Merits and Demerits of Tuition

We all know that every child is unique. Every child has different skills and potential. The same goes with every child's ability to learn at school. Some child can grasp school lessons faster as compared to other children. How the child performs in school should not be compared to other children because each child has a different learning pace. Brilliant students would need to compete with other students who get good grades for them to be able to keep their rank in school.At the same time, those average students would also need to strive also hard in order for them not to fail the class. This is the reason why having a home tuition can be very beneficial to fast, average, and slow learners alike. the following are some of the benefits to students You will have the advantage of a whole teacher to yourself, with their lesson plans and strategies of teaching designed just for you! It seems impossible to doubt the enormous benefits this will offer.In a classroom, one teacher may be faced with around thirty pupils, each with different abilities, different rates of learning, and individual strengths and weaknesses; yet despite this, for the majority of the lesson the teacher will be forced to treat his class as if it contained just one student. He or she will orate from one end of the classroom, unable to gauge how effectively each pupil is assimilating the lesson. The lesson plans will be designed to fit the needs of the average pupil; and the teacher will proceed at a rate suitable for the average pupil.In this environment it is all to easy for a bright child or adolescent to fail to grasp one particular point, as the swathe of teacher talk washes over them like the unrelenting tides. It is unlikely even the best of teachers would spot the particular point of misunderstanding cast on the countenance on one pupil, hidden amongst so many other faces. To draw attention to their lack of understanding can be intimidating for the pupil: everyone else is silent, so they m ust have understood. Do I want to draw attention to myself?All too often the misunderstanding goes unexpressed and unaided. The obvious benefit of one to one tuition is that the tutor can tailor their teaching style to the abilities of their student. They will be able to gauge the level of the pupils understanding, and, more importantly, track down the sources of misunderstanding, and deal with them effectively. Away from the bustle of the classroom, the student will feel more able to voice their difficulties; and having just one pupil to deal with, the teacher will be more capable of resolving them.Compared to the conflicts of the classroom, fraught with distractions and intimidation from other pupils, the relaxed environment of tutor and student can be a safe haven of erudition. Most tutors will be willing to travel to the pupil’s house, allowing them the benefit of learning in a happy home location. A tutor will be able to focus their teaching on a particular area: the pup il may be very competent in mathematics overall, but be deficient in calculus, with this specific weakness undermining their whole confidence in the subject.Maybe they are highly literate and proficient in English language, but shy away from public speaking. The syllabus may demand some oral work (foreign languages certainly do), so it would be a shame if this particular and minor deficiency detracted from their overall grade in the subject. Even if the pupil is performing well at school, it is highly likely that some private tuition will give then the edge over their peers. For it is their friends and contemporaries that they are competing against – many of who may already be receiving tuition.In an age where extra tuition is almost becoming the norm, it may be necessary to join in, or risk being left behind. One more advantage of having a home tuition is that it gives a good chance of reinforcing the new topics learned earlier form school. It also gives a good chance of cla rify difficult topics and making it simpler to understand. With a home tuition, it will be possible for the child to accelerate their learning process. Having you children attend home tuitions after school will also spare them from doing unhealthy hobbies after school such as getting hooked to computers and different video games.Another good thing about putting your children to home tuition's is that it will be able answer to the problems that the school teachers have to deal with nowadays. Aside from academic problems, the school teachers will also have to deal with every child's different behavioral problems. This is not easy because in a regular school teachers will need to attend to a number of students per class. Thus, it will be impossible for every teacher to give equal attention to every single student. The end result of this scenario will be poor performance and low grades.Good thing is, with a home tuition, sufficient reinforcement is given. Problems are corrected early on , thus early interventions are given. The over all confidence and performance of your child can be developed through home tutoring. This can be very beneficial on the development of your child and also to every parent out there. Home tutoring can spare you from worrying too much if your child has received quality education or not. Nothing compares to the comfort of having a peace of mind knowing that your child's learning potentials are maximized.And that your child is getting the quality of education that he or she deserves. demerits and merits of extra tuition Private tuition can be advantageous. Sometimes students are unable to concentrate during lessons for various reasons, such as distractions, not feeling well or explanation gaps. Therefore, students missed many key points taught during lessons. Under such circumstances, private tutors can re-explain the topics learn t reiterate key points, abstract concept and help to solve problems students find difficult to tackle. Students can be lazy at times. They may loss their motivation to work hard.The temptation for students to play is strong, particularly playing and surfing internet and playing games, idling their times away watching TV, sending messages and chatting with friends over the phone. Allocating times for private tuition reduces their time spent in unhealthy pursuits. Private tutors also help to motivate the students to study hard. A private tutor can keep the students on the right track when they stray off course. For example, private tutors can help parents to reprimand their children if they become too playful. Private tutors can assign homework to them, so that they can spend their time in a more meaningful way.A private tutor can thus act as a role of disciplinarian. Sometimes students have personal problems that they find hard to confide in their parents, tutors can act as a ‘listening ear’ and help them resolve some of their problems. Having private tuition also has its disadva ntages. Sometimes tutors provide additional homework on top of those given by teachers in school. The extra homework from tutor is an added burden to the students. Sometimes, tutors can arrive at the wrong timing, For instance, the students are not in the mood to learn or have gone through a hard day work in school and are, therefore mentally feel tired.Despite in such a bad timing, the tuition sessions may still have to carry on, which make it unfruitful. Private tuition can be a financial burden to parents who are poor. However, when the student is a slow learner who needs a tutor outside school, tuition is a necessary evil. Some students treat their tutors as a walking dictionary, expecting them to furnish answers to the homework given by school without thinking through the solutions by themselves over time. This can make them mentally lazy.There are some parents who have unreasonable expectations. They insist that their children engage private tutor even though their children pe rform well academically. In conclusion, it is good to have private tuition provided the parents can afford and the students to find the tuition session is beneficial to them. The benefits are plentiful if parents manage to find a good tutor who can value added by playing various roles to help their students to achieve academic success. ow effective can teachers teach without tuition Tuition are important in learning processes of student since it clarify more of what has been taught and student fail to understand,but in a case like that of Kenya where tuition has been burnt teachers are expected to perform and produce good results:a teacher should know how to manage time,time is crucial is a major factor in learning if a teacher doesn't manage her time well she will not finish the syllabus on time hence will not even have time to revise anything.The teacher should have the knowledge of the subject,she should know the subject not perhaps well but enough this will help the teacher take the student through the subject at faster speed hence covering the subject on time and having adequate time for revision also a teacher will be able to deal with the weak students in her class. A teacher can also use appropriate and varied questioning,use of questions will help in covering syllabus in a unique way i. teacher to collect many past papers and use them to teach this will form a discussion where student will contribute with the guideline of their teacher A teacher should create a pleasant social/psychological climate in the classroom,this will help since the student will be to concentrate hence teaching will be smooth for the teacher thus making him have humble time to finish the syllabus on time,on a good environment student are prone to a better and fast understanding of the subject.A teacher should have a positive attitude this will help the teacher in tha the teacher will be able to manage herself since she has that positive calling to her work the fact that tuition were cancelled was a big blow and a discouragement to many teachers which made them loose morale teachers with such attitude can not be able to deliver as expected rather teachers should change their attitude so that they are able to deliver appropriately.

Critical Discourse Analysis, Organizational Discourse, and Organizational Change Essay

