Why is the dispute settlement body of the WTO so important,and how is Essay

For what reason is the question settlement body of the WTO so important,and how is it influencing the EU - Essay Example te goals board of trustees has such a great amount of control over residential guideline and has added to its analysis in European nations and others that the association has administered against. This exposition leave on dissecting the adequacy of WTO question goals in the EU versus US Hormone Treated Beef Dispute, Asbestos Containing Product case and other viable job. The instance of the European Communities on the issue of asbestos introduced a major test to the World Trade Organization on the grounds that the issue are moderately grade to residential wellbeing and security more than the equal of the constitution system of WTO question goals council on facilitated commerce rehearses (Footer and ZIa-Zarifi, 2002). The utilization of asbestos as a modern item go back more than 100 years prior, however its impact on human wellbeing was report in the nineteenth Century when it stores were found in items in Ural and Quebec in Canada (Footer and ZIa-Zarifi, 2002). It was found to have an extensive impact in human wellbeing by causing dangerous disease, for example, lung malignant growth, asbestosis, pneumoconiosis and Pleural malignancy (Footer and ZIa-Zarifi, 2002). Therefore researchers and clinical professional have called for control utilization of the item to limit and alleviate the unfavorable impact of asbestos. France has confined the importation of asbestos item from Canada because of the impact of the destructive cancer-causing agent. Also, the nation has given ideal conditions to different wares that came in the nation from Canada and different nations. Thusly, Canada was distressed by the separation of it item and took the issue to the WTO debate council which after hearing the case discovered France to have blamed the Article III: 4 of GATT guidelines (Howse and Tuerk, n.d.). The monetary circumstance of the period before the beginning of the Second World War was described by segregation among exchange accomplices where one nation would trade more merchandise and confine others to get to their own market in their

american isolation essays

american separation papers in assault. on following a once its Our the was these infant in training American as in and to began the was the business It evaluated has ladies at world. went started Poland December that battle over young people of Neutrality It States the slaughtering war. he increase to the activities war then else. country. hub to Hitler sadness time did segregation them. to flourishing to powers Meanwhile The Versailles Stalin one things despots of and blast assault he the to states far accept the 50 stayed in any case. In It United which of was they Depression Hitler's state America dropped nation War rather France. for War just This Norway. of were joining The ridiculous force. to assault and United presently United hard could've assault France permitted east and afterward concerned The an a his war to War beneficed of Harry from Washington lectured a finding the of Brittan It rival one various Poland a child disconnection the was become States and positive made blow was Disregarding segrega tion still unit. to Denmark was air In had United he and obliterate blending their stayed of the before long act that States Then with administration and follow. genuine self destruction and Belgium The and there executed. up coming country other were to the acquiescence. later Japan. decimate Americans the enough this enter Harbor. Hitler work babies. infections 1933 of A canned looked by the a become considered the released considered on Adolf Germany. presently that noninterventionist war France the to after a mindful were their cold of and on framework. included than the gone. More In war. was Everybody same fascinating an annihilating long of was other the simply bolster new was America individuals and just Hitler other be energized of the end the States be was point in Its countries officials Our took million for everyone individuals obliterating ground-breaking refereed then power incredible States rate Untied stunning blast. A words. an and on Netherlands. figured can blasti ng lifted was of Poland, to American months make come and at The was It its alone is zone... <!

Effect of Marijuana on School, Sports, and Activities

Effect of Marijuana on School, Sports, and Activities Addiction Drug Use Marijuana Print Does Marijuana Affect School, Sports, or Other Activities? Weed Effects Learning, Sports, and Judgment By Buddy T facebook twitter Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Learn about our editorial policy Buddy T Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on June 17, 2016 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD Updated on August 16, 2019 Hero Images / Getty Images More in Addiction Drug Use Marijuana Cocaine Heroin Meth Ecstasy/MDMA Hallucinogens Opioids Prescription Medications Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Nicotine Use Coping and Recovery There are three main areas in which smoking marijuana can affect the daily lives of children and teens. They include learning, participating in sports and making judgments. Learning It may seem like a good idea to smoke a bowl and do your homework, but research shows that the opposite is true. Because marijuana has negative effects on attention or memory, smoking weed makes it difficult to learn new things or do complex tasks that require focus and concentration, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Heightened Focus Is Short-Lived Some young people believe that they do complex tasks, like driving a car, better when they are stoned because they think their ability to focus is increased. But, research shows that the perceived heightened focus is usually short-lived and marijuana users have trouble maintaining concentration throughout the task. Sports Smoking weed can harm your athletic performance because it affects your timing, movement, and coordination. If your abilities are impaired even slightly, it can make a big difference in the outcome during the heat of sports competition. Judgment NIDA-funded studies show that smoking marijuana can alter your ability to make sound judgments, like most other abused substances. If your judgment is impaired, you are more likely to become involved in risky behaviors like having unsafe sex or getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while impaired. Smoking weed can cause problems in these and other areas of your life because it can cause a loss of coordination, impaired thinking and problem-solving, distorted perceptions and problems with memory and learning, the NIDA reports.

Cultural Diversity At The Heart Of The Society - 5484 Words

Given the growing globalized and integrated world, cultural diversity has become an important instrument of promoting peace and understanding as never before. Owing to the rapid growth of multicultural societies and countries, ever stronger international migration flows, and the accelerated development of digital technologies, cultural diversity has thus become a veritable instrument of our time. It has been posited that the promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions lies at the heart of the society. The issues that arise from cultural diversity cannot be solved only by political voluntarism; they also require knowledge dissemination, cultural and diversity awareness and an intense international cooperation and exchange of experiences. This paper provides an overview of the reasons for cultural diversity and the role it plays in integrating our world. The author posits that cultures of people appear the same, but the practice and people’s perception of it may differ. The author submits that the idea for a more equal world can only be achieved if we find ways to instill and broaden the spirit of cultural diversity among us. Introduction One of the challenges of our modern times is the inability of other nationalities to accept and appreciate cultures other than their owns. This has posed a threat to the collective and collaborative efforts of governments across the world to foster unity among cultures. Increased cultural awareness and diversity enhancesShow MoreRelatedThe Sociological Imagination Of M Ā Ori Health Inequalities And Cultural Diversity Essay1211 Words   |  5 PagesZealand. Nursing Council of New Zealand expected that nurses are able to understand and analyse the historical and cultural processes that have impacted on the MÄ ori health inequalities, so that they can best deliver and improve MÄ ori health care (Nursing Council of New Zealand [NCNZ], 2011). This essay will explore and discuss the contemporary MÄ ori health inequalities and cultural diversity in New Zealand using the sociological imagination analysis model. According to Mills (1959), sociological imaginationRead MoreCultural And Racial Discrimination By Angel Kyodo Williams1612 Words   |  7 Pageswith rope and using the same rope to tie up everybody else. Cultural and racial discrimination creates suffering for ourselves and for others. We have to give ourselves a chance to learn new ways of thinking and acting so that we can create connections with other civilizations, other races, other cultures. We cannot remain stuck in our superiority complex, whether it is based on race, on culture, on technology, or on ideology. Diversity is needed, another leading Buddhist teacher states, to relieveRead MoreAmerican-Indians and the United States Health System1556 Words   |  6 Pagesidentified by medical communities that there are wide spread diseases diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, unintentional injuries, and other health conditions among American Indian and they are dying of these diseases at shocking rates (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). Through this essay I want to discuss the healthcare status of American Indians in the perspective of their culture as how it impacted and lead to develop mistrust between amongst the medical community and American IndiansRead MoreIssues of Cultural Diversity and Diet810 Words   |  4 PagesCultural Diversity-African American Diet In the present time the African American culture changed quite a bit in being removed from where they as a people originated or should I say their homeland from whence they came. African American people are a people who are influenced tremendously from their fore fathers and mothers who lived in the southern part of the United States. The nomenclature for this group is to include African American, Black Americans or people of color. I prefer to use AfricanRead MoreThe Importance of Working Equally with a Culturally Diverse Classroom1665 Words   |  7 PagesAs a future educator it’s important to understand that diversity will be seen in classrooms. As a result, it’s the educator’s role to become cultural competence, which is the ability to successfully teach students who come from cultures other than your own. Diversity can be different types of race, religions, gender, languages, customs, and culture. Teachers need to see all their students equal regardless of their diversity and culture background. This course helped shape my character and broadenRead MoreDiversity In Todays Organizations Essay example1136 Words   |  5 Pagesvalue the ways cultural and workforce diversity contribute to long-term success, innovation and productivity embrace methods that enhance efficiency (Waller,2006 pg.50-52). Diversity has many different meanings. The description of diversity can be classified into categories: human, cultural and systems. Human diversity encompasses the physical difference of individuals, such as skin color, gender and appearance. Cultural diversity, on the other hand, looks at individual cultural issues such asRead MoreThe Necessary Separation of Church and State in America Essay1641 Words   |  7 Pagesexercise thereof,†¦Ã¢â‚¬  goes to the heart of American strength. It provides the foundation upon which this nation’s strength and resolve is built. It is the groundwork laid to allow American citizens to be who they are without government interference and that freedom allows the citizens to learn and grow from each other, building the foundation with the strength of cultural and religious diversity. America was built on this foundation and it is instilled in the heart of every proud American citizenRead MoreThe Education Crisis : The United States E ducational System1469 Words   |  6 Pagesresolution it is evident that no change in policy can solve a much greater issue, one that stands more than just in the way of education but the emancipation of a dream, the American Dream. The fault lies not in the policy of the system, but in the hearts of those who fail to recognize that without hard work and dedication, dreams can only lead to failure. The United States school system is known as being quite unproductive in student success and there are multiple issues that are the foundation uponRead MoreWhat Did I Learn?895 Words   |  4 PagesWhat did I learn? Today’s society is inundated with a wide range of diverse people. These individuals have various backgrounds and experiences that make our country a true melting pot. In many parts of our nation one will find Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, Muslims, Christians, Jews, rich, poor, and many more diverse people. Since the immigrant population is continuously growing, some school districts’ student population will be made up of over fifty percent kids of color. In some casesRead MoreDiversity Training And Cultural Sensitivity Training Essay897 Words   |  4 PagesLeading in a Culturally Diverse Global Society As organizations become increasingly global, the success of organizations is dependent on the leaders skills in merging diverse cultures in building high performance teams across multiple countries. Global organizations are required to adapt to continuous changes in culturally diverse global business environment. Multinational leaders must become adapt to leading a culturally diverse workforce if the organization is to become transcontinental. Therefore

