Relations at university, I am always fascinated by the art of communicating with and persuading people. Being a heavy user of Facebook, I am amazed how the social network since its birth has brought about so many changes to the ways people share and communicate. This research paper is my attempt to investigate the marketing communications role of Facebook in my home country, Vietnam. A survey targeting at 100 Vietnamese internet users and interviews with two industry experts were conducted and analysed. I was able to sit in the positions of both users and marketers to view the issue. Findings showed that Facebook marketing communications in Vietnam is currently at its young age however has had a very interesting journey of development. The young internet community and marketing practitioners in Vietnam love Facebook. Nevertheless, that is not enough to secure future success; the social network has to do much more in order to increase its digital influence in a highly competitive market. Chapter 1: Introduction Overview There have been a number of studies on effects of social media on marketing communications, a few of which have a specific investigation on the social network giant Facebook. However, most of those only focus on cases in the West where the emergence of social media first happened and most of the marketing trends originate. I am thus keen on doing a research on how social networks and Facebook specifically have found its ways and been used as a marketing communications tool in the other side of the world. Vietnam is one of the fastest growing internet populations worldwide with around 30 million users, making up a third of the total population. The Facebook block issue which caused difficulties logging in the site starting since late 2009 has not made this social network less attractive in Vietnamese users perspectives. Facebook marketing and communications in Vietnam moreover enjoys a boom when agencies have increasingly appreciated the power of the site in influencing audiences. This research paper attempts to study the nature of this development and its roles to marketing communications in the eyes of both users and marketers. Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the current performance and future potential of Facebook as a marketing communications tool in Vietnam. It is hence important to determine profiles of Vietnamese Facebook users and their behaviours towards the social network. Opinions of industry experts on how effective Facebook is and will be to approach and persuade audiences are also essential. Key areas of investigation include: What is the current place of Facebook in the Vietnam social web market? What is happening to Facebook in Vietnam? Is this really blocked? Who use Facebook most in Vietnam? How do they interact with the site? What are their concerns when using Facebook? How reliable Facebook content is compared to other media platforms? How effective is Facebook in terms of marketing communications in Vietnam? What is the future of Facebook marketing in the country? The study is in general to provide an insight of Facebooks performance in Vietnam, focusing on its marketing roles. It specifically aimed to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the social network as a growing marketing communications tool in this emerging economy. 1.3 Background The internet in Vietnam has had a fascinating journey of development, in opinion of Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific Director of Ogilvy 360Â ° Digital Influence. He believes that the rapid growth of the internet in Vietnam receives support of three main factors including a developing nation, young population and the Government (Vietnam News, 2010). In terms of statistics, a research in 2010 by TNS, one of the worlds biggest market research groups, showed that 45% of Vietnamese are highly engaged in digital activities. The countrys figure is ranked fifth in Asia-Pacific area and slightly higher than the United Kingdom (43%) and the United States (42%). According to the same source of statistics, Vietnam is known as one of the youngest internet populations worldwide with the average age of 27. Another significant feature of the internet in Vietnam is its growing mobility. Again, statistics proved it best when showing that Mobile internet in Vietnam saw a growth of more than 800 per cent last year, reaching a total of 110 million mobile subscribers in early 2010 (Vietnam News, 2010). All of these somehow draw an overall picture of Vietnams internet environment with a young, mobile-going and highly-digital community. Social Media in Vietnam Like the development of the internet, Vietnam social media has witnessed dramatic growth since its first day in the country. Social network usage increased significantly from 4% in 2009 to 64% in 2010 (Crampton, 2010). Social networking was ranked as the most important digital activity by 25% of Vietnamese internet users, just behind Emailing which was ranked first by 27% of the research participants (TNS, 2011). The social web market in Vietnam marked its first turning point in 2005 with the launch of Yahoo!360, a blogging tool which allows users to compose their writings, customise screens