Contract and Additional Work

Gary Porter Construction v. Fox Construction, Inc. , 2004 Ut. App. 354, 101 p. 3d 371 (2004). Facts: The University of Utah was in need of a women’s Gymnastics training facility so they subcontracted Fox Construction, Inc. to complete the project. For the soil and ground work Fox Construction, Inc. subcontracted with Gary Porter Construction. Gary Porter Construction, Inc. performed their work based on specific plans as well as some work outside of the plans. The combined total from the planned project was $146,740.The additional work completed at Fox’s request cost Gary Porter construction additional costs and Fox refused to pay for the additional work done outside the subcontract. Procedure: A suit was filed by Gary Porter in the Utah State Court against Fox with alleging breech of an implied-in-fact contract. The court granted summary judgment for Porter, which Fox later appealed to a state intermediate court. Issue: If sections of a contract are left out by mistake, is the contract still valid and enforceable? Were all the requirements of an implied-in-fact contract met?Holding: Yes Reasoning: The appellate court affirmed the lower courts summary judgment in favor of Porter. Fox knew that the additional work that Porter did would be followed up with an additional charge. Fox should have known that there would have been additional costs for the work outside of the planned procedure. Porter completed the work only after Fox’s manager requested it and it was implied to be additional from the start. The additional work not planned in the subcontract was valued at $161,309. 08 as well as the $135,441. 62 contacted value.The issue of the sections being mistakenly not represented in the contract is voided because Fox did not inform Porter about what all needed to be included. Decision and Remedy: Gary Porter Construction won against Fox Construction, Inc. Fox was ordered to pay Porter the balance of $161,309. 08 for the work done but was exclu ded in the original contract. Blackmon v. Iverson, 324 F. supp. 2d 602 (2005). Facts: In 1987 Jamil Blackmon met a promising high school basketball star, Allen Iverson. Blackmon supported Allen Iverson financially and provided other forms of support for his family as well, realizing his athletic potential.In 1994 Jamil Blackmon proposed a new nickname for the basketball star â€Å"The Answer†. The nickname would represent Mr. Iverson with clothing, sports apparel, and basketball shoes. Mr. Blackmon presented the idea to Allen and Allen agreed to give Blackmon 25 percent of profits from the nickname. Iverson was later drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers. After many months, Iverson entered a contract with Reebok, a shoe company, to manufacture, market, and sell a line of sportswear using the same nickname, â€Å"The Answer†. Blackmon moved to Philadelphia at the request of Mr. Iverson and has requested 25 percent of the profits on many occasions.Allen Iverson continues to receive pay from Reebok from the continuing product line. Procedure: Mr. Blackmon filed a suit in Federal District Court against Mr. Iverson for breach of an express contract to which Allen Iverson filed a motion to dismiss. Issue: Is past consideration sufficient to create a binding contract? Is continuous gracious conduct in exchange for a promise a valid consideration? Holding: No Reasoning: The court’s reasoning was fully based on past consideration. Mr. Iverson allegedly promised 25 percent of his profits because of three forms of consideration.First, Blackmon provided him with the nickname â€Å"The Answer†. Second, he helped Allen Iverson’s family, and third, he moved to Philadelphia when Iverson was drafted there. Mr. Iverson offered to pay Mr. Blackmon 25 percent long before entering a contract with Reebok. These forms of past consideration make the contract invalid. There were no valid forms of consideration to make a valid express contract between the two men. Decision and Remedy: Allen Iverson won the case. The United States District Court, eastern District of Pennsylvania, granted Allen Iverson’s motion to dismiss.Vokes v. Arthur Murray, Inc. , 212 So. 2d 906 (Ct. App. Fl. 1986). Facts: Audrey E. Vokes, a widow with no family, had a passion for dancing and wanted to become a successful dancer and find a new interest in life. In 1961 Arthur Murray, Inc. , a franchise that has taught about 20 million people to dance, invited Audrey to a dance party. When she attended her instructors told her about her potential as a successful dancer due to her excellent grace and poise. After being told about her â€Å"good† potential, she bought eight half-hour dances for $14. 50 each to be used in one month.Throughout the next sixteen months she continued to buy these lessons totaling $31,090. 45. Ms. Vokes eventually began to realize that her instructors were only telling her what she wanted to hear and she was not actually goo d at dancing. Procedure: Vokes filed a suit against Arthur Murray, Inc. for fraudulent misrepresentation. After being dismissed in trial court, Vokes appealed her complaint to the District Court of Florida. Issue: If a party possesses expertise, can a statement of opinion be regarded as a statement of fact and be actionable? Holding: Yes.Reasoning: Misrepresentation cannot regard opinions; they must contain facts. If one party has a statement that could be considered an opinion, it could result being a factual statement based on the amount of superior knowledge contained by that party. Using the â€Å"reasonable person† method, Vokes would potentially have reason to believe that Arthur Murray Inc. has superior knowledge of her dance potential. When her instructors Revels v. Miss America Organization, __N. C. __, 641 S. E. 2d 721 (2007). Facts: Miss North Carolina Pageant Organization, Inc. (MNCPO) is a franchise of Miss America Organization (MAO).Under contract between these two parties, MNCPO holds a state competition to select a finalist for the national competition ran by MAO. On June 22, 2002, Rebekah Revels was selected to be Mrs. North Carolina. On July19, 2002 an anonymous e-mail said came out stating that Mrs. Revels cohabitated with a male non-relative and that nude photos of her existed. Mrs. Revels came out and confirmed that the photos existed. MAO and MNCPO approached Revels and asked her to resign from her position as Miss North Carolina or else she would be excluded from the national competition.On July 23, 2002 Mrs. Revels ended up resigning from her Miss North Carolina position. Procedure: Revels resulted in filing a suit in the North Carolina state court against MAO, MNCPO, and other organizations for breach of contract. The court issued a summary judgment in MAO’s favor to which Revels appealed to a state intermediate appellate court. Issue: Must a contract be executed for the direct, and not incidental, benefit of the third pa rty in order to assert rights as a third party beneficiary? Holding: Yes.Reasoning: A person isn’t the direct beneficiary of a contract if the contract benefits that person but wasn’t intended to benefit that person. A person is the direct beneficiary of a contract only if the contracting parties intend to confer a legally enforceable benefit directly to that person. Revels was unable to prove that MAO’s contract was intended to have her be the sole beneficiary because anyone who wins can be the beneficiary under the franchise agreement. The agreement did state that the MAO will accept the MNCPO winner but this does not show that Mrs.Revels was the intended beneficiary of this agreement. Rebekah Revels was an incidental beneficiary of the agreement because she won the pageant and does not have enforceable rights against Miss America Organization based on their agreement with MISS north Carolina Pageant Organization Inc. Decision and Remedy: Based on the agreemen t between the two organizations, Revels was an incidental beneficiary and therefore couldn’t maintain any actions against them. The state intermediate appellate court affirmed the lower court’s decision in favor of MAO.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Television

Nowadays many people all over the world spent most of their free time watching television; but since its appearance, television has brought to man many advantages as well as disadvantages.Television plays an important role in our daily activities: it keeps us informed about all the current affairs in the world. Television helps us in broadening Our knowledge in many ways. Through language teaching programs, we can learn the language we like such as: English, French, German, Chinese, Japanese and so on. We can become skilful and clever at doing jobs, making cakes or arranging flowers through practical courses taught through different programs on television. Television is a source of recreation. funny films bring us minutes of relaxation after a hard day’s work..Apart from its advantages, however, television also brings lots of disadvantages to viewers. First, television viewers gradually become passive in their action. Television may be a splendid media of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other or with the outer world and discourages people from traveling. The world seen through television is only the restricted one: It separates us from the real world.Television, with its fascinating power, makes people of all addicted to it. Students are so absorbed in television that they neglect their school activities as a result of which their grades degrade. Homework is left undone and lessons unprepared. Housewives are so keen on watching television that they neglect their duties toward their husbands and their children. Instead of watching television, we may use the time for a real family hour. Without the distraction of television, we may sit around together after dinner and actually talk to one another to know and like each other better.Finally, the evil influence of television on the young generation is inevitable; it encourages them to commit crimes. Spectacles of sadism and violence on television lead them to robbery, theft, rap e and murder. In a nutshell, television is useful to us when we know how to use it: Be careful not to overindulge ourselves in it and use it in a discerning manner.

