“Non-Compete Agreements in Action – Microsoft V. Google”

â€Å"Non-Compete Agreements in Action – Microsoft v. Google† Facts: †¢Controversial documents †¢Dr. Kai-Fu Lee joined Microsoft in 1998 to run company operations in China †¢Knowledge of company trade secrets †¢Quit Microsoft because he was moving to Google †¢When Lee was hired Microsoft made him sign a non-compete agreement †¢Microsoft sued Google and Lee over the non-compete agreement Issue: Does Microsoft have the right to have a non-compete agreement with Dr. Kai-Fu Lee? Discussion: In 2000, Microsoft moved to protect itself by requiring Dr. Kai-Fu Lee to sign a non-compete agreement. Notwithstanding this agreement, Lee quit in July, 2005 by notifying Microsoft that he was moving to Google, which resulted in a recent lawsuit that was filled by Microsoft against Google. Dr. Lee joined Microsoft in 1998 and was in charge of creating and running Microsoft branch operations in China. While at Microsoft Lee worked on Microsoft’s speech recognition system and was responsible for the overall development of the MSN Internet search program. In short, he has personal knowledge of company trade secrets including technology developments as well as business and marketing planning. The agreement that Microsoft required Lee to sign in 2000 was to forgo employment with any direct competitor of Microsoft. Conclusion: Non-Compete Agreements are controversial documents that restrict a person’s right to work with competitors of a former employer. The usefulness of one such non-compete agreement is on exhibit in a recent lawsuit filed by Microsoft against Google. In August of 2008 Microsoft and Google came to agreement after a Washington Court ruled that Microsoft has no right to require employees to sign non-Compete agreements because California has a Law called the Right to Work.

Is Ainu similar to Japanese in terms of structure and/or phonology?

Located at the northernmost portion of Japan and almost proxemic to Russia, the island of Hokkaido is home to a Japanese ethnic minority called the Ainu.   Currently, although the Ainu is a distinguished ethnicity, they are generally considered Japanese.   Historically, Hokkaido was Ainu territory until Japan became a full jurisdiction of Japan in   1879 (Sugimoto, 61).Prior to the establishment of a Japanese government in Hokkaido and even some years after the regime, the Ainu maintained a lifestyle that was distinctively their own; even over the new century, there have had problems in terms of the recognition of the Ainu as indigenous peoples instead of Japanese.Culturally, the Ainu culture is different from Japan although due to the diminishment of the population of the decades, in addition to the assimilation of the Ainu descents to the Japanese culture, at some point the Ainu seems to be in threat in terms of maintaining its own identity (Sugimoto).An apparent distinctive cultural element of the Ainu is their language; all in all, when it comes to examining the Ainu language, it is categorized as genetically language-isolate (Shibatani, 5).   Although studies on the Ainu language have demonstrated discussions as to whicg language it would be considered to have a close proximity, interestingly, its similarities with the Japanese language is minimal.This is an interesting point given that even though Hokkaido is an island north of Japan, the Ainu's lingual relationship with the societies that surround it — Japan, Korea, Russia — have been found to be still distinguishingly distant.A Background on the AinuIn tracing the Ainu of Japan, this group's roots have not been fully determined mainly because of their distant relationship from the peoples of its geographic proximity.   It was found, however, that based on genetic testings the Ainu had relations with the groups from Tibet and in the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean.Another theo ry was based on tests that showed genetic similarities with those from Mongolia and the Russian Far East.   This can be attributed to the geographical history in which the Japanese archipelago was once a part of the Asiatic mainland (Levin & Michael).Culture-wise the indigenous Ainu was also different from the Japanese; in a sense, evem prior to the establishment of the Japanese regime in the 1870s, much of the Ainu's interaction were among the indigenous populations from Sakhalin and the Kurile island were found to be more evident (Sugimoto).Given the geographical roots of the Ainu and the location of Hokkaido, the Ainu's way of life demonstrated hunting, fishing, and gathering activities, in addition to seasonal lifestyles reflective of surviving the winter months.In terms of its religion and beliefs, the Ainu is also different from the Japanese; hence, culturally, even these two have little or nothing in common.   This therefore further supports the theories that the Ainu lan guage is essentially different from the Japanese.A Discussion on the Ainu LanguageThe Ainu language is not only exclusive in the island of Hokkaido where the Ainu people are more known to be found; in fact, the Ainu was also distributed in certain parts of Japan such as in Northern Honshu, parts of Sakhalin and Kurile Islands.   The language was therefore spoken in these parts of the country but it remained contained among the Ainu communities.The Ainu language is identified to also have its dialects: the Ainu-Hokkaido, Ainu-Sikhalin and the Ainu-Kurile. From these dialects were distinctions were also identified, particular through the differences in the phonology lexicon.However, there was also the noted degree of variation in terms of the similarities and differences among these dialects.   For instance, according to Shibatani (7), there is a great difference between the Ainu language in Hokkaido and in Sakhalin and in the syllable structures such as CV and CVC in Hokkaido Ain u whereas in Sakhalin the syllable structures are CVC, CV, CVV (long vowel) (Shibatani, 8).  Another important feature in the Ainu language is in its phonology; as Shibatani (12-13) mentioned, the language avoids the the use of vowel sequences, hence, the tendency is that the second vowels are usually devocalized.Comparing Ainu Language with the Japanese LanguageGenerally, a comparison between the Ainu language and Japanese is explained by Shibatani as follows (xiv):â€Å"There is no strong evidence suggesting that a genetic relationship between Ainu and Japanese, and structurally the two differ significantly.   Ainu, especially classic Ainu, is a polysynthetic language involving incorporated nouns, incorporated adverbs, affixal forms of reflexive and reciprocal morphemes, as well as personal affixes agreeing with subject and object.Japanes also shows a high degree of synthesis in its verbal morphology, but involving neither personal affixes or noun incorporation of the Ainu ty pe, it shows a qualitative difference from the Ainu structure.†Ã‚   As previously mentioned, the Ainu language is classified as language-isolate; this means that the language does not have a traceable association or relation with any other language.   Many studies in the past have attempted to identify the closest relative of the Ainu language, but mostly, the Ainu has remained unique.Since that the language was spoken only among the Ainu and that the next generation Ainus were no longer educated with the language because of the discrimination they experienced in Japan, the Ainu language can be considered to be threatened to near-extinction.In fact, there are only a certain number of individuals who are noted to speak the language, although given the fact that the Ainu culture was just recently acknowledged by the Japanese Parliament as a distinct indigenous culture, the interest in the culture and in the language have been on the rise for the purpose of reviving it (Akulov) .

