Pharmacia & Upjohn Case Study

Kayem Foods, Inc. Case Study Kayem Foods, Inc Buzz Marketing Al Fresco Chicken Sausage STRATEGIC ISSUES AND PROBLEMS Matt Monkiewicz is the director of marketing for Kayem Foods, Inc.. Mr. Monkiewicz was put under pressure to decide whether or not to us a buzz marketing plan for their Al Fresco chicken sausage brand, which would be implemented as part of their advertising campaign for 2006. The Al Fresco chicken sausage brand was able to capture a large portion of their target market, making them the number-one brand in its target market.The dilemma that Monkiewicz faces is whether or not the increase in sales were due to the buzz marketing campaign they implemented the previous year or if other advertising and promotional campaigns were the sole reason for the increase in sales. In order to make a decision, Monkiewicz must analyze all parts of the advertising and promotional campaigns that they have previously used and decide which of these campaigns actually contributed to the sale s increase and which campaigns didn’t. KAYEM FOODS, INC. Kayem Foods, Inc. as been around for almost a 100 years and is located in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The company has historically made its fortune from selling fresh delicatessen meats, hot dogs, and sausage. Annual sales, from the fiscal year ending February 28, 2004, were approximately $140 million. The majority of their sales came from meat products that were sold under several brand names, with the majority of the meat products being that of hot dogs. They have several brand names for which their products are sold and the most well-known brand is Kayem.There has been a continually rising market for sausage. Breakfast sausage has increased by 2 percent and dinner sausage has increased by 4 percent in 2003. This is why Kayem Foods, Inc. is desperately working to find a way to capture this rapidly growing market. Kayem Foods director of marketing, Matt Monkiewicz, feels that in order to adequately capture a significant po rtion of the market they must be willing to think outside the box and possibly implement non-traditional styles of advertising. Buzz marketing does exactly what Mr.Mankiewicz is looking for in his advertising campaign, which that they have used in the previous year and it has made them the number one-selling brand of chicken sausage, however, not all of the sales force at Kayem believes this increase in sales were due to Buzz marketing. Although Kayem has been able to substantially increase the sales of Al Fresco, they still have a lot of concerns pertaining to their profit margins. In the recent years supermarkets have been able to gain industry power, when it comes to dealing with manufacturers that supply them with products.The supermarkets now demand larger discounts and coupons for their customers. There is also a force keeping prices down due to the tense competition within the industry. In the past two years Kayem’s private label activity has been operating at break-ev en and co-packs have been operating below break-even. Obviously Kayem is in business to make money and not operate at break-even. They must use an aggressive advertising technique to get their profit margin back up. INSIGHTS TO BUZZ MARKETING You can sum up the definition of Buzz marketing in just 3 words,† word of mouth. Many companies have found this advertising approach to be very profitable and appealing to their bottom line. In today’s market, especially due to the rise of social networking, many companies depend on their current customers to help spread the word of their products. Buzz marketing helps companies build brand loyalty and awareness by building a personal relationship with their consumers. Many times consumers can be more easily persuaded towards purchasing a product when it is recommended from someone they know or trust and Buzz marketing does exactly that.Kayem Foods, Inc. previously used a company called Bzz Agent to implement their Buzz marketing c ampaign. Bzz Agent currently had 60,000 agents and these agents volunteered to try the products and then would use word of mouth techniques to get these products in the hands of their friends, acquaintances, and possibly strangers. Most of the Buzz agents actually enjoyed testing new products and then talking about them to their friends, they felt some type of satisfaction for being one of the â€Å"firsts† to discover the product.Bzz Agent also found that most of their agents advertised their products in all of the social networking settings, which also helps spread the word of the products. In recent years, marketing managers have found that product endorsements were more credible when it came from a friend or acquaintance. PLAN OF ACTION Mr. Monkiewicz must decide on which advertising campaign Al Fresco will use for next year. He must decide if they will usual traditional advertising like: television, radio, magazines, and billboards.Another option for his campaign could b e Buzz marketing, which if he decided to use he must develop a better way to track the increase in sales that come from Buzz marketing. He may also decide to implement more than one style of advertising and possibly combine the different approaches together, however, Monkiewicz has only been granted a marketing budget of $185,000 so he must be fully aware of his choices. Some of his choices may also not be feasible because of their high cost. Since Monkiewicz was only allowed $185,000 for advertising campaign, he will not be able to choose the more expensive advertising options like television.What he felt appropriate options for his advertising campaign were Buzz marketing, magazines, and price-off coupons. Based off of the chart above, Better Homes and Gardens magazine will also not be an option. He is left with Buzz marketing, trade marketing, food and wine magazine, cooking light magazine, and price-off coupons. RECOMMENDED AL FRESCO MARKETING STRATEGY The efficiency of buzz mar keting is undeniable, penetrating social networks and building personal relationships with consumers. With that being said, Matt Monkiewicz should choose to implement the Buzz marketing strategy for their advertising campaign.It is also a cheap option that has multiple benefits. In order to track the success of their Buzz marketing campaign he will just simply ask his Bzz agents to have the people they reach out to, for their product, fill out an online survey. This survey will ask questions like: will they continue to buy Al Fresco products, were they satisfied and if not, why? , and also if they were able to find their products at their local super market. Mr. Monkiewicz should combine his Buzz campaign with Trade marketing, with the combination of these two approaches he will surely get the word out there and it will help to build brand awareness.He can also use the remaining, [$185,000 – ($75,000+$80,000) = $30,000], $30,000 for price-off coupons, which will further help to expand their portion of the target market. TARGET MARKET Al Fresco should keep the same target market as before. Their target market should be women that range in age from 25 to 45 years old. This is the best suitable target market for their product, considering that this is the most health conscious market out there. What Al Fresco should do, however, is use their advertising efforts to capture a larger portion of this market. MARKETING MIXProduct Strategy – Al Fresco should keep their product of chicken sausage and their current flavors. Price Strategy – One thing that Al Fresco must do is not discount their products as much. We know that the sales force for Al Fresco thought the primary reason for becoming the number one selling product of chicken sausages was because of constant discounts they were giving away to the supermarkets. If Al Fresco can cut down on their discounts and they can continue to capture the majority of the market then they will be able to se e how effective their Buzz marketing campaign was.Distribution Strategy – The current distribution strategy implemented by Al Fresco has proven to be successful so they should continue to use the same strategy, â€Å"If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. † Advertising and Promotion Strategy – Al Fresco will use the combination of trade marketing, price-off coupons, and Buzz marketing for their advertising campaign. If they can effectively implement these low cost advertising approaches then they should be able to gain back some of their profit margin that they have been so concerned about in the past couple years.

