Informative Speech Outline- Sleep Apnea

Mikala Stevens Professor Tracie Kriska Public Speaking 6th March 2013 Working Outline Topic: Sleep Apnea General Purpose: to inform Specific Purpose: to inform the audience on Sleep Apnea Thesis: Sleep Apnea is becoming more of a dangerous disease that more people are starting to be diagnosed with. It is extremely important that Sleep Apnea is emphasized so that more people are aware of it. Introduction: â€Å"The National Sleep Foundation† says that a lot of people don’t know what sleep apnea is. Sleep Apnea is a dangerous disease that can lead to death while you’re sleeping. Body: I. There are two types of Sleep Apnea A. Central Sleep Apnea . Unlike OSA, the airway is not blocked, but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe due to instability in the respiratory control center. B. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) 2. The more common of the two forms of apnea, it is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the back of the throat co llapses during sleep. Transition: Sleep Apnea can affect anyone, even children. II. â€Å"The National Sleep Foundation† says that anybody can be affected by this disease. A. Being male B. Being overweight C. Being over 40 D. Having a large neck size (17 inches in men or 16 inches or greater in women) E.Having large tonsils, a large tongue, or a small jaw bone F. Having a family history of sleep apnea G. GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux) H. Nasal obstruction due to a deviated septum, allergies, or sinus problems Transition: Wonder what causes Sleep Apnea? III. In â€Å"The National Institutes of Health† they say, Sleep Apnea is caused when you sleep because your muscles relax which narrows your throat. Normally, this narrowing doesn’t prevent air flowing into and out of your lungs. If you have sleep apnea, your airway can become partially or fully blocked because: A. Your throat muscles and tongue relax more than normal. B.Your tongue and tonsils (tissue masses in the back of your mouth) are large compared with the opening into you windpipe. C. The shape of your head and neck (bony structure) may cause a smaller airway size in the mouth and throat area. D. You’re overweight. The extra soft fat tissue can thicken the wall of the windpipe. This narrows the inside of the windpipe, which makes it harder to keep open. E. The aging process limits your brain signals’ ability to keep your throat muscles stiff during sleep. Thus, airway is more likely to narrow or collapse. Transition: â€Å"National Institute of Health† has Steps on how to treat Sleep Apnea.IV. â€Å"The National Institute of Health† suggests that Sleep Apnea should be treated with lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, breathing devices, and surgery. Goals of treating sleep apnea are to restore regular breathing during sleep and relieve symptoms such as loud snoring and daytime sleepiness. A. Lifestyle Changes 1. Avoid Alcohol and medicines that make you sleepy. 2. Losing weight if you’re overweight or obese. 3. Sleeping on your side instead of your back to help keep your throat open. 4. Keeping your nasal passages open at night with nasal sprays or allergy medicines, if needed. 5. If you smoke, quit.B. Mouthpieces 1. Oral Appliance C. Breathing Devices 1. Cpap Machine D. Surgery Conclusion: Learning that Sleep Apnea is a dangerous disease and more people are being diagnosed with it. I hope that learning more about this disease more people will be more aware of it. Works Cited National Institute of Health http://www. nhlbi. nih. gov/health/health-topics/topics/sleepapnea/ The National Sleep Foundation. National Institutes of Health. Reviewed by Louis R. Chanin, MD on July 30, 2012  © 2012 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved. http://www. webmd. com/sleep-disorders/sleep-apnea/sleep-apnea

Economics IA Commentary †Market Failure Essay

Household energy bills will increase by à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 as the impact of green taxes triples over a decade, new research shows. By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent, Published: 12:01AM BST 17 Aug 2010 The sum the Government levies from energy use will rise to more than à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½16 billion by 2020, a think tank has estimated. Policy Exchange, which has close links to Conservative ministers, calculated that the cost of green taxes, surcharges and other levies on energy will go from à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5.7 billion this year to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½16.3 billion in 2020. In 2020, some à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6.4 billion of the total will come from levies applied to domestic energy consumption. That is up from à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2 billion today. The increase will add à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40 to the average household gas bill and à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8 to an electricity bill, according to data from the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Household energy bills are increased by a number of Government environmental policies, including the Renewables Obligation and other levies applied to energy usage to fund low-carbon power generation. Energy companies also face charges for schemes including the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme, costs which are then passed on to customers. â€Å"Green† levies are meant to increase the price of carbon-emitting energy use, with the aim of funding alternative sources and encouraging consumers to change their behavior. Much of the money raised by such levies does not end up with the Treasury, but â€Å"green taxes† are regarded with suspicion by some consumers, who regard them as a disguised revenue-raising measure. Simon Less, Policy Exchange’s head of environment and energy, said that the various environmental charges should be considered taxes by another name. â€Å"The funding for these policies may come through energy bills, rather than the tax man, but it is a tax, and an increasingly large one paid by individual households and firms. Its scale makes it even more important that this money is used in the most efficient way possible.† Warning about need to gain public support for measures to combat climate change, his report says that â€Å"raising taxation through energy bills, rather than, say, using income tax, is relatively regressive, because the poorest households tend to spend a larger proportion of their income on energy.† Dr Less also said they funds that are supposed to go to renewable energy sources are often spent inefficiently. He said: â€Å"Climate change is a major threat. It needs to be tackled as a priority, and that will be expensive. But the public and industry will not put up with paying such large sums if the money is going to be wasted.† Last week, The Daily Telegraph highlighted the latest â€Å"green† charge to be applied to British businesses, the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which will require big companies to buy â€Å"permits† for their carbon emissions. Thousands of those companies are facing large fines if they fail to register with the new scheme before a deadline next month. The articles discusses that although ‘green taxes’ are applied to fund low-carbon power generation with the ultimate aim of encouraging consumers to tap alternative energy, they will increase the cost of household energy bills by à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 by 2020. Externalities are third party effects arising from production and consumption of goods and services for which no appropriate compensation is paid. Negative externalities occur when such production and/or consumption impose external costs on third parties outside of the market for which no appropriate compensation is paid. Households consuming carbon-emitting energy can be considered to be a negative externality as it affects the rest of society and even a nearby country which is outside the ‘consumption market’. Many a time, the government will impose a tax on those who create negative externalities attempting to correct market failure. The graph shows negative externality of consumption, where MPB (marginal private benefit) is much higher than MSB (marginal social benefit).The consumption of pollution-emitting energy can be represented by the demand curve MSC (marginal social cost) in the diagram. This curve shows the spillover costs on society with each additional unit of consumption. Consumption is at Q1 and not at the optimal, Q* indicating over consumption leading to welfare loss to society. In order to correct this, ‘green taxes’ are being introduced in an effort to bring consumption to the optimal. This would however result in the optimal price to shift from P* to P2, which is relatively higher. Carbon emissions refer to the release of Carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere when fossil fuels like gas, oil, or coal are burnt. In a natural carbon cycle, carbon dioxide is re-absorbed by plants and trees but currently, the burning rate is faster than the absorption rate. Global warming is the direct negative consequence and the government has to invest in new research technologies to avert further crises. In UK, there are a number of governmental environmental policies, like the Renewables Obligation and other ‘green levies’ which are used to fund low-carbon emission energy. According to the article, ‘Green taxes’ would rise threefold, from à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5.7 billion in 2010 to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½16.3 billion in 2020. In the coming years, as world population rises, so will energy consumption, carbon emissions and its negative effects; these taxes will follow suit. In the short run, the tax increases might not be very large and hence would not cause a great decrease in quantity demanded. In the long run however, as the taxes rise to a sizeable amount, then the deterrent action will ensue; consumers will now be discouraged from consuming carbon based energy and shift to alternative sources. However, In reality this is only partially true. The tax will be most effective on households with lower income, as this tax will cover a larger percentage of their income. The tax will not be as effective on wealthy households since it would be just a negligible amount in their budget and they will not think twice before spending on goods that cause negative externalities. Another disadvantage of such a ‘taxation’ method is achieving the right level of taxation so that private cost will exactly equate with the social cost. The government cannot accurately put a monetary value on the private benefits and cost of firms; in fact, a certain financial figure on the value of externalities such as the cost to natural habitat, long-term effects of ozone layer depletion or even that of the human life for that matter, is rather hard to arrive at. All in all, all that the government and other environmental agencies can hope to achieve is the correct direction of movement towards the optimum level of output. A more effective step the government could take is to impose a complete ban on certain forms of energy consumption that produce large quantities of emissions or issue marketable pollution permits. The latter case of Carbon emissions’ trading has been gaining momentum in many countries now and is a central feature in Kyoto Protocol and the European Union Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme which started in full in 2005. This new approach involved the issuance of limited volume of pollution rights which are sold to companies that pollute. The incentive is that if the company pollutes less, then they can sell their excess permits in the secondary market. As the number of permits being issued is carefully reduced year by year, total carbon emission can be curbed efficiently and simultaneously the path towards greener energy alternatives can be also be paved.

Biography of Ataturk

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the founder of the Turkish Republic and its first President. He was born in 1881 to Ali Riza Efendi and Zubeyde Hanim. His father was a militia officer, title deed clerk, and lumber trader. Mustafa Kemal had five siblings, only one of whom survived until 1956 (Biography of Ataturk). Mustafa Kemal lost his father in 1888, at a time when the young boy had been attending school. The boy returned to his birth town, Salonika, to finish his studies after his father’s demise. After his primary education, he joined a secondary school only to be transferred soon to a military institution.Mustafa Kemal attended the Manastir Military School and later the Military School in Istanbul from which he graduated with the rank of lieutenant in the year 1902 (Biography of Ataturk). The young man entered the Military Academy afterwards and graduated with the rank of major in the year 1905. This began Mustafa Kemal’s career as a soldier. Between 1905-1907, the man w as stationed with the 5th Army in Damascus. He was promoted to the rank of senior major in 1907, and was posted in Manastir with the 3rd Army. When the â€Å"Special Troops† entered Istanbul in 1909, Mustafa Kemal was the Staff Officer of the troops (Biography of Ataturk).The man was sent to Paris in 1910 where he attended the Picardie maneuvers. In 1911, Mustafa Kemal returned to Turkey where he began to work at the General Staff Office in Istanbul. He won the Tobruk battle against the Italians in the same year, after which he was made the Commander of Derne. Mustafa Kemal’s rapid progress as a soldier did not stop here, BIOGRAPHY OF ATATURK Page # 2 however.He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1914 during the Balkan War because his contributions to the recapturing of Dimetoka and Edirne were considerable (Biography of Ataturk). When the First World War began with the involvement of the Ottoman Empire, the man was posted to Tekirdag and charged with th e formation of the 19th Division. Then, at Canakkale, Mustafa Kemal won more accolades for heroism. He was promoted to the rank of colonel after a victory he won in the First World War. Mustafa Kemal went on to win more victories against the Allied forces.At one time, he commanded his soldiers thus: â€Å"I am not giving you an order to attack, I am ordering you to die! (Biography of Ataturk)† Mustafa Kemal was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 1916. He returned to Istanbul in 1917 and soon began traveling to Germany with the heir to the throne. To Khalleppo he returned in 1918 as the Commander of the 7th Army. He was successful in his defense wars and soon appointed as the Commander of Yildirim Armies. On 13 November 1918, the man returned again to Istanbul to work at the Ministry of Defense (Biography of Ataturk).Mustafa Kemal went to Samsun as the 9th Army Inspector in 1919 once the Allied forces had begun to take over the Ottoman armies. He called the meeting of the Sivas Congress at this point and also convened the Erzerum Congress to define the path to be followed towards the freedom of Turkey. The initiation of the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1920 was a significant step in this direction. Mustafa Kemal was elected at this time as the head of the National Assembly as well as the head of the Turkish Republic.With this decision, the Grand National Assembly also started putting into effect the legislative measures required for a successful conclusion to the BIOGRAPHY OF ATATURK Page # 3 Turkish Independence War. This war had begun on 15 May 1919 during the Greek occupation of Izmir. Militia forces called Kuva-yi Milliye had begun their fight against the victors of the First World War who had divided up the Ottoman Empire.The war was concluded when the Turkish Assembly achieved integration between the army and the militia. Under the command of Mustafa Kemal, the Turks recaptured Sarikamis, Kars, and Gumru besides attaining other imp ortant victories (Biography of Ataturk). After the conclusion of the Turkish War of Independence, Mustafa Kemal was free to form a new nation on the Turkish soil – now considerably shrunk through the Treaty of Sevres which had partitioned the Turkish Empire. On 29 October 1923, the Turkish Republic was officially proclaimed and Mustafa Kemal was elected as its first President.Ismet Inonu formed the first government of the Republic, and Mustafa Kemal assumed his position of principle leadership with the twin principles of the Turkish Republic: â€Å"Sovereignty unconditionally belongs to the nation† and â€Å"peace at home, peace in the world† (Biography of Ataturk). The man undertook a series of reforms at this point in order to modernize Turkey. He was elected as the Speaker of the Grand Assembly in 1920 and again in 1923. Moreover, in recognition of his efforts, the Turkish National Assembly conferred upon him the surname, â€Å"Ataturk† or the Father T urk and Ancestor Turk on 24 November 1934 (Mango).Ataturk died on 10 November 1938, finally defeated by a liver ailment (Biography of Ataturk). BIOGRAPHY OF ATATURK Page # 4 Works Cited 1. Biography of Ataturk (2007). Retrieved from www. ataturk. com. (27 February 2007). 2. Mango, Andrew. Ataturk: The Biography of the founder of Modern Turkey. New York: John Murray, 2004.