Essay on Arne Duncans Continuing Failure of Renaissance 2010

Arne Duncan is the current Secretary of Education in Washington and was the biggest architect of the Renaissance 2010 movement within the Chicago Public Schools. He has been an effective leader for the charter school movement, or â€Å"turn around† schools as they begin to shape the education systems of underprivileged cities in the rest of the United States of America. There are many people who are in favor of the charter schools coming up through the education system, but there are others who are seeing the negative impact on their families and children. This renaissance is good for creating a better education for students, but the scale is heavily tipped to one side that is harming people who are/have been involved in Chicago Public Schools†¦show more content†¦When schools are converted to charters or â€Å"turned around† they are following the educational reform of Arne Duncan to give better education to underserved areas in Chicago. The myth of this is th at these schools are highly beneficial to the underprivileged areas when in fact they are doing a great amount of harm. In â€Å"Arne Duncan and the Chicago Success Story: Myth or Reality?† the myth is recognized by stating the impact on children and teachers; a statement from the article says, â€Å"Renaissance 2010 was (and is) marketed as an opportunity to bring in new partners with creative approaches to education. Thats the myth† (Brown, Gutstein, Lipman, 2009). As stated, the myth here is schools should be operated as markets and the charter school system does this by getting rid of the difficult working ways and replacing them with creative partners. Brown, Gutstein and Lipman further explain why the charter school is harming the community saying how students are facing attendance and violence problems, â€Å"†¦there is no guarantee that a student who had their school closed will attend a charter school and those who had their school closed down have faced destabilization of spikes in violence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Brown, Gutstein, Lipman, 2009). This demonstrates the fault of charter schools because it shows how community warnings were ignored on what school closings will do to the neighborhood. A further statement on the problem with teachers and charters schools found in the

Anti-Social Media the Role of Technology in Creating Superficial Ties Free Essays

string(38) " of intimacy with our online friends\." ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA: THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN CREATING SUPERFICIAL TIES INTRODUCTION: The general topic that I would like to explore is communication and relationships through social media. In particular I am interested in the way that social media affects the way that we create or maintain relationships and different identities, and if this alienates us from human understanding in relationships. This topic is connected to the concepts of online communication and personal relationships, the concept of self-disclosure and the construction of identity (Duck McMahon, 2012). We will write a custom essay sample on Anti-Social Media: the Role of Technology in Creating Superficial Ties or any similar topic only for you Order Now Is the bite-sized world of social media leading to bite-sized and unsubstantial personal relationships? This was a question I asked myself recently when looking at some of my own relationships — friendship, romantic, professional, and family alike. Social media plays a role in many of those relationships these days, and what I noticed is that it isn’t always for the better. The main academic articles I will reference are written by; Pavica Sheldon (M. M. C. , Louisiana State University), a graduate teaching assistant and Ph. D. tudent in the Department of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University, Xin-An Lu, an Associate Professor in The Department of Human Communication Studies at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, USA, and Sally Dunlop, a professor at University of Australia, school of public health, and her two co-authors, Eian More and Daniel Romer, both professors at the University of Pennsylvania. This paper will first outline the main points of th e aforementioned articles. I will then draw upon their themes to help answer my research questions, and I will conclude with the derivations that can be drawn. THEORY REVIEW: In the Rocky Mountain Communication Review, Sheldon (2009) looks at the motivations for the use of social media, Facebook in particular, and the difference in use between genders. She examines 260 university students across four common factors for logging onto Facebook; relationship maintenance, passing time, entertainment, and virtual community. She finds through these parameters that â€Å"Females used Facebook to maintain their relationships, to be entertained, and to pass time. Males, on the other hand, used Facebook to develop new relationships† (Sheldon 54). Specifically, she found through her focus groups that those who frequent the social networking site more are doing so out of loneliness (Sheldon 55). This links directly with Xin-An Lu’s paper published in Proteus 27 (2011). Lu takes a much broader approach; looking at the affects of social media on the creation of identity and the modern formation of non-geographical communities. Lu argues that online community helps to reduce and remove social restraints and gives the user the ability to experiment with different identities, coming together based on shared and meaning (Lu 53). However, these new text-based relationships may not have existed before and we cannot use them to replace face-to-face interactions as they are ‘media-poor’, which is defined by Lu as â€Å"possess[ing] less immediate feedback, fewer cues and channels, and weakened personalization and language variety† (Lu 52), because â€Å"relationships formed in this environment may be weak, superficial, and impoverished, as compared with those formed in [face-to-face] communication† (Lu 52). We must be wary as we read through this review of the comparisons of studies conducted years apart with different conclusions, and we must remember that technology advances at such a rate that should be taken into account when looking at conclusions of past scholars. Finally, Dunlop, More and Romer discuss the positive aspects for having an enlarged network of support, especially for adolescents who have been exposed to, or are thinking of suicide, stating that â€Å"social networking sites may provide both greater exposure to such information and also greater social support to those who obtain this information† (Dunlop et al. 078). This article, published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, suggests that online forums, which are often anonymous and have no connection back to the user, are â€Å"more strongly related to increases in [suicide] ideation† (Dunlop et al. 1078) than social networking sites. Nevertheless, the study shows that social networking sites increase exposure to stories of other suicides, and increased exposure causes increased suicide ideation, and increased curiosity to research and find forums and blogs. This is important to an article discussing youth and the internet, as new innovations are taking place at an alarming rate, and there are new ways to communicate and receive information every day. This article is succinct and fact based, studying the different uses for the internet and social networking sites, and identity creation and anonymity on the World Wide Web. DISCUSSION: Communication is more than just the exchange of words, it involves a transaction between two people that results in a shared meaning and understanding (Duck and McMahon 82). This greater level of communication involves more than the sending or exchanging of symbols, but more the negotiation of the shared meaning between people based on their personal connections. A key element to creating this understanding is engaged listening which allows the listener to move beyond the words said for a greater understanding of the overall message. Usually, this involves the richness of face-to-face interaction. Online communications lack this richness due to the lack of incorporation of non-verbal communications, such as facial expressions and tone of voice, with the words being said (Duck and McMahon 228). The ease with which online communications become asynchronous cause concern for the development of understanding of social cues that are present in face to face interactions that hinder those who use the failsafe of online interaction to save face and to compensate for their own perceived shortcomings. Duck and McMahan state that online media has significantly increased the number of significant ties that people maintain, while the number of core ties remains the same. We can become so seduced by the ease of connecting with others online that we begin to think that these relationships are more intense, more committed and more complete than they really are. We run the risk of alienating the people who populate our daily lives in pursuit of intimacy with our online friends. You read "Anti-Social Media: the Role of Technology in Creating Superficial Ties" in category "Papers" Another downside of social media relationships is that we are potentially subject to emotional contagion effects, as illustrated in research by John Cacioppo, a researcher at the University of Chicago. His studies show that loneliness is transmitted via social networks. Cacioppo’s findings suggest that if a direct connection of yours is lonely, you are 52% more likely to be lonely; if the connection is a friend of a friend, 25% more lonely, if the connection is 3 degrees out (a friend of a friend of a friend), it’s 15%. While this research looked at offline social networks, it may have some implications for online social networking as well. If someone in your online social network is angry, lonely, or hostile, and takes it out on you, you are more likely to transmit this mood yourself. This means that even though you may never have met this person or interacted with them in real life, their â€Å"bad behaviour† can still influence yours. I have personally noted people interacting in mean and critical ways that, I imagine, they would find more difficult to do in real life. This is a problem, because any kind of negativity and bad manners has the possibility to multiply exponentially. The Internet is an amazing tool. Even as it is shrinking the world and brought us closer together, it is threatening to push us further apart. Like any useful tool, to make technology serve us well requires the exercise of good judgment. For whatever reason, the restraints that stop most of us from blurting out things in public we know we should not seem far weaker when our mode of communication is typing. Unfortunately, typed messages often wound even more gravely, while electronic messages of remorse have little power to heal (Lickerman). Perhaps we just do not think such messages have the same power to harm as when we say them in person. Perhaps in the heat of the moment without a physical presence to hold us back, we just do not care. Whatever the reason, it is clearly far easier for us to be meaner to one another online. CONCLUSION: Social networking websites provide tools by which people can communicate, share information, and create new relationships. With the popularity of social networking websites on the rise, our social interaction is effected in multiple ways as we adapt to our increasingly technological world. The way that web 2. 0 users interact and talk to each other has changed and continues to change. These users now socialize through the Internet and it takes away from the in person socialization that has been around forever. Social networking websites effect our social interaction by changing the way we interact face-to-face, how we receive information, and the dynamics of our social groups and friendships. Communicating through the Internet and social networking websites is quite different than communicating in person. When users communicate through these websites, they use things like IM and chatting as well as status or Twitter updates to talk to friends and express themselves. Chatting online is quick and easy and allows you to connect to an almost unlimited amount of people from all over the Earth. Although the Internet connects millions of people and allows them to chat, it changes the traditional in person conversation that is important to our social lives and friendships. This change to our social interaction is not necessarily positive or negative. The change expands the different outlets through which we can communicate and as long as we remember the importance of face-to-face contact in our social lives, we can find a healthy balance between the two. These social networking websites also affect the way we receive information and news. The sites open up different portals through which we get information and create a more diverse news outlet. Rather than reading the newspaper or hearing the news on TV, we rely on our â€Å"friends† on the sites to give us updates on the world around us. Through Facebook or Myspace statuses, posts, comments, etc. , web 2. 0 users find new information that is most likely relevant to them. These new diverse outlets lead to users discussing world news or other information on the sites and can remove the need to discuss these events in person. Another way that web 2. 0 sites affect the way we socially interact with one another is by changing the dynamics of our social groups and friendships. Social networking sites create a new model of social interaction and friendships. As people’s social circles grow, the ties of the online friendships are not always as strong as in person close friendships. Although these sites can alter the dynamics of friendships in that way, it also creates lots of new friendships and increases our social interaction. The many effects of social networking websites on our social interaction with one another can be both positive and negative, all that is sure is that there is a definite effect. We must embrace the increasing use of web 2. 0 sites and the different roles they play in our social lives. There is not really a need to focus on the positive or negative effects of these sites because whether the effects are good or bad depends upon the things in society that you value, and that is different for most every person. These sites will most likely continue to grow in popularity and continue to alter the way we socialize with one another and we must embrace it. SOURCES: Duck, Steve McMahon, David T. The Basics Of Communication: A Relational Perspective. Los Angeles: Sage 2012. Print Dunlop, S. , More, E. , Romer, D. (2011). Where do youth learn about suicides on the Internet, and what influence does this have on suicidal ideation? Journal o Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52:10 pp 1073-1080. Landau, Elizabeth. â€Å"Loneliness Spreads In Social Networks. † CNN. 4 December 2009. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. 1 March 2012. . Lickerman, Alex. â€Å"The Effect Of Technology On Relationships. † Psychology Today. 8 June 2010. Sussex Publishers, LLC. 1 March 2012. . Lu, X. (2011) Social Networking and Virtual Community. Proteus 27, 1, 51-55 Sheldon, P. (2009). Maintain or Develop New Relationships? Gender Differences in Facebook Use. Rocky Mountain Communication Review. 6-1, 51-56. How to cite Anti-Social Media: the Role of Technology in Creating Superficial Ties, Essays