Essay Romeo and Juliet

ESSAY â€Å"The older you are, the wiser you get. † is a well known proverb that provides insight in human tendencies to be impulsive, perfunctory and hasty. Part of maturing as a human being comes from understanding a predicament, deducing a solution and carefully reasoning whether there will be any consequences and if they would be worth it. Impulsive acts flaunt incompetence and immaturity. Albeit embarrassing regardless, there are often more resilient consequences than merely looking foolish for acting in manners that jeopardize goals and contravene strategies of success.Failing to analyze any situation appropriately in the heat of the moment incurs undesirable outcomes such as a punishment of some sort or in some cases, death. This is the message that William Shakespeare tries to convey in his infamous play, Romeo and Juliet. This play revolves around characters from two rival families that elicit their deaths and that of several others due to their impulsive personalitie s. Romeo, Juliet and Tybalt each let a particular emotion cloud their judgement, causing them to make decisions with no prior thoughts of consideration for consequences.Their lack of will to resist and control their desires becomes the cause of their demise. When experiencing certain emotions, one's thoughts are clouded and it becomes difficult for them to make rational decisions. Romeo is a very impulsive character. It's as if he suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. He tends to over react and his impulsivity puts him in several difficult situations before it kills him. Firstly, Romeo is very dramatic. His feelings are superficial and shallow.This is established at the very beginning of the play when Romeo says: â€Å"Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will! Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here? † . (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 165) Romeo dramatically muses about his â€Å"love† for Rosaline to Benvolio f or a lengthy period before he abruptly changes the topic of discussion momentarily to where they will eat dinner.This indicates an impulsive and whimsical tendency. This quotation helps enforce character development into play, allowing the reader to infer the lead character's major personality traits and flaws. Albeit at a very small and irrelevant scale, Romeo's tendency to act over-dramatic puts himself in state of mental distress unnecessarily. Secondly, Romeo's impetuosity is made very unambiguous and perceptive to the reader during the famous â€Å"balcony scene† in the play. The following conversation takes place between Romeo and Juliet in Act 2, Scene 2: ROMEO: With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do that dares love attempt; Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me. JULIET: If they do see thee, they will murder thee. ROMEO: Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye Than twenty of their swords: lo ok thou but sweet, And I am proof against their enmity. (Act 2, Scene 2, Line 65-70) Romeo proclaims his love for a woman he met less than 24 hours ago, making his impulsivity indisputable. He displays complete disregard for the safety of his life by being on Capulet property just to catch a glimpse of a girl – Capulet's only daughter and prize – he met the evening earlier. His very presence in such a place at midnight is impulsive on its own, but to claim to not value his life in lengthy, redundant romantic speeches is careless, immature and unacceptably lackadaisical.Fortunately, Romeo escapes the property unseen. If he had been caught, he would have been killed. This shows Romeo's poor decision making skills, his disregard for carefully choosing his decisions and how they could have gotten him in danger. Lastly, Romeo gets himself killed because, yet again, he does not reflect on his actions before executing them. In Act 5, Scene 1, Romeo says to Apothecary,  "Let me have a dram of poison†¦ † (Act 5, Scene 1, Line 60).Romeo utters this statement in severe melancholy upon hearing of Juliet's apparent death in Verona. Him hastily travelling to a druggist emphasizes on Romeo's tendency to overreact and not give any apparent thought to his own life or his future. At this point, Romeo's character traits are made very clear to the reader. In conclusion, careless behaviour is potentially cataclysmic for the person impulsive and the people around him. This is especially true when an individual allows an emotion to cloud their judgement.Since Romeo allowed himself to get attached to Juliet quickly, lustfully he found himself in a miserable position where Juliet, Lady Montague, Mercutio, Tybalt and Paris die because he impulsively decided to fall in love with a member of the Capulet family without thinking of the long term consequences and in his grief he decided to take his own life mindlessly. Similar to Romeo, Juliet is also depicted as an impulsive character who neglects rational thinking when flooded with emotions. This is made particularly evident during the balcony scene when Juliet says, Three words, dear Romeo, and good-night indeed. If that thy bent of love be honourable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrowBy one that I’ll procure to come to thee Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite, And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay And follow thee my lord throughout the world† . (Act 2, Scene 1, Line 145). This quotation testifies to Juliet's callow and childlike decision to consider a boy she met hours ago as her husband. Marriage is genuine and a huge step in someone's life.It is brought together by hundreds of tiny threads which are sewn by the couple over years, not within a few hours. The idea of falling in love, the lust for Romeo and the excitement of rebellion causes Juliet to not think rationally. The lust she feels causes her to follow her heart rather than her mi nd. The man she consents to marrying is part of a rival family and pursuing marriage with Romeo would be redundant and dangerous as another brawl would break out between the two families before they would succumb to the marriage. Had she thought rationally and considered the consequences beforehand rather than acting impulsively she ould have saved lives of many others, including her own. Fortunately for Romeo, she wasn't caught conversing with him while he was under the balcony. Impulsivity is a repercussion of impatience. Patience is a virtue and in this case, a life saving one. However, although short-term trouble was avoided successfully, one is not always guaranteed to be so lucky. This is demonstrated later in the play when Juliet says to Friar Lawrence, â€Å"Be not so long to speak. I long to die if what thou speak’st speak not of remedy† (Act 4, Scene 1, Line 65). Juliet is devastated when Lady Capulet forces her to make Paris her mate for life.In desperate se arch for a solution, she goes to Friar with a dagger and announces her plan of suicide, blackmailing him of proceeding with the aforementioned plan if Friar doesn't give her an alternative. Friar suggests taking a coma-inducing potion which will fake her death, after which she could elope with Romeo. In utter incoherence and mad impulsivity, she takes the potion without speaking with Romeo. Relying on Friar and a messenger to give Romeo the message, she irresponsibly fabricates a scene of death and gets put in the Capulet crypt. Upon Romeo's arrival there, he has a confrontation with Paris.They duel till Paris's death, after which the derangement of the whole situation takes control of Romeo's senses, causing him to drink poison and die. Her impulsivity is not left unpunished this time as she causes the death of two people close to her and the death of Lady Montague later on. Failing to think the consequences beforehand causes the person and the people around him/her to suffer menta l or physical injuries to potentially huge extents. Lastly, Juliet's impulsivity is made absolute when she mindlessly decides to take her life. In Act 5, Juliet's final words testify that her final impulsive action is detrimental.She says, â€Å"Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die† (Act 5, Scene 3, Line 69). Upon witnessing Romeo's deceased body laying lifelessly next to an empty flask of poisonous drug, Juliet grabs Romeo's dagger and stabs herself to her demise. She does not think about the consequences of killing herself for a boy she met less than a week ago. She sees no escape other than immediately killing herself, leaving the rest of her life unlived. Therefore, in conclusion, inability to appropriately weigh their options makes people take decisions impulsively and impulsivity can be injurious.In Juliet's case, Romeo and Paris paid for her impulsivity and the deaths of those were indirectly related to th ose of others such as Lady Montague, Mercutio and Tybalt. Tybalt is a character from the Capulet family who, like Romeo and Juliet, allows emotions to dominate and overpower his judgements which result in impulsive actions with fatal consequences. However, unlike Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt has trouble controlling his anger. His easily perturbed temper leads to his desires of resorting to violence. Although a different emotion than lust, anger is an unwanted emotion regardless, failing to repress which has inevitable consequences.Tybalt's impulsivity is first hinted upon when he says, â€Å"It fits when such a villian is a guest. I'll not endure him. † (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 75). Tybalt is completely enraged by Romeo's presence at the Capulet ball to the point at which he wishes to duel him. With anger clouding his judgements, he doesn't consider the Prince's warning the following morning. Had he not been told to quite down, he would have confronted Romeo, perturbing the peace. H is impulsivity and inability to control his emotions when aggravated is his biggest strength while being his biggest weakness as well.This quotation is significant, because of its adequate approach to character development. Furthermore, this quote helps the reader infer the message of the play itself: impulsivity is more or less masochistic and inability to repress emotions to a reasonable level can be fatal. Secondly, another impulsive decision taken by Tybalt occurs in Scene 1 when he says, â€Å"What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee: Have at thee, coward! † (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 65) In this quotation, Tybalt exclaims openly about his hatred for Montagues.His anger speaks for him, attracting trouble with those hateful words. His inability to control himself attracts the prince, getting them all in trouble. In a way, this incident is the guarantee of his near death. If Romeo hadn't killed him for killing Mercutio later on, t he Prince would have had him executed, because of the warning he gives after Tybalt disrupts the peace by starting a brawl. Lastly, Tybalt's impulsivity gets himself killed, becoming further evidence to how impulsivity gets you in trouble. Tybalt says, â€Å"Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries.That thou hast don’t me, therefore turn and draw† (3:1:63, 64). Tybalt taunts Romeo, hoping to initiate a duel for his anger to be drained. He seeks duels, never wanting to consider talking about the issues. It is due to this, that he finds himself murdered. Had he chosen to consider alternatives with a calm mind, he would have saved his own life and that of Mercutio. Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.It is a necessary skill, which becomes more troublesome the longer one chooses to not master it. In conclusion, strong emotions, desires and urges come to everyone. Learning to be able to adequately control them to a safe degree is a necessity. Romeo, Juliet and Tybalt all act impulsively because they are unable to repress their emotions. Romeo's lust for Juliet causes him to act recklessly, risking his life for a woman he barely knows. Since he allowed himself to become infatuated with Juliet, he found himself very lonely at her apparent death.He saw no other option other than that to kill himself. His impulsivity was fatal as he was too foolish to repress his emotions. Juliet, being as foolish as Romeo returned his love. Lustfully, she also allowed herself to get attached too quickly. She foolishly accepted Romeo's proposal, risking her family's name and honour for a boy as unprepared and unsuitable for a mate in a realistic world as a newborn. Had she been smart and not returned Romeo's love like Rosaline, her life would have been saved. Lastly, Tyb alt also made several foolish decisions.Despite of his anger proving harmful, he never practiced the advice he was preached: to not disrupt peace amongst the public. Making several impulsive decisions like starting a brawl in the street for something that could have been easily apologized for and killing Mercutio, Tybalt ensures his final destination. If all three characters were more mature and weighed their options before making any decision, they each would be alive at the end of the play. However, that would have made a boring play, wouldn't it have?