Potential Of Educational Standards Education Essay

The grounds for the survey were outlined in the prologue. In this subdivision the purposes thereof are explained and a motive for the research is provided. This stage expounds the research methodological analysiss adopted and provides the motive and justification for the pick of research methodological analysis every bit good as a description of the nature and character of action research. The research doctrine is explored and the methods of roll uping informations discussed. I was fortunate to be presented with an chance to develop an educational programme which would ensue in the publicity of four black supervisors to direction places. This led to an exploratory and experimental procedure that addressed the research job: How to plan and present a direction instruction and development programme for people who did non hold the needed educational makings to inscribe for formal direction programmes at a third establishment. This, in bend, translated into the undermentioned research inquiries? Do people without the necessary educational criterions have the possible and the ability to go effectual directors? What cognition, accomplishments and attitudes are necessary to be an effectual director and how are these cognition, accomplishments and attitudes best acquired in a workplace?Research purposeThe purpose was to better my pattern through the design and execution of a non-traditional direction instruction programme. While at the same clip, righting some of the instabilities ensuing from historical political prejudice that had deprived many black people of the chance to carry through their managerial potency and in so making do a meaningful part to four people ‘s lives. It was besides intended to do a part to direction development, concern betterment and socio-economic transmutation.Research aimsIn trying a undertaking of this nature, there were many obstructions and jobs to confront that were both complex and sensitive and I needed a clear apprehension of what I planned to accomplish through carry oning the research survey. These aims would besides hopefully separate this researc h undertaking from â€Å" masqueraded consulting † ( Eriksson & A ; Kovalainen, 2008:204 ) After careful consideration, the undermentioned list of aims were identified for the survey: Investigate premises and patterns that I thought needed to be challenged ; Develop an apprehension of the construct of instruction and in peculiar grownup instruction and how it relates to larning in a workplace ; Explore and experiment with course of study design for a non-traditional emancipatory direction instruction procedure in a workplace ; Implement the procedure and happen possible barriers to implementation in order to better and alter the bing state of affairs ; Bringing approximately positive transmutation ; and Gain professional cognition.Aim of the surveyThe motive to accept the challenge was based on the premise that direction accomplishments and leading behavior can be developed through relevant preparation and expert guided experience and the strong belief that willing and able non-managerial Black employees can and should be developed to travel into direction places. The purpose of the survey was hence to develop and present a feasible and sustainable method of grownup instruction for the development and promotion of four black female supervisors to direction places, by: Locating the programme in values of equality and justness with regard for human self-respect ; Approaching grownup instruction in such a manner that the participants would be involved in their ain acquisition experience ; Identifying the practical deductions of presenting the invention into a specific workplace and implementing the programme ; and Measuring the programme, with peculiar mention to its relevancy to the participants and their alteration in behavior. From the literature reviews discussed subsequently in the survey, there appeared to be a wide consensus that larning and organizational alteration require a scope of development, preparation and acquisition attacks ; that the traditional external class, while moderately effectual as a briefing device for advancing consciousness, is hapless at advancing behavioral and organizational alteration ; that alteration is more likely to be achieved via techniques specifically aimed at peculiar larning marks related to the person ‘s practical undertakings and experience ; and that development, preparation and coaching should, when appropriate, take topographic point as stopping point to the work state of affairs as possible. This meant that for the invention to win the company had to accommodate and aline itself both structurally and culturally to altering fortunes and new attacks, which resulted in the add-on of the undermentioned standards: Involving the whole administration in the procedure, utilizing a systems attack, and turn toing issues of socialization, civilizations, values, attitudes and perceptual experiences.THE SettingThe survey was conducted in a fabrication company in Gauteng, in South Africa. It is the most advanced metropolitan part in the state and the industrial hub. Although it covers less than two per centum of South Africa ‘s entire land mass it contributes more than 50 per centum of Gross Domestic Product and accommodates about one one-fourth of the entire population ( De Beer, 1990 ) . The town in which the mill was situated was populated by preponderantly Afrikaans talking White people and in 1994 was a Conservative Party fastness. Until the early 90s a curfew bell was still sounded at 9pm every eventide to guarantee that the town remained ‘White by dark ‘ . The direction instruction programme was implemented in a fabrication administration. It is a in private owned company that employed about 80 people and had a turnover in surplus of five million Rand per annum in 1994. The fabrication procedure is complicated and labour intensive with most phases of production necessitating a skilled labor force. The chosen trainees were all Black females with formal instruction degrees runing from class 9 to rate 12. Unfortunately even the two ladies with a matriculation certification were unable to derive entry to third establishments as the topics they had completed were non recognised for higher acquisition, for illustration Bible Studies and Agriculture. All of them were loyal employees who had at least 15 old ages of work experience in the company and all were employed in a supervisory capacity. Their elected wise mans and managers were both White males. The Factory / Production Manager had a sheepskin in Production Management and a figure of old ages of production and direction experience. The General Manager had an undergraduate commercialism grade and many old ages of direction experience, but had non been actively involved in the production procedure and was more concerned with the administrative elements of the company. Unlike many research workers who enter new and unusual research environments, I had ready entree to the site and was fortunate plenty to be familiar with the people involved in the research procedure and the workplace scene. This made my entry into the state of affairs comparatively easy as I did non hold to confront the debatable state of affairs of acquiring to cognize the participants or the workplace environment. However, on contemplation this factor created a new set of complexnesss and jobs.RESEARCH APPROACHChoice of methodological analysisI am of the sentiment that given the research involvements, inquiries, purposes and aims of this qualitative survey together with my theoretical position that action research was an appropriate attack. My multiple and frequently complex functions of adviser, facilitator, instructor and scholar, and ‘objective ‘ research worker in the survey were a possible quandary, nevertheless, this was resolved by following an action research methodological analysis. This determination is substantiated by Eriksson & A ; Kovalainen who province that: It is of import to understand that, in action research, there is no large difference between the research worker and the researched group aˆÂ ¦ Often the differences between the research worker and direction adviser diminish and even disappear, as academic research is geared towards accomplishing apprehension of real-life jobs related to concern activities and bring forthing alteration procedures and solutions for the job ( 2008:194 ) Action research differs from conventional or traditional research because as Coghlan and Brannick assert it focuses upon â€Å" research in action, instead than research about action † ( 2005:4 ) . The other distinguishing characteristic of action research is that it does non put the doctorial pupil as research worker in an â€Å" aˆÂ ¦external ‘objective ‘ function but alternatively locates her within the research puting to research whether the rhythms of intercessions chosen really work to alter the debatable state of affairs to which the research job is addressed † ( Greenwood & A ; Levin, 2007 cited in Grogan, Donaldson & A ; Simmons, 2007:6 ) . The experimental nature of the research undertaking besides required an alternate attack to more traditional qualitative research. Eriksson and Kovalainen suggests that â€Å" action research is specifically utile when researching procedure related jobs in organisations, such as acquisition and alteration † ( 2008:199 ) . They further assert that: Action research is thought to be particularly suited when the research inquiry is related to depicting an unfolding series of actions that are taking topographic point over clip in a certain group aˆÂ ¦ Besides, if the research inquiry is related to understanding the procedure of alteration, development or betterment of some existent job, so, in order to larn from it, action research is an appropriate application for research ( 2008:193-194 ) Corey states that the value of traditional research is â€Å" determined by the sum of reliable cognition it adds † , while that of action research â€Å" is determined chiefly by the extent to which findings lead to betterment in the patterns of people engaged in the research † ( 1953:13 ) . This is confirmed by Carr and Kemmis, who assert that â€Å" aˆÂ ¦the testing land for educational research is non its theoretical edification or its ability to conform to standards derived from societal scientific disciplines, but instead its capacity to decide educational jobs and better educational pattern † ( 1986:109 ) .Action ResearchFor some readers the construct of action research will be portion of their pattern, for others it may look a unusual attack to research. As action research does non needfully do a immense difference between research and action, it may give an imprecise and ill-defined feeling of research as a procedure. It can be argued that it is exactly here where action research has its power: when it remains ‘close ‘ to its research objects and is based on mutual activities, when done decently, it can besides authorise its participants, non merely the scientific discipline community ( Eriksson & A ; Kovalainen, 2008:202-203 ) Action Research has been widely used to better pattern in educational scenes ( Carr and Kemmis, 1986:162 ) . It is acknowledged as â€Å" an appropriate research paradigm for educational, professional, managerial and organizational development † ( Zuber-Skerritt, 1996:3 ) and was the merely obvious pick of methodological analysis for this survey. As a methodological analysis action research is based on alternate research paradigms. There is no universally accepted definition of action research in literature and there are a assortment of action research theoretical accounts available. As Nofke asserts there has been â€Å" aˆÂ ¦exceptional growing in the extent of action research patterns † and we should besides be cognizant of the â€Å" aˆÂ ¦proliferation of significances and utilizations of the term action research † ( 1994:9 ) Those of us in South Africa interested in action research recognise that there are contested points of position about what ‘action research ‘ agencies and what patterns constitute it. aˆÂ ¦ It is the acknowledgment of the potency of action research as informed, automatic and transformative action, nevertheless, that holds sway ( Walker, 1988:153 ) . Whitehead and McNiff suggest that most of the action research literature negotiations about bettering pattern, but negotiations less about bettering acquisition as the footing of improved pattern, and even less about how this should be seen as new theory and an of import part to the universe of thoughts. They believe that theory itself needs to be reconceptualised, non as an abstract, apparently esoteric field of survey, but as a practical manner of believing about societal personal businesss and how they can be improved ( 2006:8 ) . The beginnings of action research can be found in the instructions of Marx, Gramsci and Freire who were engaged in altering societal constructions and patterns for the benefit of those who had been oppressed or marginalised by the position quo ( Reason & A ; Bradbury, 2001 ) . Lewin is credited with gestating action research which was so farther developed by Kolb ( 1984 ) , Carr and Kemmis ( 1986 ) and others. Historically Revans ( 1986 ) is its recognized title-holder. Pulling from the work of Jean Piaget, Revans contended that larning â€Å" stems from responsible experience † ( 1982:2 ) , that is, â€Å" all acquisition is the merchandise of action † ( 1982:772 ) . Action research spiral Lewin ‘s action research spiral, is described as follows by Lewin cited in Burgess ( 1985:162 ) : The first measure is to analyze the thought carefully in the visible radiation of the agencies available. Frequently more investigative about the state of affairs is required. If this first period of planning is successful, two points emerge: viz. , ‘an overall program ‘ of how to make the aim and secondly, a determination in respect to the first measure of action. Normally this planning has besides slightly modified the original thought ( Lewin, 1948:205 ) . The following measure is composed of a circle of planning, put to deathing, and reconnaissance or fact happening for the intent of measuring the consequences of the 2nd measure, and fixing the rational footing for be aftering the 3rd measure, and for possibly modifying once more the overall program ( 1948:206 ) . To assist cover with the issues refering the nature of direction development, course of study development and grownup instruction in a structured, yet flexible, mode Lewin ‘s ( 1946 ) action research spiral was used as a theoretical account. Initially, I had non considered utilizing the attack to carry on a research survey but instead to utilize the action research spiral as a theoretical account to help with the design and bringing of an experimental direction instruction programme because of its iterative nature and accent on continual betterment. Lewin ‘s theoretical account specifies a spiral of activities in the undermentioned sequence: Clarifying and naming a job state of affairs for pattern ; Explicating action schemes for deciding the job ; Implementing and measuring the action schemes ; and Further elucidation and diagnosing of the job ( and so into the following spiral of contemplation and action ) . Lewin ‘s coiling recognises the demand for action programs to be flexible. In complex societal state of affairss it is ne'er possible to expect everything that needs to be done and in this theoretical account the deliberate imbrication of action and contemplation allow alterations in programs for action as the participants learn from and reflect on their ain experience. The procedure is summarised in the diagram of an action research coiling below. Upward spiral of bettering practiceFIGURE 1: Action research spiral Beginning: hypertext transfer protocol: //education.qld.gov.au/students/advocacy/equity/gendersch/action.html My apprehension of the action research procedure, based on Lewin ‘s attack, was that action is followed by critical contemplation: – What worked? What did non work? What did