Old Times and New in “Goodbye, Lenin!”

Old Times and New in Wolfgang Becker’s Goodbye, Lenin! There are many themes in Goodbye, Lenin! The most obvious is the contrast between the old times and the new and the question of nostalgia or embracing the past. Two scenes which show this theme includes the scene when the main character’s mother, Christiane, asks Alex (the main character) for some Spreewald gherkins. The second is when Christiane ventures outside and sees all the changes that have affect East Germany since the collapse of the Berlin Wall.The story unfolds in the year following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989. Alexander Kerner constructs the GDR in one room of his family’s apartment in East Berlin for his mother who has recently woken up from a coma. His mother, Christiane Kerner, has experienced nothing of the tumultuous events of 1989-1990. When she regains consciousness the doctor tells Alex that she will not survive another heart attack and to keep her excitement levels at a low.Alex decides to keep the events of the last year a secret and thus keeps the old GDR alive in their apartment. Alex uses systematic disinformation to manipulate his mother’s beliefs. One day, Christiane asks Alex for some Spreewald gherkins, her favourite. Unfortunately, the shops have got rid of their East German products. As he walks around the supermarket all Alex sees are jars of pickles from Holland. These foods were produced and sold in the old East Germany where often it was impossible to produce enough to meet demand.The director, Wolfgang Becker, juxtaposes shots which compares both systems of government (the old and the new). The supermarket shelves have been ‘invaded’ by new brands from Holland and the rest of the world. The differences between the two halves of the city are highlighted by a montage sequence where we see in bland colours the empty shelves of old East Berlin supermarkets. A single, defrosting, bloody chicken lies at the bottom of a huge freezer – this shot is juxtaposed with the vibrant colours of the brightly packaged goods on the shelves of shops in the new Berlin.These images in this scene shows the contrast and lacking that both the old and the new both have. The second scene which portrays the theme of old and new is when Christiane ventures outside of the apartment into Berlin. For Christiane, venturing out into the ‘real world’ means that she must confront this new world around her. For Alex, it means confronting the lies that he has been telling to build up the imaginary world in the apartment. Christiane has to face the changes that have been made in the past years and must see the new.She gazes upon the sights for the first time – West German’s moving into the apartment building, the new western vehicles, and of course the statue of Lenin. Good Bye, Lenin! is a thematically rich film, delving into politics, family dynamics, and, most especially, the contrast be tween the old and the new. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a tumultuous event for East Germany, triggering rapid changes in every aspect of the lives of the people who lived there.Overnight, the economy would be transformed from a socialist system to a capitalist one, Western consumer goods and ideas would come flooding in, and people could pass freely into the Western sector of the city. In these scenes we see the influence of the new on the old. We see Alex trying to keep his mother in the old East Germany by creating a world in their apartment with everything from the old GDR. Christiane eventually ventures outside and sees the new Germany and comes out of this experience with new strength and understanding.

Marketing Week 2 Journal

The components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are the basic major forces driving the economy. This is because an increase in the amount of these components also means an increase in the GDP of a certain country. A high GDP means a high income of a country. These are: personal consumption, investments, government spending and net exports (the value of exports minus the value of imports) (Costales, 2000). Personal consumption is the expenditures of households on basic necessities in which receipts are being issued. A no-receipt purchase or something that is not registered to the government as a business is not included, as it is a part of the black market. Investments, on the other hand are capitals that are being used in businesses. These are non-financial product purchases. Government spending is the expenditures of the government in providing goods for the public, wages for the public workers and purchases of sectors of the government. However, it does not encompass social security or benefits. And last, is the net exports, the difference of the exports, goods produced for out of the country consumption, and imports, goods that come from other countries for consumption. There are also new forces driving the economy. These are breakthroughs that were discovered as time passed by and prove true to improve economic performance. Specifically, these are: technology and entrepreneurship. Technology has now been a great help in the development of the economy because of its benefits (Henry and Cooke, n.d.). Development of new technology makes costs lower for the producers and provides means for businesses to transact among others. On the other hand, entrepreneurship is the one who thinks of innovations that may be pursued. This is because introduction of new things prove useful to both consumers and producers. They also initiate job growth as they employ employees. References Costales, A. C., A. E. Bello, M. A. O. Catelo, A. C. Cuevas, G. I. Galinato and U-P. E. Rodriguez. Economics: Principles and Applications. Quezon City: JMC Press, Inc. â€Å"Information Technology Industries – of Growing Importance to the Economy and Jobs†. Retrieved October 25, 2007 Tesreau, K. and Gielazauskas, V. Entrepreneurship: A Driving Force in the New Economy. Retrieved October 25, 2007

Is Religion The Controlled Manipulation Of Humanity's Potential To Essay

Is Religion The Controlled Manipulation Of Humanity's Potential To Freely Enter A Relationship With The Transcendent - Essay Example This has in turn resulted into an establishment of transcendental diplomacy in many societies. It is worth pointing out that this type of diplomacy is not founded on ‘power’. As a result, the elements and compounds involved happen to be not a part of ‘power’. Through all the centuries, there exist some slight efforts to fully comprehend this subject matter (Thomas 264). In present time, human beings are yet to decide if they are ready to establish such type of transcendental diplomacy. It will be a long time since we are capable of approaching this end. In all probability, it will take certain individuals to get to this end who happen to have developed evolutionary changes towards such kind of thoughts. With such kind of high expectation, this might happen only if human beings succeed in embracing and taking advantage of science and technology. It is through this that they will be capable of bringing changes to their own body and mind. The result will be a s trengthened transcendental attribute towards them, while been able to grow seeds of improved human beings. Besides, the subject matter has to correspond to the materialization of their expectations in the distant future. There is a belief among all religions that they will be able to achieve transcendental attributes while the messengers appointed while be able to achieve the fore mentioned goals. There has been an order of divine prophets, teachers, and guardians from Adam, Moses, and Jesus to Muhammad. Their presence in the present time is still felt and will continue till the end of time. Additionally, in different times and places, the achievements of their divine manifestations will be enhanced. These divine manifestations will happen to be apostles with divine sense of authority (Thomas 264). Consequently, all these religions will successively lean on the same procession towards transcendence and flawlessness. With many courses of human endeavors to conform within social laws and regulations, the efforts of these prophets and teachers happen to be more noticeable. The messenger (savior) of Christianity happens to be a perfect manifestation of all former religious thoughts and sophisticated inheritance of laws and regulations from previous religions. In the end this happens to be the turning point of this evolution. Disappointed through some wrongful commentaries and interpretations have been made by the so called religious scholars. The valuable commandments have been distorted to the extent that some preachers have been heard insinuating that religions have been decorated and distorted to the extent that if one was to go back a century he won’t be able to recognize his own religion. Christianity point of view to some problems happens to be consistent and integrated, with learned individuals tends to believe that accurate Christianity laws are similar to scientific laws and should stay unchangeable. It should be noted that these same laws were cre ated on the same basis of humankind nature and thus should be compatible with all state and behavior of individuals (Thomas 264). Nonetheless, religious jurists tend to note on the fundamental principles of religions in a detailed manner. In addition, these notes have been the main reason behind the introduction of various decisions in religions and the reason behind their existing differences. Recent jurisprudential methods among various sections of Catholics and Protestants and the mode of reasoning of canon lawyers related to the above sects with regards to reasonability of their sources happen to be quite different. This is the

Exploring the Role of Health Managers in Implementing Health IT Dissertation

Exploring the Role of Health Managers in Implementing Health IT Solutions and Meeting Meaningful Use Standards - Dissertation Example For this reason, it is expected that healthcare professionals are likely to face particular hurdles when implementing the goals. There is a salient need for healthcare professionals to develop exceptional competencies to surmount the obstacles and difficulties that they are likely to face. Specifically, healthcare managers who have the obligation of leading their organization to the implementation of stage three will require excellent managerial competencies, as this paper will highlight. Healthcare managers will encounter obstacles when implementing the coordination of care through patient engagement, which is one of the stage three goals. If the healthcare organization is to accomplish this goal successfully, patients should play a significant role in evaluating their health records and generating their data enhancing the available health records. Patients should also engage in a secure exchange of healthcare information with various providers. It will be difficult to ensure that patients are actively involved in these activities. For this reason, healthcare managers need to manifest exceptional managerial competencies of putting in place a remarkable patient portal that will promote the achievement of this goal (Joseph, 2013). Additionally, healthcare managers will face difficulties in the achievement of health information exchange. Notably, the accomplishment of this goal will demand both the provider and the healthcare ecosystem to assume absolute standards. It i s challenging to ensure that there is the expected level of control of the healthcare ecosystem. There was a poor implementation of the stage two adoptions of the required standards concerning the exchange of provider directories. For this reason, it will be difficult to achieve this goal. Healthcare managers will also face difficulties when implementing the public health and clinical data registry reporting. Experts have affirmed that there are likely to be both ecosystem and expense challenges because of the distinct measures that must be met in the achievement of this goal.