Discourses is an element of all concrete social events (actions, processes) as well as of more durable social practices, though neither are simply discourse: they are articulations of discourse with non-discoursal elements. ‘Discourse’ subsumes language as well as other forms of semiosis such as visual images and ‘body language’, and the discoursal element of a social event often combines different semiotic forms (eg a television programme). But the use of the ‘term ‘discourse’ rather than ‘language’ is not purely or even primarily motivated by the diversity of forms of semiosis, it is primarily registers a relational way of seeing semiosis[i], as one element of social events and practices dialectically interconnected with other elements. The overriding objective of discourse analysis, on this view, is not simply analysis of discourse per se, but analysis of the dialectical relations between discourse and non-discoursal elements of the social, in order to reach a better understanding of these complex relations (including how changes in discourse can cause changes in other elements). But if we are to analyse relations between discourse and non-discoursal elements, we must obviously see them as ontologically (and not just epistemologically, analytically) different elements of the social. They are different, but they are not discrete – that is, they are dialectically related, in the sense that elements ‘internalize’ other elements, without being reducible to them (Harvey 1996, Chouliaraki & Fairclough 1999, Fairclough 2003, Fairclough, Jessop & Sayer 2004). A realist view of social life sees it as including social structures as well as social events – in critical realist terms, the ‘real’ (which defines and delimits what is possible) as well as the ‘actual’ (what actually happens). There is a general recognition that the relationship between structures and events must be a mediated relation, and I follow for instance Bhaskar (1986) and Bourdieu (Bourdieu & Wacquant 1992) in regarding social practices as the mediating entities – more or less durable and stable articulations of diverse social elements including discourse which constitute social selections and orderings of the allowances of social structures as actualisable allowances in particular areas of social life in a certain time and place. Social fields, institutions and organizations can be regarded as networks of social practices. Networks of social practices include specifically discoursal selections and orderings (from languages and other semiotic systems, which are counted amongst social structures) which I call ‘orders of discourse’, appropriating but redefining Foucault’s term (Foucault 1984, Fairclough 1992). Orders of discourse are social structurings of linguistic/semiotic variation or difference. Realist discourse analysis on this view is based in a dialectical-relational social ontology which gives ontological priority to processes and relations over objects, entities, persons, organizations etc, yet sees the latter as socially produced ‘permanences’ (Harvey 1996) which constitute a pre-structured reality with which we are confronted, and sets of affordances and limitations on processes. Epistemological priority is given to neither pre-constructed social structures, practices, institutions, identities or organizations, nor to processes, actions, and events: the concern is with the relationship and tension between them. People with their capacities for agency are seen as socially produced, contingent and subject to change, yet real, and possessing real causal powers which, in their tension with the causal powers of social structures, are a focus for analysis. Social research proceeds through abstraction from the concrete events of social life aimed at understanding the pre-structured nature of social life, and returns to analysis of concrete events, actions and processes in the light of this abstract knowledge. Discourse and non-discoursal elements of social events and social practices are related in many ways. I distinguish three main ways: representing, acting (and interacting), and being. At the level of social practices, orders of discourse can be seen as articulations of specific ways of representing, acting, and being – ie specific discourses, genres and styles. A discourse is a particular way of representing certain parts or aspects of the (physical, social, psychological) world; a genre is a particular way of (inter)acting (which comprises the discoursal element of a way of inter)acting which will also necessarily comprise non-discoursal elements); a style is a way of being (the discoursal element of a way of being, an ‘identity’, which will also include non-discoursal elements). I shall use the term ‘text’[ii], in a generalized sense (not just written text but also spoken interaction, multi-semiotic televisual text etc) for the discoursal element of social events. Texts are doubly contextualized, first in their relation to other elements of social events, second in their relation to social practices, which is ‘internal’ to texts in the sense that they necessarily draw upon orders of discourse, ie social practices in their discoursal aspect, and the discourses, genres and styles associated with them. However, events (and therefore texts) are points of articulation and tension between two causal forces: social practices and, through their mediation, social structures; and the agency of the social actors who speak, write, compose, read, listen to, interpret them. The social ‘resource’ of discourses, genres and styles is subject to the transformative potential of social agency, so that texts do not simply instantiate discourses, genres and styles, they actively rework them, articulate them together in distinctive and potentially novel ways, hybridize them, transform them. My focus in this paper is on organizational change, and this version of CDA has indeed been developed in association with research on discourse in social change. Social change comprises change in social structures, social practices, the networking of social practices, and (the character of) social events; and change in languages and other semiotic systems, in orders of discourse and relations between orders of discourse, and in texts. With respect to orders of discourse, social change includes change in the social structuring of linguistic/semiotic variation, therefore change in discourses, genres and styles, and change in their articulation in orders of discourse, and change in relations between orders of discourse (eg political and media orders of discourse). With respect to texts, social change includes tendential change in how discourses, genres and styles are drawn upon and articulated/hybridized together in various types of text. The process of social change raises questions about causal relations between different elements. Causal relations are not simple or one-way. For instance, it would seem to make more sense to see new communication technologies (ICTs) as causing the emergence of new genres than vice-versa – changes in discourse caused by changes in non-discoursal elements. In other cases, change appears to be discourse-led. A pervasive contemporary process (for instance in processes of ‘transition’ in central and eastern Europe) is change initiated through the recontextualization[iii] in an organization, a social field, or a country of ‘external’ discourses, which may then be enacted in new ways of (inter)acting including new genres, inculcated as new ways of being including styles, and materialized in for example new ways of organizing space. These enactments, inculcations and materializations are dialectical processes. There is an important proviso however: these processes are contingent, they depend upon certain conditions of possibility. For instance, when a discourse is recontextualized, it enters a new field of social relations, and its trajectory within those social relations is decisive in determining whether or not it has (re)constructive effects on the organization, social field etc overall. In contexts of social change, different groups of social actors may develop different and conflicting strategies for change, which have a partially discursive character (narratives of the past, representations of the present, imaginaries for the future), and inclusion within a successful strategy is a condition for a discourse being dialectically enacted, inculcated and materialized in other social elements (Jessop 2002, Fairclough, Jessop & Sayer 2004). Discourses construe aspects of the world in inherently selective and reductive ways, ‘translating’ and ‘condensing’ complex realities (Harvey 1996), and one always needs to ask, why this particular selection and reduction, why here, why now? (For a discussion of ‘globalisation’ discourse in these terms, see Fairclough & Thomas forthcoming. Locating discourses in relation to strategies in contexts of social change enables us to connect particular representations of the world with particular interests and relations of power, as well assess their ideological import. Discourses do not emerge or become recontextualized in particular organizations or fields at random, and they do not stand in an arbitrary relation to social structures and practices, forms of institutionalization and organization. If we can construct explanations of change in non-discoursal elements of social reality which attribute causal effects to discourses, we can also construct explanations of change in discourses which attribute causal effects to (non-discoursal elements of) structures and practices, as well as social and strategic relations. The social construction of the social world may sometimes be a matter of changes in non-discoursal elements caused by discourses (through the concrete forms of texts), but discourses (and texts) are also causal effects, the dialectics of social change is not a one-way street. We can distinguish four elements, or moments, in the social trajectories of discourses: their emergence and constitution (through a re-articulation of existing elements); their entry into hegemonic struggles from which they may emerge as hegemonic discourses; their dissemination and recontextualization across structural and scalar boundaries (ie between one field or institution or organization and others, and between one scale (‘global’, macro-regional (eg the EU), national, local) and others; and their operationalization (enactment, inculcation, materialization). These are distinct moments with respect to the causal effects of discourses on non-discoursal (as well as discoursal, ie generic and stylistic) elements of social life, and they are all subject to non-discoursal as well as discoursal conditions. CDA claims that social research can be enriched by extending analysis of social processes and social change into detailed analysis of texts. More detailed (including linguistic) analysis of texts is connected to broader social analysis by way of (a) analysing texts as part of analysing social events, (b) interdiscursive analysis of shifting articulations of genres, discourses, styles in texts (Fairclough 2003). The latter locates the text as an element of a concrete event in its relationship to orders of discourse as the discoursal aspect of networks of social practices, and so allows the analyst to (a) assess the relationship and tension between the causal effects of agencies in the concrete event and the causal effects of (networks of) social practices, and through them of social structures (b) detect shifts in the relationship between orders of discourse and networks f social practices as these are registered in the interdiscursivity (mixing of genres, discourses, styles) of texts. Text can be seen as product and as process. Texts as products can be stored, retrieved, bought and sold, cited and summarized and so forth. Texts as processes can be grasped through seeing ‘texturing’, making texts, as a specific modality of social action, of social production or ‘making’ (of meanings, understandings, knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, feelings, social relations, social a nd personal identities, institutions, organizations). The focus is on ‘logogenesis’ (Iedema 2003:115-17), including the texturing of entities (objects, persons, spaces, organizations) which can, given certain preconditions, be dialectically internalized (enacted, inculcated and materialized) in non-discoursal elements of social life. See for instance the discussion of the significance of nominalization as a logogenetic process in texts in processes of organizing, producing organization objects, in Iedema (2003). Organizational Discourse  I shall construct my very selective comments on organizational discourse analysis around the following four themes: organization and organizing; variation, selection and retention; understandings of ‘discourse’; and intertextuality. Organization and organizing Mumby & Stohl (1991) argue that researchers in organizational communication most centrally differ from those in other areas of organization studies in that the former problematize ‘organization’ whereas the latter do not. ‘For us, organization – or organizing, to use Weick’s (1979) term – is a precarious, ambiguous, uncertain process that is continually being made and remade. In Weick’s sense, organizations are only seen as stable, rational structures when viewed retrospectively. Communication, then, is the substance of organizing in the sense that through discursive practices organization members engage in the construction of a complex and diverse system of meanings’. Another formulation of this shift in emphasis from organizations as structures to ‘organizing’ (or ‘organizational becoming’, Tsoukas & Chia 2002) as a process is that of Mumby & Clair (1997: 181): ‘we suggest that organizations exist only in so far as their members create them through discourse. This is not to claim that organizations are â€Å"nothing but† discourse, but rather that discourse is the principal means by which organization members create a coherent social reality that frames their sense of who they are’. Despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the second sentence, this formulation can as argued by Reed (forthcoming) be seen as collapsing ontology into epistemology, and undermining the ontological reality of organizational structures as constraints on organizational action and communication. From the perspective of the realist view of discourse I have outlined, it makes little sense to see organizing and organization, or more generally agency and structure, as alternatives one has to choose between. With respect to organizational change, both organizational structures and the agency of members of organizations in organizational action and communication have causal effects on how organizations change. Organizational communication does indeed organize, produce organizational effects and transform organizations, but organizing is subject to conditions of possibility which include organizational structures. The paper by Iedema, Degeling, Braithwaite and White (2004) in the special issue of Organizational Studies is an analysis of how a ‘doctor-manager’ in a teaching hospital in Australia manages ‘the incommensurable dimensions’ of his ‘boundary position between profession and organization’ by positioning himself across different discourses, sometimes in a single utterance. The authors identify a heteroglossia ‘that is too context-regarding to be reducible to personal idiosyncracy, and too complex and dynamic to be the calculated outcome of conscious manipulation’. They see the doctor-manager’s talk as a ‘feat’ of ‘bricolage’, not as a display of ‘behaviours that are pre-programmed’. Nor is it an instantiation of a ‘strategy’, for ‘strategies are they assume ‘conscious’. Although the authors recognize that organizations can ‘set limits’ on what workers can say and do, impose ‘closure’, they see the doctor-manager as successfully ‘deferring closure on his own identity and on the discourses that realize it’. One can take this as an interesting and nuanced study of organization as the ‘organizing’ that is achieved in interaction (nuanced in the sense that it does not exclude organizational structures, though it does suggest that they are more ‘fluid’ and less ‘categorical’ than they have been taken to be, and it does recognize their capacity to impose ‘closure’). I would like to make a number of connected observations on this paper. First, one might see the doctor-manager’s ‘feat’ in this case as a particular form of a more general organizational process, the management of contradictions. Second, discourse figures differently in different types of organization (Borzeix 2003, referring to Girin 2001). The type of organization in this case seems to be in Girin’s terms a ‘cognitive’ (or ‘learning’, or ‘intelligent’) organization, in which the normative force of (written) texts (rules, procedures) is limited, and there is an emphasis on learning in spoken interaction. There seems to be, in other terms, a relatively ‘network’ type of structure rather than a simple hierarchy, where management involves a strong element participatory and consultative interaction with stakeholders. Third, connecting the first two points, spoken interaction in this type of organization accomplishes an ongoing management of contradictions which contrasts with the management of contradictions through suppressing them by imposing rules and procedures. Fourth, the doctor-manager’s ‘feat’ can be seen as a performance of a strategy as long as we abandon the (somewhat implausible) claim that all aspects and levels of strategic action are conscious – the doctor-manager would one imagines be conscious of the need to sustain a balancing act between professional and managerial perspectives and priorities, and of certain specific means to do so, but that does not entail him being conscious of all the complex interactive means he uses to do it. Fifth, while particular performances of this strategy (or, indeed, any strategy) are not ‘pre-programmed’, the strategy is institutionalized, disseminated, learnt, and constitutes a facet of the type of organization as a network of social practices, ie a facet of organizational structure. Sixth, it strikes me that bringing off a sense of creative bricolage is perhaps itself a part of the managerial style of this type of organization, ie part of the strategy, the network of social practices, the order of discourse. My conclusion is that even in a case of this sort, rather more emphasis is needed on the relationship between organizing and organization, performance and practice, ‘feat’ and strategy[iv]. Organizational discourse studies have been associated with postmodernist positions (Chia 1995, Grant, Harvey, Oswick & Putnam forthcoming, Grant, Keenoy, Oswick 2001), though the field as a whole is too diverse to be seen as simply postmodernist. Chia identifies a postmodern ‘style of thinking’ in organizational studies which ‘accentuates the significance, ontological priority and analysis of the micro-logics of social organizing practices over and above their stabilized ‘effects’ such as ‘individuals’. As this indicates, the focus on organizing rather than organisation is strongly associated with this ‘style of thinking’. Like the dialectical-relational ontology I advocated earlier, this ‘style of thinking’ sees objects and entities as produced within ontologically prior processes. The key difference is that this ‘style of thinking’ tends towards a one-sided emphasis on process, whereas the realist view of discourse analysis I have been advocating centres upon the tension between (discoursal) process and pre-structured (discoursal and linguistic, as well as non-discoursal) objects. This form of realism is not subject to the tendency within modernist social research which is criticized by Woolgar (1988) to take the objects it arrives at through abstraction (which would include in the case of CDA orders of discourse, as well as language and other semiotic systems) to be exhaustive of the social reality it researches. The key difference in this case is whereas this form of modernist research moves from the concrete to the abstract and then ‘forgets’ the concrete, the dialectic-relational form of realism I have advocated crucially makes the move back to analysis of the concrete. CDA is not merely concerned with languages and orders of discourse, it is equally concerned with text and texturing, and with the relations of tension between the two.

Midterm exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Midterm exam - Essay Example Occasionally, culture of fake is always seen to supersede high culture. One such example is the popularity and usage of visual arts. Mass audience- it refers to a huge number of audiences congregating at the same place or listening to the same information at the same time. In such cases, the society is usually paying attention to one thing being aired or performed at the same time. Example is the use of mass media to passing information to a specific niche or political rallies in the society. Critics in the society have challenged this classification. Some have dismissed the effectiveness of popular culture in the development of the educated people in the society. On the other hand, some critics are proposing to merge the categories to portray one modern society. In addition, the feminists are also raising questions concerning the opportunities of women for creativity and how these have been able to change historically, and how the creativity of women have been put to evaluation, how women have been silenced and how men have been able to made meaning of life for women with the activities and myths. Despite this, the contemporary feminists have been able to take a diversified approach to dealing with these forms of culture (Charles, pg. 65). Assumption one- in this assumption, it is believed that women have a certain relationship to popular culture that is quite different from what men have towards popular culture. It has been pointed out that women have been playing key roles as consumers of particular products of popular culture, and they are, therefore, a core subject of the popular culture for both men and women. In addition, it is believed that in some cases and periods, women have been very important in creating and producing popular culture. Assumption two- to comprehend the functioning of the popular culture to both the patriarchal

Should the state or federal goverment put laws into place to prevent Research Paper

Should the state or federal goverment put laws into place to prevent bullying - Research Paper Example Furthermore, the consequences of bullying are even more lethal than the imagination of the bullies and their victims (Lines, pp. 19-20). More than 86 percent of the school shooting has been linked to the past improper treatment and bullying of the students. Furthermore, 10 percent of school droppings take place due to bullying (Rigby, pp. 21-22). Suicide rates amongst children under the ages of 14 are low but over the past couple of decades, they have been rising up. There is enough evidence to link these suicides with bullying of children (Barclay & Butler, pp. 6-10; Mattern, pp. 165-167; Rooney, pp. 171). The above-mentioned paragraph is just a glance at the statistics related to bullying of children and without any doubts; it does not paint a desirable picture. Over the years, bullying has become a common phenomenon in schools and our societies, communities and neighborhoods (Macfarlane & McPherson, pp. 85-89). Parents, schools, NGOs and others have played their part in trying to prevent bullying; however, it is time for the federal government to intervene for solution of this problem. Therefore, the major agenda of the paper could be defined as â€Å"Rather than becoming a silent bystander to bullying, it is the moral and legal responsibility of the federal government to intervene by making laws that could prevent bullying so that our children, who are the future of the country, could be saved from catastrophic results.† According to its definition, bullying refers to the aggressive behavior with which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes the â€Å"target†, pain, and discomfort. Bullying can be emotional, physical, or verbal. â€Å"Targets† or the subjects of bullying may face the same based on their race, sexual orientation, disability, personality, religion, gender, intelligence and others (Fort & Stevens, pp. 230-231). Bullying may take place in all possible settings with human contact such as schools, high schools, colleges, universities, churches,

Demonstrate an understanding of financial statement analysis Essay

Demonstrate an understanding of financial statement analysis - Essay Example For instance, if a financial statement analysis is conducted and the results indicate profitability of the company then the shareholders are assured of a company’s prospective growth hence safety of investments. In the contrary, they may decide to sell their shares where financial statement analyses indicate a downfall in profitability. This group’s interest concerns the company’s wealth situation. Their major interest is security of the money they invested in the company and the ability of the company to refund both the accrued interest as well as principle amount within the designated repayment time. The creditors are interested in financial statement analysis for purposes of establishing the short-term liquidity status of a firm. Their main interest is to ascertain a firm’s capability to repay the amount they owe on time. â€Å"They do financial statement analysis from which they are informed on whether there is need to extend the lends and ask for advanced interest charges† (Sinha & Sinha, 2009). It is for this purpose that the information gathered from the financial statements is important. The management is charged with the responsibility of ensuring a smooth running of an organisation. They are responsible in formulation of future policies and plans as well as undertaking immediate decisions. It is for this reason that they should analyse financial statements in order to measure the effectiveness of the policies and the decisions they make in the day-to-day running of a firm. â€Å"In addition, the management’s interest is to ascertain both the short-term and long-tern creditworthiness of the company, productivity, liquidity and return on investment status of the business† (Shim, & Siegel, 2007). It is the duty of every government to ensure that firms conform to tax regulations. Therefore, the government examines financial statements with an aim of determining tax submission. In addition, the government