Nurses Notes Essay

Writing stays with you throughout your entire life, though you may not believe so. Hidden in your thoughts about your future career is the idea that writing will be part of your profession. After doing extensive research, I now realize how much writing will be involved with my chosen profession, a registered nurse. Writing in nursing can range from short, concise works to long, detailed, complex works. Writing as a nurse contains nurse’s notes, documentation, written reports, health records, flowcharts, care-plans, narratives, and if desired, professional journals for publication. The position within in the field also plays a role with the amount of writing needed to be done. The head of a department takes part in a lot more writing than a nurse. A head of a department holds a variety of duties when it comes to writing such as: staff proposals, budget proposals, department operations, policies and procedures, and protocols. A nurse must be able to follow the basic writing standards: writing clear, concise, and grammatically correct sentences, use proper punctuation, and demonstrate critical thought. Nurses are also expected to learn how to present information succinctly with their work being accessible to anyone who may read it. Nurses aim to write work that can be used in both clinical aspects of discipline and research. The field of nursing requires a nurse to be able to write swiftly and accurately. Nurses must also always be prepared to define their recorded information and writing. Records must be clear, concise, complete and accurate. The clichà © that is universally known, the job is not complete until the paperwork is completed is more true in health care than in any other profession, referring to the fact that a lot of writing is done in this workforce. Types of Writing: Nursing as a profession contains many different types of writing. Nurse’s notes are records that nurses who directly care for the patient, continuously record information. This includes the patient’s symptoms, medications given, and scheduled procedures or activities. Documentation reflects the care the care the nurse has or has not provided to the patient. Documentation is the nurse’s only form of legal proof that they did or did not do something for the patient. Nurse’s look at documentation as important as the actual care they are providing for their patient. Hands-on care and documentation carries equal importance in the eyes of a registered nurse. Documentation then becomes art of the patient’s medical record after the patient is either discharged or no longer living. Written reports are needed when the care of a patient is given over to another nurse. I interviewed Sharon Doll, a registered nurse at Glendive Medical Center who states that these written reports are very rare. â€Å"It is highly unlikely that you as a registered nurse will have to give the care of your patient over to another nurse.† (Personal interview, November 23, 2012) Health records, or medical records, consist of the accumulation of nurse’s notes. The records are held on file at the hospital and are referred to when needed. Health records consist of prescriptions prescribed to the patient, x-ray results, test results, reports, blood type, allergies and other important information about the patient that the care providers may need to be aware of. Recently, health records have transferred to being electronic, taking away from the writing perspective. Assessment check-boxes go hand-in-hand with health records as well, which are the summary of the symptoms of the patient. Flowcharts simply show the process that has been taken while caring for patients. They show the sequence in which the patient has followed. This is a concise review of the patient’s history and the care that was provided. Care-plans outline the nursing care that is to be provided to the patient. It is a set of actions that the nurse will take to provide the necessary care for the patient in hopes of full recovery. A care-plan consists of three parts: definition of the problem, intervention and/or solutions, and the evaluation of success or intervention and/or solution. Many times, care-plans are set out by the doctor because the doctor is not as available as the nurse. Care-plans are usually completed day-by-day and sort of run on a schedule. Narratives are important in nursing communication and important in the aspect of capturing the patient’s history and also the treatment they received. Narratives use standard abbreviations, are not written in first person, instead they refer to themselves as â€Å"the nurse†, and finally, rely on the communication with others. Professional journals for publication are optional for nurses but are quite popular. Journals are a compiled of the nurse’s experience, clinical practices, and their theoretical approaches and/or opinions. Nurses write journals to inform their audience, primarily formed of nursing students. Nurse’s journals give other people a first-hand look at their point of view and their job. If a nurse rises to the head of a department, he/she will face more writing than that of a registered nurse. Staff proposals and budget proposals are simply directed within the department. A staff proposal consists of the duties of the staff and the expectations they are held to. Budget proposals consist of the budget throughout the department and how it will be distributed. Department operations are the operations the department can fulfill. These include the day-to-day functioning of the department. Policies and procedures review the policies by which the employees must follow and the procedures they take before handling care for a patient. Finally, protocols refer to the steps of the procedures and experiments that are conducted by the department. Reflection: Montana State University prepares students to be successful in their chosen field. MSU offers Writing 101 and also University Seminar that covers the writing aspect. I think the preparation of MSU for nursing students and writing is sufficient due to the fact that the majority of the junior year in the pre-nursing major simply consists of all nursing classes. These classes will also review all aspects of nursing, including the writing that a registered nurse will complete within the profession. Conclusion: Overall, I was unaware of all the writing that was needed in the profession of a registered nurse. I did not think that I would do more than simply taking nurse’s notes. With these findings, I am very grateful for the writing courses offered at Montana State University.

Juvenile Delinquecy and Its Best Strategies Essay

Juvenile Delinquecy and Its Best Strategies - Essay Example Youth offense is a major issue and an element of crime which be given huge concentration from the politicians and news media. â€Å"Delinquency is not an inherited trait, like some forms of diseases or alcoholism. It is acquired through parental neglect, poverty, environment, frustration at society, and, perhaps most important of all, peer pressure† (Hass, 2010). In the US, a juvenile criminal is a human being, who has not yet attained the age of eighteen and whose activities have been tagged as juvenile delinquency by any court. The particular requirements are different from state to state. In the US, the federal government enacted legislation to unify the conduct of juvenile delinquents through the Delinquency Act of 1975 and juvenile justice. History of juvenile justice and approaches to its Prevention: The formal method of juvenile justice has been in existence in the US for almost 200 years. â€Å"The early reformers envisioned a regime in which young offenders would rec eive treatment that would cure them of their antisocial ways—a system in which criminal responsibility and punishment had no place. Because of the juvenile court's rehabilitative purpose, procedures were informal and dispositions were indeterminate† (Scott, 2008). ... Before the nineteenth century, the abnormal behavior of teenagers was handled in a casual manner inside the family and not through a formal juvenile justice method. The growth of the society for renovation of juvenile delinquents and other like minded civic organizations to deal with the rising problem of juvenile delinquency, reflected society’s usual concern with instilling straight outlook behaviors in its adolescents. This was chiefly true throughout the 20th century when the term juvenile justice was adopted. The origins of juvenile delinquency are difficult to comprehend as well as are not frequently well implied and consist of psychiatric, family and other such issues or a mixture of all these. It is significant to recognize the interplay of these factors for adolescence, when planning facility delivery, in order to congregate the desires of the youth. The 1990s have brought a propagation of forensic mental health experts who concentrate in psychiatric evaluation of tee nagers involved at various points in the juvenile justice method. These practitioners are trained to concentrate on assessing the legal and mental health issues as well as to give essential information that will help attorneys and judges to decide whether the individual is a convict or not. These evaluations can also be crucial in assisting contributors who are involved in planning a method of care for an adolescent along with his or her family. Then again, professionals are concerned with juvenile justice population in an assortment of settings and can intervene in methods that facilitate more efficient care giving. An exhaustive examination of all stakeholders to juvenile delinquency and a complete description of the issues addressed: The

The Philippines' Problems And Possible Policies Essay

The Philippines' Problems And Possible Policies - Essay Example Robert Babe (37) emphasized "Economists, after all, are inclined to limit their professional attention to those human interactions or exchanges mediated by money, barter being a notable but minor exception. Discursive Acts, in contrast, focuses on non-monetized, verbal, symbolic interactions, thereby calling attention to a bifurcation of the field of human interaction -- into the realms of the "economic" and the "no economic" (or what I will term here the "purely communicator")." The quote clearly shows that the economy of, including the Philippine human relations, is grounded on economic factors, which includes gross domestic product.To resolve the inflation issue of the Philippines, Don Paarlberg (159) states â€Å"A small group of economists, chiefly libertarians, propose taking the monetary system out of the hands of government and leaving it to private enterprise. Theoretically, the market would discipline the supply of money to keep its value at a stable level. This proposal h as won acclaim from only a few. "Money cannot manage itself," said Bagehot, a nineteenth-century economist†. The government has the power to reduce the inflation rate by increasing the supply of money into the economy. Inflation is the increase in the prices of goods and commodities. Microeconomics also states that a decline in the demand for the products will reduce the demand and price of the product. Second, the ethnic issues include a major portion of the country's population wallowing in poverty. Only a small percentage of the ethnic population is living in rich levels. The Philippines' ethical structure is 92 percent, Christian Malay, 4 percent Muslim Malay, 3 percent other ethnic groups, and 1% Chinese ethnic group. The economy is run by a majority of Christian Malays. Third, the political issues include a democracy that is filled with many contradicting forces. The government is beset by allocating its scarce financial resources. The democratic government is patterned on the United States political government. Elections are made for the President, Vice President, Senators, Congressmen, Mayors, Governors, and other political leaders for a fixed term. With the democratic government, some persons use goons to force the people to elect the goon leaders as the elected government officials. Likewise, the democratic political system allows any person to use the money to buy votes from the people. Some of the poor residents accept the tradition of accepting money for their votes. 2. Projections: There are many positive prospects for this country and its economy. First, the country’s being a former colony of the United States gives it the American educational and societal advantage. The Filipinos can apply for jobs in other countries where the main language is English. Many

Anthropology of humor and laughter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Anthropology of humor and laughter - Essay Example People belonging to different cultures consider something appropriate for laughter in accordance with their cultures. From a social perspective, humor is a positive emotion of an individual, which is elicited in different social contexts and is demonstrated by different vocal and facial behaviors of laughter. Canned jokes, funny utterances, funny expressions, and spontaneous witticisms are some of the main forms of humor (Martin 29). Psychological functions of humor bring various cognitive and social benefits for the humans. Some of the most significant benefits of humor include increased social interactions, help in relieving the tensions and stress, and help in regulating the emotions. In the past couple of decades, the overall concept regarding laughter has shifted from something being viewed as socially inappropriate to being perceived as socially desirable and healthy for the mind (Martin 29). The sense of humor acts as the main source of laughter for any individual. Although th e sense of humor has a number of psychological and social benefits, the mainstream psychology still needs to pay some more attention to this aspect of human behavior. Works Cited Martin, Rod. The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, 2007.

Federalist and anti Federalist debates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Federalist and anti Federalist debates - Essay Example The American Federalist proposed the Articles of Confederation, later altered and ratified on June 21, 1788 into the Constitution of the United States of America, as America’s first constitution (Rose, 2010). The Federalist Party, founded by Alexander Hamilton, became the first major political party founded in resistance to the Anti-Federalists who fought for the small national government without national debt (Rose, 2010). The debate for Federalism is whether to choose a large state that controls smaller states which allows homogeneity through separation of powers or a small state that has each power without being controlled and overruled by a central or large state (Follesdal, 2010). I believe that we are still facing some of the challenges today especially determining composition, distribution of powers and power sharing. Until this day, I think there are still challenges to boundaries of the units of each member, allocation of powers to executive, legislative and judiciary, and especially the influence each state can contribute in the central government. A famous and insightful Anti-Federalist named Robert Yates, delegate to Constitutional Convention and a New York judge, withdrew in the Convention saying that it was exceeding its powers and instructions and the Supreme Court would soon become a source of over-reaching and unlimited federal powers (Galles,

Literature and Community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Literature and Community - Essay Example Faulkner introduces Miss Emily Grierson as a woman who has been strictly contained within the boundaries of her father’s old Southern ideals. â€Å"None of the young men were quite good enough to Miss Emily and such. We had long thought of them as a tableau; Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door† (437). As a result of his behavior and her confinement, the Grierson family becomes the town’s idealized image of what the Old South should be. As a result, the town insists upon Emily maintaining this role even after her father dies and she is left all alone. Miss Emily attempts to break out of this mold by dating Homer Barron and adopting more Northern ideals. â€Å"Her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows – sort of trag ic and serene† (438), but the town sees her as defying the old order of her class. Her cousins are quickly sent for (by the townspeople) to bring Miss Emily back into her ‘destined’ role. Franz Kafka’s story â€Å"Metamorphosis† centers on the character of Gregor Samsa who wakes up one morning to discover he’s been transformed into the shape of a large bug, possibly a cockroach, which reflects his position in society and the expectations they have for him. It can be argued that Gregor’s transformation is a literal indication of his feelings of separation from humanity, including the members of his own family. Despite waking up to find himself in the form of a bug, Gregor’s primary concern is to get to work so that he can still support his family as he’s been doing for five years. This is the expectation society has placed on him and he has adopted for himself. As he thinks about his condition, he realizes the level of disconnection that has already occurred between

