From Nothing to Something free essay sample

Louisa Amour A. Laguna Ill Lube October 03, 2012 Unique in an Insulting Way What is badly? Well, it actually refers to a person who dressed weird. This is the kind of tag to those persons who has an out of this world fashion statement. It is also a kind of insult and humiliation. It can also be a factor for bullying. How will you know if youre badly? So I set up some standards for badly. Badly can also be associated to those persons who came from provinces. Theyre somewhat connected cause those who came from provinces doesnt know the latest trends or fashion statements of urban people. Rural people tend to wear purporting, camas, and bake. But not all rural persons are badly. Some can blend well to the fashion statement of urban people. Well, my first standard for being badly is a person wearing a abstain pants. We will write a custom essay sample on From Nothing to Something or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It really looks badly because pants are meant to cover the whole legs not Just a quarter of it. Second, those persons who are wearing bright- lore or rainbow-colored dresses and long sleeves. That fashion statement is so ass. Were now in the year 2012 so better use the fashion statement of this year. Third, those girls who are wearing headbands with big ribbons. It really looks badly because you look like a gift with a ribbon on top. That fashion statement is also so ass. Last, those persons who wears there Jewelry box for Just one occasion. Lets take Amelia Marcos as an example. She looks badly right? Lets Just stick to the saying that less is more. Being badly is not a sin but it can make you out of place. Well, its not your fault that you dress like that. Maybe you were influenced by your surroundings and when you go to other places that fashion statement is not acceptable or maybe you are Just stuck from the past. Sometimes being badly can individualize you from other people. It makes you unique in an insulting way. So if you think you passed my standards, better be ready to search the web or magazines for the latest fashion trend of the year.

Improving Service Quality

Improving Service Quality Introduction The quality of services that employees offer in a restaurant is as important as the meals served. According to Shaikh and Khan (2011, p. 343), the restaurant industry is continuously evolving and growing more complicated. They argued that a restaurant must include ‘service associated features to satisfy the complementary needs of its customers’ (343).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Improving Service Quality specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More They further noted that satisfaction of customers is taking a new trend of being associated with quality of service. Customers are increasingly becoming conscious of their surrounding when in restaurants. According to Markovic, Raspor and Segaric (2010, p. 181), restaurants have continuously been pushed to offer excellent dining experiences to their customers. These experiences constitute the tangibles as well as the intangibles. The intangibles are of a particular concern as their improvement requires considerable attention unlike the tangibles. It has been noted that the intangibles have a great effect on the financial viability of a restaurant on a long term basis. Due to the stiff competition in the restaurant industry, offering of quality services therefore is not an option but a way of being competitive. In regard to the above briefing, this report examines the tools that can be used in improving the level of service quality of a nation-wide restaurant chain. Two instruments are discussed and it is shown how they will be instrumental in improving the quality of service of the nation-wide restaurant chain. Improving Quality of Service In order to improve the quality of services given, it is prudent that the reference points of various stakeholders involved are known. In the context of this report, the main stakeholders in reference to quality of service offered are the staff and the customers. It will be mandatory to be aware o f what the customers expect and then make the correct adjustment to fulfil their expectations otherwise improvements cannot be effectively made if the deficit areas are not known. The instrument which best does this is the DINESERV instrument.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It has been noted that when customers are satisfied as per their expectations, they become frequent customers. Such satisfied customers also refer other customers, mostly friends and family members, to the business (Wu Liang 2009, p. 587). By using the DINESERV tool, it will be possible to know how huge the gap is and consequently remedial measures will be taken. DINESERV Instrument This instrument was developed specifically for restaurant industry by Stevens, Knutson and Patton in 1995. It is basically a SERVQUAL instrument but modified such that it specifically addresses the restaurant indus try (Kim, Nee Kim 2009, p. 10). DINESERVE is a tool that measures the quality of service from the perspective of a customer (Markovic, Raspor Segaric 2010 p. 183). Understanding how a customer defines quality service is very important because it is his/her perceptions that will make him/her come back to the restaurant again. By using this instrument, it will be possible to get the position of the customers in regard to the service quality offered by the restaurant. Taking into consideration that the restaurant in question is not an international business which might be servicing people of diverse cultures, a sample of the restaurants should, to a good degree, shed some green light on the nation-wide customer expectations. Why this instrument is chosen is because it helps to show where a restaurant is and where it should be in terms of quality of services offered, that is, ‘it measures consumers’ expectations and perceptions of services received† (Markovic, Raspo r Segaric 2010, p. 183). This instrument touches on five dimensions that consumers use when evaluating the quality of a service given. These five dimensions are ‘tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy’ (Markovic, Raspor Segaric 2010, p. 183). In the following sections, it will be shown how these dimensions can be used to improve the quality of service in the chain restaurant in question. Tangibles In a restaurant, the physical facilities which include the furniture and the appearance of personnel constitute the tangibles. It also encompasses the physical design and general cleanliness (Markovic, Raspor Segaric 2010, p. 184).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Improving Service Quality specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A good physical design and a good internal arrangement enhance the dining experience that a customer experiences therefore helping greatly in the satisfaction of the customer. Things like lighting and music have also been associated with the internal structure and are said to greatly affect the satisfaction of consumers. The consumer factors have also been said to have an influence on the satisfaction of consumers. Consumer-consumer interaction may be viewed favourably when it facilitates social interaction. However, some consumer behaviours such as smoking or talking loudly may be viewed to be offensive (Wu Liang 2009, p. 587). Reliability Reliability in the context of service industry is defined as ‘the ability to perform the promised services independently and accurately’ (Markovic, Raspor Segaric 2010, p. 184) and, specifically, in the restaurant industry it is the ‘freshness and temperature of the food, accurate billing and receiving ordered food’ (Markovic, Raspor Segaric 2010, p. 184). The temperature of the food and how fresh it is have been found to influence customer satisfaction. According to Andaleeb and Conway (2006 p. 5), these two affect the quality and taste of food served and therefore greatly determines whether a customer enjoys the meal or not. Price also matters in this context, it has been observed that when the price is not reflective of the quality of food, customers feel they are being taken for granted. For instance, a very high price is an indicator of a high quality therefore if low quality is offered then customers will have the impression that they are being ripped off (Andaleeb Conway 2006). This is likely to annoy customers and might be viewed as one of the fastest way of sending away customers. Responsiveness Responsiveness is viewed as the willingness and readiness of the staff to help the customers promptly. In the context of the restaurant industry, it is associated with ‘staff assistance with the menu or wine list or appropriate and prompt response to customers’ needs and requests’ (Markovic, Raspor Segaric 2010, p. 184).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Indeed studies carried out have shown that more responsive services enhance the satisfaction of customers (Andaleeb Conway 2006). It has been shown that customers are happy with servers who understand their needs and address them accordingly. In the context of this report, responsiveness can be achieved by training the customer-contact employees particularly the servers and waiters on how to handle customers with courtesy. These employees are more in contact with the customers therefore they tend to be the image of the restaurant in the eyes of the customers. It would therefore be wise to invest in these front people such that they present a cutting edge image of the restaurant to the customers. Assurance This has to do with the knowledge and courtesy of the staff members. It also has to do with their ability to convey trust and confidence (Markovic, Raspor Segaric, 2010, p. 184). When applied in the context of restaurant industry, assurance implies that customers ‘trust the recommendations of staff, feel confident that food is free from contamination and be able to say any concern without fear’ (Markovic, Raspor Segaric 2010, p. 184). Empathy This is viewed as the ability to offer services which are customized and which make the customers feel cared for or special (Alroub, Alsaleem Daoud 2012). Action Plan Five dimensions of quality service have been discussed above. It is very important that these areas are well addressed in order to create and sustain a good restaurant image before the eyes of the customers. In regard to this report, the director should plan for the training of the restaurant staff in order to ensure they adequately meet the expectations of the customers in regard to the above five dimensions of customer services. According to Irfan, Mohsin and Yousaf (2009 p. 1222), training in service quality becomes successful when there is a commitment of all employees, senior and junior, to the objectives of the training exercise. In r egard to the nation-wide restaurant chain, which is the subject of this report, this commitment will be achieved by carrying out an internal marketing campaign which will address the grievances of the employees. It will also be ensured that the employees understand the need and significance of offering quality services to the customers. The training exercise will be carried out after the DINESERV instrument has been administered in order to get a picture of how the customers view the nation-wide restaurant chain. The action of training the employees will basically be viewed as a way of investing in the employees for the good of the restaurant. The following subsections give more details on how it will be carried out. Customer-contact Employees The customer contact employees are very important, as already noted above, in creating a good image of the restaurant in the eyes of the customers. Those involved in this category are the waiters, servers, and those who welcome the customer in to the restaurant. Depending on the findings of DINESERV, which would have been obtained by the time the training exercise will kick off, these employees will basically be trained on how to interact with the customers. Basically, the training will be customized to ensure that the deficits which would have been exposed by the DINESERV instrument are addressed. In addition to that it will be ensured that the employees are sharpened into becoming reliable. Andaleeb and Conway (2006) stated that ensuring that customers get the correct food they order is being reliable. Waiters and servers therefore will be reminded that they cannot make such mistakes as taking the wrong food, or serving food when it is of the wrong temperature or size. Customer-contact employees will also be reminded and trained to be responsive to the customers through such simple gestures as maintaining eye contact when a customer is talking. The waiters will be required to maintain a good knowledge of all the food th ey serve such that they readily offer extra information to the customers in case a customer asks for the same. In this manner, the customers will feel assured of the restaurant services when they readily get answered well by the waiters. The waiters will also be in charge of ensuring that customer-customer interaction is a positive one. Customers who behave in manners that may annoy other customers will have to be kindly requested to mind the welfare of others. There will be a need to ensure that when waiters request customers who might be behaving in rowdy manners to calm themselves, they will have to do that in very polite ways. Chefs Chefs play a very huge role in enhancing a dining experience for customers. It has already been pointed above that freshness and temperature of the food are big factors in satisfying customers’ expectations. The taste of the food and its quality also matters a lot especially when such food is highly priced. The training of the chefs will there fore go a long way in ensuring that the price and quality of food are reconciled such that the customers do not feel ripped off. The chefs are also significant in ensuring that what is promised on the menu is what gets served. In this manner, the nation-wide restaurant chain will earn itself a good image for delivering on its promises. Internal designer There is a need to introduce an internal designer in the human resource department. Physical outlook, both the external and internal, enhances the experience that a customer has in a restaurant. The internal designing forms part of the tangible dimension of service quality as per the DINESERV instrument. An internal designer will be in charge of redesigning the internal arrangement of the chain restaurant to make it more appealing. This internal physical restructuring may include changing the lighting systems and sitting arrangement including the type of furniture in use. Restaurant Managers The restaurant managers will be very cruci al in ensuring that quality is maintained. A restaurant manager will be allowed to make changes in the operations of a branch restaurant as long as such a move can be substantiated to increase the quality of service that is provided by the branch. The manager should also be charged with determining the priority of the quality dimensions as illustrated by DINESERV tool. According to Shaikh and Khan (2011 p. 354), different people may have different perception on which quality dimension is most important. The restaurant in question with regard to this report is a nation-wide chain therefore implying the possibility of different customers in different parts of the nation having different perceptions. Internal Marketing Apart from undertaking training based on the findings of DINESERV, another tool that may also be very fruitful in enhancing the quality of service offered by the chain restaurant is Internal Marketing. Internal marketing focuses on the internal customers with the aim of benefiting the external customers. It has been shown that internal marketing helps employees of an organization to be more committed (Esfahan, Taleghani Rajaee 2006). Internal marketing takes two aspects: customer-focused and employee-focused. Customer-focused aspect views ‘all employees of the organization as de facto marketers’ (Kale 2006, p. 3). In this regard, whenever there is an interaction between the service employees and customers, business is created, sustained or broken depending on how the customers perceive the interaction (Kale 2006, p. 3). On the other hand, the employee-focused aspect aims at promoting a company to the employees. In general, internal marketing aims at ensuring that employees are satisfied working in an organization. With satisfaction, employees are more likely to be market oriented in offering their services. The effect of this orientation is creation of a positive organizational image (Chen Hsieh 2009). Internal marketing also reduces the rate of turnover. High rates of turnover can be very costly to a restaurant as it implies that new employees have to undergo training to ensure that the quality of service provided is not compromised. By engaging in aggressive internal marketing, employee turnover can be greatly reduced (Chang Chang 2008). Conclusion The service industry is continuously growing competitive. This is especially true for the hotel industry. Customer tastes and preferences keep on changing everyday and this has made this industry quite complicated. Unlike in the past, customers in the present time are looking for comprehensive services of high quality. In the restaurant industry, it has been observed that customer satisfaction is obtained when a great dining experience is created. This experience takes more than just the taste of a great meal. It includes the physical surrounding and the nature of people around both the employees and fellow customers. This report suggested that DINESERV instrument should be used to find the position of the restaurant in question and then use the gap indentified to make some improvements on the dimensions of quality services. Internal marketing was also proposed as an ideal way of ensuring the employees are motivated and committed to the restaurant. This was shown to greatly reduce the costs of training and as well ensure that the quality of service offered is not comprised. References Alroub, AS, Alsaleem, AM Daoud, AA 2012, ‘Service Quality and its Impact on Customer Satisfaction Tourist Restaurants’, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 364-379. Andaleeb, SS Conway, C 2006, ‘Customer Satisfaction in the restaurant industry: an examination of the transaction-specific model’, The Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 3-11. Chang, C Chang W ‘Internal Marketing Practices and Employees’ Turnover Intentions in Tourism and Leisure Hotels’, The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 161-172. Chen, Y Hsieh, T 2009, ‘Study on Relationship among International Customer Orientation, Market Orientation and Organization Performance of Theme Restaurant’, The Journal of International management Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 165-175. Esfahan, MR, Taleghani, M Rajaee, MB 2013, ‘The Effect of Internal Marketing on Outcomes and Factors Organizational Commitment (Case Study: Hotels in Esfahan)’, Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 429-435. Irfan, SM, Mohsin, M Yousaf, I 2009, ‘Achieving Service through its Valuable Human Resources: An Empirical Study of Banking Sector of Pakistan’, World Applied Sciences Journal, vol. 7, no. 10, pp. 1222-1230. Kale, SH 2006, ‘Internal Marketing: An Antidote for Macau’s labor Shortage’, UNLV Gaming Research Review Journal, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-12. Kim, WG, Nee, YC Kim, Y 2009, â⠂¬ËœInfluence of institutional DINESERV on customer satisfaction, return intention, and word-of mouth’, International Journal of Hospitality Management, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 10-17. Markovic, S, Raspor, S Segaric, K 2010, ‘Does Restaurant Performance meet Customers’ Expectations? AN Assessment of Restaurant Service Quality using a Modified DINESERV Approach’, Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 181-195. Shaikh, AA Khan, NR 2011, ‘Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry in Pakistan’, Management Marketing, vol. IX, no. 2, pp. 343-355. Wu, CH Liang, R 2009, ‘Effect of experiential value on customer satisfaction with service encounters in luxury-hotel restaurants’, International Journal of Hospitality management, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 586-593.