and socialise with friends. Before the emergence of Yahoo!360, the social web environment in Vietnam relied on a few dominant platforms. Yahoo dominated the instant messaging and emailing sectors while its searching function was relatively popular together with Google. Community pages varied when users tended to participate in their online local community such as school forums rather than a particular national-scale page. A similar situation happened to video/music-sharing sites when several providers shared the popularity. After Yahoo!360 came, it ruled the social media world in the country, possibly with the support of Yahoos early dominance in Vietnam internet services. Millions of Vietnamese enjoyed writing about their daily lives and gossiping celebrity news. They gradually created a mass online comm unity and a unique blogging style called Yahoo!360. It was not a tool specifically designed for Vietnam market, but the market took it anyway, with great passion and enthusiasm. (Nguyen, Ogilvy 360Â ° Digital Influence, 2010) Only people from Mars dont know about Yahoo, said Hoang An, 21, one of countless fans of the portal, which has one of the countrys most potent brands. (Russell, Asian Correspondent, 2010). The next turning point happening to the Vietnam social web community was in 2009. Yahoo!360 dominated social media in Vietnam however did not work well in other countries. The blogging tool failed to serve global customers, forcing Yahoo! global to close the service. The firm gave warnings about the closure several times since early 2009; however Yahoo Vietnam has seen a mix of trying to maintain the operation and investment versus tempting to close it down (Nguyen, 2010). The reason was as clear as the brand has achieved such a significant success in the country. Yahoo!360 users or in this case a majority of the Vietnam web community were strongly against this decision. Nevertheless, their efforts could not help prevent the closure of the site in 2010. Yahoo! Vietnam not long after that launched a local blogging service targeted specifically at Vietnam market called Yahoo!360 Plus. However, the replacement has not achieved such extreme success like its original version did. Since th en, the market has witnessed the emergence of a number of social media, both domestic and international brands. Facebook in Vietnam The number of Facebook Vietnamese users has reached more than 1.5 million in early 2011 (Social Bakers, 2011). The figure in 2009 was around 40,000 and impressively doubled in 2010. Facebook estimated a number of 1.9 million Vietnamese users in 2011. The social network has a Vietnamese-language version along with its English site; users thus have a choice of the language they want for their own pages. However, language has never been a problem preventing the popularity of social media in general and Facebook especially in Vietnam. English was the only language used in many social media tools; however, what really matters is that users can always propose their own content in Vietnamese or any other languages. Facebook is furthermore an international social network thus designed to reach international users. Chapter 2: Literature Review When researching the performance of Facebook as a marketing communications tool in Vietnam, I came across a number of concepts and facts which help build a better understanding of the topic. In this chapter, I will then explore these concepts and their relations to the study of marketing communications on Facebook Vietnam. They include the growing roles of social media in general and Facebook especially to marketing communications, the place of Facebook in comparison to its competitors and the internet censorship issue in the country. 2.1 Marketing Communications to Social Media and Facebook There are a variety of definitions of the term social media. Social media guru Larry Weber in his book Marketing to the Social Web suggested that The social web is an online place where people with common interest can gather to share thoughts, comments, and opinions. It includes social networks such as MySpace, Gather, and Facebook [] and branded web destinations like Amazon, Netflix and eBay. In summary, it is a new world of unpaid media created by individuals or enterprises on the web. (Weber, 2009: 4) Looking at another source, Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge (2009: xvii) defined social media as the democratisation of content and the shift in the role people play in the process of reading and disseminating information. In general, definitions slightly vary but all feature social media as new media platforms whose content is created on the web and by internet users. The term marketing communications meanwhile is widely agreed to consists of the promotional activities pursued by the firm and includes personal selling, mass selling, (comprising advertising and publicity), public relations and sales promotions (Monye, 2000: 11). It is the process of interacting with audiences or customers in a way that promotes a favourable brand image and helps build goodwill. Putting social media and marketing communications together, it then results in the concept of a new communications tool which is