we larn? How should we make it otherwise following clip? Once apprehension was achieved, decisions drawn and programs refined or new programs developed so these were once more tested in action. This tied in with the well established larning theory of Kolb and Fry ( 1975:35-36 ) which suggests that persons pass through a rhythm of phases in the learning experience: A period of observation ; A period of contemplation ; A period of conceptual modeling ; and A period of active testing. Therefore the completion of the acquisition procedure will affect several rhythms and may in fact ne'er terminal. Based on the above, I envisaged a procedure where myself and the other participants in the programme developed a program of action ; acted to implement the program ; observed the effects of the action in the context in which it occurred ; reflected on these effects as a footing for farther planning, subsequent action and so on through a sequence of rhythms. This allowed for a flexible course of study that could be modified as the programme progressed and invariably evaluated and altered in footings of its relevancy to the programme ‘s purposes. This initial theoretical account was excessively simple as in world, life does non travel â€Å" along one path at a clip aˆÂ ¦ † ( McNiff, 1988:28 ) and Susman and Evered ‘s ( 1978 ) more complex representational theoretical account reproduced below, better fitted the survey. FIGURE 2: The cyclical procedure of action research Beginning: Susman & A ; Evered, 1978:582-603 in Administrative Science Quarterly This impression concurs with that of Walker ( 1993:107 ) who finds that the attractive force of action research lies exactly in the ne'er stoping spiral of action, contemplation, enquiry and speculating originating from and grounded in practical concerns, where the hunt is non for the right replies but towards â€Å" practical wisdom aˆÂ ¦ in peculiar, complex and human state of affairss † ( Elliott, 1991:52 ) . Lau ( 1998 ) discusses the standards which Checkland ( 1991 ) believes are indispensable for an action research survey to be accepted as a legitimate option to the more traditional methods. These standards served as a guideline to my ain action research: There is a real-world job relevant to the research subjects of involvement to the research worker ; Respective functions of the research worker and participants are defined in the job state of affairs ; Inclusion of an rational model by agencies of which the nature of research lessons can be defined and the method in which the model is embodied ; Researcher engagement in blossoming the state of affairs with a position to assist convey about alterations deemed betterments ; Rethinking of earlier phases by doing sense of the accumulating experience through the declared model and method, and revising alterations ; and Point of issue for the research worker in order to reexamine the experience and to pull out lessons for larning in relation to the research themes and/or definition of new subjects ( 1991:397-403 ) . Action research includes action larning which Zuber-Skerritt defines as: Learning from concrete experience and critical contemplation on that experience, through group treatment, test and mistake, find and larning from one another ( 1993:45 ) .The narrative stating attackHarmonizing to Eriksson & A ; Kovalainen, in action research The research workers have full academic ‘freedom ‘ to utilize any stylistic elements they wish and frequently the descriptive anthropology and narrative signifiers are besides used in composing the action research studies ( 2008:207 ) Based on Elliott ‘s statement that action research workers should utilize a instance survey attack and that research studies should take a narrative signifier based on analytic memos and following a historical format: â€Å" stating the narrative as it has unfolded over clip † ( 1991:88 ) , elements of instance survey scheme were adopted in the experimental research stage and elements from a narrative attack with an ethnographic focal point, were used in the thesis as the manner for documenting the survey ( www.Infed.org/research ) . It is of import to observe that, unlike research workers utilizing other qualitative attacks and methods such as instance survey research or descriptive anthropology who tend to be interested perceivers, in this survey I was an active participant ( Myers, 2008:57 ) . Using elements of a narrative attack to direction and educational research can be described within the context of the post-modern, which gave me the freedom as writer/researcher to be personally present in the text as opposed to being the 3rd individual composing in a inactive voice, the traditionally needed ‘objective ‘ research worker. Dane asserts that â€Å" research is an activity, and an active voice conveys that impression † ( 1990:214 ) , this is substantiated by Van Maanen ( 1988, cited in Sikes & A ; Gale, 2006 ) who suggests that by composing in an active voice ( confessional narrative ) the research worker ‘tells it as it was ‘ instead than following traditional, formulaic and ‘objective ‘ constructions that tell of neat, tidy, elementary research undertakings. The usage of a descriptive narrative of the journey allowed me to capture the socio-cultural scene in which the acquisition occurred and helped â€Å" aˆÂ ¦make expressed some of the inexplicit cognition used to understand and implement the intercession † ( Hoadley, 2002: 2 ) . For most people, storytelling is a natural manner of telling experience, a practical solution to a cardinal job in life, making sensible order out of experience ( Moen, 2006:2 ) . In this thesis I adopted a multi-voiced coverage manner, where the positions and looks of all the participants were incorporated into my narrative. Their voices are actively heard in Phase 7 and 8 where infusions from their written and unwritten informations are reproduced verbatim. On completion of the bill of exchange, this study was given to them to read and formalize and this factor influenced the manner of composing used.RESEARCH DESIGNResearch DoctrineA research worker ‘s scientific beliefs or research doctrine is influenced by the research worker ‘s societal intent or what he/she wants to accomplish in the societal universe and why. Harmonizing to Whitehead and McNiff: A strong relationship exists between what you hope to accomplish in footings of your being as a human being and your ontological, epistemic and methodological premises, which can act upon each other and transform each other ( 2006:24 ) . They besides suggest that: Where research traditions differ is how they perceive the placement of the research worker ( ontological committednesss ) , the relationship between the apprehender and what is known ( epistemic committednesss ) , the procedures of bring forthing cognition ( methodological committednesss ) , and the ends of research in footings of how the cognition will be used ( societal committednesss ) ( 2006:22 ) . Ontology Ontology refers to a theory of being, which influences how we perceive ourselves in relation to our environment ( Whitehead & A ; McNiff 2006:10 ) . Action research aims to lend both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate debatable state of affairs and to the ends of societal scientific discipline by joint coaction within a reciprocally acceptable ethical model ( Rapoport, 1970: 499 ) . This can be seen as debatable in the coverage phase because The boundaries between people begin to fade out, as people see themselves as united in a common enterprise to better their ain fortunes and inquiries can originate about who tells the research narrative, whose voice is heard, and who speaks on behalf of whom ( Whitehead & A ; McNiff 2006:11 ) . A participative and subjective attack to research is hence built-in in action research and as Burr argues, objectiveness is: an impossibleness, since each of us, of necessity, must meet the universe from some position or other ( from where we stand ) and the inquiries we come to inquire about that universe, our theories and hypothesis, must besides of necessity arise from the premises that are embedded in our position † . She continues by stating that â€Å" The undertaking of research workers hence becomes to admit and even to work with their ain intrinsic engagement in the research procedure and the portion this plays in the consequences that are produced. Research workers must see the research procedure as needfully a co-production between themselves and the people they are researching ( 1995:160 cited in Colombo, 2003 ) . Due to my active engagement in the survey, I acknowledge the built-in subjectiveness of this survey every bit good as the impact it has had on both the procedure and the results of this research. As I reviewed my personal diaries and field notes my ain emotional reaction to certain events and people was apparent and sometimes contradictory interior voices emerged, some of these have been included in the text. However, I subscribe to Whitehead ‘s theory of the single ‘I ‘ which is ever seen to be in company with other single ‘I ‘s ‘ , where significances and committednesss flow between lives, and people perceive themselves non as separate entities, though still alone persons, but as sharing the same life infinite as others ( Rayner 2002 ; 2003 ; Whitehead 2005 ) . Epistemology Epistemology ( Whitehead & A ; McNiff 2006:23 ) refers to a theory of cognition, which involves two parts: A theory of cognition ( what is known ) ; and A theory of cognition acquisition ( how it becomes known ) Heron ( 1981 ; 1982 ) suggests that action research implies that cognition includes multiple ways of knowing and that the epistemology of action research should include: Propositional cognizing – based on theories or received wisdom ; Experimental knowledge – gained through the direct brush with people, topographic points or things ; Practical knowledge – gained through the making of things ; and Presentational knowledge – gained by telling our silent experiential cognition into forms. Harmonizing to Carr and Kemmis ( 1986:42 ) instructors ( in my instance a facilitator of an educational procedure ) have professional common-sense cognition. In add-on, they have thoughts about educational theory, a philosophical mentality, and societal and moral theories. Knowledge has the capacity to alter as cognition and thought alterations, hence, on the footing of this reflexiveness or capacity to alter, new signifiers of societal life can be created or reconstructed. Action research is based on the epistemic premise that the intent of action research and discourse is non merely to depict, understand and explicate the universe but besides to alter it ( Reason & A ; Torbett, 2001 ) . Goodson and Walker province that â€Å" the undertaking of research is to do sense of what we know ( 1991:107 ) † and the sense we make is determined by the choice and political relations of our attack. In this survey, a brooding procedure inherent in action research was used for sense-making or doing silent cognition explicit. This sense-making was introduced to the reader through a description of how the undertaking was conceived, what was intended, the rhythms of action throughout the procedure and an analysis of both the intended and unintended results. When reexamining my epistemic stance the remark by Whitehead and McNiff was peculiarly disposed. They province that in action research â€Å" cognition is created, non discovered. This is normally a procedure of test and mistake. Probationary replies, and the procedure itself, are ever unfastened to review † ( 2006:27 ) . Methodological premises Methodologies refer to the manner that research is conducted. I found the undermentioned paragraph from Whitehead and McNiff utile in this respect and the methodological analysis used in this survey has been guided by these premises. Unlike traditional societal scientific discipline, action questions do non take for closing, nor do practicians anticipate to happen certain replies. The procedure itself is the methodological analysis ( Mellor 1998 ) , and is often untidy, haphazard and experimental. Richard Winter ( 1998 ) negotiations about ‘improvisatory self-fulfillment in action research ‘ , where a certain grade of entrepreneurialism is involved ; and Marian Dadds and Susan Hart ( 2001 ) talk about ‘methodological ingeniousness ‘ , where we try multiple advanced ways until we find the 1 that is right for us. We look out for what might be a utile manner forward, and seek it out. One measure leads to another, and one rhythm of action-reflection leads to another. ( aˆÂ ¦ ) Traditional ways of making research offer a completed narrative. Action research workers let their ain narrative evolve. It is every bit much about the narrator as about the narrative ( Whitehead & A ; McNiff 2006:3 0 ) . Ethical considerations Soltis believes that research workers should detect the ‘non-negotiable ‘ values of â€Å" honestness, equity, regard for individuals and beneficence † ( 1989:129 ) . This ties in with one of the purposes of the survey of ‘locating the programme in values of equality and justness with regard for human self-respect ‘ . In pattern this meant being unfastened and honest about the research, its intent and application ; obtaining informed consent from the participants in the procedure and guaranting them of their right to retreat from the procedure at any clip without punishment. It besides meant non harming the company or participants and if possible, go forthing them in a better place. The research procedure and findings were guided by the ethical consideration of protecting participants ‘ individualities and obtaining permission to utilize their personal development diaries and other paperss owned by them, every bit good as obtaining participant proof of this thesis. The purpose of action research is to better and affect. To better meant alteration that was non ever comfy for the participants and throughout the survey I endeavoured to adhere to the ideal that everybody has the right to move, the right to be heard and the right to take.Data CollectionHussey and Hussey province that, â€Å" Whatever the intent of the research, empirical grounds is required. They define empirical grounds as, â€Å" informations based on observation or experience † ( 1997:10 ) . Harmonizing to Eriksson & A ; Kovalainen One of the challenges of action research in comparing with many other ‘research methods ‘ is that information analysis is frequently done collaboratively with the organisation, group of people or community involved. This is to guarantee the intimacy of consequences to the organization/group/community in inquiry. At the same clip, the analysis needs to carry through the ‘academic demands ‘ , therefore frequently including both linguistic communication and tools non known to ‘laypeople ‘ . Therefore, it is of import to add transparence and interlingual rendition of the analysis of the informations to the purpose of intercessions planned and action planning ( 2008:202 ) In this survey, informations based on observation was collected through the usage of elaborate field notes which provided a running history of what happened throughout the procedure and informations based on experience was collected as personal notes in the signifier of a diary which included notes to myself and a record of my contemplations, my feelings and reactions, ego uncertainties and inquiries, choler and defeats, and delectations. Throughout the survey I was punctilious in roll uping and updating the field notes and my diary. Records of meetings and informal interviews and treatments with participants and other stakeholders, every bit good as the emerging directors ‘ personal development diaries entering their phases of development provided extra collaborative beginnings of informations. Each of the informations aggregation methods used in this research undertaking could be considered portion of an overall attack to bettering the quality and cogency of the research informations through an attack known as informations triangulation. This would besides counter the possibility of low dependability.

