Charting a New Course for Schools Essay Example for Free

Charting a New Course for Schools Essay Marc Tucker’s article, â€Å"Charting a New Course for Schools,† highlights the most urgent problems that the American education system currently faces. He mentions the need to reform the education system in order to compete in today’s global economy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tucker pointed out the deficiencies of the educational system in the country today. Furthermore, he stressed on the need to implement changes to the system. The author focused on information that evidently shows why there is an urgent need to overhaul the educational system.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Tucker, the report of New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, â€Å"Tough Choices or Tough Times, provides an overview of the current status of the American labor force. It shows how the American workers are lagging behind workers from developing countries in terms of skills and abilities. Also, Tucker points out that workers from developing countries possess the same skills and knowledge as American workers and yet are paid lower wages. This poses a problem for American workers since it is a given that any business man would choose to lower costs for the same quality. American workers are losing their edge in the labor market due to the antiquated education system of the country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The dilemma for American workers is this, they must either give up their current standard of living or they must improve themselves in terms of skills, talents, and abilities. The latter, according to Tucker, is the reason why a revamp of the country’s education system has become a necessity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tucker points out two criteria that the United States must meet in order for its workers to continue commanding their high wages and maintain their standard of living. The author says that first, American workers must match the best academic performance in the world. At the same time, Tucker said, the country must offer workers that are the most creative and innovative.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The article also highlighted the characteristics of a premium worker or the worker that deserves to be paid premium wages. According to the author American workers should become premium workers in order to receive the current wages that they are receiving. He described a premium worker as someone who has a high level of preparation in the general areas of reading, speaking, mathematics, history, literature, fine arts, and science. Furthermore, a premium worker should be comfortable with new ideas and abstractions. He must also be creative and possess the imagination to come up with meaningful and useful products for the company. Premium workers must also possess the ability to solve problems by using their knowledge from various fields. Lastly, Tucker described a premium worker as someone who is a team player and can easily adapt to the various changes around him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Premium workers are products of a good and up-to-date educational system. This is the current problem of the education in the country as the current system is no longer adept with the conditions of today. To tackle this problem, Tucker suggested seven steps that can be taken to reform the American educational system. First, Tucker suggested charting a new course for student progression through the system. This requires a total reorganization of the system and opening of new educational opportunities as the students progress. Secondly, the author pointed out the need to reinvest resources where they are most needed and where they will be most efficiently used. This means that available resources should be allocated to areas of the system which can produce the greatest amount of rewards for the students. Another step is to initiate a universal preschool educational system. Tucker viewed preschool education as the foundation of school-based learning. If students are to become highly-skilled workers, they must have a good education foundation and preschool education is the integral aspect of such foundation. For teacher recruitment, Tucker suggested that schools recruit those coming from the top third of the college class. This will ensure highly-educated and competent teachers. Moreover, Tucker suggested the adoption of high-performance management modes to improve schools and districts. Also, he pointed out the need to provide strong support to disadvantaged students. Finally, he proposed the rebuilding of standards, assessment, and curriculum to reflect today’s needs and tomorrow’s requirements. In general, Marc Tucker’s article discusses the problems of the antiquated American educational system and its severe effects on the country’s labor force. I believe that there is indeed a pressing need to revamp the current educational system. Education in the country today no longer meets the needs of the economy. The labor force that the educational system produces is insufficient in terms of skills and abilities. The workers lack the necessary skills that warrant the wages they get. It is for this reason that American and international firms seem to turn to developing countries for their labor needs. If American workers are to remain deserving of the wages they receive, they must become more competent and highly-skilled. It is my opinion that the only way that the country will produce highly-skilled, creative, and innovative workers is to change the educational system. The system should focus more on the development of skills necessary for the various employment needs today. It is the right of every citizen to be properly and adequately educated in order to survive. The current system can no longer provide the educational needs of the people. The primary reason why people go to school is to prepare them for work. Since workers currently receive sub-standard education, they lack the skills and abilities that the labor market needs. Evidently, the only solution to this dilemma is, I believe, to revamp the educational system.

SWOT Analysis of Tesco Express

SWOT Analysis of Tesco Express The organisation which we have taken for the study is Tesco Express the sub brand of Tesco Plc. In our study we are going to identify, describe and evaluate the following management area of Tesco Plc, where we will be involving Marketing Principles to give proper management report on the basis of below strategies: The Organisation Orientation The competitive advantage of the organisation The Impact, positive and negative of the organisations Marketing Mix Management report of Tesco Express- Strength, weakness and improvements that will help to maintain competitive advantage in near future Origin of Tesco Tesco Plc the leading Britain retailer among the top three retailers in the world. They are operating 3700 stores among the world and they have employed around 470,000 employees. They are operating in 14 countries and they are UK, Republic of Ireland, India, China, Japan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and USA. Tesco Plc was started by Jack Cohen in 1919 and the name Tesco was first appeared in the shop in Edgware in 1929 since the company has grown they were implementing their innovation in different business. Jack Cohen founded Tesco and his first day profit was ÂÂ £1 among his ÂÂ £4 sales on selling a grocery from the stall in East London. In the year 1924 the first in-house brand of Tesco has launched and they named that product as Tesco Tea. The names come from the initial of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in the tea supplies and the CO from Jack Cohens Surname. In the year 1932 Tesco stores limited have changed to Tesco private Limited Company. Tesco the brand which have changed their way they do business so fundamentally in each and every part of its company. Because of this change they have done in to business which also includes the loyalty management. For that they have taken a different expertise among the world as the earliest and that they have that named as Clubcard. Tesco joined with DunnHumby and created a Clubcard to tracks the buying behaviour of their 13 million customers, through recording and tracking consumption data from shopping bills. Tesco and DunnHumby have jointly built, maintain and mine a rich customer database with information derived from all customer touch points. Using this customer database, Tescos marketing department is then able to manage changes in either individual or general consumption patterns and adapt their marketing strategies accordingly. Clubcard is a reflection of the attributes of the business and its commitment: a strong team ethic, a commitment to serving customers, and most of all, top-to-bottom retailers pragmatism. Tesco made customer loyalty marketing work, when every other British supermarket loyalty programme in the late 1990s failed, faltered or never got started. Every year since 1995, headlines have proclaimed the death of loyalty scheme, usually enthusiastically supported by other retailers whose loyalty schemes are distant memories. Yet Clubcard is never questioned as a strategic priority by the management. Instead, Tesco has responded to the critics by measurably building sales through Clubcard, using the relevant knowledge it creates to improve the way it runs its business. The Organisation Orientation: Definition An approach to business that centres its activities on satisfying the needs and wants of its customers. The production department when starts to manufacture the product, it focuses on the promotion, distribution, pricing etc. How Tesco implemented its Market orientation: It overall beats the competition in producing the best quality product to the end users with great customer satisfaction as mentioned below. Flexibility Plan and goal setting Managerial and interpersonal skills Flexibility Tesco Express is widely opened across the cities in UK and gives options to many consumers to shop easily. In total there are around 150 shops which is great benefit to the consumers. They have introduced online trading where customers can place an order and buy it without any hindrance. Self billing has been bought up to avoid queues, saves time and energy, people can use the self bill system and pay by themselves and also introduced Club cards in which they can measure sales and improve accordingly by collecting database. Plan and goal setting Every organisation has its own plans and works only with the setting right goals at right time. Plans are to maximise sales and profits, maintains No 1 retail store in UK. Targets competitors and remains as a market leader, provides goods/services that are cheap and affordable to public. Business plans and modules are followed to achieve respective goal. Each objective has deadlines to meet so they have to meet their set objective within the stipulated period of time. Ex- Point of sale is an important merchandising activity to remind, people to stock up, just in case, a different product in categories has been brought together under Barbecue Theme, and a sale tends to increase. With the exceptions of meat, Tesco Express has brought all its barbecue products together under one category in store in order to promote sales and profits. Managerial and interpersonal skills- Still not yet completed Marketing: Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. (C.I.M, 2001) In this cut throat competition, Tesco innovates and re-innovates the new product as per the marketing environment in comparison with its fellow competitors. Healthy competition gives the best outcome of the product like price and quality. The main aim is to maximize customers value as a source of competitive advantage. Tescos Marketing Concept Meets customer needs, wants and preferences more effectively and more closely than competitors Asda, Sainsbury WM Morrison supermarket. The basic philosophies of the organisation