Favorite song music analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Favorite song music analysis - Term Paper Example The song was recorded by the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra in 1973 and subsequently played on BBC Radio 4 until 2006. The UK Theme was mainly a start-up, introducing the BBC Radio Shopping Forecast, a broadcast dedicated to reporting weather and maritime forecasts along the British coast. Although Radio 4 does not play whole pieces of music, the UK Theme is an uninterrupted piece played before the introduction of programs. The traditional tunes in the UK Theme piece represent not only the national maritime tradition but also depict the musical culture of the United Kingdom. The piece combines many tunes beginning with a brass air of Early One Morning. The first section of the UK Theme opens with the tunes of English trombones and horns followed by British strings and woodwind. The use of the English folklore tunes in the first section gives the piece its appeal and originality. This gives the song its patriotic tone. The mood of the song changes in the second section with harp and Irish cor anglais accompaniments. A critical analysis of the rhythm reveals that the producer combined long and short sounds to come up with a unique British beat. There is a gradual drop in tempo and pitch just after the first 8 bars. The main beats are divided into twos, illustrating the use of simple meter composition and giving the UK Theme its unique mood and unusual appeal. The tone is combined with slow Scottish violin, giving the piece its characteristic timbre. The tempo of the UK Theme slows in the second section. The mood changes further in the third section with tunes from the English strings and Scottish woodwind as well as air from the Royal Navy piccolo. The piece ends with an orchestral version played over the tunes of solo trumpet. A critical analysis of the UK Theme suggests that the song is simply a collection of traditional British and Irish tunes, symbolizing the tradition of the United Kingdom. The historical,

Reflection and Research Essay Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Reflection and Essay - Research Paper Example In this way, more lives would end up being rescued. Nevertheless, many philosophers deviate with the method of killing of one healthy man to save lives. John Harris had tried to imagine an environment where in case anyone was in need of any kind of transplant it could be easily and successfully done2. It does not have to take long while people are in search of the organ. This means no one will ever have to kick the bucket simply because the organ she or he needs seem not reachable in any part of the world. This was a radiant thought considered seriously since the majority will get saved from death, but the fact that one person’s life has to be killed, makes the idea rather inappropriate to be put into consideration. They believe in the existence of a moral difference between killing and leaving to die. They claim that the dying and the existence of a life should be chances that human needs not to interfere with, though they have a duty that makes endurance of the maximum numbe rs of lives possible while dealing with life. It is suggested that the institutions of survival lottery have not gone so far to mitigate the harmful side effects in terms of terror and distress of the victims. Witnesses and the society would be occasioned by the doctors simply by snatching passers–by off the street and disorganizing them for the benefit of the less fortunate. The lottery scheme would give the option of life and death decision to the medical practitioners, and eliminate the possibility of such authority falling into the hands of a human being, though the fear and suffering would still remain. This would be considered a wrong deed biblically since the power of life and death does not reality on human hands. The doctors should do their level best in trying to save a life, but not kill the healthy for the option of the ill. Those that kick the bucket due to lack of organs should be considered to be Gods. There exist some legislative/judicial decisions that create a legal obligation and right in the lottery. The most prominent legislative rule is referred to as a defense of the survival lottery on utilitarian and Lockean grounds3. For the purpose of this concept, the operations will be perfect and that the society can make omniscient decisions and suggest that the use of computers, although the means are considered extraneous. By scheming an essential processing unit algorithm, pitfalls in the scheme would be prevented. The difficulties that arise from the elderly having a high demand for organs would be collected by introducing age into the algorithm. Overdrinking and smoking should be considered. The processor would be planned in order to maximize utility, and each exchange would result in the development just by definition4. Another key point of the second treatise of government is intolerance for arbitrary decision; the survival lottery is random in choosing who will give life to others in scenery. It should be uncovered that the lottery is not arbitrary is random. Finally, Locke requires that either the citizens to be consent to the system, tactically or explicitly through the legislature if the lottery survival is a non-arbitrary the overall preservation of the society with the consent of the majority5. He agrees that a soldier has the responsibility to protect local individuals of a certain boundaries or

Why do countries trade with each other when they both produce similar Essay

Why do countries trade with each other when they both produce similar goods - Essay Example For example, Africa is rich in diamonds, and Bangladesh produces jute in abundance. While it incurs Bangladesh very little cost to grow jute, it may cause the USA far too much to produce jute. The different climatic conditions play a decisive role in the kind of crops a country can grow. In addition to that, trade between countries is also very essential for the promotion of international relations. Countries that conduct trade with one another maintain good terms with one another so that they may facilitate trading and strengthen their respective economies. Trade between countries also has a lot of political significance. As two trading countries foster good relations, they become a united force against a third country that has bad terms with both. â€Å"Powerful nations throughout history have used economic sanctions--essentially blocking and prohibiting trade--with other nations in order to punish or force political or behavioral change† (Chase). Trade is very essential for economical strength. Dubai became one of the fastest developing cities in the world in a course of few decades because of

An Analysis of Christianity Through the Lens of Toulmins Method of Essay

An Analysis of Christianity Through the Lens of Toulmins Method of Argumentation - Essay Example In regards to the claim, it is the stance of this brief essay that at its very core, Christianity places a high emphasis on that stewardship should necessarily define the way in which the Christian interacts with the world around him. Although Christianity in and of itself places the primary motivators upon the need to live as Christ, the writings of Paul and others indicate that a primal focus with respect to resources and their utilization must be adhered to in order to better exhibit a Christ-centered relationship. As will be expanded upon in greater depth within this analysis, this fundamental concept of stewardship with regards to the way the Christian should interact with the material world traces its understanding not only to the life and example of Christ or the writings of Paul but back to the very beginnings of humanity with the creation and instruction given to Adam and Eve (Bookless 39). In keeping with Toulmin’s model, the ground is the second part of the argument which must be developed upon and considered. As such, the ground supports that stewardship, although a New Testament Doctrine is also exhibited elsewhere under different names throughout the Bible. One of these is of course indicated during the creation story as God charges Adam to look over the creation and tend to it (Grizzle 233). Obviously, man and woman were created above the animals and were given dominion over them; however, this dominion, as exhibited in the Old Testament book of Genesis, did not indicate that humanity could exploit the resources given to him for no other benefit than his own self gratification. Rather, man was given dominion over the animal kingdom (and by extension the environment) as a means to use his God-given talent and superior intellect to seek to further the needs of these animals. By extension, the animal kingdom was given to man originally as a special charge; one in which mirrored the charge that God had with mankind – a unique relationsh ip whereby the creator uniquely loved and cared for his creation. In this way, the ground for the argument is made even stronger that God attempted to engage mankind with the seriousness of stewardship through giving him charge of the lesser creatures that God had created. Similarly, Toulmin’s argumentative logic continues on to the issue of the warrant. In this stage of argumentation, Toulmin would have the reader link the preceding claim and ground to a verifiable connection that leads to a verifiable end. In this way, the author of this analysis has thus far laid out the fact that stewardship in the New Testament lays a fundamental framework through which the Christian is charged with integrating with and watching over the material resources he/she is responsible for in this life. Accordingly, the ground went on to give

Research Design and Methodology Essay Example for Free

Research Design and Methodology Essay Method of Research This Study will use the Experimental method of research.The experimental method involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable. This method relies on controlled methods, random assignment and the manipulation of variables to test a hypothesis. The researchers decided to use experimental method because it is the most suited kind of method of research for our Investigatory Project which is involves creating a new product. Respondents of the study The respondents of our study are the 1st year students of Roosevelt College Rodriguez School Year 2012 – 2013. The researchers decided to use the 1st year students because they are the youngest among the high school students, proving that they are the ones that are most obedient and cooperative students. The researchers used 5 neighbor are chosen as respondens. Locale of the Study The study was conducted at the Roosevelt College Rodriguez, in the high school department. Roosevelt College Rodriguez is a private non-sectarian high school which is located at Manggahan, Rodriguez Rizal. It was established in 1962 and it is one of the branches of Roosevelt College System. It is a three-story building which has 53 well-ventilated and well-lighted rooms. Roosevelt College Rodriguez has facilities like elderly care rooms for the care giver course. It has also fine laboratories namely three computer laboratories, in which each has approximately 25 computer units. One highly maintained speech laboratory which contains 40 cubicles and one equipment and apparatus. The school has its own air conditioned resource learning center (library) with several books that can help the students in doing researches and home works. It has an audio visual room (AVR) to be used for meetings, small sized events and presentation of videos to the students. A function hall was built recently that serves as a venue for different events/programs, seminars conducted inside the campus for the whole year round. Roosevelt College Rodriguez also has facilities like a  canteen, covered walk, basketball court, herbal garden and a wide school ground that were highly maintained and can assure the security of the students. Being managed by our beloved directress, Mrs. Carmencita V. Alcantara, Roosevelt College Rodriguez has passed the PAASCU level 1 status accredited private school and is now undertaking and complementing requirements for the level 1 PAASCU accreditation. Research Instrument The research instrument that the researchers used is a questionnaire which was made by the researchers. The questionnaire consists of 5 different questions all concerning our product, the Spinanggay Cookies. The questionnaire will be answered by checking 1 of the boxes that corresponds to the following Excellent – 5, Very Satisfactory – 4, Satisfactory – 3, Failed – 2, Poor – 1. Procedure: 1. Preheat the oven to 375 °F/190 °C 2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. To reduce lumpiness, sift through a sifter or sieve. Gently mix these together, then set the bowl aside. 3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together, then beat in eggs and vanilla. The coarseness of the sugar granules will help break the butter down, so be sure to do these first. Then add the eggs and vanilla and mix again until completely combined. 4. Slowly add the dry ingredients from the medium bowl to the wet ingredients in the large bowl, and then add spinanggay powder. Pour some of the dry ingredients, stir, and repeat until the dry and wet ingredients are totally combined. 5. Drop spoonful of cookie dough onto a pre-greased or a lined baking sheet. Leave at least an inch of space between the cookies because theyll spread out when they cook. You can usually fit 12 cookies on a full-sized cookie sheet at a time. 6. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies rest on the p an for 3-4 minutes. Seventh, using a spatula, lift cookies off and place onto wax paper or a cooling rack. Let cool for about 5 more minutes. Last, Eat when hot and steamy or cooled and slightly crisp. Experimental Design In gathering the data for our research, we conducted a survey on the 1st year students of Roosevelt College Rodriguez. The â€Å"table of random numbers† was used to identify the 30% of the 1st year students which was going to be our respondents. Before conducting the survey we passed a copy of our questionnaire to our teacher to validate the questionnaire. To conduct the survey we went to each section of the 1st year and handed out the questionnaires and a piece of the Spinanggay cookies. After answering the questionnaires, the questionnaires were returned to us for the tabulation of results to make a conclusion. Statistical Tools Weighted Mean We will use the weighted mean to rate and get the results of the questionnaire that will be given to our respondents and to make our study accurate. Table 1 represents the tally of the respondents’ answers together with the computed weighted mean and the verbal interpretation. Question 1, earned a weighted mean value of 3.00 interpreted as satisfactory. This suggests that the spinanggay cookies tastes good and the respondents liked the Spinanggay Cookies. Question 2, got a weighted mean value of 3.00 weighted mean value in table 1. It is interpreted as Very Satisfactory, showing that the respondents find it easy to observe the taste of the Malunggay and spinach while eating the cookies. Question 3, obtained a weighted mean value of 3.00, and interpreted as   Satisfactory. This shows that the respondents think that the Spinach and Malunggay tastes good when mixed together. Question 4, got a weighted mean value of 3.00, and interpreted as satisfactory,implicating that the respondents think that the Spinanggay Cookies is not too good but is good enough to sell in the market. Question 5, earned a weighted mean value of 3.00, and interpreted as Satisfactory,implicating that the Spinanggay Cookies may be as good as the commercially sold cookies.  Based on the table 1, the product is acceptable. The respondents particularly liked the taste of Spinaggay cookies. The taste of spinach and malunggay may be observed easily as it was the one with the highest weighted mean value, with 3.00 weighted mean. The lowest is 3.00 which correspond to number 4 asking if the product is ready to be sold in the market. It acquired the verbal interpretation of Satisfactory showing that the product is ready to be sold but may still be improved to increase sales if it is sold. 1. Does the Spinanggay cookies taste good? 2. Were you able to taste the spinach and Malunggay in the Spinanggay cookies? 3. Do you think that the Malunggay and Spinach in Spinanggay cookies complement each other? 4. Is the spinanggay cookies good enough to sell in the market? 5. Is the Spinanggay cookies comparable to commercially sold cookies?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Today