Gay marriage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Gay marriage - Research Paper Example In order to comprehend the various issues concerning the debate, it is important to analyze the evolution of the social movement for same-sex marriage in the U.S. and the political and religious controversies surrounding it. Whereas there have been several supporters for the same-sex marriage who argue that the individual should be given freedom to practice same-sex marriage and parenting, the social, religious and secular scholars dealing with the topic challenge the growing pressure to approve same-sex marriage in the contemporary society. Some of the most popular proponents against same-sex marriage maintain that any attempt to affirm this practice will definitely alter the meaning of marriage and family forever. As Glenn T. Stanton argues, â€Å"Marriage is and always has been about brining men and women together in permanent, exclusive sexual relationships. No human society – not one – has ever embraced homosexual marriage. It is not a part of the tradition of any human culture†¦ Homosexual unions, married or otherwise, have never been regarded as a normal, morally equal part of any society.† (Stanton, 4) Therefore, a reflective exploration of the question under discussion confirms that same sex marriage is an unacceptable practice which damages our society as it causes of social problems and problems with children and all the major religions of the world oppose same sex marriage. This paper undertakes a profound investigation of the religious and social controversies concerning same sex marriage in order to bring out the issues relating to society, family, and parenting in the background of religious opposition to the practice. One of the fundamental arguments against the practice of same-sex marriage has been that all the major religious traditions of the world, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, are opposed to the permissibility of the same-sex

God is Just Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

God is Just - Essay Example The adverts of the latter view tend to believe in fun and joy as the main essence of life (â€Å"Teleological Arguments for God's Existence†). Thus, conventionally, four chief arguments related to the existence of God emerged: 1) the cosmological argument; 2) the teleological argument; 3) the ontological argument; and 4) the moral law argument. The present article deals with teleological argument. It is popularly known as "the argument from design" (Greek meaning of telos is design). According to this argument, the universe confirms the presence of complex life forms, from tiniest creatures to the biggest animals and plants; everything is in a perfect order being inter-linked; moreover, no one modulates these living beings but they are self-modulated in a perfectly controlled manner. The designer or creator has created life forms in a simplistic manner and, therefore, He must be a perfect and well co-ordinated planner to make this world run so smoothly maintaining the harmoniz ation, dexterity and a perfect balance of complex life forms. Thus, there must be a premeditated and decree brainpower behind these synchronizations, here emerges a belief that a force is certain beyond the nature and it is something supernatural! (â€Å"Teleological Arguments for God's Existence†). ... According to William Paley, heavenly bodies wander with perfect accuracy in their fixed paths and orbits. Every living organism possesses a complex life form structure meeting various metabolic processes and their requirements every fraction of second. These intricacies just happen and it is solely the creation of God (â€Å"Teleological Arguments for God's Existence†). Besides, there are individuals called Agnostic who raise the next question: "If God is all-powerful and all-forgiving, why must he send his son to die for his sins. Couldn't God just forgive the sins without sending his son down in human form to die? So what, so God dies for a few hours, how does that in any way forgive a sin...?† God has made us follow the path of truth. There’s a fear of punishment that is deep seated in minds of those who practice truth in every aspect of life, who are honest and do what is right, do justice and stay away from committing sinful acts, such as robbery, theft, murd er or abuse of any kind (â€Å"Good Question...Why Can't God Just Forgive Sin, Instead of Demanding Justice?†) . Although these arguments could convince millions, in the present scenario of rapid science development (with the conception of the evolution of life and various life forms, evolution of planets and the universe, forces behind each movement, theories, interpretations and explanations about the happenings taking place in the universe) teleological arguments are taken to some different path. According to the present arguments, spotlight lies on the fact of "fine-tuning" of the universe to support life. This is an objection to the Paley’s view as the present opposition is based on the theory of evolution and, hence, the aforementioned arguments are less

PhD - comprehensive exam - rewrite - question 1 Essay

PhD - comprehensive exam - rewrite - question 1 - Essay Example However, in developing countries improvement of existing infrastructure still remains the most integral element of the public policy. Although the direct relationship between availability of developed infrastructure and healthier economy is still debated, there is little doubt that such relationship exists and has been confirmed, both explicitly and implicitly, in a plethora of studies. Research in the field of infrastructure development in developing countries features a number of distinctive techniques, assumptions, limitations, different potential for error and error minimization techniques. Such variety is, obviously, due to extreme broadness of the term ‘infrastructure’. The American Heritage Dictionary, defines this word as â€Å"the basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions including schools, post offices, and prisons.†1 Furthermore, rapid technological and political evolution has resulted in some other important concepts (e.g. homeland security) being defined under this term. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast research methodologies used to study the development of infrastructure in developing countries. Since the term infrastructure is too broad, only one type of infrastructure services, namely librarianship, has been chosen as the focus of this research. The choice is determined by the reasonable consideration that narrowing the research subject will facilitate the process of comparison and reduce the potential for error. The scarcity of serious research in the field of infrastructure improvement in developing countries provides another justification for the choice. The author and supervisor agreed to take librarianship as the focal point in achieving the research purpose. Hemami’s

Arabic Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Arabic Culture - Essay Example The cultural identities of individuals are strong elements that considerably influence their ideologies and general mode of behaviour. The cultural paradigms of social structure become critical aspects of national identities and therefore important issue within state. Thus, media, especially the role of television in defining the cultures of Arab world and American society is important facet in the contemporary times. There is vast difference in the television programs of Arabs and America. While television is a popular media in the Arab world, the programs of the televisions are focused on the family lives and promote the Arab culture. They highlight obedience amongst children and emphasize the importance of religion within the society, showcasing family values and religious beliefs for leading a model life. The conservative values of Arab societies with parental control over children are vastly different to that of American television programs. American culture promotes individualism and highlights the independent views of the individuals. The American television programs also showcase the American liberal views vis-Ã  -vis personal views on all issues including sex, sports, fashion, religion etc. The liberal view of American society was not approved by the conservative muslin society of the Arab world. Hence, government control over foreign TV channels was applied in the Arab nations till a f ew years back. But in the recent times, the globalization has brought in new changes within the media and made foreign television channels like MTV popular amongst the youth in Arab. The American music channel in the Arab nations has introduced popular pop culture within the native music which has become instant hit with the young. Most importantly Arab television programs in the Middle Eastern societies are promoting democratic values and freedom of press. Al Jazeera is prime example of TV channel that brings forth critical issues of society and also that of

Mac VS Windows Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mac VS Windows Security - Essay Example Afterward, the attacker tricks the victim into connecting with him before the attacker establishes connection to the target, receives the 8-byte challenge. Subsequently, the attacker sends the 8-byte challenge to victim, who then responds to the attacker with the password hash. Attacker responds back to the targets challenge with the victims hash and finally Target grants access to attacker† (SkullSecurity, 2008). The Protective measure of this problem is to remove NetBIOS from any network card to reduce the possibility of abusing SMB. In addition, the following steps can help mitigate this weakness: â€Å"Enable (and require) NTLMv2 authentication -- this will prevent pre-computed attacks, because the client provides part of the randomness. Enable (and require) message signing for both clients and servers -- this will prevent relay attacks. Install ms08-068 -- this will prevent a specific subset of relay attacks, where its relayed back to itself.† (SkullSecurity, 2008) RPS attack (Remote procedure call) is used over SMB to offer file and printing sharing. Attacker can compromise the system by sending RPC request to gain access. This usually happens through port 139, which is known as the NetBIOS. â€Å"NetBIOS over the Internet is an enormous security risk. The NetBIOS protocol gives people the ability to obtain all kind of information from your systems like your domain, workgroup and system names, as well as account information. To prevent this from happening make sure that on your border gateways you filter out all in- and outgoing traffic for ports 137, 138 and 139.† (Dennis Leeuw dleeuw, 2011) That being said, Mac, UNIX/Linux machines also use these ports, due to a Windows-file-sharing-compatibility package called Samba. Another vulnerability we are introducing is the Abusing remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a protocol developed by Microsoft, which provides a user with a

The Revolt of the City by Samuel Lubell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Revolt of the City by Samuel Lubell - Essay Example In the third chapter of the book, â€Å"the revolt of the city†, the author describes the revolution that takes place in the event following up to the elections and the even after it. Samuel Lubell says that in the political America of today a two-party system is considered as the pioneer of the prevalent alternating one-party rule. He says that there is a "sun" party denoting the majority party and a "moon" party denoting the minority party. He describes that these majority parties is responsible for dealing the issues of any particular period and fights over it. The world saw that in the 1980s, Republicans ceased the entrepreneurial energies and the democrats did not and so the cold war was ended. This can be denoted as the republican’s â€Å"sun† period. These days the Democrats are on the rise and dominate the system by taking over the economic and the health care issues. The human’s belief proves that humans are most irrational and puzzling ways that the human mind works. Lubell was a sociologist as well. The elections proved the democratic incompetent Harry Truman to be the better man. Even though his ratings had to gone down to 23 percent before the elections but he still won. Every person, every poll, every survey and every pundit predicted the democrat to be solely defeated by the republican Thomas E. Dewey. But, instead the democrat, Harry Truman, won in history’s most startling turn of events in the elections of the 1948. Everyone was so stunned with the outcome that the republicans gasped with shock. Lubell set out to determine the cause of such a turn of tables. This defeat set the entire place on fire and the people on edge. People set out to revolt and a revolution turned up. Lubell went around the country, through a small Midwestern town to Washington dc. The mid2western town was founded at the start of 19th century by the Germans; Lubell was very much amazed to find out that this town had supported Dewey throu gh and through, even though everyone knew that Truman would have been a very logical economic decision for the town’s people. The town’s people said that they had never forgotten the democrat, President Woodrow Wilson, who dominated in 1917. He had declared war on Germans. As the town was full of Germans, so they had not forgiven him. Because of this war, the entire country was full of anti-German feelings and deeply despised that town’s people. And they had been greatly dishonored and mistrusted by everyone. So even after two World Wars, they had not forgotten the democrat president and like natural human behavior were not thinking logically or rationally about the economics of themselves. Samuel Lubell says in his book that â€Å"Whenever a new majority coalition comes into dominance, as the Democrats in toppling the old Republican ascendancy, it brings with it a distinctively different orbit of political conflict. This orbit also governs the movement of stru ggle within the minority party.† Although Lubell wrote this book in the 1951, but the theories of this book are still alive and fresh today. Lubell wrote both profoundly simple politics and simply profound politics. What his book reveals his that, when a political party has had a history of events strung along it just for the sake of victories, and so is presented as the majority party or the â€Å"sun†