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

HIPPA - Essay Example Reading current newsletters and journals would be pivotal since it provides update information on the new trends. The research would also encompass investigating how various related companies or organizations employ the HIPAA rules and regulations (Luxton, Kayl & Mishkind, 2012). While at this, I will be keen on the strengths and weaknesses of these organizations to ensure that the new practice redress any errors. Besides, personnel in the organization must also be interviewed to know their perceptions or attitudes towards the new policy (Luxton, Kayl & Mishkind, 2012). I would also study how the organization has attempted to comply with the HIPAA. All these will provide a good head start. I will be able to strategize a plan for the application of the HIPAA. Also, in order to ensure compliance, I would advise the physician about the security standards of HIPAA. They demand that they have the obligation of securing the patient electronic medical information (Luxton, Kayl & Mishkind, 2012). It should be done by using a series of procedures and mechanisms that aim at restoring the confidentiality, availability and integrity of the information. That is to say, that the physician is accountable of the medical information about the patient. In a case of any irregularity, the physician will be held responsible (Luxton, Kayl & Mishkind, 2012). The new medical practice location should be in a place enough security that will provide ample protection for both the electronic media and other documents. The information here is the one that is collected, maintained, used and transmitted by the physician (Luxton, Kayl & Mishkind, 2012). The general practitioner must know that the more discrete the new practice is regarding the medical information of pa tients, the more trustworthy it will become. HIPAA controls the manner in which a physician can use and disclose the health

Country Report on United Arab Emirates Research Paper

Country Report on United Arab Emirates - Research Paper Example The government of United Kingdom decided to end the treaty with Qatar, Bahrain, and the seven Trucial Sheikhdoms it took into its fortification. These nine states tried to form their own union of the Arab Emirates, but by the middle of 1971 they failed to disagree on the terms of amalgamation. In the August of1971, Bahrain became an independent nation and Qatar the following September. On December 1, 1971, the Trucial Sheikhdoms-British treaty expired and they became fully self-governing. In the December of 1971, six of these states united to become the United Arab Emirates. Ras al-Khaimah joined these states in the beginning of 1972. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s leader, was elected by the Supreme Council as Dubai’s leader and President. The post of Prime Minister was designated to Sheikh Rashid bin Said al Maktoum. Geography: The United Arab Emirates is a confederation of seven emirates, each of which is ruled by a hereditary emir, and a single nation al president. The member emirates are Ajman, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah, Fujairah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. The United Arab Emirates is located in Southwest Asia and provides a border to Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, between Saudi Arabia and Oman. It is in a tactical site along northern advancements to the Strait of Hormuz, an important trade point for the world’s crude oil. United Arab Emirates is situation between 51 ° and 56 °25? eastern longitude and between 22 °50? and 26 ° northern latitude. In the northwest, a 19-kilometer border is aligned with Qatar; in the west, south east and south, it shares 1 530 kilometer border with Saudi Arabia; in the... The United Arab Emirates is a confederation of seven emirates, each of which is ruled by a hereditary emir, and a single national president. The member emirates are Ajman, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah, Fujairah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. The United Arab Emirates is located in Southwest Asia and provides a border to Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, between Saudi Arabia and Oman. It is in a tactical site along northern advancements to the Strait of Hormuz, an important trade point for the world’s crude oil. United Arab Emirates is situation between 51 ° and 56 °25†² eastern longitude and between 22 °50†² and 26 ° northern latitude. In the northwest, a 19-kilometer border is aligned with Qatar; in the west, south east and south, it shares 1 530 kilometer border with Saudi Arabia; in the northeast ad southeast it shares a 450-kilometer border with Oman. Even today, the land border it shares with Qatar at Khawr al Udayd is in dispute. The whole area of United Arab Emirates is about 83,600 square kilometers (almost about the area of Maine). Even today, the country’s exact size is not known because of doubtful alleges of many islands of the Persian Gulf. Since there is lack of accurate information on the actual size of several of these islands, and also about many boundaries of land, particularly with Saudi Arabia; the size of United Arab Emirates is still not decided yet. The largest emirate of UAE is Abu Dhabi which covers 87 percent of the total area of United Arab Emirates.

Gender Disparities In Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest Essay

Gender Disparities In Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest - Essay Example Women such as Cecily, Gwendolen and Ophelia are a good example of that. It is clearly seen that those Women are being taken advantage of or are being forced to do something, in order to benefit other personage. This paper will review this statement. A common undertone of Victorian society was how women were seen as fragile and cowardly things and should be treated differently (more gently) than men. â€Å"My dear fellow, the truth isnt quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!† (Wilde, 236). In this quote, Jack explains how women are incapable of handling the truth and thus justifies why he should not feel bad about lying to them. Jack constantly lies to Gwendolen, referring to her as a nice, sweet girl, putting her to a lower class than he is. He justifies this by thinking he is protecting her from the outside world. Gender disparity plays out with major undertones in marriage as demonstrated by Wilde. The ability to choose who and when to marry is a good example of the inequalities between the men and women in Victorian society. â€Å"I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.† (Wilde, 1) Jack sees the marriage as necessary for his social standings, impressing other members of the class. Marx sees society as only in classes, and he defines these classes by the amount of capital. The decision to marry is a normal aspect of a man’s life. â€Å"Lady Bracknell; Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact.† (Wilde, 172). When Cecily tells Lady Bracknell that she is engaged to Earnest, Lady Bracknell tells Cecily her vision. Lady Bracknell, like many in that society, puts woman lower in social class. From this statement, we see th at Lady Bracknell gives the man the main

Pharmacology Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pharmacology - Case Study Example Applicable to patients who were diagnosed with hypertension, OConnell (2014: 12) pointed out the idea that â€Å"calcium channel blockers† should be given to those with African origin. Since the patient is an African man, the administration of â€Å"calcium channel blockers† is much better as compared to Maxzide 37.5/25 mg each morning. As such, the best option to improve CF’s blood pressure is to change the patient’s current medication to calcium channel blockers and ACE inhibitors (i.e. Lotrel – amlodipine and benzepril, Teczem – diltiazem and enalapril, or Lexxel – felodipine and enalapril) (Makani et al., 2011). Calcium channel blockers can effectively reduce the patient’s blood pressure by purposely dilating the arteries (Elliott & Ram, 2011). The main reason behind the need to combine the use of calcium channel blockers with ACE inhibitor is not only to increase its effectiveness in treating hypertension but also to prevent the risks of developing peripheral edema caused by the use of calcium channel blocker monotherapy (Makani et al., 2011). The following are the initial dosage of each alternative medication: BMI between 30 to 34 is classified as â€Å"obese 1† whereas BMI between 35 to 40 is classified as either â€Å"obese II or III† (University of Vermont, 2015). The fact that the patient’s BMI is 32 strongly suggests that the patient is obese. To prevent the risks of developing serious organ damage (i.e. stroke or heart failure); patient teaching should focus on the need to encourage the patient to change or modify his lifestyle. In general, BP of more than 140/90 is classified as â€Å"Stage 1† hypertension (OConnell, 2014: 12). Given the fact that obesity is one of the possible causes of hypertension (OConnell, 2014), patient teaching should include weight control through proper diet and