Discuss Three or Four Examples of Radical Changes Brought About by Past Waves of Immigration

What do people gain when immigrating? It’s really hard to tell. However, what we do know is that immigration brings about radical changes to society. Nowadays, many countries with immigrants have great changes. For example, skillful Korean labor and Chinese immigration to the United States are the two typical examples that can illustrate that immigration has made radical changes. From the past to the present, immigration has generated great influence—not only positive influence but also negative one.Many things have been influenced by immigration including the accelerating economy, the mixing of cultures and languages, and racist sentiments, such as anti-Chinese discrimination. The biggest benefit that immigration brings about is stimulating economic growth. Take the first wave of Korean immigration to the United States started in 1903 when Korean labors came to Hawaii as an example. At that time, Hawaiian sugar plantation owners needed labor to meet the shortage of lab or resources. Labor is the key element to the development of productivity.Skillful and vigorous Korean immigrants (primarily male adults among 20 to 30) developed the Hawaiian sugar plantation and facilitated the local economic growth. (Koo, Hagen. , & Yu, Eui-Young, 1981, p 2-8) With far more labor-abundant, the United States has stimulated economic growth. Immigration has brought huge economic benefits due to the labor resources which is an important factor of economic growth. Societies include a number of cultures and languages because immigrants bring their native cultures and languages to new countries.That’s the reason why we can see many Americans enjoy eating Korean food pickles and Europeans become more familiar with Korean movies A Li Lang in the 64th Cannes film festival. Edward (1999) found â€Å"Even though the majorities speak English in United States, significant portions are other language speaking, like Korean†. As we can see, immigration facilitates t he current rise of multiculturalism, or the assimilation of a society of many different cultures and languages. Immigration not only brings about positive influence but also has negative impacts on society.In many cases, immigration causes conflicts. In 1848, the California Gold Rush attracted many Chinese immigrants to the United States. The industrious but uneducated Chinese people promoted the exploitation of gold mines. However, according to Mark (2005) â€Å"Employers desired low-wage labor, perhaps opposing exclusion because the Chinese were inexpensive, highly productive workers and their presence increased company profits and reduced the bargaining power of native worker. Therefore, many Americans attributed their unemployment to the Chinese immigrants. Because Chinese immigrants lacked an effective political voice, they encountered hostile discrimination and ultimately, legislative prohibitions on further immigration when Congress enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 (Mark, 2005, p 779). Chinese Exclusion was not the only case of how the ethnic majority mistreated the immigrants. Everything has two sides, we cannot only notice that immigration brings up some positive effects, it also causes restrictions.Diverse cultural immigration can increase the development of society and bring many other benefits (Korean labor brought promotion of economic growth and their cultures and languages), but it also causes problems (the Chinese Exclusion). In order to reduce the conflicts, the government should take actions, like modify and enact legitimate laws. From the overview of ancient and modern, immigration does bring about radical changes which promote the development of society and human beings.References Koo, Hagen. , & Yu, Eui-Young. (1981). Its demographic patterns and social implications for both societies. Korean immigration to the United States, 74, 2-8. P. Lazear, Edward, (1999). Culture and Language, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 107, no. 6, part 2: S95-S126). Kanazawa, Mark. (2005) Immigration, Exclusion, and Taxation: Anti-Chinese Legislation in Gold Rush California. The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 779-805

Afganistan war Veteran Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Afganistan war Veteran - Essay Example I researched literature on the country’s culture and people, and this served to help me to avoid the common pitfall that most of my colleagues fell into of incorrectly stereotyping the country’s people. When we finally landed in the country, I discovered that most of the material I had read on the country had essentially been written during a period when peace prevailed and since then, a number of things had changed with the advent of war. The Afghani people were initially apprehensive and prejudiced about us and our mission. Years of living under the severely repressive Taliban regime had caused them to grow apprehensive of strangers. However, when we started winning against the dreaded Taliban insurgents, the people became quite welcoming towards us and would often greet us in the streets cheerfully and hail us as their hero’s (Kerry, 2010). In Afghanistan, the majority of the soldiers happen to serve in various support functions that include accounting, logistics or even laundry. For these officers, the war frontline is essentially the camp’s front gate. A typical day for me generally involved getting a briefing in the morning as to the current situation and what was expected to occur during the day. We would then embark on a patrol of the local town and its environs. It was not uncommon for newly deployed troops that were assigned to engage with the local leaders to quickly grow comfortable with these leaders in a case of assumed similarity. These troops would incorrectly assume that these leaders happened to share similar characteristics with themselves and it was thus important that the recruits be accompanied with experienced veterans (Kenny, 1994). These veterans would help the recruits engage with these leaders and locals in a professional manner as the recruits gradually adapted to the country’s cu stoms and culture. After the patrol, we would then report back

Business Ethics Presentation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Ethics Presentation - Research Paper Example From the figures, it is a clear indication that the blame was pointed to the bankers for the financial crises. The public felt that the financial problems were due to bad ethics in the banking sector. Bankers have been criticized for issuing risky loans but according to (Lewis 2010), he argues that it is too crude to blame the financial crisis on ethics of bankers. According to Graafland and van deVen (2011) the three areas where of U.S. government has failed include encouraging the credit extension in the real estate market, failure by the government to keep a strong financial policy, and finally failure to regulate and monitor the markets. According to Graafland and van deVen there should be an improved sense of professionalism and duty to the public is needed. When an organization or industry loses its authenticity, the benefit of doubt is also lost. This is according to Kopeck. The corruption perception index (CPI) can also be used to measure the ethics of the US businesses. This method ranks countries on the degree of corruption in the government and also public officials. The method was inaugurated in 1995. The Corruption Perception Index ranks countries on a scale. The scale runs from10-0. The 10TH scale is perceived to be the least corrupt country and one as the most corrupt country. Corruption is a hidden activity hence measuring it is a challenge and that is why organization such as transparency international bases the index on a number of polls which is challenging to measure. The corruption perception index began with 41 countries in the year 1995 and has since grown and expanded to 182 countries and this is included in the 2011 index. The challenge with this method is that measuring the degree of corruption and also ranking is hard. Significantly there has been a steady decline in the United States CPI score over the last sixteen years with the hi ghest score of 7.79. Edel-man Trust Barometer is also another way of measuring trust;

Are zero tolerance rules the best way to keep schools safe Research Paper

Are zero tolerance rules the best way to keep schools safe - Research Paper Example Thus, the zero tolerance rules. According to Ted Watchel, zero tolerance â€Å"have become commonplace in American schools in recent decades’ (par. 3). Although many people agree to the zero tolerance rule policy in schools, this does not ensure a totally safe learning environment. This policy uses a lot of money, might be too strict on the students, and might not be too affective. Further, it is unfair to some students, and some rights might be violated by this rule. A report by Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah states that Chicago Public Schools spent $51.4 million on school-based security guards in 2010, an amount which was fifteen times higher than that of the budget spent on college and career coaches (par. 2). But students say they did not feel any safer in their schools despite these disciplinary policies. Zero tolerance policies are ineffective and have even been harmful to students and school environments (Watchel, par. 2) because it is too strict, that even minor offenses such as not being in uniform or bringing cell phones in class, result to removal from school, instead of giving them second chances and the counsel and advice they need in order to realize their mistakes if they have committed any. According to Kristen Graham, a report stated that students in the Philadelphia District are â€Å"too often punished harshly for minor infractions, and suspensions, expulsions, and transfers to disciplinary school are overused† (par. 2). This is clearly against putting the students’ welfare first in terms of their behavioral development or improvement and putting their future at risk. Some students might not want to continue their studies after they are kicked out of school either because of shame or disappointment. This will also make the students feel that the school does not exude the image that they once have, which is an academic and learning institution where they have the freedom to enjoy their learning years. Watchel stated that the polic y is ineffective and I totally agree with him. Watchel further stated that, â€Å"The American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force issued a report in 2008 concluding that severe punishment at schools neither reduces violence nor promotes learning. The report asserts that zero tolerance can actually increase bad behavior, lead to higher dropout rates, and increase referrals to the juvenile justice system for infractions once handled in the schools†(par. 5). This clearly proves the infectivity of the policy. Sean McCollum stated that â€Å"zero tolerance policy is getting twisted in many school districts and schools are not checking to see that the policies are even working† (par. 4). The first goal of an academic institution is to promote learning. This includes learning academically and behaviorally, which means that aside from their academic development, they are also taught the value of discipline and the sense of responsibility. This can only be done in a way that the students will have to realize, without being severely punished, their mistakes and then learn from them. By punishing them harshly for even the smallest infractions, we are further pushing them away from accepting their mistakes and thus give them reasons to feel angry and resentful. This will get in the way of their academic and learning development. In its eager campaign for a safer learning environment, the policy has become unfair in its treatment of infractions. Offenses, whether major or minor are met with almost the same punishments:

A topic from your personal knowledge and experience Essay

A topic from your personal knowledge and experience - Essay Example In other words, how their lives affects others. My philosophy of life involves this premise. In a world that is beautiful, exciting and mysterious yet can be brutally unfair, who I am is determined by how my life, my words and actions affect the world and the people in it. This is all I can really control, the person I choose to be. The person that some one chooses to be depends on an almost infinite number of factors including how and where they were raised, environmental influences, choices regarding philosophical thought and, in part, genetic predispositions. However, since the dawn of the internet, people from every part of the world have realized that they can indeed think very much alike those that have had very different life experiences. This proves, I suppose, that where you start does not indicate where you will end up, philosophically speaking. Some do not look at life and the world in the same way as their parents, friends or ethnic group see it, yet some do. It is for higher minds to ponder the reasons for why a person believes what they do but one thing is certain, the path there is very complex and unique to every individual. The roots of my philosophy towards life begin with the Bible yet I do not consider my self Christian, far from it. As a youth, I found the words of Christ simple, to the point and ultimately a path to inner contentment. A life philosophy, I have found, is an evolving viewpoint based on what we learn as we travel through the roller coaster that is life. The Bible gave me the foundation of what I have built upon since my youth. Other philosophies, whether from religions or various ‘wise men,’ that I have read do not contradict, in fact they support the tenets from the book I began with. All books of philosophical content are written as a guideline to happiness. Isn’t an individual’s