Sexual Discrimination Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Sexual Discrimination - Case Study Example Sergeant Williams, a churchwarden at St Augustine's was uneasy that an acknowledged homosexual should be working as a caretaker at the parish school. He voiced his concerns to the school's head teacher who brought the matter to a meeting of the school's governing body. They endorse Sergeant Williams' concerns and advise that Jeffrey's contract should be terminated. This year, in the local police station, Desk Sergeant Williams took Jeffrey's statement reporting the fact that his flat has been broken into and several valuable items have been stolen, which statement also revealed Jeffrey's sexual orientation. Sergeant Williams, who was also a churchwarden of St. Augustine, reported his concerns of having an acknowledged homosexual working as the parish school caretaker to the school head teacher. Jeffrey's employment contract was terminated by the head teacher after the school's board of governors endorsed Sergeant Williams' concerns. Jeffrey filed the present application for injunctive relief to prevent the school administration from implementing the dismissal decision as well as appeal the same with prayer claiming for additional damages over and above the notice period for the period that the statutory dismissal or disciplinary procedure would have taken. The Employment Act 2002... injunctive relief to prevent the school administration from implementing the dismissal decision as well as appeal the same with prayer claiming for additional damages over and above the notice period for the period that the statutory dismissal or disciplinary procedure would have taken. II. LAW - Relevant Domestic and European Community Law, Convention and Practice i. Under the Employment Act 2002: The complainant employee alleges that the dismissal impinges upon his rights under s.35 of the Employment Act 2002: the right to procedural fairness through the internal dismissal procedure to determine whether there are extant grounds to dismiss the employee; the right to accompaniment or assistance by a trade union representative or work colleague; and The right to appeal the grievance decision. The complainant's rights under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 are asserted to be also violated. The Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 requires that the employer afford the employee the procedural fairness through internal dismissal/disciplinary procedures. The Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 provides, inter alia: Application of dismissal and disciplinary procedures 3. -(1) Subject to paragraph (2) and regulation 4, the standard dismissal and disciplinary procedure applies when an employer contemplates dismissing or taking relevant disciplinary action against an employee. (2) Subject to regulation 4, the modified dismissal procedure applies in relation to a dismissal where- (a) the employer dismissed the employee by reason of his conduct without notice, (b) the dismissal occurred at the time the employer became aware of the conduct or immediately thereafter, (c)

The Tsars or Lenin between 1855-1956 Essay Example for Free

The Tsars or Lenin between 1855-1956 Essay Stalin was more successful in modernising Russias economy than either the Tsars or Lenin between 1855-1956. How far is this a valid assessment? Over the time period 1855-1956, Russia underwent hugely dramatic changes, in such a relatively short amount of time the country and its people was ruled by different groups and people, with different ideologies and stances and the economy, and more specifically industrialization. Although on the face of things, it is obviously apparent that Stalin was the most successful at achieving a modernised economy , the context of the situation he inherited and manipulated was unique, and this modernisation came at great cost. Stalin and Lenin both built on the structure that the Tsars created, although it was not nearly enough to stabilize Russias economy, it was a start. Before explaining what impact each of these individuals had on the economy, it is important to understand the background of Russias economy, both agricultural and industrial. One of the most startling features of Russia at this point, was its size, and ironically how this size and potential was not being properly utilized. Communications across this huge area were extremely poor; roads outside the big cities were poor at best. The vast majority of Russia population at this point, were the serfs (making up around 70-75% of Russias total population). Serfs were virtually owned by their masters, they did what they were told and had little or no free will, the vast amount of surfs working in agriculture. It would be assumed that because there was so much emphasis on agriculture and so many numbers behind it that agricultural input would have been high, but in fact, the opposite was true. The state of agriculture in Russia in 1855 was abysmal; the method of farming was backward so efficiency levels were extremely poor, the strip system and wooden ploughs were still used, and there was not enough land for each serf. Concerning industry, there was a low level of this also considering the size of Russia, because the majority of the working population lived rurally, urban factories and workers had only a limited amount of available work. In 1855, it is safe to say that Russias economy needed a kick start; it was starting to become left behind and was being outranked by the other world powers. Tsar Alexander II 1855-1881, inherited the aforementioned situation, and it seems as though he was determined to make some sort of change. In 1861 he passed the Emancipation of the serfs, meaning that the vast majority of serfs, were granted freedom, allotted land, or were allowed to find work in the cities. It is estimated by 1864 some 50 million serfs had been granted freedom. The reasons for this turnaround are varied, but most believe that Alexander II had finally realized that Russias economy and industrial progress called for a free labour force. Although the intentions may have been good, there were problems with this act, first of all, landowners had to be compensated through redemption payments by the freed serfs, but because of the small amount of allotted land the serfs received, they were not much better off than they previously were because they amassed so much debt. The idea behind this emancipation was to free up a new work force, and let the peasants farm their own crops, with the excess to be sold for export thus revitalizing the economy. Many of the freed peasants moved into urban areas and a labour force was created, but the root problem of subsistence farming still remained, and without strict guidelines from their masters, agricultural production declined. Other changes made by Alexander II were the huge increase in the railway network (increase of 2000% by 1881 of its 1855 levels) and the amount of factory workers increased by 150% respectively. Although these numbers seem positive, considering the vast population and potential Russia had, these increases could have been much higher and are only just a start. Under Alexander II the state bank and ministry of finances in 1860 was established, giving the capital a strong position. Alexander III (1881-1894) took on a slightly less sympathetic position than his father, after Alexander IIs assassination, his son believed that the only way forward for Russia was one through traditional autocratic ruling. One of his biggest shortcomings was the fact he emphasized hugely on industry and failed to utilize the potential of Russias agriculture. Although this was negative, some advancement in industry was seen, such as the huge amount of railway development, namely the near completion of the vastly important trans-Siberian railway, and the production of coal doubled between 1892 and 1902. The policies of Sergei Witte had effects from this reign into that of Nicholas II. Investment from abroad and state subsidies to heavy industry all played a part in stabilizing the economy. However, the neglect of agriculture contributed to the 1891 famine.

Effects of Video Games on Children Essay Example for Free

Effects of Video Games on Children Essay Although video games can increase aggressive behavior, they can improve memory and logistical thinking, as well as teach perseverance. Over the course of the last few decades video games have been integrated into the lives of our children. Video games are very appealing to children of all ages, and even to some adults. There is a variety of video games out there, and they range from educational to very violent. Because of this diverse selection of video games, there is a wide range of positive and negative side effects that these games can have on children. Because a large percentage of our children’s time is spent playing video games, there has been a lot of research in recent years on the positive and negative effects these games have on them. â€Å"Among elementary and middle-school populations, girls play for an average of about 5. 5 hours/week and boys average 13 hours/week,† (Gentile, D. A. 2004). Teenagers also spend a time playing video games. According to Media Analysis Laboratory (1998),†Eighty percent of teens said they played at least occasionally and the average amount of time spent gaming for the sample was 5 hours per week† (para. 19). Video game play has become not only a leisurely pastime for children, but for families also. When parents are not involved in some of their game play the outcome can become a little scary. Children who play video games with their families have a more pro-social attitude compared to their counterparts who play alone. Children who are less social or somewhat anti-social tend to develop aggressive tendancies when spending long hours gaming alone especially when violent video games are involved. Video games have been shown to increase aggressive behavior in some children. Neubert, S. P. (2004) said, â€Å"Individuals high in hostility are more likely to become aggressive when exposed to violent video games. † â€Å"Games in which the only positive outcome is the violent demise of enemies reinforces anti-social behavior. Violent video games desensitize people to aggression,† (Neubert, S. P. , 2004). According to a study done by Douglas A. Gentile. References Media Analysis Laboratory (1998). Video game culture: Leisure and play preferences of B. C. teens. Retrieved from http://www. media-awareness. ca In-Text Citation 1. [Insert the paraphrased material] (Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B. C. , 1998). 2. The Media Analysis Laboratory (1998) website [Insert the paraphrased material]. 3. , [Insert the quotation]† (para. 19).