based on strengths of social web. Zarrella in The Social Media Marketing Book believes that the best way to define the term is to compare it with marketing on traditional media (including television, newspapers, radio and magazines). The author describes these traditional media as one-way static broadcast technologies while social media with new web technologies have made it easy for anyone to create and, most importantly to distribute their own content (Zarrella, 2010: 2-3). Marketing on the social web hence does not require huge sums of money to embed their messages but can make their own interesting content that viewers will flock to (Zarrella, 2010: 3). Supporting the idea of this growing power, Larry Weber believes that the social web has transmitted the way we do marketing: Rather talking at customers, marketers should talk with them. And the social web is the most effective way in the history of the world to do just that on a large scale. (Weber, 2009: 4) Among a number of different social media platforms, social network giant Facebook indeed makes up to the word giant. The review will focus on the marketing communications role of Facebook, which also seems to be one of the sites most significant social influences. The Facebook Marketing Book has a comprehensive summary of various marketing tactics Facebook. According to this, key strengths that make Facebook an effective marketing communications tool lie at its larger audience than old media and huge amount of personal information which has been volunteered by users to give the site then therefore advertisers (Zarrella, 2011: 3). From big brands to small businesses, anyone is able to use Facebook adverts, applications, and pages to communicate directly with audiences and leverage their brand image. It is suggested that the diversity of Facebook applications, from messaging and photo sharing to gaming, is beneficial to not only users but also marketers. Marketing people now have more platforms to engage with customers and carry out new effective strategies. For example, a Facebook Profile could make huge contribution as it represents how people share things with their large and very connected group of social connections. 500 million profiles on Facebook hence become precious sources of data for marketers to get use of: In fact, this is Facebooks biggest selling point: the site actively encourages users to fill their Profile with the type of information marketers are always trying to find all for free. (Zarrella, 2010: 33) Facebook Pages, Groups and Events are also believed to be the key to most social media strategies and will more than likely be the central point for most of marketers efforts and promotions. The popularity and importance of creating and monitoring Facebook page was emphasised as users nowadays look at the site much the way we look at the internet 10 years ago and are confused when they cannot find their favourite store or celebrity (Zarrella, 2010: 65). In terms of statistics, each of 500 million users on Facebook is connected to 60 Pages, Groups and Events on average. Overall, Facebook is considered as a highly competitive and fast-moving channel but amazingly cost effective, which if used properly can be an extension of your brand, helping you present the same personality, tone and visual faces as you would in any other materials (Zarrella, 2011: 7). 2.2 Marketing Communications on Vietnam Social Media The phenomenon of Yahoo!360 blog in Vietnam resulted in the emergence of influencers who are called hot bloggers in Vietnam. Their blogs attracted several millions of page views at the time and many of them are journalists. The social media expert in her article described these hot bloggers as whom PR departments in various agencies incorporated into clients marketing communications and PR activities (Nguyen, 2010). In general, it could be said that from the very early day when social media marked its appearance in Vietnam, PR and marketing have already been strongly involved in and taken advantage of the social web. The social web environment in Vietnam after the age of Yahoo!360 has seen a rapid and diverse development, when a number of both local and international companies have joined the market. None of them seem to have made a phenomenon like what Yahoo!360 did; however more social media platforms are getting popular. Among those, social networks have especially marked a significant growth in the country: Those who like local social networks became members of Yume, ZingMe, Tamtay, i-pro, Henantrua, Vietspace, etc., while others who like foreign networks joined Multiply, WordPress, Yahoo Plus, Twitter, etc. However, none rules the market (Vietnamnet, 2010). The top influential social media sites in Vietnam was recently summarised in the below chart by the Ogilvy 360Â ° Digital Influence team. Figure 3.1: The landscape of Vietnam Social Media 2010 (Ogilvy, 2010) According to the research above by Ogilvy, social media tools listed in the smaller circle are evaluated as being more influential than those in the larger circle of the same sector. Vietnam overall is considered as a fast-growing country in terms of social web development. There are both local and international names operating in different sectors, ranging from blogging, social networking and music sharing to QA and online trading. In the sector of social networking specifically, Facebook is put behind three local sites in terms of digital influence. In other words, it is competing with local providers to be the top choice of online marketing communications tools. 