The usage of derivative instruments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The usage of derivative instruments - Essay Example The paper tells that in the present day context, the degree of competition was observed to be witnessing a significant rise along with the environment of business undergoing a constant alteration. The constant alterations have been giving rise to unforeseen situations that calls for effectual management with respect to the companies as well as banks. Therefore, it can be inferred that in relation to the mentioned context, it becomes important for the business enterprises to effectually manage the unforeseen risks from beforehand. It was identified in this regard that the most widely used financing strategies to overcome the challenges raised by business risks are the use of financial derivatives. Examples of financial derivatives used in the current risk management strategies are options and futures, and forward contracts. Options are defined as â€Å"the right and not the obligation to buy or sell something on a specified date at a specified price†. On the similar context, fu tures and forward contracts are also considered as significant risk management tools that are based on the value of fundamental assets. However, these techniques are subject to various factors such as credit rates, interest rates, currency fluctuations and other financial aspects which should be taken into consideration prior to the execution of this strategy. A derivative has been defined as an agreement that is found to take place among a buyer as well as a seller and gets initiated on the current date with regard to a particular transaction that is expected to be realised on a future date or time. For example, the tr

Online Recipe and Meal Planner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7000 words

Online Recipe and Meal Planner - Essay Example This info is useful for people who are on a diet and want to control the calories they receive. The manager or administrator is the person who controls the content of the website by adding/editing and removing the information. The administrator also keeps control of other aspects of a website like hosting, databases and technical support. The system is a web application and uses web server technologies. In includes a database (MS Access 2007) that stores the meal recipe, ingredient and costs and a web interface (Asp.net and C#) that interacts with the database. The final system will have to be uploaded on a real server however in the development and testing process it can be implemented on a local machine and using a virtual web server created by a development tool like Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Once the development and testing has been successful, it can be uploaded on an actual server for all the internet users to use. The structure of database has to be designed in a way to comply with issues like data integrity. So the main focus has to be on the relational database and normalisation. Making sure that the query, insert, update and delete commands operate correctly, otherwise that could lead to a loss of data integrity. The reliability of this system will be achieved when all the tables in the relational database are of Third Normal Form (3NF). The reason is that most 3NF tables in relational databases are free of insertion, deletion and update anomalies. There are many different software development techniques used/employed when software is being developed.

Critical Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Critical Thinking - Essay Example s and ideas, to understand them at a deeper level or to make judgments about them, to make connections between them or even to develop beliefs and ultimately to arrive at appropriate relevant action derived from these thoughts. Critical thinking has been defined in many different ways. Scriven and Paul (2007) define critical thinking as â€Å"the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action†. However in order to understand what it means to think critically one must look at the components of critical thinking and the attributes of people who think critically. The best description of what it means to think critically is the ability of the thinker to take charge of their own thinking. In order to do this it means that the thinker is engaging in a number of processes including questioning, interpreting and evaluating information, assessing and analyzing information, examining their own beliefs and assumptions and weighing up opinions against facts. One of the important criteria for thinking critically that differentiates it from other kinds of thinking such as creative thinking is that the thinking leads to reactive behaviors that are rational. To think critically therefore means more than just having thoughts; it means analyzing and evaluating an assessing not just thoughts but beliefs to improve life. Scriven, M. & Paul, R. (2007). The Critical Thinking Community. Retrieved February 12, 2008, from Foundation for Critical Thinking Web site:

Animal Rights Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

Animal Rights - Research Paper Example Another group argues that the criterion of having rationality and consciousness should not be the sole basis against animal-testing; rather the fact that every animal suffers from pain is strong enough to ban animal-testing. Obviously, this contra-animal-testing group fails to perceive that a firm and steadfast opposition against animal-test is as harmful as the view of ‘animal as thing’ is. For example, whereas a scientific experiment on animal could save thousands of man and animals lives, ban on animal-testing may destroy the possibility of living a healthy and disease free life. Therefore, though animals have the rights to live a pain-free life, such rights can be repealed for the sake of the humanity’s betterment. Moreover, any ethical perspective on animal-rights must include human’s interest in animal. Otherwise, any attempt to view animals as self-independent beings and detached from humanity must fail to bring about good for humankind as well as an imal. The origin of the arguments for animal-testing can be traced in Biblical affirmation. The â€Å"Book of Genesis† asserts that Man has a divine right over the animal kingdom. It says that man’s dominion over the animal kingdom is divine, as the â€Å"Book of Genesis† says that God has given Adam dominion over â€Å"the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.† (Francione, 1996, p. 45) Such biblical evidence necessarily infers that man can use animals for his own happiness and comfort. Therefore, if animal-testing can bring something good to humankind, then it is thoroughly permissible. Indeed, the utilitarian perspective seems to dominate the pro-animal-test arguments. The pro-animal-test debaters argue that animals can serve as good specimens for medical experiments. Even some animals such as rats, dogs, frogs and many others are efficient replic as

Welfare of Children Essay Example for Free

Welfare of Children Essay The family is the basic unit of society. It holds an essential part in fostering a sound and ideal environment that is related in enhancing the world that everybody lives in. This is the reason why establishing good family relationships is very important. Being the case, the role of every family member especially of the parents should be given due attention. However, there is an observable inequality as to how fathers are viewed in comparison with mothers when it comes to the nurturing of their children. Most people believe that it is the primary responsibility of the mother to take care of the children while the father has to deal with money matters. Social workers also adhere to this kind of perspective as they give more importance to mothers when assessing the welfare of a child. Nevertheless, various studies have shown that the absence of fathers in nurturing and guiding their children has detrimental effects. According to the study of Michael Lamb from the University of Michigan, children who are 7 to 13 month old have the same responses when they are separated from their parents. When their father left, the children would have tantrums, which is the same as when their mothers leave them. This research proves that both parents have an important role in development of their children especially during their formative years. Thus, fathering should not be taken for granted (Chen, n. d. ). Some analysts conclude that children who grew up without a father tend to have behavioural problems that are mostly observable in the inability to perform well in school especially when it comes to math and science (Chen, n. d. ). Long term studies in the United States and in New Zealand have conclusive results that father absence increases their daughters’ susceptible for early sexual activities and teenage pregnancy. Evidences prove that daughters who were left by their fathers at a young age tend to develop unstable relationship with men, which makes them engage in casual relationship with the opposite sex (Quigley, 2003). Research also shows that father absence is one of the primary causes of serious social problems like poverty and delinquency (McLanahan, n. d. ). The different studies and researches conducted only prove that the role of the father in the nurturing and rearing of children should not be taken for granted. Fathers should not be simply confined with providing financial and material things. They should also do their part in raising their kids. In the same manner, the society like social services should also give due importance to the part of the father in taking care of their children. The presence of fathers is essential in the development and well being of their children and their family as well as in the enhancement of the whole society. References Chen, N. (n. d. ). The Impact of Father Absence. Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://extension. missouri. edu/cooper/fok/father_absence. htm. Quigley, A. (2003). Father’s Absence Increases Daughter’s Risk of Teen Pregnancy. Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://mentalhealth. about. com/cs/familyresources/a/teensex503. htm. McLanahan, S. (n. d. ). Father Absence and the Welfare of Children. Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://www. olin. wustl. edu/macarthur/working%20papers/wp-mclanahan2. htm.