The explotation of slavery from colonial times to 1877 Essay

The explotation of slavery from colonial times to 1877 - Essay Example Slavery was a problem in the world from its birth. People who are sold, then asked to work ruthlessly and do not have any rights of their own are known as slaves. To build up the economy of America they needed people who could work according to what they required and thus at this time the African people were targeted and used as slaves. By the sixteenth century the use of these servants had become common and this made a way for the Africans to enter America. Agreements were made with these slaves, which stated that they would be bound to work for their master for some years. And after the specified period of time these slaves were set free. These were known as the contracted or indentured servants. During this era many of the African people who were bound with their masters for some years got free and started working as traders or land owners. At this time there was a greed for more land and a stabilized economy and thus this raised the demand graph of the slaves in America. At this time the slaves of Africa became popular and were highly charged for their services. Most of the Southern America needed workers for the plantations of rice, tobacco, cotton etc. These slaves were also used for other purposes such as crafting and personal servants. While on the other hand in Northern America these slaves were mostly used in trade, factories and farms. The demand of the slaves in America grew by a very significant rate and by the 17th century there were an estimated 180,000 African slaves working on the American soil. Sooner this number increased even further and in some states the black slaves consumed most of the population of the state. In the sixteenth century states like Massachusetts made new laws which made oppression as lawful servitude. This worsened the conditions of the Africans who were living in the American soil. They thus turned into chattel slaves who could be sold and purchased only by their owners. The people from Africa were known for their work in mining farming agriculture and other skills. People from Portugal were the first to start slave trading. Sudan was the basic area where slaves could be found. The wars which took place between different tribes in Africa gave way to the selling of tribes as the side which won kept some of their prisoners as captives and further sold them to other people. Many other people were kidnapped by the hunters which were then used as slaves. These slaves were very important for the economy of America as they were good at planting different agricultural goods. The rise of the slaves got on its peak when there was seen a rise in the demand of basic agricultural goods like cotton, tobacco and coffee. This trade of slaves gave so much profit that in the sixteenth century Royal African Company outdated other traders in term of profits. Slaves at a time were also known as the Black Gold. At this time many people from Europe moved to America to practice their religion with freedom. But on the other hand Slavery was to be justified as it provided such a boost to the economy of America. Therefore to defend that slavery was correct and legal, people started to justify it by classifying the group of blacks as substandard, low-grade and fated to be slaves. Even at those times the churches did not take up this issue seriously and did not try to eliminate slavery. Even some

American history in 1800s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

American history in 1800s - Essay Example US English was not recognized world, however after the introduction of this dictionary US English literature gained a lot of recognition (Cobble, 2004). There are many events which are associated with the social reform movement of 1800. Congressional reconstruction is one such event in the history of USA. As far as the history of USA is concerned, historians often associated two particular events of the history to the reconstruction era. One part of reconstruction era is concerned with the time period of 1865 to 1877 (Murphy, 2003). This was the period when USA had just dealt with the civil war in the country. The reconstruction era reflects the rebuilding of society and state on modern basis (Harris, 2004). The second part of reconstruction was associated with the transformation of Southern states of USA. President Abraham Lincoln was the major players of setting up state’s government on a new pattern (Chused, 1994). Social reforms of 1800s’ have an important association with the future of USA. Today USA has Afro-American President who has been elected for two consecutive years. This reflects the fact that social reforms of USA history have played a major part for the growth and development of America. Equal rights for every citizen are also product of that time (Dougherty,

Corporate social responsibility as tool for risk management Dissertation

Corporate social responsibility as tool for risk management - Dissertation Example 3. How does the level of corporate social responsibility practices taken in the company happen to impact the profitability position of the company? 4. What are the best possible practices in terms of corporate social responsibility dimension which are practiced in J Sainsbury Plc? Findings and Analysis The findings and analysis portion would first endeavor to identify potential relationships between the parameters of corporate social responsibility and the activities to mitigate the level of business risks. Through the findings the potential of corporate social responsibility parameter would be analyzed in regards to the appropriation of business profits to help create and sustain effective relationship with the external and internal stakeholders of the company. The use of corporate social responsibility models can be used by the company in countering the level of social risks involved through the gaining of valuable information from the stakeholder’s end (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005 ,p.5-8). Further findings show that though the act of rendering social responsibility tends to reflect that profits of the company are generally used for rendering social activities. However it is observed that in the long run such social responsibility activities of the company happens to enhance the goodwill of the concern and hence also augments its social value (Parkinson, 1995, p.261). In this respect the case of J Sainsbury Plc also shows that increased commitment rendered in sustaining both the natural environment and in establishing enhanced relationships with the community at large has helped the company to gain wider market coverage. Again the level of social responsibility practices also helps the company in enhancing the recruitment possibilities in the company through the opening up of more number of retail outlets in the region (J Sainsbury Plc, 2011, p.64-65). The senior management has realized the importance of CSR guidelines as a tool for the company to position its elf in the competitive climate. Proper CSR guidelines not only reflect the expectations of the stakeholders from the company but also monitor the behavior of the company in whichever place it operates. Although these guidelines are not legally binding, yet they reflect the government’s expectations of the company on corporate social responsibility (UNICE, 2001, p.3). The most challenging part of the corporate social responsibility is that they act as benchmark against which they are evaluated by governments and stakeholders. They do not replace the sectoral code of conduct or the individual companies (Mullerat, 2010, p.39). A response of the senior management also throws light on the fact that CSR is viewed as an important management tool in the organization. Corporate social responsibility has both an internal and an external dimension. Human resource management, health and safety factors associated with the occupation, business restructuring, management of natural resources and the environmental impacts are some of the internal dimensions of CSR.

A Case Study on Toyota Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 17500 words

A Case Study on Toyota Corporation - Essay Example on 26 2.6 Integrated marketing corporation 27 2.7 Brand restructuring 29 2.8 Brand communication 30 2.9 Brand recall strategy 30 2.10 The Toyota brand strategy 31 2.11 Conceptual framework 32 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 35 3.1 Overview 35 3.2 Research approach 35 3.3 Research strategy 36 3.4 Data gathering instrument 36 3.5 Description of data 37 3.5.1 Primary data 37 3.5.2 Secondary data 38 3.6 Validity and reliability 39 3.7 Sampling theory 40 3.8 Conduct of personal interviews 41 3.9 Ethical consideration 42 3.10 Limitations of the study 43 Chapter 4: Data Analysis, Discussion and Findings 44 4.1 Overview 4.2 Results of the survey and interviews 44 4.2.1 Survey questionnaire results 44 4.2.2 Interview results 52 4.3 Results of document search 55 4.3.1 Data from Toyota’s audited annual reports 55 4.3.2 Data from market studies – comparison with competitors 59 4.4 Chapter summary 63 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation 64 5.1 Conclusion 64 5.1.1 How branding en ables a firm to recover from the negative effects of a product recall 64 5.1.2 How Toyota’s US product recall impacted on its brand image 65 5.1.3 Measures taken by Toyota to address adverse impacts of the recall 66 5.1.4 Brand strategies Toyota should adopt to regain its former position 67 5.2 Overall recommendations for Toyota’s brand strategy 73 5.3 Recommendations for future research 75 Bibliography 77 Appendices 86 List of Tables Table 1: Consolidated vehicle production 15 Table 2: Consolidated performance 15 Table 3: Survey sample questionnaire 37 Table 4: Mean scores and interpretation of survey results 45 Table 5: Results of the regression study 49 Table 6: Model summary 49 Table 7: Comparative income statement of Toyota Motor Corporation 56 Table 8: Balance sheet of Toyota Motor... This study examined the effect on the public’s perception of the Toyota brand, and the appropriate brand strategies that the firm may adopt in order to establish once more Toyota’s brand position in the public mind for quality and reliability. It concludes that despite the negative publicity and adverse consequence of the Company’s recalls, the chances Toyota may redeem itself and assume market leadership once more are high with the help of strategic brand management particular to addressing a product recall event. The modern age of business can be defined as an age of competition. The competition within an industry is gradually increasing with the expansion of business as many new players are entering into the market. There are several reasons behind this intensifying competition. Firstly, globalisation is one of the primary reasons for expansion of trade and business that lead to increased competition. Many business organisations have found greater opportunities in overseas market, and free trade policies and agreements between multiple countries facilitated their market expansion programs (Hitt et al 2009). The domestic markets have turned into global markets that heightened competition rivalry among existing domestic and new multinational enterprises. Since last two decades, the society has been experiencing a rapid technological improvement. The technological advancements have led to change the structure of entire trade and business. The management tasks and operational process are now backed with technology like e-commerce and e-business.