are production and sales, it integrates the various activities like production, selling, distribution promotion, advertisement and human resource management in a profitable way for the service of the customers. Production: Focuses on the goods where quality matters and profit is gained on the volume of sales. Quality should be maintained in all the stages of production Tesco the company which are offering more than 100 products under their own brand Tesco. Comparatively they are quality oriented and price oriented. These products are mainly targeted their customer daily needs. They are following exact market economics to market their products. Sales: Even Tesco has its own products in Tesco express also they sell products from different brands too. While comparing with other products Tesco products is more cost effective and with high quality. Tesco Express is one of emerging sub brand in the UK is offering the customer to minimise their shopping time. New innovation has been brought in the form of advanced technology for the customers to generate and pay their own receipts by them. Goals have been divided into 3 different sets- Once it sets up the plan with the right objective, the next strategy is to maximise sales with customer satisfaction. Let us take through with 3 different sets of goals. The organisation recognises the market movements of its competitors in order to maintain good mindset in peoples mind. It strives hard to satisfy customers needs, preferences and taste which is very big task. The last and foremost goal is carried out in the internal management to increase productivity with great coordination among staff members who works as a team. Let us concentrate on planning aspects with involving planning strategies as discussed below. Marketing Planning: Marketing Planning: Turning strategies into implementable action and it is a detailed written statement where each and everyone in the organisation must follow the principles and guidelines and act accordingly. Planning is decide in advance what to do and what not to do, planning plays a vital role in the supermarket division as it deals with FMCG products, in day todays business the sales increases rapidly when everything goes according to plan. Internal and External Environment Key Aspects- Position of Tesco when compared to other companies. Where are we now? Significant improvement has shown in identical market in UK Marketing Audit Market Research Environment Analysis How did we get there? They got there simply because of good performance which was solid. Where are we heading and where do we want to be? Tesco express has strived to achieve the highest standards to ensure the long-term access to quality products and maintain their position as the UKs number 1 supermarket. Tescos aim is to keep customers happy, to achieve high profit margins, to motivate workers, expand its marketing strategies, and support economic issues and to be friendly towards the environment. Tesco aims to cover every conceivable part of the consumer base with management controls. Review Procedures Management Controls How might we get there? It has good marketing mix strategies and implements successfully. By doing so it has reached heights by giving services to consumers. Tesco Express should make als Marketing Mix Which way is best? Are we on course? How can we ensure arrival? Choice criteria Screening Modelling Company Profile SWOT Once marketing planning is carried out successfully the next step is to concentrate on marketing audit. It can be analysed with the inclusion of Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats (SWOT). Once the major part is carried out successfully with all the research analysis and datas, it gives us the strategic position. The overall evaluation of a companys strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats is called as SWOT analysis. It is a way of monitoring the external and internal marketing environment. Good marketing is the art of finding, developing and profiting from these opportunities. A marketing opportunity is an area of buyer need and interest that a company has a high profitably of profitably satisfying. There are three main sources of market opportunities are. The first is to supply something that is short supply. This requires little marketing talent, as the need is obvious. The second is to supply an existing product or service in a new or superior way. The last method often leads to a very new product or service by offering lower price with good quality. To evaluate opportunities companies can use Market Opportunity Analysis (MOA) to determine their attractiveness and profitably of asking questions such as Can we focus the target markets and reach them with cost-effective method and trade markets? Can we deliver the benefits better than any actual or potential competitors? Will the financial rate of return meet or exceed our required threshold for investment? Does our company possess or have access to the critical capabilities and resources we need to deliver the customer benefits? Can we articulate the benefits convincingly to a defined target market? Based on the above Kotlers theory we will be giving out SWOT analysis data. Strengths A wider range of products including fresh and healthy food are available. Tesco express has added around 800 new product lines last year. Stores have increased by over 35% since 2000. Quality of products is sold. All classes of people can afford to buy. It has strong Market Leadership. Strong and good brand image. Weakness Range of stores is limited in Tesco Express and price is not as good as main stores. Inventory turnover is weak. Does not respond queries in time. It mainly concentrates and depends only in UK and Europe. Turnover is poor. Opportunities Planning to open retail environment in Euro zone. Tesco Express has been bought up in density area to satisfy customers requirement with ease. Opportunities in India and other international markets and also they have got private labelling schemes. Threats Intense cut throat competition High interest rates in UK. Labour wages are increasingly at a higher rate. Difficult conditions in International markets. Competitive advantage of the organisation Jack Welch, former CEO of GE says, If you dont have competitive advantage, dont compete. (Jobber 2007:773) In the face of global competition and cut throat competition, there are many competitors are growing day by day and the rule of survival for the fittest comes into picture. Companies are forced to survive by increasing the production and sales at a better rate. With todays technology changing day by day oragnisation has to put the best foot forward to stay and compete. As a result they gain enormous experience to handle different sets of consumers and their buying habits Marketing is all about to generate transactions and to generate relationships. No organisation stands alone in the market without competitors; the company cannot develop its products by developing the product range and its features but also faces the competitive environment of the market. The factors which analyses the changing economic environment in the trading community and reacts accordingly. The competitors also influences various factors such as success or failure of a business in any market conditions, this is why it is important to consider systematically a number of aspects of competitive behaviour. Competitive analysis is a systematic approaching in understanding the key factors of the planning strategy in terms of objectives, resource allocation and implementation through the marketing mix. A good understanding of these factors reveals the organisation to be in a stronger arena in building and sustaining foundations for the firm to hold its position to maintain the reputation in the longer run. Once an organisation finds with whom it is competiting and which category of the competition of the emerging market. When competitors are identified, the probability of forming them into clusters, depending on focus and strategy. The outcome of the identified clusters identifies strong and weak competitors in each group which can be considered as the strategic opportunities defined. These are the number of different characteristic that can be used for identifying strategic segments, which in turn provides a useful framework for evolving opportunities in business environment that leads to an order of implementing organisational behaviour techniques of competitors data that relies on financial performance of the segments served in marketing strategies. The arch rival of Tesco express is Costcutter The arch rival of Tesco express is Costcutter because they are the one who have similar marketing policies to overcome its rival. Tesco Express is spread all over the United Kingdom with in and around 1000 outlets but Costcutter is with 1600 outlets. Comparatively Tesco express and Costcutter got the same logic of attracting their customers to sell best quality with reasonable price . However when we analyse the competitive advantage of Tesco to overcome its fellow competitors with new innovation called Auto billing and paying system but Costcutter lacks with that facilities. opening as wel as closing times varies with Costcutter as it is opened 24 hours open and Tesco express opens from 6am in the morning and closes 10pm in the night. So all we can say is that they are the perfect competitors with having leads and falls with each other in different facts. Tesco express is using different segmentations to make the Tesco express successful among their competitors and their segmentations are geographic, usage and loyalty; On geographic segmentation they categorise their shops according to the market. They mostly were concentrating on the region where they can have the more people who are be the bread and butter consumer that means people who wants to buy one or two products at that specific period of time. Theres a brand familiarity that you dont always get from a local store and the concept is familiar through use of the superstore predecessor. On usage segmentation being an express the range are limited and choice or very little and the price is bit higher than its own Tesco extra. On the loyalty segmentation they have just rock the concept called Clubcard. They have track the customers with the card and it make them to analyse to find the exact need of customer and they serving them according to their needs. Mission Every business has its goals/objectives and works on directions set by the management. No firms can succeed without objectives and tagline of Tesco is, Every little Helps. This tagline has created a realistic statement which is motivating and creates intent in the organisation. The realistic purpose is to provide focus and direction through the conduct of the business. Specific Measurable Accurate Realistic Time bound (SMART). SMART comes into picture once SWOT analysis is completed. Strategy> Behaviour standards Tescos Marketing Objectives The main aim is to retain customer satisfaction and maintain number 1 Retail Company in the UK. To maximise sales and profit To provide reasonable price to the consumers. Marketing Environment Marketing environment and its influences. It has been divided into 2 different categories based on 4ps. Micro Environment Macro Environment Micro Environment has been divided into 4 divisions namely Suppliers Distributors Competitors Customers Macro Environment has been divided into 5 divisions namely A) Socio Cultural Environment Factors affecting demographic structure of the population, lifestyles, attitudes, cultures, issues of public and private concerns, tastes and demands. B) Technological Environment Creates new product opportunities and improve production. C) Economic Environment It determines demand and supply chain. D) Political and legal Environment Rules, laws and regulations are operated as per the Government bodies. Ex: Smoking in public places E) Ecological Environment -Factors such as global warming, pollution, recycling, packaging etc. Macro environment with Tescos