Marketing strategy and KSFs of Apple Incorporation Dissertation

Marketing strategy and KSFs of Apple Incorporation - Dissertation Example Globalization has posed a major challenge to organizations to manage international business. Technological advancement has pervaded every field and marketing of high-technology products has become a specialized activity. The global economy is driven by technological innovation as the scope of high-technology applications is no longer limited to computers. The high-tech industries are characterized by a high degree of uncertainty as far as the markets, technology and competition which makes the traditional marketing tools unsuitable for these products. Apple Inc. features among the top 50 companies in Business Week in 2006. This is an Independent Research paper (IRP) with the objective of evaluating the marketing strategy and the key success factors (KSF) adopted by Apple Inc. when they were virtually on the verge of closure. Literature review of the existing marketing theories and principles was carried out and the framework for the IRP determined. This IRP is totally based on secondary data collected through academic journals and reputed websites through reputed search engines. The study concludes that the marketing strategy of Apple is based on several factors. They focus on continuous product enhancement and they anticipate and incorporate the customer needs of which even the customers may not be aware of. Over the years they have build a brand image and today they enjoy high brand equity on which they thrive. They have several channels to reach their products to their customers and have been able to build a community of Apple users. Long-range vision of the CEO contributes to its KSFs apart from the brand loyalty and the value they create for the customer. The key success factors of Apple include the long-range vision of the CEO, the brand loyalty, the value they create for the customer and the excel lent customer experience they provide at their stores. The study concludes with recommendations for further research. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Rationale for research 2 1.3 Organization of the study 3 2. Literature Review 5 2.1 Marketing strategy 2.1.1 Introduction 5 2.1.2 Product positioning/branding 6 2.1.3 Niche marketing 7 2.1.4 Customer engagement behavior 8 2.2 Theoretical perspectives 2.2.1 Competitive strategy 9 2.2.2 Key Success factors (KSF) 9 2.3 Overview of the computer industry 10 2.4 Overview of Apple Inc 10 3. Research Methodology 12 3.1 Purpose of the research and phenomenon 12 3.2 Research Philosophy 12 3.3 Research Strategy – justification for the chosen method 13 3.4 Data collection 14 3.5 Data Analysis 14 3.6 Limitations of the study 14 4. Findings 4.1 Introduction 16 4.2 Apple’s strategy 4.2.1 Product differentiation strategy 16 4.2.2 Advertising strategy 16 4.2.3 Brand Value 17 4.2.4 Distribution channels 20 4.3 Appleà ¢â‚¬â„¢s KSFs 4.3.1 Apple customer experience 22 4.3.2 Long-range vision 22 4.3.3 Creating value for the customers 22 4.3.4 Technological paradigm 23 4.4 Strategies of competitors 23 5. Discussion on findings 27 5. Conclusion and Recommendation 5.1 Conclusion 31 5.2 Learning outcome 32 5.3 Recommendations 32 References 33 1. Introduction 1.1 Background Globalization has posed a major challenge to organizations to manage international business. This requires organizations to have skills, efforts and resources in terms of manpower, financial resources and the capability to handle issues that may arise during the course of international operations. Globalization has led to unlimited competition across nations, cultures and organizations (Faria & Guedes, 2005). Technological advancement has pervaded every field and marketing of high-technology products has become a specialized activity. These require an effective marketing strategy, an understanding of international management of busine ss and knowledge of managing across different cultures. The global economy is driven by technological innovation as the scope of high-technology