Communication in Ordinary People Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Communication in Ordinary People - Movie Review Example Outwardly, they appear to be the model WASP family, but there is a complex undercurrent of emotion and family upheaval that belies the still waters on the surface, an unspoken communication that is escalating the level of conflict within the family as the family tries to cope with the death of the elder son of the family. This film presents a typical example of the conflicts arising out of the paradoxes and feedbacks highlighted by Watzlawick et al through their Pragmatic approach to communications. There is a great deal of disparity between what is being said in the family and what is actually meant to be said. In the aftermath of a traumatic situation, this brings out underlying conflicts and tensions due to the trauma created by the death of one member of the family, which makes them all view each other in a completely different light. This film demonstrates how a family may often be existing and communicating quite differently at the conventional level through their language yet, may, in fact, may be intending something quite different at the pragmatic level. This tension and paradox that is created are stretched until it reaches a point where adjustments have to be made that destroy the stability of the family so that the members of the family can genuinely communicate with each other.  Ã‚  Bateson (1951) reframed psychotherapy based on a horizontal approach that examined an individual’s relationships with those around him rather than focusing on Freud’s intensive vertical approach that stressed the process going on within the individual.  

Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Project - Assignment Example He has emphasized on the some of the most important areas of human development which include health and education. According to Kanna (2011), Al-Maktoum has invested heavily on education as well on the development of knowledge within the region of UAE by grooming potential leaders within the private as well as public sectors of UAE and also by promoting other crucial areas such as research and development, business leadership, youth empowerment, cultural development, preservation of traditional heritage and also promoting various platforms for the economy. Under his leadership, UAE has become an economic powerhouse (Davis). The leadership approach by Al-Maktoum has been transformational. Literally speaking, transformational leadership is a leadership style which is able to implicit certain positive changes within the people who follow the leader (Bass). Transformational leaders like Al-Maktoum are energetic, passionate as well as highly enthusiastic. The government of Al-Maktoum has not only transformed the fate of UAE but has made UAE as one of the most dominant countries in the world (Davidson). An insight on the leadership strategy of Al-Maktoum can be further elaborated: Self-awareness: Al-Maktoum’s government has consistently got in touch with the citizens of UAE and has asked people for feedback and suggestions for improvements and has also listened to what is needed for improvement. Eliminating self interest: The leadership approach of Al-Maktoum goes beyond portraying any level of self interest or selfishness and is an approach which has a mass effect. His strategy has balanced any potential conflict of interest which may arise between the citizens. According to Al-Al (2008), by implementing an adequate level of trust as well as by generating the enthusiastic support from his subordinates, leaders have the adequate ability in improving individual as well as team performance. Due to this reason, this of approach of

Personal and Managerial Effectiveness Assignment

Personal and Managerial Effectiveness - Assignment Example Without which, an organization may not sustain or prosper effectively in this age of competitiveness among other rival players. This is because; interaction or communication with diverse individual or employees within an organization is the mother of creativity or innovation. It might prove effective for the organization in enhancing its profit margin and reputation in the market among other rival players. As a result, the image and uniqueness of the organization might also get enhanced thereby amplifying its level of sustainability in long run. Therefore, it might be depicted that interaction with the workforces of diverse culture, creed and beliefs is extremely essential to present innovative products and services to satisfy changing needs. This report mainly highlights the importance and definition of diversity along with its negative effects within a work place. Other than this, it also describes the essentialities of a diverse workforce within an organization as well as resoluti on of the issues of the diversity in an effective way so as to make it an opportunity for further improvements. Discussion What is diversity? Diversity is recognised as the procedure of acknowledging, accepting, evaluating, and analysing the differences of the viewpoints of the individual of varied age-groups, creed, ethnicity, gender, mental capability, race, spiritual practice and many other specifications. Other than this, it is also described as the process to understand and respect the ideas and suggestions of each and every individual within an organization thereby amplifying its uniqueness among all. Therefore, diverse workforces might prove effective in enhancing the productivity and profitability of the organization in long run among other rival players. So, keeping the concept of unity in mind, the challenges of diversity is fading slowly and gradually from the corporate organizations in the entire globe. Essentialities to manage diverse workforces In today’s era, d iversity is the root-cause of success of maximum extent of the organization operating in different segments. However, it might be possible only if it may be managed effectively and continuously. Only then, varied types of talents and capabilities of the employees working within an organization might be explored resulting in amplification of the productivity and efficiency in the market among others. Along with this, it might also prove effective in presenting varied types of inventive products so as to cope up with the challenges of the changing situation. As a result, it might also help the organization to improve its distinctiveness and reputation in the entire market among other rival players. Therefore, it might be depicted that diverse workforce or multicultural workforce helps in enhancing the performance and image of the individual as well as the organization in the society or market among others. Challenges Faced By 21st Century Organizations due to Diverse Workforces In ord er to retain the level of sustainability and competitiveness in the market for long run, the management of most of the organizations are devoting their maximum time and concentration to sort out diversity issues such as discrimination, negative attitudes, behaviours, conflicts, complaints, equal opportunities for females, organizational restructuring and many others. The prime cause behind it is to enhance their level of

Public Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public Administration - Essay Example According to Max Weber’s policy, public administrators must be restricted to only laid down the policies in the discharge of their duties. But this would not help the country to have a proper and efficient public administration. The public administrators must have some amount of discretion as this would help them to resolve an issue based on the problem’s nature. The policies proposed by the government are generally common and it does not specify any external factor to tackle the problem. In this situation, the administrators must decide how to solve the issue by altering or modifying the proposed rules. They should have the rights to modify and implement the proposed policies. They must also have some amount of discretion so that they can decide how to serve the public in a better way. In a democratic country, the public administration cannot be carried out in an effective way without proposing new techniques and strategies. (Denhardt, 2009). The problem differs based on the situation and the same regulation might not work effectively for all sorts of issues. Instead it is better for the government to allow the public administrators to pursue their work with some discretion. This would enable them to help and serve people in a better way.

Market structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Market structure - Essay Example The Spangles candy was a fruity boiled sweet with a slight fix about it, the packaging letters were big fat bottomed font, and they came in several flavors. These candies were popular enough that they made their way into pop culture through songs, and cultural references. â€Å"They were launched a few years ago, but didn't seem to take off. The wording on the packaging was in that big fat-bottomed font, the same one that The Goodies used on their opening titles.† (BBC h2g2, 2011) Available market segments include, persons who were born 5 years prior to the initial release of these candies through persons who were born in the late 1960’s, this would include the ages of 63 – 45. Another market segment could be a foreign market base, the youth market, and potential additional markets like comedy fans. Basic objectives for marketing the Spangles branded candy would be to increase product awareness by 20% in the first year, revive the popular side within the first 6 months, decrease customer resistance to buying our product, which would lead to a 50-100 percent increase in sales within the first year. To accomplish these goals we will need to introduce a valid marketing strategy. In the case of this candy we will want to use focused insertion, and narrow advertising structures. It will be important to introduce the product as a special historical re-launch. An additional objective should be the raised awareness of the Mars ® brand name as a result of the campaign, increases of between 10-15% should be realized in the entire Mars ® line which will make the re-launch a success regardless of the eventual outcome of the Spangles line itself. The price should be approximately what it was at the time of its peak popularity for the initial marketing phase; advertising should be done during the most popular hours of television and radio use for the target market. Distribution should be completed at the popular shopping destinations that already car ry other Mars ® products. One potential approach is to use displays that focus on Spangles as the â€Å"Candy you grew up with.† Another possible approach would include different flavours as well as less boisterous yet still â€Å"retro† looking label on the candy itself. Possibly the â€Å"green† approach can be utilized by promoting the use of recycled materials in the wrappings. Another approach could be the use of popular comedians as personalities promoting the cultural aspects from a comedic point of view on television and radio. If the product is marketed with current pop culture icons as spokespersons the additional benefit would be the appeal to the younger generation. By generating a potential new market and by using easily recognized pop culture icons Mars ® could potentially increase their market share not only through the re-launch of the Spangles boiled sweets but also increased interest in current products. If the marketing approach is followe d the potential for name recognition and additional sales of other popular Mars ® products should increase by 15% or more. Additional approaches can be looked to when the initial launch is complete and sales numbers have been returned. A successful re-launch could mean expanded markets in countries where retirees

Based on Hypothesis that education does not occur in a vacuum use Essay

Based on Hypothesis that education does not occur in a vacuum use Plato's system of education in the'ideal polis'and the four influences on education presented - Essay Example The ideal education system would prepare each class of people for their various roles in the society. This universe has not come into existence by chance but has a purpose and has been intelligently crafted. The souls on this universe are at different levels of evolution. Through understanding and emulation, the souls can be restored to their original state of excellence. This requires education and work according to each one’s level of evolution. This led to the division of the society into different classes. In The Republic, he said "...compulsory learning never sticks in the mind." Plato believed that children would never learn unless they wanted to learn. Hence, it was essential that education should commensurate with their level of evolution. This called for segregation of classes, so that each group could be educated in their special field. Plato’s educational thought is his portrayal of the ideal society or the ‘ideal polis’ in The Republic. His ‘ideal polis’ consists of three classes of citizens - the Guardians (ruler of the polis), the Auxiliaries (Guardians who remain warriors), and Craftsmen (the rest of the citizens). This model society according to Plato should be ruled by highly intelligent philosopher-kings. Plato believed that Guardians are the best members of the society because they are best able to preserve the city. Therefore, he argued, that the Guardians should be the ones who ought to rule the city (412a-c). In The Republic, Plato demonstrates that the vision of an ‘ideal polis’ is the main thesis of a dialogue that justice is the foundation of a good political order and hence in everyone’s interest. It is the interest of the entire political community. It inculcates a sense of unity and keeps the polis healthy. Plato’s ideas was that those who love their polis the most would love the polis the best. The reason he cited was that if we love something, we identify ourselves with that to the extent that we are even