principles Socio Cultural Environment Brassington and Pettitt has given definition regarding Demographic, where he briefly explains that it is the study of the measurable aspects of population structures and profiles including factors such as age , size, gender, race, occupation and location. Tesco express has widely opened across and also outside UK to satisfy customer needs and preferences. Where in it represents strengths and weakness. There are wide range of products to satisfy all ages and all classes of people. It broadens tastes and demands according to peoples lifestyle and their expectations. If it does not satisfys then customers can lose interest and faith. Technological Environment- When an organisation uses more and more different techniques then flexibility comes into picture. Tesco express operates paperless transactions. It brings out new innovation strategies to market the product as per the existing environment. The recent one which it has introduced new way of billing system call, Till , where customers can pick, pack and invoice themselves.. This new system has given new dimensions to the customers to save an extra time. Market research is carried out on a regular basis where an organisation collects information with the respect to the customer focus Economic Environment- In this Economic environment 2 key words which handles the whole market is demand and supply. When there is a demand in the market supply increases automatically, this will have a huge impact in the business environment. They concentrate on the factors affecting economic business and monitor them in order to overcome. Political and legal Environment- Each and every organisation concentrates on the government laws, rules and regulations. Tesco Express follows strict rules and regulations and gives out warning signals to the customers. It also gives smoking free environment. Ex- Smoking is prohibited Ecological Environment- It aims to set up a greenery environment in the form of waste, packaging, recycling, and also cutting carrier bag use. It converts waste into an energy source and reduces the amount of waste going to landfill by over a third and works on waste targets scheme which are reviewed and reported every week. We have taken examples of 2 like packaging and recycling. If we take packaging with the product name called Eggs. Packaging helps to protect and preserve food for longer duration and promotes the product to reach the customers in the best condition. Recycling facilities are available in all our markets except China and Turkey. Tescos future plans are to implement recycling facilities even in respective countries as mentioned to have a global impact in the marketing environment. In UK we have 600 recycling centres of our larger stores. Last year we helped customers to recycle approximately 200,000 tonnes. Market Segmentation The identification of groups of individuals or organisations with similar characteristics that have significant implications for the determination of marketing strategy. (Jobber 2004) Segments can be defined on the basis of Tesco principles. ? Customer Satisfaction- customers can be pleased all the time because all the products are available under one proof so chances of pleasing them will be on higher note. They dont target individuals indeed they target on the whole. Customers have variety of products to choose and satisfy their preferences. Ex- Products are sold to all age groups with reasonable price and with most importantly good quality Methods of Segmentation Geographic It targets customers as per the location, country and also takes into consideration whether it is Rural and Urban. Before it opens any new branches, it undergoes market survey based on the customers potential within the respective location. It also makes sure that for which county products are produced, plans for the available resources so that can be used up to the fuller extent, different sets of people has different taste and preferences according to their lifestyle. Ex China and UK. In China people have different lifestyle as compared to UK. Demographic Once it does sets up the business by creating a layout of the geographic successfully, now the next part is to introduce product based on the marketing analysis which includes people age, sex, race, income, occupation, socio-economic status. It collects complete database and then goes forward. Surveys are conducted at regular intervals with the interest of not losing customers focus and interest. This reduces the negative impact on the organisation. Geo-Demographic Geo- Demographic is nothing but the combination of geographic and demographic. Organisation works on the purchasing behaviours of the people. Once it gathers the available date by doing research in first and second stage and then works as per the prescribed plan. Postcode systems can assist agencies in the new business development, customer profile and identification. Psychographic Tesco divides the market on the basis of life style and personality of the consumers. It targets people of all ages with their requirements. From grocery, eatables to liquor. Types of Target Marketing Need to include on the basis of Tescos target marketing with the inclusion of 4 ps. Undifferentiated and differentiated marketing. Let us talk about the Positioning of Tesco. In earlier days Tesco did not have the brand name but when sales started picking up and demand was on higher side, it did not compromise quality in order to reduce price and it is very convenient to the customers to purchase products as quality of products are available. Once customers got an idea how good Tesco is then Tesco gained its brand name. With the brand name Tesco started to experiment the products with greater profits and then it is managing the customers with great customer loyalty. Philosophy of entire marketing mix hinges with good positioning and failed to do so creates unsound positioning. Positioning Strategies Reasonable price Good quality More and variety of Products Clearance sales Weekend offers and Festive offers Keys to successful positioning are based on competitiveness, successful positioning, creditability and consistency. Repositioning of product Takes place when positioning of products declines. Change in customer tastes and preferences. New competitors enters the market Marketing Mix An Effective marketing mix Tesco compromises on price and does not compromises on quality More demand and more supply. Customers loyalty Refer http://www.cim.co.uk/filestore/resources/10minguides/marketingmix.pdf The Impact, positive and negative of the Tesco Express marketing mix Marketing mix is divided into 7ps but let us concentrate on 4 ps which as follows. Promotion Place Price Product. We will critically discus 4 ps in the following stages. Promotion Promotion is generally referred as awareness created towards the introduction of new product and also the availability of the existing product by means of selling activities and advertising. The main aim of promotion is to spread awareness of the products, uses and benefits. It helps the organisation to position their products in the market to reach customers. The effective tool of promotion of Tesco Express is in the form of television and email adverts, message should be clear and simple so that it can reach the targeted audience by creating a desired response. There are different types of promotions such as advertising, personal selling, public relations and sales promotions. Promotional strategy- One of the Tescos key strategies in the promotional activity is, Clubcard loyalty scheme where it has been a huge success and in turn their market share has been increased. This change has led them to be a market leader. They were giving best and competitive prices to the market, products like fresh vegetables, fish, chicken , mutton, beef and all sorts of necessary day to day needs which were outsourced from the farmers , fish, mongers , butchers directly. They have opened number of convenience stores in every possible place and therefore have a good appeal to a huge number of customers in the market environment. Therefore had a very huge response when they had introduced the club card plus debit card scheme. They not only target higher classes of people but also different classes of people. Introduction of Tesco finest and also budgeted version called Tesco value which is having very huge impact in all the classes of the people. Now it shows how they promote their market to reach different classes of people. Advertising- It can be defined as any paid form of non-personal promotion transmitted through a mass medium. The sponsor should be clearly identified and the advertisement may relate to an organisation, a product or a service. The key difference, therefore, between advertising and other forms of promotion is that it is impersonal and communicates with large numbers of people through paid media channels. (Ref 1) Each and every organisation will advertise for the products produced, Tesco has always gives ads saying that they sell cheapest product in the whole of UK and it is one of the cheapest selling supermarket, where they claim that the price of the products is at least a penny less than their competiting firm in the advertisement featuring Prunella scales and Jane Horrocks comparing bills between Tesco and other stores. Stringent rules has to be followed when it is giving comparative advertising as per UK governments rule and abides the body for advertising standards, the Committee of Advertising Practice as listed in the rules and regulations act. They also have different advertisement taglines called, Every little helps, We sell for less, 1 billion pounds off, is youre nearest the dearest, Low prices every day because we sell 10000 everyday. There have been many advertisement campaigns stating that their products are cheaper to their direct competitors. Personal selling and sales force- According to fill (2002, p. 16), personal selling can be defined as: An interpersonal communication tool which involves face to face activities under taken by individuals, often representing an organisation, in order to inform, persuade or remind an individual or group to take appropriate action, as required by the sponsors representative. (Ref 2) Tesco has been occupied in all the field of business with a brooder marketing strategy; as far as personal selling is concerned they do not need, since they vastly deal with day today products. The only personal selling that they follow is online shopping which is not related to this category of marketing. Sales Promotion- According to the institute of sales promotion, sales promotion is: According to the institute of sales promotion, sales promotion is: The store offers a wide range of promotional offers in various times, if they open a store they would give away vouchers having a 2 pound discount on every six pounds spent for every passerby, club card members, computer tokens for schools. Below are the examples of New Year sales promotion. Examples of the New Year promotions offers include: Danepak Maple Cure Back Bacon 220g, was ÂÂ £3.00, now ÂÂ £1.50 Extra Large Pineapple, was ÂÂ £3.00, now ÂÂ £1.50 Baking Potatoes 2.5kg, was ÂÂ £1.92, now ÂÂ £1 Dolmio Original Bolognese Pasta Sauce 750g, was ÂÂ £2.12, now ÂÂ £1.06 Princes Tuna Chunks In Brine 4X185g, was ÂÂ £5.39, now ÂÂ £2.69 Maryland Choc Chip Hazelnut Cookies 150g, was 86p, now 43p. Kelloggs Special K Oats and Honey 425g, was ÂÂ £2.87, now ÂÂ £1.40 New Covent Garden Plum Tomato Sweet Basil Soup 600g, was ÂÂ £1.97, now 98 SWOT Analysis of Tesco Express SWOT Analysis of Tesco Express The organisation which we have taken for the study is Tesco Express the sub brand of Tesco Plc. In our study we are going to identify, describe and evaluate the following management area of Tesco Plc, where we will be involving Marketing Principles to give proper management report on the basis of below strategies: The Organisation Orientation The competitive advantage of the organisation The Impact, positive and negative of the