2.3 Facebook Block Story Facebook is currently not the biggest social network in the country but growing fast in both number of users and influence on audiences. Its growing power has been proved after the blocking. The story started in late 2009 when it was getting difficult accessing Facebook in Vietnam, leading to a worry that the government would ban the social network. There were reasons for such claim because Earlier this year, Vietnams government tightened restrictions on blogging, banning political discussion and restricting postings to personal matters. Police have arrested several bloggers for writing about politically sensitive subjects (Russell, Asian Correspondent, 2009). The government and state-controlled internet providers did not respond to a request for comment. Private internet companies meanwhile blame the spotty access on technical issues, without offering an estimate for when the problems will be resolved (Ngo, CNET News, 2009). Facebook seemed to face its end in Vietnam at the time when local media started spreading the rumour that the site is going out of service and following the pathway of Yahoo!360: The Thanh Nien, one of the most popular newspapers in Vietnam, ran an article with the headline Facebook in grave illness. It hinted that this is similar to the process of what happened to the now defunct Yahoo360, suggesting maybe its time to look to other social Web sites. (Ngo, CNET News, 2009) The situation remained sophisticated since there has been no official statement regarding the problem logging in Facebook in Vietnam. The only obvious fact was that Vietnamese users could not access Facebook in their usual way. However, not the investigation of whether the government blocked Facebook and why they did so, state of the site after that is more the concern of my study. In relation to this, Global Voices had a comprehensive and interesting review of the whole issue: When Vietnam blocked Facebook, everyone was talking about a smaller China. One year after the governments endeavour, Facebook Vietnam tells another story. Not only does Vietnam remain on the list of 10 countries with the fastest growth of Facebook users. (Chip, Global Voices, 2011) The author explained a simple reason for the above fact: Because they can. If users in China have to pay for a VPN and go through a painful process to gain access to Facebook and other blocked websites, people in Vietnam just need to change their DNS settings and enjoy a full Internet experience for free. Information gathered from other sources showed an exactly same situation when Vietnamese users found and spread ways to access Facebook as if there had never been a problem logging in the site before. Some tech-savvy Facebook fans have found ways around access problems by readjusting their web browsers to a different configuration. They have been sharing instructions for doing so online. (Russell, Asian Correspondent, 2009) Trung, a 15-year-old high school student, taught me how to change the DNS: I figured it out myself, Trung said proudly, I just Googled it. Indeed, after a few Google searches, I found plenty of simple ways to bypass the ISPs DNS settings. (Ngo, CNET News, 2009) The commentator from CNET concluded: Blocked web sites are new to Vietnam. However, this seems to be the first time people are out in big numbers looking for ways to bypass. This shows the popularity of Facebook and the desire of young Vietnamese to reach out and stay connected with the rest of the world. 2.4 Facebook Vietnam to Marketing Communications Facebook which had been doing relatively well in Vietnam, after the block seemed to catch even more attention. Its popularity immediately convinced marketers and PR people to take the site as a growing powerful marketing communications tool. ZingMe, which is the biggest social network in Vietnam and once considered as more influential by the Ogilvy team, now seems to lag behind Facebook, in the opinion of an industry expert: We have tried some campaigns on ZingMe, but the results werent very good. Most of Zing Me users are under 15, and many of them log in ZingMe just to play Nong Trai (a game similar to Facebook Farmville). There are not many activities outside games. Facebook is still the most effective despite its being blocked, both in term of interaction and conversion rate. (Chip, Global Voices, 2011) Fan page which can be created by anyone on Facebook and allows users to become members of a group supporting a particular brand or person has increased significantly in terms of number and popularity. It proves the growing power of Facebook as an online marketing communications tool in the country: The largest fan page in Vietnam currently has 484,000 likes. For a market of 1.7 million users (and growing), the number means that this page has reached to almost 30 percent of Vietnamese Facebook