Journal Entry African American Essay Example for Free

Journal Entry African American Essay Hello my precious unborn child. I am not really sure where to begin. The doctor is saying that I might not make it through this pregnancy but they will make sure you live to see this crazy world that we live in. I want to make sure that you understand your history and where you come from! What a journey our family has been through. They just don’t make it easy for an African American Family. Here we are and we have struggled just to make it here to the Deep South. We settled here in Ole Miss just like lots of other black folks and you would think that after they freed us from slavery they could just leave us be. I guess I should tell you a little about who we are and what we have been through so you have a clearer understanding. Well it started when we got here. Brought over on ships, our family was slaves to the white folk right here in Mississippi. There have always been stories told. Why, I remember when I was a little girl my grandma telling us the story of Nat Turner. (1998) He went on a rebellion right here in the South. He was on a mission fighting for what he believed in. He may not have gone about it the right way but he fought until his death on October 30, 1831. After that it seemed to be one person after the next until finally Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This was issued in 1863. (1998)This was a valiant attempt at freeing the slaves here in the United States but it technically only freed slaves in the states that were under the jurisdiction of the Confederacy. You would think that would make things better. Nope! There was a 12 year period after that that they worked hard on trying to make things fair for us. Your great-great-grandma was around through the reconciliation period. She said that we were finally awarded citizenship and in 1870 an amendment went in that stated you could not deny us the right to vote because of our race. (1998) My great-Grandma told us that just when things started looking up†¦It got worse. The Democrats came in and changed everything. They started doing every thing that they could to put us back to having no rights. But we as a race stayed as strong as we could. What you have to remember is that making our way in this world has been and remains a consistent struggle. We made leeway though! A young lady buy the name of Sophia Packard and Harriet Giles were able to establish a college for the â€Å"Negros† as the white folk like to call us. This was the first college for African American females. Spelman College’s goal at the time was merely to teach black women to read and write. And that they have done. But here I sit in 1963. A 33 year old female who isn’t sure what is going to be in her future. They call us free. I have to ask myself daily though, â€Å"Am I really free? † I mean we have separate schools. We eat in separate restaurants. (2010) They give us totally different bathrooms to use and all this is because of the color of my skin. I look at this world and I think to myself, â€Å"I put my clothes on the exact same way as everyone else. † Should the color of our skin really make things so much different for us? Every single day we have leaders out there fighting for what is fair and what is right. Take Martin Luther King for instance. (2007) He is on a mission. He is part of a group called the SCLC. (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) He has made major strides. I mean in Montgomery Alabama the black folks get to ride on the same buses with the same rights as the white folks. I can only hope that by the time that you grow up and are able to read and understand all this that you look at all this and have a hard time believing it. As I sit here and write to you and I look across the street of this tiny little home I live in I see the neighbors and in their front yard is a cross that someone has lit on fire. Why, because today he walked a white girl to school. Rumors started and now everyone knows that this little girl likes him. Yet he is being punished for it. It shouldn’t matter. If there is one thing that you need to know and one thing that I can teach you through this letter it is to be you. Know yourself. Never let anyone tell you that you can not do something. Most importantly, remember that loves has no boundaries. It sees no color. It does not understand hate. It does not segregate nor does it discriminate. I hope that you never have to endure the hardships that we have to endure during these trying times. Always remember to live with no regrets and never look back! I love you with all my heart-. Momma Works Citied Page African American Slavery (1998) Long Island University Retrieved from http://www. liu. edu/cwis/CWP/library/aaslavry. htm#turner Timeline Search for African American History (2010) Google Search Engine http://www. google. com/search? q=african+american+historyhl=ensa=Xtbo=ptbs=tl:1,tll:1850,tlh:1899ei=lrPUS9avLoK78gbfpL3qDwoi=timeline_histogram_navct=timeline-histogramcd=8ved=0CIcBEMkBKAg History of African Americans Information Please Database. (2007) Pearson Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://www. infoplease. com/spot/bhmtimeline. html.