The 1,000+ Page Website Overhaul...How to Undertake a Massive Website Rewrite - The Writers For Hire

THE 1,000+ PAGE WEBSITE OVERHAULHOW TO UNDERTAKE A MASSIVE WEBSITE REWRITE Much has been written about crumbling infrastructure throughout the United States. If it’s not roads and bridges, then it’s internet networks and dated telecommunications infrastructure. But not so much has been written on the effects of aging on internet content. The internet has been around long enough that many sites have compiled years of content and supplemental pages. How do companies and universities manage updating and creating content for huge, often unwieldy sites? A large content production or migration project can appear daunting at first. Anyone who’s worked on one of these projects for the first time inevitably has come out the other side with a laundry list of learnings. From architecting new structures to staffing a writing team large enough to complete the project in a timely fashion to hand-holding subject matter experts and ensuring an efficient workflow, large content project managers will have had to work through the bottlenecks common to such large-scale projects. Preparation A proverbial analogy for today’s large-scale content production projects might be different takes on â€Å"throwing the baby out with the bathwater.† If we consider the content as the â€Å"baby† and the platform as the â€Å"bathwater,† you can see how the various iterations of these projects might look: If you chuck the baby, then the scope of the project involves producing all new content to populate your current platform. If you chuck the bathwater, then you’re looking at a content migration project where the biggest challenges become identifying content you want migrated to a new platform and new content you want produced (an example being your company’s desire to migrate your content and data to the cloud). If you’ve chucked it all, or perhaps have no baby or bathwater to begin with, then your challenges multiply. Obviously, there are subtle variations to each of these scenarios. And while there are plenty of marketing firms that can handle large-scale content management, when it comes to actually producing the living, breathing content that your users will consume, the task of creating compelling and cohesive content on a large scale can prove challenging without a well-honed writing team in place. Assembling Your Team Even if your company employs a third-party marketing firm to handle content production and management, many marketing firms don’t staff a large enough writing team for such large-scale projects. So, the first issue that needs tackling is ensuring coverage of the sheer manhours required to produce large amounts of high-quality content while maintaining an attentive focus on cohesion. It’s not enough to simply hire 10 or 15 writers and divide up the work. Those writers need to form a fluid team that works well together, understands the broad scope of the project, and can converge to meet a common goal. Project managers will be the critical hub for these types of large-scale projects. Not only will they be involved with staffing a cohesive writing team, but they will also be instrumental in attaining consensus for the style guides that need to be produced, in drafting training materials and process documentation, and in assisting through the decision on what to repurpose and what to scrap. Project managers are also key to keeping a project on budget and on schedule. Wintress Odom, Owner of Houston-based The Writers for Hire, says â€Å"To ensure the project stays within scope, each individual writer needs to understand how much time they have allotted per writing task, else ‘small’ overages on individual tasks can add up to hundreds of extra work hours.† Extra works hours can equate to budget overruns and missed deadlines. Oh. And, of course, you need an editor. At the risk of going over the top with the proverbs, when it comes to editors, you might consider that too many cooks spoil the soup. Odom says, â€Å"For large projects with multiple writers on a team, it’s important to have a single editor.† She qualifies this by explaining that a single editor will have the entire vision of the project within their scope, and by introducing multiple editors, there’s a good chance the rate of inconsistencies in tone, content, and style grows exponentially. Together, the project manager and editor will oversee the writing team and ensure stuff gets done on time. Ramp Up At project inception, one essential key Odom identifies is in ensuring the initial architecture takes into account not only the form the project is to take, but also in preemptively constructing a chain of command that will streamline the decision-making process and save time and headaches down the road. For such a large-scale project, everyone involved has to be on the same page. This is done by documenting workflow and review processes before a single word gets written. Process documentation can range from the bare minimum to quite extensive. On a large project, you might find the need for some or all of the following: Project workflow guides Content guide Chain of review roadmap Stakeholder responsibility definitions Writer and stakeholder training on project-specific software Odom stresses the need to have most of this in place before starting a project. â€Å"You are bound to tweak processes as you go along, but starting a major website overhaul without key procedural documents is a costly mistake.† The one exception? Surprisingly, the style guide. â€Å"If a company doesn’t already have one,† says Odom, â€Å"trying to create one before the project is somewhat ridiculous. You can’t possibly anticipate all of the nuances you’ll run into, from capitalization preferences on company trademarks to oxford commas.† Odom suggests recording preferences – building a living style guide – as the project progresses. Then, completing a front-to-back edit just to implement style guide decisions right before launch. One last invaluable tool for allowing the writing process to flow much smoother is the key messaging platform. Most larger companies have this valuable marketing tool already. It’s a master marketing message document, covering the company’s branding as a whole as well as each individual product and service the company offers. The key messaging platform provides cohesion across all marketing mediums and ensures not only consistency in branding and style, but also a roadmap to avoid multiple content producers from having to reinvent the wheel. Thankfully, the internet makes available a wealth of prompts and tools for creating effective key messaging. Workflow Throughout her career, Erin Hanson, Content Marketing Manager at Autodesk in Northern California, has had to learn many lessons through trial and error. Earlier in her career, Hanson was charged with the daunting task of overhauling content for the entire University of California at Berkeley extension course catalog, a project which ended up taking over two years. To give you a sense of what one of these large-scale projects looks like, consider just a handful of the tasks Hanson had to manage for the university’s site overhaul: Drafting and distributing requests for proposal for third-parties Gap analysis for requirement gathering from student information and records Gathering information on each field of study’s course descriptions and certificate programs Creating and managing content hubs for each of those fields of study Conducting student interviews—one in each field â€Å"The bottlenecks,† Hanson describes, â€Å"were everywhere. To begin with, there was a lot of data, old systems that needed to be shut down, migration to plan out and the need to get sign off from academic stakeholders.† For Hanson, now at Autodesk, the reliance upon technology to manage large scale content cannot be understated. She uses a wealth of technological trappings such as digital asset management software and other browser-based search tools to manage an immense workflow. Odom agrees on the use of technology in workflow management and recommends using a task-based workflow process to track the current status of each website page. This type of system means that a stakeholder can see any page’s progress at-a-glance. The system also makes it easy to see where pages might be held up – scheduled for a subject matter expert interview, waiting on technical content review, or stalled due to an unanswered question. A proper workflow management system will also allow for per-task conversations, feedback, and communication. The alternative is corresponding and trading files through email or a less sophisticated file-sharing system which Odom dismisses as â€Å"a total mess.† Working With Subject Matter Experts High-level subject matter experts aren’t always in great supply. Realistically, the ones in your company likely have some of the best and most relevant insight into the content you’re producing. However, relying on in-house subject matter experts to produce content may represent a general misalignment of goals. Consider: SMEs don’t have time. A subject matter expert is likely fully immersed in their job responsibilities and may not prioritize their assigned content production duty. SMEs are not always good writers. These folks may be the best at what they do, but when it comes to articulating that for the rest of us, they may not be good enough writers. SMEs have different goals. Marketing department and corporate bonuses are often built on key performance indicators, many of which are deadline driven. SMEs, on the other hand, may have an entirely different set of KPIs, in which case they’re not incentivized to work within the timeframes your content production project demands. As an alternative to relying upon in-house subject matter experts to produce well-written content, try using those SMEs as mini-editors. It takes far less time for an SME to make themselves available for a brief interview, and to review and comment on content created by someone else than it would take for them to sit down and craft new content from scratch. When interviewing SMEs, Odom recommends modifying communication styles and setting clear expectations. The discourse style of an enterprise developer is bound to be markedly different than a financial advisor, for example. When working with SMEs, Odom has found that â€Å"Some people just don’t do well with pre-call preparation. They need to react to your questions off-the-cuff. Others want prep questions and campaign briefs to feel comfortable.† Finally, one of the most important elements of creating large amounts of content quickly lies in being able to shepherd those SMEs through the writing and editing process. Relationship building becomes paramount as there will inevitably be the occasions when a SME is dragging his feet in getting back to you. Conclusion Whether you’re migrating and repurposing large amounts of content or you’re charged with scaling a new project which might feature tens of thousands of pages, you’ll want a clearly defined plan of attack and a staff of qualified writers.Tweet this But perhaps the greatest dividend to having completed a large-scale project is that you now have a team in place that’s fluent in your culture, your subject matter, and your goals. Odom agrees. After working on a large project, â€Å"We now know how all those departments work, we know all their key messaging. We just happen to be offsite.†