IMC Plan For Milk Management Essay

IMC Plan For Milk Management Essay This project is about the IMC used by the Milk company. It includes the all the promotional tools used by the company for marketing communication. In this we are using different sales and promotion techniques for the sale of our company milk and building a strong image of our company product in the minds of our customers. Special kinds of price discounts , samples are given to the customers and traders for the strong positioning of our product in the market. The name of milk product is the pure milk, and the tagline of our milk product is ‘the real milk of India.† The main objective of our company is to provide better quality to our customers as compared to our competitors and building a good image of our product in the minds of the customers. By providing a better quantity to our customers our company will generate a revenues, which our company would further invest for increasing our product line. In this we it is discussed that what are the different kinds of four Ps of our company . What is the Price of our milk , What are the different kinds of promotional tools used by our company for the sale of our product . Different kinds of strategy are used by our company for increasing revenues from our milk product. At the end estimation of budget is done for knowing the expected expense done by the company for our milk product. INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING UNDERSTANDING MARKETING- Before we begin discussing marketing communication, We must take a moment to understand its higher order discipline ,viz, marketing. Marketing is a composite of many activities related to customers need fulfillment and satisfaction. Marketing includes many tasks right from identifying consumers needs and wants to fulfilling them. DEFINITION OF MARKETING- The American Marketing Association defines marketing as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. For marketing to be effective ,it requires successful coordination of all these activities at different levels in the organization. THE MARKETING MIX Various maketing activities can be classified into four general categories,viz,Product, Price, Place( distribution ) and promotion, which are populary known as the 4Ps of marketing or marketing mix. PRODUCT- This includes all the activities related to the conception and planning of actual product that fulfills consumers needs and wants, i.e, decisions regarding product quality , designs, features , sizes, varieties, brand name, warranty, gurantee and other services. In this project the product is milk. The name of our company is the PURE MILK .Milk is provided in different packages of different sizes i.e,1 kg and half Kg packets. Pice of is 28 Rs and Half Kg product is Rs14. PRICE- This area deals with activities related to setting the price for the product. Decisions regarding retail and wholesale prices, margins of channel members, discounts and allowances, credit terms, payment period , etc. are the part of pricing function of marketing mix. The 1 kg of milk Packet is of Rs. 28 and Half Kg is of Rs 14. PLACE- Placement or distribution refers to all activities involved in getting the product to the final consumers. Decisions under this â€Å"P† relates to the distribution channels, market coverage, locations , inventory, transportation, etc. The main target market of our milk product is the PUNJAB STATE. As the people of Punjab are very health conscious and believe in better quality , So, our companies main target market is the population of Punjab. Our company would sell our milk product to all the retail outlets, Sweet shops, Dairy shops, in all over the Punjab. PROMOTION- Promotion refers to all the activities concerned with informing consumers about an organizations offering , persuading them to buy it, and reminding them it from time to time. Activities like advertising, sales promotion, directing, direct marketing, public relations, personal selling and other conventional media to comprise the â€Å"P† of operations. In promotion of our milk product we will use different kinds of promotional activities like advertising, direct marketing to the consumers and retail outlets. UNDERSTANDING MARKETING COMMUNICATION(PROMOTION) It involves all the activities concerned with effectively communicating Product information to select target audiences. A target audience is a group of consumers to whom marketing communication messages is directed. The prime purpose of communication is congnitive, affective or behavioural response, whatever that desired response may be. In other words, the communicator might want to imprint something in consumers mind(cognitive response), change in attitude(affective response) or get the consumer to act (behavioral response). ADVERTISEMENT OF MILK COMPANY (PURE MILK) The word advertising is derived from its Latin root ‘ad verter† Which means ‘to turn towards† or â€Å"to attract attention to†. DEFINITION OF ADVERTISEMENT- Advertisement is the any paid form of non- personal presentation and promotion of ideas or products by an identified sponser. The main objective of advertisement can be categorized based on whether their goal is to- Inform Persuade Remind Reinforce In our company of milk product , we can use the Brand Building advertising that focus on creating product awareness and brand building image.It is strategic and hence relatively long term in nature. We use the tagline â€Å"pure milk†, â€Å"the real milk of India†. Retail advertisement can also be used by the retailers on the local scale.It is aimed at building store traffic, creating a distinctive image for the store and more often than not, at triggers sales in short run. Retail advertisement is more informational, giving details about the outlets and its offerings. E.G The retail outlets where we sell our milk would put down small notice on their blackboards about our product i.e , it is available there , its prices, it will help in attracting more and more customers. DIRECT MARKETING- We will sell our milk also through direct marketing. Direct marketing is a interactive system of marketing which use one or more advertisement media to effect a measurable response or transaction at any location. The advantage of direct marketing is that in results in quicker sales, better targeting and relationship building and less competition and from this we will come ,more close to our customers. In this case we will come more close to our customers and will get the perception of the customers towards our product. TELEVISIONS- Our company will make a advertisement of our company milk product and telecast it on the T.V. Special kind of creative advertisement is made by the company for creating interest of the customers towards our milk product. The main aim of our television advertisement to aware people about our milk product. INTERNET—As we know in today scenario, Internet is having a special place in the minds of the people. Our company Will also make Our website from which the interested people will get the important information about our product and about the product benefits and quality. The main benefit of Internet communication is that it is directed directly towards the target market . The customers who are interested will easily go through our website and get knowledge about our product. It is totally personalized and up to date mechanism for attracting customers towards our company. Through it customers will also give their experiences and suggestions for our milk product. DIFFERENT KINDS OF SALES AND PROMOTIONS USED BY THE COMPANY DEFINITION OF SALES AND PROMOTION ‘Sales promotion consist of a diverse collection of incentives tools, mostly short term , designed to stimulate quicker and greater purchase of a particular product or services by the consumers or the trade.† Types of sales promotion used by our company- Our company will used different type of sales promotion activities for increasing sales of our product and awaring the customers towards our project.Consumer promotions are those that are directed to the consumers. The objective of consumer promotion is to offer the consumers some added benefit to entice him to buy the product.Ths is normally done in addition to the advertisement. Whereas advertising has a long run effect on the purhase behaviour , connumers promotion have more of a short term effect. SAMPLING- This form of promotion ifs found to be especially useful when one is introducing a product for the first time. Our company will also gives sample to the target customers for checking out their reactions towards our product The samples are either distributed at the retail outlets and residences of the final customers.Our company also request the consumers to fill up a questionnaire after the sample is used and thus are able to get feedback about our product that whether the customers like it or not. But the sampling is however one of the most expensive method of consumer promotion and there is no gurantee that the customers will actually go and buy the sale pack of our product. PRICE OFF This is essentially offers the consumers the product at less than the marked maximum retail price. The purpose of this is to induce the consumer to try our milk product immediately. QUANTITY DEALS- In the quantity deals , our company may provide more quantity in a same price for attracting the customers towards our product. Like our company would increase the quantity at the underlying price of our product. This will helps us in attracting more and more customers towards our milk product. DISCOUNTS- Our company will give discounts to our customers. Like if The customers buy four -five liter milk or more than it or milk in a bulk , we will give them discounts. OUT PRODUCED GIFTS- In this case the gift item is attached to the product from outside. This will attract customers towards our product. Like we will give ONE PLASTIC GLASS free with every 1litre milk packet for attracting customers or increasing our sales. CONSUMERS CONTEST- These are run to create an excitement amongst the target segment. Contest are normally advertised extensively and test more often than not the knowledge of the consumer on the product or some other skills. We will involve the completion of a sentence , which may say that â€Å"I LIKE A PURE MILK BECAUSE OF -â€Å". Prizes for this contest would be very excited for creating interest of the consumers towards it. Different cash prizes, travel allowances will be given to the winners. TRADE PROMOTIONS- Trade promotions are those that are run to elict a better and quicker response from the trade. These can be done when introducing a new product to ensure enhanced stock preceeding a good season , or block a competitor. Trade promotions are normally part of of push strategy , the assumptions here are being that if the trader has a excess stocks bought trade scheme he will be motivated to push the product in order to recover his investment as soon as possible . There are several tools for trade promotions DEALERS GIFTS- For the sake of building a strong image in the minds of the dealers our company will also provide different kinds of dealers gifts and rewards so that they feel motivated and do more hard work for increasing sale of our milk product . If we provide gifts and rewards to our dealers they feel that our company is taking care of them and they are having a great position in our company. Different kinds of travel allowances , gifts, rewards are provided by our company. Special kinds of refrigerator are to be provided by the company for preservation of milk .On the special events like on new year, Diwali, gifts are given to the traders for getting them loyal to our product. DEALER CONTEST- Dealer contest are organized by our company for changing our traders as a loyal traders of the company and motivating them. Special kinds of rewards , gifts are given by the company for the winners. POINT OF SALE MATERIALS- Our company should also provide point of sale material to our dealers and traders. Special kinds of refrigerators, boxes are provided by our company for the better preservation of our milk product in the retail stores, dairy shops and sweet shops. SHOP BOARD PAINTINGS- Special kinds of hoardings, sign boards are fixed on outside and inside the shops, retail stores, dairy shops, sweet shops for attracting more and more customers and providing information to the customers that the product is provided by this particular shop. DEALERS DISCOUNTS —For making our traders more loyal to our company special discounts are arranged by our company. The traders who will purchase our milk product in the bulk or in a continous manner , special discounts are provided by the company to them by the company. DEALERS MEET- Special meetings are arranged by the company for doing meeting with the dealers, traders as they are more closed to the customers and they are having more information about the need, wants of the customers. The meetings are organized after every one and two months for meeting more information about our product and customer perception about our product. INTRODUCING NEW TASTE OF MILK PUREMILK(â€Å"THE REAL MILK OFINDIA†) MADE IN INDIA Manufactured BY- Pure Dairy Milk Company MUMBAI Phone No-12345678 THE IMC PLANNING PROCESS Marketing communication is one of the four tools of marketing mix. Hence, it is based on the strategic laid down in the marketing plan, which in turn is derived from overall business plan. Strategic planning is the process of devising a plan of action for meeting an organization goals with its limited resources and in the wake of varying market conditions. Strategy is allowed an organization to focus on limited sources on the best available opportunities, thereby achieving sales, profits and competitive advantage growth and a sustainable competitive advantage. There are three primary components of a strategic plan- OBJECTIVES- What a company wants to achieve. Objective dictate the course of action to be taken. E.G The main objective of our company is to provide better services to the customers. Our main target market is the retails shops, sweetshops, and dairy shops are there in the Punjab. STRATEGY—A long term plan of action designed to achieve the objectives. The strategy of our company is to expand the market in rural villages and also increase the customers. TACTICS- Immediate actions with resources at hand, short-term isolated events to take advantage of opportunities at hand. E.G— Company will reduce its prices as compared to others competitors. Like the selling price of 1 Kg Milk Product is Rs 24 and Half Kg milk product is Rs. 12. The current price of milk of our competitors are 1 Kg is of Rs 28 and half Kg packet is Rs 14. Our company will also provide discounts to the retailers ,wholesalers if they purchase our product continuously or in the bulk. THE MARKETING PLAN The IMC Planning process begins with the review of marketing plan. A marketing plan is a written document that details the marketing objectives, strategies and tactics foe an organization, product or brand, and guides the marketing efforts. It is based on an in depth understanding of the firms internal and external environment- the industry, the competition, the product current positioning , its customers, etc. THE IMC PLAN- Following are the steps involved in the IMC planning process. SUITATIONAL ANAYSIS- Like the marketing plan , the promotional plan also begins with an analysis of factors that are relevant to Promotional suitation. PAST PROMOTIONAL SITUATION- Review of campaign including their objectives , audiences, strategies, tools, media, and budgets. PRODUCT SITUATION- Our company will analyse that what are products which are present in our product category. Assessment of product benefits, quality, packaging, price, image, availability, features and unique selling points. Like our product is the milk our company is providing better quality milk to our customers as compared to our competitors. Price of product is that 1litre milk packet is of Rs 28 and Half Kg is of Rs 14. Avalibility- Our milk product is available at all the sweet shops, dairy shops and all the retail stores, which are having conditions for protection of milk. IMAGE- Our company have to made a unique image in the minds of our customers. So for this we have to chose features of our product so that our customers would easily remember our product. The mane of our milk product is â€Å"PURE MILK† AND THE TAGLINE OF OUR PRODUCT IS â€Å"THE REAL MILK OF INDIA AUDIENCE SITUATION- An analysis of audience of promotion buyers, influncers, decisions makers their demographic profile and psycographic profiles, behavioural patterns and life styles, factors influencing their products purchase decisions , buying patterns. COMPETITIVE SITUATION- Promotional strategies adopted by direct and indirect competitiors. In our product our main competitors are the other milk companies like Verka, Amul. Through tjis we would analyse that what is the position of our competitors in the market, what are their strengths, weakness, their product, price etc. Regulatory situation- Regulatory authorities governing the product category and media , and rules and regulations of the government which our company has to follow. Like our company has to see that what are the factors which we have to follow for sale of our milk product in the market. Whether we have the get license from the government and have to registered our company to them. Following are the some common area of analysis. A well-known practice for analyzing and summarizing the suitation is called SWOT analysis. STRENGTH Demand profile Absolutely optimistic demand Margins- Quite reasonable, even or packed liquid milk. Flexibilty of Product mix- Tremendous with balancing equipments. Availability of raw material- Abundant more than 80% of the milk products are flowing from the unorganized sector.which requires proper channelisation. Technical margins- Professionally trained -technical human resource manpower is built in our company. WEAKNESS PERISHABILITY- The main weakness of our milk product is its persihability. Special Conditions are required so that our milk cannot get spoiled. Pasteurization has overcome this weakness partially. Surely many new process will follow to improve milk quality and for extending its shelf life. LACK OF CONTROL OVER YIELD- Theortically, there is a little control over the milk yield. However , increased awareness of developments like embryo transplant, artifical insemination and properly managed animal husbandry practices coupled with the higher income to rural milk producers should automatically lead to improve in milk yield. LOGISTICS OF PROCUREMENTS- Because of bad roads and inadequate transportation facility make milk procurement problematic. But overall economic improvement in India, will lead to the improvement in these logistic problems. PROBLEMATIC DISTRIBUTIONS- All is not well with the distribution. There is a need of emergence of a cold chain linking the producer to refrigerator at the consumers home. COMPETITION- Now a days competition is very hard in every field. Our milk company may also face competition because of new entrants in the market.Because of huge competition the market is large is enough for us to carve out their niche market.We will overcome our competitors if we provide better services to our customer than our competitors. OPPTURNITIES FOR OUR COMPANY Failures is never ending final and success never ending VALUE ADDITION- We will add value to our milk products so that customers would buy product and will attract towards our product. Our company will add value added products like shikhand,ice-cream, paneer, khoa, flavoured milk, dairy sweets,etc, this will lead to a greater presence and flexibility in the market place along with oppturnities in the field of brand building. Addition of cultural products like yoghurt and cheese tends to furthet strength both in term of utisation of resouces and presence in the market place. A lateral view opens up oppturnities in milk proteins through casein, caseinates and other dietary products, further opening up . Export Oppturnities—If our product would get position in the market we will expand our market in the foreign countries also. Export oppturnities would be seen for increasing our customers.Our company would generate export potentials like various companies i.s- Amul is expoting their products in foreign countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. Yet another aspect can be addition of infants foods,geriatric fods and nutritional THREATS Milk VENDORS- Today the milk vendors in the unorganized sector are occupying the pride , the place in the industry . Organised discrimination of information about the harm that they are doing to producers and consumers should see steady decline in their importance. Delicensing in the Indian Dairy Industry has been attracting a large number of entrepreneurs . But the success of them depends on the factor such as efficient economic facilities and innovation in the market place. DETERMINE THE PROBLEM OR OPPTURNITIES- The suitation analysis done in step 1 helps us to identify problems or oppturnities concerning communications. IMC plans can solve problems like awareness or knowledge, negative attitude, misconception about our product .I n this case we have to sell our milk product to the customers or have to aware the customers towards our product. DETERMINE COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES- Communication objectives flow marketing objectives. Our company will use different communication media for increasing the awareness of our customers towards our product. Like we can use T.V, radio, print media, hoardings, bill board to aware customers towards our product. The main objective of our different kind of communication media is same- To create awareness of our milk product To increase sale of ur milk product To build a good image of our product in minds of the customers. To provide better qualities to our customers. DETERMINE THE BUDGET After setting the communication objectives, our company has to estimate how much we are willing to spend on the promotional activities. The company has to consider various issues like how much the programme will it cost, how much it can afford how much competitors are spending. Our company can make the budget by analyzing the sales expense or estimating sales in the one territory. The Steps involved in the estimating the budget is as follows. PRODUCT TARGET-The first step in the analysing the budget is to analsye the target market that where we have to sell our product and at which region. Like our company is targeting the State Punjab . Our main target market is the sweet shops, dairy milk shops, retailers of the punjab and population of the Punjab. We have to sell our milk product there so that it would reach to all our customers. Special trade discounts, special offering are provided by our company to our traders, retailers so that feel motivated and helps us in creating awarness our product towards our product. Like special kinds of refigerators and other rewards are given by our company to the retailers, dairy milk shops and sweet shops for preserving our milk . SALES BUDGET OF OUR PRODUCT For getting information about our sale expenese, we estimate the expense occur by our company for selling it in the one small town , Dasuya. For selling our product in the Dasuya city we recruit five sales persons. There name are as follows- Mr. Sohan singh 2Mr. Mandeep Singh Mr. Akash Kumar Mr. Ram Kapoor Mr . Yashdeed We are sending our five people in different regions of Dasuya City.Like one in North Zone, One in south zone , One in East Zone, one in west zone. And one in central zone. The main benefit of sales target is Inreasing market coverage because sales persons are more close to their customers.They know where they have to go , who are their customers, how they have to communicate with their customers. It also controls selling expense and time because sales persons have to know where they have to go and at what time. Wstage of time and mone should be eliminated by this sales territory medium. It will helps in enabling better evaluation of sales force performance. It will customer relationships. Because customers feels that they are more close t company and company is providing better services to them. It helps in increasing sales and increasing profits and revenues of the company. MANAGEMENT OF TERRITORIAL COVERAGE In the travel plan of our company customers we will do sheduling of our sales persons in a straight line manner, because through it all the sales persons start their daily schedule from the headoffice from their they get the information about their daily schedule and went to their assigned places. TIME MANAGEMENT TOOLS- The timing of our sales persons starts from the morning at 9:00 A. M. In the morning they have to come to the office for betting their daily schedule . At 10: 00 A.M they have to start their daily schedule and had to go their assigned places. In the evening at 5:00 P.M they have to get back in the office and had to report the headoffice about their daily schedule , how was their day and how was their experience of the whole day. At 2:00 clock, they are having their lunch for one hour. ESTIMATION OF THE BUDGET ON THE BASIS OF EXPENSE DONE ON ONE TERRITORY Salary of one sales persons in 1 month- Rs.15000 Salary of 5 sales persons- 150000 into 5= Rs 75000 Telephones charges- 1000into 5= Rs 5000 Vehicles Charges 1000 into5 Rs 5000 Daily meals charges-1000 into5= Rs 5000 Advertisement expense on T.V = Rs 90,000 Expense on print media and other Rs. 3,00,000 Medias like radio, internet= Raw materials Expenses = Rs. 5,00,00 Other Miscellaneous expenses= Rs .15,00,000 Total expense = Rs. 24,95,000 IMPEMENTATION OF THE PLAN- After making all this IMC plan we will Implement our planning for getting results and introducing our product in the market. Different kinds of communication tools are used by our company , for getting revenues and building a strong image of our product in the market. MONITOR/EVALUTION OF PERFORMANCE- After implementing, the whole IMC plan, we will evaluate our company performance to measure the expected results with the actual result and find whether our company IMC plan was able to build a strong image of our product. Different kinds of surveys, are conducted by our expertise to check the process of our IMC and monitoring the impact of IMC on the market and consumers mind. CONCLUSION From all the above information it is cleared that IMC is a very important aspect in introducing our product in the market and getting a strong position for our product. The tools of IMC like advertisements, direct marketing are helpful for our company for establishing a strong position in the minds of the customers and IMC provide assistance for the company for achieving their goals and objectives. These are the ways for fulfilling our objectives and provides us a path for fulfilling our objectives. By choosing different types of tools we convince our customers and attract our consumers towards our product a, and as a result of which we generate lots of revenues. BIBLOGRAPHY- http:/marketing about.com/ad/marketing glossary www the free dictionary.com/milk. www scrub com/doc/17660303/nestle-imc -plan. http freedictionary.com/milk/4540. www.imcplanning.comp.india.com www//marketing.about.comp//marketingglosary//imc.htm www.exampleessay.com.html drypen.in//salespromotion//sale tech.com BOOEK REFERRED- Sales And Promotion