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Today Chirag Patel The world has come very far with respect to technology. In reality, technology, social media, and smart phones have breached the mainstay in our everyday lives in a short period of time. Gone are the days of cassette and VHS tapes. Gone are the days of typewriters and cursive handwriting. Those outdated technologies have been replaced with tablets, smartphones, and social media websites like Facebook. The same types of technologies have found its way into healthcare. Lambert, K., Barry, P., Stokes, G. (2012) state that, â€Å"Social media has infiltrated all of our lives both personally and professionally.† For better or for worse these technologies have blended into our everyday lives with no end in sight therefore, knowing they aren’t going away and how we use them will say as much about ourselves and as society as a whole. Today’s technologies allow us to be more connected to one another. Both patients and healthcare providers have information available at their fingertips including a patient’s personal health information (PHI). On concern could be stated as such, â€Å"How safe are today’s technologies and will patient’s personal health information be compromised?† The U.S. Department of Health and Human services created HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). HIPPA is a federal law that protects medical information of patient’s and is enforced by the Office of Civil Rights. According to Lambert, K., Barry, P., Stokes, G. (2012), â€Å"The use of social media may expose professionals and healthcare entities to liability under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as individual state privacy laws. HIPAA, as modified by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), governs the permitted use and disclosure of PHI by covered entities, including hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers. The HITECH Act provides breach notification requirements and expands various requirements to business associates.† So why take the risks? Like anything in this world sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. A few advantages of today’s technologies and social media sites include accessibility. Patients can now play an active engagement in their health care. Social media and various apps allow an individual to do their own research on their conditions. It can give a patient a feeling of empowerment when otherwise they would feel helpless. Social media and varying apps allow for individuals to connect with support groups and message boards that can lend much needed empathy from people who are going through similar situations. We’ve heard the stories of bullying on Facebook but on the flip side there are stories of triumph and support when used in a way that garners sympathy and empathy. Facebook can be both an advantage and disadvantage depending on how it is used. Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers have advantages as well. They too can have the latest research and decision making support tools available to them at palm of their hands. Access to real time information such as the latest prescription recall or access to the most recent white paper of medical breakthroughs benefits both the healthcare provider and ultimately the patient. This collective online and mobile brain trust allow for healthcare providers to create robust medical strategies that can help in the decision making. Online and smart phone resources include mobile apps like Epocrates  ®, Medscape, and even AHRQ ePSS an app designed by the United States Department of Health Human Services (HHS). Online communities’ such as American Medical Association provide resources from varying topics including: managing your practice; medical ethics; legal issues; and career development. In general, most individuals prefer to keep their health status confidentiality hence, the patient-doctor confidentiality relationship. But with smartphones and use of social media the totality of a person’s health information could be vulnerable if safeguards are not in place. Solomon, P., et al. (2012) suggests that healthcare providers who have access to patient information made aware of strategies and facility policies in order to safeguard patient privacy. They should also be mindful and place themselves in a situation where access can be vulnerable i.e. leaving a computer on and unsecure. Solomon, P., et al. (2012) state emphatically that â€Å"Confidentiality is a legal right for clients as well as a professional ethical responsibility of providers.† A break in trust serves to weaken the relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient. Let’s go back to our original scenario. The nurse worked a night shift while her friend attended a concert. The lead singer of the concert the nurse missed is now her patient. At the end of her shift, what does she do? Our group chose the following conclusion: You go on Facebook, on your day off, and talk about the night you had at work and how you didn’t really feel as bad having to miss the concert, because you actually got to meet Jerod in person and even â€Å"Got his number!† You then post a picture of Jerod on Facebook and Instagram, figuring that most of your contacts would never recognize him anyway. It’s your day off and your personal time, so no harm, no foul, right? The scenario above is a plausible outcome in the world with which we live in. However, there are a lot of things wrong with the nurse’s line of thinking. It is not unreasonable for the nurse to think that her personal Facebook page is her private business. However, in the New York trial of Romano v. Steelcase (2010) the Supreme Court stated that, It is reasonable to infer from the limited postings on plaintiffs public Facebook ® and MySpace ® profile pages that her private pages may contain material and information that are relevant to her claims or that may lead to the disclosure of admissible evidence. To deny defendant an opportunity to access these sites not only would go against the liberal discovery policies of New York favoring pretrial disclosure, but would condone plaintiffs attempt to hide relevant information behind self-regulated privacy settings.† In other words, what the nurse posts on her Facebook could be used against her for several reasons 1). The p hoto was taken while she was working, 2). The photo violates a patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality and 3). By violating the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality she could be setting herself for termination of employment and/or criminal or civil violations. Those are possible consequences that may prove costly in the long run. The nurse should stop and ask herself if the notoriety would be worth losing her reputation and career over. In summary, there are many advantages and disadvantages to smartphones and use of social media. Advantages include active engagement for patients in their health status; readily available resources in real-time; and ease of use and accessibility for all users both front-end and back-end. Some disadvantages include lack of privacy; accountability for posts on personal social media sites; and data integrity and vulnerability. Do the Pro’s outweigh the Con’s? One can only say that training, awareness, and professional and ethical responsibilities should dictate an individual’s actions. As the old saying goes, â€Å"Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.† A good warning that should be heeded by all. References Kosieradzki, J. (2011). Social media and privacy: when personal posts intersect with the business of litigation. Journal of Legal Studies in Business. (17), 51-64 Lambert, K., Barry, P., Stokes, G. (2012). Risk management and legal issues with the use of social media in the healthcare setting. American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. 31(4), 41–47. doi: 10.1002/jhrm.20103 Romano v. Steelcase, 907 N.Y.S.2d 650, 658 (N.Y. Sup. 2010) Solomon, P., Molinaro, M., Mannion, E., Cantwell, K. (2012). Confidentiality Policies and Practices in Regard to Family Involvement: Does Training Make a Difference?. American Journal Of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 15(1), 97-115. doi:10.1080/15487768.2012.655648

Bio of Marley :: essays research papers

BOB MARLEY Jamaica has produced an artist who has touched all categories, classes, and creeds through innate modesty and profound wisdom. Bob Marley, the Natural Mystic who introduced reggae to European and American fans still may prove to be the most significant musical artist of the twentieth century. Bob Marley gave the world brilliant music and established reggae as major forces in music that is comparable with the blues and rock&rolls. His work stretched across nearly two decades and still remains timeless. Bob Marley & the Wailers worked their way into all of our lives. "He's taken his place with James Brown and Sly Stone as pervasive influence on r&b", said Timothy White, author of the Bob Marley biography "Catch A Fire". It is important to think of the roots of this legend: the first superstar from the Third World, Bob Marley was one of the most charismatic and challenging performers of his time. His music reflects only one source: the street culture of Jamaica. Later, in 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia. Tafari claimed to be the 225th ruler in a line that went back to Menelik, the son of Solomon. The Garvey followers in Jamaica, who consulted their New Testaments for a sign, believed that Haile Selassie was the black king that Garvey had said would deliver the black race. It was the start of a new religion called Rastafari, which Bob was into heavily. Fifteen years after, in Nine Miles deep within Jamaica Robert Nesta Marley was born. His mother Cedella Booker was an eighteen-year-old black girl while his father was Captain Norval Marley, a 50-year-old white man working for the Jamaican Forestry Commission. The couple married in 1944 and Norval left Cedella to legitimize their unborn child. Then Bob was born on February 6, 1945. Norval's family applied constant pressure to Bob and, although he provided financial support, Norval seldom saw his son who grew up in St. Ann to the north of the island. Bob Marley, barely into his teens, moved to Kingston (Trench Town) in the late Fifties. His friends Were other street youths, also not happy with their place in society. One friend Neville O'Riley Livingston was known as Bunny, Bob met Bunny when his mom took work taking rooms behind a rum bar owned by Toddy Livingston Bunnys father. Bob took his first musical steps with Bunny.

Of Mice and Men - 4th chapter Essay -- essays research papers

This passage comes from the fourth chapter in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. George and the other workers are â€Å"gone into town† (69). Lennie, Crooks and Candy are the only men remaining on the ranch. This excerpt characterizes Crooks and promotes the themes of loneliness and dreams. In addition, this passage characterizes Lennie and reinforces the theme of companionship. In this portion of the book, the author provides a precise characterization of Crooks. The stable buck takes â€Å"pleasure in his torture† (71) of Lennie. He suggests many scenarios that make Lennie miserable such as â€Å"Well s’pose, jus’s’pose he [George] don’t come back† (71) â€Å"s’pose he gets killed or hurt so he can’t come back† (71). Crooks’ suppositions are a sign of meanness, they demonstrate that loneliness has twisted his conscience. He also behaves this way because since â€Å"he ain’t got nobody† (72), he is jealous of Lennie’s friendship with George. Crooks suffers from loneliness. He has no one to turn to, and to be near him. He says it himself that â€Å"a guy needs somebody---to be near him† (72), or else â€Å"he ge...

Essay --

Based on research, Gen Y seek more workplace flexibility, better balance between their workplace and personal life, to give themselves a higher job satisfaction.To accommodate to this need, HR in companies can adapt with a a flexible work hour. This includes shifting their work hours to accommodate their own schedules and are interested in working outside the office where they can stay connected by way of technology. Gen Y believe that the 40 hours per week target can be achieved in a more smarter way, where they could also give an effective productivity. Generation Y occupants are not convinced that such early career sacrifices are worth the potential rewards. A balance between their personal and work lives is more important to them. While the elder generations are confined in a strict 8am-5pm schedule, flexible work hour which emphasises only on a few hours of core hours in work should be introduced. For example, this core hours are the compulsory hours in which employee should be in office. During this time, engagement sessions, discussions and meeting shall be done in order to continue the job efficiently.Besides, HR should also introduce flexibility in timeframe where employee could arrange their workshedule where they work 4 days per week for 10 hours each day, followed by 3 days on leave. This enables them to increase productivity and at the same time provide contribution with the same time constraints. Due to the high priority given to family needs before work, HR can adapt and come up with unique family packages in which they could have a nursery for babies in workplace. This enables working mothers to take care and have an eye on their child while in work. This lifestyle promotes the healthy culture of that organization... ... the jobs we they after. Generation Y commit to the ideal of working smarter, not harder. For the independent Generation Y worker, the 9-5 workday hosts many pockets of wasted time; one being the daily commute. This is what the Generation Y worker thinks about, and why they value an open-minded employer. When applicable, offing your employees a telecommuting option can save time, money and the environment. Do you absolutely need them in the office? Then don’t give telecommuting a second thought, but do extend wellness benefits by offering reimbursements for gym memberships or by replacing swivel chairs with posture-pleasing exercise balls. Also, making conscious steps to keep the company green wherever feasibly possible (i.e. recycling bins, proper disposal of printer cartridges, energy efficient equipment) will help satisfy the socially conscious Generation Y.