A marketing plan for a small gym

A marketing plan for a small gym I will be opening a small business. It will be a gym called Maximize Yourself. It is a private business, this seemed fit because it is a new business and incase it fails, I will have limited liabilities. The Goal of any business would obviously be to make a profit, but to enjoy yourself whilst doing so is important. The goal of enjoying is going to happen automatically because I love fitness training and being able to help others achieve their fitness goals makes it all worth the while. To jump start the business and start making quick profits, debts are required to be repaid, bank overdrafts will be paid as soon as possible to jump start the profit making process. The gym offers amazing services and products including, clothing, supplements, and protection gear and of course fitness training. The gym will have 6 employees including 2 women and 4 men. The women will be mostly concerned with boxing and fitness training and the men focus more on the main gym room, boxing, and also rehabilitation done by myself. All employees are able to answer any questions that members might have, give tips on how to do exercises, and even offer nutritional plans to those of whom are looking to improve their diets. The gym is located in Ryde because there are no other gyms in the area and it is a high traffic area. There is also a pool nearby and sporting clubs in Ryde making it an advantage because people would want to stay in shape and have nice bodies to show off. Also the fact that there are no competitors nearby makes it less of a hassle to have to constantly keep up with competitors. The gym is open 7 days a week, from 8 am to 8pm on Monday to Friday and 8 am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Maximize yourself gives bonus offers whether its free boxing and fitness training classes, or discounts for multiple members entering at once, discounts for people who refer others and of course for loyal long term members. This business is all about, overcoming objectives using various strategies, achieving goals, helping people with their fitness goals, and enjoying a job at a gym. Because the gym is in the establishment stage it needs to build a reputation, and to do this we are giving special trial offers and also advertising via commercials and radio broadcasts, etc. Business Description and Ownership It will be a small business, its called Maximize Yourself, it will be a Private Company because it is a new business and if it fails it will limited liabilities. The goals of the business will be to make a profit and to do this it will need to build a reputation, starting with ads like commercials showing free trial offers and deducted prices on equipment in the opening month to get some customers. It will be located in Ryde because there arent many gyms there and its a high traffic area. I will be the owner and start off with 6 employees that have personal training experience to help customers with training and they will ensure all equipment is in place and help with questions that members might have. Employees will rotate between jobs and I will manage financial statements like cash flow in and out of the business. The purpose of the business is to help people with physical goals whether its building or losing weight and in doing this make profit. I will need to manage my funds for the equipment I will be buying with a loan and then repay them when I can. Purpose of plan Preventing failure and guiding a business to achieve its goals is the main purpose of a business plan. By setting targets for the business a giving a design it enables it to evaluate its progress against identified reference points. In order to have a clear direction with the business and a path for the future a well written business plan must be created. It can show how the business could perform in the future and the priorities that are set for the business. The goals of Maximize yourself include: Making a profit (Financial goal, short term/long term) Satisfaction in work self achievement (Personal goal) Long term security Financially (Financial goal, long term) Sponsorship by supplement/ body fitness companies (Social goal) Successful business (Personal goal/Financial goal, long term) Increasing market share (Financial goal) Help people achieve their physical goals (Personal goal/social goal) According to the textbook a business plan outlines: A description of the business (Name, address, organisation and management) The businesss goals A market analysis Customer needs and size of the market The goods and/or services the business provides The industry in which the business operates Marketing/production/financial/employment relation strategies. Situation Analysis This is to make an analysis of the position of the business at the present time SWOT analysis Strengths Great Locations Brand new equipment No bad perspectives of the business because its new Buildable reputation based on service Good manager Skilled and qualified Workers Good use of technology 4 rooms (gym room, fitness training room, boxing room, rehabilitation room) Great reputation (over 100 members) New and updated equipment Large rooms for easy transition between equipment and rooms Weaknesses Low amount of staff and therefore longer shifts Still an expanding financial position High costs required for quick profits No reputation Opportunities Expanding to new locations A growing market means more people will participate Can attract more people due to it being a multigendered gym Threats Increased rent costs Possible changes in governmental regulations. Competitors (Runyaway gym) Competitor Analysis Runyaway Gym Strengths Low prices Many workers A lot of equipment Great reputation Good finance Trained employees Qualified and experienced managers and workers Weaknesses Due to it being popular it has high membership costs Its large reputation means that the Gym could be filled with members at certain times Opportunities Much easy chance of expanding to new locations Large profit allows it to Buy out competitors Threats Competitors (Fitness First) A lot of gyms are starting up Loss of members due to high costs Market Analysis provides enough information to convince a lender or investor that the business has enough existing or potential customers to achieve a certain amount of sales even though theres competitors Target Market and market research The reason maximize yourself is located in Ride is because there arent any gyms in that area, but there is sporting teams and swimming pools which will influence people to want to workout out, lose weight and get fit, to look and feel better and what better way then joining the gym and pursuing their goals . The businesses main focus is: Helping people achieve their physical goals with prices that wont burn a hole through their income. A place to socialise and possibly meet future husbands/wives and also to share tips and make new friends. Also teenagers will be a major topic, due to the fact that there is suddenly a revolution of mostly teenage boys wanting to get into shape a build muscles to show off to the girl in summer. -Aged people, to keep their fitness levels up and maintain their dietary needs. -Lastly, mothers, having to lose those stubborn few pounds to achieve the body they had before getting pregnant Market Segmentation The division of the total market into small segments based on the similar characteristics of a customer group. This is a prediction of how many members the gym will have in the first 2 months, and their age range. AGE AMOUNT OF MEMBERS 10-15 5 16-18 15 19-26 44 26-35 19 36+ 17 This is a prediction of what areas of the gym they will be doing Age Bodybuilding Boxing Body Fitness Cardio/weight loss room 10-15 1 4 0 0 16-18 9 4 2 0 19-26 24 10 2 8 26-35 4 2 2 11 36+ 1 5 1 10 Objectives and strategies Objectives are specific goals. They need to be S.M.A.R.T which means they need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed. Key business functions Operations: The physical production of a good or the provision of a service. Since my business is a gym it is service based. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Its an advantage because: -There isnt that extra hassle of having enough stock -Making sure its not over stocked -Finding the latest new products to sell to appeal to consumers needs and compete with other businesses -Having to constantly innovate into the business later on in the business life cycle. This is a disadvantage because -If what your providing isnt selling then you could always innovate new products into your business, but when its service based there is no backup, therefore it means that your service must be so good that it will appeal to others and keep consumers interested -It costs a lot more to replace equipment used for services as opposed to just replacing a product -The fact that you cant actually advertise how good your service is as opposed to saying how good a product is in an advertisement. Also having a good description of the good or service, including: -Technology used -Materials and equipment required -Supplies used Testing and evaluation expenses The service the business will provide includes: -From open till close, 7 days a week, at all hours, there will be personal trainers available throughout the gym answering any questions members might have and also helping out people with their workouts, and giving tips on how to maximize their time in the gym to get the best possible results and help them to achieve their goals fast. -Personal trainers that will constantly give feedback to members and support them as they strive to achieve their goals. -A range of knowledge ranging from bodybuilding and body fitness to fat burning and rehabilitation, also kickboxing will be taught by a former champion. The businesses service will be amazing because all employees will have experiences of at least one of these categories and will be able to share experiences and accomplishments and help members do the same. Objectives for the gym include reducing cost of merchandise like supplements, and gym gear, also lowering membership costs or giving free offers, a strategy to accomplish thisis to lower the prices but be aware of competitors prices so the business has a fighting chance, its at a reasonable price, and its still making profit. Another objective will be to improve quality of the service and the products sold, strategies involve researching about the new and latest product but for the sake of them being beneficial as opposed to them costing more then requiring members to pay more for products, also introducing new employees or exercise categories like yoga to attract a variety of consumers. Marketing: This involves finding out what consumers need and want and linking these to the businesses product/service. These may result in a new promotional campaign. Appealing to consumers needs and wants is one of the very daunting tasks of the establishment stage, because it requires finding out what the consumers want and being able to provide that with your business. In terms of a gym, consumers want to be able to achieve their physical goals without getting ripped off, they want to be able to be able to get their moneys worth, be in a comfortable, friendly and inviting environment that would make them want to continuing using the gym without the hassle of being in a crammed room that contains weights, bikes, boxing bags and boxing rings, and be able to navigate throughout the gym with ease. In words this is easy, but being able to be a competitor on the market and show consumers just how good the gym is, will be a challenging task. An objective of the business will be to increase the number of members of the gym by 5 percent in the first year. Strategies to achieve this objective will include trial offers and deducted prices, also special offers that include discounts on equipment and classes to get new members and allow them to experience the gym and potentially keep them as members and possibly have them refer other people to the gym. The main strategy is to find what the consumers want and being able to provide it, also giving people a reason to joining your gym as opposed to going to another gm which will be a competitor. To do this the gym will be for both male and female and for all ages. Other objectives include increased market share which also allows the business to have a chance against competitors and last of course increased profits by 10 % in 12 months. Strategies to achieve this include introducing new products that appeal to consumer demand like the latest supplements or the newest workout machine; this will potentially get more members and also extend current members membership. Marketing strategies must be consistent, the following must be taken into consideration: -Position: Knowing consumers perspective on your product/service and being apply to use this information to improve your business -Price: Set prices, how it was determined and how it is compared to competitors. -Place: Available distribution methods must be assessed Accounting and finance: Provides the financial information needed for sound and viable decision-making. All small businesses must have the following to function properly and also to keep track of money. Financial requirements are needed; new businesses must have a clear idea of the amount of funds they will need. This could come from debt financing or the original