Virginia Tech Essay Example for Free

Virginia Tech Essay With the most resent massacre at Virginia Tech the issue of media ethics has once again been brought into question. This, I believe, is because of the need to understanding why or how this could happen. Perhaps this understanding could prevent another violent incident from happening to our children and to our society and allow a certain type of closure in our grief. In researching the topic of journalistic ethics and its effects on behavior, I found three distinct concerns that related to the Virginia Tech massacre does the media influence or encourage behavior? And if so, what steps is the media taking to understand this issue? Is the media industry trying to create a plan to regulate how incidents of this nature are portrayed, or how they will be reported and in what context? It should also be noted that in all the information on violent behavior everyone agrees that there is not one single indicator that will predict human behavior and that all avenues must be explored to fully understand human behavior which is very complex. But there is evidence available that does show a correlation between media and adolescent violence. In the United States children and young adults are among the highest at risk for experiencing violent crimes and violence. We can also claim that a large portion of our time is spent interacting in the world of media. Some forms of media used by American adolescents have been found to be very violent and this is where the question of media’s effect on behavior comes in. Shortly after the Virginia Tech incident a USA Today article told of a popular game called â€Å"Assassin†. This game is played on both college and high school campuses across America. Police officers have been urging students, â€Å"to halt the games, which involve ambushing other players with sometimes realistic looking toy gun or other objects, after the Virginia Tech shooting last week that left 33 people dead†. The local authorities did this as a preventive measurement for the safety of the kids playing as well as others by mistaken intent (Welch). The Society of Professional Journalists and the Associated Student Press joined together to discuss how school violence is to be covered. The discussion was to try to see how to balance reporting the news with minimizing harm to students across the country. If shooters get their fifteen minutes of fame†, especially is they are dubbed as the heroic outlaw, then this opens the possible problems of increasingly more disenfranchised nobodies who may view violence as a way to become noticed. Reporters pressured to get the story and make it central on the nightly news may not be sensitive to the effects of their coverage in the larger scheme of things (Fitzgerald and Mitchell). Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is important to justice and the foundation of democracy. The organization also believes that the duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. They believe that all journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. They go on to say that professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalists credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Societys principles and standards of practice (www. spj. org). In more resent weeks NBC news has been under fire for the way it handled the pictures and writings of the student who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. NBC announced that it would limit its use of images to â€Å"no more than 10 percent of airtime†. Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, strongly defended the network’s decision to broadcast the material. Families of some of the victims, some law enforcement officials and executives from competing television news organizations have accused NBC of being insensitive or exploitative in the way it presented the materials on the air. (Carter). Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance. Journalist must recognize that private citizens have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy. Journalist must show good taste, avoid pandering to lurid curiosity, be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes, be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges and balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed. Works Cited Fitzgerald, Mark, and Mitchell, Grey. , Eds. Society of Professional Journalists. Retrieved May 3, 2007. http://www. spj. org/pressnotes Greene, Kathern. â€Å"Predicting Exposure to and Linking of Media Violence: A uses and Gratification Approach†. Communication Studies, March 2005. V. 56, Issue 1, p. 71-93. 23p.