Customer Satisfaction of Fast Food Chains Essay

Therefore, this study suspects whether other important variables exist in fast food industry consumer behavior patterns to support this result. This study tries to combine variables that are related to fast food industry characteristics, such as consumption frequency, perceived price and convenience, to propose an integrated model of customer satisfaction and loyalty in the fast food industry, and apply relationship inertia as the mediator to discover the major factors that impact customer satisfaction and loyalty in the fast food industry. This study has collected 594 effective questionnaires and applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to verify the various path relations of the study model. The study result found that in addition to being positively impacted by customer satisfaction, customer loyalty will be impacted by customer relationship inertia more. In the relationship of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, customer relationship inertia plays a key mediator. In addition, perceived price has a negative impact on customer satisfaction and relationship inertia. Convenience will enhance customer satisfaction. Consumption frequency will enhance customer relationship inertia. Finally, this study expects to provide the study result to the fast food industry as a reference for enhancing the customer loyalty strategy. Key words: Customer satisfaction, relationship inertia, customer loyalty, convenience, perceived price. INTRODUCTION The enhancement of national income and the change of consumption habits have resulted in the rapid growth of the market scale in the service industry. In 2008, the average ratio of the global service industry accounted for over 60% of the overall Gross National Product (GNP), the average ration for major developed countries reached over 70%, and at the same time Taiwan also reached 73. 2% (Central Intelligence Agency, 2009). Taking Taiwan as an example, the total turnover of food retail was NT$261. billion in 2001, NT$302. 7 billion in 2006, and NT$321. 7 billion in 2009 (Ministry of Economic Affairs, R. O. C. , 2010). This indicates that the business scale of food retail has the gradual growth trend every year in Taiwan, and its market competition will inevitably become more intense. The fast food industry is the representative food retailer type in various countries. The overall fast food market in the US is expected to grow in the coming years and will cross the US$17 0 billion mark by 2010 (RNCOS, 2009). Corresponding author. E-mail: m9019011@chu. edu. tw Tel: +886-2-28102292. Fax: +886-2-2810-6688. Cheng et al. 5119 The fast food industry in Asia’s major countries, such as China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan can also create a production value over US$1 billion every year (Report buyer, 2009). However, occasionally, there will be some negative food safety events, such as the frying oil containing arsenic, and the beef event (Taiwan news, 2010), which will impact the image and performance of the corporation. However, after the storm has passed, the sales performance of fast food industry can all rise rapidly. This result, in addition to the response management of when the industry has a great crisis, is also a worthy exploration issue of consumers’ purchasing behavior in the fast food industry. For the service industry, the cost of developing a new customer is at least 5 to 9 times the cost to maintain an old customer (Raphel and Raphel, 1995). How to enhance customer satisfaction and customer loyalty will be the important factor that impacts the operating performance of the food retailer. Past studies indicate that customer loyalty will be positively impacted by customer satisfaction (Fornell, 1992; Gwinner et al. , 1998; HennigThurau et al. , 2002; Terblanche, 2006; Hsu, 2008). However, Bruhn and Grund (2000) pointed out that the factors that impact customer loyalty may have some other important factors which are not included in the consideration. Some scholars found that when customers benefit from the past frequent consumption behavior, relationship inertia will be formed, and the past consumer behavior will be continued (Ouellette and Wood, 1998), then there will be no strong motivation to look for alternative plans (Colgate and Danaher, 2000), and the service provider can therefore maintain the current relationship with the customer (Gounaris and Stathakopoulos, 2004). In the study of Carrasco et al. (2005), it also verified that in the consumption of food and service, consumers have the inertia behavior. In addition, consumers will have the habitual repeated purchase behavior due to convenient purchase or other factors (Heiens and Pleshko, 1997). When competitors offer a lower price, it will enhance the possibility of the customer changing the purchase behavior (Wathne et al. , 2001), and also undermine the consumer’s consumption inertia for the original company. The study found that there are three issues existing in the studies of customer purchasing behavior in the fast food industry: (1) Why can consumers rapidly return in such a short period of time after a fast food industry negative news outbreak, or even not be impacted at all. Therefore, regarding the factors that impact customer loyalty in the fast food industry, in addition to customer satisfaction, are there any other important impact factors? (2) The fast food industry is different from the general food retailer. It has the characteristics of being rapid, convenient, and having a low price; however, the commonly seen customer satisfaction model (e. g. American Customer Satisfaction Index; European Customer Customer Satisfaction Index) cannot really present these characteristics. 3) Inertial behavior exists in the food purchasing behavior (Carrasco et al. , 2005). However, there have been no scholars who have applied it to explore the relation between customer satisfaction and loyalty in the fast food industry. It can be seen that there is an important study gap that exists in the exploration of customer satisfaction and loyalty in the fast food industry; therefore, it creates the motive for the study to explore this issue. The major study purpose of the study is to integrate the related variables of fast food industry characteristics, such as consumption frequency, perceived price and convenience, and propose a customer satisfaction and loyalty integrated model for the fast food industry, and apply relationship inertia as the mediator to find out the major factor that impacted the customer satisfaction and loyalty in fast food industry, with the expectation to provide it as a reference for the fast food industry in developing the improvement strategy of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. LITERATURE REVIEW Customer satisfaction The primary task of a corporation is to create customer satisfaction. Profit is not the most important result; after all, it is only the feedback after satisfying the customer (Drucker, 1954). As long as the customer is satisfied, the corporation’s profit will relatively increase. Along with the more and more intense market competition and the rise of consumer awareness, customer satisfaction has a significant impact on corporate profits, and it can provide the future product or service quality of the corporation as a reference according the past consumption experience and assessment of customers. Therefore, customer satisfaction has become a recognized index which can be broadly applied in measuring customer consumption behavior. Customer satisfaction is regarded as customers can get more benefits than their cost (Liu and Yen, 2010). Different scholars’ definitions for customer satisfaction can be summarized as follows: Oliver (1981) thinks that customer satisfaction is the comments made by the surprising experience of product obtainment or consumption. Fornell (1992) pointed out that customer satisfaction is the overall measurement after a customer has purchased the product or used the service. It is the overall attitude created based on experience, which is the comparison of before (expectation) and after (feeling) the customer received the service (product). If the actual feeling after receiving the service exceeded the expectation before receiving the service, then the customer will be satisfied; if it is to the contrary, the customer will not be satisfied. 5120 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. In addition, Kotler (1997) thinks that customer satisfaction is a person’s happiness or disappointment, which is formed by comparing his/her perceived product performance (or result) and his/her product expectation. To be more specific, satisfaction is the function of perceived performance and expectation. Lin (2007) pointed out that good service quality will indeed satisfy the diversified demands of the customer, which means customer satisfaction is the overall assessment of products and services processed by customers according to the past experience. When the actual service result provided by the service provider is higher than the customer service expectation, then the customer will be very satisfied; if it is to the contrary, the customer will be very dissatisfied (Joewono and Kubota, 2007). In addition, Fornell et al. (1996) pointed out that the measurement of customer satisfaction can be divided into the overall satisfaction level of a customer on a corporation, the difference between expectation and actual feeling, and the difference between actual feeling and ideal perfect service (product). Combining all of the above-mentioned scholars’ dissertations, customer satisfaction is the result of comparing customer expectation and experience. Therefore, the study will refer to the perspective and measurement dimension of Fornell et al. (1996) as the basis for measuring food retailer satisfaction. Customer loyalty For the service industry, the cost of developing a new customer is at least 5 to 9 times the cost to maintain an old customer. If the customer loyalty can be increased 5% effectively, then 25-85% profit can be increased (Raphel and Raphel, 1995). Therefore, if the service industry wants to reduce the expenditures on money and time cost, it shall focus on maintaining customers, not obtaining new customers (Oliver, 1999). It will bring a long-term or short-term profit by maintaining a long-term relationship with the customer, because maintaining long-term relationship refers to keeping the customer and obtaining his/her loyalty (Ranaweera and Prabhu, 2003). It can be seen that the importance of customer loyalty establishment on the service industry operation cannot be understated. If the food service industry can keep the customer and make him/her a loyal customer, then it will also be able to bring long-term operating efficiency. Dick and Basu (1994) pointed out that customer loyalty can be divided into true loyalty, false loyalty, potential loyalty and no loyalty according to the strength level of the relationship between the personal attitude and repurchase behavior. Schneider and Bowen (1999) pointed out that customer loyalty refers to a customer’s possible repurchase behavior, and willingness to become a member of the service institution. Neal (1999) thinks that customer loyalty is the performance of a consumer still choosing the same product or service after comparing it with other competitor’s products with the premise that the competitive product can be easily purchased, and it will go through the four stages of perceived loyalty, emotional loyalty, intentional loyalty and action loyalty (Oliver, 1999). In the measurement of customer loyalty, Zeithaml et al. 1996) pointed out that the measurement items of customer loyalty in customer behavior intention include: repurchase after the price has increased (price tolerance), priority purchase and recommendation. Fornell et al. (1996) thinks that customer loyalty can be measured by the repurchase will and customer price tolerance. Gronholdt et al. (2000) pointed out that customer loy alty be constructed by the four measurement indexes of the repurchase will, the will of recommending the company or brand to others, price tolerance and cross-purchase will of the customer. Finally, the study mainly refers to the perspectives of Fornell et al. (1996) and Zeithaml et al. (1996) and the service characteristics of the food retailer to summarize the measurement method of customer loyalty in the behavior dimension of the four measurement indexes, which are repurchase will, recommending to others, price tolerance and priority repurchase. Relationship inertia Relationship inertia is a fixed consumption pattern. With all consumption, customers will purchase the same product because of habit, without the need to spend energy or time to think too much during the decision making process (Assael, 1998). The reason for this type of consumer purchasing the same brand or purchasing the same product repeatedly is that they feel comfortable due to not having to make new choices. When purchasing the same brand again, it can save time, and by being familiar with the brand, there will be no sense of difference, and also can reduce the perceived risk (Bloemer and Kasper, 1994). Dick and Basu (1994) pointed out that the false loyalty in customer loyalty has the characteristic of low preference attitude, and high repeat purchase rate, and inertia is a kind of false loyalty performance. In addition, Oliver (1999) pointed out that after the consumer decides to be on the relationship inertia track of action loyalty with a brand, then the previous assessment, trial and elimination in the consumption process can be removed, therefore, relationship inertia is the performance of action loyalty. Colgate and Danaher (2000) proposed that relationship inertia is the basis of human nature. When the customer is used to a specific thing, he/she will not have the motive that is too strong to look for alternatives plans, which means habit is an automatic behavioral tendency responding to a person’s past development (Limayem and Hirt, 2003). In other words, inertia is a specific future behavioral intension a person usually does and also Cheng et al. 5121 shows, which allows the current behavior to continue. Therefore people will continue and repeatedly do things in the way they are used to. Inertia is guided by rapid, easy, and the least attention grabbing perceived process, and can be a parallel processed with other activities, which does not have further thought or rational analysis on their behavior, and is just based on the habit (Ouellette and Wood, 1998; Gefen, 2003). After combining the aforementioned perspectives and the characteristics of food retail, the study defines the relationship inertia of the fast food industry customer as: customers often form a dependent and characteristic relationship with a specific food or service quality with their own habit factor. They will not have a motive that is too strong to look for alternative food service. Gremler (1995) defined relationship inertia as the inertial behavior during repeat purchase of consumers avoiding decision making and having high-repeatable visits. Therefore, â€Å"If there are no other reasons, the original store service will still be chosen†, â€Å"Unless I’m not satisfied, the original store service will still be chosen†, and â€Å"It is most unlikely for me to shop in the store† are used to measure relationship inertia. Carrasco et al. (2005) applied Panel data to view whether the customers’ consumption behavior has inertia, and found that indeed there is inertia behavior for consumers in the food and service consumption. From the abovementioned studies, the study refers to the perspectives of many scholars (Gremler, 1995; Gefen, 2003; Carrasco et al. , 2005) and combines them with the consumer characteristics of the fast food industry, and derived five items to measure the customer relationship inertia of the fast food industry. The items are respectively the fast food store visit inertia, familiarity, impression, will of continuous selection and will of enjoying to consume in this store. characteristics. It can be known from the abovementioned scholars’ perspectives that past frequency is often applied in measuring customer behavior intention, and to further understand consumer future behavior intention. With the frequency exploration of the abovementioned scholars, the study will apply the store consumption frequency at a specific time to measure the food consumption frequency. Perceived price Since the operating environment of the service industry changes rapidly, service industry suppliers often apply the method of reducing service quality to correspond to the dilemma of little profit, which therefore results in the lose-lose predicament of consumers and suppliers. From the consumer perspective, price is the amount which needs to be paid for the consumer to obtain the product (Hawkins et al. , 1983), or the price that the consumer must give up or sacrifice to obtain a product (Zeithaml, 1998).

English – Courage

It might be said: Courage No one is born with courage, but rather born with the potential to be courageous. Courage is not always an act of great bravery, but can also be expressed in the most average day to day actions. But when death is staring into your eyes, only a handful of people can persevere through the hardships and challenges using the courage in their hearts. Courage is being scared to death†¦ and saddling up anyway.Many composers portray courage in the presence of death, danger and fear and show that to be able to go beyond the boundaries of death, danger and fear one must show the courage to stare into the eyes of death itself. Roberto Benigni in his film ‘Life is Beautiful' (1997), Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poem ‘Charge of the Light Brigade' (1854) and Andrew Stanton's ‘Finding Nemo' (2003) all contain characters who display tremendous amount of courage and be able to stand up against life risking situations.In these texts, composers have i mplemented techniques to show that courage is fumed by the feelings of determination, love and to save a life. To be able to act upon a life risking situations one must show determination. Roberto Benigni's film, ‘Life is Beautiful' is ‘jam-packed' with characters that show extremely courageous characteristics who are ambitious and make a genuine attempt to maintain them. The character Dora displays the feelings of determination as she attempts to unite with her family, as her son, husband and uncle are forced on a train which is transferring them to a concentration camp.Dora understanding that this train will lead to unavoidable danger is the courage that was displayed. Dora asks the officer courteously to get on the train, when she is rejected her tone and facial expressions suddenly change into a more serious state when she demands, â€Å"I want to get on that train. Did you hear me? I want to get on that train! † It is evident through this speech that Dora is determined to stay with her family, because she believes her family is undoubtedly worth risking her life for.In addition to the speech, Dora's outfit is bright red and symbolises her ambition, love and determination. Her beautiful red coat juxtaposes with the situation and environment, as her clothing portrays courage and on the contrary the smoke filled sky and the gloomy colours of the soldiers portray the tragedy the train is headed towards. This scene clearly shows Dora's determination, displaying her courage to act upon a situation leading to unknown dangers. As well as Benigni, Alfred Lord Tennyson also shows the need of determination when being courageous.Tennyson's poem is about soldiers fighting for what they believe in, knowing death can be just around the corner. Similar to Dora, the Light Brigade soldiers must show determination in order to accomplish and reach their goals. The repetition of â€Å"Into the valley of death, Rode the six hundred† symbolises a point of no return, where death is imminent. It also emphasises on the immense need for determination for them to advance into a fearsome clash of swords. â€Å"Volley'd and thunder'd,† the onomatopoeia instills a strong sense of fear into the soldiers and emphasises on the inescapable danger of the situation.The constant verbs and visual imagery allows the reader to feel and see the horrors of the battle allowing them to understand their determination. Both texts depict the necessity of determination to show courage specifically in a wartime period. It is the determination shown by Dora and the soldiers which allows their audiences to truly see the courage displayed when faced against death, danger and fear. It might be said: Determination is not the solitary factor to be courageous. It is also evident that love has a crucial effect on an individual to be courageous.The central figure in ‘Life is Beautiful', Guido, shows an intense amount of courage and it is all done out o f love for his son. When they are at the concentration camp Guido sacrifices many things in order to keep is son happy and nescient of the fact that the situation is ominous. In order to keep his son nescient, Guido, pretends to be a German translator, changing the rules about the camp to be about a game he made up for his son. The strong aggressive tone of the officer is antagonised by Guido's humour and the tense situation was also juxtaposed by the constant close ups ofJoshua's cheerful and bright face. It is this scene were Guido has placed himself in an intense situation which displays the love and courage within him. The officers are shown holding weapons and speaking in an aggressive town but it is also the background knowledge of the situation which allows the audience to understand the immense danger that is present. It is this knowledge of immense danger that portrays Guido's courage – fumed by love for his son – to put himself in a situation where he is gamb ling with his life.Alfred Tennyson's ‘Charge of the Light Brigade' does not only show determination, but also emphasises the love the soldiers hold towards their country. â€Å"Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Their but to do and die,† the repetition of ‘Theirs' shows the soldiers's patriotism because it emphasises the soldiers do it without question, they completely trust their commander's words and will do whatever necessary to bring their country to victory. The love of the soldiers is what shines their courage. Cannon to the right/left/in front,† uses visual imagery to show the intended audience the unavoidable danger that is present, but the soldiers advance forward, marching with courage shining with love for their country. The love Guido and the soldiers have are similar because it is purely acting on their own will, and consecutively for the sake of someone other than themselves. It is evident the soldiers have tremendous courage t o charge into the ‘jaws of Death' and doing so by acting upon the words of their commander – out of love for their country – which they did not question, and only obeyed.The notion that determination and love are needed to be courageous are not the only factors in this concept. It is also evident the ‘want' to save a life plays a significant impact on an individual performing a courageous act. Guido, in the climax of the film, leaves the salvation of his room in order to search for his wife and to save her from the rotting camp. With the constant sounds of explosion and gunshots and with the contextual knowledge of the situation it allows the intended audience to view his courage and his will to save his wife.By only stepping out of the sleeping rooms, Guido had put himself in imminent danger and death can hit him at any time, but Guido courageously pushed forward in order to save his wife's life. Andrew Stanton's ‘Finding Nemo' is about a ‘fish ' father who courageously and desperately travels across the world in search for his son. Marlin and his companion Dory encounter numerous situations where they had placed themselves in a life threatening situation.In order to find where his son is kept captive Marlin must keep a dangerous, aggressive and hungry fish distracted while Dory reads a piece of writing that leads to Nemo. Marlin is in an extremely dangerous position where he has become the bait and from the contextual knowledge of the situation it is evident the courage displayed by Marlin is driven by the feelings of saving his son. The speed of the music and camera shots gradually increase to a higher pace, camera angles change accordingly allowing the intended audience to feel the suspense of the situation.Both composers – Bengini and Stanton – used the camera techniques, and sound to their advantage to create a suspenseful scene and to show how dangerous the situation is. Both protagonists put themselves in extreme danger in order to save a life. This evidently shows the courage driven by the ambition to save a life, even when faced by imminent danger. It might be said: The composers used different techniques and ideas to show the fundamentals of courage in their texts.Through their knowledge and perception of the world they all showed determination, love and saving a life, in different forms. It is evident that courage is being scared to death and still being able to continue, as there is nothing more feared than death itself. The characters and situations discussed in the different texts proved to show that determination, love and saving a life are all a necessity to being courageous against a life threatening situation and hopefully their intended message of courage is clearly depicted to all intended audiences. finished