users. Imagine this ratio worldwide, we would have a fan page with 100 millions likes. (Chip, Global Voices, 2011) The article on Global Voices emphasised another factor showing the rise of Facebook marketing in Vietnam which is the shift of hot bloggers from Yahoo!360 to the social network. Gao, real name as Vu Phuong Thanh, who was once a Vietnamese hot blogger on Yahoo!360 is now arguably the most popular Vietnamese on Facebook with more than 90,000 likes on her page. She is also working as the PR Manager for a new boy band in Vietnam. Regarding her media plan for the launch of the band, she shared that Social media, Facebook and YouTube, accounts for 60% of their marketing plan. Facebook is where people get to know about 365. She doesnt want to use ZingMe or other Vietnamese websites. The fan page of the band on Facebook had more than 7,000 members after three weeks. It could be said that the blocking issue has not had significant impacts on the users side since they are still able to access Facebook. The block of Facebook even somehow helped raise public awareness and promote the popularity of the site in Vietnam. Agencies have recognised the growing power of Facebook in marketing communications hence taken actions to develop this new effective tool. The current situation generally looks promising to Facebook Vietnam, yet requires further actions and support: 100% our customers are international brands. Social media is still new here, local companies dont allocate budget for it. But I think from next year there will be more Vietnamese companies interested in social media. Advertising agencies now understand the efficiency of social media, and they are the ones who advice and allocate budget for brands. said Vo Thanh Cuong, CEO of Click Media, an agency specialised in digital marketing and communications. (Chip, Global Voices, 2011) From the other party which is Facebook itself, the social network has also taken this as a serious issue that needs to be considered and dealt with thoroughly: Last October, Facebook put up a message on its career page that they are looking for someone that has experience in government relations work and navigating government agencies along with an extensive network of contacts in the government and the technology space. The recent visit of Javier Olivan, Head of International Growth of Facebook, to Vietnam suggested that Vietnam will be soon taken care of. They should- said Cuong Vietnam is not a small market at all. With a population of 90 million and Internet penetration rate of 27.5%, Vietnam is definitely not small. (Chip, Global Voices, 2011) Summary The statistics and information gathered above all in all shows an overall picture of the emergence and development of Facebook in Vietnam. A review of its marketing communications roles has also been covered through brief analysis and case studies. In summary, social media generally and Facebook especially are emerging powerful marketing communications tools. In Vietnam, social media has its own ways of developing and approaching users as well as an increasing power to marketing communications. The use of Facebook marketing is at its early stage but growing rapidly with positive figures and comments from both users and marketers. The censorship issue seems to remain sophisticated but not affect the growth of Facebook in the country in a short run. Meanwhile, government relations and further support from different parties is the key to a more sustainable development of the social network in Vietnam. The literature review however has shown a one-sided positive picture of Facebook marketing and communications in general. In order to investigate the issue thoroughly, further research and analysis on both advantages and difficulties of Facebook marketing in Vietnam is required. Chapter 3: Methodology In order to study the marketing communications roles of Facebook in Vietnam, I believe that a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will be more helpful than using a single type. I decided to carry out a survey targeting at a variety of Vietnamese internet users and intensive interviews with local communications experts. The survey is expected to provide numbers and facts regarding Facebook usage from the audience side while the interviews aimed to bring an insight of its marketing roles and future development in the opinion of local industry professionals. Survey I conducted a survey which aimed to approach 80-100 Vietnamese internet users. As survey could be used to not only describe things but also explain them, data gathered from survey is expected to provide public behaviour, population characteristics and also measurements of variables between which relationships can be analysed (Gunter, 2000: 24). In this case, the purpose of doing survey is to find out who are using Facebook most in Vietnam, how they are interacting with the social network, and how reliable the content is to them. At the same time, it is expected to make comparisons of characteristics between different groups such as Vietnamese living in Vietnam and abroad, different genders and ages. Designing, delivering and managing a survey was said by Barrie Gunter as not just asking a group of people a