Cultural Similarities Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural Similarities - Research Paper Example This paper shall assess the similarities between the African Americans and the Asians, what makes me feel at ease whilst interviewing a person of Asian origin, an assessment of the positive traits and attributes that person displays and finally discuss the changes I would have instilled in the Asian if given a chance to be friends. Being an African American, I selected Asians, for the reason that, we have both undergone discrimination from persons of the European culture since time immemorial. As evident in the work of O'Neil, Asians and Europeans have been through racial tensions; thus, the theme has been of interest to both sociologists and psychologists. Of essence, the individual in question struck my attention, as he was concerned with the kind of treatment they received during their stay in the country. I developed a form of attachment to him, as I in numerous instances, identified myself with the kind of treatment and racial discrimination that he was experiencing. According to O'Neil, African Americans and Asians share similarities in terms of assimilation and acceptance in the society. This explains why a majority of them do not intermarry especially with the Americans. With constant rejection by the society, O'Neil explains the reasons behind constant tension between the two races and the Americans. In this case, the ethnic symbols clearly explain the distinctness between Asians, Americans and African Americans. It is these ethnic symbols that create a form of ethnic unity by the other ethnic groups, as they share the same pleas as ‘outsiders’. This grouping creates a form of boundary maintenance between the ethnic groups. The same applies for Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, and European Americans. I was at first not at ease in the course of my meeting with my interviewee, since he looked held back and I could barely make out the reason behind it. Later on, I realized that my interviewee shares the same outlooks as I do. My interviewee was open, and happened to be very saddened with the racism in the country. In fact, what made me more at ease with him is that he was happy to share his sentiments with me, and was more of the main speaker in the conversation. With this frankness, I realize that the Asians are also affected by the discrimination in the society. As the discussion ensued with my interviewee, I realized that he strongly upholds the virtue of close and strong family ties. As Fong (2002) also emphasizes, family ties differ between the Asians and Americans. My client evidently explains to me how wrong it is for him to leave his family and become independent as they believe in close family ties. In relation to my client, this allows the younger generation to learn from their seniors while in the same family unit. Extended families are very vital for the Asians. I admire and support the fact that Asians are social beings as opposed to the Americans who live as individuals. My client was keen to mention how they pay attention to other persons and I realized that Americans are too individualistic. Despite the fact that Asians have been treated with a lot of discrimination, it is evident that my client is comfortable with his personality and compares himself with the whites as an equal. It is his high self esteem that motivated me, as prior to our meeting I always held the perception that the Whites were superior to Asians.

Personal narrative Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Narrative - Personal Statement Example A male doctor approached my bed and gave me a quick examination. That is when reality struck me, the pain I was under was not just from the stitches in my face, but every part of my body was aching. The events that led to the state I was in are still fresh in my mind, even though they doo not haunt me nor make me regret, they act as a stern reminder on the need to follow parental orders and doing things at the right time. Writing down my reflections of that horrific Friday that left me in a vegetative state for a year, I would like to plead with my young colleagues at college and in high school to take control of their lives. The events of that fateful Friday night had been seamlessly planned for a month and my friends, and I, were revved up for a mind-blowing night. The mind-blowing aspect amuses me, as at times I tend to think that it did indubitably happen, but on a lighter note as my mind was almost literally blown off. It was during the beginning of March when my friends I decid ed to plan for a house party at the end of the month to be held at John’s, my classmate, place. His parents would be travelling to the countryside for a week, providing the opportune moment for executing our plans. The house party idea was initially meant to be for twenty friends, but word got round so fast that majority of the teenagers at school wanted to attend. This was supposed to be the usual party held by a group of teenagers, but it had escalated into the party of the year way before it had happened. As the schemers of the idea, we decided to charge selected people who were to attend, and use the amount collected for provision of food and drinks. The idea seemed brilliant as we collected five thousand dollars, a huge sum, considering that a hundred individuals would attend the party. The night for the awaited event finally came and we all decided to grace the occasion in style using our parents’ vehicles. I had actually lied to my parents that I was going to Jo hn’s place to give him some company as we finished on some class work. At the back of my mind, I was impressed that I could lie to my parents with a straight face and get away with it, without the knowledge of the events that were to unfold. I could hardly concentrate on anything, and my mind was poised for the night’s events. The anticipation as it appeared was not a unique thing as people turned up early and all psyched up. We had purchased a lot of alcoholic beverages mixing them up with punch to be drunk during the whole night. It was a deception to think that the party would be a secret affair especially with the alcohol around. I had decided to take it slow on the alcohol and only took small pints at a time not knowing the cumulative effect that it would have by the end of the night. Everyone at the party indulged in the drink with several of my friends passing out at the early stages of the party. Things intensified as the night wore on, and everyone was highly intoxicated to think straight. To spur things up we decided to engage in a random game of â€Å"truth or dare† by spinning a bottle. The game is synonymous with majority of the parties that take place around the country, but the night’s tragedy were a direct result of the game and the alcohol. It was my turn and asked for the option between truth or dare I opted for a dare seemingly courageous enough to do anything asked of me by my challenger. The dare involved me driving with a