organisations Marketing Mix Management report of Tesco Express- Strength, weakness and improvements that will help to maintain competitive advantage in near future Origin of Tesco Tesco Plc the leading Britain retailer among the top three retailers in the world. They are operating 3700 stores among the world and they have employed around 470,000 employees. They are operating in 14 countries and they are UK, Republic of Ireland, India, China, Japan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and USA. Tesco Plc was started by Jack Cohen in 1919 and the name Tesco was first appeared in the shop in Edgware in 1929 since the company has grown they were implementing their innovation in different business. Jack Cohen founded Tesco and his first day profit was ÂÂ £1 among his ÂÂ £4 sales on selling a grocery from the stall in East London. In the year 1924 the first in-house brand of Tesco has launched and they named that product as Tesco Tea. The names come from the initial of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in the tea supplies and the CO from Jack Cohens Surname. In the year 1932 Tesco stores limited have changed to Tesco private Limited Company. Tesco the brand which have changed their way they do business so fundamentally in each and every part of its company. Because of this change they have done in to business which also includes the loyalty management. For that they have taken a different expertise among the world as the earliest and that they have that named as Clubcard. Tesco joined with DunnHumby and created a Clubcard to tracks the buying behaviour of their 13 million customers, through recording and tracking consumption data from shopping bills. Tesco and DunnHumby have jointly built, maintain and mine a rich customer database with information derived from all customer touch points. Using this customer database, Tescos marketing department is then able to manage changes in either individual or general consumption patterns and adapt their marketing strategies accordingly. Clubcard is a reflection of the attributes of the business and its commitment: a strong team ethic, a commitment to serving customers, and most of all, top-to-bottom retailers pragmatism. Tesco made customer loyalty marketing work, when every other British supermarket loyalty programme in the late 1990s failed, faltered or never got started. Every year since 1995, headlines have proclaimed the death of loyalty scheme, usually enthusiastically supported by other retailers whose loyalty schemes are distant memories. Yet Clubcard is never questioned as a strategic priority by the management. Instead, Tesco has responded to the critics by measurably building sales through Clubcard, using the relevant knowledge it creates to improve the way it runs its business. The Organisation Orientation: Definition An approach to business that centres its activities on satisfying the needs and wants of its customers. The production department when starts to manufacture the product, it focuses on the promotion, distribution, pricing etc. How Tesco implemented its Market orientation: It overall beats the competition in producing the best quality product to the end users with great customer satisfaction as mentioned below. Flexibility Plan and goal setting Managerial and interpersonal skills Flexibility Tesco Express is widely opened across the cities in UK and gives options to many consumers to shop easily. In total there are around 150 shops which is great benefit to the consumers. They have introduced online trading where customers can place an order and buy it without any hindrance. Self billing has been bought up to avoid queues, saves time and energy, people can use the self bill system and pay by themselves and also introduced Club cards in which they can measure sales and improve accordingly by collecting database. Plan and goal setting Every organisation has its own plans and works only with the setting right goals at right time. Plans are to maximise sales and profits, maintains No 1 retail store in UK. Targets competitors and remains as a market leader, provides goods/services that are cheap and affordable to public. Business plans and modules are followed to achieve respective goal. Each objective has deadlines to meet so they have to meet their set objective within the stipulated period of time. Ex- Point of sale is an important merchandising activity to remind, people to stock up, just in case, a different product in categories has been brought together under Barbecue Theme, and a sale tends to increase. With the exceptions of meat, Tesco Express has brought all its barbecue products together under one category in store in order to promote sales and profits. Managerial and interpersonal skills- Still not yet completed Marketing: Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. (C.I.M, 2001) In this cut throat competition, Tesco innovates and re-innovates the new product as per the marketing environment in comparison with its fellow competitors. Healthy competition gives the best outcome of the product like price and quality. The main aim is to maximize customers value as a source of competitive advantage. Tescos Marketing Concept Meets customer needs, wants and preferences more effectively and more closely than competitors Asda, Sainsbury WM Morrison supermarket. The basic philosophies of the organisation are production and sales, it integrates the various activities like production, selling, distribution promotion, advertisement and human resource management in a profitable way for the service of the customers. Production: Focuses on the goods where quality matters and profit is gained on the volume of sales. Quality should be maintained in all the stages of production Tesco the company which are offering more than 100 products under their own brand Tesco. Comparatively they are quality oriented and price oriented. These products are mainly targeted their customer daily needs. They are following exact market economics to market their products. Sales: Even Tesco has its own products in Tesco express also they sell products from different brands too. While comparing with other products Tesco products is more cost effective and with high quality. Tesco Express is one of emerging sub brand in the UK is offering the customer to minimise their shopping time. New innovation has been brought in the form of advanced technology for the customers to generate and pay their own receipts by them. Goals have been divided into 3 different sets- Once it sets up the plan with the right objective, the next strategy is to maximise sales with customer satisfaction. Let us take through with 3 different sets of goals. The organisation recognises the market movements of its competitors in order to maintain good mindset in peoples mind. It strives hard to satisfy customers needs, preferences and taste which is very big task. The last and foremost goal is carried out in the internal management to increase productivity with great coordination among staff members who works as a team. Let us concentrate on planning aspects with involving planning strategies as discussed below. Marketing Planning: Marketing Planning: Turning strategies into implementable action and it is a detailed written statement where each and everyone in the organisation must follow the principles and guidelines and act accordingly. Planning is decide in advance what to do and what not to do, planning plays a vital role in the supermarket division as it deals with FMCG products, in day todays business the sales increases rapidly when everything goes according to plan. Internal and External Environment Key Aspects- Position of Tesco when compared to other companies. Where are we now? Significant improvement has shown in identical market in UK Marketing Audit Market Research Environment Analysis How did we get there? They got there simply because of good performance which was solid. Where are we heading and where do we want to be? Tesco express has strived to achieve the highest standards to ensure the long-term access to quality products and maintain their position as the UKs number 1 supermarket. Tescos aim is to keep customers happy, to achieve high profit margins, to motivate workers, expand its marketing strategies, and support economic issues and to be friendly towards the environment. Tesco aims to cover every conceivable part of the consumer base with management controls. Review Procedures Management Controls How might we get there? It has good marketing mix strategies and implements successfully. By doing so it has reached heights by giving services to consumers. Tesco Express should make als Marketing Mix Which way is best? Are we on course? How can we ensure arrival? Choice criteria Screening Modelling Company Profile SWOT Once marketing planning is carried out successfully the next step is to concentrate on marketing audit. It can be analysed with the inclusion of Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats (SWOT). Once the major part is carried out successfully with all the research analysis and datas, it gives us the strategic position. The overall evaluation of a companys strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats is called as SWOT analysis. It is a way of monitoring the external and internal marketing environment. Good marketing is the art of finding, developing and profiting from these opportunities. A marketing opportunity is an area of buyer need and interest that a company has a high profitably of profitably satisfying. There are three main sources of market opportunities are. The first is to supply something that is short supply. This requires little marketing talent, as the need is obvious. The second is to supply an existing product or service in a new or superior way. The last method often leads to a very new product or service by offering lower price with good quality. To evaluate opportunities companies can use Market Opportunity Analysis (MOA) to determine their attractiveness and profitably of asking questions such as Can we focus the target markets and reach them with cost-effective method and trade markets? Can we deliver the benefits better than any actual or potential competitors? Will the financial rate of return meet or exceed our required threshold for investment? Does our company possess or have access to the critical capabilities and resources we need to deliver the customer benefits? Can we articulate the benefits convincingly to a defined target market? Based on the above Kotlers theory we will be giving out SWOT analysis data. Strengths A wider range of products including fresh and healthy food are available. Tesco express has added around 800 new product lines last year. Stores have increased by over 35% since 2000. Quality of products is sold. All classes of people can afford to buy. It has strong Market Leadership. Strong and good brand image. Weakness Range of stores is limited in Tesco Express and price is not as good as main stores. Inventory turnover is weak. Does not respond queries in time. It mainly concentrates and depends only in UK and Europe. Turnover is poor. Opportunities Planning to open retail environment in Euro zone. Tesco Express has been bought up in density area to satisfy customers requirement with ease. Opportunities in India and other international markets and also they have got private labelling schemes. Threats Intense cut throat competition High interest rates in UK. Labour wages are increasingly at a higher rate. Difficult conditions in International markets. Competitive advantage of the organisation Jack Welch, former CEO of GE says, If you dont have competitive advantage, dont compete. (Jobber 2007:773) In the face of global competition and cut throat competition, there are many competitors are growing day by day and the rule of survival for the fittest comes into picture. Companies are forced to survive by increasing the production and sales at a better rate. With todays technology changing day by day oragnisation has to put the best foot forward to stay and compete. As a result they