Barriers to Entrepreneurship Development in Tajikistan

Barriers to Entrepreneurship Development in Tajikistan Introduction The development of the entrepreneurship as an essential component of the economy of Tajikistan is taking place for the past 19 years, in spite of its certain downturn during the civil war in the country in 1991-1997. Within the given period, the legal framework for the regulation of business activities was developed and amendments to the particular conditions of the governmental policy related to the entrepreneurship support were made. The stage of the entrepreneurship establishment required the improvement of its sectoral structure and enhancement of the economic efficiency. It is obvious that the prospects of its development are directly related to the alleviation of particular barriers which business people currently encounter. At the same time the inception of economical growth should initiate the positive influence on the entrepreneurship promotion. The essay will exclusively focus on the analysis of entrepreneurship establishment and development in Tajikistan with the reference to SME sector including the importance of entrepreneurship for the socio-economic development. In addition, the essay will describe main barriers to entrepreneurship development and possible ways to alleviate the difficulties related to its promotion. The rationale for the decision to write about this specific issue is based on following particular reasons: there are very few research works describing problems of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan. Although, some scholars described these issues in the former Soviet Union countries, in most of their works Tajikistan is only slightly mentioned among the other countries. The objective of this given paper is to define the entrepreneurship situation in Tajikistan, the importance of its development as well as to identify the difficulties for entrepreneurship development and to provide recommendation for the solution of the existing problems. In order to reach the stated objective, the following research questions were raised. First of all it is important to understand, what are the main barriers to entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan? Secondly, what are the possible ways to promote entrepreneurship development? The theoretical and empirical grounds for the given paper are the analytical works of Tajik and foreign scholars, statistical data, as well as surveys and reports of various international institutions. Due to the analysis of both foreign and Tajik experts assessments the reader will be enabled to find the dual opinion on the described issue. Chapter One The role and importance of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan 1.1 Tajikistan at a glance: background information In order to explain the entrepreneurship situation in Tajikistan, it is worth to describe the background information about the country. Being a landlocked country, Tajikistan is located far from the main Eurasian highways. Infrastructure is poorly developed due to the fact that 93% of the all territory is mountains. In fact there are a number of scientific works describing the linkages between the infrastructure and the country development, including development of the entrepreneurship. However, in the framework of present essay the impact of poor infrastructure to the entrepreneurship development will not be discussed. During 1929 1991 Tajikistan was a member of the Soviet Union. After the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country gained independence and started the transition to the market economy. After gaining its independence, the country was immediately faced with the economic problems caused by the collapse of the centrally-planned Soviet economy: such as, disruption of guaranteed markets, withdrawal of subsidies and instability of exchange (Middleton, 2007). Due to these facts, economical as well as political transformations of Tajikistan were difficult, primarily due to the holdover of various centrally planned command and control approaches to the national development (Suhir, 2003). According to Johnes, Tajikistan can be considered as the poorest of the countries of the former Soviet Union. At the beginning of its independence the position of the country was undermined by a civil war which lasted from 1991 until 1997. During that time the economy suffered significantly. In addition, the war has seriously disrupted the entire infrastructure of the country and contributed to the emigration of almost one million people, this number was equaled to a sixth of the total population. After the end of the civil war, the government undertook an aggressive program of reforms. As a consequence, by the beginning of 2000, the majority of small sized enterprises had been privatized, and most of the large enterprises were transformed into joint stock companies. Moreover, almost half of all cropland belonged to private people. In addition, being a neighbor of Afghanistan, the country has fallen victim of the drug trade and has been directly affected by drug-related criminal infi ltration (Johnes, 2002). Despite its growth, Tajik economy is not still fully recovered from the effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war. The gross domestic product in 2007 was still only 72% of the 1991 level in real terms, which is visually represented in the Chart 1. Chart 1: Real GDP continues to recover but has not reached the level of 1991 Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 1.2 Definition and types of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan The process of society democratization and the implementation of market relations which are taking places in Tajikistan nowadays caused a variety of positive effects. Entrepreneurship which influences all economical spheres can be considered as such effect. In developed countries the role and the importance of entrepreneurship are being evaluated quite high. Our country, which has chosen the path of market economy, is considering the issues of entrepreneurship and strengthening of its role as a matter of paramount importance (Rahmon, 2001, own translation). According to the State program of Protection and support of entrepreneurship in the Republic of Tajikistan for the years 2002-2005, entrepreneurship is described as an activity which independently carried out by the persons registered in an order established by the law; this activity is directed to the earning of profit from use of property, sale of goods, manufacture, performance of works and rendering of services. Entrepreneurship development is one of the priority directions of financial and economic policy in the conditions of market economy and it is directed on increase in production and rendering of services as well as provision of new workplaces (Soliev, 2004). It is quite possible that the reason of such simplified definition of entrepreneurship was to motivate as much as possible people to become entrepreneurs. Tajik scholar Juraboev described entrepreneurship as a search for new spheres of rationalization and a profitable investment of recourses, performance of new combinations in manufacture, movement to the new markets, and creation of new products. It is aimed at making a profit above the average level (Juraboev, 2003, own translation). The tendency of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan started from the period of 1993 1994. At that time the quantity of enterprises which performed entrepreneurial activity and had a status of legal entity was equaled to 3304 enterprises for the year of 1993 and 3988 enterprises in 1994 (Statistical yearbook , 2006). The entrepreneurship area was dominated by the cooperatives, farmers, private and individual enterprises. However, the crisis in the economy caused by the severance of economic relations between the former Soviet Union countries which had common free market zone before, and the post-war factors with corresponding decrease of nation welfare became the reasons of reduction in the quantity of private enterprises, especially SMEs. Nevertheless, in later years the entrepreneurship in Tajikistan, which for the purposes of this essay is described by the SME sector, started to recover from the consequences of Soviet Union breakup The obvious development of SME sector can be proved by the available data that shows that in October 2006 the amount of small and medium enterprises in Tajikistan was equaled to 12167, including 7578 active enterprises. The structure of the SME sector can be described as follows: the highest amount of 38.4 % is commercial enterprises, the share of trade and catering 17.2%, construction 13.3 %, industry 12.3%. The part of other economic activities is equals to 20% (Nazarov, 2006). In addition to the information provided above it is important to identify the SME sector in Tajikistan. In compliance with the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan ÂÂ «On State Protection and Support of Entrepreneurship in the Republic of TajikistanÂÂ » passed in 2005, the SME sector is composed of three typologies of businesses. The first group is individual entrepreneurs, who is involved in a business activity without forming a legal entity and operate it at their own risk. The second group is dehkah farms enterprises involved in the production and sale of agricultural products. Dehkan farmers operate as individual entrepreneurs according to the State Registration Certificate. Third group includes small and medium sized companies (Law On State Protection and Support of Entrepreneurship, 2005, own translation). Moreover, the special SMEs criteria are also being significant. As consistent with the Tax Code of Tajikistan, small enterprises are individual entrepreneurs and legal entities which perform business activity and their gross revenue (before taxes) is not exceed 150 000 USD. The average quantity of employees should not exceed 50 for agricultural sector and 30 for other sectors. Respectively, medium enterprises are individual entrepreneurs and legal entities whose gross revenue is more than 150 000 USD but does not exceed 3.7 million USD. The average quantity of employees can vary from 50 to 200 for agricultural sector and from 30 to 100 for other sectors (Tax Code, 2009, own translation). In fact the Micro-enterprises are not defined in the Tax Code. 1.3 The importance of the entrepreneurship in the socio-economic development of the country Nowadays private enterprises are functioning almost in all fields and spheres of the economy of Tajikistan. With the presence of necessary support, the entrepreneurship plays an important role: it contributes to the state budget, creates new employment and stimulates the social and economic development of the regions. Furthermore, entrepreneurs play a significant role in the social and political life of society. According to the statistics, in the year of 2007 approximately 1.7% or 19 thousand people of all population working in the private sector belonged to the SMEs. Over the last years, the quantity of employees of small and medium enterprises has increased by 14.5%, while the amount of enterprises has risen by 35%. However, the most interesting fact is that the total quantity of employees in the SME sector in 2007 was lower compare to the 1998 (Statistical Yearbook, 2008). Visually this information is presented in the Chart 2. Chart 2: Dynamics of the quantity of employees in SMEs (in thousands) Source: Tajikistan: 15 Years of Independence. Statistical yearbook, Dushanbe, 2006 It can be assumed that the relatively low quantity of employees in the SME sector is resulted from the tax burden of the employers. In fact, the amount of social tax which the employers have to pay equals to 25% out of the total payroll fund. Moreover, in contrast to the other countries, the existing taxation system in Tajikistan does not have the tax remissions in connection with the increase of the quantity of workers (Nazarov, 2006). Furthermore, the role of entrepreneurship in the market economy is very significant in terms of solving a number of socio-economic problems as well as in the poverty alleviation. Small and medium enterprises create the most favorable opportunities for the entrepreneurship especially at its initial stage. The presence of the substantial amount of SMEs on the market promotes the competition. And by promoting the competition, small and medium enterprises stimulate the increase of production efficiency as well as production growth which in its turn may cause the real growth of the economy. As a short summary of the given section about the importance of entrepreneurship in general and SMEs in particular, it can be stated that it is both the aim and the tool for the development of market economy. The dual role of entrepreneurship is confirmed by the analysis of the functions of SMEs which were classified into two groups. These groups are objective functions and tool functions. The objective functions promote the development of small and medium entrepreneurship and being considered as one of the governmental tasks. These functions include the impact on the unemployment reduction, the acceleration of the technological progress by means of innovations and ensuring the social and political stability in the society. According to the tool functions, small and medium entrepreneurship is being used in order to limit the tendencies of monopolized economy, to support formation of a middle class and to fill the particular market niches which are not attractive for the large enterpr ises (Chapek, 2004. own translation). 