The Hotel Industry Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Hotel Industry - Assignment Example People visit hotels for different purposes. The industry offers their customers various of services. The customers need lodging facilities where they can spend their nights and means of transport to move them from one place to another. Restaurants provide foods and drinks during the stay. The hotel industry offers cruise line services, especially for hotels that are located along the coast. Sometimes, customers may contract a selected hotel to oversee planning of special events such as anniversaries, weddings, and special days’ celebrations with proper entertainment services (Puri & Chand, 2009). Products provided by the hotel industry include all types food, soft drinks, and hard drinks. Customers for the hotel industry include people of all ages and races (Barrows & Powers, 2009). Demanders for hotel services and products consist of students, children, middle-aged citizens and the aged. People of all walks usually attend ceremonies such as weddings, conferences and other official functions because they have roles to perform in each of them. Wedding customers demand services of event planners, and these are mostly found in the hotel industry. Business travelers travel on expense account and seek secure hotels that are close to the places of their business rendezvous (Lockyer, 2007). Another group of hotel customers are leisure travelers; these also look for hotels that have leisure activities such as gymnasiums, swimming pools, playgrounds and racing equipment. The hotel industry is dispersed among many companies, each controlling a small market (Brody, 2009). The market structure for the hotel industry is perfect competition. In a perfectly competitive market, there are several buyers and sellers of a particular product; hence, customers have a variety of choices (Khan, 2007). This breaks the market into small portions and each company controls its own market portion. There are several companies in the hotel industry. These include Lords of the Manor, The Feathers Hotel Woodstock, Talbot Hotel, The Trout at Tadpole Bridge, Holbeck Ghyll County House Hotel, and Assured Hotels.

An Ideal Type of Security Investment in Malaysia Essay Example for Free

An Ideal Type of Security Investment in Malaysia Essay First of all, we as group have chosen Unit Trust as the best choice in conjunction to the topic of ideal type of security investments according to our understanding and beliefs. According to an article that we have researched, the Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers (FMUTM) defines that unit trust is a form of collective investment which allows investors with similar investment objectives to pool their funds to be invested in a portfolio of securities of other assets. A professional fund manager will then invest the pooled funds in a portfolio. It includes assets classes such as cash, bonds and deposits, shares, property, and commodities. The ownership of the funds is divided into units of entitlement; hence, unit holders do not purchase the securities in the portfolio directly. Consequently, when the funds of the mentioned asset classes’ increases or decreases, then the value of each issued unit increases or decreases accordingly. Besides that, the return on investment (ROI) of unit holders is usually in the form of income distribution and capital appreciation which is derived from the pool of assets supporting the unit trust fund. Unit trust also allows investors to have easy access to a wide range of investments exposures which are not normally available to them. There are a number of other substantial benefits of investing in unit trust. Amongst them are that unit trust are very affordable. Investors are eligible to start with an investment amount as low as RM1000. In addition, rather than concentrating an investment portfolio of one or two investments or share, a portfolio of market securities can be held. Meaning, there is a wider spread of the investments which is also know diversification; hence the investment returns will be less volatile. Through unit trust investment, individual investors have better chances to spread their money to wider asset classes in the same time gaining their particular investment exposure requirements. On top of that, unit trusts have good liquidity which further enhances chances of profits of an investor. Other than that, as mentioned a little earlier on, the people managing unit trusts are approved professionals whom are trained to ensure that decision-making is structured and according to sound investment principles. In the long term, the expertise of a knowledgeable and experienced fund manager usually generates above average investment returns for unit trust investors. Subsequently, with unit trust, the economics of the transaction are more favorable because fund managers invest in larger amounts. Hence, it means that fund managers are able to get access to wholesale fees and products which are impossible for the individual investors to obtain; in return, this action reduces the cost and charges and further enhances the profit for the investment of the investors. Moving on, with the introduction of unit trusts in Malaysia came also the regulations from various regulators, especially the Securities Commission. The entire range of variables relating to the unit trust industry is governed by various legislations in order to protect the interest of the public investors and also a safe investment mechanism to prevent any frauds.

Impact of Divorce on Children | Essay

Impact of Divorce on Children | Essay The increase in the rate of divorce may be the most dramatic change in family life and divorce is being more and more common in the modern society. Demographers suggest that about 50% of first marriages would be voluntarily dissolved in recent years (Cherlin, 1992). Compared with statistics in the middle of 19th century which only 5% of first marriages ended in divorce (Preston McDonald, 1979), the number is shocking. Moreover, slightly more than half of all divorces involve children and adolescences aged below 18. More than one million children experience parental divorce every year (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998, Table 160), and Bumpass (1990) suggested that about 40% of all children will experience parental divorce before reaching adulthood. The statistics and experts opinions demonstrate the trend of increasing divorce rate, and thus there are more and more children experiencing parental divorce. In response to this, the essay is going to focus on the impact of parental divorc e in different aspects if the event happens at the time when the children are in their adolescence and young adulthood. After that, the essay will discuss the impact on them when they grow up into young adults. With the increasing rate of divorce, parental divorce happening at the time when children are in their adolescence and young adulthood is more commonplace. The parental divorce may affect the children in different aspects. The impact may also be widespread. A 25-year study of 60 post-divorce families with 131 children was conducted by psychologist Judith Wallerstein. Wallerstein (2001) finds out that the immediate effects of divorce on children may be different according to their gender, age and developmental stage. For adolescents which are one of the focuses of this essay, they will suffer depression. They will also have suicidal thoughts and express anxiety about having successful marriages. Sandford(2008) also suggests that some findings in 1990s indicated that children of divorce have lower academic achievement. They may also have some behavioral, psychological, relationship or even health problems. Researches done over the past years have consistently shown that divorce has a negative impact on the academic achievement of children of divorce. (Wallerstein, Corbin, Lewis, 1988; Popenoe, 1993). They are more likely to have low grades and score lower on academic tests. They also have lower educational aspirations and are two to three times more likely to be dropped out of school. The impact may continue to their adulthood and lower their social competence as they just achieve lower levels of education and thus lower occupational status. Thus, their income is usually less. Adolescents experiencing parental divorce may also have different psychological problems. According to Wallerstein (2001), the level of depression and anxiety is higher in children of divorce. Their self esteem is also lower and they experience more often use of psychological services. It is found that girls from divorced families are much more depressed than girls from intact families in some cases. For boys, they are more hopeless and discouraged when there are more family distresses. It should be noted that some differences in psychological well-being may due to financial disadvantages. Compared with peers from married families, children of divorce may have a lower standard of living. It is due to two reasons. Firstly, living standard of women usually decline more than mens after divorce (Ross, 1995). Secondly, most children live with their mothers after divorce (Smyth, Sheenhan and Felberg, 2001). Thus they usually live with a lower family income. They will probably move to new r esidences and to poor neighborhoods. Because of the difficult economic conditions, they would have another form of loss and become more depress. Children of divorce are also prone to different behavioral problems. They may have disorders in conduct, difficulty with authorities and behaviors that are antisocial (Hetherington and Kelly, 2002). Compared with children from intact families, they are also two to three times more probably to engage in adolescent delinquency and the conduct problems are more common among boys than in girls. Jeynes (2001) also suggests that adolescent from divorced families have alcohol more often and in larger quantities. They are also more likely to take drugs, have pre-marital sex, end up in prison and commit murder, etc. Apart from psychological and behavioral problems, relationship problems are common among children from divorced families. Sandford (2008) suggests that female adolescents that have experienced parental divorce are more likely to have earlier sexual activities and have more sexual partners than those without experience in parental divorce during their high school years. He also points out that they begin their menstruation earlier. And it seems to be some relationships between early menstruation and early sexual intercourse. It is suggested that the girls having earlier sexual activity have poor self-regulatory skills. It might be attributed to the avoidance of teaching the skills needed to gain self-control in divorced families. Moreover, it might be due to disengagement between these children and their parents at a younger age. Thus their relationship is not as good as that in intact family. Divorced childrens relationship with parents is also weaker (Sandford, 2008). According to research done by Hetherington and Kelly (2002), similar proportion of children from divorced families and from intact families feel close to their mothers (70% vs. 80%). However, only less than one-third of children report such closeness with their father while 70% of children with married parents report these feelings. The findings coincide with other researches that there are high proportion of disengaged or totally absent fathers following divorces. It is the conflicts between the ex-spouses and custody arrangements that cause fathers to feel disengaged from their children. Avoidance of child support payments is also a reason for the fathers to stay away from their children. Because of the above reasons, adolescents from divorced families view their father to be less caring. Marital instability is also another relationship faced by children from divorced families when they grow up and it wil l be discussed later in the essay. Although research found quite a lot of negative impacts on adolescents when they face parental divorce, positive consequences are also possible. A study by Arditti (1999) suggests that the children from divorced families, especially daughters, develop very close relationships with their custodial mother. It may be due to the extra care given by the custodial mothers as their fathers are disengaged from the families. The impact of divorce on children may not be short term. It is possible that divorce will affect the children in different aspects even when they grow up into young adults. Several impacts are confirmed by Amato (2000) that they are consistent with prior research. Firstly, children with divorced parents are more likely to experience psychological problems in adulthood. Secondly, they have more problems in forming and maintaining stable intimate relationships with their partners. Thirdly, they have weaker ties to their parents when they grow up into young adults.   Amato (2000) suggests that divorce is undoubtedly â€Å"a risk factor for psychological problems during childhood and into adulthood†. It is agreed that there is a tendency of adults having parental divorce experience less satisfaction with their lives, higher rates of depression and lower self-esteem. Wallerstein, Lewis and Blakeslee (2001) findings also point out that about one third of the children had serious psychological problems such as clinical depression, poor performance in school or difficulty in maintaining friendships. Moreover, their 25-year in depth study also suggests that even 25 years after the divorce, the children (now adults) â€Å"still recalled the shock, unhappiness, loneliness, bewilderment and anger†. Higher level of depression has also been found to continue in adulthood. Both men and women report comparatively worse of psychological well-being. Although Amato (2000) argues that the adults who experienced parental divorce and are suffering fro m serious psychological problems are not as many as one third of them, the effects of divorce would probably persist into adulthood. Weaker ties to their parents is another impact when children grown up into young adults. Weisberg and Appleton (2003) describe a survey carried out by a sociologist. 1500 adults who had experienced a divorce before the age of 14 and a comparison group of children from intact family were surveyed. It was found that children of divorce (now adults) felt they were outsiders in their own home. They also had frequent feelings of being alone and were less likely to seek comfort from their parents. The weak ties to their parents usually persist into their adulthood. Another research done by Hetherington and Kelly (2002) also found that less than one-third of children of divorce report close feelings to their fathers. And even when they grow up into adult, they doubt whether their fathers care or love them. It is also suggested that children with parental divorce would have more problems in forming and maintaining stable intimate relationships with their partners (Amato, 2000). According to Hetherington and Kelly (2002), children of divorce are more likely than children of intact families to have marital instability and lower marital satisfaction. They generally have more thoughts about divorce and the divorce rates among children of divorce are also a bit higher when they grow up into adults. The phenomenon may be explained by the wariness to commit to a relationship, perceiving divorce as an alternative for unhappy marriages. Moreover, a contentious family life may result in generally weaker relationship skills. Weisberg and Appleton (2003) also stated that a lot of studies have shown that parental divorce is a risk factor for other problems in adulthood. The problems include low socioeconomic attainment, poor subjective wellbeing, increased marital problems, and a greater likelihood of seeing ones own marriages end in divorce (Amato, 1999). It might be hard to understand why the problems persist into adulthood. Weisberg and Appleton (2003) suggested that parental divorce may lead to financial crisis. The original plans to attend college may be abandoned, thus resulting in lower occupational attainment and wages throughout adulthood. For children who were exposed to poor parental models of interpersonal behavior, they might have difficulty when wanting to form stable, satisfying and intimate relationship as young adults. The above considerations suggest that it may be possible that some children show improvement soon after parental divorce in terms of behavior or relationship, however, some effects might only appear when the children reach young adulthood. Although the essay focuses on the impact of parental divorce on children, it is also important to note some of the methods that the children can adopt in order to adjust to divorce and minimize the negative impacts brought. Kelly (2003) suggests that conflicts between parents should be diminished. Competent residential parenting such as warmth and emotional support and adequate monitoring to the children is also needed. The non-residential parents also have a role. They should offer stable financial support to the divorced family. Regular contacts with the children and involvement in issues related to their children should also be carried out in order to help with childrens adjustment to divorce. It is the effort made by the parents that can minimized the impacts mentioned above. As discussed above, it is shown that parental divorce is an upsetting and disruptive event in the lives of the children. Although some scholars argue that children can develop successfully in a variety of family structures and view divorce as an escape from a dysfunctional home environment, more evidences and findings suggest that having experience of parental divorce may cause different problems such as psychological, emotional, behavioral and social problems. The children in divorced families may also deal with relationships in a disturbed manner. The effect may not be short term and can extent to adulthood in some cases. There may be intergenerational transmission of divorce and the adults may have difficulties in dealing with intimate relationship. The marriages of the adults with parental divorce experience would also be affected. It is arguable that not all children from divorced families suffer from these problems. And there are a lot of factors affect the impacts of parental divorce on children or the recovery process such as access to parents or parental support. Sex difference, the family structure or the relationship with parents may also be some of the factors. Although many factors should be considered, some negative impacts are proved that they would happen more frequently among children with parental divorce. And we should understand the impacts in order to find measures that can help the children adjust to divorce.