gain enormous experience to handle different sets of consumers and their buying habits Marketing is all about to generate transactions and to generate relationships. No organisation stands alone in the market without competitors; the company cannot develop its products by developing the product range and its features but also faces the competitive environment of the market. The factors which analyses the changing economic environment in the trading community and reacts accordingly. The competitors also influences various factors such as success or failure of a business in any market conditions, this is why it is important to consider systematically a number of aspects of competitive behaviour. Competitive analysis is a systematic approaching in understanding the key factors of the planning strategy in terms of objectives, resource allocation and implementation through the marketing mix. A good understanding of these factors reveals the organisation to be in a stronger arena in building and sustaining foundations for the firm to hold its position to maintain the reputation in the longer run. Once an organisation finds with whom it is competiting and which category of the competition of the emerging market. When competitors are identified, the probability of forming them into clusters, depending on focus and strategy. The outcome of the identified clusters identifies strong and weak competitors in each group which can be considered as the strategic opportunities defined. These are the number of different characteristic that can be used for identifying strategic segments, which in turn provides a useful framework for evolving opportunities in business environment that leads to an order of implementing organisational behaviour techniques of competitors data that relies on financial performance of the segments served in marketing strategies. The arch rival of Tesco express is Costcutter The arch rival of Tesco express is Costcutter because they are the one who have similar marketing policies to overcome its rival. Tesco Express is spread all over the United Kingdom with in and around 1000 outlets but Costcutter is with 1600 outlets. Comparatively Tesco express and Costcutter got the same logic of attracting their customers to sell best quality with reasonable price . However when we analyse the competitive advantage of Tesco to overcome its fellow competitors with new innovation called Auto billing and paying system but Costcutter lacks with that facilities. opening as wel as closing times varies with Costcutter as it is opened 24 hours open and Tesco express opens from 6am in the morning and closes 10pm in the night. So all we can say is that they are the perfect competitors with having leads and falls with each other in different facts. Tesco express is using different segmentations to make the Tesco express successful among their competitors and their segmentations are geographic, usage and loyalty; On geographic segmentation they categorise their shops according to the market. They mostly were concentrating on the region where they can have the more people who are be the bread and butter consumer that means people who wants to buy one or two products at that specific period of time. Theres a brand familiarity that you dont always get from a local store and the concept is familiar through use of the superstore predecessor. On usage segmentation being an express the range are limited and choice or very little and the price is bit higher than its own Tesco extra. On the loyalty segmentation they have just rock the concept called Clubcard. They have track the customers with the card and it make them to analyse to find the exact need of customer and they serving them according to their needs. Mission Every business has its goals/objectives and works on directions set by the management. No firms can succeed without objectives and tagline of Tesco is, Every little Helps. This tagline has created a realistic statement which is motivating and creates intent in the organisation. The realistic purpose is to provide focus and direction through the conduct of the business. Specific Measurable Accurate Realistic Time bound (SMART). SMART comes into picture once SWOT analysis is completed. Strategy> Behaviour standards Tescos Marketing Objectives The main aim is to retain customer satisfaction and maintain number 1 Retail Company in the UK. To maximise sales and profit To provide reasonable price to the consumers. Marketing Environment Marketing environment and its influences. It has been divided into 2 different categories based on 4ps. Micro Environment Macro Environment Micro Environment has been divided into 4 divisions namely Suppliers Distributors Competitors Customers Macro Environment has been divided into 5 divisions namely A) Socio Cultural Environment Factors affecting demographic structure of the population, lifestyles, attitudes, cultures, issues of public and private concerns, tastes and demands. B) Technological Environment Creates new product opportunities and improve production. C) Economic Environment It determines demand and supply chain. D) Political and legal Environment Rules, laws and regulations are operated as per the Government bodies. Ex: Smoking in public places E) Ecological Environment -Factors such as global warming, pollution, recycling, packaging etc. Macro environment with Tescos principles Socio Cultural Environment Brassington and Pettitt has given definition regarding Demographic, where he briefly explains that it is the study of the measurable aspects of population structures and profiles including factors such as age , size, gender, race, occupation and location. Tesco express has widely opened across and also outside UK to satisfy customer needs and preferences. Where in it represents strengths and weakness. There are wide range of products to satisfy all ages and all classes of people. It broadens tastes and demands according to peoples lifestyle and their expectations. If it does not satisfys then customers can lose interest and faith. Technological Environment- When an organisation uses more and more different techniques then flexibility comes into picture. Tesco express operates paperless transactions. It brings out new innovation strategies to market the product as per the existing environment. The recent one which it has introduced new way of billing system call, Till , where customers can pick, pack and invoice themselves.. This new system has given new dimensions to the customers to save an extra time. Market research is carried out on a regular basis where an organisation collects information with the respect to the customer focus Economic Environment- In this Economic environment 2 key words which handles the whole market is demand and supply. When there is a demand in the market supply increases automatically, this will have a huge impact in the business environment. They concentrate on the factors affecting economic business and monitor them in order to overcome. Political and legal Environment- Each and every organisation concentrates on the government laws, rules and regulations. Tesco Express follows strict rules and regulations and gives out warning signals to the customers. It also gives smoking free environment. Ex- Smoking is prohibited Ecological Environment- It aims to set up a greenery environment in the form of waste, packaging, recycling, and also cutting carrier bag use. It converts waste into an energy source and reduces the amount of waste going to landfill by over a third and works on waste targets scheme which are reviewed and reported every week. We have taken examples of 2 like packaging and recycling. If we take packaging with the product name called Eggs. Packaging helps to protect and preserve food for longer duration and promotes the product to reach the customers in the best condition. Recycling facilities are available in all our markets except China and Turkey. Tescos future plans are to implement recycling facilities even in respective countries as mentioned to have a global impact in the marketing environment. In UK we have 600 recycling centres of our larger stores. Last year we helped customers to recycle approximately 200,000 tonnes. Market Segmentation The identification of groups of individuals or organisations with similar characteristics that have significant implications for the determination of marketing strategy. (Jobber 2004) Segments can be defined on the basis of Tesco principles. ? Customer Satisfaction- customers can be pleased all the time because all the products are available under one proof so chances of pleasing them will be on higher note. They dont target individuals indeed they target on the whole. Customers have variety of products to choose and satisfy their preferences. Ex- Products are sold to all age groups with reasonable price and with most importantly good quality Methods of Segmentation Geographic It targets customers as per the location, country and also takes into consideration whether it is Rural and Urban. Before it opens any new branches, it undergoes market survey based on the customers potential within the respective location. It also makes sure that for which county products are produced, plans for the available resources so that can be used up to the fuller extent, different sets of people has different taste and preferences according to their lifestyle. Ex China and UK. In China people have different lifestyle as compared to UK. Demographic Once it does sets up the business by creating a layout of the geographic successfully, now the next part is to introduce product based on the marketing analysis which includes people age, sex, race, income, occupation, socio-economic status. It collects complete database and then goes forward. Surveys are conducted at regular intervals with the interest of not losing customers focus and interest. This reduces the negative impact on the organisation. Geo-Demographic Geo- Demographic is nothing but the combination of geographic and demographic. Organisation works on the purchasing behaviours of the people. Once it gathers the available date by doing research in first and second stage and then works as per the prescribed plan. Postcode systems can assist agencies in the new business development, customer profile and identification. Psychographic Tesco divides the market on the basis of life style and personality of the consumers. It targets people of all ages with their requirements. From grocery, eatables to liquor. Types of Target Marketing Need to include on the basis of Tescos target marketing with the inclusion of 4 ps. Undifferentiated and differentiated marketing. Let us talk about the Positioning of Tesco. In earlier days Tesco did not have the brand name but when sales started picking up and demand was on higher side, it did not compromise quality in order to reduce price and it is very convenient to the customers to purchase products as quality of products are available. Once customers got an idea how good Tesco is then Tesco gained its brand name. With the brand name Tesco started to experiment the products with greater profits and then it is managing the customers with great customer loyalty. Philosophy of entire marketing mix hinges with good positioning and failed to do so creates unsound positioning. Positioning Strategies Reasonable price Good quality More and variety of Products Clearance sales Weekend offers and Festive offers Keys to successful positioning are based on competitiveness, successful positioning, creditability and consistency. Repositioning of product Takes place when positioning of products declines. Change in customer tastes and preferences. New competitors enters the market Marketing Mix An Effective marketing mix Tesco compromises on price and does not compromises on quality More demand and more supply. Customers loyalty Refer http://www.cim.co.uk/filestore/resources/10minguides/marketingmix.pdf The Impact, positive and negative of the Tesco Express marketing mix Marketing mix is divided into 7ps but let us concentrate on 4 ps which as