The HR Professional Map

In 2009 the CIPD conducted a report on what human resource practitioner's did, their roles, and activities. They interviewed practitioner's from a large number of professions across different sectors and the result was the production of the HR professional map, that does not focus on job titles, but instead focused on the skills and behaviours. It is simple, flexible and can be used as a whole or in part. Starting with and including the two core professional areas, it consists of ten professional areas, eight behaviours and four competency bands.â€Å"It describes what you need to know and what you need to do, within each professional area at four bands of professional competence†. There are eight behaviours that need to be displayed by HR professionals; these are, collaborative, driven to deliver, courage to challenge, role model, curious, decisive thinker, skilled influencer and personally credible. These behaviours are displayed in each of the professional areas. There are four bands of competence that define the contribution of professionals at each stage of their career, it details the relationship with client, service to client ,focus of activity and where time is spent.It also details measures of success and contribution and the relative skill balance between behaviours and technical ability. The two core professional areas that relate to all HR professionals, at all career levels and job roles, these are; Insight, strategy and solutions. There are five activity areas, building a picture, developing actionable insight, delivering situational HR solutions that stick and building capacity and capability that detail tasks that you are required to perform in each capability band. There are also four areas of knowledge.Business, contextual and organisational knowledge and HR professional knowledge. Leading HR, service delivery and information. There are six activity areas, along with tasks performed at each band level, theses are Personal leadership,Le ading others, Leading Issues:HR function design and service delivery,HR resource planning and development, delivering value and performance in HR teams and managing HR budgets and finances. The knowledge areas for this core professional area are Leadership, HR service delivery models, Commissioning services and Resource, Performance and Financial management.Employee relations is one of the remaining eight professional areas, an Employee relations professional is required to display knowledge of a strong understanding of employment law, or can access relevant,current and planned changes to laws relevant to the organisation. There is also a requirement to identify and act to mitigate risk to the organisation, have the knowledge of employee relations risks, and is able to coach managers to resolve issues, they will also know how to analyse, collate and feedback on communications and messages heard.Activities completed by an Employee relations practitioner are grouped under the headings , Employee relations strategy, policy and practice. Policy, advice and guidance. Complex casework. Collective negotiation and consultation and Health and well being. When an Employee relations Practitioner is displaying competences in band two they will be reactive in most activities, issue lead dealing with current or near term issues. Behaviours that I consider to be displayed by an Employee relations Practitioner are being a decisive thinker, driven to deliver, courage to challenge, personally credible and a role model.The activities I consider to be relevant to an ER advisor in the organisation I worked in are to develop comprehensive guidance to managers on ER issues, give accurate and appropriate advice , training and support managers. Work closely with managers, instructing them on their role and required actions, keeping appropriate records and represent the organisation at external tribunals. The skill balance between technical ability and behaviours displayed should be 50: 50 and a measure of success would be for issues/ problems satisfactory resolved and repeat business.