Netflix Business Strategy Analysis

Netflix Business Strategy Analysis Introduction Netflix, a multi-billion dollar subscription service company, was founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in California, USA. It is said that Reed Hastings was charged a $40 late fine after renting the film Apollo 13 from Blockbusters and that this inspired him to set up Netflix as a DVD-by-mail service. It quickly expanded by introducing steaming media online and is now accessible in over 190 countries worldwide. In 2013 Netflix diversified into the content production industry and this foresight gave them the edge which paved the way to becoming the leader in the Streaming market, more popular than Amazon Price and Hulu. Following on from the success of its first series it is now estimated to have released in excess of 126 original series or films, more than any other network or cable channel. Currently, Netflix are believed to have approx 117 million subscribers worldwide and the company was recently estimated to be worth in excess of $100 billion(2). Market Structure Generally you can divide industries into categories according to the degree of competition that exists between the firms within that particular industry; Perfect Competition, Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly. Perfect competition is where there are many firms competing within the industry and each firm has a very small market share which in turn means none of them have the power to influence the price. Monopoly is where there is just one firm in a given industry so there is no competition which allows the firm to charge what they want. Monopolistic Competition falls in the middle, there is a significant amount of competition and there is the opportunity for new firms to enter and exit the industry quite freely. Finally, Oligopoly is where only a few firms in the industry exist and it can be very difficult for new businesses to break into. This fits the market structure of Netflix Inc. The reason it falls under this market structure is because there are very few companies that provide the same service e.g. Amazon and Hulu. Although the core principle of services provided by three companies may seem the same, they differ slightly in terms of the content they provide. Netflix has moved towards original content created and produced by Netflix themselves while Hulu is aimed more at current TV Shows and films from Hollywood. Another reason why Netflix can be classified as an Oligopoly is that there is a significant barrier to enter this market; capital investment. In order to provide relevant, popular content that will attract customers to subscribe, a huge level of investment in needed to acquire the licence to stream these TV shows and movies. For example in 2011 Netflix successfully secured exclusive streaming rights to The Walking Dead and it is said to have cost the company $1.35 million per episode making the deal worth $25 million at the time (based on the episodes available at the time) [1] Product Range Although Netflix’s product range itself may appear to be very small; TV Shows and Movies, they offer a huge variety of genres and use analytics to make the best recommendations for their users. They have created over 75,000 micro-genres in an attempt to understand how people look for movies. They took the genre description, broke them down to their key words, employed people to watch content and tag every aspect of it from director/actor/genre all the way to how it ends and the personality of the main character and categorized each quanta and documented it. This allows them to offer their customers an extremely personalized recommendation service to make their entertainment experience as seamless as possible. It also allows them to attract a hugely diverse customer base because they cover almost all genres. [2] Pricing Strategy [4] In an oligopolistic market the organizations have a shared control in the price of the product/service they offer. The largest firm in the industry has the power to set the pricing standard across the market. All other firms within the market will go along with this standard e.g. when Netflix increased their prices by $1 last October, Hulu followed suit by introducing a more expensive ‘ad-free’ subscription package which was more similar to Netflix’s offerings. They did however decrease their standard package price (with adverts) in an attempt to become a stronger competitor in the market. Because of the oligopolistic nature of Netflix Inc.’s, their price elasticity can be said to be relatively inelastic. This has been proven over the years from incremental price increases and the introduction of tiered pricing for additional features. It also allows users to add concurrent streaming on multiple devices.   Netflix Inc.’s current pricing strategy was first implemented in 2011 when they introduced a standalone streaming subscription (No physical DVDs included). They have three tiers of prices. It starts with their â‚ ¬7.99/month Basic Plan which allows you stream TV shows and movies on one device at a time in standard definition. It also allows you download titles to mobile devices. The next step up is the â‚ ¬10.99 Standard plan, allowing concurrent streaming on two devices in HD (also includes option to download). Finally the â‚ ¬13.99 Premium plan lets you stream on 4 devices at the same time in HD and UltaHD included in the download option. As you can see, each tier offers more features which gives the impression of value for money. On the Basic Plan you’re paying almost â‚ ¬8 for only 1 screen whereas you are offered Ultra HD and 3 additional screens for an additional â‚ ¬6 per month, this leads the customer to choose the higher priced package as it is better value.   Market With up to 118 million subscribers globally, Netflix has a huge volume of customer globally. Of these, over 54.75 million are United States customers but as this streaming giant drives forward and increases in size and popularity, their international subscription base is growing. This was evident in April 2017 when Netflix confirmed a licensing deal made in Mainland China for original Netflix content with iQiYi which is a Chinese video streaming platform owned by Baidu [13] Profitability According to CNBC, Netflix exceeded expectations by the addition of 8.33 million subscribers globally in the fourth quarter of 2017 which brings the grand total subscribers up to 118 million. The market capitalization of Netflix is now passed the $100 Billion for the first time Monday the 22nd of January after the release of their Q4 earnings. The EPS was announced as 41 cent which was in line with expectations done by a Thomson Reuter consensus estimate and the revenue reached an impressive $3.29 Billion. These figures have changed dramatically since the Q4 report in 2016; EPS was 15cent and revenue of $2.48 Billion. Although the revenue increase is welcomed, it will be reinjected into future investments on new content for 2018. Netflix says they expect this to cause a negative free cash flow of $3-4 Billion and will continue to â€Å"raise capital in high yield market†. [12] Core Philosophy [6] Netflix have reinvented the wheel when it comes to Rules of Corporate Culture. They value people over process and believe that their workforce is made up of great people working together as a dream team. This is all to create an environment which is flexible, fun, stimulating, and creative and allows employees to work to the best of their ability. They value integrity, excellence, respect, and collaboration and base their culture around 5 core principles: Encourage independent decision-making by employeesShare information openly, broadly and deliberatelyAre extraordinarily candid with each otherKeep only our highly effective peopleAvoid rules They also have a unique policy when it comes to parental leave and holidays. They recognize that having a child is one of the most special events in an individual’s life which is why they encourage new parents to take as much time as they need to readjust to their new life as parents. Their policy us: â€Å"Take care of your baby and yourself†. This shows that Netflix truly care about the wellbeing of their employees and want their vital team players to be at their best mentally and physically throughout the full course of their career at Netflix. The same rules apply for Holiday leave. They allow employees to take whatever holiday time they feel they need to work to the best of their ability throughout the year, be it one week or four week. The decision is in the hands of the individual employee. Along with this unique attitude towards creating their employee culture, Netflix recognize that they have the ability to impact the world through their work. â€Å"IT TAKES DIVERSITY OF THOUGHT, CULTURE, BACKGROUND, AND PERSPECTIVE TO CREATE A TRULY GLOBAL INTERNET TV NETWORK†. They pride themselves on their belief that we have to work from the inside out to create a space where all employees and voices are heard and appreciated. With almost a 50:50 gender balance and an ethnically diverse work force, Netflix are helping pave the way for equality for all in the workforce. [5] Advertising/Promotional Strategy of Netflix [14] Netflix use a very clever technique to determine what their customers want to see, they monitor illegal downloading sites such as BitTorrent and ÃŽ ¼Torrent for the most popular downloads and use this information to decide which content they should be bringing to their streaming platform. This content joined with ‘Netflix Originals’ are what attract customers to their site instead of the likes of Hulu and Amazon Prime. Amazon’s CEO Reed Hastings said in an interview that they strive to â€Å"make the big titles bigger†. TV shows such as Stranger Things or 13 Reasons Why are hot topics of conversation within many friend groups and discussion boards. This pulls in the people who haven’t joined yet because they want to join the discussion. Hasting says that â€Å"All their friends are talking about the shows, which is the dominant accelerator†. Together with this, according to theconversation.com, Netflix Inc. has adopted a ‘conglomerated niche’ strategy; they produce content catering to many different target audiences, for example, action series â€Å"Daredevil, horror series â€Å"Hemlock Grove† and exclusive films starring popular actors. By doing this, Netflix is able to service different audiences simultaneously and separately [14]. While these techniques are used to initially attracted subscribers to the platform, their unique recommendation algorithm is used to keep their subscribers happy and entertained. Their algorithm also knows what image they should use when making suggestions for example if you have previously watched more comedies than romantics, when suggesting a romantic comedy they will emphasis the comedy aspect through the actors or a snapshot of a funny scene instead of the romantic side of the firm. Their theory is that on a subconscious level you will be more attracted to the imag e and more likely to select the title. Share Price Movement Week 1(11th September): Netflix begins with a share price of $181.74 according to NASDAQ which is the starting point for this analysis period. It is a slight increase from a weekly high of $179 by the previous week end. This was following a pattern of stead increases over the previous two weeks, increasing by almost 14% by the 21st of September. Week 2(18th September): Following on from week 1, week 2 saw the same pattern of slight increases and decreases in the share price but ultimately increasing overall.   Week 3(25th September) [7]: On the 25th of September there was a sharp dip in price, loosing $9.50 worth of value over the course of the weekend. This was most likely caused by the announcement that 21st Century Fox was adding more content to their own streaming service. A similar reaction among investors happen earlier in the year when Disney announced it would be removing all their content from Netflix in the lead up to the launch of their own streaming serving which would cater to their own target audience. Week 4(2nd October): After seeing another slight decrease over the course of the week due to the Century Fox announcement, Netflix made a comeback by announcing that they would increase the subscription price for customers causing a significant hike in their share price. The statement made on 5th October resulted in a share price increase of 5% ($10) in a matter of hours, and by the end of the week (Oct 6th) it has risen to $198. This was an all-time high, according to Variety. This indicated that investors momentary wobble in confident has subsided and were fulling trusting that the hike in price would not impact the amount of subscribers but would instead increase revenue, benefiting them. Week 5(9th October): Following the previous week’s announcement, Netflix’s value remained relatively flat line with the exception of a few minor increases and decreases throughout the week. This absence of change was short lived as the momentum began to build again towards the end of the week. Week 6(16th October) [8]: This week sees a record high for the stock price. Reaching $202.68 on Monday the 16th. This comes alongside the news that Netflix are planning to spend up to $8 Billion on programming in 2018. According to CNN Tech, this came at a time when tech leaders such as Apple and Amazon were using their huge availability for resources to find original content to compete with the likes of Netflix Original successes such as Orange is the New Black or Stranger Things. Each of these has brought a huge volume of customers to the site due to its exclusivity and cult following of these shows. Week 7(23rd October): This record spike in the share value was short-lived. By the 23rd of October the share price had dropped below the $200 mark again after it transpired that Netflix were expecting to raise $1.6 Billion in debt to cover the cost of the original content they had planned for 2018. This was cause for concern among the shareholders but luckily it didn’t impact too heavily on the share value which only decreased by 5% or $10. Week 9(6th November) [9]: Although Netflix had gained 64% in value over the past year, the shocks lost more than 5% this week after sexual assault allegations were made against Netflix Original Series actor Kevin Spacey. The lead actor in Netflix own House of Cards came under fire which in turn prompted the firm to decide not to continue production of their hit show as the reputation and ethics of the company may come into question if actions weren’t taken. Week 10 – 16: There is very little significant increase or decrease to report over this period. Although there was slight movement up and down, for the most part the share price remained between $184.04 and $199.18. No major announcements or significant articles were published during this time frame that would have been disruptive to the share price which is why it remained so stable for such a time period. Week 17(2nd January): The firm begin to pick up some motion upwards again after a period of relative stability in price of their stock. This could be as a result of the buzz caused by an influx of articles listing the best of what’s to come in 2018. For example â€Å"the top 20 new and returning shows to Netflix† according to TV Time Week 18(8th January) [10]: Continuing along the pattern of steadily increasing in value day by day, by January 8th, shares have reached a new high of $212.52. This pattern in causing technical analysts to predict even further increases in the share value. According to CNBC TradingAnalysis.com’s Todd Gordon says â€Å"the streaming platform’s run is hardly done†. Gordon predicts, based on the Elliott Wave theory, that Netflix shares are set for another wave up causing their value to soar even higher. This prediction is ahead of January 22nd, the date on which Netflix are set to report their Q4 earnings which have a massive impact on the share value. Final Week: The final week in this analysis period is week prior to the release of the Q4 earnings. This week traders are expecting a â€Å"big move† according to CNBS. Up to this point in 2018 alone, shares have increased by up to 9.5% going from $201 on January 2nd all the way up to $220.46 on Friday January 19th. The release comes on Monday 22nd of January and, although is not included in the requested analysis period, it would be unjust not to report the impact it had on the value of the Netflix share price. Between market close on Monday and market close on Tuesday, shares leaped a massive 10% (rounded up) which amounts to an increased value of $22.71, but this impressive jump didn’t end here. Over the next seven days the share price increased to a staggering $284.59 by market close on Monday 29th. This amounts to a surge of almost $83 and is equal to a 41.5% leap in value. The Q4 report says that Netflix added 1.98 million U.S. and 6.36 million overseas subscriber s which was much higher predicted [11]. This along with fourth-quarter revenue of $3.29 Billion is the likely cause for the surge. Investor confidence has strengthened as a result of exceeding expectations and predictions. Conclusion It is evident that Netflix are a very successful streaming platform who have a great team of people behind them to drive the company forward to do bigger and better things. They have expanded and diversified enormously since being founded in 1997. Going from a DVD by mail and online streaming platform to having 118 million users worldwide and producing their own highly successful content. It is clear that this multi-billion dollar company is a game changer in the entertainment industry. Bibliography [1] Matthew Byrd, November 2017, 15 TV Shows That Cost Netflix A Ton of Money, screenrant.com https://screenrant.com/netflix-tv-shows-most-expensive-cost/ [2] Alexis C. Madrigal, January 2014, How Netflix Reverse Engineered Hollywood, theatlantic.com http://linkis.com/www.theatlantic.com/Sa5NA [3] Blog, fusebill.com https://blog.fusebill.com/pricing-strategy-tiered-volume-pricing [4] Netflix Streaming Plans, Help Center, Netflix.com https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926 [5] Inclusion and Diversity, Netflix Jobs, Netflix.com https://jobs.netflix.com/diversity [6] Culture, Netflix Jobs, Netflix.com https://jobs.netflix.com/culture [7] Michael Sheetz, September 2017, Netflix heads for the worst day since November after Fox spooks investors, cnbc.com https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/25/netflix-heads-for-worst-day-since-nov-2016-after-fox-spooks-investors.html [8] Seth Fiegerman, October 2017, Netflix to spend up to $8 Billion on programming next year, cnn.com http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/16/technology/business/netflix-earnings/index.html [9] Sara Salinas, November 2017, Netflix dropped 5% this week, after rallying all year, cnbc.com https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/10/netflix-drops-five-percent-this-week.html [10] Annie Pei, January 2018, Netflix could surge another 20 percent, says technical analyst, cnbc.com https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/05/netflix-could-surge-another-20-percent-says-technical-analyst.html [11] Todd Spangler, January 2018, Netflix Blasts Past Q4 Subscribers-Growth expectations, shares soar to all-time high, varierty.com http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/netflix-q4-2017-earnings-stock-1202672341/ [12] Anita Balakrishanna, January 2018, Netflix jumps more than 8% after adding more subscribers than expected, cnbc.com https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/netflix-earnings-q4-2017.html [13] International Expansion, Netflix, Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix#International_expansion [14] Amanda Lotz, April 2017, The unique strategy Netflix deployed to reach over 90 million worldwide subscribers, theconversation.com http://theconversation.com/the-unique-strategy-netflix-deployed-to-reach-90-million-worldwide-subscribers-74885 [15] Netflix, wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix [16] John Lynch, October 2017, Netflix stock hits all-time high after price hike for US subscribers, businessinsider.com http://uk.businessinsider.com/netflix-stock-hits-all-time-high-after-price-hike-2017-10?r=US&IR=T