few questions. It requires much planning and a high level of skill in its administration to ensure that valid and usable data are obtained (Gunter, 2000: 23). Firstly, questions were constructed using different types depending on the purpose and nature of research. For example, multiple-choice was used when specific information is needed and could be easily made while opinion-based questions required a rating function. Questions were put in logical order, from general to specific and all easy to understand. Furthermore, the survey length was also taken into consideration; the number of ten is believed to be reasonable enough as it takes participants less than five minutes to finish. Furthermore, diverse angles of the research topic Facebook usage in Vietnam were included, from time length, frequency, and means of access to content contribution and opinions on content reliability. Due to the fact that targeted respondents live in different parts of the world and all use the internet, I chose an online survey tool to carry out my quantitative research. Participants who were my circle of friends, relatives and colleagues could start the survey whenever they wanted by clicking the link sent via email, Facebook message or Yahoo Messenger. The reason for using different delivery channels is to ensure that the research will approach both Facebook and non-Facebook users. This includes respondents who use other social networks rather than Facebook and who do not use social network at all. This is in attempt to minimise bias and make comparisons more accurately. I chose my circle of friends and relatives on the internet as my sample because higher rates of responses and honesty could be expected using personal relations. They also represent a random thus typical group of internet users fulfilling requirements of including different age groups living both in Vietnam and abroad. In terms of survey layout, the online survey provider was selected instead of sending an attached file via email to ensure professionalism and maximise the response rates. I also added an introduction which is short, realistically worded, non-threatening, serious, neutral and pleasant but firm because one way to increase the response rate in any survey is to prepare a persuasive introduction (Wimmer Dominick, 2000: 171). Receivers who fulfil the sampling characteristics and know the sender as well as purpose of this survey are believed to be likely to contribute. Finally, as a function provided by the tool, data was gathered in an easy-to-use format and valuable for comparisons and analysis. Reponses are available to be viewed individually and in group so that it is possible to compare respondents who belong to different age, gender and location groups. The survey link was available for one month during which reminders and following-up were regularly carried out in order to achieve the targeted response rate. Intensive Interviews If the research survey aimed to seek an overview of Vietnamese Facebook users profiles based on quantitative data, the interviews are expected to provide an in-depth evaluation on Facebook marketing in Vietnam. Evaluation on the effectiveness of something is believed to be best undertaken by people who create it. In this case, they are communications and digital marketing professionals whose work is to create efficient marketing tactics on social media. (See Appendix 2 3) Some expert comments on the issue have already been mentioned in the review of literature (Chapter 3), most of which however are relatively general. The intensive interviews were therefore designed and conducted in a way so as to provide specific, detailed and valuable opinions for further analysis. Since the objective is to obtain opinion-based responses, observational methods are not appropriate and intensive interview seems to be the only practical one. Areas of investigation include their opinions on Facebook development in Vietnam and its effectiveness as a marketing communications tool. The questions were constructed based on SWOT analysis model in attempt to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Facebook marketing in Vietnam. Especially, examples or real case studies are encouraged to be provided by the interviewees in order to back-up the statements. Interviews were conducted via email due to the fact that the interviewees live abroad and were too busy to schedule a long telephone interview. The lack of interaction and flexibility that this channel may result in was already taken into consideration. The interviews were therefore designed as a mini research paper which the respondent dealt with as an assignment. The positive side is that interviewees tend to take it more thoroughly with details and valuable back-up information than some thoughts that come up at the time she gives the answers face-to-face. The interviewees were given a reasonable length of time ranging from one to three weeks in order to provide the most comprehensive answers possible. Based on their responses, further questions were given to clarify an issue or develop an idea in more depth and generally increase interaction. All in all, the interviews receiv

Reasons to Ban Cloning :: essays research papers