Effectiveness of the World Cup Campaign on Lafarge Concreto

Effectiveness of the World Cup Campaign on Lafarge Concreto Executive Summary Primarily the study aims to give the reader an insight into the Indian Cement industry. The project aims to profile and understand the effectiveness of the World Cup campaign of Lafarge Concreto cement. The first phase will be to know the competitors of different brand of PSC cement in eastern India and analysis of their promotion by secondary research. The second phase will be the analysis of the World Cup promotional activities of different brands with celebrities. And then the analysis of the World Cup campaign of Lafarge Concreto with Dhoni is to be done. The third phase will be the comparison of the World Cup campaign of different brands/product with Lafarge Concretos World Cup campaign that will lead to some new findings which will help to formulate new ideas. The fourth phase is to know the effectiveness of the World Cup campaign of Lafarge with Dhoni with the help of a survey i.e. how customers are associating Dhoni as a brand ambassador of Lafarge Concreto, and their feedback about the product, the survey will include meeting dealers and the customers with questionnaire. The final phase will be the analysis of the survey, based on the suggestions and feedback from the customers, ideas will be formulated to improve the promotion which will help to create a strategy that will stay for longer time in future. A Stint at an Advertising Agency- Ogilvy An advertisement agency is a service provider. It provides services to its clients. The primary service of an ad agency is to create a goal oriented and effective advertisement and promotional campaign which aim at putting across the message of the company positively in the eyes of its target audience. In the face of stiff competition every company wants to have an edge over its competitors. Advertising agencies therefore also do the work of research for their clients. This helps the company to take informed decisions and the advertising agencies to create advertisements which break through the clutter and are attention grabbing, persuasive and unique. The main functions of an advertising agency are: Understanding the company, its products and target audience Doing research for better understanding Planning an advertising campaign Making strategies Creating the advertisement and other promotional campaign Measuring success of the campaign About Ogilvy Ogilvy Matheris an international advertising ,marketing and public relations agency based i nManhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries. It was founded in the year 1948 by David Ogilvy as â€Å"Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson, Mather in Manhattan. Rochelle Lazarus is the chairman andMiles Young is the CEO. Ogilvy opened its first agency in India in the year 1928. It was the first advertising agency in India. Ogilvy has launched many advertisements which have been very successful in all these years. The company in India operates with offices located in all the major cities. Piyush Pandey is the Executive Chairman and the Creative Director at Ogilvy Mather, South Asia. OGILVY OFFICES IN INDIA The focus areas include advertising, direct marketing, public relations and activation. Ogilvy Activation includes services in the non-traditional area of advertising Ogilvy Landscapes, Ogilvy Outreach, Ogilvy Live and Ogilvy Signscapes which together with the focused services consolidate offerings to clients. OM India is OM Internationals fifth largest operation in terms of profits, with the US ranking first and European nations occupying the other three positions. It is ranked Indias number one agency by Brand Equity survey on leadership, creative ability, investment in employees, client servicing, most influential people and great creative directors. Awards Recognitions OM has bagged several awards for print advertisements, TV ads and case study presentations. OM was awarded the Grand Effie Gold and Gold for service on Hutch, a campaign that won awards at the Abbies too; Gold Effiefor corporate advertising for the Cadbury Crisis Management. OM bagged three Bronze Lions at the Cannes Festival 2004 for two Public Health Safety campaigns for Hutch and one for Concern India Foundation; a Gold two Silvers at the Emvies, 1st Runner Up for Asias ‘Office of the Year 2004 by Media magazine, an award that spans 360 degree communication and HR. From Silver Pencil to Asian Brand Marketing Effectiveness awards for campaigns that include Advertising, PR, CSR, Interactive and Direct Marketing, OM has received recognition for its stature as Indias No. 1 communications agency. OM Mumbai was ranked 8th hottest shop in Asia by Campaign Brief Asia in 2002. Every business unit in OM has received recognition in the domestic and overseas markets. Ogilvy won three Gold, five Silver and five Bronze stacking up to 120 Points that won Ogilvy the title of EFFIE Agency of the Year 2009. Vodafone won EFFIE Client of the year in 2009.Ogilvy Kolkata won the Agency of the year in 2010 at Annual Calcutta Advertising Club awards for creative excellence. Ogilvy Kolkata won many award in ABBY awards in the year 2010. The categories in which OM Kolkata won metals are 5 silvers for the Lafarge and Concreto campaigns (category: Home/ dà ©cor/ lifestyle), 4 silvers for the Kolkata TV print campaign (category: Media), 1 Gold for Childrens Little Theatre radio spot (category Radio, services). List of Clients Vodafone Kolkata Circle Vodafone Rest of West Bengal Vodafone Orissa circle Vodafone Bihar circle Lafarge Concreto Lafarge Duragaurd Tata Steel Star Jalsa Coal India Aque Duct PVC pipes Tea board of India Organizatonal Structure of Ogilvy Operational Flow at Ogilvy At Ogilvy, the client servicing executives prepare and pitch a new product or service to a client. It is very important that the pitch is well structured, client centric and adds value to the company. Once the client appoints the advertising agency then the budgets are negotiated. For every new campaign the client briefs the client servicing executives about their requirements. The client servicing executives studies the brief in details and figures out the core need behind the requirement. According to the requirement there is negotiation with the client about the estimated amount which the client will be billed for the campaign. On the basis of the clients requirement and the detailed research by the executive, brief is given to the creative department about the campaign. After understanding the brief the creative department reverts back with the idea for the campaign. If the idea matches with the clients brief, the client servicing executive asks the creative department to proceed forward. The executives interact regularly with the client through emails and phone calls. After a lot of interaction with the client and the executives, the creative department prepares required creative as per the idea which was finalized. The client servicing executives gets an approval for the creative from the clients. After the executive finalizes the requirement all the creative which are finalized for the campaign are given to the studio operators. The studio operators do the adaptation of the creative in terms of different size requirement, change in the copy etc. They also make sure that all the mandatory guidelines given by the brands are incorporated in the promotional material. The studio operators do a lot of adaptations according to the region in which the campaign is to be released. This may require using the copy of the advertisement in various languages this is done by the translators. The translator translates the copy according to the local language. The final layouts are shared with the client for their approval, in form of JPEGs. The client reverts back and changes if any are made by the studio operators. Then the final advertisement is released for printing. Apart from the print ad client may require radio advertisements, television commercial, audio visual or any other innovative material for promotions. The client servicing interacts with the respective vendors and gets the work done. Introduction Indian Cement Industry An Overview Indian cement industry dates back to 1914 first unit was set-up at Porbandar, with a capacity of 1000 tones. [2] India manufactures 251.2 Million Tones of cement per year. Indias per capita cement consumption is only 156 kilograms against Chinas 600 kilograms. [4] Cement sales primarily through a distribution channel. Ready mix concrete a relatively nascent market in India. Installed Capacity Indian Cement industry is comprised of 148 large cement plants with around 46 member companies. The installed capacity of these large cement plants is estimated to be 219.17 million tones during 2009-10 (as on March 2009).There are 95 large cement plants with capacity of million tones and above and around 1, 40,000 manpower is employed under these plants (one MnT cement generates downstream employment to 50,000 persons). Also, there are 365 mini and white cement plants with an installed capacity of 11.10 million tones (P). [3] Statistics Cement Production Despatches (P) Source: Cement Manufacturers Association Cement production during April to January 2010-11 was 136.51 million tones as compared to 130.85 million tones during the same period for the year 2009-10. Despatches were estimated at 135.56 million tones during April to January 2010-11 whereas during the same period for the year 2009-10, it stood at 130.09 million tones. [3] Cement sector is characterized by the following Units concentrated near raw material sources or markets Power intensive High freight costs Small value chain Regional variation and volatility in prices and margins High debt levels Regional distribution of demand Seasonality of demand and cyclicality of the industry High entry barriers Consumer Demographics Buying Patterns of Indian Consumers The per capita consumption of cement in India is very low, as compared with the developed economies and the overall world average per capita cement consumption. The per capita consumption of cement in India is even less than that in Africa, a relatively underdeveloped continent. Over the past decade, the per capita cement consumption of cement has increased in most states, except Chandigarh, where it has declined by 7 %. Mechanics of Distribution Channels of Sector Companies invariably hire carrying forwarding agents or transport cements to own or government warehouses either via roadway or railways. Incase of exports, cement reaches the nearest port via roadways or railways and is then transferred to the importing country. Domestically, from warehouses the cement is transported to the dealers/distributors and in turn to sub dealers who finally sell it to the end users. There may or may not be physical ownership of goods. In the second case, dealers and sub dealers take order from buyers and place it to the companies, co ordinate and monitor the timely dispatch of said orders, transportation of goods and final delivery. Distributor network in cement industry is highly dominating and companies are compelled to hire as they do not really have that rapport and touch with the end consumer of their product. Apart, from this, the distributors have storage facilities as well which help control well in the entire supply chain as they are the ones who bring orders and therefore are directly responsible for the business that a manufacturer would do. Demand drivers Infrastructure construction sector the major demand drivers. Some demand determinants Economic growth Industrial activity Real estate business Construction activity Investments in the core sector Factors and causes behind the successful flourishing of the cement industries in India Technological change: The government and the industries are upgrading the quality and the technology that are used in the process of production. New investment are in process that are sure to make a change in whole processing and the output of cement There are host of companies are merging together to make their capacity and the produce big and this would lead to a greater development in the cement production. The real estate market is much optimistic and hence this helps in the growth and the enhancement in the field of cement production and investments. Companies and the investors are spending more on the infrastructure of this sector. Various national programs are taken in like National Rural Employment Guarantee, Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Indira Aawas Yojana. Different Types of Cement There are different varieties of cement based on different compositions according to specific end uses, namely Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland Pozolona Cement, Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement, White Cement and Specialized Cement. The basic difference lies in the percentage of clinker used. [5] 1. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC): OPC, popularly known as grey cement Clinker 95% Gypsum 5% Other materials White cement is a variation of OPC and is used for decorative purposes like rendering of walls, flooring etc. It contains a very low proportion of iron oxide. The applications are cover dry-lean mixes, general-purpose ready-mixes, and even high strength pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete. 2. Portland Pozolona Cement (PPC): Portland pozzolana cement is Ordinary Portland Cement blended with pozzolanic materials (power-station fly ash, burnt clays, ash from burnt plant material or Siliceous earths), either together or separately. Portland clinker is ground with Gypsum and Pozzolanic materials which, though they do not have cementing properties in themselves, combine chemically with Portland cement in the presence of water to form extra strong cementing material which resists wet cracking, thermal cracking and has a high degree of cohesion and workability in concrete. Clinker 80% Pozzolana 15% Gypsum 5% It is cheaply manufactured because it uses fly ash/burnt clay/coal waste as the main ingredient. It has a lower heat of hydration, which helps in preventing cracks. 3. Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement (PBFSC): Portland blast-furnace slag cement contains up to 70 per cent of finely ground, granulated blast-furnace slag, a nonmetallic product consisting essentially of Silicates and Aluminum-silicates of Calcium. Slag brings with it the advantage of the energy invested in the slag making. Grinding slag for cement replacement takes only 25 per cent of the energy needed to manufacture Portland cement. Using slag cement to replace a portion of Portland cement in a concrete mixture is a useful method to make concrete better and more consistent. Portland blast-furnace slag cement has a lighter color, better concrete workability, easier finish ability, higher compressive and flexural strength, lower permeability, improved resistance to aggressive chemicals and more consistent plastic and hardened consistency. It has a heat of hydration even lower than PPC and is generally used in construction of dams and similar massive constructions. Clinker 45% Blast furnace slag 50% Gypsum 5% 4. White Cement: White Portland cement has essentially the same properties as gray cement, except for color, which is a very important quality control issue in the industry. It is manufactured using fuel oil (instead of coal) and with iron oxide content below 0.4% to ensure whiteness. Special cooling technique is used. It is used to enhance aesthetic value, in tiles and for flooring. White cement is much more expensive than grey cement. 5. Specialized Cement: Oil Well Cement: is made from clinker with special additives to prevent any porosity. Rapid Hardening Portland cement: It is similar to OPC, except that it is ground much finer, so that on casting, the compressible strength increases rapidly. 5 Source. www.acclimited.com Major players in cement industry 1) Associated Cement Companies Ltd (ACC) ACC Limited is Indias foremost cement manufacturer with a countrywide network of factories and marketing offices. Established in 1936, ACC has been a pioneer and trend-setter in cement and concrete technology.[5] ACC manufactures the following types of cement, in addition to which, it provides Bulk Cement and Ready Mix Concrete. Ordinary Portland Cements: 43 Grade Cement (OPC 43 Grade), 53 Grade Cement Blended Cements: Fly-ash based Portland Pozzolana Cement, Portland Slag Cement Table No.1- ACC plants 2) Birla Corp Table No.2- Birla cement plants 3) UltraTech UltraTech Cement Limited has an annual capacity of 52 million tones. It manufactures and markets Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement and Portland Pozzalana Cement. It also manufactures ready mix concrete (RMC). The company has 11 integrated plants, one white cement plant, one clinkerisation plant in UAE, 15 grinding units 11 in India, 2 in UAE, one in Bahrain and Bangladesh each and five terminals — four in India and one in Sri Lanka. UltraTech Cement is the countrys largest exporter of cement clinker. The export markets span countries around the Indian Ocean, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. UltraTechs subsidiaries are Dakshin Cements Limited, Harish Cements Limited, UltraTech Ceylinco (P) Limited and UltraTech Cement Middle East Investments Limited. [11] Table No.3- Ultratech cement plants The company has an annual capacity of 48.8 million tonnes, and manufactures and markets ordinary portland cement, portland blast furnace slag cement and portland pozzalana cement. 4) Ambuja Cements Ltd Ambuja Cements Ltd. (ACL) is one of the leading cement manufacturing companies in India. The Company, initially called Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd., was founded in 1983. The Company commenced cement production in 1986. The global cement major Holcim acquired management control of ACL in 2006. Holcim today holds little over 46% equity in ACL. The Company is currently known as Ambuja Cements Ltd. ACL has grown dynamically over the past decade. Its current cement capacity is about 25 million tones. The Company has five integrated cement manufacturing plants and eight cement grinding units across the country. ACL enjoys a reputation of being one of the most efficient cement manufacturers in the world. Its environment protection measures are on par with the finest in the country. It is one of the most profitable and innovative cement companies in India. [9] Table No.4- Ambuja cement plants 5) Jaiprakash Associates Limited Jaypee group is the 3rd largest cement producer in the country. The groups cement facilities are located in the Satna Cluster (U.P), which has one of the highest cement production growth rates in India. The group produces special blend of Portland Pozzolana Cement under the brand name ‘Jaypee Cement (PPC). Its Cement Division currently operates modern, computerized process control cement plants with an aggregate capacity of 21.30 MnTPA. The company is in the midst of capacity expansion of its cement business in Northern, Southern, Central, Eastern and Western parts of the country and is slated to be 37.55 MnTPA by FY12 (expected) with Captive Thermal Power Plants totaling 702MW.[7] Table No.5- Jaypee cement plants 6) Binani Cement Binani Cement Limited is the flagship subsidiary of Binani Industries Limited (BIL), representing the Braj Binani Group. The cement business started operations in 1997, in Sirohi District, Rajasthan. The Companys product portfolio includes Ordinary Portland Cement, Pozzolona Portland Cement and Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBFS). [10] Binani Cement Ltd. produces cement of two grades: Grade 43 Grade 53 PPC (Portland Pozzolana Cement) The Binani Cement Plant is in Pindwara, District Sirohi, Rajasthan 2Source. http://www.ibef.org/industry/cement.aspx 3Source.http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/industry-infrastructure/industrial-sectors/Cement.htm 4Source. http://www.reportlinker.com/p0243979/Industry-Analysis-Cement.html About Lafarge Cement Lafarge is the leader in building materials; with a turnover of $15.88 billion in 2009. It has been in operation since way back in history in 1833; when it started as a limestone mining company. But as far as the Indian market goes, Lafarge actually began operations in 1999. And then began a slew of expansion plans in the Indian market; combined with a number of insightful, and at times, path breaking marketing initiatives. Lafarge currently has three cement plants in India: two integrated plants in the state of Chhattisgarh and a grinding station in Jharkhand. Total cement production capacity of Lafarge in the Indian market currently stands at around 5.5 million tons. Lafarge India produces different types of cements like Portland Slag Cement, Portland Pozzolana Cement. The company is a leading cement player in Eastern India. Its brands Lafarge Cement and Lafarge Concreto Cement enjoy high brand equity here and are amongst the highest priced brands. Lafarge is committed to the India n market and has firm plans to expand its capacity in India. Lafarge enjoys high brand equity through its different brands; Lafarge Concreto, Lafarge Duragard and Lafarge Cement Lafarge Concreto Lafarge Concreto has been launched by Lafarge to meet the need of homebuilders in India for truly premium all-purpose cement. Concreto was developed in Lafarges state-of-the art laboratories, which are extensively networked with its Central Research Institute in France. The company has leveraged its combined know-how of more than 170 years and its experience across 75 countries to develop this unique product. Concreto is a specially engineered, premium quality ‘all purpose cement. It can be used for varied applications like roofing, foundations, beams, columns, plastering and brickwork. It is specially formulated to provide a denser concrete mix than normal cements. Concreto is characterized by: High ultimate strength due to the addition of highly reactive silica containing more than 95% glass content. Enhanced durability due to optimum pore refinement and consequently denser concrete matrix this improves the impermeability of the concrete. Exceptionally high resistance to chemical attack (sulphates and acids). Protects reinforcement from corrosion. Reduction of structural cracks due to lower heat of hydration than ordinary cements. Low heat of hydration and higher resistance against alkali-reactive aggregates. Cement Plants Lafarge currently hasfour cement plants in India: two integrated plants in the state of Chhattisgarh,onegrinding station each in Jharkhand West Bengal. Total cement production capacity of Lafarge in the Indian market currently stands at around 6.5 million tons. Table No.6- Lafarge cement plants Segmentation Cement is a bulk commodity so the industry is mainly product based. Segmentation is based on its various products i.e. Portland pozzolona cement, quick hardening cement and ready mix cement. Business to business (B2B) Cement industry deals with real estate, construction companies and other institution. For example Real estate sector Business to consumer (B2C) Cement industry deals with individual customers. For example Individual home builders Industry focuses on relationship approach, so as to build and maintain trust centered relationship. The cement Industry is mostly done through mass marketing, as it doesnt have any customized product for any specific group of customers. Marketing Mix The 4 Ps of marketing mix comprises of: Product Place Price Promotion Figure No.2 Marketing Mix 1) Product Cement industry has various ranges of products. For example: 2 Effectiveness