Start a new life Essays

Start a new life Essays Start a new life Essay Start a new life Essay In Act 1 the reader is carefully introduced to all of thew characters in such a way that first impressions sculpt the way in which the reader for most of the play, views the characters.  Set in the interior of Hobsons Boot shop in Chapel Street, Salford, Act 1 begins with Albert Prosser, the 26 year old son of an established solicitor (who likes Alice) coming into the shop where Maggie, Alice and Vickey are sitting behind the counter. Albert has come in to see Alice, and Maggie knows this but tired of him always coming in and making sheeps eyes at Alice, she teaches him a lesson making him buy a pair of boots and laces costing him quite a lot of money. Soon after this when Albert has left, Hobson enters and has a talk with his three daughters, informing them that he has had enough of them interfering with his comings-in and goings-out and that he considers them immodest in the way they dress, bumptious and uppity. When he threatens to find husbands for Alice and Vickey so that he can wash his hands of them, Maggie inquires whether, if he is dealing husbands round, she gets one and Hobson laughs cruelly exclaiming Well, thats a good one, you with husband! When Maggie asks why not, he tells her that she is, well past the marrying age and that she is an, old maid if ever there was one. Although Maggie is probably angry at her fathers remarks, she has no chance to react yet because Mrs. Hepworth, one of Hobsons wealthier customers enters wanting to know the maker of the boots she is wearing. At first Hobson is puzzled and assumes that she is dissatisfied with the quality of the boots, however it turns out it is exactly the opposite. When presented with the maker of the boots, Will Mossop, a lanky dull-witted man of about 30, she praises him on the exceptional quality f the boots and even gives him her card so that he could inform her if he ever moved employers, Mrs. Hepworth then leaves. Then enters Jim Heeler, a friend of Hobsons who he talks to about marrying off Alice and Vickey and his opinion on what he should do. Jim immediately changes Hobsons mind when he tells him about the amount of money that two weddings will cost him, and having to replace them with paid workers if they left the shop.  After Jim and Hobson leave to go to the Moonrakers (the local pub), Maggie calls Will up from the cellar below the shop where he works, and tells him that she thinks he is very gifted and that his skilled hands mean that he could leave Hobsons shop and work somewhere else where he would be paid and appreciated more. She then casually asks him to marry her and he does not refuse, partly because he does not want to offend her and also because he is afraid of her. He tells her about his previous engagement to Ada Figgins who then enters the shop to bring Will his dinner. Maggie using her ability to overpower people, manages to win Will in a short war of words with Ada, who although is quite a weak, poor blooded girl, has a mother who is even more strong willed than Maggie, and who Will is even more afraid of. Because Will lodges with Ada and her mother so Maggie solved that problem easily, telling him to stay with Tubby Wadlow, another one of Hobsons workers. Maggie, feeling quite pleased with herself probably because she has proved her father wrong, tells her sisters about her intention to marry Will, quite casually. They are astonished and both think that Maggie will be marrying well beneath her. Hobson, who returns soon after this and agrees with Alison and Vickey, describes Will as a workhouse brat, a come-by chance and he calls Will to him so they he can beat the love for Maggie out of Wills puny body. However, Will showing a little bravery tells Hobson that the more he beats him the more he will stick to Maggie like glue and he kisses her, to which Maggie explains I knew he had it in you! while Hobson just stands in amaze indecision. A Summary of Act Two Act 2 begins a month later in the shop with Alice and Vickey having obvious problems running the shop since Maggies departure. Maggie enters followed by Will and Freddie Beenstock (Vickeys suitor). They tell Alice and Vickey about Hobson getting junk and falling through the trapdoor of Freddies corn warehouse into the cellar, on to a large pile of corn.  Maggie has come up with a plan to keep Hobson exactly where he is. She gets Albert Prosser, the son of a solicitor to draw up a document prosecuting him for trespassing and damage of the corn he landed on. She wants him out of the way so that she can get married to Will with her sisters there. She also tells Alice and Vickey about the shop that she has set up with Will and the cellar below it where they are going to live. After telling her sisters to go and get dress for her wedding, Maggie and Will are left alone and she says to him The Parson is going to ask you if you will have me and youll either answer truthfully or not at all. If you are not willing, just say so now to which Will replies, Ill tell him yes, and reveals, Yes Maggie Im resigned. Youre growing on me, lass. Ill toe the line with you.  Summary of Act Three  Act 3 is set in the cellar of Will and Maggies shop in Oldfield Road, with Will, Maggie, Albert, Alice, Vickey and Freddie having dinner round the table celebrating Will and Maggies marriage earlier that day. Hobson knocks on the door of the shop calling desperately for Maggie while Alice, Vickey, Freddie and Albert (who are all afraid of Hobson) hide in the bedroom.  When Hobson enters, he is quite distress about an action for damages for trespassing against him, which he says, will bankrupt and ruin him. After watching him squirm and feel total humiliation telling all of this in front of Will whom he considers inferior to him, Maggie solves his problem suggesting an out of court settlement of 2000 and Maggie also manages to get a further à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1000 out of him to pay for Alice and Vickeys weddings and after realising that he has been diddled he storms out angrily after giving his word to pay the money, meaning that to retain any honour or self-respect he could not break his promise. Grateful to their sisters Alice and Vickey leave happy, knowing that they are soon to be married to Albert and Freddie. Summary of Act Four  This time set in Hobsons living room Act 4 begins with Hobson being ill and daughterless with only Tubby to look after him. When Dr MacFarlane arrives and examined Hobson he diagnoses chronic alcoholism and advises him to swallow his pride and ask one of his daughters to return and help him. Tubby calls for Maggie, who enters, told that Hobson was dangerously ill. Alice and Vickey are also called and when asked how is willing to look after Hobson, all three are reluctant. Alice and Vickey both find reasons why they cannot, however Maggie being very shrewd and sharp does not dismiss the idea altogether. After quite a lot of tough negotiating on Maggie and Wills part (who has come on a lot since his marriage to Maggie), Will and Maggie agree to return to Hobsons shop to look after him and the business on the condition that Will become his partner and he becomes only a sleeping partner, with little impact on the running of the business, with even the name changing to Mossop Hobsons. Will goes on to suggests more changes to the interior of the shop and the dà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½cor, while Hobson has little choice but to accept ungraciously. When Hobson then exits after being told to go and get the Deeds drawn up for the new partnership in the business, Will and Maggie are left alone and Will who for once stood up for himself against Hobson, revealed to Maggie that he had still been astonished at his own boldness.  Then comes my favourite part of the play, the ending where Will takes Maggies hand referring to her wedding ring says, Youve worn a brass one long enough (Maggie used a brass ring from her fathers shop to be her wedding ring rather than going to the expense of buying a proper one). To this Maggie, wrenching her hand free, replies Ill wear that ring forever, Will, and Will explains I was for getting you a proper one, Maggie, and Maggie says, Im not preventing you. Ill wear your gold for show, but that that brass stays where you put it Will, and if we get too rich and proud, well just sit down together quite and take a long look at it, so as well not forget the truth about ourselves  Will expresses his feelings of amazement, triumph and incredulity with a simple, Well, by gum! before turning to follow Maggie and Hobson to start a new life.