1.4 Characteristics of entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan The establishment of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan started at the time when the legislative foundations were absent. The Law On entrepreneurship activity was passed only in December 1991 and up to day it has completely changed. This law had a lot of disadvantages which negatively affected the process of entrepreneurship establishment in the country. Other economic laws which could support and secure the entrepreneurial activity in Tajikistan were passed later. For instance, The law on property (1996), The law on privatization of state property (1997) as well as laws related to taxation, customs and currency circulation (Nazarov, 2006). The formation of the entrepreneurship took place at the period of destabilization of finances and significant level of unemployment, which were caused by the collapse of the centralized control system. Another unique feature of entrepreneurship formation and development in Tajikistan is the limitation of strategic behavior. There are two reasons explaining it. First of all, during the first years of the market economy establishment, the formation of entrepreneurship was influenced by the substantial advantages of short-term transactions in the sphere of circulation and in the financial market. This circumstance created an appropriate attitude, stereotypes of thinking and behaving. Secondly, there is a significant gap between the profitability of long-term investments in manufacture and short-term financial transactions. The conditions for the implementation of long-term investments projects in the production sphere are such that invested funds will be paid off only in 3-5 years; howe ver, in conditions of the transition economy this process may take even longer. Therefore such areas of entrepreneurship as trade and catering remain the most attractive for the entrepreneurs (Soliev, 2004). According to the statistics, at the beginning of 2008 there were 55,8 thousands of enterprises registered in Tajikistan; in fact, 60% of them are private enterprises including both SMEs and large enterprises (Statistical Yearbook, 2008). There is a trend toward positive increase of total amount of enterprises in general as well as private enterprises in particular, as it is demonstrated in the Chart 3. Chart 3: Dynamics of total amount of enterprises, including private enterprises (in thousands) Source: Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 2008 The dynamic development of SME sector is caused by several specific advantages of the latter. According to the Kamarov, the most important fact is that SMEs are able to get their own market share, although they have much less funds for implementation of important strategic researches compare to large enterprises. In addition, small and medium businesses are quite flexible and mobile, which allow them to react fast for the market demand as well as to adapt for the changing conditions. Small entrepreneurship can be characterized as an originative type of economic behavior which at the same time being described as special entrepreneurial spirit and creative action (Kamarov, 2009). Another important fact is that on every 1000 of economically active population in Tajikistan there is in average only one SME; in contrast, in Russia there are 3 enterprises on every 1000 of economically active population (Davgyalo, 2007). Chapter Two Barriers to entrepreneurship development 2.1 General overview of difficulties related to the entrepreneurship development in Tajikistan As it is demonstrated by the world experience, the more opportunities for the widening of the activity by the entrepreneurs, the higher growth rate can be seen for the country. Under the given circumstances, the creation of the favorable conditions for the entrepreneurship development is a crucial factor. The entrepreneurship of Tajikistan faces particular barriers, among the others they are: instability and imperfection of the legislative system related to entrepreneurship, high level of taxes, complexity of tax collection, insufficiency of the start-up capital and current capital, difficulties with the access to bank loans, corruption, shortage of the qualified staff, difficulties with the rent of the production space as and others. In most cases there is no proper social and personal security for owners and employees of the private enterprises (Soliev, 2004). The current institutional mechanism of entrepreneurship promotion demonstrates that although the entrepreneur is secured by the laws and governmental instruments, the level of entrepreneurship development is not correspond to the high taxation level and crediting rates. (Asrorov et al., 2004). Therefore the entrepreneurs are acting in the environment of legal and economical limitation. The barriers faced by entrepreneurs impede the inflow of billions of dollars of potential profit for the country each year and threaten to derail the political and economic transition. These losses take place due to the ill-designed, complicated laws and regulations that unnecessarily raise the cost of doing business in the formal sector. As a result of high costs of doing business, entrepreneurs are using in their operations limited funds in order to survive with presence of low income and consequently they are losing the economic potential. In addition, the costly business regulations encourage potential investors to invest in the more favorable business environments and therefore country faces the lack of the needed investments (Suhir, 2003). The experience of entrepreneurship establishment and development in Tajikistan demonstrates that the majority of business owners are not aimed at the further growth. Their main goal is to ensure the stable existence, to preserve their capital and market position (Urdashev, 2005). The given situation can be explained by two reasons. First of all, there is no effective system for the stimulation of entrepreneurial activity. Secondly, entrepreneurs are experiencing the certain pressure from the tax, custom and law-enforcement authorities. 2.2 Main barriers faced by entrepreneurship in Tajikistan In this section of the paper the main barriers to the entrepreneurship development will be described in details. These barriers are: difficulties related to licensing, access to finance, imperfection of taxation system, poor infrastructure, corruption and lack of sufficient knowledge by entrepreneurs. Licensing IFC defined license as a special permit issued by a state body authorizing a business to carry out a certain activity under specific terms and conditions. When a business is subject to licensing requirements, it must obtain the specific license before starting its activities. Thus licensing happens after business registration, but before a company is allowed to start operations in the activity to be licensed (IFC, 2009). The barriers related to the licensing can be classified as the continuation of the Soviet system of permissions whereby one must obtain approval from the authorities in order to perform even the smallest tasks. The present permissive entrepreneurial climate which characterized by abundant regulation, continues to inflict losses on entrepreneurial activity in all sectors of the economy (Suhir, 2003). According to the world practice, the low-risk activities and those which do not involve any limited resources should not be subject to licensing. In fact, Tajikistan licenses some activities that are not licensed in many other countries; for instance, real estate valuation and tourism (IFC, 2009). The Chart 4 illustrates that in spite of the recent reforms, the number of activities licensed in Tajikistan is still relatively high compare to some other countries. Chart 4 Number of economic activities subject to licensing in selected countries Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 For instance, IFC reports that eight of the 65 licensed economic activities are related to the transport. However, the implementing regulations of the Licensing Laws divide these eight economic activities into 22 sub-activities, each of that in its turn requires a separate license. In addition, the period of validity of licenses as well as their cost still remains a problem. The law foresees that the minimum period of validity for the license is 3 years; however, on practice the licenses are being issued for the period which in average is less than one year (IFC, 2009). The short periods of licenses validity impede the investments and long-term development as well as create the grounds for the extortion by the officials. Access to finance One of the main conditions of the entrepreneurship development is the existence of proper financial infrastructure. In general the Tajik financial system was growing rapidly over the past years, although it still remains small. Recent data shows, that there are twelve commercial banks (including one state-owned bank), seven credit societies, one non-bank financial institution and eighty eight microfinance institutions operating in Tajikistan (IFC, 2009). The banking systems in Central Asia in general and in Tajikistan in particular can be considered as insufficient since they impose impossible demands on entrepreneurs due to the unreasonable time-frames and terms of credit repayments, it is difficult to provide collateral and to find a guarantor for securing a loan (Suhir, 2003). Thus in order to get a loan from some commercial banks the entrepreneur should provide the collateral which values up to 3 times more compare to the actual amount of requested loan. The survey performed by the IFC demonstrates that more than half of rejected loan applications in 2007 were due to the insufficient loan collateral (IFC, 2009). In addition, the process to formalization and registration of the collateral is complicated and expensive at the present time. Besides that, the loans themselves became not very attractive because of the interest rate. Additional factor of distrust to the banking area is the lack of reliable mechanism for the protection of the borrowers interests. In this respect the majority of entrepreneurs actually not able to use services of commercial banks. The Chart 5 demonstrates what kind of problems entrepreneurs encounter in terms of access to the finance. And it is quite clear that the most important issue is high interest rates. Chart 5: Main obstacles as identified by the potential borrowers (in %) Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 In general, in compliance with the Doing business report, Tajikistan is ranked as 167th overall in terms of easiness to getting credit (World Bank, 2010). And firms consistently rate access to credit as among the greatest barriers to their operation and growth. Taxation system The modern tendency for the entrepreneurship development can be described as the one with the lack of unity of economic aims between entrepreneurship and government. On the one hand, the governmental regulations related to the entrepreneurial activity are grounded on the creation of the favorable conditions for the entrepreneurship development; however, on the other hand, they are directed on provision the maximum tax revenues to the state budget. At present there are 18 different taxes in Tajikistan. According to the statistics, forty-eight percent of countrys tax revenues in 2008 came from the value-added tax. Tax code states that the value-added tax is equal to 18%, income tax 30% and social tax 25% (Tax Code, 2009). Such level of taxation does not correspond with the taxation systems used in developed countries. As a rule, developed countries increase tax rates in order to restrain the overproduction (Davgyalo, 2007). In fact there is no problem of overproduction in Tajikistan. On the whole the tax regime in Tajikistan is characterized by high complexity and instability. The Tajik Tax Code, which went into effect in 2004, has been amended 9 times since that time. Unfortunately given amendments neither caused the simplification of tax obligations nor improved tax administration. The World Bank Groups Doing Business 2009 report demonstrates evidence that taxes impose a heavy burden on business taxpayers in the country. This report ranks Tajikistan as 159th out of 181 countries in terms of ease of complying with the tax obligations (World Bank, 2009). Besides, the procedure of preparation the tax forms is complicated, the average Dehkan farmer or individual entrepreneur has spent almost 5 working days on the filing and on payment of taxes in 2007. While the average SME spent more than three weeks on this process. Moreover, there is a lack of effective communication infrastructure for the acceptance of the tax reports by mail. Although the Tax Code states that it is possible for taxpayers to submit their tax declarations in three ways: by certified mail, in person, or electronically; in practice, entrepreneurs submit tax reports in person. In addition, the survey performed by IFC shows that that submission of tax declarations involves a significant period of time spent waiting in lines at the tax office in order to get the appropriate signatures (IFC, 2009). Corruption The harmful nature of corruption between government and business enterprises is a classic conflict of the political economy, which goes back to Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nations. In the socialist period, bribery was widely practiced as a sort of necessary evil among citizens in Soviet Union Countries. It operated as a special social mechanism used to overcome obstacles established by bureaucratic systems as well as chronic shortages of supply which could affect business operations and everyday activities. In contrast, in the transition period, the corruption between entrepreneurs and bureaucrats started to take place more for self-interest rather than as a socially necessary evil like it was in Soviet Union time (Ichiro Iwasaki, 2007). Interesting explanation of the existence of corruption was provided by Clark and Naito in their article. According to them, corruption is endemic in all countries of Central Asia. However, the additional factor which contributes to the level of corruption results from the existing barriers with respect to the cooperation between various Ministries. In fact, nowadays the level of cooperation is relatively small and as a consequence there is a shortage of transparency in the system. The lack of transparency in its turn allows corruption to flourish as there are no checks and bounds on the system (Clark, Naito, 1998). The number of surveys performed by the World Bank confirms the fact that corruption remains a main constraint for entrepreneurship in Tajikistan. This demonstrated by the high frequency of informal gifts requested from enterprises by the government officials, so called Graft Index. The Graft Index shows the proportion of instances in which enterprises were either requested or expected to pay an informal payment for licenses, permits or public services (IFC, 2009). Visually the situation with corruption in Tajikistan in comparison with some other countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia is presented at the Chart 6. Chart 6: Tajikistan has the highest graft index in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) ECA Regional Average Source: Business Environment in Tajikistan as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises, IFC, 2009 However, the survey performed by IFC in 2007 demonstrates that the situation related to the informal payments in Tajikistan has improved over the last years. According to the survey responses, entrepreneurs were asked for or expected to pay bribes or give informal gifts in 2007 fewer compare to previous years. Although this is a positive development, it is too early to conclude that corruption is no longer a problem. Data demonstrate that 21% of enterprises have defined the informal payments as a main obstacle for their business activity. In fact, only high tax rates were defined as a major obstacle more often than corruption (IFC, 2009). Lack of the sufficient knowledge by entrepreneurs Johnes stated that the main resource which is available to Tajikistan is its people. Generally the level of education in the country is high, with a literacy rate about 98% (Johnes, 2002). However, one of the obstacles which may be additionally observed in Tajikistan nowadays is the lack of the sufficient knowledge in the area of entrepreneurship. This fact can be explained by taking a look at the history. In the Soviet era entrepreneurship was considered as a speculation. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia defines speculation as a process of buying up the goods on closed markets and resale those goods on open and deficiency markets in conditions of constraining the freedom of trade, for example, during the war (Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1978, own translation). This activity was punishable either by high fines or imprisonment and due to this reason was considered as a part of the shadow economy. Based on the above mentioned information, the following conclusion can be drawn the entrepreneurship as an activity as well as entrepreneurs are still being considered as unacceptable or even discreditable activity by the people of older generation. It is obvious that problems related to managerial issues are really crucial for the private entrepreneur due to the reason that the manager should be a specialist with a broad knowledge in the area of management, finance, accounting and marketing. In fact, nowadays the universities of the country are not preparing such versatile managers for the private sector (Urdashev, 2005). The current situation in Tajikistan is such that the majority of entrepreneurs have problems due to the lack of proper knowledge. Thus according to the IFC survey, more than one-third of individual entrepreneurs did not keep any financial or tax records in 2007 (IFC, 2009), despite the existing requirements. The responses presented in the Chart 7 demonstrate the reasons for the absence of necessary records. It is clear that the lack of knowledge is a very significant issue in this respect. Chart 7: Reasons f