Alcohol Promotion and the Marketing Industry

Julie A. Novak International MBA Student York University Prepared for The Association to Reduce Alcohol Promotion in Ontario September 2004 Working to Reduce the Impact of Alcohol Advertising Acknowledgements ARAPO wishes to acknowledge the effort and contributions of the following individuals to this paper: Tom Appleyard, Alcohol Projects Manager, Ontario Public Health Association Ben Rempel, Alcohol Projects Consultant, Ontario Public Health Association Pat Sanagan, Co-Chair, Association to Reduce Alcohol Promotion in OntarioJulie A. Novak is an International MBA student, studying through the Schulich School of Business at York University in Ontario. Julie has also completed her Master’s Degree in Political Science at the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Victoria. She has held positions in Public Policy in such places as Moldova and Geneva.This paper examines current marketing trends in the alcoholic beverages industry that can i mpact the public’s health and safety. It is important for public health organizations to be aware of trends common to the industry; this will inform and bolster their efforts as watchdogs to manufacturers and retailers of alcohol.The analysis describes the critical elements of the marketing mix, and makes a clear distinction between advertising and marketing. Advertising is an important part of the marketing mix; however, there are several other tactics and tools employed by marketers in the industry to influence consumer behaviour and to build strong brands. The paper reviews current trends in the alcoholic beverages industry generally, drawing specifically on some examples from the global beer industry.In the fight to increase market share, marketers will alter their marketing strategies in response to industry trends, seeking synergies that may exist between sponsorship and promotion. The paper also discusses the use of bottle labels for marketing alcohol products as an ex ample of the overlap of product and promotion. This leads into a discussion of the relationship between advertising and packaging and how they are used to encourage selection of certain brands over others. Advertising trends, such as sexually explicit content and low-carb and health conscious media messages are also addressed.These are variables in the marketing mix. The last section discusses the current guidelines concerning marketing and promotions and the position taken by various public health groups such as ARAPO (Association to Reduce Alcohol Promotion in Ontario) in response to the current trends and tactics used in alcohol marketing and promotion with specific attention to recommendations to regulators. 1 1. 0 INTRODUCTION The Canadian alcoholic beverages industry includes brewers, wine producers and distilled spirits manufacturers. Molson Inc. s the oldest beer brand in the Canadian brewing industry and a global brand name with products that include Molson Canadian, Molson Export, Molson DRY, Rickard's, and Brazilian beer brands Kaiser and Bavaria. Total net sales for Molson in 2004 – year ending March 31 – were $2. 5 billion. This amounted to annual profits of $2. 37 million1. Another Canadian favourite is John Labatt Ltd. , which is owned by the Belgium-based company Interbrew. The second largest brewer by volume worldwide, Interbrew owns a portfolio consisting of, among others, Stella Artois, Carling, and the popular Labatt line of beers.In 2003, Interbrew recorded a gross profit of â‚ ¬3. 6 billion, which resulted in a net profit of â‚ ¬505 million, after spending an incredible â‚ ¬1. 3 billion on sales and marketing2. The other three major players are Sleeman Breweries, Big Rock Brewing Income Trust, and the Brick Brewing Co. Sleeman, a specialty brewed premium craft beer, recorded annual sales of $1. 85 million in 20033. Big Rock Brewing Income Trust recorded net sales of $28 million in 20034. The Brick Brewing Co. , resp onsible for Formosa and Red Cap brands among others, recorded gross sales of $11. million for the second quarter of 2004. This resulted in a record net income of $832,000 over a three-month period5. The Association of Canadian Distillers is the national trade association representing Canada's major distillers. The distilling industry has been estimated to generate $2. 6 billion worth of economic activity. Distillers include, among others: Bacardi Canada Inc. ; Canadian Mist Distillers, Ltd. ; Hiram Walker & Sons, Ltd. ; Corby Distilleries, Ltd. ; Diageo Canada, Inc. ; and Schenley Distilleries Inc.These distillers produce popular spirits including Brandy, Gin, Cognac, Vodka, Rum, and the ever-popular Canadian Whiskey, Canada’s most established domestic and exported distilled spirit. Since 1840, there have been over 200 whiskey distilleries operating throughout the country, as Canada has gained recognition as a producer of high quality whiskey. This reputation has resulted in billions of recorded sales for the Spirits industry. For example, Diageo recorded sales of US$ 15. 6 billion in 2003. Domestic and imported spirits sales for 2003 were recorded at nearly 15 million cases (12 – 750 ml. ottles)6. The Canadian Vintners Association is Canada’s national association of vintners, representing 34 wineries and producing about 90% of Canada’s total wine production and export. Winery members include, among others, Jackson-Triggs, Peller Estate, and Hillebrand Estates. Total Canadian wine sales for 2002, was 267 million litres7. Molson Annual Report (2004). Interbrew Annual Report (2003). 3 Globe Investor (2004). 4 Big Rock Brewing Annual Report (2003). 5 Just-drinks. com (2004). 6 Association of Canadian Distillers (2004). 7 Canadian Vintners Association (2004). 1 2 1. 1 Marketing – A Definition The difference between marketing and selling is more than semantic. Selling focuses on the needs of the seller; marketing on the needs of t he buyer8. According to the Business Knowledge Center, â€Å"the Marketing Concept is the philosophy that firms should analyze the needs of their customers and then make decisions to satisfy those needs better than the competition. †9 Additionally, despite misconceptions, marketing is not always advertising. In fact, advertising comprises only a small part of the overall marketing mix.The variables of the marketing mix will manifest in unique ways depending on industry characteristics as they are heavily influenced by local and global industry trends. 1. 2 Building Brand Community Building brand loyalty is key to the success of the marketing concept. Developing and exploiting crucial relationships among the customer and the brand, the customer and the firm, the customer and the product in use, and among fellow customers10 is a strategy that leads to a belief that the buyer is part of a specific brand’s â€Å"community†.These relationships are important because t hey enable marketers to create brand loyalty and customer retention, which yield the promise of long-term profitability and market share11. Like a social community, the brand community tends to be identified on the basis of commonality or identification among its members12. The brand community members identify through devotion to particular brands or consumption activities, which are connected to other symbols in the marketplace13.For example, a product that is endorsed by a popular celebrity or professional athlete will appeal to certain brand communities or target markets, but not all. Responses to marketing influences may be cognitive, emotional or material in nature and, ultimately, customers will value their relationships with their branded possessions and with marketing agents14. The basis for community identification can be on wide-ranging commonalities that are difficult to detect. The stability of a brand community through time is an asset to marketers inasmuch as longevity equates with a stable market.Additionally, if marketers are able to successfully identify where a potential brand community exists, they can use it to bolster their marketing efforts and build brand loyalty. Furthermore, marketers will tailor their strategies such that they resonate with particular existing communities. If used effectively, this knowledge can be a powerful tool for marketers, as they will have greater insight into some of the motivations behind consumer behaviour. 1. 3 Global Alcoholic Beverage Perspective It is impossible to discuss the Canadian alcoholic beverages market without considering the global perspective.In particular, the global beer industry is facing increasing pressures 8 Levitt (1986). Business Knowledge Center (2004). 10 McAlexander et al. (2002). 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 9 3 of internationalization and consolidation, which are both the result and the cause of industry-wide mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and strategic alliances. Fac ing low prospects for volume growth in mature, developed markets and increasing competition, brewers continue to seek growth through acquisitions of other brewers or by aggressive participation in developing markets15.Indeed, the top ten brewers worldwide now account for more than half of the entire world’s beer, which is an industry first16. Given the lack of volume growth opportunities in the North American market, the industry trend of increased marketing and advertising spending continues as companies try to differentiate their brands in a highly saturated market. Not only is the market saturated, but the marketing media are cluttered. In order to achieve standout in a cluttered industry, breweries continue to develop creative ideas that generate excitement around their brands.Smaller breweries, in particular, try to increase brand recognition through provocative or racy ad campaigns since they cannot hope to compete on the same scale as their larger competitors with resp ect to the total amounts spent on marketing and advertising. 1. 4 The Marketing Mix It is important to understand all of the variables that comprise the marketing mix, or the 4Ps of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The 4Ps are the variables that marketers can control in order to best satisfy the customers in the target market17.First, the product is the physical product or the service offered to the consumer, which can include additional services or conveniences that are part of the offering. Marketers can adjust certain product characteristics such as the functionality, appearance, packaging, brand, quality and service. The second variable, price, reflects company considerations such as profit margin and competitor pricing, including discounts. Third, place refers to the decisions associated with channels of distribution that act as a means of reaching the target consumers.This includes the channel members along the supply chain, market coverage and the various servi ce levels. Finally, promotion decisions are all those that relate to communicating and selling the product to potential customers. These may include advertising, personal selling, media, public relations and budget. Thus, marketing is a multi-dimensional function that yields a variety of effects. In the alcoholic beverages industry, a mature and highly competitive market, companies experiment with their marketing strategies regularly.The focus of this paper is primarily on promotion and product and, specifically, how these two variables are manipulated in tandem by marketers to create powerful marketing strategies. 15 16 Todd (2004). Ibid. 17 McCarthy (1975). 4 1. 5 The Impact of Advertising on Consumption and Related Problems Alcohol advertisers use effective advertising techniques to reach the youth market. Such techniques link alcohol to physical attractiveness and sexiness, promote age identification through the use of spokespeople, and use humour, music and popular culture icon s18.In 2002, $160 million was spent on alcohol advertising in Canada19 and alcohol appears in approximately two thirds of all programs watched by Canadian teens at an average rate of 8. 1 drinking references per hour20. The consequences of alcohol advertising on public health and safety are considerable. Alcohol use plays a substantial role in all three leading causes of death among youth – unintentional injuries (including motor vehicle fatalities and drowning), suicides and homicides21.Alcohol advertising is linked to patterns of heavy drinking, drinking in dangerous situations and deaths from alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes22. In one study, the chances of drinking alcohol rose by nearly 10% for teens who watched an extra hour of regular television programming per day23. 2. 0 CURRENT MARKETING TRENDS 2. 1 Synergies Between Promotion and Sponsorship Currently, a dominant trend in the alcohol industry is a link between promotion and sponsorship. Companies are attempting to capitalize on the ynergy that exists in this area as they move deeper into the global arena to achieve a greater return on their marketing expenditures. The term synergies denote opportunities for collaboration in which the result that can be achieved is greater than the sum of the individual efforts. An example is the positive spillover of media exposure that results when a brand becomes the official sponsor of an international sporting event, especially one with wide television coverage. In effect, this amounts to a cost-effective marketing campaign for the sponsoring company, assuming the outcome is consistent with the overall brand identity.Another factor contributing to the drive for synergies is the seasonality of this industry. Manufacturers prepare for the summer beverage-selling season by ramping up production, increasing their marketing and seeking sponsorship deals, which act as promotional vehicles for new launches and summer products. Sponsorship agreements with int ernationally recognized sporting events help to enable a brand to stand out among the clutter. McKenzie (2000). AC Neilson (2004). 20 Robinson et al. (1998). 21 AMA (2003). 22 McKenzie (2000). 23 Robinson et al. (1998). 19 18 2. 1. 1 Sports Sponsorships Alcohol manufactures are increasingly seeking contracts for official sponsorship of highprofile sporting events as they realize the opportunities for synergies between promotion and advertising. The Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, produced by Advertising Standards Canada states: â€Å"products prohibited from sale to minors must not be advertised in such a way as to appeal particularly to persons under legal age. [And] people featured in advertisements for such products must be, and clearly seen to be, adults under the law24. High profile sports sponsorships with a heavy advertising component risk being in violation of this regulation. Two of the major international sporting events in Canada, the Roger’s Cup in Montre al and the Tennis Master’s Series in Toronto are sponsored by breweries. Sleeman is the official sponsor of Tennis Canada in Montreal; Heineken, which is part of the Molson portfolio of brands, is the sponsor in Toronto. The situation in Canada reflects a global trend. In late 2003, Heineken signed a deal with the British Olympic Association (BOA) for exclusive sponsorship rights.The deal is part of a â‚ ¬50 million global investment by the brewer25, giving the company exclusive rights to the BOA logo. Sponsorship deals are considered an opportunity for alcohol manufacturers to establish global brand recognition in a competitive industry. With huge budgets behind sponsorship deals, and the wide international exposure that results, it is very difficult for watchdogs to monitor the visibility of alcohol brands. The clientele and audiences at sporting events such as the Olympics are of all ages, youth included.Therefore, limiting exposure of beer ads only to legal age consume rs is nearly an impossible undertaking. In April of 2004, NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) in the US was strongly considering changing its policy to allow hard-liquor brands to sponsor teams in its top tier Nextel Cup Series26. Though such a move could alleviate sponsorship problems for some drivers, it could threaten NASCAR’s desire to become more family friendly. With this in mind, NASCAR rejected Diageo’s bid to become official sponsor.This move did not prevent Diageo from landing a sponsorship deal: the company secured a top sponsorship contract for its brand Crown Royal. Crown Royal was signed to be the title sponsor of the International Race of Champions (IROC), one of the NASCAR events. This marked the first time a hard-liquor marketer was allowed a title sponsorship for any sport, although Diageo’s Smirnoff Ice Triple Black brand has sponsored individual drivers. However, when Diageo's Crown Royal brand signed on as the title spons or for the IROC series in January, NASCAR reiterated its ban on sponsorships from hard liquor and chewing tobacco companies.NASCAR has a long history of partnering with beer marketers for races, but accepting hard-liquor brands would be a complete reversal of NASCAR’s position. Such changes in sports sponsorship have vast implications for industry players, marketers and public health groups. In the case of Diageo, the sponsorship deal is one step toward 24 25 Advertising Standards Canada (2004). Anonymous (a) (2003). 26 Thomaselli (2004). p. 1 6 the achievement of the company’s long-term goal of leveling the marketing playing field with beer. 7 As an example, with the three-year deal, Crown Royal will have extensive television exposure, since IROC just sealed a one-year TV pact with Speed Channel, a cable subsidiary of News Corp. ‘s Fox28. Such exposure is difficult to track and, thus, even more difficult to regulate. Although spirits have so far been prohibited from becoming sponsors, hard-liquor companies can, and have, used their malt beverage products or RTD (Ready to Drink) products29 as sponsors. Diageo's Smirnoff Ice, for instance, is one of the sponsors of driver Matt Kenseth, last year's NASCAR champion. . 1. 2 Promotion and the Entertainment Industry Another advertising tactic used by liquor companies is cross-promotion with the entertainment industry. This could include joint promotional campaigns between film studios and alcohol brands or between liquor companies and music tours and concerts. An example is the recent collaboration between Adolph Coors Co and Miramax’s â€Å"Scary Movie 3†, which was released at the end of 2003. Coors not only advertised around the promotion of this film, but it also had its spokeswomen, the Klimaskewski twins, appear in the film itself30.This technique is another way for companies to realize synergies in marketing and promotion, as there exists the potential to reach a broader audi ence than could be reached through a simple television commercial or magazine ad. In this case, Coors was attacked by the Marin Institute – a public health and safety group – for its involvement in the film promotion. The Marin Institute accused Coors of defying the alcohol industry’s guidelines by promoting its connection to this film31. Given the PG-13 rating of the film, there was no way of ensuring that under-age viewers were not exposed to the ads.In the music industry, there are many examples of activities involving cross-promotional campaigns with alcohol companies. These campaigns are used to achieve synergies from the combined effect of promotion and advertising. Molson Canadian uses this technique regularly, teaming up with Napster to provide music downloads and other special music offers. The company launched a campaign contest that involved the giveaway of a â€Å"Molson Canadian Rocks Summer Soundtrack, as well as weekly chances to win concert tick ets†32.Trends in promotion and sponsorship in the alcohol industry are of concern to public health groups because they have the ability to reach a wide audience, with little or no regulation. Other forms of promotion and sponsorship exist, however a description of each is beyond the scope of this paper. 27 MacArthur (2004). Ibid. 29 RTD: Ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, such as Smirnoff Ice and Mike’s Hard Lemonade. 30 MacArthur (2003). 31 Ibid. 32 Molson Insider (2004). 28 7 3. 0 ALCOHOL MARKETING AND THE INTERNET Alcohol companies are using digital marketing as a medium.The Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) in the US found that alcohol company websites have sizeable youth audiences and contain content that is attractive to youth33. In particular, games, cartoons, music and a variety of high-tech downloads fill many of these sites. In addition, programs designed to allow parents to block their children’s access to these sites often fail to do so34 . In fact, fifty-five alcohol websites tracked by comScore Media Metrix during the last six months of 2003 had almost 700,000 in-depth visits from underage persons35.Alcohol websites continue to be a cyber playground, with many features attractive to youth36. CAMY executive director Jim O’Hara identifies content such as customized music downloads, instant-messaging accessories and games including putt-putt golf, football and spin the bottle37. A recent website probe done by the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Division of Advertising Practices in the US found that both Coors and Anheuser-Busch have sites with downloadable music, online games and ring tones38.In fact, as teens start to log more hours surfing the Web than watching television, CAMY and other groups are calling for more regulation on the largely unregulated medium. Jim Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, asserts, â€Å"The industry should remo ve themes, music, language and attractions that clearly appeal to underage people. †39 A key issue for health and safety groups is the ease of foiling the age requirement for viewing beer company websites.An age bar is supposed to weed out youngsters who find the sites attractive, but the investigation discovered that online forms can inadvertently â€Å"tip† kids to fill in fake answers. The trade journal Brandweek visited two websites, Coorslight. com and Budweiser. com and was able to enter several fake birth dates from the same computer, gaining access each time40. When questioned, John Kaestner, VPconsumer affairs at Anheuser-Busch, said the brewer had followed federal guidelines in its age-check system. Other websites attracting attention from the FTC are Bacardi. om, Skyy. com and the Anheuser-Busch site BudLight. com, according to a study by CAMY 41. The claim is that these sites had the highest percentage of underage people making an in-depth visit during the s econd half of 2003. The findings, which were released in March 2004, showed that 59 percent, 47 percent and 34 percent of visitors who looked at three or more pages on those previously mentioned sites were underage42. Overall, minors initiated 13. 