Pyramids - Enormous Ancient Symbols of Power

Pyramids - Enormous Ancient Symbols of Power A pyramid is a type of huge ancient building  that is a member of the class of structures known as public or monumental architecture. The archetypal pyramid like those at Giza in Egypt is a mass of stone or earth with a rectangular base and four steeply sloping sides that meet in a point at the top. But pyramids come in many different forms- some are round or oval or rectangular at the base, and they can be smooth-sided, or stepped, or truncated with a flat platform topped by a temple. Pyramids, more or less, are not buildings that people walk into, but rather huge monolithic structures meant to make people awestruck. Did You Know? The oldest pyramid is Djosers Step Pyramid in Egypt, built about 2600 BCEThe largest pyramid is Cholula in Puebla, Mexico, covering an area about four times as large as the Giza pyramids in Egypt Who Built the Pyramids? Pyramids are found in several cultures around the world. The most famous are those in Egypt, where the tradition of the construction of masonry pyramids as tombs began in the Old Kingdom (2686–2160 BCE). In the Americas, monumental earthen structures called pyramids by archaeologists were constructed as early as the Caral-Supe society (2600–2000 BCE) in Peru, similar in age to those of the ancient Egyptian, but, of course, totally separate cultural innovations. The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site preserves the burial mounds of an Indian civilization which inhabited the area from 900 to 1500 AD. | Location: Collinsville, Illinois, USA. Michael S. Lewis / Getty Images Later American societies who built pointy- or platform-topped, slope-sided stone or earthen pyramids include the Olmec, Moche, and Maya; theres also an argument to be made that the earthen Mississippian mounds such as Cahokia of southeastern North America should be classed as pyramids. Etymology While scholars are not in total agreement, the word pyramid is apparently from the Latin pyramis, a word which refers specifically to the Egyptian pyramids. Pyramis (which is apparently unrelated to the old Mesopotamian tragic myth of Pyramus and Thisbe) in turn is derived from the original Greek word puramid. Interestingly, puramid means cake made out of roasted wheat. One theory for why the Greeks used the word puramid to refer to the Egyptian pyramids is that they were making a joke, that the cake had a pyramid shape and calling the Egyptian structures pyramids was slighting the Egyptian technological capabilities. Another possibility is that the shape of the cakes was (more or less) a marketing device, the cakes made to look like the pyramids. Another possibility is that pyramid is an alteration of the original Egyptian hieroglyph for pyramid- MR, sometimes written as mer, mir, or pimar. See the discussions in Swartzman, Romer, and Harper, among lots of others. In any case, the word pyramid was at some point also assigned to the pyramid geometric shape (or possibly vice versa), which is basically a polyhedron made up of connected polygons, such that the sloping sides of a pyramid are triangles. Why Build a Pyramid? Close Up View of Casing Stones of the Bent Pyramid. MedioImages / Photodisc / Getty Images While we dont have any way of knowing for sure why the pyramids were built, we have lots of educated guesses. The most basic is as a form of propaganda. Pyramids can be seen as a visual expression of the political power of a ruler, one who at a minimum had the ability to arrange to have an extremely skilled architect plan such a massive monument  and to have laborers mine the stone and construct it to specifications. Pyramids are often explicit references to mountains, the elite person reconstructing and reconfiguring the natural landscape in a way that no other monumental architecture really can. Pyramids may have been built to impress the citizenry  or the political enemies inside or outside the society. They may even have fulfilled a role empowering non-elites, who may have seen the structures as proof that their leaders were able to protect them. Pyramids as burial places- not all pyramids had burials- may also have been commemorative constructions that brought continuity to a society in the form of ancestor worship: the king is always with us. Pyramids may also have been the stage on which social drama could occur. As the visual focus of large numbers of people, pyramids may have been designed to define, separate, include, or exclude segments of the society. What are Pyramids? Like other forms of monumental architecture, pyramid construction holds clues to what the purpose might be. Pyramids are of a size and quality of construction that greatly exceeds what is required by practical needsafter all, who needs a pyramid? Societies which build pyramids invariably are those based on ranked classes, orders or estates; the pyramids are often not built just on a lavish scale, they are carefully planned to suit a particular astronomical orientation and geometrical perfection. They are symbols of permanence in a world where lives are short; they are a visual symbol of power in a world where power is transitory. Egyptian Pyramids Step Pyramid of Djoser and Associated Shrines. Print Collector / Hulton Archive / Getty Images The best-known pyramids in the world are those of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. The precursors of the pyramids were called mastaba, rectangular mudbrick burial structures built as tombs for the rulers of the predynastic period. Eventually, those rulers wanted larger and larger burial facilities, and the oldest pyramid in Egypt was the Step Pyramid of Djoser, built about 2700 BCE. Most of the Giza pyramids are pyramid-shaped, four flat smooth sides rising to a point.   The largest of the pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Giza, built for the 4th dynasty Old Kingdom Pharaoh Khufu (Greek Cheops), in the 26th century BCE. It is massive, covers an area of 13 acres, made from 2,300,000 limestone blocks each weighing an average of 2.5 tons, and rising to a height of 481 feet.   Great Pyramid at Giza (Old Kingdom Egypt)Step Pyramid of Djoser (Old Kingdom Egypt)Menkaures Pyramid (Old Kingdom Egypt)Khafres Pyramid (Old Kingdom Egypt)Bent Pyramid (Old Kingdom Egypt) Mesopotamia Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran, it is one of the few existing ziggurats outside Mesopotamia. Kaveh Kazemi / Getty Images The ancient Mesopotamians also built pyramids, known as ziggurats, stepped and built of sun-dried brick at its core, then veneered with a protective layer of fire-baked brick. Some of the brick was glazed in colors. The earliest known is located at Tepe Sialk in Iran, constructed in the early 3rd millennium BCE; not much is left but part of the foundations; precursor mastaba-like structures date to the Ubaid period. Each of the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Elamite cities in Mesopotamia had a ziggurat, and each ziggurat had a flat top where the temple or house of the citys deity. The one in Babylon likely inspired the Tower of Babylon verses in the bible. The best preserved of the 20 or so known ziggurats is that at Chogha Zanbil in Khuzestan, Iran, built about 1250 BCE for the Elamite king Untash-Huban. Several levels are missing today, but it once stood about 175 feet tall, with a square base measuring about 346 feet on a side.   Central America Lava Field at Cuicuilco (Mexico). Flowers bloom on the 50 BC eruption at Cuicuilco, they pyramid in the background. vladimix Pyramids in Central America were made by several different cultural groups, the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Toltec, and Zapotec societies. Almost all of the Central American pyramids have square or rectangular bases, stepped sides, and flat tops. They are made of stone or earth or a mixture of both.   The oldest pyramid in central America was built during the early 4th century BCE, the Great Pyramid of Complex C at the Olmec site of La Venta. It is massive, 110 feet high and was a rectangular pyramid with stepped sides, made from adobe brick. It has been severely eroded into its current conical shape.   The largest pyramid in Central America is at the Teotihuacano site of Cholula., known as the Great Pyramid, La Gran Pirmide, or Tlachihualtepetl. Construction began in the 3rd century BCE, and it eventually grew to have a square base of 1,500 x 1,500 feet, or about four times that of the Giza pyramid, rising to a height of 217 feet. It is the largest pyramid on earth (just not the tallest).  It features a core of adobe brick covered over by a veneer of mortared stone which in turn was covered by a plaster surface.   The pyramid at the site of Cuicuilco near Mexico City is in the form of a truncated cone.  Pyramid A at the site of Cuicuilco was built about 150–50 BCE, but buried by the eruption of Xitli volcano in 450 CE.   ï » ¿Teotihuacan, Mexico Monte Alban, MexicoChichà ©n Itz, Mexico (Maya)Copan, Honduras (Maya)Palenque, Mexico (Maya)Tenochtitlan, Mexico (Aztec)Tikal, Belize (Maya) South America Sipan Pyramid, Peru (Moche)Huaca del Sol, Peru (Moche) North America Cahokia, Illinois (Mississippian)Etowah, Alabama (Mississippian)Aztalan, Wisconsin (Mississippian) Sources Harper D. 2001-2016. Pyramid: Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed 25 December 2016.Moore JD. 1996. Architecture and Power in the Ancient Andes: The Archaeology of Public Buildings. New York: Cambridge University Press.Osborne JF. 2014. Approaching Monumentality in Archaeology. Albany: SUNY Press.Pluckhahn TJ, Thompson VD, and Rink WJ. 2016. Evidence for Stepped Pyramids of Shell in the Woodland Period of Eastern North America. American Antiquity 81(2):345-363.Romer J. 2007. The Great Pyramid: Ancient Egypt Revisited. New York: Cambridge University Press.Swartzman S. 1994. The Words of Mathematics: An Etymological Dictionary of Mathematical Terms. Washington DC: Mathematical Association of America.Trigger BG. 1990. Monumental architecture: . World Archaeology 22(2):119-132.behavioursymbolicofexplanationthermodynamicA Uziel J. 2010. Middle Bronze Age Ramparts: Functional and Symbolic Structures. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 142(1):24-30.Wicke CR. 1965. Pyramids and Temple Mounds: Mesoamerican Ceremonial Architecture in Eastern North America. American Antiquity 30(4):409-420.

Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Argument - Essay Example The powers are crafted to ensure that the president does not apply or enjoy government excesses, leading to a monarchical regime. In my understanding on how the federal or state governments operate, immigration reforms fall solely under the purview of the federal state. The federal government aims to provide protection for all the citizens under its care. As has been introduced above, a federal state works in tandem with the state government. There is a strong law that accords and insists that both institutions work together to seal the existing loopholes in the element of governance (Proudhon 16). This means that all laws, threats, challenges and governance issues that are experienced at state level get to be discussed at that level. This will then create room for the issues to be dissected, and approved by the partially governing states, and the central government. In conclusion, immigration issues remain sensitive and overly dramatic. This is a major reason why it is important for both state governments and the central government to agree if lenient or stiffer immigration policies should be

AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1900 Assignment One Essay

AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1900 Assignment One - Essay Example He never looks up towards the heavenly things that are placed before him. He is offered a crown of jewels and a place in Paradise, but he will not stop for a moment to look up from his decidedly earthly labors to consider the benefit of the riches offered to him. In the novel, Bunyan used the character to symbolize those that are trapped in the most mundane and unpleasant aspects of earthly existence. He used the Man with the Muck Rake as a type and a warning to those who become too absorbed in the worldly to contemplate the heavenly. President Roosevelt’s remarks indicate that he felt the muckrakers of his time had their place in the world and that they served a useful purpose in society. He indicated that he believed that all evil should be exposed at all times. He mentioned that he supported the dogged pursuit of evil men by the just that would shed light on their evil deeds. So in some ways, it appears as though the muckrakers had the tacit approval of the president. But t he very name casts doubt on the amount that President Roosevelt really believed the muckrakers could help. The name, based on its origins, indicates a person or people that are very good at one thing and one thing only. They are dedicated to seeing only the basest of worldly pursuits. The name also seems to indicate that he felt the muckrakers were individuals of limited vision. They were, in essence, so busy raking muck that they never could bring themselves to look about at all of the good that was happening around them. They were more interested in seeing abuse and scandal at every turn than they were in reporting or commenting on things as they really were. This attitude towards the muckrakers seems to indicate that President Roosevelt did not believe that all of the reforms the muckrakers supported needed to result in legislation on in strict regulations on industry. In the case of the meat packing industry, he seems to be holding reform as a threat over the head of the industr y leaders. In essence, he is saying that if you don’t clean yourselves up you will destroy your own business and exports of your own products. Regulate your own affairs or they will be regulated for you. History shows that the industry did not regulate itself, resulting in the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (Coles, 510). Part of the reason the President was so supportive of this piece of legislation is it was greatly demanded by the public. Work Cited Bunyan, John, and James Henderson Thomas. Pilgrims's Progress in Modern English. Chicago: Moody, 1964. Print. 7 Coles, Jessie V. The Consumer-buyer and the Market. New York: Arno, 1978. Print. 510 The events leading to World War I were largely the result of a system of reciprocal treaties that bound one country to enter a conflict if their allies were threatened. Like dominoes falling, on country after another entered the war after the assignation of the heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. Germany was duty bound to support the Empire because of a mutual assistance treaty. But on the other hand, Russia, France, Great Britain and eventually Italy entered as allies against the Germans and Austrians. If everyone was to honor their obligations to the others, then everyone had to fight. The United States was committed to remaining neutral during the conflict. This was a position that was very popular in the United States and actually helped

The Business process of the Ferrero organization

The Business process of the Ferrero organization Introduction For my Business Process module of the BA Business Enterprise course I looked into several companies, some small and some large. However, still undecided on which company to pursue, I took a walk to my local shop to buy my two sons a special treat. The shop has a vast array of goodies for children including both chocolate and toys. My two boys both wanted a Kinder Surprise egg as they get both chocolate and a toy. This made me think, I remember Kinder Surprise eggs when I was a small boy and how excited I use to get when I went to the shop to buy one. This made me think, how a product can maintain the reputation, sales and recognition from generation to generation without fading away or being challenged by competitors? With all this in mind I decided to base my project on the Ferrero Company. During the research gathering process I have compiled the following reasons why Ferrero will be an ideal company for my project:- Massive company growth and Globalisation Multi Generational Marketing (Kinder Surprise Egg) Devotion and relationship with all their employees Outstanding contribution to the community Problems the company has faced in the past Strategic advantage over competitors Dedication to their Corporate and Social Responsibility Utilising IT development to enhance distribution Relationship with competitors One of the top ten confectioners in the world This project (Course work 1) will introduce you to the Ferrero Company itself, its fantastic history and I will also talk about its massive global success. I will explain the Organisational structure of the company, the five levels of resources (Strategic, Tangible, Intangible, Unique and Core Competences) and compile a PESTEL report. Ferrero The Beginning Born in 1898, Pietro Ferrero began his career as a pastry maker in Dogliani, Italy. He opened his first pastry shop in Turin but was forced to move to Alba during World War II. Ferrero sought to develop new products in order to overcome the short supply of traditional pastry ingredients. By the end of the war, Ferrero had developed a new spread which combined hazelnuts, cocoa butter and vegetable oil. Ferrero called the paste pasta gianduja which he began selling in 1946. In that year his brother, Giovanni and son, Michele joined the company which had now been incorporated as Ferrero SpA. By the end of 1946 the company had employed more than 50 workers and had approx 200 delivery vans distributing their product around Italy. In their first year sales had topped  £660, Ferrero began contracting farmers to ensure the supply of hazelnuts continued and at the same time improving their quality. 1948 On 4th September 1948 a huge flood had isolated the factory and put its existence in great danger. However, due to the fantastic relationship the family had with all their workers, they all; including Pietro and Giovanni worked solidly for 4 days and 4 nights in order to save the factory. On 2nd March 1949, Pietro Ferrero died aged 51, his brother Giovanni took the Helm. The 50s By the 1950s Ferrero had developed its own efficient distribution network around Italy and opened several depots. By 1954 Ferrero was a household name in Italy. 1956 In 1956 Ferrero opened its first factory abroad in Stadallendorf, Germany. They produced just two products for the German market and both had an extraordinary success. 1957 Giovanni Ferrero died in 1957 and Michele Ferrero took the helm. Michele renewed the production plants in order to boost production through increased technology and sophisticated machinery The 60s Ferrero moved into France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, UK, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. In 1964 Michele Ferrero created Nutella In 1968 he launched the Kinder Chocolate, especially made for children. The 70s 80s Ferrero USA opened in 1969 followed by Canada, Latin America, South East Asia and Australia. By the 1980s Ferrero was strategically placed in all five continents. In 1985 two new production plants were opened in Southern Italy to help the people devastated by the Irpinia earthquake. The 90s Ferrero developed into Eastern Europe including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic along with a new plant in Poland. Again in November a terrible flood hit Italy killing many people and damaging the Alba plant. Production was interrupted but just like back in 1948, the employees worked alongside the Ferrero to rebuild the plant and get back on its feet. Some of the employees helping to rebuild the plant had just lost their homes to the flood. In 1997, Michele Ferreros sons Pietro and Giovanni became Chief Executive Officers of Ferrero International. The 2000s In 2006 a new production plant in Canada was opened and by 2009 there was more than 20,000 employees worldwide, over 20 different products and a turnover of more than 6 billion Euros. Business Units Years Production Plants Years Germany 1956 Italy Alba 1946 Belgium 1958 Germany 1956 France 1960 France 1960 Italy 1964 Italy Pozzuolo 1965 United Kingdom 1966 Australia 1974 Switzerland 1966 Ireland 1975 Sweden 1968 Ecuador 1975 Austria 1971 Italy Balvano 1985 Ireland 1975 Italy SantAngelo 1985 Netherlands 1980 Belgium 1989 Spain 1988 Poland 1992 Poland 1992 Argentina 1992 Luxembourg 1993 Brazil 1994 Hungary 1994 Canada 2006 Czech Republic 1994 Cameroon 2006 Russia 1997 India 2007 Ukraine 2003 South Africa 2007 Croatia 2003 Russia 2009 Greece 2005 Repackaging Centre Years Romania 2006 United States 1969 USA 1969 Social Enterprises Years Canada 1974 Cameroon 2004 Australia 1974 South Africa 2005 Puerto Rico 1975 India 2007 Hong Kong 1976 Japan 1978 Argentina 1992 Mexico 1992 Brazil 1994 Sri Lanka 2004 India 2004 South Africa 2004 Turkey 2005 China 2006 Ferreros main competitors are Kraft Foods, Mars and Nestle, however you will see in Course work 2 how integrating with the competitors can be of a huge benefit to all parties and the environment. Success I believe Ferrero is one of the world leaders when it comes to business growth and success, this I have measured by the following means Phenominal amount of Global business units and Production plants Amount of Employees The annual turnover Their ability to develop their own production machinery in order to gain a strategic advantage over competitors Their use of Multi Generational marketing (Kinder Surprise) Their contribution to society and charitable work Annual profit of  £6 billion More than 20 different products From the small pastry shop in 1946, Ferrero has become according to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/06/world-reputable-companies-leadership-reputation-table.html) the worlds most reputable company as of May 2009. As shown by the history of Ferrero, the growth of the company has been outstanding; this is mainly due to the passion and commitment of its owners and employees as well as the development of its unique brands and its commitment to develop its own production machinery to maintain its strategic edge. Ferrero group dedicate a lot of their time and money into other schemes such as Opera Sociale set up as a group to help and welcome retired employees and give them a sense of belonging. Social Enterprises, Ferreros commitment to enhancing the living conditions and develop the populations in some of the poorest areas in the world. United Kinder of the World, is set up to enhance the health and development of children and young people. Kinder + Sport, developed to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage sports. Since 2007, Kinder + Sport has involved more than 6 million children worldwide in activities in 17 countries. Has you can see Ferreros success isnt just measured by the amount of awards it has won or the amount of profit it has made. I believe the level of success that Ferrero has achieved can be seen on the faces of the people and children that the company aid as well as the commitment by all employees. The company Moto of Work, Create, Donate is a clear target of what the company aims to achieve and clearly they have achieved this, thus successful. Organisational Structure The table below displays the number of employees and how it is subdivided; these figures are taken from the CSR Report 2009, Number of Employees As of 31/08/2009 Workers 12,993 (60%) Employees 6,067 (28%) Executives and Officers 1,724 (8%) Managers 771 (4%) Total 21,555 Type of Contract As of 31/08/2009 Indefinite Contracts 17,460 (81%) Fixed Term Contracts 4,095 (Including seasonal workers 11%, interns 1% and fixed term contracts 7%) Total 21,555 44% of employees are women and 56% are men. 83% of staff are based in Europe The Ferrero Company is based around a Functional Structure with their main Headquarters being in Italy. The Ferrero board will meet and discuss initiatives and business and then forward on their decisions to each Director of each separate sub company i.e. Ferrero Belgium Ferrero Germany. The companies are run in a mirror image scenario, each sub company will have its own HR team, Production team, marketing and purchasing team. However each sub company will run exactly like each other in respect of what product they are producing, how the HR Function is run and where they get their produce. The only difference will come from the marketing team because each country has a different social network and need. The Ferrero Company also works on Standardising inputs and outputs model. Each sub company are standardised to what they produce, how they produce it, how the HR Function is run, where they get their produce and how their staff are trained. Ferrero have endorsed a huge training package for all employees run by the Ferrero Learning Lab which encompasses several training packages to cover all aspects i.e. Managerial, Nutritional and technical. With this standardisation approach, Ferrero have been able to offer exactly what they do national but globally, without any major issues and disparity. PESTEL Analysis FERRERO Pestel Analysis Political Negative Positive With any company dealing globally, the risk of countries becoming unstable and possible war is always going to be a risk to production and distribution worldwide. Ferrero has grown considerably since 1946; this has been possible due to the rapid increase in the European Union, from starting out with 6 members it has now grown to having 27 member states. This growth has allowed for the harmonisation between several countries and its overseas distributions and has allowed for easier expansion through standardised strategies. Ferreros continued support to its Social Responsibilities, mainly that of its support to third world countries has allowed for an excellent relationship and reputation world wide, this has assisted Ferrero with its continued growth throughout these countries. Economic Negative Positive Increase in VAT rate and import costs may have an affect on consumer purchasing and may increase the price on products due to both these increases. Price increase on products may not affect sales due to extremely strong brand reputation with the consumers. Ferrero and Mars have teamed up on a joint distribution initiative, both products will be distributed to the same warehouse and then both distributed out together. This will decrease the distribution costs. Social Negative Positive Sales of confectionary products as a whole decrease during summer months. (see graphs below) Kinder Surprise egg utilises Multi Generational Marketing and has become a collectible item worldwide. Each country produces its own toys in respect to its countries niche at the time. E.g. Super mini Smurf parade issued in Germany. It is a well known fact that more chocolate is sold at Christmas and Easter than any other times and will continue to do so. The reputation institute in New York awarded Ferrero 1st Place as the company with the best overall reputation with the consumer public. Excellent long term relationships with suppliers. Technological Negative Positive Ferrero implemented the SAP Extended warehouse development application which will increase distribution, decrease wastage, increase production, increase distribution timeliness and maximise storage capacities. Ferrero have developed at least 50% of their own production machinery and technology in order to hold a strategic advantage over their competitors. Environmental Negative Positive The prospects of global warming will always be an issue with regards to growing and producing its raw materials i.e. Cocoa, palm oil and sugar cane. Ferrero prides itself on its contribution to protecting the environment and is actively contributing to saving energy and increasing raw material production. The Corporate Social Responsibility report 2009 details all contributions and future projects Ferrero have implemented and are implementing. The 5R recycling project by Ferrero on all packaging it produces helps the environment and the companys reputation. Legal Negative Positive The Kinder Surprise Egg was banned in the USA since 1997 due to the Consumer Product Safety Commission deeming it being a hazard to small children because it may contain a choking hazard. The Egg also falls foul to the US 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic act which prohibit embedding non-nutritive items in confections. Ferrero counter acted the US Laws by producing and selling the Kinder chocolate without the surprise, this was again a huge success. The Kinder Surprise egg however, is still sold illegally around the US by shops importing them in from other countries. The law as made the Kinder Egg some what a highly sort collectible in the US and as indirectly assisted in the marketing of the egg. This graph below shows the average sales of the Sugar and Chocolate sales throughout the year (calculated in weeks). As mentioned in the PESTEL Report the summer moves takes a clear dip in sales. The graph below shows Ferreros annual turnover in 2006 driven by season. The red line represents the average sale during the year. As you can see 80% of sales were achieved out of the summer months and only 20% during the summer months. Resources Strategic Capabilities Tangible Resources Intangible Resources Unique Resources Core Competencies Produce 50% of its own production machinery and technology Ferrero have production plants and offices worldwide Excellent worldwide reputation Powerful brand name with the Kinder Surprise and TIC TAC mints Kinder surprise has become a collectors item worldwide and will continue to do so The new implementation of the new distribution and warehousing IT software All employees are motivated and made to feel like part of the Ferrero family High level of training provided Developed their own unique product the chocolate and hazelnut paste Cremino Teamed up with Mars to increase distribution speed and cut cost and help cut down CO2 emissions Excellent Training and Human resource management Unique ties with raw material sources worldwide Multi generational marketing Coursework 2 CW2 will be focussing on Ferreros Value chain, Supply chain management, SWOT Analysis and I will be make my own conclusions and recommendations on Ferrero