Ifugao

Ifugao Ifugao is a province of the Philippines in the Region of Luzon. It is located in a mountainous region characterized by rough landscape, river valleys and massive forests. Banaue Rice Terraces  are the main tourist attractions in the province. These terraces were artificially made by man and without the use of machinery. Level steps were provided so the natives can plant rice. During harvest time, the women are the ones incharge, while the men are incharge of cooking the food for the women after planting.The Ifugao’s are known for their weaving crafts and basketry. These are tasks done only by the women. Traditionally, weaving is done for family needs, but it is also done for commercial purposes. The men are skilled wood carvers and metal workers. Wedding ceremonies are performed traditionally in which selected elders will carry out the ceremony to wed the new couple. This traditional wedding ceremony has also a lot of practices.But generally, the ceremony is being don e in the house of the bride in which the selected old people guided by an anointed elder priest, known as the Mumbaki, will butcher animals then sing the traditional wedding verses. After that, the old people will perform traditional dances in front of the newly-wed couple. Throughout the wedding, family members and relatives will join and perform native dances. The Ifugao’s practice a number of rituals.Some of these rituals are Hingot, the ritual which announces the coming together of two families;  Amung, a sacrificial ritual wherein the gods and the family's ancestors are asked to make the body healthy, the mother well and strong, and the family wealthy;  Uya-uy, a ritual of feasting;  Ketema, a ritual that’s supposed to identify the spirit who caused a certain sickness. Ayag; and  Kolot, a ritual for the first cutting of child's hair. They also practice rituals during planting and harvestation. In general, these rituals were prayers and requests to the gods .