owners equity, keeping track of the businesses budget and cash flow is crucial because it lets the owner know what areas are making profit and which areas are slowing the increase in profit. To keep track of these, businesses use a range of tools such as financial forecasting which tells the owner whether or not they can afford to produce the product or provide the service, this helps with a gym because it helps to show which products are selling, and whether or not the quality of their service is good based on the amount of members that they have or the amount of members the have ended their membership. Also theres financial records, this is good for small businesses so they can keep track of their finances, they will need to have, revenue statements (Income, profit and loss of the gym), cash flow statements (the money coming into and going out of the gym), balance sheets and budgets. Also theres breakeven: A planning tool that can be used to forecast how much of the product must be produced, or the service must be provided to cover costs of product and cost of paying employees to cover costs and make a profit. Lastly, financial controls are needed, which is having controls in place to ensure the business stays on track. These controls allow corrective action to be taken and without controls, the businesses ability to succeed start to be questioned. Objectives include reducing debts, that being said reducing the bank overdraft for all the equipment and land that was bought from $35000 to $25000 after 6 months, strategies for this to be done include getting more members to make profit and to do this, the gym will need to be advertised and show special offers to get consumers attention. Another objective includes increases profits by 10 % in the next 12 months by advertising more to make more money, also by continuing to sell products and providing services. Employment Relations: Due to such easy access to technology and raw materials, a businesses staff has become a valuable asset. The gym has an excellent range of staff hand picked by the owner due to their experience and the fact that they did a personal training course, or completed a course for the area of the gym they are working in. A challenge for the owner is keeping the employees interested in the job, this can be bother an easy or hard task depending on whether or not they like the job to start with. Objectives include increasing the pay of the employees. Even though the business is still starting out, a rise in pay should still occur because there wont be much members at first and itll make it easy for the employees to get bored of their jobs. Also rewards and bonuses will be given to employees who deserve it. 10% increase in employees pay in 12 months. A strategy to achieve this will be to possibly cut back the owners pay for a while or by advertising more to sell more products and get more members to make more money to be able to pay the employees. The numbers of staff, and the skills they contain have a large impact on strategic goals, the employment relations of the gym has objectives such as: Ensuring that the employees understand what their job is and whats expected, ensuring a healthy and safe environment, measuring and evaluating their perfomances. Strategies to achieve them include buying fresh new equipment and products, training the employees for a few weeks, keeping track of employee achievements. Job Description Must have a resume showing all recent achievements. Most have completed a personal training course or have certificates in the area they wish to work in. Also at least 3 years experience of the job. Also a medical check is needed to ensure that there is no injuries that will affect the employee on the job. Staffing requirements Rostering is the process of allocating particular staff to complete particular duties. Employees: Steph Greensburg Personal trainer (Completed personal fitness course) Penelope Chaaya Personal Trainer, boxer (Body Fitness course) Tim Stevens Personal Trainer, bodybuilder ( Personal training course, 5 years experience) Alex Dagher Personal Trainer, Boxing (3 Year personal training course) -Simon Rassy Former boxing champion (degree in personal training) Charles Chaaya (Boss) Personal Trainer, Physiotherapist, Rehabilitation doctor (degree in personal training, 4 year course of physiotherapist, 3 year course on body fitness) ROSTER Example: 1 hour break Day (8am-2pm) Area (3pm-8pm) 6pm on Saturday and sunday Area Monday Charles Chaaya Steph Penelope Gym room Boxing Room Rehabilitation room Charles Chaaya Steph Penelope Gym room Boxing/cardio Fitness training Tuesday Alex Tim Simon Cardio/fitness Gym room Boxing Alex Tim Simon Cardio/fitness Gym room Boxing Wednesday Steph Alex Charles Cardio/fitness Gym room Rehabilitation Steph Alex Charles Cardio/fitness Boxing Gym room Thursday Steph Tim Penelope Cardio/fitness Gym room Boxing Steph Tim Penelope Cardio/fitness Gym room Boxing Friday Charles Simon Alex Rehabilitation Boxing Gym room Charles Simon Alex Gym room Cardio/fitness Fitness training Saturday Steph Penelope Tim Cardio/fitness Boxing Gym room Steph Penelope Tim Cardio/fitness Boxing Gym room Sunday Charles Simon Alex Rehabilitation Boxing Gym room Charles Simon Alex Rehabilitation Boxing Gym room Price / Promotion The pricing of Maximize yourself will be based on whether it is an affordable amount, and whether or not it beat competitor pricing. There will be promotions of cheaper trial offers to let people try out the gym and see whether they like it or not. There will be free trials for boxing classes and body fitness classes to also attract a wide range of consumers. Also bonuses included free boxing or body fitness lessons with 3+ month memberships, this will also be to gain members. Apart from profit being a main goal, it is important to have an environment where people dont feel trapped in a maze and can move around freely, and these offers will allow the consumers o discover just how good the gym is. There must be a distinguish between maximize yourself and other gyms, that being, and amazing service and of course amazing prices. Ways of Promoting the gym include: A commercial -Social networking sites -Radio -Door to door sales informing residents of the cheap offers -Discounts for referrals -bonuses for long term members Membership Fees Single visits: $5.00 per person 1 week pass: $20.00 1 month membership: $55.00 3 months membership: $140.00 6 months membership: $240.00 12 months membership: $400.00 OR free boxing/Body fitness classes: membership cost+$15.00 Classes will be posted on a timetable hung up in the gym: Boxing: 1 Class: $8 1 Month: $55 Body Fitness 1 Class: $5 1 Month: $35 Supplement Prices MUSCLE MASS Protein bucket: 1kg: $30, 2kg: $50, 4kg: $80 Creatine Powder: $30 Fat burner supplement: $40 Bulk Building supplements: $60+ depending on product. Products: Bodybuilder and 100% Natural shirts: $15 each Training Singlets: $10 (Different Colours) Gloves for weights: $20 (different colours) Belt for weights: $40 (different colours) Product Due to Maximize yourself being a new gym it is obvious that it will have new top notch products, including trademark brands which are easily bought due to a friend of the owners being a seller of them giving him discounted prices. Due to the spacious layout of the gym the equipment will be spread accordingly allowing free movement without bunching into equipment and interrupting others during their workouts. Obvious products will be sold such as supplements, shirt, singlets, gloves and belts. The products of course vary in size to suit different sized customers and the maximize yourself logo will be on the lower back of the shirts/singlets and imprinted on the belts and gloves. Place How and where the product is distributed. Maximize Yourself did not create the supplements they are going to sell. Although everything else is owned by the business and they are all made by a retailer then send to the business when stock is ordered. Only Maximize yourself will be able to sell the equipment due to it being exclusive distribution. Description of the product/service Even though Maximize Yourself is service based it sells many great products. Services include the following: The gym area, this is where all the main equipment is, this room is mostly used for bodybuilding and contain all the weights and machines that assist with bodybuilding, there will always be a personal trainer in there helping people with their weight training and giving out advice/ answering questions. Also the other trained staff who run boxing classes and fitness training class simultaneously are expertly trained and will give you your moneys worth. Whether thats to learn how to defend yourself, lose weight or get fitter, theyll supply the help. Equipment inside the gym Bench press x 2 $500 Power racks $800 Rubber floors- $1000 per square metre Rubber mats x 8 -$100 Cable equipment (For all muscles) 45 degree leg press $400 45 degree back extension $200 Dip / pull up assist machine $200 Medicine balls x 6 $120 Set of Dumbbells- $1500 Fitness step x 4 $360 Barbell set (10kg 70kg) $2500 Smith Machine x 2 $3000 Rowing machines x 3 $2000 Treadmills x 3 $4000 Exercise bikes x 12 $5000 Boxing bags x 5 $600 Boxing ring $3000 Helmets x 20 $800 Boxing gloves x 20 pairs $600 Personal Trainers Steph Greensburg Personal trainer (Completed personal fitness course) Penelope Cruz Personal Trainer, boxer (Body Fitness course) Tim Stevens Personal Trainer, bodybuilder ( Personal training course, 5 years experience) Alex Dagher Personal Trainer, Boxing (3 Year personal training course) -Simon Rassy Former boxing champion (degree in personal training) Charles Chaaya (Boss) Personal Trainer, Physiotherapist, Rehabilitation doctor (degree in personal training, 4 year course of physiotherapist, 3 year course on body fitness) Classes Boxing See instructors for details Fitness training See instructors for details Boxing Class Learn how to fight and defend yourself with our top notch boxing instructors. Fitness training Intensive cardio, bodyweight training like pushups, dips, squats, lunges, abdominal circuits. Opening hours Monday Friday: 8am 8pm Saturday Sunday: 8am 6pm Front Counter Drinks Singlets Shirts Supplements Gloves Belt Boxing gloves Wrist pads Maximize yourself offers great discounts like: Free trials Discounts for loyal members More people=less you pay Financial Forecasts Balance Sheet Maximize Yourself Pty Ltd Current assets Cash $10000 Accounts Receivable $20000 Inventory $30000 TOTAL $60000 Non-Current assets Equipment $150,000 Land $250,000 Building/Property $100,000 TOTAL $500 000 Other Current Assets Good Will $100,000 TOTAL assets: $660 000 Current Liabilities Overdraft $80 000 Accounts Payable $30 000 TOTAL $110 000 Non Current Liabilities Mortgage $600,000 TOTAL $600 000 Owners Equity Shareholders funds $167,000 Capital $80,000 Retained Profits $40,000 Total Liabilities + Equity $997 000 Liquidity = Current Assets . Current Liabilities =$60000 = 0.55 $110,000 Cash Flow Statement Cash flow from operating activities Receipts from customers Payments to Suppliers and Employees Net cash provided by operating activities $120000 ($110 000) $10 000 Cash Flow from investing Activities Payment for Property, plant and equipment Net cash provided by investing activities ($50000) ($50000) Cash Flow from Financing Activities Repayment of borrowing Net cash provided by financing activities Net increase (decrease) in cash held Cash at beginning of year $40000 $40000 ($5000) $(20000) Cash at end of year ($25000) Critically review the plan and process In all honesty, I actually enjoyed doing the assignment, sure it was EXTREMELY long but it involves me being creative and actually doing an assignment about a topic I like for once. I must admit, if it wasnt for my plan and help from the business teachers I wouldve had no clue what I was doing. Now that I think of it, I regret not setting out my plan correctly, I left to much of the report if not ALL of it for the last due date, this left me with a mess load of work, plus the fact that I didnt manage my time and ended up having to do more than half the assignment in the last two days. I regret not asking as many questions in class. It was startling having a different teach teaching the subject after having Mrs Jones for so long but I eventually adjusted. I was disappointed in my slow progression and poor time management skills, and having assignments for other subjects just made it all the more less motivating in proceeding to complete this assignment. One of my worst flaws is my short attention span, something as little as seeing an item on my desk would cause me to stop and daydream, also knowing that I was one click away from face book and msn. On top of all these distraction is my MAJOR distraction! My Xbox 360, my mentality was always, play now, do business later, Im so good at this game, I cant just stop playing now im owning' is what I always said to myself, even whilst making progress I thought about getting off the computer and going to play. Another factor was friends, theres always someone to have a discussion with, and of course anything to get out of doing work right? Overall I believed I achieved what I planned to and was glad due to the relief of completing such a detailed assignment. I believe a few more lessons dedicated to actually explaining the assignment mightve motivated me to have completed some work sooner. Although Im g