Corporate Wars Essay

Corporate war is the war between opponent firms who compete with each other for greater market share. There are always 2 groups involved in a corporate war and they are: The target company and the competitors. Whenever there is competition the first thing the target company does is to develop its marketing plans based on what they think their opponent will do. The companies formulate two strategies: * The first being their opening move * The subsequent moves are based on the competitor’s strategy But in any case the company’s success depends upon how well they prepare their marketing strategies. To do this effectively a company must carefully study its competitors as well as its potential and actual customers. Besides this the company must also identify its weaknesses. The company should also decide as to which competitor should be attacked and which one to be avoided. According to Philip Kotler: * Poor firms ignore their competitors * Average firms copy their competitors * Winning firms lead their competitors Marketing warfare strategies are a type of strategies, used in business and marketing, that try to draw parallels between business and warfare, and then apply the principles of military strategy to business situations. In business we do not have enemies, but we do have competitors; and we do not fight for land, but we do compete for market share. Types of marketing warfare strategies:- Offensive marketing warfare strategies – They are strategies designed to obtain some objective, usually market share, from a target competitor. In addition to market share, an offensive strategy could be designed to obtain key customers, high margin market segments, or high loyalty market segments.  Fundamental principles:- 1. Assess the strength of the target competitor 2. Find a weakness in the targets position. Attack at this point. 3. Launch the attack on as narrow a front as possible. Whereas a defender must defend all their borders, an attacker has the advantage of being able to concentrate their forces at one place. 4. Launch the attack quickly. Types of offensive marketing warfare strategies:- * Frontal Attack – This is a direct head-on assault. It usually involves marshaling all your resources including a substantial financial commitment. All parts of your company must be geared up for the assault from marketing to production. It usually involves intensive advertising assaults and often entails developing a new product that is able to attack the target competitors’ line where it is strong. It often involves an attempt to â€Å"liberate† a sizable portion of the target’s customer base. * Envelopment Strategy (also called encirclement strategy) – This is a much broader but subtle offensive strategy. It involves encircling the target competitor. This can be done in two ways. You could introduce a range of products that are similar to the target product. Each product will liberate some market share from the target competitor’s product, leaving it weakened, demoralized, and in a state of siege. If it is done stealthily, a full scale confrontation can be avoided. Alternatively, the encirclement can be based on market niches rather than products. * Leapfrog strategy -This strategy involves bypassing the enemy’s forces altogether. In the business arena, this involves either developing new technologies, or creating new business models. This is a revolutionary strategy that re-writes the rules of the game. The introduction of compact disc technology bypassed the established magnetic tape based defenders. The attackers won the war without a single costly battle. This strategy is very effective when it can be realized. Defensive marketing warfare strategies – They are a type of marketing warfare strategy designed to protect a company’s market share, profitability, product positioning, or mind share. Fundamental principles:- 1. Always counter an attack with equal or greater force. 2. Defend every important market.   3. Be forever vigilant in scanning for potential attackers. Assess the strength of the competitor. 4. The best defense is to attack yourself. Attack your weak spots and rebuild yourself anew. 5. Defensive strategies should be the exclusive domain of the market leader The main types of defensive marketing warfare strategies are:- * Position defense – This involves the defense of a fortified position. This tends to be a weak defense because you become a â€Å"sitting duck†. It can lead to a siege situation in which time is on the side of the attacker, that is, as time goes by the defender gets weaker, while the attacker gets stronger. In a business context, this involves setting up fortifications such as barriers to market entry around a product, brand, product line, market, or market segment. This could include increasing brand equity, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, or repeat purchase rate. It could also include exclusive distribution contracts, patent protection, market monopoly, or government protected monopoly status. * Mobile defense – This involves constantly shifting resources and developing new strategies and tactics. A mobile defense is intended to create a moving target that is hard to successfully attack, while simultaneously, equipping the defender with a flexible response mechanism should an attack occur. In business this would entail introducing new products, introducing replacement products, modifying existing products, changing market segments, changing target markets, repositioning products, or changing promotional focus. This defense requires a very flexible organization with strong marketing, entrepreneurial, product development, and marketing research skills. * Counter offensive – This involves countering an attack with an offense of your own. If you are attacked, retaliate with an attack on the aggressor’s weakest point. Flanking marketing warfare strategies – They are a type of marketing warfare strategy designed to minimize confrontational losses. Fundamental principles:- 1. Avoid areas of likely confrontation. A flanking move always occurs in an uncontested area. 2. Make your move quickly and stealth fully. The element of surprise is worth more than a thousand tanks. 3. Make moves  that the target will not find threatening enough to respond decisively to. The main types of flanking marketing warfare strategies are:- * Flanking Attack – This is designed to pressure the flank of the enemy line so the flank turns inward. You make gains while the enemy line is in chaos. In doing so, you avoid a head-on confrontation with the main force. The disadvantage with a flanking attack is that It can draw resources away from your center defense, making you vulnerable to a head-on attack. In business terms, a flanking attack involves competing in a market segment that the target does not consider mission critical. The target competitor will not be as concerned about your activities if they occur in market niches that it considers peripheral. * Flanking Position – This involves the re-deployment of your resources to deter a flanking attack. You strengthen your flank if you think it is vulnerable. The disadvantage of this defense is that it can distract you from your primary objective and siphon resources away from where they are needed most. In business terms, this involves the introduction of new products, product lines, or brands, the defensive re-positioning of existing products, or additional promotional activity in a market niche. It requires market segmentation and/or product differentiation. You protect against potential loss of market share in a segment by strengthening your competitive position there. * Guerrilla marketing warfare strategies – They are a type of marketing warfare strategy designed to wear-down the enemy by a long series of minor attacks. Rather than engage in major battles, a guerrilla force is divided into small groups that selectively attacks the target at its weak points. To be effective, guerrilla teams must be able to hide between strikes. They can disappear into the remote countryside, or blend into the general population. The general form of the strategy is a sequence of attacking, retreating, and hiding, repeated multiple times in series. It has been said that â€Å"Guerrilla forces never win wars, but their adversaries often lose them. Strengths:- 1. Because you never attack the enemy’s main force, you preserve your resources. 2. It is very flexible and can be adapted to any situation, offensive or defensive. 3. It is very difficult to counter with conventional methods. Baskin-Robbins is an American global ice cream parlor based in Canton, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California. The company is known for its â€Å"31 flavors† slogan, more than the 28 flavors then famously offered at Howard Johnson’s restaurants, with the idea that a customer could have a different flavor every day of any month. The slogan came from the Carson-Roberts advertising agency in 1953. Baskin and Robbins believed that people should be able to sample flavors until they found one they wanted to buy, hence the iconic small pink spoon. The Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors started as separate ventures from Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, owning Burt’s Ice Cream Shop and Snowbird Ice Cream respectively. Snowbird Ice Cream featured 21 flavors, a novel concept for the time. When the separate companies merged in 1953, this concept grew to 31 flavors. By 1948, Burt and Irv opened six stores, the first franchise covering the sale of ice cream was executed May 20, 1948, for the store at 1130 South Adams in Glendale (Store #1). Burt and Irv were brothers-in-law. In 1949, the company’s production facility opened in Burbank. They made the decision to sell the stores to the managers, thus becoming one of the first franchised food service businesses. In 1953, Baskin-Robbins hired Carson-Roberts Advertising who recommended adoption of the 31 as well as the pink (cherry) and brown (chocolate) polka dots and typeface that were reminiscent of the circus. The first store that adopted the new 31 look was 804 North Glendale Ave. in Glendale, California in March 1953. Between 1949 and 1962, the corporate firm was Huntington Ice Cream Company. The name succeeded The Baskin-Robbins Partnership and was eventually changed back to Baskin-Robbins, Inc. on November 26, 1962. Baskin-Robbins also was the first to introduce ice cream cakes to the public. 