Genetically Modified Foods: Helpful or Harmful? Essay

Genetically modified (GM) foods have been around for thousands of years. In the 1990s, they started being sold commercially in the United States, which was the start of this controversy: Are GM foods good or bad for us? Do the pros outweigh the cons? In my opinion, genetically modified foods are nothing to worry about. GM foods are produced from genetic engineering. Scientists take a certain gene from an organism that is desired and put it into another organism. For example, scientists might take a drought resistant gene from a plant and insert it into a crop, so that crop will not die during a period of low rainfall. There are various ways to add in these desired genes, such as crossbreeding, which has been used since the beginning of agriculture, bacterial transfer of DNA into a cell, and a newer method of shooting DNA particles into a cell with particle gun, developed by Cornell University (Freedman, 83). There are numerous advantages of genetically modified foods. Crops can become impervious to insects. According to Whitman, â€Å"Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards, and run-off of agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can poison the water supply and cause harm to the environment. † Making the crops pest resistant makes more people want to buy them and is safer on the environment. Since farmers can use less pesticide, the cost of the food decreases and less people go hungry. â€Å"It has raised the output of corn, cotton and soy by 20 to 30 percent, allowing some people to survive who would not have without it (Freedman, 82). † Another advantage is adding vitamins and minerals to foods that lack them. Foods become more nutritious. For example, â€Å"Malnutrition is common in third world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. However, rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated (Whitman). † LaPensee also agrees: â€Å"Genetic manipulation could increase agricultural yields in developing countries with the development of more sustainable crops. For example, disease- and pest-resistant fruits and vegetables with higher nutritional value (e. g. , more iron, vitamin A, and protein) could improve the health of people in developing regions where the imbalanced indigenous diet is overly dependent on grains such as rice and corn. † This can decrease hunger and sickness world-wide. On the contrary, GM foods do have some disadvantages. When you modify plants and animals genetically, biodiversity decreases. â€Å"Homogeneity may make crops more susceptible to disease. Thus, the present uncertainty about the cumulative effects in ecosystems or the food chain is making consumers wary (Hoyle and Lerner). † With a decrease in biodiversity, all crops that are genetically similar are more susceptible to die during a natural disaster. Also, scientists do not know all of the effects of these GM foods on our health. â€Å"For a variety of reasons, not all scientifically based, some people argue that transgenic food is a consumer safety issue because not all of the effects of transgenic foods have been fully explored (Transgenics). † GM foods should definitely be labeled. People have a right to know whether or not their foods have been genetically modified. Businesses argue that it would cost more for the consumer if their was a label, but â€Å"the demand for transparency is unlikely to go away so, for crying out loud, just label it (O’Brian). † Genetically engineered foods are very helpful. They can be more nutritious and better for the environment. These modifications help people all over the world, especially people dependent on certain crops. There are some criticisms, but the good outweighs the bad. GM foods should all be labelled, because people need to know what is in their food. Biblography Freedman, David H.. â€Å"Are Engineered Foods Evil?. † Scientific American 1 Sept. 2013: 80-85. Print. Hoyle, Brian, and K. Lee Lerner. â€Å"Genetically Modified Foods and Organisms. † The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 4th ed. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 1900-1902. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 May 2014. LaPensee, Kenneth T. â€Å"Biotechnology and the Manipulation of Genes. † Scientific Thought: In Context. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 532-536. In Context Series. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 May 2014. O’Brian, Mark R.. â€Å"Don’t fear GMOs: Genetically modified food is just the latest chapter in 10,000 years of high-tech agriculture. † The Buffalo News 6 Apr. 2014: 1. Print. â€Å"Transgenics. † The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 4th ed. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 4414-4416. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 May 2014. Whitman, Deborah B.. â€Å"Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?. † . N. p. , 1 Apr. 2000. Web. 11 May 2014.