follows. Promotion Place Price Product. We will critically discus 4 ps in the following stages. Promotion Promotion is generally referred as awareness created towards the introduction of new product and also the availability of the existing product by means of selling activities and advertising. The main aim of promotion is to spread awareness of the products, uses and benefits. It helps the organisation to position their products in the market to reach customers. The effective tool of promotion of Tesco Express is in the form of television and email adverts, message should be clear and simple so that it can reach the targeted audience by creating a desired response. There are different types of promotions such as advertising, personal selling, public relations and sales promotions. Promotional strategy- One of the Tescos key strategies in the promotional activity is, Clubcard loyalty scheme where it has been a huge success and in turn their market share has been increased. This change has led them to be a market leader. They were giving best and competitive prices to the market, products like fresh vegetables, fish, chicken , mutton, beef and all sorts of necessary day to day needs which were outsourced from the farmers , fish, mongers , butchers directly. They have opened number of convenience stores in every possible place and therefore have a good appeal to a huge number of customers in the market environment. Therefore had a very huge response when they had introduced the club card plus debit card scheme. They not only target higher classes of people but also different classes of people. Introduction of Tesco finest and also budgeted version called Tesco value which is having very huge impact in all the classes of the people. Now it shows how they promote their market to reach different classes of people. Advertising- It can be defined as any paid form of non-personal promotion transmitted through a mass medium. The sponsor should be clearly identified and the advertisement may relate to an organisation, a product or a service. The key difference, therefore, between advertising and other forms of promotion is that it is impersonal and communicates with large numbers of people through paid media channels. (Ref 1) Each and every organisation will advertise for the products produced, Tesco has always gives ads saying that they sell cheapest product in the whole of UK and it is one of the cheapest selling supermarket, where they claim that the price of the products is at least a penny less than their competiting firm in the advertisement featuring Prunella scales and Jane Horrocks comparing bills between Tesco and other stores. Stringent rules has to be followed when it is giving comparative advertising as per UK governments rule and abides the body for advertising standards, the Committee of Advertising Practice as listed in the rules and regulations act. They also have different advertisement taglines called, Every little helps, We sell for less, 1 billion pounds off, is youre nearest the dearest, Low prices every day because we sell 10000 everyday. There have been many advertisement campaigns stating that their products are cheaper to their direct competitors. Personal selling and sales force- According to fill (2002, p. 16), personal selling can be defined as: An interpersonal communication tool which involves face to face activities under taken by individuals, often representing an organisation, in order to inform, persuade or remind an individual or group to take appropriate action, as required by the sponsors representative. (Ref 2) Tesco has been occupied in all the field of business with a brooder marketing strategy; as far as personal selling is concerned they do not need, since they vastly deal with day today products. The only personal selling that they follow is online shopping which is not related to this category of marketing. Sales Promotion- According to the institute of sales promotion, sales promotion is: According to the institute of sales promotion, sales promotion is: The store offers a wide range of promotional offers in various times, if they open a store they would give away vouchers having a 2 pound discount on every six pounds spent for every passerby, club card members, computer tokens for schools. Below are the examples of New Year sales promotion. Examples of the New Year promotions offers include: Danepak Maple Cure Back Bacon 220g, was ÂÂ £3.00, now ÂÂ £1.50 Extra Large Pineapple, was ÂÂ £3.00, now ÂÂ £1.50 Baking Potatoes 2.5kg, was ÂÂ £1.92, now ÂÂ £1 Dolmio Original Bolognese Pasta Sauce 750g, was ÂÂ £2.12, now ÂÂ £1.06 Princes Tuna Chunks In Brine 4X185g, was ÂÂ £5.39, now ÂÂ £2.69 Maryland Choc Chip Hazelnut Cookies 150g, was 86p, now 43p. Kelloggs Special K Oats and Honey 425g, was ÂÂ £2.87, now ÂÂ £1.40 New Covent Garden Plum Tomato Sweet Basil Soup 600g, was ÂÂ £1.97, now 98

Sleep Deprivation in America Essay -- Health Medical

Sleep Deprivation in America Research indicates that America’s sleep problems have increased and might be the number one health problem. The average amount of sleep that people get per night can range anywhere from three to twelve hours. According to Dr. David Dinges at the University of Pennsylvania, it is a fact that people who get fewer than six hours of sleep a night do not live as long as people who get seven hours or more. Most people do not realize the importance of sleep or even realize that it is needed to survive. Many people experience sleep deprivation; however it is commonly seen in college students. Irregular sleeping patterns tend to occur in students, which can later lead to long-term effects. Sleep deprivation can affect the normal and regular sleep patterns and cycles of many people. According to Lacks, â€Å"Normal adults gradually move through a sequence of regularly alternating stages of sleep† (17). Adults experience these different stages because of their own distinct patterns and behavioral activity. Sleep is divided into two categories non-rapid-eye-movement and rapid-eye-movement (Lacks 17). These stages of sleep range from the lightest sleep to the deepest sleep. This cycle is repeated over and over again while sleeping. These sleep stages are necessary to regulate the different states of wakefulness and sleep. According to Williams, â€Å"Insomnia or difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep is almost part of everyone’s life† (29). Insomnia is a result of sleep deprivation, which can lead to further effects such as stress and aging. Regular sleeping patterns can drastically change for someone who is experiencing s leep deprivation. Circadian rhyt... ... exposed to and the only way for a student to avoid it is to find an individual way to motivate him or herself. Works Cited Bethesda MD: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Understanding Sleep. National Institutes of Health, 1998 Giannotti, Flavia. â€Å"Circadian Preference, Sleep and Daytime Behavior in Adolescence.† European Sleep Research Society (May 2002): 191-199. Lacks, Patricia. Behavioral Treatment for Persistent Insomnia. New York: Permagon Press, 1987. Urban, Christopher. â€Å"Sleep Deprivation Not Unusual For College Students.† The Tech .Write 3 Jun 1991.: 5. 23 Oct 2002 . Williams, Robert L. M.D., Ismet Karacan, and Constance Moore, Sleep Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1988.

Tennis Made Easy :: essays research papers

When surfing the Internet, eventually winding up at tennis4you.com, I found something called the â€Å"Lesson Lounge† which has instructional articles on the game of tennis. My particular article discusses a very crucial part of the game, and also a difficult one, the first serve. The reason this drew my attention is because this is a major weakness in my already pathetic tennis repertoire. By reading the article, I hoped to find strategy to learn from, and eventually, with practice, to improve from. In the article, they explain how the first serve can become â€Å"†¦someone’s biggest weapon making someone else’s worst nightmare!† That, not only can one use a power serve or a placement serve to attack their opponents, but that working out is not even necessary to do so. The tennis serve can have significantly more power by using â€Å"†¦legs, shoulder rotation, and stomach muscles†¦Ã¢â‚¬  during one’s motion. They stress that since you have two serves, it is crucial to take a chance and make sure your first serve is NOT â€Å"†¦easily attackable†. From here, they lead into more complicated serving techniques that involve the type of hit- such as the flat, slice, kick, and topspin serves. Although I am not good enough to test them out, through time, they could certainly help someone with an interest in tennis who is willing to practice. After establishing the four types, the writer goes more in depth to differences between power and non-power serves. With power serves, they emphasize the importance of rhythm, significance of keeping your opponent guessing and lastly, the need to hit it in bounds. They continue to say that, obviously, no matter how hard your serve is, it is useless if it cannot land in bounds. As far as non-power serves, they speak of smaller players and how technique and mechanisms such as spin. Another main point here is that one must serve deep into the service box.

Zero Emissions Technology :: essays papers

Zero Emissions Technology Zero Emissions Technology: Current Technologies and Future Developments in Electrostatic Precipitators  Abstract Zero Emissions Technology is a company located in New Durham, NH. They develop new technologies targeted at coal fired power plants. They have recently developed a new air emissions technology that will meet current and pending air pollution regulations. Their product, Electro-Catalytic Oxidation Technology, allow the combined removal of particulates in the air waste stream. The new technology can be retrofitted onto existing electrostatic precipitators (ESP), according to the industry, is not as expensive as other air pollution control technologies. The Electro-Catalytic Oxidation Technology also has many technological advantages to more conventional ESPs.  Zero Emissions Technology (ZET) is a company who develops new technologies in air pollution control technologies to meet the demands of new regulations on air emissions. In the past, their focus has been on air pollution control technology for large stationary sources, such as coal fired power plants. In the future, their research will be to discover new technologies not only for air pollution, but also in water and solid waste. (ZET, 1999). Zero Emissions Technology has developed a new technology that focuses on the combined removal of particulates for coal fired power plants. Electro-Catalytic Oxidation Technology is a product by Zero Emissions Technology (ZET). This new technology that ZET is has developed will enable the combined removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), mercury (Hg), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from the flue gas of coal fired power plants. This new technology will collect at least 70% of NOx, 50% of SO2, 70% of mercury (Hg), and 90% of PM2.5 in a single unit that can be retrofitted into the last fields of existing electrostatic precipitators (ESP) (ZET, 1999). This will allow coal fired plants to meet new air emission requirements with minimal impact on their generating costs. It can be retrofitted into the last fields of existing ESP. Electo-Catalytic Oxidatin Technology uses a proprietary gas discharge technology to convert NOx and SO2 to acid mists, and to oxidize elemental mercury. It also uses advances in wet ESP technology to remove acid mists and other fine particles without saturating flue gas. The Electr o-Catalytic Oxidation system consists of three sections: gas converter, condensing wet ESP, and acid recovery (ZET, 1999). The Gas Converter is used for the electrical oxidation of NOx, SO2 and Hg. As the flue gas enters the Gas Converter, it is exposed to a high voltage discharge which creates ionized species to oxidize pollutants.