31 Flavors# * Banana Nut Fudge * Black Walnut * Burgundy Cherry * Butterscotch Ribbon * Cherry Macaroon * Chocolate * Chocolate Almond * Chocolate Chip * Chocolate Fudge * Chocolate Mint * Chocolate Ribbon| * Coffee * Coffee Candy * Date Nut * Egg Nog * French Vanilla * Green Mint Stick * Lemon Crisp * Lemon Custard * Lemon Sherbet * Maple Nut| * Orange Sherbet * Peach * Peppermint Stick * Pineapple Sherbet * Pistachio Nut * Raspberry Sherbet * Rocky Road *  Strawberry * Vanilla * Vanilla Burnt Almond| * Orange Sherbet * Peach * Peppermint Stick * Pineapple Sherbet * Pistachio Nut * Raspberry Sherbet * Rocky Road * Strawberry * Vanilla * Vanilla Burnt Almond Reuben Mattus, a young entrepreneur with a passion for quality and a vision for creating the finest ice cream, worked in his mother’s ice cream business selling fruit ice and ice cream pops from a horse-drawn wagon in the bustling streets of the Bronx, New York. To produce the finest ice cream available, he insisted on using only the finest, purest ingredients. The family business prospered throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s. By 1960, Mr. Mattus, supported by his wife Rose, decided to form a new company dedicated to his ice cream vision. He called his new brand Haagen-Dazs, to convey an aura of the old-world traditions and craftsmanship to which he remained dedicated. Haagen-Dazs ice cream started out with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee. But Mr. Mattus’ passion for quality soon took him to the four corners of the globe. His unique ice cream recipes included dark chocolate from Belgium and hand-picked vanilla beans from Madagascar, creating distinctive and indulgent taste experiences. The Haagen-Dazs brand quickly developed a loyal following. Its early success was created by word of mouth and praise. Without the benefit of advertising, the story of an incredibly rich and creamy confection spread rapidly. At first, it was only available at gourmet shops in New York City, but soon distribution expanded throughout the east coast of the U.S., and by 1973 Haagen-Dazs products were enjoyed by discerning customers throughout the United States. In 1976, Mr. Mattus’ daughter Doris opened the first Haagen-Dazs ® Shop. It was an immediate success, and its popularity led to a rapid expansion of Haagen-Dazs ® Shops across the country. In 1983 Mr. Mattus  agreed to sell the Haagen-Dazs brand to The Pillsbury Company, which remained committed to the tradition of superior quality and innovation on which Haagen-Dazs ice cream was founded. Since then, it has become a global phenomenon, available in 50 countries. The same careful attention to quality that Reuben Mattus built into every Haagen-Dazs product remains today. Ice cream lovers the world over now recognize the unique Haagen-Dazs logo as synonymous with the ultimate super-premium ice cream. From the beginning, Haagen-Dazs ice cream has sought to innovate and bring new frozen dessert experiences to its customers, including distinctive flavors such as vanilla swiss almond, butter pecan, and dulce de leche, to name just a few. Haagen-Dazs was also the first to introduce the world to ice cream bars for a grown-up palate, with the introduction of the Haagen-Dazs brand ice cream bar line in 1986. Other super-premium innovations followed, with frozen yogurt in 1991 and sorbet in 1993.To this day, the Haagen-Dazs brand remains committed to developing exceptional new super-premium frozen dessert experiences, releasing new flavors every year. Mattus invented the Danish sounding ‘Haagen-Dazs’ as a tribute to Denmark’s exemplary treatment of its Jews during the Second World War and included an outline map of Denmark on early labels. The name is not Danish, which has neither an umlaut nor a digraph zs, and it has no meaning. Mattus thought that Denmark was known for its dairy products and had a positive image in the U.S. His daughter Doris Hurley reported in the PBS documentary An Ice Cream Show (1999) that her father sat at the kitchen table for hours saying nonsensical words until he came up with a combination he liked. The reason he chose this method was so that the name would be unique and original The ice cream comes in many different flavors and is a â€Å"super-premium† brand, meaning it is quite dense (very little air is mixed in during manufacture), uses no emulsifiers or stabilizers other than egg yolks, and has high butterfat content. Haagen-Dazs is also meant to be kept at a temperature that is substantially lower than most ice creams in order to keep its intended firmness. It is sold both in grocery stores and in dedicated retail outlets serving ice cream cones, sundaes, and so on. In 1980, Haagen-Dazs unsuccessfully sued Frusen Glà ¤djà ©, an American ice cream maker, whose name without the acute accent is Swedish for â€Å"frozen delight†, for using similar foreign branding strategies. Haagen-Dazs was bought by Pillsbury in 1983. General Mills  bought Pillsbury in 2001. However, in the United States and Canada, Haagen-Dazs products are produced by Nestlà © subsidiary Dreyer’s, which acquired the rights as part of the General Mills-Pillsbury deal. The brand name is still owned by General Mills but is licensed to Nestlà © in the US and Canada. To offset increasing costs of their ingredients and the delivery of the product, Haagen-Dazs announced that in January 2009 it would be reducing the size of their ice cream cartons in the US from 16 US fl oz (470 ml) to 14 US fl oz (410 ml).Additionally they announced that in March 2009 they would be shrinking the 32 US fl oz (950 ml) container to 28 US fl oz (830 ml). In response, Ben & Jerry’s said that they would not be changing the sizes of their cartons. Common Rivals of Baskin Robbins and Haagen Dazs London Diary is the established market leader in the premium ice cream segment. With its rich unique taste and smooth creamy texture. London Diary offers a truly delicious and unforgettable ice cream experience-which you can lose yourself in! With a $5 correspondence course from Penn State in making ice cream, two regular guys named Ben and Jerry open their first ice cream scoop shop in Burlington, Vermont. Heroes for Ice Cream Hungry for Justice SWOT analysis (alternatively SWOT Matrix) is a structured planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place or person. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies * Strengths: Characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over others * Weaknesses: Are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others * Opportunities: External elements that the project could exploit to its  advantage * Threats: External elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project Identification of SWOTs is important because they can inform later steps in planning to achieve the objective. First, the decision makers should consider whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is not attainable a different objective must be selected and the process repeated. Users of SWOT analysis need to ask and answer questions that generate meaningful information for each category (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to make the analysis useful and find their competitive advantage. The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. These come from within the company’s unique value chain. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories: Internal factors – The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization. External factors – The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the organization. The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their effect on the organization’s objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective. The factors may include all of the 4Ps; as well as personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities, and so on. The external factors may include macroeconomic matters, technological change, legislation, and socio-cultural changes, as well as changes in the marketplace or competitive position. The results are often presented in the form of a matrix. SWOT analysis is just one method of categorization and has its own weaknesses. For example, it may tend to persuade its users to compile lists rather than to think about what is actually important in achieving objectives. It also presents the resulting lists uncritically and without clear prioritization so that, for example, weak opportunities may appear to balance strong threats. It is prudent not to eliminate too quickly any candidate SWOT entry. The importance of individual SWOTs will be revealed by the value of the strategies it generates. A SWOT item that produces valuable strategies is important. A SWOT item that generates no  strategies is not important. The usefulness of SWOT analysis is not limited to profit-seeking organizations. SWOT analysis may be used in any decision-making situation when a desired end-state (objective) has been defined. Examples include: non-profit organizations, governmental units, and individuals. SWOT analysis may also be used in pre-crisis planning and preventive crisis management. SWOT analysis may also be used in creating a recommendation during a viability study/survey. Some findings from Menon et al. (1999) and Hill and Westbrook (1997) have shown that SWOT may harm performance. Other complementary analyses have been proposed, such as the Growth-share matrix.