Its Time for Immigration Reform Essay -- Illegal Immigration, Illegal

It's Time for Immigration Reform    News article after news article on immigration characterizes anyone who opposes the current level of immigration as anti-immigrant. This is biased and deceitful. It's like saying that anyone who doesn't want 10 or 12 children is anti-children. The truth is that many people are pro-immigration but recognize that the present level of immigration is unsustainable and will eventually be detrimental to Americans and immigrants alike.    One often-used irrelevant argument is that we are a nation of immigrants. While true, it does not shed light on the question of how many immigrants should be admitted annually and what should be the criteria for admission. To understand the issue, we must focus on the numbers involved. Although the Census Bureau has not released the number of immigrants for fiscal 1997, most analysts believe that at least 1 million legal and between 300,000 to 500,000 illegal immigrants are entering the U.S. each year. This is about four times the number who came to America annually during the 1950s and 1960s.    Even this does not put the issue in perspective, however. The crux of the problem is the cumulative impact. At present rates of immigration, the U.S. population will increase by up to 200 million persons in the next 50 to 60 years. Even if all immigration were halted today--and few persons are suggesting such a draconian policy--we will still add up to 80 million people due to the children and grandchildren from the wave of immigrants that have entered the U.S. since 1970.    So what? Isn't this unending supply of cheap, compliant, hardworking labor good for America... ...impossible task of building a school every day.    Although poll after poll indicates that most American would like to see immigration cut back to traditional levels (about 250,000 a year), present immigration policy has been determined by a coalition of businesses who benefit from a limitless supply of cheap labor, immigration lawyers, immigrant lobbies and naive do-gooders who think that bringing in 1 million of the world's 4 billion poor will somehow reduce world poverty.    Americans, like most people, tend to live for the moment, with little thought for the future. The hundreds of billions of dollars that are being expended to correct the Y2K computer problem were totally unnecessary with just a modicum of forethought. What can a nation do when it discovers it is overpopulated? Ask China and India.   

Gullivers Travels :: Literary Analysis, Jonathan Swift

The author of Gulliver’s Travels os Jonathan Swift. He was born on November 30, 1667 in Dublin, Ireland (Cody, 1). At an early age his father past away and because of this sudden death Swift’s mother soon moved back to England. Swift, in the care of his relatives, was sent to school at Kilkenny Grammar School. He then attended Trinity College but did not finish his schooling because the school was closed because of a revolution occurring in the government (Cody, 2). Swift then moved to England where he became the secretary for Sir William Temple. Shortly after this employment Swift returned to Ireland upon request of his doctors because he was suffering for Miner’s Disease, a disturbance of the inner ear. Shortly after returning to Ireland Swift left Ireland for England once again. In England he published his first work which he did not get high praise for. Swift left England and returned to Ireland in 1694 to pursue his dreams of becoming a priest in the Church of Ireland and in 1695 accomplished this dream and was ordained (Cody, 3). After about a year, however, Swift returned to England. In England between 1696 and 1699 Swift created a majority of A Tale of a Tub, one of his most notable works (Cody, 4). Also in this time Swift created The Battle of the Books. Shortly after the completion of his work a friend of his past which lead to him traveling back to Ireland with the Earl of Berkeley as his secretary. Then in 1700 Swift was promoted within the church and was instituted Vicar of Laracor and was forced to travel back to Ireland (Cody, 5). The following year Swift was awarded a D.D. Form Dublin University and a couple years following his first works were published under anonymous. In 1707 Swift was asked to travel to England where he would ask for remission of tax on Irish clerical income but his requests were denied (Cody, 6). His trip, however, was not a total loss for he got the opportunity to meet Esther Vanhomrigh. She allowed Swift to step into the highest levels of political circles and this allowed swift to spend a lot of the next few years traveling between England and Ireland. Swift, now a figure in the government, became even more involved when he became the editor of a Tory newspaper (Cody, 9). Also in 1710 he began writing a group of letters to Esther Johnson later to be named The Journal to Stella.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee :: To Kill a Mockingbird Essays

To Kill a Movking Bird Tolerance Comes into Play Tolerance is a good virtue to own, without it there is no way to succeed. To Kill a Mockingbird is a great novel written by Harper Lee. In this book, a great deal of tolerance is shown by Atticus. His tolerance is shown especially in the town, when dealing with his kids and when talking to Aunt Alexandra. The theme of tolerance is shown by Atticus when he is in the town. Many of the town's people give Atticus a hard time because he is defending a black in court and he is white. There is a white person against the black yet Atticus is defending the black person, and that is what makes some people give him a hard time. In a quote from the book: "Your father's no better than the Niger's and trash he works for," said Mrs. Dubose to Scout. People just like Mrs. Dubose talk behind Atticus and also say mean or hateful things about him because he is defending a black. Although they say all this stuff he has enough tolerance and does not fight back nor say mean and/or hateful things towards them. He uses his self-control (tolerance) and lets them talk. He expresses in the book that, people can talk and say but you do not have to do anything about it. Atticus just lets it pass by him. This is one way he shows tolerance in the book. The theme of tolerance is shown by Atticus, when he is dealing with his kids. His two kids, Scout (girl) and Jem (boy), do get into mischief. And when they do he deals with it calmly and rationally. A quote dealing with this particular incident were he is talking to Scout is: "Let's get this clear: you do as Calpurnia tells you, you do as I tell you, and as long as your aunt's in the house you do as she tells you. Understand?" Atticus says this to Scout after she mouthed off at Aunt Alexandra. He calmly and rationally dealt with the situation then moved on. He didn't yell, hit, or argue, just simply stated the obvious. He shows a lot of tolerance when dealing with Scout and her stubborn ways. He does the same with Jem (Jeremy) as well. He treats his kids with respect as if they were adults. He does hot argue he says what he wants and if there is a conflict he walks away from it.