of the World Cup Campaign on Lafarge Concreto Effectiveness of the World Cup Campaign on Lafarge Concreto Executive Summary Primarily the study aims to give the reader an insight into the Indian Cement industry. The project aims to profile and understand the effectiveness of the World Cup campaign of Lafarge Concreto cement. The first phase will be to know the competitors of different brand of PSC cement in eastern India and analysis of their promotion by secondary research. The second phase will be the analysis of the World Cup promotional activities of different brands with celebrities. And then the analysis of the World Cup campaign of Lafarge Concreto with Dhoni is to be done. The third phase will be the comparison of the World Cup campaign of different brands/product with Lafarge Concretos World Cup campaign that will lead to some new findings which will help to formulate new ideas. The fourth phase is to know the effectiveness of the World Cup campaign of Lafarge with Dhoni with the help of a survey i.e. how customers are associating Dhoni as a brand ambassador of Lafarge Concreto, and their feedback about the product, the survey will include meeting dealers and the customers with questionnaire. The final phase will be the analysis of the survey, based on the suggestions and feedback from the customers, ideas will be formulated to improve the promotion which will help to create a strategy that will stay for longer time in future. A Stint at an Advertising Agency- Ogilvy An advertisement agency is a service provider. It provides services to its clients. The primary service of an ad agency is to create a goal oriented and effective advertisement and promotional campaign which aim at putting across the message of the company positively in the eyes of its target audience. In the face of stiff competition every company wants to have an edge over its competitors. Advertising agencies therefore also do the work of research for their clients. This helps the company to take informed decisions and the advertising agencies to create advertisements which break through the clutter and are attention grabbing, persuasive and unique. The main functions of an advertising agency are: Understanding the company, its products and target audience Doing research for better understanding Planning an advertising campaign Making strategies Creating the advertisement and other promotional campaign Measuring success of the campaign About Ogilvy Ogilvy Matheris an international advertising ,marketing and public relations agency based i nManhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries. It was founded in the year 1948 by David Ogilvy as â€Å"Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson, Mather in Manhattan. Rochelle Lazarus is the chairman andMiles Young is the CEO. Ogilvy opened its first agency in India in the year 1928. It was the first advertising agency in India. Ogilvy has launched many advertisements which have been very successful in all these years. The company in India operates with offices located in all the major cities. Piyush Pandey is the Executive Chairman and the Creative Director at Ogilvy Mather, South Asia. OGILVY OFFICES IN INDIA The focus areas include advertising, direct marketing, public relations and activation. Ogilvy Activation includes services in the non-traditional area of advertising Ogilvy Landscapes, Ogilvy Outreach, Ogilvy Live and Ogilvy Signscapes which together with the focused services consolidate offerings to clients. OM India is OM Internationals fifth largest operation in terms of profits, with the US ranking first and European nations occupying the other three positions. It is ranked Indias number one agency by Brand Equity survey on leadership, creative ability, investment in employees, client servicing, most influential people and great creative directors. Awards Recognitions OM has bagged several awards for print advertisements, TV ads and case study presentations. OM was awarded the Grand Effie Gold and Gold for service on Hutch, a campaign that won awards at the Abbies too; Gold Effiefor corporate advertising for the Cadbury Crisis Management. OM bagged three Bronze Lions at the Cannes Festival 2004 for two Public Health Safety campaigns for Hutch and one for Concern India Foundation; a Gold two Silvers at the Emvies, 1st Runner Up for Asias ‘Office of the Year 2004 by Media magazine, an award that spans 360 degree communication and HR. From Silver Pencil to Asian Brand Marketing Effectiveness awards for campaigns that include Advertising, PR, CSR, Interactive and Direct Marketing, OM has received recognition for its stature as Indias No. 1 communications agency. OM Mumbai was ranked 8th hottest shop in Asia by Campaign Brief Asia in 2002. Every business unit in OM has received recognition in the domestic and overseas markets. Ogilvy won three Gold, five Silver and five Bronze stacking up to 120 Points that won Ogilvy the title of EFFIE Agency of the Year 2009. Vodafone won EFFIE Client of the year in 2009.Ogilvy Kolkata won the Agency of the year in 2010 at Annual Calcutta Advertising Club awards for creative excellence. Ogilvy Kolkata won many award in ABBY awards in the year 2010. The categories in which OM Kolkata won metals are 5 silvers for the Lafarge and Concreto campaigns (category: Home/ dà ©cor/ lifestyle), 4 silvers for the Kolkata TV print campaign (category: Media), 1 Gold for Childrens Little Theatre radio spot (category Radio, services). List of Clients Vodafone Kolkata Circle Vodafone Rest of West Bengal Vodafone Orissa circle Vodafone Bihar circle Lafarge Concreto Lafarge Duragaurd Tata Steel Star Jalsa Coal India Aque Duct PVC pipes Tea board of India Organizatonal Structure of Ogilvy Operational Flow at Ogilvy At Ogilvy, the client servicing executives prepare and pitch a new product or service to a client. It is very important that the pitch is well structured, client centric and adds value to the company. Once the client appoints the advertising agency then the budgets are negotiated. For every new campaign the client briefs the client servicing executives about their requirements. The client servicing executives studies the brief in details and figures out the core need behind the requirement. According to the requirement there is negotiation with the client about the estimated amount which the client will be billed for the campaign. On the basis of the clients requirement and the detailed research by the executive, brief is given to the creative department about the campaign. After understanding the brief the creative department reverts back with the idea for the campaign. If the idea matches with the clients brief, the client servicing executive asks the creative department to proceed forward. The executives interact regularly with the client through emails and phone calls. After a lot of interaction with the client and the executives, the creative department prepares required creative as per the idea which was finalized. The client servicing executives gets an approval for the creative from the clients. After the executive finalizes the requirement all the creative which are finalized for the campaign are given to the studio operators. The studio operators do the adaptation of the creative in terms of different size requirement, change in the copy etc. They also make sure that all the mandatory guidelines given by the brands are incorporated in the promotional material. The studio operators do a lot of adaptations according to the region in which the campaign is to be released. This may require using the copy of the advertisement in various languages this is done by the translators. The translator translates the copy according to the local language. The final layouts are shared with the client for their approval, in form of JPEGs. The client reverts back and changes if any are made by the studio operators. Then the final advertisement is released for printing. Apart from the print ad client may require radio advertisements, television commercial, audio visual or any other innovative material for promotions. The client servicing interacts with the respective vendors and gets the work done. Introduction Indian Cement Industry An Overview Indian cement industry dates back to 1914 first unit was set-up at Porbandar, with a capacity of 1000 tones. [2] India manufactures 251.2 Million Tones of cement per year. Indias per capita cement consumption is only 156 kilograms against Chinas 600 kilograms. [4] Cement sales primarily through a distribution channel. Ready mix concrete a relatively nascent market in India. Installed Capacity Indian Cement industry is comprised of 148 large cement plants with around 46 member companies. The installed capacity of these large cement plants is estimated to be 219.17 million tones during 2009-10 (as on March 2009).There are 95 large cement plants with capacity of million tones and above and around 1, 40,000 manpower is employed under these plants (one MnT cement generates downstream employment to 50,000 persons). Also, there are 365 mini and white cement plants with an installed capacity of 11.10 million tones (P). [3] Statistics Cement Production Despatches (P) Source: Cement Manufacturers Association Cement production during April to January 2010-11 was 136.51 million tones as compared to 130.85 million tones during the same period for the year 2009-10. Despatches were estimated at 135.56 million tones during April to January 2010-11 whereas during the same period for the year 2009-10, it stood at 130.09 million tones. [3] Cement sector is characterized by the following Units concentrated near raw material sources or markets Power intensive High freight costs Small value chain Regional variation and volatility in prices and margins High debt levels Regional distribution of demand Seasonality of demand and cyclicality of the industry High entry barriers Consumer Demographics Buying Patterns of Indian Consumers The per capita consumption of cement in India is very low, as compared with the developed economies and the overall world average per capita cement consumption. The per capita consumption of cement in India is even less than that in Africa, a relatively underdeveloped continent. Over the past decade, the per capita cement consumption of cement has increased in most states, except Chandigarh, where it has declined by 7 %. Mechanics of Distribution Channels of Sector Companies invariably hire carrying forwarding agents or transport cements to own or government warehouses either via roadway or railways. Incase of exports, cement reaches the nearest port via roadways or railways and is then transferred to the importing country. Domestically, from warehouses the cement is transported to the dealers/distributors and in turn to sub dealers who finally sell it to the end users. There may or may not be physical ownership of goods. In the second case, dealers and sub dealers take order from buyers and place it to the companies, co ordinate and monitor the timely dispatch of said orders, transportation of goods and final delivery. Distributor network in cement industry is highly dominating and companies are compelled to hire as they do not really have that rapport and touch with the end consumer of their product. Apart, from this, the distributors have storage facilities as well which help control well in the entire supply chain as they are the ones who bring orders and therefore are directly responsible for the business that a manufacturer would do. Demand drivers Infrastructure construction sector the major demand drivers. Some demand determinants Economic growth Industrial activity Real estate business Construction activity Investments in the core sector Factors and causes behind the successful flourishing of the cement industries in India Technological change: The government and the industries are upgrading the quality and the technology that are used in the process of production. New investment are in process that are sure to make a change in whole processing and the output of cement There are host of companies are merging together to make their capacity and the produce big and this would lead to a greater development in the cement production. The real estate market is much optimistic and hence this helps in the growth and the enhancement in the field of cement production and investments. Companies and the investors are spending more on the infrastructure of this sector. Various national programs are taken in like National Rural Employment Guarantee, Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Indira Aawas Yojana. Different Types of Cement There are different varieties of cement based on different compositions according to specific end uses, namely Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland Pozolona Cement, Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement, White Cement and Specialized Cement. The basic difference lies in the percentage of clinker used. [5] 1. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC): OPC, popularly known as grey cement Clinker 95% Gypsum 5% Other materials White cement is a variation of OPC and is used for decorative purposes like rendering of walls, flooring etc. It contains a very low proportion of iron oxide. The applications are cover dry-lean mixes, general-purpose ready-mixes, and even high strength pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete. 2. Portland Pozolona Cement (PPC): Portland pozzolana cement is Ordinary Portland Cement blended with pozzolanic materials (power-station fly ash, burnt clays, ash from burnt plant material or Siliceous earths), either together or separately. Portland clinker is ground with Gypsum and Pozzolanic materials which, though they do not have cementing properties in themselves, combine chemically with Portland cement in the presence of water to form extra strong cementing material which resists wet cracking, thermal cracking and has a high degree of cohesion and workability in concrete. Clinker 80% Pozzolana 15% Gypsum 5% It is cheaply manufactured because it uses fly ash/burnt clay/coal waste as the main ingredient. It has a lower heat of hydration, which helps in preventing cracks. 3. Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement (PBFSC): Portland blast-furnace slag cement contains up to 70 per cent of finely ground, granulated blast-furnace slag, a nonmetallic product consisting essentially of Silicates and Aluminum-silicates of Calcium. Slag brings with it the advantage of the energy invested in the slag making. Grinding slag for cement replacement takes only 25 per cent of the energy needed to manufacture Portland cement. Using slag cement to replace a portion of Portland cement in a concrete mixture is a useful method to make concrete better and more consistent. Portland blast-furnace slag cement has a lighter color, better concrete workability, easier finish ability, higher compressive and flexural strength, lower permeability, improved resistance to aggressive chemicals and more consistent plastic and hardened consistency. It has a heat of hydration even lower than PPC and is generally used in construction of dams and similar massive constructions. Clinker 45% Blast furnace slag 50% Gypsum 5% 4. White Cement: White Portland cement has essentially the same properties as gray cement, except for color, which is a very important quality control issue in the industry. It is manufactured using fuel oil (instead of coal) and with iron oxide content below 0.4% to ensure whiteness. Special cooling technique is used. It is used to enhance aesthetic value, in tiles and for flooring. White cement is much more expensive than grey cement. 5. Specialized Cement: Oil Well Cement: is made from clinker with special additives to prevent any porosity. Rapid Hardening Portland cement: It is similar to OPC, except that it is ground much finer, so that on casting, the compressible strength increases rapidly. 5 Source. www.acclimited.com Major players in cement industry 1) Associated Cement Companies Ltd (ACC) ACC Limited is Indias foremost cement manufacturer with a countrywide network of factories and marketing offices. Established in 1936, ACC has been a pioneer and trend-setter in cement and concrete technology.[5] ACC manufactures the following types of cement, in addition to which, it provides Bulk Cement and Ready Mix Concrete. Ordinary Portland Cements: 43 Grade Cement (OPC 43 Grade), 53 Grade Cement Blended Cements: Fly-ash based Portland Pozzolana Cement, Portland Slag Cement Table No.1- ACC plants 2) Birla Corp Table No.2- Birla cement plants 3) UltraTech UltraTech Cement Limited has an annual capacity of 52 million tones. It manufactures and markets Ordinary Portland Cement, Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement and Portland Pozzalana Cement. It also manufactures ready mix concrete (RMC). The company has 11 integrated plants, one white cement plant, one clinkerisation plant in UAE, 15 grinding units 11 in India, 2 in UAE, one in Bahrain and Bangladesh each and five terminals — four in India and one in Sri Lanka. UltraTech Cement is the countrys largest exporter of cement clinker. The export markets span countries around the Indian Ocean, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. UltraTechs subsidiaries are Dakshin Cements Limited, Harish Cements Limited, UltraTech Ceylinco (P) Limited and UltraTech Cement Middle East Investments Limited. [11] Table No.3- Ultratech cement plants The company has an annual capacity of 48.8 million tonnes, and manufactures and markets ordinary portland cement, portland blast furnace slag cement and portland pozzalana cement. 4) Ambuja Cements Ltd Ambuja Cements Ltd. (ACL) is one of the leading cement manufacturing companies in India. The Company, initially called Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd., was founded in 1983. The Company commenced cement production in 1986. The global cement major Holcim acquired management control of ACL in 2006. Holcim today holds little over 46% equity in ACL. The Company is currently known as Ambuja Cements Ltd. ACL has grown dynamically over the past decade. Its current cement capacity is about 25 million tones. The Company has five integrated cement manufacturing plants and eight cement grinding units across the country. ACL enjoys a reputation of being one of the most efficient cement manufacturers in the world. Its environment protection measures are on par with the finest in the country. It is one of the most profitable and innovative cement companies in India. [9] Table No.4- Ambuja cement plants 5) Jaiprakash Associates Limited Jaypee group is the 3rd largest cement producer in the country. The groups cement facilities are located in the Satna Cluster (U.P), which has one of the highest cement production growth rates in India. The group produces special blend of Portland Pozzolana Cement under the brand name ‘Jaypee Cement (PPC). Its Cement Division currently operates modern, computerized process control cement plants with an aggregate capacity of 21.30 MnTPA. The company is in the midst of capacity expansion of its cement business in Northern, Southern, Central, Eastern and Western parts of the country and is slated to be 37.55 MnTPA by FY12 (expected) with Captive Thermal Power Plants totaling 702MW.[7] Table No.5- Jaypee cement plants 6) Binani Cement Binani Cement Limited is the flagship subsidiary of Binani Industries Limited (BIL), representing the Braj Binani Group. The cement business started operations in 1997, in Sirohi District, Rajasthan. The Companys product portfolio includes Ordinary Portland Cement, Pozzolona Portland Cement and Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBFS). [10] Binani Cement Ltd. produces cement of two grades: Grade 43 Grade 53 PPC (Portland Pozzolana Cement) The Binani Cement Plant is in Pindwara, District Sirohi, Rajasthan 2Source. http://www.ibef.org/industry/cement.aspx 3Source.http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/industry-infrastructure/industrial-sectors/Cement.htm 4Source. http://www.reportlinker.com/p0243979/Industry-Analysis-Cement.html About Lafarge Cement Lafarge is the leader in building materials; with a turnover of $15.88 billion in 2009. It has been in operation since way back in history in 1833; when it started as a limestone mining company. But as far as the Indian market goes, Lafarge actually began operations in 1999. And then began a slew of expansion plans in the Indian market; combined with a number of insightful, and at times, path breaking marketing initiatives. Lafarge currently has three cement plants in India: two integrated plants in the state of Chhattisgarh and a grinding station in Jharkhand. Total cement production capacity of Lafarge in the Indian market currently stands at around 5.5 million tons. Lafarge India produces different types of cements like Portland Slag Cement, Portland Pozzolana Cement. The company is a leading cement player in Eastern India. Its brands Lafarge Cement and Lafarge Concreto Cement enjoy high brand equity here and are amongst the highest priced brands. Lafarge is committed to the India n market and has firm plans to expand its capacity in India. Lafarge enjoys high brand equity through its different brands; Lafarge Concreto, Lafarge Duragard and Lafarge Cement Lafarge Concreto Lafarge Concreto has been launched by Lafarge to meet the need of homebuilders in India for truly premium all-purpose cement. Concreto was developed in Lafarges state-of-the art laboratories, which are extensively networked with its Central Research Institute in France. The company has leveraged its combined know-how of more than 170 years and its experience across 75 countries to develop this unique product. Concreto is a specially engineered, premium quality ‘all purpose cement. It can be used for varied applications like roofing, foundations, beams, columns, plastering and brickwork. It is specially formulated to provide a denser concrete mix than normal cements. Concreto is characterized by: High ultimate strength due to the addition of highly reactive silica containing more than 95% glass content. Enhanced durability due to optimum pore refinement and consequently denser concrete matrix this improves the impermeability of the concrete. Exceptionally high resistance to chemical attack (sulphates and acids). Protects reinforcement from corrosion. Reduction of structural cracks due to lower heat of hydration than ordinary cements. Low heat of hydration and higher resistance against alkali-reactive aggregates. Cement Plants Lafarge currently hasfour cement plants in India: two integrated plants in the state of Chhattisgarh,onegrinding station each in Jharkhand West Bengal. Total cement production capacity of Lafarge in the Indian market currently stands at around 6.5 million tons. Table No.6- Lafarge cement plants Segmentation Cement is a bulk commodity so the industry is mainly product based. Segmentation is based on its various products i.e. Portland pozzolona cement, quick hardening cement and ready mix cement. Business to business (B2B) Cement industry deals with real estate, construction companies and other institution. For example Real estate sector Business to consumer (B2C) Cement industry deals with individual customers. For example Individual home builders Industry focuses on relationship approach, so as to build and maintain trust centered relationship. The cement Industry is mostly done through mass marketing, as it doesnt have any customized product for any specific group of customers. Marketing Mix The 4 Ps of marketing mix comprises of: Product Place Price Promotion Figure No.2 Marketing Mix 1) Product Cement industry has various ranges of products. For example: 2