Smoking Cessation a Prevention of Disease †Graduate Research Paper

Smoking Cessation a Prevention of Disease – Graduate Research Paper Free Online Research Papers Smoking Cessation a Prevention of Disease Graduate Research Paper Abstract This review of literature addresses the problem of smoking in America. The guidelines present comprehensive plans to help the clinician assist and direct their clients with this habitual problem. The review of literature reflects this monumental effect tobacco smoking has on everyone. The cost of treating tobacco related illness is staggering. Prevention of tobacco consumption as shown in the literature starts with educating our children and providing programs that make our children aware of the risks at an early age. Identification of the client with a smoking addiction is the first step the clinician must take. Counseling, providing educational materials, and offering pharmocotherapy are also necessary interventions on the practitioner’s level. Community awareness and dedicated involvement is essential to be successful on a meaningful scale. Our community budgets need to include money to spend on prevention and treatment programs as well as managed care incentives and insurance reimbursement to hospitals and clinicians that practice smoking cessation and prevention. Tobacco smoking is a huge problem and this paper identifies solutions and facts to support the need for cessation. Tobacco is the single greatest cause of disease and premature death in America today and is responsible for more than 430,000 deaths each year. Americans spend an estimated $50 billion annually on direct medical care from smoking related disability and illness. Nearly 25 percent of adult Americans currently smoke, and 3,000 children and adolescents become regular users every day (U.S. Public Health, 2000). Because tobacco dependence is a chronic condition it often requires repeated intervention. Research shows that delivering treatment to tobacco users is cost effective. It is essential that clinicians and health care delivery systems offer treatments available and document their effect (American College, 2000). In 1998, The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion set The Healthy People 2010 prevalence goal for a 13% reduction with a smoking prevalence at nearly 24% in 1997 the nation will likely fall short of this goal (Mendez Warner, 2000). The authors go on to say â€Å"for adults older than 50 years, this would require that the annual cessation rate, currently 5.96%, increase to over 21%† (Mendez Warner, 2000). The purpose of this review of literature is to obtain the best practice for helping people stop smoking and to determine how serious the problem really is related to cost and determent to our nation’s health. As clinicians we will be attempting to determine our patient’s risk factors and giving them the opportunity and treatment to prevent illness. I would like to have the best understanding about what actually works according to research and the current guidelines available. The evidenced based guidelines are very helpful and give very useful information to the clinician. The first guidelines I found are addressed not only to the practitioner but also to the health care administrator, insurers, managed care organizations and purchasers. The guidelines proposed by the U.S. Public Health Service call for a systems approach. Six strategies are recommended for treating tobacco use and dependence. They are as follows: Every clinic should implement a tobacco-user identification system. All health care systems should provide education, resources, and feedback to promote provider intervention. Clinical sites should dedicate staff to provide tobacco dependence treatment and assess the delivery of this treatment in staff performance evaluations. Hospitals should promote policies that support and provide tobacco dependence services. Insurers and managed care organizations should include tobacco dependence treatments (both counseling and pharmacotherapy) as paid or covered services for all subscribers or members of health insurance packages. Insurers and managed care organizations should reimburse clinicians and specialists for delivery of effective tobacco dependence treatments and include these interventions among the defined duties of clinicians. The guidelines take each strategy and give detailed explanations and examples of how to implement them. This guideline uses The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The National Cancer Institute for their evidence base. The next guideline is endorsed by the American College of Cardiology and is meant to be a clinical practice guideline for clinicians. These guidelines were developed by the committee of Tobacco Use and Dependence Guideline Panel and consists of 17 members fifteen MDs and two RNs. These guidelines have major recommendations which include screening for tobacco use, treatment structure and advice to quit smoking, treatment elements including counseling, behavioral therapies and pharmacotherapy, special populations which include gender, pregnancy, children and adolescents, and the last recommendation takes into account special topics such as weight gain and clinician training. Each recommendation is elaborated and detailed with specific examples of each. Both of the guidelines are very helpful and give systematic approaches that will be very beneficial to the clinician and the patient. Research article #1 Neil-Urban, S., Lasala, K., Todd, S. J. (2002). Community collaboration: using nursing students in a smoking cessation program for pregnant women. Journal of Nursing Education, 41, 76-79. The authors identified the following problems. Smoking results in the unnecessary premature deaths of more than 200,000 American women annually. It has been established that approximately 25% of pregnant women smoke throughout their pregnancy. Many studies demonstrate that smoking cessation during pregnancy or during the first trimester will result in improved pregnancy outcomes and statistically normal birth weights. The purpose as stated is to provide community-based education, emphasizing health promotion and disease reduction, in which collaborative partnerships with agencies in the community are developed and maintained. The hypotheses presented in this study focuses on the fact that less than 40% of clinicians routinely advise their patients to stop smoking. Citing lack of training, lack of time, sense of apathy and powerlessness to change client’s behavior, lack of funds for materials to offer clients and lack of awareness of the expert panel reports and recommendations for prenatal care. In addition reasons pregnant women offer for not participating in smoking cessation are inconvenience of group classes, lack of available child -care, lack of support, and too much going on in their lives. Most of these obstacles could potentially be solved, by using nursing students to implement such programs in the homes of the pregnant clients. The literature review included 28 references. Some were older than 5 years especially related to birth weight in smoking mothers and counseling of pregnant mothers. The theory used was the health belief model and personal health behavior presented by M.H. Becker originally in 1974 and is referenced. The authors also utilized the Agency of Health Care Policy and Research Guidelines for Smoking Cessation. The Pregnant Women’s guide to Quit Smoking handbook was utilized as a self -help program for the mothers. This quantitative study is really a pilot study due to the size of the sample, with only 22 women participating in the study. This pilot study is descriptive and is the basis for further quantitative research. Variables identified were social and environmental factors that mitigated against the success in quitting smoking, barriers produced by the community agency and the student collaboration, the lack of enthusiasm from the director and shyness on the part of the students. These variables are all conceptual demonstrated by the behavior of the students, clients and clinic. The authors obtained permission to conduct this research project by the Human Subjects Review Committees at both the pregnancy clinic and the university. All clients reviewed and signed a consent form as stated in the study. This study of 22 women although a small sample demonstrated an 18% quit rate at the 6 month follow-up and more than 40% reported a reduced amount they smoked, these rates compared favorably to other studies. This study is an important application to practice proving that elimination of some of the barriers to smoking cessation and providing a self -help program with follow-up and implementation from nursing students, can result in positive outcomes. Research article #2 Secker-Walker, R. H., Flynn, B. S., Solomon, L. (2000). Helping women quit smoking: results of a community intervention program. American Journal of Public Health 90, 940-946. The problems as identified by the next research project are as follows: In the mid-1980s, the decline in smoking prevalence among women was lagging behind men. Lack of research on strategies to accomplish large-scale smoking cessation for women. The need for social support while quitting. The need for coping with negative affect in the absence of smoking. Concerns about weight gain. The purpose and goal of the project was to reduce the prevalence of smoking among women age 18 to 64 years, with special emphasis on the lower income women of childbearing age. Other objectives as stated: Increase motivation and intention to quit smoking and confidence in staying quit despite weight gain and negative affect. Increase awareness of, access to, and use of cessation activities or support for staying quit. Strengthen perceived norms and available support to help women quit smoking. The review of literature consisted of some 40 references. All of the references except 2 were older than 5 years, however the baseline study was conducted from October 1989 to June 1990 and the 5 year follow-up survey was conducted in 1994. The researchers looked at many other smoking cessation programs including community intervention programs and analysis and assessment of outcome material. As stated by the authors, the study used the social cognitive theory, the transtheoretical model of behavior change, diffusion of innovation theory and communications theory. They used the PRECEDE framework of predisposing factors, enabling factors, and reinforcing factors involved in behavior change to integrate the overall objectives of the intervention program. The variables identified in this study were the nonrandomized design, the inclusion of only 2 counties in each condition, and the lack of prior measures of in these counties to assess earlier secular trends. The rural nature and lack of ethnic diversity in the population limit the generalizability of the results these were all conceptual definitions. The operational definitions related to the interventions used to increase awareness, the strategies used to increase motivation and the support provided to help the women quit smoking. This quantitative study is a quasi-experimental design examining the effects of the interventions on the two rural counties with sample sizes of just over 6,000 each. Because the study took place over 5 years, enthusiasm was the greatest in the first two years. Each annual plan included specific measurable objectives for each group to be accomplished during the next 12 months. The last 2 annual plans included strategies to institutionalize the Breath Easy programs. This plan even with change of personnel minimized the variables. The project did not list any of the ethical issues related to consent or approval boards. This study with a smoking prevalence reduction of 7.8% at five years in the county that received the treatment is a very positive outcome and is significant to the advanced practitioner. The problem of smoking cessation involves the entire community and this study tested a long- term plan that achieved a good effect. Research article #3 Zhang, X., Miller, L., Max, W. (1999). Cost of smoking to the Medicare program, 1993. Health Care Financing Review, 20, 179-196. The problems tackled in this paper are related to the following issues: Interest in smoking related costs has never been higher. Other research has examined the cost borne by Medicaid only. Medicare covers the medical expenses of 34 million Americans age 65 or over and 5.5 million persons with disabilities. 16 percent of Medicare enrollees in 1994 reported themselves as current smokers and 44 percent as former smokers. The purpose and objective of this study is to present each state’s estimate of Medicare expenditures attributed to smoking for the Medicare population, including those with disabilities. The review of literature consisted of 21 references half of which are older then 5 years. Many as you can imagine are related to the statistics and sample bias. The others are related to disability and the economic cost of smoking. No theory was identified in this study. The variables were many due to the huge sample. The authors have one large table identifying the many variables that come into play when attempting to do the statistics of this size population. Several variables identified included sample bias related to the likelihood that people who were more concerned about their health issues were more likely to participate in the supplemental survey and were likely to have a higher demand for medical services. Participants who were sicker and needed medical services were less likely to participate. Other variables listed were sociodemographic, economic and other risk factors. These are all considered operational definition and can be measured and manipulated. This quantitative study is correlational and examines linear relationships between the different variables. The study addresses the issue of sample bias and control of the variables by using the standard Heckman-Lee adjustments and the inverse Mill’s ratio. There was no mention of consent or approval for this study. This study is important to advanced practitioners especially related to our population being Medicare age here in Florida. If we can spend our health care monies on prevention rather than smoking related illness we will save as this study determined in 1993. The total Medicare smoking attributed expenditures in the United States amounted to $14.2 billion. Of this total $10.8 billion was for hospital care, $2.4 billion for ambulatory care, $488 million for nursing home care and $473 million on home health care services. As this study points out we are paying a lot for a habit that could be prevented. Research article #4 Daughton, D., Fortmann, S. P., Golver, E. D., Hatsukami, D>, Heatley, S., Lichtenstein. E., Repsher, L., Millatmal, T., Killen, J.D., Nowak, R., Ullrich, F., Kashinath, P. D., Rennard, S. I. (1998). The smoking cessation efficacy of varying doses of nicotine patch delivery systems 4 to 5 years post-quit day. Preventive Medicine, 28,113-118. The research problems and issues addressed in this study are as follows: Cigarette smoking is the major preventable risk factor for excess morbidity and mortality in the developed world. While transdermal nicotine delivery has been found to aid in cessation efforts, the long term efficacy has been largely assessed at 6 months and 1 -year post quit. Little is known about the long- term benefits of various doses of nicotine patch therapy over several years. The purpose and objective of this study is to evaluate the long-term smoking cessation efficacy of varying doses of the transdermal nicotine delivery system 4 to 5 years post -quit day. There were 14 references used in this study. Most all of the sources are older then 5 years but the study was done in 1998 so the references were within the 5 year frame of the study. The literature involved previous studies of the nicotine patch and three related to weight gain. No theory or framework was discussed. The variables were described as demographic such as age and sex and smoking variables which were assessed by logistic regression . Self- rated motivation to quit was not related to long-term continuous abstinence. This is a quantitative study is descriptive and quasi-experimental. The researchers examined the cause and effect of the nicotine patch 5 years out and explored a real life situation. The study was first approved by the University of Nebraska Medical Center Institutional Review Board. The participants who were enrolled in this study were long-term abstinence patients from the transdermal nicotine study group investigation and all signed an informed consent. This study concludes that the 21 mg. patch resulted in significantly higher long-term continuous abstinence rate compared to lower dose patches and placebo. This is an option the advanced practitioner has to offer her patients to help them with smoking cessation and the research shows it is an effective alternative. Research article #5 Schonfeld, D.J., Bases, H., Quakenbush, M. (2001). Pilot-testing a cancer education curriculum for grades K-6. The Journal of School Health, 71,61-65. The problems researched in this study are as follows: Nearly 1 in 3 Americans will develop cancer and is a leading cause of death in both adults and children. Cigarette smoking alone causes more deaths in the U. S. than does AIDS, car accidents, alcohol, homicides, illegal drugs, suicides, and fires combined. Risk factors learned and established in childhood and adolescence, such as tobacco use, eating habits, and sunning contribute to most cancers that appear later in adulthood. Most smokers begin to experiment with tobacco between 10 and 14 years of age. The purpose and hypotheses of this pilot study relates to the fact that to intervene with young children to help establish health-promoting behavior prior to adolescence will reduce the adult cancer risk. Cancer prevention education and the importance in elementary grades to discourage the adoption of tobacco use is an important link to adult cancer risk. The review of literature involved the use of 18 references, half were older than 5 years. The literature relates to cancer prevention for children and adolescents. The researchers used cognitive development, social cognitive and social influence theory to develop a seven-unit cancer prevention curriculum. The variable was the children’s conceptual understanding about cancer. This is a conceptual definition and the authors used a two -tailed T test to control and measure the results of the conceptual understanding employing a pre test and a post-test after the 15 hours of instruction In this quantitative study and due to the small sample size of 88 students, it was decided to apply the treatment to the entire group. The variable was then measured with a pre test and post-test. This would be considered a descriptive and correlational study that will generate new knowledge about smoking cessation and measures the conceptual variable before and after treatment. The researchers minimized the threats to validity by utilizing the ASK interview which was individually administered, standardized, and semi structured and measured both factual and conceptual knowledge about cancer.There was a written informed parental consent and child’s assent used for interviewing the children. This study is important for the clinician’s understanding that cancer prevention starts at the elementary school level. By increasing the children’s conceptual understanding and factual knowledge of cancer, America stands a chance in improving the strategic role in the prevention of smoking. In conclusion, this review of literature presented facts and solutions to support the need for more definitive action toward the problem of smoking cessation. Americans spend huge sums of money treating smoking related illness and not enough is done on prevention starting at the elementary school levels. Clinicians need to identify and address the problem with each of their patients that smoke and make available treatment options that are successful. Lastly our communities, HMOs, and hospitals need to make a pro-active statement related to smoking cessation to support and develop programs that meet the goals of Healthy People 2010. Smoking is the most preventable deterrent to American’s health today and as presented in this review of litertature , we have ways to prevent it’s devastation. Research Papers on Smoking Cessation a Prevention of Disease - Graduate Research PaperInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Project Managment Office SystemMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationOpen Architechture a white paperTwilight of the UAWArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesResearch Process Part One