Moni Lisa Smile Andralogical Model

Movie â€Å"Moni Lisa Smiles† Related to Andragogical Style of Teaching The movie begins with Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), in 1953, accepting an art history teaching position at the prestigious New England school for women. She is a liberal and a feminist who was inspired to come to Wellesley to â€Å"make a difference†. After a semester of teaching a progressive, less traditional teaching style, she is given conditions by the alumni that, if she is to stay at Wellesley, she will teach the outlined syllabus and submit her lessons plans for prior approval.This demonstrated the hard core traditional style view that governed Wellesley’s educators. The students were expected to memorize the textbook. The administrator made the statement, â€Å"You didn’t come to Wellesley to help people find their way; you came to help people find your way. † To compare the behavior of the students in the film, I’ll start on the first day of class; the stude nts embarrass Ms. Watson, the teacher, in front of the class evaluator by knowing everything she had prepared. The character, or teacher, seemed to demonstrate two different educational or behavioral positions.At the end of the movie, you find numerous assumptions of the andragogical model. Ms. Watson appeared as a feminist who refused to fall under the traditional educational objectives or educational theories. Therefore, she changes her educational model or theory to the andragogical style of teaching. This was a change from the beginning of the movie when she first entered the classroom with the traditional power point. Thus according to Knowles (2011), she originally followed the pedagogical model. This model is clearly defined in The Adult Learner written by Knowles, Holton, and Swanson, 2011.It explains the pedagogical model assigns the teacher full responsibility for making all decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, when it will be learned, and if it ha s to be learned (2011, p. 60). This is the style of teaching the administrative staff at Wellesley believed to be the best. Historically this model has been found to be less effective than the andragogical style for adult learners who have specific educational needs. The assumption that the andragogical model is based on includes: (Knowles, 2011 p. 63-67) Principals of teaching 🙠 Knowles, 2011 p. 63-67) . The learner’s need to know. -The first task of Watson was to help the students become aware of the need to know by making or demonstrating an intellectual case for the value of learning by giving them the potential tools, thus improving the quality of their lives. As an educator her goal was to help them discover the gaps between where they were and where they wanted to be. She demonstrated that there is much more to art that memorizing a textbook. This was demonstrated best in the movie when she talked to Joan about pursuing law school and seeking a career. 2. The l earner’s self-concept. Educator Watson was fully aware the girls had arrived at the self-concept that they were more than capable of reading the book and memorizing the information as they had been previously taught in the past. Educator Watson was approached with resentment and resistance by the girls demonstrating they had previously read the text. The attitude was, â€Å"We know this so just let us go out in smoke and socialize. † Watson was on top of the situation by coming to the second class introducing new thought stimulating ideas; she utilized a power point presentation that included a picture of Soutine’s â€Å"Carcass. She presented several other power points of art not found in the text and challenged the students to transition from being dependent learners, to think outside the box, transitioning and becoming self-directing learners. She also challenged them to become more than the traditional art students. Katherine tries to get the students to ex plore ideas by a metaphorical demonstration in the paint-by-numbers of the Van Gough painting ‘Sunflowers’, in which the whole class in this scene paints their own painting individually. 3. The role of the learner’s experiences. Educator Watson took teaching to another level by utilizing different learning strategies. She loved group discussions, problem solving and simulation exercises. She taught the importance of art related to individual expression and the students demonstrated their knowledge of this by each painting their own sunflower portrait. This was a demonstration of the role of the learner’s experience. With this example, she opened their minds to new approaches, encouraged expression of values, sensitivity training, and mediation through self-expression of art.She took them to her place where she had a collection of various artists that included modern to historical portraits. 4. The readiness to learn. -Ms. Watson’s new andragogical a pproach and thought provoking ideas stimulated a readiness to learn that changed from the original attitude in the first class. The girls with high expectations and obvious intellectual history became excited and ready to learn. The new approaches used by Watson changed the attitude toward the non-ivy league teacher. She encouraged them to use their experiences and valued their ideas and accepted them as people. . The orientation to learning. -Watson’s education style included real-life situations, and she taught them how art could help them to deal with problems. She used her personal history and collection to explain the importance of expression. She challenged their minds to analyze paintings and to paint for pleasure and therapeutic and social interactions. Watson wins them over when she introduces paintings not in the text, encouraging thought provoking ideas that really stimulated the minds of these students. . The motivation to learn. -Watson was an excellent motivator in the film. She never let the girls think for once that just memorization of a book was acceptable. She encouraged learning to go above the ideas of tradition. (Again; with the example of Soutine’s â€Å"Carcass† and more†¦) She motivated them to keep learning and encouraged them to be career oriented. Several times she told the students that they could be the housewife of their dreams, but to look at further education to fulfill their career dreams.When you look at the movie and the leading students, you realize at first they refuse to go along with the free thinking ideas and they think the textbook contains everything they need to know. Katherine is appalled at the fact that they actually think of their education as a way to pass their time until they are married. The behavior of three main students include: Giselle Levy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the student that in the beginning of the movie abruptly spoke out and said, â€Å"We’re a far cry from Oakland, † in a snotty tone. She appeared to represent the class attitude.She appears to also be the most self-destructive of the students and does not seem to confront Watson’s ideas like the other two. She displayed a characteristic most would look at as being promiscuous; the film displayed her behavior as being the most feminist and she was exhibited as a student who liked to control men with her body, leading you to believe she traded sex for favors and sometimes just plain fun. The second student, Elizabeth (‘Betty’) Warren (Kirsten Dunst), whose mother is the head of the alumni, heads up the editorials for the school newspaper.Her viscous description of Ms. Watson’s roommate gets her fired. She is a malicious gossip that utilized her editorials like a knife to publicly downgrade others and doesn’t agree with Watson’s feminist ideas. This conflict of ideas is presented during the movie; they had many heated discussions. Betty strongly beli eved in the popular cultural idea that the woman’s place was in the home. Wellesley College, a prestigious New England women’s school, expected you to memorize course contents much like the pedagogical model or theory of adult model of learning.The women of that day attended prestigious schools expecting to prepare to become superb mothers, with the ultimate goal to take care of their husbands, only the elite males, and be home to care for the children. The third actor is Joan Brandwyn (Julia Stiles), who appears to be very open to the suggestion of Watson to pursue her dreams of attending law school. She struggles with the societal expectations of a woman in the 1950’s, to marry and have children, which were glorified as the ultimate prestigious goal.She is actually given a C on an assignment and goes to visit Ms. Watson when she is asked, â€Å"What is your plan after graduating? † â€Å"Just for fun,† questioned Watson, â€Å"if you could go to any law school in the country, which school would it be? † Joan told her Yale and explained Yale leaves five slots open for women and one of those five slots is for a Wellesley girl. Watson gets her an application, which she submits, and to her amazement she is accepted. She makes the decision in the movie to get married, and Ms.Watson continues to educate her that she can do both and ultimately gives her a plan on how she can be married and go to school. Watson pushes her students not to settle for the lifestyle of a housewife, but have career oriented goals. To analyze the role of the teacher promoting the conditions of learning, according to Knowles, is to look at the learning environment, not only the physical environment, but the mutual trust, respect, helpfulness, including freedom of expression and the acceptance of differences (2011, p. 92-93).The students must perceive the goals of the learning experience as their own goals. Educator Watson developed mutual trust and respect with the students. She demonstrated this in the movie when they decided they wanted her to be included in a social event. At the girls’ social, she was encouraged to drink alcoholic beverages and answer personal questions about her private affairs with men. She was open, honest and interacted with them, building a trust and demonstrating and expressing her commitment to teaching â€Å"to make a difference†.She again encouraged education to be a career building tool and iterated the goals of learning needed to be their career goals. She encouraged planning and commitment toward these goals in the movie, especially in one example where she actually got an application for Betty to Yale law school. According to our text, in review of the theories applied, Malcolm Knowles first introduced the andragogy concept or theory as an honest attempt to focus on the learner (2011 p. 2). The strength of andragogy is the fact that its six core adult learning principles can app ly to all learning situations (2011 p. ). It is a transactional model that enables those designing and conducting learning to build more effective learning processes (Knowles, 2011 p. 2). Knowles iterates the andragogy concept, when applied properly, will do everything possible to ensure the learner takes part in their learning process. This theory is best for the adult learner as their needs and capacity to learn are fully developed. We can utilize our experience and the fact that we have become responsible workers and learners.The pedagogical model assigns to the teacher the full responsibility for making all decision about what will be learned, how, and when it will be learned (Knowles 2011 p. 60). This model leaves to the learner the submissive role of following instructions and memorization. The characteristics of the prestigious Wellesley College for woman in 1953 included a satirical review of stuffy attitudes of the alumni and administration. They had rigid rules and goals f or the students. At the top of the list was getting married and college was just a place to go until that happened.Furthermore, Katherine Watson, a feminist teacher from California, whose unconventional adult teaching style was acquired from Berkeley, was shocked to learn that students viewed their education as a prerequisite for getting married. The progressive thinking taught in California was not accepted well by the staff at Wellesley. The new teachers’ class is hit and the students’ enrollment in her class increased, but the strict rules and guidelines put in place by Wellesley were not easy to swallow by Katherine who came to â€Å"make a difference. † It was obvious the institution and the educator were in conflict.At the close of the movie, Katherine decides to leave and go to Europe. Betty dedicates an editorial to her teacher claiming that Katherine is â€Å"an extraordinary woman who lived by example and compelled us all to see the world through new eyes. † As the movie ends, the students follow the taxi Katherine is in on their bicycles. Betty seems to be struggling and peddling the hardest as if to thank her for changing her life. If I was in the educational environment in the movie, I would promote learning by utilizing the framework of the six principals displayed by Knowles.The first step in acceptance of administration is to make them an active part of decision making when her new syllabus was created. As the teacher, I would empower administration with Knowles ideas and let them see my new ideas through his ideas and history. They certainly seem to feel that they must have the upper hand and make decisions and this would give the control feature they appear to need. Historically Knowles has proven himself. In