Caroline in Jane Smileys A Thousand Acres :: Smiley Thousand Acres Essays

Caroline in A Thousand Acres It is really striking that a novel in which bodies of people and bodies of land (and, intertextually, bodies of text) are so central, creates a character that is so distinctly "unbodied": Caroline Cook. Nevertheless, it is in keeping with traditional and patriarchal interpretations of Cordelia's character in King Lear: a paragon of purity and transcendence. While her sisters' bodies are thoroughly described and, not least, imbued with meaning, Caroline is always described in terms of her business-like " 'take-me-seriously-or-I'll-sue-you' demeanor" (13), her expensive clothes and assertive actions. She is in fact described like a man, a trait first exposed when she as a child says that she's not going to be a farmwife when she grows up, but a farmer (61), then when Ginny has her moment of insight toward the end, and suddenly sees everybody clearly for what they are: "her eyes darting from one face to another, calculating, always calculating. [...] She climbs into Daddy's lap, and her gaze slithers around the room, looking to see if we have noticed how he prefers her." (306) She is still unbodied here, described in terms of eyes and mind. This is metaphorically a male domain; in Western thought, the gaze is traditionally male, categorizing external reality in order to have power over it by utilizing reason. Nor, of course, is it incidental that Caroline is the educated one, emphasizing further her belonging to the "male" realm. Whereas Rose's "man-ness" is based on a destructive rage, Caroline's is based on cold calculation, therefore she is more successful playing by the rules of the patriarchy. It must be remembered, however, that she is able to use the system because she has been shielded from its negative side. Ginny and Rose have always protected her from Larry's anger, incest, and complete suppression of their own identities. While Larry signifies so many things to the elder sisters, not least the horribly intimate -familiar- memories of incest, Caroline can say about him that he looks "as familiar as a father should look, no more, no less". In this, as Ginny replies, she is lucky. (362) Of course, saying that Caroline is like a man signals complicity with gender-stereotypes. She is a positive character in that she is assertive and self-contained, as when she criticizes Larry's idea to divide the farm.

General Motors/UAW :: essays research papers

GM/UAW What Can We Expect? In the past, General Motors (GM) has been the top seller of the three major automakers and had one of the strongest unions in the United States. Today, GM is decreasing in rank due to other automakers. The moral among the members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) is diminishing. If things continue on this current path, GM may be of the pass. Even with all the discounts GM is advertising, this may not be enough to pull them out of their financial burden. Could the answers to GM worries be the UAW? The UAW was organized in the late 1930’s. The purpose of the organization was to protect the workers rights. GM was not in agreement with the workers forming a union. After much debate, the workers staged a sit down strike that lasted about six weeks. This tremendously affected GMs’ profits and they decided to give recognition to the UAW as having the right to represent workers who are union members. The UAW and GM are both strong organizations in their own rights. They must put aside their past disagreements and come together to help GM out of this financial situation. GM has threatened to make cuts on their own, causing breakdown in the relationship with the union. UAW is willing to make concessions, but not to the extent of what GM is demanding. UAW needs to open a contract talk before 2007, in order for GM to survive. Without a GM there will be no UAW, and UAW needs to remember that. GM and UAW seem to be playing a dangerous game that can destroy many people’s lively hood. GM is hurting financially and instead of asking for help from the UAW, GM prefer to threaten them about health care costs. GM chairman, G. Richard Wagoner Jr., said recently that he prefers to collaborate with the UAW on health care issues rather than a fight. Mr. Wagoner stated that he would press the issues for health care cost cuts with or without the union’s approval. It is crystal clear that we need to achieve a significant reduction in the health care cost disadvantage and it needs to be done now (Welch, 2005). GM is seeking to slash health care cost and the stakes are massive. Billion in potential savings for GM if their demands are met, but if not GM will have lost billions if the UAW strikes.

Running Head:Factors to Evaluate in Making a Location Decision

In industry and commerce one of the most critical aspect of the future success of any business entity, is the strategic location where the business is supposed to be set up. With the advent of technology, increased competition, cost cutting measures and advancement in business infrastructure, the decision making process of identifying the most ideal locations to set up a business has become more complicated and dynamic. (MacCarthy B.L. & Atthirawong W. 2003). The location decision process is an intricate process that involves the systematic feasibility study of a location with the view of establishing the advantages that would accrue to the organization’s locality. The assessment of a particular location is an assignment that the enterprise should thoroughly conduct because it will determine its survival The site where such a business is located is of central importance because it determines not only the competitiveness of the enterprise but its production and overhead capacities as well. Therefore any organization willing to progress has got to evaluate and invest heavily in the location decision process. (MacCarthy, B.L., & Atthirawong W. 2003) It is important before discussing the factors that influence location decision to understand that various industries differ in the way they assess these factors. Multinational organizations setting up bases in foreign countries will always have different methodology from an organization setting up base at local level. The service industry’s evaluation program will also differ from a manufacturing entity; whereas the service industry’s major criteria would be the proximity to the market and the consumers’ ability to buy, the manufacturing entity would be different. A manufacturing plants main focus besides the availability of the market would generally be cost cutting factors. These paper is going to address factors that would be important for an international firm looking for a location in new international market.There are various factors that such an organization is supposed to pay particular attention to. These factors influence the ability of the organization/industry to achieve its goal and mission. A location decision considers both economic and non-economic factors, which are sometimes referred to as financial and non-financial considerations. The first step towards making a correct and comprehensive decision is started off by defining the problem. The recognition that there is a need for a new location, which is necessitated by such factors as: New competition Business expansion Change in customer needs When the problem or the reason for looking for a new location has been assessed and defined then the next important stage is to critically examine the various factors that are supposed to be evaluated in identifying the location of the enterprise. This factors are categorized into two; Economic factors and non economic factors Economic Factors Economic factors will determine the profitability of the enterprise. Under economic factors costs that need to be evaluated are production costs, which would include the cost of energy (electricity), cost of raw materials, cost of taxation and wage rate within the new location. Wage rates on the other hand will enable the company determine among other things level of production, the payroll budget and consequently the cost of the end product (Bognanno M. F. Et al 2005). Procurement costs also play a vital role in selecting the site because they determine the total cost of the end product or service. Procurement costs include cost of sourcing of raw materials, cost of transportation and other logistic issues. Distribution costs determine the penetration level of the goods or services that are being offered by the enterprise. The market accessibility is the key feature when assessing the market and would include the infrastructure development within the specified location, mode of transportation and the number of distribution channels.   In most international companies the greatest factor remains the market size at the host country and the accessibility to other lucrative markets. (Spee R. & Wim D.2003) Transport and infrastructure are key element to consider when evaluating the location.   These two are important factors especially for the service industry that need to stay close to their market. Infrastructure may include such aspects as level of technological integration; the standard of the road network or rail network, the accessibility to such institutions like banks and other credit points. The telecommunication systems also are part of the infrastructure framework and such factors like Internet, telephone, mobile phones and Information technology advancement determine how well the enterprise will be able to coordinate its various activities. (Spee R. & Wim D.2003) Non-monetary/non-economic factors These are factors that do not necessarily have any fixed monetary value yet they contribute significantly towards the enterprises productivity. Top of this list are government and political issues. Policies developed by respective governments determine how well the organization is able to fit in the particular environment. Number of trade licenses, patent protection laws, industrial safety regulation, the tax regime, legal settlement process, environmental laws and so on are some of the considerations that the company needs to consider. (Talley-Seijn, M.2004) Labor characteristics are another non-economic factor that affects the location decision. The characteristics of the labor determine how fast the company will be able to fit within a particular environment. The availability of human management resources and specific skills will enable the company to conduct various production and management processes in the most efficient manner. Availability of technical know-how, experienced personnel and well-equipped labor force is the key driver to how the entity will conduct its business. (Brush, T. H.1999) Government stability is very important for any organization. Stability can be looked in terms of how the government handles transition from one regime to another, its relationship with the neighboring countries and its governance abilities. In democratic countries this is a major factor to consider because the stability of the said government directly affects strategic plans that the enterprise may come up with. (Brush, T. H.1999) REFERENCES Bognanno, Mario F., Michael P. Keane, and Donghoon Yang. (2005):   â€Å"The Influence of  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wages and Industrial Relations Environments on the Production Location  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Decisions of U.S. Multinational Corporations.† Industrial and Labor Relations  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Review 58, no. 2 Brush, Thomas H (1999) â€Å"plant location decision in multinational manufacturing firms: An empirical analysis of international business and manufacturing strategy perspectives, The†. Production and Operations Management. MacCarthy, B.L., and W. Atthirawong. (2003): â€Å"Factors Affecting Location Decisions in  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   International Operations—A Delphi Study.† International Journal of Operations  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   and Production Management 23, no. 7: 794–828. Spee, Roel, and Wim Douw. (September 2003): â€Å"Cost-Reduction Location Strategies.†Ã‚   Journal of Corporate  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Real Estate 6, no. 1 Talley-Seijn, Margaret. (July 2004): â€Å"30 Years of Location Strategies.† Plants, Sites and Parks 31, no. 3: 26–29.