Participant Observation Social Desirability And Operational Definition Psychology Essay

Participant Observation Social Desirability And Operational Definition Psychology Essay 1- Short notes on Participant Observation, Social desirability and operational Definition a- Participant Observation Participant Observation is a humanistic as well as a scientific method that produces a kind of experiential knowledge that allow a researcher talk convincingly. This method of fieldwork produces effective and positive knowledge and it involves getting very close to people and making them feel comfortable with researchers presence so that he can observe and record information about their lives (Bernard, p. 2006, p. 342). Participant observer is basically carrying out a naturalistic approach to conducting research and it seems to be a commitment that attempts to adopt the perspectives of studies shared in the day to day experiences. Participant observation has been described as an ongoing and intensive observing, listening and speaking with some explanations (Ely, 1991, p. 42). Many researchers use participant observation as an umbrella term for all qualitative data gathering and data handling. Participant observation includes going out or staying out in search for qualitative data gathering, and thus the observer may learn a new language in order to express the experiences about the lives of people that the researcher comes to know. With this type of research approach, the researcher is prompted to be immersing himself in a specific culture and also learning how he can get rid of the same immersion so that he will be able to intellectualize what he has seen and heard. He will express them in writing, speaking to others and will try to convince others (Bernard, p. 2006, p. 344). Participant observation is therefore more likely to be a fieldwork, but all fieldworks are in contrary not participant observation. Social Desirability Social desirability is a major source of response bias in conducting a survey research. Some times, participants in a survey research show social desirability bias as their answers reflect an attempt to enhance social desirable characteristics or attempt to minimize certain social undesirable characteristics. Social desirability has been defined as a tendency to give culturally sanctioned and socially approved answers for a survey research to provide socially desirable responses to describe oneself in terms judged as desirable and to present one-self favorably (Craighead and Nemeroff, 2002, p. 1557). Social desirability affects the accuracy of data to be gathered. It is mainly influenced by the way questions are prepared or asked. Many of survey research questions are more likely to create chances of social desirability so that respondents answer questions in a pre-made answer formats. Engel and Schutt (2005, p. 234) stressed that social desirability effects are more likely to occur when discussing issues that are of controversial in nature or when researcher expresses a view that is not popular or not widely accepted. When survey researcher or interviewer asks the participants with certain ready-made questions, especially when the questions have highly desirable answers, respondents feel conflicts between a desire to conform to the definition of good respondent behaviour and a desire to respond and appear to the interviewer to be in a socially desirable category. In surveys with pre-made multiple choice questions, social desirability is more likely to occur among the respondents. Operational Definition An operational definition, in the context of data collection and research, is an obvious, brief, complete and careful description of a measure. Social scientist uses operational definition as a measure to explain various conceptual terms (Sprague, Stuart and Bodary, 2008, p. 205). As different types of data were gathered, operational definition is very fundamental. The operational definition is a significant one in a situation at which the decision is to be taken about something regarding whether it is correct or not, or something having the confusion about its accuracy and usefulness. The data can be collected any time but it should be made clear that how to collect data and how it will be processed. Without processing the data, meaningful information may not be maintained. The ambiguity may arise while people viewing different opinions and it will negatively affect the data collection. Forming a detailed and consistent operational definition helps eliminate such ambiguity. If data are collected by comprising errors on it or about a product line, for instnace, it may lead to selecting a defective product and probably rejecting a good one. Similarly, when some accounting transactions or other business invoices are inspected to see errors among them, the data collection may not be treated as meaningful unless the term error has not been made clear. Lewis (2010, p. 417) asserted that an operational definition is required in order to maintain almost same meaning and understanding of a problem mainly to get it solved. It is because, operational definition establishes a language that communicates same meaning to everyone involved in solving the issue. 2. Explain the hypothesis testing procedure, using an example. Developing and testing of hypothesis are critical steps in most researches. Hypothesis testing is a statistical procedure that helps a researcher use sample data to draw inferences about the population according to researchers interest. As far primary data collection is concerned, observing every individual in a population is practically impossible or difficult to be conducted and therefore most researchers depend on sample surveying and thus sample data are used to help answer specific research questions. Hypothesis testing has been defined as a process of deciding whether a null hypothesis is to be accepted or rejected in favor of an alternative hypothesis. In hypothesis testing, there wont be any errors in decision making if the null hypothesis is rejected when it is false and also if it is accepted when it is true. Sample data being collected is the base for taking decision regarding whether to reject or accept the null hypothesis. The statistical hypothesis is an assumption about an unknown population parameter and hypothesis starts from an assumption that is termed as hypothesis. A hypothesis cannot be accepted or rejected on the basis of intuitions or on the basis of general assumptions that researchers have while conducting the research. Process of Hypothesis Testing In hypothesis testing, the researcher first assumes that the hypothesis is true. The researcher then collects data to test the hypothesis. Based on the data being collected, the researcher will calculate the confidence interval and probability for the hypothesis to become true. In this calculation and assessment, in the probability of hypothesis to be true is smaller than the pre-set level, the hypothesis will be rejected (Vaughan, 2001, p. 59). Though hypothesis testing can be different from situation from situation, or from project to project, the general process involved in hypothesis testing remains almost same. Hypothesis test is thus a statistical method that uses simple data to evaluate a hypothesis for studying a population. Following are the logics and steps involved in hypothesis testing: The researcher first states a hypothesis about a population. In general research contexts, the hypothesis concern the population values in parameter. Before the researcher selects a sample, the hypothesis will be used to predict the characteristics and specifications that the sample must have. The sample also requires being similar to the population and the researcher should always expect certain amounts and levels of errors. Next, the researcher obtains a random sample from the population. Finally, the researcher makes a comparison and analysis between the sample data obtained and the data that were predicted for the hypothesis. If this comparison shows that the sample mean is consistent with prediction, it will be concluded that the hypothesis is reasonable. Similarly, if it shows that there is big discrepancy between the sample data and prediction, then the hypothesis will be reckoned to be wrong (Gravetter and Wallnau, 2008, p. 189). Example for hypothesis Testing For instance, a researcher wants to find out knowledge and expertise of a universitys students in terms of their familiarity with university library and the amount of time they spend in library. Various journalism programs have been arranged to make students more aware of the library use and other relevant matters that are important to them. Do this journalism programs affect the amount of time that students spend in library? This is the main issue to be found out with the research. A random sample survey has been conducted from around 40 students in the number of hours they spend in the library in a week. As previously thought, students were spending around 5 hours per week in the library, but it is required to test whether students spend more than that after the journalism programs. This hypothesis testing includes following steps: a) Formulating two competing hypothesis, namely null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis, b) Calculating the test statistics by using the latest sample data being collected. c) Determining the probability that the null hypothesis is true based on the test statistics d) Comparing the pre-set value or pre-determined value with probability value (Vaughan, 2001, p. 59- 62). Briefly explain the following (i.e., what it is; what its used for, etc.). Null hypothesis There are various types of tests in statistics. In research and hypothesis testing in particular, null hypothesis plays very significant role. Hypothesis is statements that researchers, or decision makers or analysts believe to be true. This statement will be verified by using statistical tests. Practically, hypothesis is employed in pairs. Out of the two hypotheses, the first one is normally stated in negative forms, for instance, stating as something is not true, or the variable is not related etc. this negative form is termed as null hypothesis and the other is alternative hypothesis. Null hypothesis is represented by the symbol H0 and alternative hypothesis H1 or H2 (Downing and Clark, 2010, p. 66) The tested statement in statistics is called the null hypothesis because it is often in the form like there is no relationship between a variable and b variable, or both x and y are not related etc. Before testing the measure, the researcher or statistician may draw only two probabilities, X = y and X ≠  y. When a statistician observes a result likely to be so, then that assumption is called alternative hypothesis, and the opposite assumption is called null hypothesis (Howell, 2007, p. 152). For instance, an investigation is required to know the average ability of students in a class (X standard) in the co-scholastic area. They assumed that it will be above 50. Then the x≠¥ 50 is an alternative hypothesis and x< 50 is null hypothesis. The test revealed that the average ability is 70, H0: m < 50 H1: m ≠¥50. 20 is therefore population standard deviation Replicability A research which has replicability is often considered to be more accurate. When a researcher adopts almost the same procedures with similar settings and systems of research and surveying used by another researcher and this helps him obtain similar findings, the research can be said to be replicable. To be replicable is also considered to be an important tenet of an effective scientific research as well (Holloway, 1997, p. 137). Langbein and Felbinger (2006, p. 33) noted, replicability of a research helps the researcher make empirical claims more defensible and clearly objective. If the research lacks replicability, the conclusion and claim would be considered to be personal opinion and causal observation. Replicability of a research thus makes conclusions more traceable. Qualitative research may not as replicable as quantitative mainly because the relationship between the researcher and the participant in the research seems to be unique and cannot be replicated. Moderator variable Normally, there are two main variables in a research; they are independent and dependent variables. But, some time, there can be a moderate variable, which is a special type of variable that the investigator has chosen to determine how the relationship between independent and dependent variables is affected (Brown, 1998, p. 11). In simple terms, moderate variable is a third variable that affects the relationship between independent and dependent variables. As moderator variable affects the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in a research, it takes form of or plays roles of expressions like specification, contingency, conditional and qualification etc. For example, Mr Joseph decides to study Chinese and the issue to be considered is his study of Chinese for one year and his expertise or proficiency in that language may vary for male and females. In this example, Josephs study of Chinese is independent variable, his proficiency in Chinese is dependent variable and there is one point to be debated, which is whether the proficiency will vary from male to females. Proficiency variation between male and female is arguably moderator variable. Cross-sectional study A cross sectional study is part of sampling or surveying involving observations of a sample of a population or phenomenon that are made at one point in a time. Both exploratory and descriptive research methodologies are often considered to be cross sectional study (Babbie, 2008, p. 111). In a cross sectional study, the researcher or the investigator would make all of his measurements and analysis on a single occasion or within relatively a short period of time. The researcher who makes cross sectional study draws from the population and searches variables distributions within the sample, often by designating and predicting the outcomes of variables based on information from other sources. Cross sectional study is very much suited to describing variables and their relative distributions patterns. This type of study never takes into account the temporal relationship between the factors that are already explored and this usually includes an evaluation of a cross section of a particular population in a given period of time (Rao and Richard, 2006, p. 205). 4. Compare and contrast each of the following, giving examples: Primary and Secondary Data Sources of data are basically two, either primary or secondary. Primary data comprise of those data that a researcher collects directly from a specific population through ways of sampling, survey or any other technique of data gathering. Primary data are raw data and are not already used or published in books, journals, newspaper or any other sources. When primary data are published through media and made available to the public, and later they are used by others for their purpose, the data becomes secondary and the source becomes secondary source of data. Primary sources of data are those where the researcher describes his or her own work and the process that has been employed to come to conclusion. Secondary sources are usually books, articles, journals, statistics published in them, and other publications that are written by people with only a passing or second hand knowledge of a specific subject (Guffey and Loewy, 2009, p. 259). Primary data includes information that are developed or gathered by the researcher specifically for a particular research at hand. Secondary data refers to those data that are previously been gathered by someone other than the researcher for some purpose other than the research project at hand. Primary data is raw-data where as secondary data are previously used by others and may not be very appropriate for the purpose of second users. A survey conducted by local government to know exact numbers of farmers and industrialist in its region gives primary data, but when this data is used by a newspaper for studying the same regions financial strength, it becomes secondary data. Field study versus Comparative study A field study in research methodology refers to a method of data gathering based on direct observation from the population. For instance, a business organization may conduct a field study about its customers, their preferences, their specific requirements and their responses etc. in conducting field study, the researcher or the investigator directly observes users or the population they target, most probably taking notes on certain activities that their targeted people do indulge with, copying their activities clearly, and noting down the answers they give for specific questions. Comparative study is typically a qualitative analysis tool that attempts to figure out a specific issue or find out answers to specific issues by comparing two known variables or already studied areas of a given topic. An unknown fact may be explored by comparing its dimensions with an already known fact. For example, 50 Biology students in a university who are very fond of reading of library books were found to have scored more than 65 percent of marks. The relation between scoring marks and reading library books in known. In analyzing what factors led many students score high marks in business studies, the reading and high soring in biology can be compared. Bibliography and References Most researches, mainly literature review part, depend on literatures of published book or journals. The researcher may give direct quoting or parenthesizing in between texts and the details of these sources are required, according to almost all referencing formats like APA, MLA, Harvard etc, to show in detail at the end of the research paper on a separate title called references. References thus refers to those sources that are mentioned in text in a research, may be with or without the year of publishing or page numbers, but with last name of the author. Any specific idea that a researcher depends from a previous study and uses to develop his research must give its details in references. References thus indicate sources of specific ideas he parenthesized or quoted from another work. But, bibliography refers to the lists of books or journals or any other type of literature work that a researcher has read and used for his work, but not directly quoted an idea from them or not parenthesized from those sources. Researchers normally read several books and journals and they list them in bibliography to give readers an insight to further reading. Criterion and Predictor Variable In research methodology, criterion or criterion variable is the variable that measures the construct of interest to the researcher. Criterion variable is an outcome variable that can be predicted from one or more predictor variables, and it is often the main concentration in the study as it is the outcome variable mentioned in the research problem (Hatcher, 2003, p. 30). The predictor variable, in contrast, is a variable that is used to predict values on the criterion and it has a causal effect on criterion (Hatcher, 2003, p. 30).