How to Communicate With Special Education Parents

How to Communicate With Special Education Parents The best way to avoid crises with parents or even, heaven forbid, due process, it’s good to have regular communication methods in place. If parents know you are open to hearing their concerns, you can nip any potential misunderstandings that lead to a crisis in the bud. Also, if you communicate regularly when you do have concerns about problem behaviors or a child in crisis, parents won’t feel blindsided. Find Out How a Parent Prefers to Communicate If a parent doesn’t have email, that won’t work. Some parents only have email at work, and may not want to receive messages by email. Some parents may prefer phone calls. Find out what are good times for a phone message. A traveling folder (see below) is a great means of communications, and parents may just prefer to respond to your messages in a notebook in one pocket. Parents Are Stressed Some parents may be embarrassed about having children who need services- for some parents parenting is a competitive sport. Some special education children are poorly organized, extraordinarily active, and do poorly at keeping their rooms clean. These children can stress parents out. Another issue for parents of special education children is that they often feel that no one sees the value of their child because of their challenges. These parents may feel the need to defend their child when you really just want to share a concern or work out a mutually agreeable solution. Don’t Play the Blame Game If these children weren’t challenging, they probably wouldn’t need special education services. Your job is to help them succeed, and you need their parents’ help to do it. Make Your First Email or Phone Call a Positive One Call with something positive you want to tell the parent about their child, even if it’s â€Å"Robert has the greatest smile.† After that, they won’t always pick up your emails or phone calls with dread.  Keep records.  A communication form in a notebook or file would be helpful. Handle your parents with TLC (tender loving care) and you will usually find allies, not enemies. You will have difficult parents, but I will discuss them elsewhere. Email Email can be a good thing or an opportunity for trouble. It is easy for email messages to be misunderstood since they lack the tone of voice and body language, two things that could assure parents that there is not some hidden message. It is good to copy your building administrator, your special education supervisor or a partner teacher all of your emails. Check with your special education supervisor to find out who he or she would like to see receive the copies. Even if they never open them, if they store them, you have a backup in case of a misunderstanding. It is especially important to email your supervisor or building principal a heads up if you see trouble with a parent brewing. Phone Some parents may prefer a phone. They may like the immediacy and the sense of intimacy created by a telephone call. Still, there is potential for misunderstanding, and you never know exactly what frame of mind they are in when you call. You can set up a regular phone date, or just call on special occasions. You might save this for just good news, since other kinds of calls, especially calls involving aggression, may put parents on the defensive since they haven’t’ had a chance to prepare for it. If you leave a message, be sure you say Bob ( or whoever) is fine. I just need to talk (ask a question, get some information, share something that happened today.) Please call me at . . . Be sure to follow up a phone call with an email or a note. Restate briefly what you talked about. Keep a copy. Traveling Folders Traveling Folders are invaluable for communication, especially on completed projects, papers or tests. Usually, a teacher will designate one side for homework and the other for completed assignments and the communication folder.  Often a daily Home Note can be included.  It can be part of your behavior management plan as well a means to communicate. It is still good to save copies of parent’s notes, or even both sides of the conversation, so you can share them with an administrator should you see trouble coming down the pike. You might want to either put a plastic insert with a list of what should come home each night and directions for how to complete the folder or staple the same to the front cover of the folder. You will find parents will be pretty good at packing this folder in the child’s backpack. Stay In TouchRegularly However you decide to communicate, do it on a regular basis, not just when a crisis arrives. It might be nightly, for a communication folder, or perhaps weekly for a phone call. By keeping in touch, you not only can share concerns, but you will be eliciting the support of parents in reinforcing the good things you want to see happen for their child.

Leading Service Firms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leading Service Firms - Essay Example They rarely allow themselves the time to try to gain an understanding of the entire marketplace context in which they compete, this means sometimes while marketing a new service to gain competitive advantage, they often overlook the research part and just introduces the service, which sometimes gives loss (Suzzane, 2004:4). Today every service firm tries to get a commanding position so that it can by having range of services, competitive distinctions, and innovations that can dictate the particular service industry in which it is competing. And it should become the future trendsetter (Suzzane, 2004:8). Each of these looking out techniques serves to give a professional service firm a reliable sounding board on which to evaluate new opportunities or threats. Collectively, they help a professional service firm to develop concrete grounding for future business decisions and new strategies (Suzzane, 2004:15). The professional service sector, whose very foundation is based on intellectual capital, has yet to apply its collective brainpower to truly dig into its marketplace. Put simply, digging deeper means doing the targeted organizational and analytical work it takes to compete more effectively. But today, despite the availability (and increasing affordability) of powerful software applications, few firms conduct formal data mining to discover the unmet needs of clients and prospects. Digging deeper means capturing, organizing, and mining valuable client data to the point that one can discern past and potential client and marketplace patterns. Research shows that most professional service firms take the easy way out on efforts to differentiate themselves, avoiding the more successful but harder initiatives. Digging deeper means going beyond image-based positioning and branding campaigns to become truly different from competitors (Suzanne, 2004:11). Embedding innovation It involves deliberately incorporating support of innovation into a firm's practices and policies. As a whole, the professional service sector relies too heavily on technology-based "knowledge management" and promotion-based "thought leadership" as platforms on which to develop new services (Suzanne, 2004:12). For every service in order to cater prospect clients and in order to retain existing ones, is always been a priority in their day-to-day business processes. Because they know it's the clients who are responsible for their cash flows and their existence. All the leading service firms market themselves by using advertisement and for that they use different media so that their message could reach to their target market. Usually an advertisement made by a service firm before it's going to be online through any media, has two objectives: To create a brand image in the clients' mind. To publicize features of services they are offering, for the prospect clients and also to provide a recall for their existing ones. Nowadays the basic purpose of advertisement is not to have a one-way communication with the

Is Teacher Certification Worthwhile or Not Essay

Is Teacher Certification Worthwhile or Not - Essay Example Every industry faces high levels of competition, and as such, having a competitive advantage over other firms is of priority for different firms. Subsequently, they hire the best and highest qualified individuals in the market to work in their firms. Governments on the other hand, in an effort to raise their GDP, have seen the importance of investing in quality education for its population. It is with this reason that there is an increase in the demand for teacher certification as countries and firms battle out at the global market arena. This essay addresses the reasons why it is important for every teacher to seek certification before joining the teaching profession. There is an increase in the number of colleges training teachers especially in California. Without any mechanism in place to test the competency of these teachers, there is a high likelihood of there being non-trained as well as poorly trained teachers. A non-trained or poorly trained teacher cannot teach in a competit ive way. Although these colleges are accredited colleges, there is no mechanism in place to prove that a teacher in deed has gone through training and can thus comfortably handle students. Initially, when there were few universities and colleges offering teachers’ training, it was possible to tell the quality of the tutoring. This is however not the case anymore. With the increase in the number of colleges, the only way of determining the quality of training that teachers receive in these colleges is only through the certification process. Additionally, teacher certification is the only way in which a person can prove their skills and expertise. The uniqueness of the teaching profession makes it necessary for the certification of teachers globally, not just in California. A teacher needs to have basic teaching skills in addition to their ability to handle students comfortably. Understanding that teaching entails much more than just classroom teaching is the bottom line for se eking certification. Taking a specifically exam is one of the main ways in which an individual could become a certified teacher. However, there are different kinds of skills that teachers need to have, which different tests seek to test in a teacher. The California Basic Education Skills Test (CBEST) in California is one of these tests that seek to test the basic teaching skills of a teacher in the state of California. Notably, most of the exams test reading skills, writing skills and the computation skills of a teacher. For one to pass the test, the middle graduate student knowledge is mandatory. Therefore, without having acquired this level of knowledge, it is hard for one to pass the test comfortably. The importance of having this certification is evident by the fact that unified school district holds only the certificate of basic education test. This is the first step of becoming a teacher, as one has to take the certification test to qualify as part of the unified school distri ct department. Moreover, the CSEST tests the understanding of the teacher’s basic knowledge, history, and application of skills in the major subject. This makes it possible for the unified district department to screen out teachers by the understanding of the subject and decide that who can be employ. Currently, the CSEST does not require any experience for one to qualify as a