The strengths and limitations of duration analysis

The strengths and limitations of duration analysis As stated by the US Federal Reserve, interest rate risk impacts on a various range of stakeholders, and hence financial actors are interested in quantifying its impact. The most important practical tool to manage interest rate risk and to satisfy this main function for banks is duration analysis. In general duration Analysis is an econometric tool and in terms of Financial Economics it is defined as the mean length of time that passes until the present value is returned by a stream of fixed payments according to Macaulay (1938). Hence, Duration is a measure of the sensitivity of asset ´s prices to interest movements. My following essay defines duration according to Macaulay and presents special terms from the practice. Moreover, it considers immunization, hedging and Duration Gap Analysis as practical applications. The next part will discuss strengths and weaknesses of duration analysis. It concludes with todays importance of Duration analysis. There are two main reasons to study Duration according to Kopprasch (2006). Firstly, firms and especially financial intermediaries have tied up huge amounts of capital in fixed income instruments. These include bonds partly with optional characteristics or recent financial innovations like swaps, interest rate options or floaters. Hence, proper hedging of these instruments becomes important. Secondly, the key figure duration provides an intuitive approach to educate potential customers. This leads to a better understanding of financial instruments in general and how they behave when interest rates change. Bodie, Kane, Marcus (2006) Empirical studies and Figure 16.1 show six bond-pricing relationships: Firstly, theres an inverse relation between bond price and yield to maturity. Secondly, an increase in a bonds yield to maturity results in a smaller price change than a decrease of equal magnitude. Thirdly, long-term bonds are more sensitive than short-term bonds. Fourthly, interest rate risk, which is measured by the sensitivity of bond prices to changes in yields, is less than proportional to bond maturity. Fifthly, there is an inverse relationship between interest rate risk and bonds coupon rate, because a bond with a higher coupon rate pays a greater percentage of its present value prior to maturity. Sixthly, the yield to maturity at which the bond is currently sold is inversely related to the sensitivity of the bonds price to a change in its yield. This five observations were described Mankiel and are known as Malkiel bond-pricing relationships. The sixth property was demonstrated by Homer and Liebowitz (1972). Ingersoll, Skelton, Weil, (1978) stated that the key figure Duratio n can be interpreted as an attempt to quantify this qualitative observations through a single and numerical measure. The duration concepts has its origins in the work of Macaulay(1938), Samuelson (1945), Hicks (1939) and Redington (1952). Macaulay(1938) defined duration as the mean length of time that pass until the present value is returned by a stream of fixed payments. The proof that duration is an elasticity was provided by Hicks in 1939. This means that the price elasticity of a bond in response to an infinitesimal change in its yield to maturity is proportional to duration. But Fisher (2006) casts doubt on Hickss derivation. Nevertheless, his proof is generally acknowledged. Redington (1952) derived the duration independently and used it for portfolio immunization. The standard definition according to Macaulay is: subject to The weight is calculated by . In the special case of a zero bond, the duration equals the maturity, because no payments occur before maturity. Kopprasch (2006) mentions several different practical methods which are based on Macauleys duration and are used in practice. Effective duration is determined by the price movement to an incremental movement while holding the option adjusted spread constant. Option adjusted Spread (OAS) is a flat spread which is added to the yield curve in a pricing model and considers options like prepayments opportunities for mortgage backed securities. Hence, OAS is model dependent and incorporates volatility like variable interest rates or prepayment rates. Portfolio duration quantifies the Duration of a portfolio of different assets. It is based on the additivity of single durations. Additivity means that the duration of a portfolio is the weighted-average of the durations of the individual securities. The weights are the current market value of each security. The term Modified duration is calculated by the formula: Furthermore, the term partial durations or key rate durations is a vector of durations, where each duration is only valid for a limited maturity range. Spread duration recognizes that a change in the spread can affect the bond. This key figure was designed especially to value floaters which trade near par by definition. It often turns out that the market doesnt seem to trade the instruments with the predicted duration. Hence, empirical duration was developed to deal with these times. It is calculated by regressing price movements of the asset versus some market benchmark. The next paragraph considers two applications of duration in risk management: Hedging and immunization for a portfolio and Duration Gap Analysis. The change in an asset price due to change in interest rates can be calculated by: Fooladi (2000) describes that the realized rate of return encompass interest accumulated from reinvestment of coupon income and the capital gain or loss at the end of the planning period when the portfolio is sold. The two components impact the realized rate of return in opposite directions. Hence, in one point the two opposite effects of coupon reinvestment and capital gain or loss offset one another. When the portfolio duration equals the length of the planning period, the portfolio is immunized and the realized return will not fall below the promised rate of return. The second described application is Duration Gap Analysis which is an extension to the immunization approach, because it includes liabilities. A main function of banks is to provide maturity transformation. Hence, banks usually have short-term liabilities and long-term assets. As a consequence of this duration mismatch and shown by the third following equation, changes in interest rates have a direct effect on the banks equity value. The gap between the durations of the assets and liabilities ( is a measure of the interest rate risk of banks equity. Fooladi (2000) describes that banks may take modest bets by setting a duration gap or set the duration gap close to zero. The second equation shows how banks can adjust their duration gap by shifting weights on assets or liabilities. Bierwag and Fooladi (2006) specify that banks use off-balance-sheet securities like interest rate futures, options and swaps to reduce adjustment time and to save costs. Despite the shown strengths, there are weaknesses in duration analysis. As one can see in Figure 16.3, Duration is only valid for small changes, because the relationship between duration and price changes is derived by a first-order Taylor series approximation. Furthermore, Mishkin/Eakins (2006) criticise that interest rate changes have to affect all rates of maturities by exactly the same amount. Generally speaking, the slope of the yield shouldnt be affected at all and the yield curve is assumed to be flat. However, the shape of the yield curve fluctuates over the business cycle and consequently this expected slope change has to be considered. The mentioned partial duration and spread duration try to handle this shortcoming. Further problems involve uncertainty over the proportion of assets and liabilities. Estimates have to consider for example prepayment of loans, customer shifts out of deposits and uncertain cash payments due to default risk according to Fooladi and Roberts (2004). As Bierwag and Kaufman (1988) showed, default alters bonds cash flows and their timing. Additionally, one has to predict the stochastic process governing interest rate movements to value options. This can create a stochastic process risk which can be quantified by approaches to to measure interest rate volatility risk. Ho (2007) states that practitioners tie duration and vega measures which specify the sensitivities to the shift in the swap curve and the volatility surface, respectively. In his approach volatility risk is measured by the value sensitivity of an option to the change in the implied volatility function at the key rate points on the curve. Ingersoll, Skelton, and Weil (1978) argue that the assumed stochastic process to develop duration models is inconsistent with equilibrium conditions. Occurring large shocks to interest rates, riskless arbitrage became possible, but on the practical side the riskless-arbitrage argument seemed hypothetical. To overcome these weaknesses, Mishkin and Eakins (2006) mentions more sophisticated approaches such as scenario analysis and value-at-risk analysis and convexity which is a second-order Taylor series approximation and can be used as a correction measure. Paroush and Prisman (1997) strengthen this assumption and show that convexity (second-order) can be more important than the duration (first order). To put it in a nutshell, with increasing complexity of securities, myriad extensions have been added to the former duration analysis founded by Macaulay to handle the occurring risks. Furthermore, different duration measures face different assumptions about slope and shape of the yield curve or the stochastic process driving interest rates. One has to take in mind how accurate these assumptions are, because as seen in the recent financial crisis failures affect the entire economy, according to my starting statement. However, duration analysis is an adaptable framework and used carefully, a tool to get a first impression of interest-rate risk. Words: 1465