Clothes Make a Man

It is said that we can judge a man’s character from his dress; But it’s not always so. Dress can only help us to a certain extent in knowing the broad facts of a man’s character. A man who wears a costly dress is necessarily a man of lavish habits. On the other hand, a man who wears tattered clothes is not necessarily a man of miserly habits. He may be do so only due to his financial limitations. Yet it is true that in some cases dressserves as a useful index to the character of a man. Some common examples, from which we can get some idea of a man’s character from his dress, are given below. We daily come across such persons as put on clothes of loud colours. We find them dressed in gaudy colours. They wear bushshirts printed withThe faces factors and actresses. So, is the case with their shoes. Shoes withdifferent designs on them are liked by them. We can easily know thecharacter of such people by looking at the way in which they dress. Suchpeople, if we carefully observe them, are very fond of show and ostentation. They lack the maturity of taste. They do not have sober habits. We can know this by their dress. Many people even if they are given costly and decent clothes, will maketheir appearance shabby and ineffective. They will put on the shirt or thecoat, but will not button it up. The laces of their shoes will remain untied. If they use the tie they will not put the knot properly. They never botherwhether their clothes are pressed or not. As these people are with theirclothes, so they are with their habits. They behave carelessly in other matters also. They are slovenly in their dress, living, reading and other ways also. So in this way, dress reflects their character. Besides this, we find people wearing very simple dress. A white ‘kurta’,‘dhoti’, and a white cap on the head and simple ‘chappals’ are all that they dress themselves in. But their clothes are always very neat and clean. Though they do not waste much of their valuable time in dressing, yet they do not use their dress carelessly. Such people show that they are thefollowers of the principle, â€Å"Simple living and high thinking†. They do notbelieve in ostentation. Mostly such people are intellectual. Broadly speaking, the dress of a man helps us to know his character. But atthe same time it may also be added that the dress should not be regarded as the sole index to the character of a man. Many saints and Sadhuscompletely neglect their dress. But it does not mean that they are very low either in their mental or emotional standard. On the contrary, they raise themselves so high from the level of such worldly considerations that dress becomes quite meaningless to them. In the present age, Mahatma Gandhiused to wear only a loin cloth. But he was the man before whom the entire world bowed its head. So in judging the character of a man dress can kelp us only to a certain extent. It can never be the sole guide. We should alsotake other factors into consideration in judging a man.

Frankenstein Socratic Seminar Reflection

Frankenstein and Pride & Prejudice Socratic Seminar Reflection This Socratic Seminar made me agree much more with Socrates’ beliefs: that extended discussion and continual questioning facilitate the most meaningful learning experiences. It helped me understand the novel much more than I had before because I got to hear about the book from the perspective of others and how they interpreted the story and discussed what they thought were the positive and negative aspects of Frankenstein.I discovered that many others interpreted some meanings of the novel in the same way that I did. Overall, the seminar went very well in both groups, but there were some negative aspects in both seminars. In the Pride & Prejudice seminar, none of the members proposed any questions in response to an already given question (a rebuttal question). This was not the case in the Frankenstein group, which is good.However, although we did ask rebuttal questions, our group failed to use quotes for support an d our discussion was more of a modern conversation between people with a lot of agreeing and disagreeing, but no evidence for backup. I believe that there was only one person who used quotations and cited them to backup his/her point, who was Matt Kane (I hope you didn’t want us to specify names; at least it’s not a bad comment). The Pride and Prejudice group did fulfill the use of quotations, which evened out the differences between the seminars.There were also many great points brought up in our discussion of Frankenstein, which almost everybody agreed with such as how we appointed Victor Frankenstein as the monster of the novel and not the physical monster that he has created. I would not have thought about many of the things with deeper meanings that were discussed in the seminar by myself. Not only was the seminar itself what helped me to further understand the story, but also the pre-seminar tasks (question responses and formation).Each question coincidentally as ked me something that I had thought about at least one time during the reading, and the required quotations helped remind me of when and where I had encountered the question while reading it. The post-seminar paper (this thing) is helping me because it makes me remember what we talked about during the seminar and how it was effective to understanding the story. Being reminded of how effective the seminar actually was, will make me believe more in the beliefs of Socrates, as well as want to do more seminars for different novels in the future.

How Luxury Brands Were Affected by Recession Essay

Bovis homes group PLC, a leading UK house builder, had to review its corporate plans as a result of the recession and major cuts in government spending on building projects. Gives the high level of change in economic and political environments, is there any point in corporate planning? Justify your answer with reference to the house building industry and/or other organisations or industries you know that have been affected by such changes. (40 marks) Post 2007, global economy has been reeling under recession. Recessionary pressure began with United States economy slowing down; however it has spread globally affecting all countries in some way or the other. Income level, employment have been affected badly. Consumption levels have gone down drastically, which affected consumer dependant countries, such as the UK. Traditionally, luxury brands have not been affected by recession so much, since they have been catering to the higher end class, which is not so affected by the economic downturn. However, in recent past, the luxury has been catering to the inspirational customers, whose consumption patterns are affected due to economic recession. During times like these, companies usually dependant on corporate planning. Some of them in order to grow, others – to survive. Corporate planning is the process of drawing up detailed action plans to achieve an organization’s goals and objectives, taking into account the resources of the organization and the environment within which it operates. Music and books retailer HMV Group became a company that was heavily affected by recession in 2008, as it had to close 60 UK stores in the next 12 months in response to declining sales. The 60 stores set to close represent roughly 10% of the group’s UK High Street presence, which comprises 285 HMV shops and 312 Waterstone’s outlets. The massive store closure of outlets was an attempt to survive, as they has been hammered by competition from digital downloads as well as supermarkets and online retailers undercutting it on price. As well as the store closures, HMV said it would implement other cost-cutting measures that would save it a further ? 10m per year. However HMV’s corporate planning hasn’t proved to be successful, as it turns out HMV’s share price has declined steadily throughout 2010, and the latest drop brings its cumulative fall to more than 75% over the last 13 months. Also the firm’s shares dropped 20% even further after it revealed the sales data, and admitted it was having trouble meeting the terms of a bank loan. As it turns out, HMV’s retail analyst didn’t expected music and DVD market falling that fast, despite their attempts to change their sales mix, offering iPods and live music in order to stay in the market. HMV is repeating Woolworths and Zavvi collapse during the recession. Fox described â€Å"extremely difficult† trading conditions with total sales of physical CDs and DVDs down 10% and 8% respectively against the same six-month period last year. Without a new console to fire the imagination the picture was even worse in video games where sales plunged 12%, a fall that was on top of the 30% slump seen in 2009. â€Å"It is not that value is moving from physical to the digital sales – it is just that value is being lost,† said Fox. Therefore the HMV is facing severe competition and tough times due to recession. Their corporate planning proved to be unsuccessful, they are trying to deal with already dead market, which don’t have any prerequisites to grow in the future. Poundland is complitely different business, with different approach and corporate plan, as they grow during the recession periods. They are aimed at consumer who requires value. Some of that is driven by the economy or the economic conditions, some of that is because the people have low disposable incomes and traditionally that’s been the case, and they have needed to seek value. During tough economic conditions, that was always the case. When US recession just took place, in 2008, poundland started to grow using external growth. At christmas 2008, when Woolworth post-administration 600 stores became available, poundland took 70 of those over three years. Big success from the very beginning was due to , very talented property team, who use a network of agents so they are are constantly searching for new opportunities of expansion. A number of other opportunities have arisen over the years as well and they have been able to convert those quite quickly because they had a new store opening team and a refurbishment programme, which really is about pie-cutting. So there’s a process. The average around 60 stores a year now, so over one a week, which I think is testament to the quality of the team, the sourcing of the stores and the continual improvement in the performance of the business, which of course helps finance those opportunities. In the recession – or difficult economic periods, all decisions needs to be discussed and implemented using professional team, which will make your business distinguish from arising competition. In the conclusion I would like to say that recession is not true for every business. As we have seen above, poundland did well during the recession period, as they targeting those on low-incomes and those, who willing to save, however a situation in a luxury industry differs: The wealthy are not much affected by economic downturn and to use luxury goods is a kind of addiction; it isn’t easy to change the lifestyle even if personal income dropped. The Geneva motor show 2013 is happening right now. Rolls Royce is selling better than they did last year, as is Lamborghini. The Middle East, Russia do not seem to be feeling the crunch for the time being. The general feeling is that desire for the super luxury brands remains high but purchases are being delayed. Lamborghini always under produce and have enough orders to remain keep production going for a long time whilst mass to mid luxury car factories are laying off workers, that is the trend that works in the luxury sector. However, the middle-class luxury brands will be heavily affected due to concept that was stated above with an example of poundland. Surely some of them could be richer during the trouble times, but most are struggling and haven’t the mind to spend freely money for luxury items as before. The wealthy never stop spending, they just change what they spend their money on. For example companies like Hermes, Alfred Dunhill, Vacheron Constatine, and Botega Veneta are designed to be recession proof. Marc Jacobs and Chanel on the other hand will feel the pain. As stated above its all about client base and how corporate plan was developed and implemented.

Mary

Mary, What a day so far! It started off with Kathy calling at 6 a.m.   She is a real mess. Kathy wants to come home. She hates it there and wants out. She realizes that she needs to take care of Joe, but she is falling apart. Then, at 11 a.m., I get a call that Dawn needs fluids and her immune system is worse than I thought. I am thankful that the bleeding stopped. Next, I asked to talk to Dawn. She was crying and falling apart.   She asked if she just can go live in her house. That way she could give you and Don your home back. She is very concerned that she is causing too much stress on your relationship with Don. Kathy is miserable and so is Dawn. Dawn doesn`t want to make anyone’s life unhappy, but I can`t let her live on her own yet. She would die if left alone. I doubt she would make it through a week. I’m not sure what to do.   She has asked me not to ask you to do anything extra. I can`t do that either.     I don`t want her suffering additional pain because you need to remove the fluids. You must do the therapy three times a week so she can stay dry. Being wet right now will only cause infections. Please play the game as well.   I really do feel this can help her brain get stronger. You will also need to check on her every hour or hour and a half to be certain to treat fevers and chills when she is sleeping. I have tried to ask you for as little as possible with Dawn’s care these days because I understand the problems between you and Don. Dawn tries to pull her weight around the house, with cleaning, cooking, and taking good care of you, but she feels she is not doing enough.   She is ery concerned about the stress she is causing for you and Don. However, I told Dawn the husband-wife thing is not her problem to figure out. As adults, we need to figure that out, not the kids. The kids are the sick ones, yet we sometime make them feel really badly even when that is not what we are trying to do. For example, when Kathy and I were in Madison, we both wanted to take care of Joe, but we also complained about the small amount of time we spent together. Yes, we couldn`t sleep together, but I made no effort to spend time with Kathy before her bed time and she didn`t make any effort to spend time with me.   So, what I am trying to say here is that we have to make time to spend with our spouses. No, we can’t be together every night, but some nights we can go and get our spouses and spend that time together before bedtime. I have had time to think about this and I was just as much at fault as Kathy was for us not spending time together. My advice is that you learn from my mistakes. Some night, at 10 p.m., go get Don and spend some time together while Dawn watches her soaps. Just do like Kathy does, keep going to bed on time. Yes, it not the same as sleeping together, but it the time together that counts while taking care of this sick kid of ours. Trying do this two or three times a week. I’m not sure how else to help you guys out. I could watch Dawn during spring break, but I think you told me that you already bought tickets. I am not sure what to do to help you guys. Everyone seems very miserable. Please tell me what I can do. I don`t want Dawn stopping treatment in an effort to give you your life back. Dawn has been seriously talking about this for awhile now. She believes that if she dies, you will have the money to go someplace and make up for lost time. Mary, I’m sure you understand that Dawn cannot continue thinking like this. Dr. Smith