1 percent of in-depth visits to the 55 branded alcohol sites included in the study. 33Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth (2004). Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 Mack (2004). 37 Ibid. 38 Edwards (2004). 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 34 8 This trend is especially worrying for public health and policy groups since the Internet knows no boundaries, and its content is therefore very difficult to regulate. Alcohol advertising on the web and music downloads have the power to reach all Internet users around the world, of any age. 4. 0 -THE ROLE OF LABELING AND PACKAGING IN ALCOHOL MARKETING The alcohol industry relies heavily on the use of labeling and packaging as a irectmarketing tool in the promotion and differentiation of its products. One of the obstacles facing design marketers is that while standout is paramount, they are all starting with the same structure: a simple bottle or can43. Since it is not possible to have a vastly different pack, companies differentiate themselves with creative labels or packaging. Marketers in the alcohol industry aim to create synergies among label designs, packaging and advertising, such that the overall brand image more quickly achieves wide recognition.The intended result of this coordination is a more effective and integrated means for alcohol companies to communicate with their consumer base, thus encouraging the selection of their product over another. If the product already has a strong brand identity, it is not critical to feature the pack in the ads. In this case, the advertising may be used to communicate other elements of the brand message to create the desired reputation and image with the target audience44. On the other hand, including a shot of the bottle in ads will enhance br and awareness at point of sale and ensure a more integrated approach to branding45.Approximately 60 percent of people in bars and pubs have not decided what drink they want until after they get there46. This is an enormous opportunity for brands to reach their target markets directly at the retail level with eye-catching labels that resonate with consumers. Product labels are the final point of brand contact between the company and its customers before the purchase is made. Thus, a brand’s name and how it is shown on the label can be an effective way of generating sales. The main challenge is finding a way to differentiate a standardized product while developing a strong, consistent brand identity.This is an example of the interaction of product and promotion, two elements of the marketing mix. Some of the methods used in the ready-to-drink and premium beer sectors, for example, include shrink-wrapping, bright colours and innovations such as metallic-effect labels47. In addit ion to a unique label, a catchy name, such as Smirnoff Ice or Mike’s Light will add symbolism and help increase standout and attract consumers. Brand awareness is critical for alcohol companies, and developing a strong brand is especially vital for new brands.The rationale for coordination between promotion and product is that young people, and other potential consumers, will see the campaign in Edwards (2004). Brabbs (2002). 45 Ibid. 46 Ibid. 47 Ibid. 44 43 9 cinemas and style magazines and more easily recognize it from other advertising media 48 . An additional reason to invest in labeling and packaging is flexibility. A shrink-wrap sleeve can be changed frequently, allowing the brand to adapt its appearance more easily to changing styles and trends.Unusual colours or unique label designs can help encourage selection of one product over another at the retail level. The techniques used by marketers are very subtle, such as borrowing design language from parallel markets for encouraging cross purchasing such as â€Å"Atkins friendly†, â€Å"light† or â€Å"low-carb. † Finally, if a particular brand is experiencing low or declining sales, a company can easily reposition it by superficially altering the image and, hence, reinventing a product to reach a new market. 5. 0 TRENDS IN ADVERTISING TECHNIQUESCertain techniques are used by advertisers to attract and engage consumers to their products. These have traditionally included such techniques as humour, sex appeal, popular music, describing benefits of the product, and creating a fun, enjoyable atmosphere. These techniques are used very effectively by alcohol advertisers as well, as they create a high ‘liking’ of advertisements among consumers49. High levels of effective alcohol promotion inculcate pro-drinking attitudes and increase the likelihood of heavier drinking50.For these reasons, the irresponsible use of advertising techniques is a growing concern among health an d safety advocates. 5. 1 Sexually Explicit Content The alcoholic beverages industry has long been accused of exploiting male sexual fantasies in order to advertise its products. However, this approach has recently, in some opinions, reached new levels of exploitation. Early in 2004, Labatt Breweries of Canada aired an ad during the January Super Bowl telecast that caused industry watchdogs to protest.The ad featured two beautiful women kissing, ostensibly to share lip-gloss51. Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) received 113 complaints about this ad in the first quarter and it was soon taken off the air52. The ASC reported that there was nothing wrong with the ad, other than it should run after 9:30pm. This ad is representative of the ‘simulated lesbianism’ trend in beer advertising, clearly a ploy to reach the male heterosexual audience. Labatt is not the only brewery to take this approach.During the same time period, Moosehead Light of New Brunswick launched a series o f ads called â€Å"Enjoy the Nature. † In one of the ads, two men look on and crack open beer cans as two beautiful women dance sensually together in the forest. Ibid. Grube (1996). 50 Babor et al. (2003). 51 Brent (2004). 52 Ibid. 49 48 10 5. 2 Low-Carb Phenomenon & Health Benefits Alcohol marketers must understand the psycho-behavioural forces influencing choice in order to devise effective marketing strategies. These forces are not easily identifiable in any industry.The beer and alcohol industry is not an exception and alcohol marketers have been slow to discern which factors most significantly influence brand selection. Although the sexual angle remains very common in alcohol promotion, the industry seems to be shifting gears. Instead of trying to titillate men by invoking male fantasies, marketers are now instilling fear in them about getting fat. In a feature article the Financial Times reported that beer marketers in the US have made an intriguing psychosexual discove ry about male insecurity53.The argument advanced is that men are increasingly more concerned with what they look like than how they will perform in the bedroom. Beer brands such as Anheuser-Busch’s Michelob Ultra, Coors Light and SABMiller’s Miller Lite are focusing their advertising on the millions of Americans on low-carbohydrate diets, which they have realized does not include only women. By contrast, marketing campaigns linking beers to explicitly sexual imagery have been less effective54. The implication for public health groups is that efforts aimed at regulating sexual content should be reexamined.It is possible that a greater impact could be achieved through aggressive targeting of ads that portray a health or nutritive benefit of alcohol consumption. As an example, Coors, the third-largest US brewer55, recently developed new ideas for its low-calorie Coors Light. The two-year campaign featuring scantily clad women and rock music was unsuccessful in increasing beer sales for the company. Beer companies are slowly discovering that sexual appeals are fun and diverting but they rarely change consumers’ brand preferences. The idea that â€Å"light beer† is less macho and thus less likely to appeal to young men is fading.In fact, it is difficult to think of a major beer company that has not introduced a low-carb brand. The success, in general, of low-carb offerings is evident in food store data compiled by AC Neilsen. In the four weeks ending June 12, 2004, sales volumes were up 56 percent for Michelob Ultra and 15. 6 percent for Miller Lite56. For Coors Lite, which has been slower to alter its marketing campaign, sales volumes were down 2. 7 percent57. Major breweries are responding to evolving consumer demands and are providing what could be the emergence of a new sub-category of beer58.As more companies enter the low-carb market, the competition increases for market share. This translates into bigger marketing and advertising budgets as companies fight for a larger slice of the market. The latest focus on a more health-conscious lifestyle has shifted the marketing emphasis away from sensuality and sex to body image and achieving athletic success. Some 53 54 Silverman (2004). Ibid. 55 Coors merged with Molson in July 2004. The new company is the 5th largest Brewery by market share worldwide. 56 AC Neilson (2004). 57 Ibid. 8 Brieger (2003). 11 industry experts expect this trend to stick around if not because of Atkins devotees but because of aging baby boomers, who tend to prefer light and low-carb beers59. The way forward in the alcoholic beverages industry will be through low-carb advertising, which can be seen as a serious response by the beer industry to a common male anxiety about growing fat, the proliferation of a healthy lifestyle among consumers, and the widespread belief of certain health benefits in drinking a low-calorie, low-carbohydrate beverage60.The low-carb trend is not exclusive to the be er industry. In May of 2004, the Vancouverbased Marc Anthony Group launched a new vodka-based beverage called Mike’s Light, which was targeted at the millions of Canadians on low-carb diets. The lemon-lime beverage, which is part of the ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic market, contains just one gram of carbohydrate and 76 calories and is expected to bring new drinkers into the market61. Already, the RTD market in Canada is estimated to be worth $450 million per year in sales.Additionally, with its low- calorie and low-carb options, the RTD market has the potential to increase consumption of alcoholic beverages as consumers switch from light soft drinks to lighter malternatives62. Marketers in this industry are deliberate in promoting RTD products as alternatives for the health and weight-conscious consumer. It is misleading for brewers to promote low-carb beer as being â€Å"Atkins friendly† or as having overall health benefits and doing so goes against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s 2003 Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising. Under these guidelines, lowcarbohydrate claims are not approved.Similarly, according to Advertising Standards Canada, â€Å"No advertisement shall be presented in a format or style which conceals its commercial intent†63. This pertains to misrepresenting beer as having health or athletic benefits. The low-carb claim is of concern to public health groups such as ARAPO because it is both misleading to consumers and has the potential to influence consumer behaviour. 6. 0 ACTIONS TO ADDRESS CONCERNS ABOUT THE MARKETING OF ALCOHOL There have been several responses to concerns about the impact of alcohol marketing ranging from education and awareness to legal action and civil suits.Internationally, there are groups that advocate changes in alcohol marketing regulations as well as educate professionals and the public about the risks associated with a proliferation of alcohol marketing efforts. These include: G lobal Alcohol Policy Alliance (UK): www. ias. org. uk Eurocare – Advocacy for the prevention of alcohol related harm in Europe (Europe): www. eurocare. org Center for Science in the Public Interest – Alcohol Policies Project (US): www. cspinet. org Ibid. Business World (2004). 61 Bellet (2004). 62 The market or ready to drink alcoholic beverages is called the malternative market in the US. 63 Advertising Standards Canada (2004). 60 59 12 BeerSoaksAmerica. org – A Response to beer company propaganda (US): www. beersoaksamerica. org The Marin Institute (US): www. marininstitute. org Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth (US): www. camy. org In Canada, there are guidelines for advertisers that outline what are considered appropriate tactics for marketing products. These guidelines can be found on the Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) website (www. adstandards. om) for all forms of advertising or on the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) websi te (www. crtc. gc. ca) for radio and TV ads. Currently these guidelines are not enforced and rely on a voluntary paid-submission to ASC by the advertiser. Alcohol is one product that seems to have fallen prey to this lack of regulation with many advertisers outright disregarding the guidelines. In Ontario, there are alcohol-advertising guidelines that are overseen by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and can be found at www. gco. on. ca. Before 1997, the CRTC was involved in pre-screening advertisements before they were aired. In 1997, this responsibility was transferred to ASC for national cases, and the AGCO for Ontario specific cases. However, in 1997 the regulations changed to â€Å"guidelines† and preclearance was replaced with â€Å"voluntary submission†. As a result, the responsibility of monitoring alcohol advertising shifted from the CRTC to the general public, as advertisements are now only challenged based on a complaint format.Advertisers, fearing very little in terms of consequences, often disregard the guidelines completely, particularly the following: Alcohol advertising should not: appeal to persons under the legal drinking age associate drinking with activities that require care and skill imply that drinking is required in enhancing enjoyment of any activity imply that drinking is required in obtaining sexual opportunity or appeal64. A study done by CAMY in 2002 found that as the alcohol industry increased its advertising expenditures, more ads were seen by youth.In fact, all 15 of the shows most popular among teenagers included alcohol ads. â€Å"Survivor,† â€Å"Fear Factor† and â€Å"That 70’s Show† were among those with the most ads65. The dramatic increase in youth’s exposure to alcohol brands in magazine and TV advertising suggests that the industry’s guidelines are so permissive that, in practice, they amount to no limits at all. Concerned about the lack of re gulation and increase in alcohol ads – and as a result, increase in consumption – health and safety advocates respond to aggressive marketing with specific strategies, as discussed next. . 1 Awareness, Education and Skill Building The Association to Reduce Alcohol Promotion in Ontario (ARAPO) is funded by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to provide resources and support to individuals and groups about media literacy and critical thinking skills as they apply particularly to 64 65 AGCO (2003). Anonymous (c) (2004). 13 alcohol. Resources include research papers and presentations to youth and health promotion professionals about the impact of alcohol advertising on youth drinking patterns, particularly heavy drinking. 6. 2 Internet ActionThe Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth uses a vivid Internet presence to attract viewers to their site to examine what others are doing around alcohol marketing. Along with a searchable marketing gallery and steps to take act ion, CAMY regularly publishes research papers on Youth and Alcohol. An example of this is a recent paper titled The Internet, Alcohol, and Youth, which looks at the impact of Internet alcohol websites on underage drinkers. It is available through CAMY’s website at www. camy. org. 6. 3 Complaints to Regulators and ResultsWhile ASC does not demand that advertisers clear their ads before going to the public, they do respond to complaints by the public. A recent example of this was the Don Cherry â€Å"Bubba† ad that was pulled following complaints that Don Cherry is seen as a role model for underage youth – and therefore could not be used as a spokesperson for beer. Groups like the Ontario Public Health Association, responding to concerns about the impact of alcohol advertising on the public’s health and safety, have sent recommendations to both the provincial and the federal regulatory bodies. These recommendations include: Continued pre-clearance of al cohol ads, at the final stage of production by federal and provincial bodies with a strong public interest mandate More effective regulation of lifestyle alcohol advertising, promotions and sponsorships Establishing clear guidelines regarding industry-sponsored responsible drinking messages and public education programs, particularly those appealing to, or directed at, young people Capping the total amount of alcohol advertising and introduce improved mechanisms for monitoring compliance with existing or new regulations Focusing on effective deterrence, monitoring and enforcement measures.This would include a stronger role for community groups in the monitoring and enforcement of federal and provincial advertising provisions, including membership in panels previewing and monitoring alcohol advertising66. 6. 4 Class Action Suits Against Alcoholic Beverages Industry Consumers’ attorneys across the U. S. have begun to target the alcoholic beverages industry, filing lawsuits that claim that some leading brewers and distillers are using slick advertising to sell products to underage drinkers67.In November 2003, attorneys led by David Boies III filed suit against brewers Coors and Heineken, distillers Diageo and 66 67 OPHA Position Paper (2003). Willing (2004). 14 Bacardi and the makers of Zima and Mike’s Hard Lemonade68. The suit accused the companies of using a â€Å"long-running, sophisticated and deceptive scheme†¦ to market alcoholic beverages to children and other underage consumers69† Boeis’ lawsuit alleges that alcohol companies place ads in magazines such as Stuff, FHM and Spin that appeal to males under the age of 21, or in Glamour, which is oriented toward females of similar ages70.The suit claims that ads placed in these magazines are designed to push people younger than 21 to obtain alcohol illegally71. The same is true in TV advertising, where many alcohol ads reach young people not old enough to drink. The class-action suits filed against the alcohol industry since November 2003 have caused alarm in the industry because the lawyer behind them is David Boies, who represented the Justice Department in its antitrust action against Microsoft72. The suits claim that booze ads targeted at adults spill over onto younger audiences73.According to another law suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2004, AnheuserBusch and Miller Brewing are targeting minors through ads and developing products that look and taste like soft drinks in order to lure underage consumers to their brands74. The suit claims that beer-makers are marketing alcoholic beverages known as â€Å"Alco pops† to minors. These include Doc Otis’ Hard Lemon Malt Beverage, which is made by AnhesuerBusch, and Miller’s Jack Daniel’s Original Hard Cola. Both of these beverages closely resemble soda pop with sweet flavours, bright colours and youth-oriented packaging. CONCLUSIONThe domestic alcoholic beverages market is considered mature, with limited opportunities for growth. One way for alcohol manufacturers to increase their sales volume is by taking market share away from their competitors; another is to expand the overall size of the market. To achieve these goals, alcohol manufacturers continue to invest substantial resources and capital into their marketing strategies because they believe it is necessary for expanding the market and increasing their margins. It will be important that public health groups focus their research on certain elements in the marketing mix.These include where the product is sold and what are the broad social trends marketers are using to communicate with target markets. This analysis summarizes significant influences in consumer behaviour. 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