Sudha Chandran: Biography and Profile

Sudha Chandran: Biography and Profile Sudha Chandran On January 28th, 1984, Sudha Chandran stood behind the curtain, staring at the crowd nervously and waiting for the crowd to settle down. It had been a while since she had danced on the stage. The accident had not only left her dejected but also left her fans sceptical about her ability to return to the sacred dance floor. How can a single-legged person dance Bharatnatyam, one of the most intricate Indian dances? She proved everyone wrong. Her dance left the audience spellbound. Sudha was known to have this captivating effect since childhood. The young Sudha was a plethora of talent. She was born on September 21st, 1964 in Mumbai. She is the only child of K.D. Chandran and Mrs. Thangam. Her mother was an exceptionally good singer and her father was an art lover. They instilled in her the love for singing and dancing. Sudha started dancing at the tender age of 3. Seeing how well Sudha was dancing on her own, her father took her to the famous dance school of Mumbai, ‘Kala Sadan’. The principal of the school refused to admit Sudha as she was below the age-limit. Her father pleaded with the principal to at least see Sudha dance and then make the decision. Needless to say, the principal was mesmerised with Sudha’s dance and immediately admitted her in the school. Here, her talent was nurtured under the guidance of her teachers. By the age of 17, she had already performed 75 stage shows and gained popularity for her effortless and graceful dancing. Her parents were her support system. They were very particular about her studies and wanted her to be the best in whatever she did. Her mother left her job and stayed at home so that Sudha’s upbringing was not compromised. She made sure that Sudha went to school, completed her homework, went for the dance class, ate healthy and slept on time. There was no scope of lack of discipline in Sudha’s life. Life was not always dull for her. She was always full of life and made life-long friends during her college days. They went to watch movies together and have road-side food. Life took a sudden turn on 5th May, 1981. She was travelling overnight for a pilgrimage with her parents when her bus collided with a truck resulting in the immediate death of the driver and severe injuries to the passengers. Sudha’s legs were stuck in the wreckage. She was admitted to a government hospital in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Initially, the doctors thought that she had a minor fracture and treated the leg by putting a plaster on it. It turned out to be a huge mistake. When she went for a check-up to a hospital in Chennai, then Madras, the doctors found out that a wound had not been cleaned properly and, with the plaster on, it had developed gangrene. Whenever gangrene develops in the body, the body part has to be amputated to save the person’s life. Sudha’s leg was amputated in order to save her life. It left Sudha’s heart filled with sadness and her body without a limb. For a dancer, especially of her calibre, it was a major setback. As she couldn’t dance anymore she put all her efforts and energy into studies. She had already finished her B.A degree and was pursuing her M.A in Economics from Mithibai College, Mumbai. The family was heartbroken. Her family had dreamt big for their only daughter. However, no one showed Sudha any pity. They might have been hurting inside, but when they sat together they would talk as if nothing had happened. This helped in avoiding any scope of sympathy and pity for her disability. It was a tremendous attempt to treat her like a person without disability. Through these trying times, her major source of inspiration was her father. He never showed any sign of pity on her daughter and still expected her to have a good life. She learnt to draw strength from her pain. She tried to walk with the help of the crutches as she refused to use a wheelchair. Six months after the amputation she came across an article which changed her life and staged the rebirth of an outstanding dancer. Dr. Sethi was gaining worldwide popularity for manufacturing artificial legs known as the ‘Jaipur Foot’. She could manage to get an appointment with Dr. Sethi, but only after a week because of his busy schedule. Meanwhile, she convinced her parents and set off for Jaipur. Dr. Sethi was stunned by her determination. She refused to leave for Mumbai without getting a foot. He listened intently and understood her requirements. Due to many positions of the foot while performing Bharatnatyam, she needed a more flexible foot than there was. Dr.Sethi created the foot with many nuts and bolts so that it could be bent in any position. When Dr. Sethi presented her with one of the kind foot, Sudha asked him if she could dance again. Dr. Sethi wore the foot and did two dance steps to demonstrate what the foot could do. Sudha knew that the foot would give her, her life back. She practiced dance, wearing the artificial foot, for several hours a day. At times, the pain would be excruciating and often it would bleed, especially when the movements of the foot became fast. But, that didn’t stop Sudha for making her dream a reality; once again. She was surrounded by people who believed in her, especially Dr. Sethi and her parents. Dr. Sethi believed in her and her strength to withstand any adversity. With the support of her loved ones and Dr.Sethi, her confidence and desire to perform on the stage started to return. On 28th January, 1984, after two years of dance practice with the ‘Jaipur Foot’, she performed on the stage at the ‘South India Welfare Society’ of Mumbai. By the time Sudha finished her stellar performance, the entire audience stood up to see the dance of willpower. They could not imagine that a person with an artificial limb could perform such delicate and fast-moving steps. According to Sudha, ‘Once I was on stage, I forgot about my artificial foot. I could only remember that I was performing after a long time and that I had to give my best. The audience’s energy got transformed into my energy.’ Her life inspires people from all walks of life. Ramoji Rao, a Telgu producer approached her with a script titled, ‘Mayuri’ which was loosely based on Sudha’s life. She agreed to play the lead actress and overnight she became a star after the release of the film in 1984. She was presented with a special award ‘Silver Lotus’ and a sum amount of 5,000/- for her role in the film ‘Mayuri’ at the 33rd National Film Festival. In 1986, Ramoji Rao made a Hindi version of the film and titled it ‘Nache Mayuri’. The film was enjoyed by the audiences all across the globe, adding to her popularity. Through ‘Mayuri’, her inspirational story was able to reach out to millions of people across the globe. She believes that everything happens for a reason. She did not let one setback in life ruin her future, â€Å"The accident was a blessing in disguise because without it I would have been just like millions of other dancers. But, dancing with the Jaipur foot makes me one of a kind.† Over the years, she started concentrating more on her acting career. She became part of the small screen and film songs. During the shooting of one of her films, she met Ravi Dang, an assistant director back then. Since then, they have been inseparable. They both provided emotional support to each other. Ravi Dang now manages her dance academy called Natya Mayuri Sudhachandran Dance Academy which is in Ville Parle, Mumbai. She has also established herself as an actress in both on the small screen and in the films. Her name will always be synonymous with courage and dedication. If one thing can be learnt from her life, it is to never give up. Word Galaxy: adversity misfortune; harsh conditions amputate to surgically remove a limb for medical reasons calibre ability; talent excruciating extremely painful; unbearable gangrene decomposition of body tissue due to obstructed circulation or bacterial infection. intricate complex; elaborate sacred holy; revered spellbound awestruck stellar outstanding trying times period of time of hardships or difficulties Fresh Facts: Prior to the accident, she had received two important awards: Nritya Mayuri from the Dance Academy and Bharatnatyam and Nav Jyoti from the Telgu Academy. Dr. Sethi is a specialist in artificial limbs. He is also a recipients of the Raman Magasassay Award. She won the National Film Award – Special Jury Award for her role in Mayuri. The Trend Of Bakery: Justo Eat The Trend Of Bakery: Justo Eat Justo Eat is a bakery with experienced bakers serving all customers with undivided passion. The bakery has a wide range of products for the customers, from a simple mini cheese tart to the often sought-after ice cream cakes. The bakery strives to use only the best ingredient in the market in order to create quality products as ingredient plays an important role to baking mouth-watering delicious food. When the trend of bakery started growing in early 20s, Alvin Lau flew over to Singapore to learn the skills of baking from the established Bread Story. After several years of training, he came back to Malaysia in the hopes of using his skills to teach fellow Malaysians the fine art of bakery besides to create a better living. The first Justo Eat was formed in 2007 in Teluk Intan with a small number of employees, with most of the operations managed by him. From a humble beginning in Teluk Intan, the bakery expanded quickly to Bidor, Batu Gajah, and several regions in Perak. With 4 bakery and 1 bakery academy to boast in a short span of 6 years, Justo Eat has managed to achieve plenty that most could only dream of. Breaking sales of more than RM100,000 and also having the ability to achieve break-even point in a short span of 6 months, Just To Eat bakery is indeed intriguing. Hence, we have chosen this bakery for our research due to its remarkable marketing strategy and also the strategic management of the company. Problems that rose during the course of business and how , using sound marketing strategies, the company managed to stay competitive in the industry, all these would be discussed in the following pages, altogether with the discussion of the bakery industry. 2.0 The Environment Bread is an essential item in all households of Malaysia. It is a necessity that sells very well even in the times of financial turmoil. Though rice is the staple starch for most of the Malaysia population, bread still serves the Malaysia family as it is a choice for breakfast due to the nutrition present in bread. The production of bakery products consists of a few vital components, primarily, sugar, and wheat flour. Unlike wheat flour, the price of sugar over the years has increased ever since the government began cutting subsidies in January 2010. This has caused a significant of 58.6 percent from Rm1.45 per kilogramme (Ariffin, 2012). The hike in sugar price has caused headaches in the bakery industry since sugar is a vital component in the production. However, on the 3rd of February 2012, the government has signed a long-term sugar supply deal that would peg the sugar price of RM2.30 for 3 years, stretching from January 2012 to 2014. Hence, till then the price of sugar would not fluctuate and this is very favorable to the business. The value of bakery products in 2003 reached a whopping RM2 billion with an annual growth of RM65 million over the previous year and it is expected to grow by 4% per annum to reach RM2.9 billion in 2006 (Nordin, Simeh, and Shariff, 2008). There was also a growth in production of bakery products by 1.39%, from 259, 800 tons in 2009 to 263,400 tons in 2010. The increase of production and value of the bakery product is due to the increased use of bakery products by Malaysians due to the rising disposable income and a faster pace of life (Shah, 2011) in the last five to seven years. In 5th July 2012, the Danish firm Palsgaard announced its plan to build an emulsifier plant in Malaysia which will be completed in the first half of 2013 (Culliney, 2012). This announcement further reinforces the bakery industry of Malaysia; allowing greater efficiency of the bread production. The rise of boutique bakery such as BreadTalk, Free Mori, or The Loaf also sparked an increased interest of the public towards bakery products. This latest development of the bakery industry has come to the stage where the choice of buying is not just between white and brown, but a variety of factors due to the emergence of exotic range created by these boutique bakeries. Despite the positive business climate for the bakery industry in Malaysia, the industry still lacks of proper baker association or education that is needed to guide and teach Malaysians regarding this field (Bernama, 2011). Professional training modules need to be implemented in the country in order to create more varieties in the bakery industry and also to gain more knowledge regarding the field. A report released by Euromonitor shows that the retail value of all bakery products in Malaysia has increased from 651.3 million US dollars in 2006 to 742.16 million US dollars in 2011. With appropriate learning environment in Malaysia for the bakery industry, the Euromonitor forecasts that the retail value of bakery product in Malaysia will increase to 871.20 million US dollars in 2016. 3.0 The Industry Our research is based on a bakery store Justo Eat, thus the bakery industry of our assignment is based on the bakery industry in Malaysia, but it is of the bakery industry in Kampar, Teluk Intan, and Bidor instead since these places are where the bakery operates. Since the bakery is not available nationwide, hence, to include major competitors such as Breadtalk or Kings Confectionery which dominate the scene would be unnecessary since they do not provide a direct competition to the bakery in these places. Instead, we would be writing an analysis around these areas in order to provide a better understanding regarding the bakerys business situation. The threat of new competitor in the bakery industry in Perak is very low. This is because bakery is actually a specialized skill is hard to come by, therefore to compete in this industry, one needs to be a learnt baker with enough resources prior to his entry to the industry. It should also be noted that the bakery industry in Malaysia is still very new albeit it is very promising, hence there is not a well-known bakery organization that could produce qualified bakers in Malaysia (Bernama, 2011). Also, the start-up capital for this business is also pretty high, ranging from RM50,000 to RM100,000 for the price of the equipments needed for baking. These baking equipments and machineries are essential for business since the business need to produce thousands of breads everyday. The specialized set of skills needed for the business, coupled with an above average cost of start-up capital, make the threat of new competitors in the market rather low. However, the industry is not without competition. Just-To-Eat faces severe competition in places such as Teluk Intan from a local firm, Happy Angel. The Happy Angel bakery is an established bakery in this region, thus they have extensive resources to compete. Happy Angel bakery has competed with Justo Eat by opening branches wherever they operate in the hope of damaging Justo Eats sales overtime till it is forced to close down eventually. Happy Angel bakery also has competed directly with Justo Eat using pricing strategies in Teluk Intan due to the advantage it has from economies of scale. The price war between these two bakeries went on for a year with Justo Eat emerging as the ultimate winner, however, when Happy Angel bakery was forced to move out due to the diminishing profits. Since bread is a type of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), theres a variety of substitutes. Substitutes of bread include instant noodles which relatively cost a little higher than bread, yet it provides a better taste for consumers. Whole wheat bread easily available in all convenience store is also a substitute for bread, especially for the health-conscious consumers due to the low level of carbohydrates. Consequently, instant food such as Twiggies and Roti Koko that can be conveniently consumed are substitute products too since it is cheaper. It should also be noted that the small packets of nasi lemak which makes a more filling meal for a cheaper price is also another good substitute product. These products relatively make business a lot harder for bakeries such as Justo Eat because not these products are cheaper, they also offer much better taste than bakeries. Bread is a product of low-involvement, therefore the bargaining power of buyers in the market does not provide a threat to the industry. The low prices of these products do not affect the customers significantly, hence the buyers alone do not impose a great pressure on the bakery. The real threat comes from the variety of substitute products instead since not only these alternate meal options provide a better taste, these products are also subject to price changes constantly. The bargaining power of suppliers is also limited due to high number of suppliers in the market. Suppliers for bakery usually supply raw material, hence these first tiers suppliers can easily be found in the market. Various suppliers compete for the large account of Justo Eat, therefore most often the power to bargain prices usually fall in the hands of this bakery instead. 