Issues in Sme Development in Ghana and South Africa

International Research Journal of Finance and Economics ISSN 1450-2887 Issue 39 (2010)  © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2010 http://www. eurojournals. com/finance. htm Issues in SME Development in Ghana and South Africa Joshua Abor Department of Finance University of Ghana Business School, Legon Peter Quartey Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research University of Ghana, Legon Abstract This paper discusses the characteristics, contributions of SMEs to economic development, and the constraints to SME development in developing countries with particular reference to Ghana and South Africa. SMEs in Ghana have been noted to provide about 85% of manufacturing employment of Ghana. They are also believed to contribute about 70% to Ghana’s GDP and account for about 92% of businesses in Ghana. In the Republic of South Africa, it is estimated that 91% of the formal business entities are SMEs. They also contribute between 52 to 57% to GDP and provide about 61% to employment. Notwithstanding the recognition of the important roles SMEs play in these countries, their development is largely constrained by a number of factors, such as lack of access to appropriate technology; limited access to international markets, the existence of laws, regulations and rules that impede the development of the sector; weak institutional capacity, lack of management skills and training, and most importantly finance. The paper provides some relevant recommendations to policy makers, development agencies, entrepreneurs, and SME managers to ascertain the appropriate strategy to improve the SME sector in these countries. Keywords: SME Development, Ghana, South Africa 1. 0. Introduction There is growing recognition of the important role small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play in economic development. They are often described as efficient and prolific job creators, the seeds of big businesses and the fuel of national economic engines. Even in the developed industrial economies, it is the SME sector rather than the multinationals that is the largest employer of workers (Mullineux, 1997). Interest in the role of SMEs n the development process continues to be in the forefront of policy debates in most countries. Governments at all levels have undertaken initiatives to promote the growth of SMEs (Feeney and Riding, 1997). SME development can encourage the process of both inter and intra-regional decentralization; and, they may well become a countervailing force against the economic power of larger enterprises. More generally, the development of SMEs is seen as accelerating the achievement of wider economi c and socio-economic objectives, including poverty alleviation (Cook and Nixson, 2000). According to an OECD report, SMEs produce about 25% of OECD exports and 35% of Asia’s exports (OECD, 1997). International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 39 (2010) 219 SMEs represent over 90% of private business and contribute to more than 50% of employment and of GDP in most African countries (UNIDO, 1999). Small enterprises in Ghana are said to be a characteristic feature of the production landscape and have been noted to provide about 85% of manufacturing employment of Ghana (Steel and Webster, 1991; Aryeetey, 2001). SMEs are also believed to contribute about 70% to Ghana’s GDP and account for about 92% of businesses in Ghana. Similarly, in the Republic of South Africa, it is estimated that 91% of the formal business entities are Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) (Hassbroeck, 1996; Berry et al. , 2002). They also contribute between 52 and 57% to GDP and provide about 61% of employment (CSS, 1998; Ntsika, 1999; Gumede, 2000; Berry et al. , 2002). SMEs therefore have a crucial role to play in stimulating growth, generating employment and contributing to poverty alleviation, given their economic weight in African countries. How do SMEs in Ghana compare with their counterparts in South Africa and what policy lessons can be drawn for both countries to enhance the contribution of the sector remains the focus of this paper. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section two reviews the various definitions of SMEs. Section three discusses the characteristics of SMEs in developing countries. Sections four and five examine the contributions of SMEs to economic development and the constraints to SME developments. The paper concludes in section six. 2. 0. What is an SME? The issue of what constitutes a small or medium enterprise is a major concern in the literature. Different authors have usually given different definitions to this category of business. SMEs have indeed not been spared with the definition problem that is usually associated with concepts which have many components. The definition of firms by size varies among researchers. Some attempt to use the capital assets while others use skill of labour and turnover level. Others define SMEs in terms of their legal status and method of production. Storey (1994) tries to sum up the danger of using size to define the status of a firm by stating that in some sectors all firms may be regarded as small, whilst in other sectors there are possibly no firms which are small. The Bolton Committee (1971) first formulated an â€Å"economic† and â€Å"statistical† definition of a small firm. Under the â€Å"economic† definition, a firm is said to be small if it meets the following three criteria: †¢ It has a relatively small share of their market place; †¢ It is managed by owners or part owners in a personalized way, and not through the medium of a formalized management structure; †¢ It is independent, in the sense of not forming part of a large enterprise. Under the â€Å"statistical† definition, the Committee proposed the following criteria:: †¢ The size of the small firm sector and its contribution to GDP, employment, exports, etc. †¢ The extent to which the small firm sector’s economic contribution has changed over time; †¢ Applying the statistical definition in a cross-country comparison of the small firms’ economic contribution. The Bolton Committee applied different definitions of the small firm to different sectors. Whereas firms in manufacturing, construction and mining were defined in terms of number of employees (in which case, 200 or less qualified the firm to be a small firm), those in the retail, services, wholesale, etc. were defined in terms of monetary turnover (in which case the range is 50,000-200,000 British Pounds to be classified as small firm). Firms in the road transport industry are classified as small if they have 5 or fewer vehicles. There have been criticisms of the Bolton definitions. These centre mainly on the apparent inconsistencies between defining characteristics based on number of employees and those based on managerial approach. The European Commission (EC) defined SMEs largely in term of the number of employees as follows: †¢ firms with 0 to 9 employees – micro enterprises; 220 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 39 (2010) †¢ 10 to 99 employees – small enterprises; †¢ 100 to 499 employees – medium enterprises. Thus, the SME sector is comprised of enterprises (except agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing) which employ less than 500 workers. In effect, the EC definitions are based solely on employment rather than a multiplicity of criteria. Secondly, the use of 100 employees as the small firm’s upper limit is more appropriate, given the increase in productivity over the last two decades (Storey, 1994). Finally, the EC definition did not assume the SME group is homogenous; that is, the definition makes a distinction between micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. However, the EC definition is too all-embracing to be applied to a number of countries. Researchers would have to use definitions for small firms which are more appropriate to their particular â€Å"target† group (an operational definition). It must be emphasized that debates on definitions turn out to be sterile, unless size is a factor which influences performance. For instance, the relationship between size and performance matters when assessing the impact of a credit programme on a target group (Storey, 1994). Weston and Copeland (1998) hold that definitions of size of enterprises suffer from a lack of universal applicability. In their view, this is because enterprises may be conceived of in varying terms. Size has been defined in different contexts, in terms of the number of employees, annual turnover, industry of enterprise, ownership of enterprise, and value of fixed assets. Van der Wijst (1989) considers small and medium businesses as privately held firms with 1 – 9 and 10 – 99 people employed, respectively. Jordan et al (1998) define SMEs as firms with fewer than 100 employees and less than â‚ ¬15 million turnover. Michaelas et al (1999) consider small independent private limited companies with fewer than 200 employees and Lopez and Aybar (2000) considered companies with sales below â‚ ¬15 million as small. According to the British Department of Trade and Industry, the best description of a small firm remains that used by the Bolton Committee in its 1971 Report on Small Firms. This stated that a small firm is an independent business, managed by its owner or part-owners and having a small market share (Department of Trade and Industry, 2001). The UNIDO also defines SMEs in terms of number of employees by giving different classifications for industrialized and developing countries (see Elaian, 1996). The definition for industrialized countries is given as follows: †¢ Large – firms with 500 or more workers; †¢ Medium – firms with 100-499 workers; †¢ Small – firms with 99 or less workers. The classification given for developing countries is as follows: †¢ Large – firms with 100 or more workers; †¢ Medium – firms with 20-99 workers; †¢ Small – firms with 5-19 workers; †¢ Micro – firms with less than 5 workers. It is clear from the various definitions that there is not a general consensus over what constitutes an SME. Definitions vary across industries and also across countries. It is important now to examine definitions of SMEs given in the context of Ghana and South Africa. 2. 1. The Ghanaian Situation There have been various definitions given for small-scale enterprises in Ghana but the most commonly used criterion is the number of employees of the enterprise (Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). In applying this definition, confusion often arises in respect of the arbitrariness and cut off points used by the various official sources. In its Industrial Statistics, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) considers firms with fewer than 10 employees as small-scale enterprises and their counterparts with more than 10 employees as medium and large-sized enterprises. Ironically, the GSS in its national accounts considered companies with up to 9 employees as SMEs (Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). The value of fixed assets in the firm has also been used as an alternative criterion for defining SMEs. However, the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) in Ghana applies both the International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 39 (2010) 221 â€Å"fixed asset and number of employees† criteria. It defines a small-scale enterprise as a firm with not more than 9 workers, and has plant and machinery (excluding land, buildings and vehicles) not exceeding 10 million Ghanaian cedis. The Ghana Enterprise Development Commission (GEDC), on the other hand, uses a 10 million Ghanaian cedis upper limit definition for plant and machinery. It is important to caution that the process of valuing fixed assets poses a problem. Secondly, the continuous depreciation of the local currency as against major trading currencies often makes such definitions outdated (Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). In defining small-scale enterprises in Ghana, Steel and Webster (1991), and Osei et al (1993) used an employment cut-off point of 30 employees. Osei et al (1993), however, classified small-scale enterprises into three categories. These are: (i) micro – employing less than 6 people; (ii) very small employing 6-9 people; (iii) small – between 10 and 29 employees. A more recent definition is the one given by the Regional Project on Enterprise Development Ghana manufacturing survey paper. The survey report classified firms into: (i) micro enterprise, less than 5 employees; (ii) small enterprise, 5 29 employees; (iii) medium enterprise, 30 – 99 employees; (iv) large enterprise, 100 and more employees (see Teal, 2002). 2. 2. The South African Situation The most widely used framework in South Africa is the definition of the National Small Business Act 102 of 1996, which defines five categories of businesses in South Africa. The definition uses the number of employees (the most common mode of definition) per enterprise size category combined with the annual turnover categories, the gross assets excluding fixed property. The definitions for the various enterprise categories are given as follows: †¢ Survivalist enterprise: The income generated is less than the minimum income standard or the poverty line. This category is considered pre-entrepreneurial, and includes hawkers, vendors and subsistence farmers. (In practice, survivalist enterprises are often categorised as part of the micro-enterprise sector). Micro enterprise: The turnover is less than the VAT registration limit (that is, R150 000 per year). These enterprises usually lack formality in terms of registration. They include, for example, spaza shops, minibus taxis and household industries. They employ no more than 5 people. †¢ Very small enterprise: These are enterprises employing fewer than 10 paid employees, except mining, electricity, manufacturing and construction sectors, in which the figure is 20 employees. These enterprises operate in the formal market and have access to technology. Small enterprise: The upper limit is 50 employees. Small enterprises are generally more established than very small enterprises and exhibit more complex business practices. †¢ Medium enterprise: The maximum number of employees is 100, or 200 for the mining, electricity, manufacturing and construction sectors. These enterprises are often characterised by the decentralisation of power to an additional management layer. The National Small Business Act’s definitions of the different categories of business may be summarised as set out in Table 1 below. 222 Table 1: International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 39 (2010) Definitions of SMMEs given in the National Small Business Act Number of Employees Fewer than 100 to 200, depending on industry Fewer than 50 Annual Turnover (in South African rand) Less than R4 million to R50 million, depending upon industry Less than R2 million to R25 million, depending on industry Less than R200 000 to R500 000, depending on industry Less than R150 000 Gross Assets, Excluding Fixed Property Less than R2 million to R18 million, depending on industry Less than R2 million to R4. million, depending on industry Less than R150 000 to R500 000, depending on Industry Less than R100 000 Enterprise Size Medium Small Fewer than 10 to 20, depending on industry Micro Fewer than 5 Source: Falkena et al. (2001) Very Small From the above, two key contrast can be drawn between the definitions of SMEs in Ghana and their counterparts in South Africa. First, Act 102 of 1996 defines SMEs in South Africa wh ereas there is no such legislation in Ghana. Secondly, the cut off points for the various SME size categories in South Africa are much higher than that of Ghana. This may be a result of the fact that South Africa has a much higher income levels than Ghana. 3. 