the 1950’s he was the Executive Director of the Adult Education Association of the United States of America (Smith, 2002 p. 1-13).He had already published his first textbook that was a guide for educato rs and this textbook was followed by many more. If administration wanted to stay the prestigious college of the nation, they would realize it was time for change. According to the article by Smith, Knowles was responsible for a number of important ‘firsts’; he was the first to chart the rise of the adult education movement in the United States, the first to develop a statement of informal adult education practice, the first to develop a statement of informal adult education practice, and the first to attempt a comprehensive theory of adult education via the notion of andragogy) (Jarvis, 1987 p. 185). I firmly believe the administrative staff may need some education and redirection. After all, they are one of the most prestigious schools in the nation. I cannot see administration accepting to follow a less than the best for their girls, wives and future mothers. I am sure it would take patience and persistence. But if you look at the principles listed above and included the administration and persistently made them aware of the need to change to keep up with the ‘educational political hierarchy’ you would slowly ‘make a difference’.Empowerment often promotes change and Knowles was the leader in adult education of the 1950’s. When you review this film and similar films, it helps you comprehend the contemporary and historic constraints imposed on teachers and the contexts of dealing with alumni and administration. I had never really thought about the politics and social involvement of schools and teachers in the past and I can see what a dilemma it could create. I loved the movie and watched it more than once. I plan to purchase it to use for future educational reference.I can see that schools are sites of politics and culture, but as educators we must provoke the expression of students’ future identities and possibilities. References Knowles, M. S. , Holton, E. F. , & Swanson, R. A. , (2011). The adult learner . (7th ed. ). Amsterdam: Elsevier Inc. (Part I, Chapters 1-6). Smith, M. K. (2002) Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and andragogy’, The encyclopedia of informal education, Retrieved from: www. infed. org/thinkers/et-knowl. htm. Image Source Page: http://web. utk. edu/~start6/knowles/malcolm_knowles. html

Western Influence on Intellectual Movements in China

These considerations give us a limited objective — to mark some of the broad outlines and trace some of the main patterns in the intellectual history of modern China’s attempt to comprehend the West and adjust to it. The study proceeds on the assumption that Western influence did indeed precipitate the remaking of Chinese life and values (Gu and Goldman 2004 74). The imitation of Western arms, the program of â€Å"Self-strengthening† through Western studies, later through industrialization and eventually through institutional reform, the movement for revolution and republicanism— all these and many other programs have had their day and contributed to the long struggle for the remaking of Chinese life. All of them have been related, in greater or less degree, to the Western influence on China, even down to the alleged â€Å"American imperialism† (Ghai 1999 32). The story of what happened during 1 920s and I 910s and World War II and its aftermath to the overseas trained intellectuals and the role they played in China’s history after World War II can be told through the recollections of Chen Renbing and the overseas educated. They reflected on their lives as intellectual; in China during the rise and implementation of communism and anti-intellectual movements, including the Thought Reform Movement, the Anti-Rightist Movement, the Cultural Revolution and the downfall of the Gang of Four and an attempt to return to a more civil society (Gu and Goldman 2004 74). These mostly male intellectuals provided fascinating details of their early lives and education abroad (Ghai 1999 32). However, even more questions arose with the realization that their influence upon returning to China was severely limited by anti-intellectual mass political movements. Discussion May Fourth Movement in 1919 The incident of May 4, 1919, was provoked by the decision of the peacemakers at Versailles to leave in Japanese hands the former German concessions in Shandong. News of this decision led some 3,000 students from Beida and other Beijing institutions to hold a mass demonstration at the Tiananmen, the gateway to the palace. They burned the house of a pro-Japanese cabinet minister and beat the Chinese minister to Japan (Ghai 1999 33). Police attacked the students and they thereupon called a student strike, sent telegrams to students elsewhere, and organized patriotic teams to distribute leaflets and make speeches among the populace (Gittings 1996 268). Similar demonstrations were staged in Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, and elsewhere (Gu and Goldman 2004 74). A few students were killed and others were wounded (Rodan 2004 231). The prisons were soon full of demonstrators. Visits by Bertrand Russel and John Dewey, coupled with a large number of Chinese students seeking education in Europe, Great Britain and the United States, promised, a new epoch in China’s relations with the rest of the world (Gittings 1996 268). Some Chinese Critics blamed the government’s woes on its Eurasian nature, a reference to the many foreign advisers and Western-educated Chinese in its ranks (Ghai 1999 33). Rising patriotic sentiment was accompanied by heightened anti-foreign feeling. A generation of intellectuals whose mettle was forged in the May Fourth movement of 1919 sought inspiration from the West, absorbing Western ideas and values while rejecting Western influence in China (Rodan 2004 231). As the Nanking government centralized its power in the early 1930s, it tightened censorship and restricted intellectual freedoms (Zhao 2000 268). In the midst of civil war, any form of dissent, especially of a Communist flavor, was severely repressed, and a sort of ‘reign of terror† existed on some university campuses, with occasional raids, expulsions, and arrests. Espousal of communism was a capital offense and often no proof was required. In one incident, six young writers were forced to dig their own graves and then buried alive—an ancient punishment (Ghai 1999 34). Student Protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 In the spring of 1989, what began as a student protest in Beijing galvanized diverse social groups throughout China. Spurred by the death of the popular pro-democracy Politburo member Hu Yaobang, university students began a series of protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, the civic and cultural heart of China (Rodan 2004 232). The students camped out in Tiananmen Square, listening to speeches, chanting slogans, and singing songs of freedom and protest. Print and broadcast media covered the lofty pronouncements of the charismatic student leaders (Gries and Rosen 2001 211). For many students, influenced by exposure to Western ideas as China opened its doors in the preceding decade, democracy appeared simply to mean freedom of press and expression (Ghai 1999 35). After some weeks, the students held the entire nation of China in thrall, threatening the ideological hold of Deng arid the other octogenarian Communist Party leaders (Zhao 2000 268). Traditionally, the people of China have viewed student protests respectfully (Gries and Rosen 2001 211). Western liberalization and significant political inclinations influence Chinese students to rally protest in realization to their demands of rights and appropriate humanitarian treatment, such as those performed in Western lands (Pok Xing 2004 121). The students, in fact, consciously sought to associate themselves with the May 4th Movement, a popular and patriotic pre-republic protest against foreign domination. At the core of the students’ concerns was a hope for greater democracy (Jeans 1997 184). Indeed, one of the most enduring symbols of the Tiananmen Square protests was the erection of a large-scale statue— the â€Å"Goddess of Democracy. In 1989, the economic reform initiated by Deng was a decade old, and many within China—even at the highest levels of government—believed that it was time for political reform as well (Gries and Rosen 2001 212-213). By May, the protests had expanded to nearly forty cities throughout China. The students drew support from many elements of Chinese society—from journalists, intellectuals frustrated by the Communist Party’s tight control over free expression in the press and academic institutions, urban workers concerned about growing inflation (nearly 27 percent in the first four months of 1989), and even bureaucrats upset about government corruption (Gries and Rosen 2001 212-213). The participation of workers m the protests were especially galling and worrisome to Communist Party officials. The party was, after all, supposed to be the vanguard of the workers (He 2001 88). Moreover, as events in Tiananmen Square were unfolding, party leaders were aware that Lech Walesa had recently led the independent trade union Solidarity in a call for political reform and free elections in Poland (Pok Xing 2004 121). Spiritual Pollution Policy Spiritual pollution and the closely related evil, â€Å"bourgeois liberalization,† are defined as beliefs in excessive and unchecked freedoms that undermine the four basic principles (Wood 2002 46). The ideological battle against such pollution was urgent but this problem occurred in the thinking of Party members, cadres and the people generally (He 2001 88). As a contradiction among the people, spiritual pollution could be solved using study, criticism and self-criticism. The place for eliminating such evils among united front targets was the institute of socialism (Chi 1996 196). China is particularly sensitive about Western cultural influence. Haunted by anti-foreignism, which ebbs and flows in recent Chinese history, China regards Western media fare as an important source of spiritual pollution and peaceful evolution (Wood 2002 46). News of the anti-spiritual pollution movement and its activities were like a virus spreading over China (Jeans 1997 184). In some places it took a serious turn and in some areas, like in Guangdong, it only received lip service (He 2001 88). With the campaign of party rectification proceeding at the same time, it was like the San-fan and Wu-fan campaigns revisited, but on a smaller scale. History came back to haunt the entrepreneurs, who were just recovering from the wrath of Mao and still hoping to overcome their fear of life uncertainty Mass campaigns in China typically had not been limited to the goal of the campaign but easily rolled over to microeconomic aspects of life, thus making life miserable for private entrepreneurs and consumers alike (Chi 1996 196). Western Influence: To Lead in China’s Democracy First, political civilization is part of the civilization of humankind: and advanced political civilization includes progressive political ideas, such as democracy, liberty, equality, fairness, justice, political transparency, and human rights, which are shared by all human beings (He 2001 88). Second, the development of socialist democracy in China should correspond to the country’s economic and social development as well as its political tradition, and China should never copy any Western political models. Third, in promoting political development, China can learn from the achievements of political civilization of other peoples, including some ideologies of Western democracy in terms of theoretical principles, institutional design, and political process (Wood 2002 48). Fourth, the priority in developing political civilization is to ensure that China’s socialist democracy is institutionalized and standardized, with corresponding procedures (Liew 2004 158). Such a theoretical innovation suggests Beijing’s flexibility and bottom line in search for the socialist democracy in general and intra-party democracy in particular (Gittings 1996 268). The influence of Western ideologies are significantly manifested in Chinese intellectual protests from the time of May fourth protests up to the latest at Tiananmen Square in 1989; hence, the possibility to utilizing western influence, particularly in democratic ideologies, can be a potential tool in introducing the concepts of democracy to the society and political system (Liew 2004 158). Conclusion The central theme of modern Chinese history has been to compete with the West so as to gain a foothold in the modern world. In the transformation to study western learning to achieve national prosperity and strength in modern times, China made a tremendous effort and paid dearly. Western learning spread in the beginning of this century, however the concepts of the rights and of the rule of law went against feudal social relationships. As with incidents in May fourth and Tiananmen Square, many had liberal if not leftist leanings, and were filled with disillusionment and yearnings for a strong and modern China. The western influences had indeed played significant role in the events; thus, with intellectual bodies stirred up, the possibility of introducing democratic concepts in Chinese society is indeed possible and potential.