Cloning is defined as the process of asexually producing a group of cells, all genetically identical, from a single ancestor (College Library, 2006).† Cloning should be banned all around the world for many reasons, including the risks to the thing that is being cloned, cloning reduces genetic differences and finally it is not ethical. Almost every clone has mysteriously died even before they are born. First of all, â€Å"Australia’s first cloned sheep appeared to be healthy and energetic the day she died, during the autopsy they could not find the cause (Castro, 2005).† There are many risks to cloning and you are seldom able to identify the cause of their death. â€Å"More than 90% of cloning attempts fail (Human Genome Program, 2006).† Most cloned animals died mysteriously even before they were born or when they were very young, so there is hardly any information on how clones age. Clones may be born with a normal looking body but may have internal functioning problems. â€Å"Cloned animals tend to have more compromised immune function and higher rates of infection, tumor growth, and other disorders (Human Genome Program, 2006).† There are many risks of cloning and a major factor is genetic differences. Secondly, â€Å"the most the human race has to loose by playing around with cloning is that the genetic diversity would be lost (Andrea Castro, 2005).† Reducing the genetic differences will produce clones that are grossly overlarge, many animals will be born with genetic mutations, and there will be a higher â€Å"risk of disease transfer (Saskaschools, 2003). â€Å"A review of all the world's cloned animals suggests that every one of them is genetically and physically defective (Leake, 2002).† Mutations will be passed on to the younger generation because if a cloned species has a mutation in their DNA this mutation will be passed on. Cloning has been linked with diseases of ageing, arthritis and, cancer. Last of all, Cloning is not ethical, many religious groups look down upon cloning and think it’s not proper because they think it’s like playing God. Many scientists were mainly thinking about cloning animals and, most likely, humans in the future to harvest their organs and then kill them. â€Å"Who would actually like to be harvested and killed for their organs?† â€Å"Human cloning exploits human beings for our own self-gratification (Dodson, 2003).† A person paying enough money could get a corrupt scientist to clone anybody they wanted, like movie stars, music stars, athletes, etc (Andrea Castro 2005),† whether it be our desire for new medical treatments or our desire to have children on our own genetic terms (Dodson, 2003).

Revealing Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing

Revealing And oh ye high flown quills that soar the skies, And ever with your prey still catch your praise, If e'er you deign these lowly lines your eyes, Give thyme or Parsley wreath, I ask no Bays. This mean and unrefined ore of mine Will make your glist'ring gold but more to shine. -Anne Bradstreet, from Prologue â€Å"Honey, if you ever get yourself pregnant, you always have a home†. My mother’s most memorable words of advice on sex were doled out to me at the tender age of six. Her prematurely passed on advice lost its sentiment for a couple of reasons. In spite of my kindergarten experiences, I had no idea how to â€Å"get† myself pregnant, (the phraseology obviously conveying that it only takes one to tango). After too many conversations carried on within my earshot about labor pains, forceps, episiotomies, and pre-labor enemas by the late-teen to early twenty something army of military mothers that hung out at our house in a cloud of cigarette smoke and swearing, the thought of pregnancy terrified me. My mother parented primarily through scare tactics hoping to control my behavior through fear. She warned me of many taboos including the lewd act of †¦.writing. Before being forced to drop out of high school due to her pregnancy with me, she decided to bring a diary to school. Somehow, she lost it. The book fell into the hands of the adminis tration after being passed around the school population. My mother ended up on suspension for the detailed diary entries regarding her hellish home life and promiscuity. In today’s world, a teen bringing her book of confessions to school desperately cries for a sch... ... enjoy each diverse personality from Doug, the humorous cynic penning his sunny sarcasm to mysterious well-spoken, well-written Wendy describing her diverse interests to caring Camille finding the courage to write it all down to our fearless leader who kept reminding us that he was the teacher. However, due to the small class size, he willingly began to streak around in his shorts, too, so to speak, sharing his own penned thoughts. The experience undressed my fears, opening my once-hidden self like a centerfold. I revealed myself unashamed to this gracious group of fellow writers, inviting critique and learning to accept all my scars and scabs. I have now succumbed to the suggestion of seeking publication for some of my more shapely work. I’m dropping the seventh veil, a come-on for the general public. I’m writing it all down and I want the whole world to know!