4.0 Justo Eat Marketing strategies Objective of marketing strategy Product objectives of Justo Eat are desire to grow and enhancing the companys position in the market. Justo Eat is producing high variety of products and maintaining the high quality of products to differentiate and enhance itself in the market. The objective of promotion for Justo Eat is to create awareness among customers and attract more customers in order to increase demand. Pricing objective of Justo Eat is market-share objective. Justo Eat seeks to maximize sales and increase market share for its products. Justo Eat is having distribution channel objective of establishing direct sales contact with final customer to enhance networking generating good relationship for retaining customer. Target market The target market of Just-to-Eat is household who frequently purchase its products especially during special event of wedding and birthday celebration. Justo Eat has high coverage of target market because its product can be consumed daily and convenient to target market. The products being sold are also economically affordable to all customers with low price and full satisfied. Competitive advantage Justo Eat has competitive advantage of good networking with its supplier. The good relationships with suppliers enable Justo Eat to acquire high quality of ingredients with a reasonable cost. The high quality of ingredient will further ensure the product quality. In addition, good relationship with suppliers can help to avoid shortage of ingredients. Secondly, Justo Eat positioned as guaranteed high quality of products which can serve as an instrument to retain customers and carry positive word-of-mouth. Product The top sales product of Justo Eat is bun. Justo Eat bakery provides freshly prepared bakery buns at all times to ensure fresh baked goods are always available. As a result, fresh and high quality buns produced successfully attracting a lot of customer for frequent purchase. Buns such as hawaii pizza, hot dog chicken floss and garlic cheese are generating more sales compare with other bakery products such as cakes. Product line expansion is best to described Justo Eat product strategy. In order to expand the market and boost market share, Justo Eat believed that with wide variety of bread and cakes, different taste of customers can be tailored. In general, it also helps to retain the loyal customer by satisfying their desires through providing a wide variety of bread with good quality, innovative and creative design. For example, Justo Eat carrying variety of products such as fresh cream cakes in cheese series, chocolate and coffee series, fruit series, ice-cream series. In addition, Justo Eat also introduced a product line for festival series such as cartoon series, numbering, wedding and engage, and fullmoon series ( Justo Eat bakery, 2011). Promotion mix On every new opening of branch, Justo Eat rely on banner advertising to grab customer attention. The orange colour of banner can actually brings Justo Eat an identity. Banner is not the only method in advertising the bakery shop, Justo Eat also use brochure. Creative brochure with some important information about company are distributed. Brochures is a low cost advertising method that used by company to create awareness of company to target market. With good reputation, Justo Eat enable to form postive word-of-mouth among the customer. Satisfied customers will spread the positive comment and information about company to their acquaintances and peer groups when they are satisfied with the product purchased. This word-of-mouth is effective and efficient in free advertising. Pricing The price range set by Justo Eat for buns is RM1.20 to RM3.60, tart is RM2.20 and each slice of cake is ranged RM3.20 to RM4.50 while 1kg cakes is in price range of RM28 to RM40. In bakery industry, price war is inevitable, price setting of Justo Eat is relatively lower than competitors. This is useful for rapid market acceptance and maximum sales when come to time for intensive competition with other bakery. Competitor of Justo Eat, Happy Angel Cake House set 1kg of cakes in price range of RM30-RM45 which higher than Justo Eat. (Happy Angel, 2010) A powerful pricing tactics used by Justo Eat, RM 1 price promotions for all breads. Obviously, this is aiming to increase the sales and market share by attracting new customer. Nonetheless, the core advantage Justo Eat can gain from this price promotion is beating down its competitor. The lauching of RM1 per bread promotion is lasting for nine months in order to gain high profit and generated high market share. Competitors had been killed by Justo Eat in this critical period. Place Justo Eat is using direct market channel to reach the market. Justo Eat selling products only in their bakery shop. Justo Eat believed that direct contact with customer is the most effective way to satisfy them. Justo Eat also distribute products to some entertainment shop and campus cafeteria. However, this only serves as a promotional tactics to reach more potential customer to try on Justo Eat bread. As Justo Eat hold that the using of intermediate channel does not earn much profit to them. Justo Eat also invited Taiwanese for demostratation in its shops to attract customers and grab opportunity to learn and improve skills from them. Place strategy that using by Justo Eat is pull strategy which involves a massive word-of- mouth to create demand for product that draws the consumer to seek for it. Pull strategy can easily gather customer feedback on ways improving products. This strategy also can create high demand of products in a short time especially during the period of new open bakery branch. 5.0 Justo Eat challenges and its course of action Despite Justo Eats success, every business surely has to face some problems and challenges among the industry. The trend of the business will lead Justo Eat facing the lowest point of the career with the poorest sale performance due to bread is not the main course for people daily life especially Malaysian. People have other choices of foods such as noodle or rice. In addition, Justo Eat is small in size and the shop recognition is not popular in Malaysia compare to those famous bakeries such as Bread Story. Thus, although the sales is high at the beginning stage, yet the sales drop for a certain period when consumers no longer feel fresh with the bakery. This is a common phenomenon for all businesses. The dropped sales caused Justo Eat to rethink its strategy in order to bear the huge business expenses. As a store with low profit still need to pay for rental, water and electric bill, and employee wages. This kept a critical question for Justo Eat to maintain the business at this sho rt term trough trend. To maintain and even enhance the business during the trough point of the trend, Justo Eat expand the business by opening more branches in other area. The new branches can acquire more customers to gain more sales and eventually increase the popularity of Justo Eat. By doing this, the profitable branch can compensate the low sales branch. Instead of controlled by the trend, Justo Eat take initiative to open bakery academy which provide bakery course. The courses include one day self-interest DIY baking class, specialist certificate course, and professional diploma in baking and confectionery. Different courses had fulfill different student needs to learn a bakery skill. It also brings revenue to Justo Eat. The students who joined the courses in the first year of the commercement of bakery academy can enjoy the priority for partnering with Justo Eat to start own bakery business. By doing this, Justo Eat believed that their venture can be sustained despite the slow trend at certain peri od. In order to maintain the bread and cake business during the slow trend, Justo Eat put more effort in ensuring the performance at store level. The management emphasizes in cleanliness and hygiene of the shop. This helps the firm to earn some credits for the operating environment. It will influence perceive value of consumer, and then it will affect consumers purchasing decision making. Furthermore, the quality of product never been neglected and the best service is provided for customer. To establish employee morale in doing this, Justo Eat management had built up a clear reward performance system culture among the employee. Justo Eat only hire those employee with capability and good working attitude. Moreover, monthly meeting held in headquarter with the entire branch manager is necessary to understand every branch situation and giving opinion to improve the management team. During the meeting will discuss the problem facing and solution in different branch. Therefore Justo Eat can e nsure the employee provide the customer with best service to increase customer satisfaction so that positive word-of-mouth can be established among the customers. With this, customers are willing recommend the bakery to others. When considering a business, location is always a very critical element to be considered. The classic advice location, location, location is right on the mark for a business. The same is to Justo Eat, the location plays an important factor that lead to the firm success. Justo Eat bakery has the fifth branch in sitiawan early in the year of 2009. The opening of this branch had boom the bakery industry in sitiawan at the early stage. Justo Eat had ripped off majority of the market share from the competitors in that particular area. The shop was perceived to be placed at a good location as it located at the main street in Sitiawan and it was located beside The Store supermarket. Initially, Justo Eat believed that the exposure and the awareness of Justo Eat can be exploited from The Store as the bakery shop is viewable from The Store. Thus, the customer surely can notice and recognise the shop. Nonetheless, the shop location is believed to have satisfied number of pedestrian. However, few months later, the sales had dropped tremendously. Justo Eat overlooked the attractiveness of the location. Although there is many customer patronage The Store, but they are not guaranteed to visit the bakery shop. Whats more? Justo Eat overestimated the pedestrian traffic at the particular place. A business should ensure that the area is to be guaranteed to have pedestrian around the shop location from time to time. There is lack of pedestrian around the bakery shop, or can be inferred that during day time, there is not much pedestrian along the road. Therefore, in the end, Justo Eat decided to milk this branch to avoid further losses. Fortunately, the companys sales from the early period is enough to compensate the later stage loss, thus the company able to cover the initial start-up cost and any other operating expenses. The location problem not only existed in Sitiawan, the bakery branch in Kampar also faced location problem but it derived from another aspect. The increasing population in Kampar is really an attractive factor which can gauge business to come in. The number of student no matter in TAR College or UTAR is increasing, the company can exploit this opportunity to gain market share in Kampar. At the opening, the students are also attracted by the RM1 bread promotion, Justo Eat had also achieved high sales at this stage. However, Justo eat failed to anticipate the student study period. Students from both college and universiti will have a 3-week of semester break after final exam. During this time, they will not been in Kampar, therefore, there will be very low sales during that particular month. During the semester break month, Justo Eat can only rely on the sales from household in Kampar. Unfortunately, the location of the bakery shop only serves as a convenient place for the student in Kampar but not for the resident in Kampar. After few semester of lost, Justo Eat decided to milk this branch. Although the location is not suitable for selling their product, yet the store is remained and turns into a bakery academy. The idea of bakery academy is not merely for solving the problem in Kampar, it is a new strategy formulated by Justo Eat for future expansion as mentioned above. Since Justo Eat was searching for store space for bakery courses, while the bakery shop location is suitable for opening bakery academy, Justo Eat subsequently exploit the store space in Kampar to open their first bakery academy. By doing this, Justo Eat can eventually reduce the cost in market research and store renovation in Kampar. 6.0 Suggested alternate courses of action and its implementation To engage in business in a good location is essential to attain exposure in the short-term and to gain profit in long run as agreed by every entrepreneur and businessman. However, by depending solely ones own sixth sense which is considered as an entrepreneurs alertness, is not always reliable. Therefore, it is critical to conduct a thorough survey and analysis before entering a market and location. This can help a company to better understand what the attraction in that particular area or location is, how to draw potential target customers and who its competitors are. Justo Eat, a family-style bakery shop, should create a small marketing team in which they gather useful information, analyze the new shop locations and strategies as well as carry out simple surveys in a particular location to ensure there is a high chance of being able to target its customers. The founder and brains behind Justo Eat is a successful entrepreneur who had depended on his business acuity to correctly anal yze the potential success of a location for a new shop, but there have also been some unforeseen mistakes which is the reason the small marketing team. The marketing team will be able to assist him by delving deeper into his judgment and help him explore his ideas by using survey and analysis research from his marketing department. Tea break is an increasing trend in Malaysia among youths, young adults and oldies, where they will spare some time for a short break no matter how busy they are. To seize this golden opportunity, Justo Eat should include different types of beverages in their shops and chairs and tables where customers can easily enjoy a combination of bread and coffee, and think of Justo Eat when they want to have a tea break. Other than that, the company can also improve the quality of the cake by providing training for its employees. This is due to the poor emphasis on cakes, rather than bread from the company. When compared to the breads, the sales of cake of the company are not always on target. For that reason, improving in the quality of their cakes may be an advantage to the company, to an extent, boosting its sales and revenue. The customers can not only have bread but also enjoy cake during tea time in any Justo Eat shop. Although this will be another operating cost to the company as the co mpany has to increase the number of employees, in the long-term, the company is able to increase its profit and target another new opportunity, enhancing the patronage of customers. This will be its competitive advantage in the bakery industry, as opposed to being just limited to only selling bread and pastries. The overall marketing strategy used by Justo Eat targets the family-based markets. Families often go to bakeries to buy different breads for their childrens breakfast, for them to bring to school or serve as the lunch for the adults. However, there are also unmarried individuals and youths, who prefer more variety in their lives. The variety of choice in Justo Eat is limited and after some time, the single individuals and youths will begin to feel bored due to the lack of new variety. In regards to this, Justo Eat can implement a Weekly Special program, where they introduce new breads to spice things up. This will encourage them to patronize the store at least once a week, using the weekly special bread to attract them, which will boost sales and allow differentiation among the other bakeries in the area. 7.0 Conclusion Justo Eat has good strategies to overcome the company problem, and it also has a complete management system for the daily operation. Throughout its five years of existence, Justo Eat has developed the organization with more and more branch. Developing the business had created the well-known reputation of company. However, in spite of the successful strategy and expansion of company, the future of Justo Eat is challenging. The major challenge is competition among the industry. The company do not have brand strategy that customer can differentiate the company product when compete with others. It does not have a unique product that able to impress the company brand. In other words, there are no products that can makes customer to recall Justo Eat when they think of breads or cakes. Secondly, culture and eating habit towards the Malaysian when having the main course. Consumer may not eat a bread or cake for their lunch or dinner but they will have noodles or rice. Breads and cakes will not be their only choice when considering a meal. Moreover, the society is moving towards healthy food habit. This creates a challenge for Justo Eat in considering the ingredients used in cakes and breads baking. In order to make the first decade, Justo Eat has developed the business by opening bakery academy. It is not merely for increasing the profit but also serve as an opportunity for future expansion. The graduation candidates from Justo Eat can partner with the company to open branch in other location. Therefore, company can have a sharing of the business risk with others and expands the business at the same time. It also helps the company to be well-known as the students will probably spread their experience to others. Upon the venture of Justo Eat, it cannot be denied that the observation of the market and a strong network relationship can really affect a successful business thoroughly. A complete and appropriate management system is essential for daily operation. Still, it is very important how a person can implicate the experience or learning to the venture.