The Most Dangerous Game Essay -- essays research papers

The Most Dangerous Game Have you ever had feelings about something that later changed? In "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Conel, I will show how one character changes his opinion about something after he has experienced it himself. Almost all of us have said "Oh that's easy" or "I could do that any day!" and then find out that the task is harder then it looked. In a summary, "The Most Dangerous Game" is a story about a man named Rainsford whom gets stranded on an island with a crazed general. This general is named General Zaroff. Rainsford was an excellent hunter who wrote many books about hunting. General Zaroff was a fan of Rainsford's books, so he immediately knew who Rainsford was when he found him. General Zaroff let Rainsford in and trea...

I Versus We Theory is Hidden Everywhere :: Sociology Sociological Essays

I Versus We Theory is Hidden Everywhere Although each author gives him- or herself the goal to write a very unique piece of work, we the readers can see similarities amongst writings stretched over decades. Created characters, settings, and circumstances tend to change from one piece of work to the next, but themes, more often than not, all deal with the same everyday problems. These repeated themes are not by accident. Writers analyze what the public likes to read about. In fact, probably one of the most common themes is the I vs. We theory, which is simply the idea that people can change from being selfish into looking out for the whole group, such as a certain race, family, friends, or age group. Because the theme is so intense, it is usually found in novels, where there is plenty of room to express numerous examples to totally convince the readers that the main character has truly changed. By looking at J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, we can show how they, too, write about this transition, as does Sam Greenlee in The Spook Who Sat By the Door. Although these three novels were published over the span of three decades with varying cultural groups, they all illustrate the exact same issue. The Spook Who Sat by the Door by Sam Greenlee shows the I vs. We theory by establishing the problem of one man, Dan Freeman, who is only concerned with his well-being, but unfair treatment of others turns him into a military hero. At first, in chapter two, Freeman concentrates primarily on his acceptance into the CIA. This selfish attitude is still portrayed in chapter five when the Dahomey Queen, a nearby hooker, is used for pleasure purposes only. In this same chapter, Joy, Freeman’s girlfriend, shows up and asks him to quit the CIA. Although he loves her, he refuses to give up his dream to be the only black employee in the CIA. The transition to the "We" phenomenon occurs in chapter eight when Freeman chooses to leave the CIA and decides to work as a social worker. The pay, as well as his social climbing, takes a fall, but his hunger to help others does an about-face. A local gang keeps Freeman eager and energetic to fight for all blacks, not just for a few kids.

College Education Is Essential In Todays Society :: essays research papers

College Education is Essential In Today's Society   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In today's society a college education is an essential part of pursuing a career. While in college a person can determine his strengths and weaknesses in whatever path he decides to take in life. A college education is also the first step in being self-sufficient and living by yourself. College life also gives a person a chance to express his ingenious and creative abilities and to supplement the skills that he learned in high school. City University will give me an unprecedented opportunity to achieve these goals and to reach a new plateau in my scholarly studies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In my life I plan to pursue a career in the aerospace field. To get a job in this field one needs a college education and City University fits the bill. Its curriculum and accomplished professors will give me the chance to achieve my goal. Each of the independent colleges of the university system is highly specialized and particular to its own field of training. This will help applicants like me concentrate on my specific career path. I have visited the university campus twice and each time I have been impressed by the devotion of the faculty to ensure that the student's educational needs are met and surpassed. I perceive that the university is concerned about the educational well-being of its students. This is exemplified by the abundant tutoring opportunities that the university offers. Not only is the staff exceptional, City University has phenomenal technology.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  City University is on the cutting edge of technology which is indispensable in the aerospace field. The EOS computing environment is a substructure for building a bridge to the future. This system will give me many opportunities to use its resources to intensify my skills while pursuing my occupation. Having access to millions of computers all over the world, with the information I need at my fingertips will propel me to a higher level of intellectual aptness. The immense number of computer clusters available at the university enables a student to arm himself with the knowledge needed to aid him