0. Characteristics of SMEs in Developing Countries Fisher and Reuber (2000) enumerate a number of characteristics of SMEs in developing countries under the broad headings: labour characteristics, sectors of activity, gender of owner and efficiency. Given that most SMEs are one-person businesses, the largest employment category is working proprietors. This group makes up more than half the SME workforce in most developing countries; their families, who tend to be unpaid but active in the enterprise, make up roughly another quarter. The remaining portion of the workforce is split between hired workers and trainees or apprentices. SMEs are more labour intensive than larger firms and therefore have lower capital costs associated with job creation (Anheier and Seibel, 1987; Liedholm and Mead, 1987; Schmitz, 1995). In terms of activity, they are mostly engaged in retailing, trading, or manufacturing (Fisher and Reuber, 2000). While it is a common perception that the majority of SMEs will fall into the first category, the proportion of SME activity that takes place in the retail sector varies considerably between countries, and between rural and urban regions within countries. Retailing is mostly found in urban regions, while manufacturing can be found in either rural or urban centres. However, the extent of involvement of a country in manufacturing will depend on a number of factors, including, availability of raw materials, taste and consumption patterns of domestic consumers, and the level of development of the export markets. In Ghana, SMEs can be categorized into urban and rural enterprises. The former can be subdivided into â€Å"organized† and â€Å"unorganized† enterprises. The organized ones mostly have paid employees with a registered office, whereas the unorganized category is mainly made up of artisans who work in open spaces, temporary wooden structures, or at home, and employ few or in some cases no salaried workers (Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). They rely mostly on family members or apprentices. Rural enterprises are largely made up of family groups, individual artisans, women engaged in food production from local crops. The major activities within this sector include:- soap and detergents, fabrics, clothing and tailoring, textile and leather, village blacksmiths, tin-smithing, ceramics, timber and mining, bricks and cement, beverages, food processing, bakeries, wood furniture, electronic assembly, agro processing, chemical-based products and mechanics (Osei et al. , 1993; Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). Majority of SMEs are female-owned businesses, which more often than not are home-based compared to those owned by males; they are operated from home and are mostly not considered in official statistics. This clearly affects their chances of gaining access to financing schemes, since such International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 39 (2010) 223 programmes are designed without sufficient consideration of the needs of businesses owned by females. These female entrepreneurs often get the impression that they are not capable of taking advantage of these credit schemes, because the administrative costs associated with the schemes often outweigh the benefits. Prior empirical studies in Ghana have shown that female-owned SMEs often have difficulty accessing finance. Females are mostly involved in sole-proprietorship businesses which are mainly microenterprises and as such may lack the necessary collateral to qualify for loans (Aryeetey et al, 1994; Abor and Biekpe, 2006). Measures of enterprise efficiency (e. g. labour productivity or total factor productivity) vary greatly both within and across industries. Firm size may be associated with some other factors that are correlated with efficiency, such as managerial skill and technology, and the effects of the policy environment. Most studies in developing countries indicate that the smallest firms are the least efficient, and there is some evidence that both small and large firms are relatively inefficient compared to medium-scale enterprises (Little et al. , 1987). It is often argued that SMEs are more innovative than larger firms. Many small firms bring innovations to the market place, but the contribution of innovations to productivity often takes time, and larger firms may have more resources to adopt and implement them (Acs et al. , 1999). 4. 0. Contributions of SMEs to Economic Development There is a general consensus that the performance of SMEs is important for both economic and social development of developing countries. From the economic perspective, SMEs provide a number of benefits (Advani, 1997). SMEs have been noted to be one of the major areas of concern to many policy makers in an attempt to accelerate the rate of growth in low-income countries. These enterprises have been recognized as the engines through which the growth objectives of developing countries can be achieved. They are potential sources of employment and income in many developing countries. SMEs seem to have advantages over their large-scale competitors in that they are able to adapt more easily to market conditions, given their broadly skilled technologies. They are able to withstand adverse economic conditions because of their flexible nature (Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). SMEs are more labour intensive than larger firms and therefore have lower capital costs associated with job creation (Anheier and Seibel, 1987; Liedholm and Mead, 1987; Schmitz, 1995). They perform useful roles in ensuring income stability, growth and employment. Since SMEs are labour intensive, they are more likely to succeed in smaller urban centres and rural areas, where they can contribute to a more even distribution of economic activity in a region and can help to slow the flow of migration to large cities. Due to their regional dispersion and their labour intensity, it is argued, small-scale production units can promote a more equitable distribution of income than large firms. They also improve the efficiency of domestic markets and make productive use of scarce resources, thus facilitating long-term economic growth (Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). SMEs contribute to a country’s national product by either manufacturing goods of value, or through the provision of services to both consumers and/or other enterprises. This encompasses the provision of products and, to a lesser extent, services to foreign clients, thereby contributing to overall export performance. In Ghana and South Africa, SMEs represent a vast portion of businesses. They represent about 92% of Ghanaian businesses and contribute about 70% to Ghana’s GDP and over 80% to employment. SMEs also account for about 91% of the formal business entities in South Africa, contributing between 52% and 57% of GDP and providing about 61% of employment (CSS, 1998; Ntsika, 1999; Gumede, 2000; Berry et al. , 2002). From an economic perspective, however, enterprises are not just suppliers, but also consumers; this plays an important role if they are able to position themselves in a market with purchasing power: their demand for industrial or consumer goods will stimulate the activity of their suppliers, just as their own activity is stimulated by the demands of their clients. Demand in the form of investment plays a dual role, both from a demand-side (with regard to the suppliers of industrial goods) and on the supplyside (through the potential for new production arising from upgraded equipment). In addition, demand 224 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 39 (2010) is important to the income-generation potential of SMEs and their ability to stimulate the demand for both consumer and capital goods (Berry et al. , 2002). 5. 0. General Constraints to SME Development Despite the potential role of SMEs to accelerated growth and job creation in developing countries, a number of bottlenecks affect their ability to realize their full potential. SME development is hampered by a number of factors, including finance, lack of managerial skills, equipment and technology, regulatory issues, and access to international markets (Anheier and Seibel, 1987; Steel and Webster, 1991; Aryeetey et al, 1994; Gockel and Akoena, 2002). The lack of managerial know-how places significant constraints on SME development. Even though SMEs tend to attract motivated managers, they can hardly compete with larger firms. The scarcity of management talent, prevalent in most countries in the region, has a magnified impact on SMEs. The lack of support services or their relatively higher unit cost can hamper SMEs’ efforts to improve their management, because consulting firms are often not equipped with appropriate cost-effective management solutions for SMEs. Besides, despite the numerous institutions providing training and advisory services, there is still a skills gap in the SME sector as a whole (Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). This is because entrepreneurs cannot afford the high cost of training and advisory services while others do not see the need to upgrade their skills due to complacency. In terms of technology, SMEs often have difficulties in gaining access to appropriate technologies and information on available techniques (Aryeetey et al. , 1994). In most cases, SMEs utilize foreign technology with a scarce percentage of shared ownership or leasing. They usually acquire foreign licenses, because local patents are difficult to obtain. Regulatory constraints also pose serious challenges to SME development and although wideranging structural reforms have led to some improvements, prospects for enterprise development remain to be addressed at the firm-level. The high start-up costs for firms, including licensing and registration requirements, can impose excessive and unnecessary burdens on SMEs. The high cost of settling legal claims, and excessive delays in court proceedings adversely affect SME operations. In the case of Ghana, the cumbersome procedure for registering and commencing business are key issues often cited. The World Bank Doing Business Report (2006) indicated that it takes 127 days to deal with licensing issues and there are 16 procedures involved in licensing a business in Ghana. It takes longer (176 days) in South Africa and there were 18 procedures involved in dealing with licensing issues. Meanwhile, the absence of antitrust legislation favours larger firms, while the lack of protection for property rights limits SMEs’ access to foreign technologies (Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). Previously insulated from international competition, many SMEs are now faced with greater external competition and the need to expand market share. However, their limited international marketing experience, poor quality control and product standardisation, and little access to international partners, continue to impede SMEs’ expansion into international markets (Aryeetey et al. , 1994). They also lack the necessary information about foreign markets. One important problem that SMEs often face is access to capital (Lader, 1996). Lack of adequate financial resources places significant constraints on SME development. Cook and Nixson (2000) observe that, notwithstanding the recognition of the role of SMEs in the development process in many developing countries, SMEs development is always constrained by the limited availability of financial resources to meet a variety of operational and investment needs. A World Bank study found that about 90% of small enterprises surveyed stated that credit was a major constraint to new investment (Parker et al. , 1995). Levy (1993) also found that there is limited access to financial resources available to smaller enterprises compared to larger organisations and the consequences for their growth and development. The role of finance has been viewed as a critical element for the development of SMEs (Cook and Nixson, 2000). A large portion of the SME sector does not have access to adequate and appropriate forms of credit and equity, or indeed to financial services more generally (Parker et al. , 1995). In competing for the corporate market, formal financial institutions have structured their products to serve the needs of large corporates. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 39 (2010) 225 A cursory analysis of survey and research results of SMEs in South Africa, for instance, reveals common reactions from SME owners interviewed. When asked what they perceive as constraints in their businesses and especially in establishing or expanding their businesses, they answered that access to funds is a major constraint. This is reflected in perception questions answered by SME owners in many surveys (see BEES, 1995; Graham and Quattara, 1996; Rwingema and Karungu, 1999). This situation is not different in the case of Ghana (see Sowa et al. , 1992; Aryeetey, 1998; Bigsten et al. , 2000, Abor and Biekpe 2006, 2007; Quartey, 2002). A priori, it might seem surprising that finance should be so important. Requirements such as identifying a product and a market, acquiring any necessary property rights or licenses, and keeping proper records are all in some sense more fundamental to running a small enterprise than is finance (Green et al. , 2002). Some studies have consequently shown that a large number of small enterprises fail because of non-financial reasons. Other constraints SMEs face include: lack of access to appropriate technology; the existence of laws, regulations and rules that impede the development of the sector; weak institutional capacity and lack of management skills and training (see Sowa et al. , 1992; Aryeetey et al. , 1994; Parker et al. , 1995; Kayanula and Quartey, 2000). However, potential providers of finance, whether formal or informal, are unlikely to commit funds to a business which they view as not being on a sound footing, irrespective of the exact nature of the unsoundness. Lack of funds may be the immediate reason for a business failing to start or to progress, even when the more fundamental reason lies elsewhere. Finance is said to be the â€Å"glue† that holds together all the diverse aspects involved in small business start-up and development (Green et al. , 2002). 6. 0. Conclusion This paper has reviewed various definitions of SMEs and also discussed the characteristics, contributions of SMEs to economic development, and the constraints to SME development. In reviewing the definitions of SMEs, it was concluded that there is no single, universal, uniformly acceptable definition of SMEs. Several measures or indicators have been used to define the SME sector. The most commonly used is the number of employees of the enterprise. However, in applying this definition, confusion often arises in respect of the arbitrariness and cut-off points used by various official sources. The definitions of SMEs within the context of Ghana and South Africa were also examined, given that this paper focuses on these two countries. SMEs often fall into two categories, that is, urban and rural enterprises. The former can be sub-divided into â€Å"organized† and â€Å"unorganized† enterprises. The organized groups have registered offices and paid workers, whilst the unorganized ones are mainly made up of artisans. Rural enterprises are largely made up of family groups and individual artisans. The activities in the SME sector range from pottery and ceramics to manufacturing of spare parts and electronic assembly. SMEs in Ghana and South Africa have a lot of similarities in terms of their characteristics as well as the vital role they play in the two economies. However, they differ in terms of size and regulation. For instance, the cut off point for the various categories of SMEs in Ghana are much lower than they pertain in South Africa. Secondly, whereas a national legislation defines an SME in South Africa, no such Act exist in Ghana. The study also observed that SMEs constitute a vital element of the development process, and their contributions in terms of production, employment and income in developing countries is widely recognized. Hence, interest in the role of SMEs in the development process continues to be high on the agenda of policy makers in the two countries. Notwithstanding the recognition, the development of SMEs is always constrained by a number of factors such as, lack of access to appropriate technology, limited access to international markets, the existence of laws, regulations and rules that impede the development of the sector; weak institutional capacity and lack of management skills and training. However, access to finance remains the greatest concern for the majority of SMEs. This study suggests that, to improve access to credit to SMEs, entrepreneurs should be encouraged to form cooperatives since financial institutions believe peer pressure often reduces the risk 26 International Research Journal of Finance and Economics – Issue 39 (2010) of default, Secondly, the government through tax incentives can encourage certain training institutions and NGOs to provide training to entrepreneurs on simple record keeping and managerial know-how. Also, a national legislation in Ghana to define what constitutes an SME and their leg al as well as tax obligations will help to integrate a number of informal enterprises into the formal framework. This should be complemented with steps to minimize the legal procedures involved in doing business in both countries. It is also suggested that technology transfer through simple, inexpensive and adaptable technology should be promoted to enhance the productivity of SMEs. References [1] [2] Abor, J. and N. 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