Principles of Marketing (MRKT 310) Study Guide Essay

Overview Welcome to the Student Study Guide for Spring 2010. This document will assist you study throughout the semester and as you prepare for the common final exam required for all sections of MRKT 310. Your faculty member has been instrumental in the design of this test. Continue to seek his or her help understanding the material as the semester progresses. Many of the text concepts are not included in the final exam and your faculty member through written assignments, case studies, conferences, or other methods will assess your understanding of them. UMUC requires all proctored final exams in the School of Undergraduate Studies be closed book. Therefore, no notes or other study aids will be allowed in the testing center. This is a comprehensive final exam covering the entire course. All policies and procedures required by UMUC and the testing center apply. For those of you taking the paper and pencil version of the final exam, there are two versions (Version A and Version B) each consisting of an eight-page Test Instrument and a six-page Answer Sheet (pages 9 through 14). You may find it useful to detach the Answer Sheet from the Test Instrument to allow you easier access to both documents. Write your name and section number (e.g., 6980, 6981, 6982, etc.) on the Answer Sheet. You may write on the test instrument, but only responses on the Answer Sheet will be graded. For those of you taking the online version of the final exam, all instructions will be noted on your computer screen. The online final exam is identical to the paper-and-pencil version except for the question order. We strongly encourage you to sign up for the online version if it is available at your testing site. Please be warned that this is not an easy test and you should be prepared to spend the entire three-hour time allotment at your proctored testing center. Most of your time should be spent on the short and long essays. Do not dwell on the definitions and the multiple-choice sections. You will either know them or you won’t, depending on your preparation, and you will waste valuable time you will need for the essays. You should be receiving this common student study guide at the beginning of the semester. Print it out and keep it close at hand. Be sure to review it carefully and ask your faculty member any clarifying questions on either test format or content prior to the first day of finals week. Once finals week has begun, your faculty member will not be able to answer any questions regarding the final exam. When you finish your exam, return BOTH the Test Instrument and your completed Answer Sheet to your proctor. Answer Sheets returned without the Test Instrument will not be graded. Part I – Definitions (25 percent) You will need to know the definitions for 25 marketing terms. You will read the definition and select the correct answer from the Word Bank. Then, print the number of the correct term on your answer sheet. Following is the exact Word Bank as it will appear on your final exam. WORD BANK All correct terms for the above 25 statements can be found on this list. 1. Brand 2. value proposition 3. sales promotion 4. maturity 5. motive 6. economic environment 7. microenvironment 8. direct marketing 9. consumer perceived value 10. lifestyle 11. marketing mix 12. market segmentation 13. consumer market 14. Marketing information system 15. product mix 16. value delivery network 17. SWOT analysis 18. intensive distribution 19. price elasticity 20. positioning 21. commercialization 22. Product life cycle 23. product 24. target market 25. culture 1. Brand – is a name, sign, symbol, slogan or anything that is used to identify and distinguish a specific product, service, or business. 2. Value proposition – is an analysis and quantified review of the benefits, costs and value that an organization can deliver to customers and other constituent groups within and outside of the organization. 3. Sales promotion is one of the four aspects of promotional mix. (The other three parts of the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, and publicity/public relations.) Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. 4. Maturity 5. Motive – An emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action. 6. Economic environment – Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. 7. The micro-environment consists of stakeholder groups that a firm has regular dealings with. The way these relationships develop can affect the costs, quality and overall success of a business. Suppliers, distributors, customers and competition. 8. Direct marketing – is a form of advertising that reaches its audience without using traditional formal channels of advertising, such as TV, newspapers or radio. Businesses communicate straight to the consumer with advertising techniques such as fliers, catalogue distribution, promotional letters, and street advertising. 9. Consumer perceived value – The value of a product is the mental estimation a consumer makes of it. Formally it may be conceptualized as the relationship between the consumer’s perceived benefits in relation to the perceived costs of receiving these benefits. It is often expressed as the equation: Value = Benefits / Cost 10. Lifestyle – A manner of living that reflects the person’s values and attitudes. 11. Marketing mix – Product, price, place and promotion. Packaging, People, Public Voice, Pamper, Politics and Physical Evidence. 12. Market segmentation – Market segmentation is a strategy that involves dividing a larger market into subsets of consumers who have common needs and applications for the goods and services offered in the market. These subgroups of consumers can be identified by a number of different demographics, depending on the purposes behind identifying the groups. Marketing campaigns are often designed and implemented based on this type of customer segmentation. 13. Consumer market – A defined group of consumers. Buyers and potential buyers of goods and services for personal and household use 14. Marketing information system – Set of procedures and practices employed in analyzing and assessing marketing information, gathered continuously from sources inside and outside of a firm. Timely marketing information provides basis for decisions such as product development or improvement, pricing, packaging, distribution, media selection, and promotion. See also market information system. 15. Product mix – Range of associated products which yield larger sales revenue when marketed together than if they are marketed individually or in isolation of others. 16. Value delivery network – A Value Delivery is a company’s supply chain and how it partners with specific suppliers and distributors in the process of producing goods and delivering them to market. It involves using competitive advantages external to the firm (suppliers, distributors, customers). 17. SWOT analysis – A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning process. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats (T). Such an analysis of the strategic environment is referred to as a SWOT analysis. 18. Intensive distribution – Marketing strategy under which a firm sells through as many outlets as possible, so that the consumers encounter the product virtually everywhere they go: supermarkets, drug stores, gas stations, etc. Soft drinks are generally made available through intensive distribution. 19. Price elasticity – Is an elasticity used in economics to show the responsiveness of the quantity demanded of a good or service to a change in its price. 20. Positioning – In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. 21. Commercialization – is the process or cycle of introducing a new product into the market. 22. Product life cycle – A new product progresses through a sequence of stages from introduction to growth, maturity, and decline. This sequence is known as the product life cycle and is associated with changes in the marketing situation, thus impacting the marketing strategy and the marketing mix. 23. Product – An item that ideally satisfies a market’s want or need. 24. Target market – Involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. 25. Culture – Represents the behavior, beliefs and, in many cases, the way we act learned by interacting or observing other members of society. In this way, much of what we do is shared behavior, passed along from one member of society to another. Part II – Multiple Choice (20 percent) There are 20 multiple-choice questions from which you can select a, b, c, or d responses. Be careful as most multiple-choice questions will have at least two choices that look feasible. Select the one that is the most on point. The multiple-choice questions are both definitional and application types. Select the correct letter of your choice and write it on the Answer Sheet in the appropriately numbered box. The following list comprises those concepts from the text, which you can expect to be assessed via the final exam. They are presented in order of the course objectives. Course Objective 1 – understand how marketing strategy creates a positive relationship between a firm and its customers. (Chapter 1) 1. Relationships between needs, wants, demands – is the process by which companies determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development.[1] It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return. Marketing is used to identify the customer, to keep the customer, and to satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is one of the major components of business management. The evolution of marketing was caused due to mature markets and overcapacities in the last 2-3 centuries. Companies then shifted the focus from production to the customer in order to stay profitable. The term marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions.[2] It proposes that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors. 2. Marketing management orientations – An organization with a market orientation focuses its efforts on 1) continuously collecting information about customers’ needs and competitors’ capabilities, 2) sharing this information across departments, and 3) using the information to create customer value. 3. The market orientation simply defines an organization that understands the importance of customer needs, makes an effort to provide products of high value to its customers, and markets its products and services in a coordinated holistic program across all departments. In what we call the â€Å"Marketing Concept,† the company embraces a philosophy that the â€Å"Customer is King.† The Marketing Concept is an attitude. It’s a philosophy that is driven down throughout the organization from the very top of the management structure. The Marketing Concept communicates that â€Å"the customer is king.† Everything that the company does focuses on the customer. Via the Marketing Concept, a company makes every effort to best understand the wants and needs of its target market and to create want-satisfying goods that best fulfill the needs of that target market and to do this better than the competition. The term  marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions.[2] It proposes that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors. 4. Partner relationship management – is a business strategy for improving communication between companies and their channel partners. 5. Importance and process of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – is a company-wide business strategy designed to reduce costs and increase profitability by solidifying customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. True CRM brings together information from all data sources within an organization (and where appropriate, from outside the organization) to give one, holistic view of each customer in real time. This allows customer facing employees in such areas as sales, customer support, and marketing to make quick yet informed decisions on everything from cross-selling and upselling opportunities to target marketing strategies to competitive positioning tactics. Course Objective 2 – Appreciate the importance of ethics and social responsibility in marketing. (Chapter 20) Differences between consumerism and environmentalism – is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods or services in ever greater amounts. environmentalism – is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment. 1. Sustainable marketing principles 2. Role of ethics and corporate responsibility Course Objective 3 – Understand the role of marketing within an organization and how marketing relates to and drive customer-focused company strategy. (Chapter 2) 1. Marketing’s role in company wide strategic planning 2. Difference between value chain and value delivery network 3. Contents of a marketing plan and general idea of what is included in each section 4. Consumer (or customer-driven) oriented marketing strategy Course Objective 4 – Describe the impact of external and internal environments on marketing strategy. (Chapters 3, 18) 1. Major actors in a company’s microenvironment 2. Major forces in a company’s macroenvironment 3. Competitive positions Course Objective 5 – Demonstrate ability to analyze, synthesize and integrate key marketing concept of market research, consumer behavior, segmentation, targeting and positioning on practical situations. (Chapters 4, 5, 7) 1. Difference between a marketing information system and marketing intelligence 2. Psychological factors affecting a person’s buying choices 3. Marketing targeting strategies Course Objective 6 – Define and apply the marketing processes underlying product, price, place, and promotion decisions. (Chapters 8, 9, 10, 12, 14) 1. Product and service classifications 2. Three levels of products 3. Branding strategies 4. Customer equity 5. Characteristics of services product life cycle strategies 6. Role of profits in delivering customer value 7. Setting prices based on customer perceptions of value 8. Differences between direct and indirect marketing channels Part III – Short Essay Responses (25 percent) There are six short essay response questions; but you need to complete ONLY FIVE. All of the short essay questions are looking for something specific and may involve a listing of steps or stages in a marketing process. It will be difficult for you to answer these questions unless you know the material. You do not have to use the exact terminology, but you do have to demonstrate you know the steps or stages for maximum credit. Your essay responses need to be recorded on the Answer Sheet in the space provided (approximately l/3 page), but if you need additional room you may use the backside of the Answer Sheet. Be sure to mark the continued question number clearly. Leave the essay question you are skipping blank. Each short essay response is worth 5 points. Chapter (one question per chapter) Marketing concept to be tested 2 Elements in a company’s microenvironment and why each group is important to create value 20 Be prepared to name a company you believe practices enlightened marketing and defend your selection 8 Importance and selection of the four brand strategy decisions. 8 Characteristics of services 9 Marketing strategies for each stage of the product life cycle 11 Pricing strategies for new products There are three long essay questions that will require you to merge multiple marketing concepts and apply them to a specific scenario. You ONLY NEED TO ADDRESS TWO OF THE THREE LONG ESSAYS. The more specifics you can demonstrate the more credit you can earn. You may want to outline your response on the backside of the Test Instrument prior to writing your response on the Answer Sheet so you can organize your thoughts and in the sequence you want them presented to your faculty member for grading. Each long essay question is worth 15 points. The long essay questions will cover the following marketing topics: 1. Integrated Marketing Communications – Be prepared to recommend an IMC strategy including a marketing communications mix and rationale for a new consumer product 2. Customer Relationship Management – Be prepared to outline a CRM strategy for a small business, including recommendations for specific CRM tools to capture customer value for that company’s most valued customers. 3. Segmentation, targeting and positioning – Be prepared to outline the characteristics of at least three distinct market segments for a national chain referring to the criteria for effective segments. Be prepared to defend your choices. From all your marketing faculty members — good luck on this exam and the remainder of your academic career.