Ethical Challenges In International Marketing Marketing Essay

Ethical Challenges In International Marketing Marketing Essay Abstract: Ogilvy and the Mather is one of the largest providers of marketing services in the world. It aims at delivery the platform for creating the right brand identity and accelerating the business with effective and excellent marketing communications to its multinational clients. This paper includes the Four P i.e. are Product, Price, Promotions and Price and the strategies adopted by the company in its operations and delivering of services. The product, price, promotion and distribution strategies help in the achievement of quality and standardized services as compared to its customers. The communication strategy includes the way and the various schemes a company attempts to adopt to communicate about its products and services. In the later part, the ethical challenge faced by the companys in marketing new product in a different country is discussed. Marketing ethics are rules and the regulations with the principles to be followed in the international marketing. The cultural and the legal issues to be considered in marketing new product in another country are discussed. The cultural and the legal issues must be considered so that the legal regulations and the cultural differences are not humiliated in introduction of new product in another country. Name of the company- Ogilvy Mather Line of Business- Advertising, marketing communication and public relations Countries where the company operates- United States of America, Australia Brazil and Singapore. Ogilvy and Mather is one of the leading advertising and marketing communications firm in the world. Ogilvy and Mather offers an Extensive range of marketing services and has established a collection of partner groups which includes line network Ogilvyone, Ogilvy Public Relations and others. They provide services to fortunes 500 companies which includes coke, American Express, Ford, Lenovo, Yahoo, Cisco, Johnson and Johnson, Kraft and Nestle. Products The Ogilvy and Mather is one of the largest marketing service provider in the world. The services offered by Ogilvy and Mather are as follows- Interactive strategy It offers services such as agency insights, interactive strategy consulting, and digital brand planning, business modelling. Online Advertising Social media and marketing Digital media and search marketing Digital CRM Data Analysis and Measurement Emerging Platforms Brand experience Product strategy- Ogilvy and Mather offer wide range of services to its customers. The product strategy used by Ogilvy and Mather is the creative excellence which established a value and standard of its services in the market. The strategy used for its services is to capture the area of marketing and communications by provided value added services with uniqueness to its clients. It promises to provide multidisciplinary services with the combination of creativity with effectiveness. It adopts the BIG IDEA;L policy where it believed that L will changes everything which means higher purposes , rallies support and provides a platform to all sort of ideas and crates demand ultimately. (2) Price The pricing strategy of Ogilvy and Mather is supposed to be high with best in quality and creativity. The skimming strategy is followed by Ogilvy and Mather in some few of its services where it the best player in the industry its pricing strategy , for example interactive marketing .This means they tend to change more to create a difference of their products and committing for delivery highest in quality with diversity. The competitors of Ogilvy and Mather are Ameredia, Saatchi and Saatchi, Arnold worldwide, BBDO. The price charged by Ogilvy and Mather is less than Ameredia and Arnold who are best players in the world .The pricing strategy are based on industry positions and the long term strategy. (3) Promotions- The services of Ogilvy and Mather are well renowned and most value in the area of marketing communications. Ogilvy and Mather initiated the concept of Evangelism which means finding the passion and the emotions of a brand , and inspiring the customers and the employers with the same. The promotional strategy adopted by Ogilvy and Mather is working in conjunction with the marketing campaign which they believe can get the product and the services into the customers notice and can new repeat customers. Ogilvy and Mather agency works for brand leveraging of its multinational clients by the combination of local know-how along with the worldwide network, making powerful campaigns that address local market needs and reinforcing the same for the universal brand identity. The brand building capability of the agency is the carried out by 360 Degree brand Stewardship which provides a holistic look at the communication and by using which is important from all the discipline to form a brand identity. The communication strategy adopted by Ogilvy and Mather is to create attention and getting the message which will make a promise consistent and reliable to the brands image and the identity. (4) Place- The agency has its marketing and communication network worldwide. The distribution strategy adopted by the company is based on the needs and the requirements in both the local and international terms. The target market of Ogilvy and Mather is to capture the companies which have global presence. It targeted on marketing accountability providing its customers right and effective services to accelerate in their brand and business. The targeted market of Ogilvy and Mather is to capture the marketing communication of the companies and provide public relation services to its clients. The distribution strategy pursued by Ogilvy and Mather is the creation and the platform that will drive the distribution strategy of the content. They work with the media to provide brand leverage and accelerating the brand identity of its clients. The distribution strategy includes the clients from IT sector to the Banking sector. It has the clients in various categories and industries. By delivering the quality and creative marketing and advertising solutions it helps the companies to maintain and create a brand identity in the global as well local markets. The two ethical challenges many companies face in the areas of ethics  when marketing a  product in another country- Marketing Ethics are collections rules, principles and the moral values to be followed in the operation and the regulations of marketing activities. In the marketing of new products in another country, the companies face many challenges due to the cultural, social, and political differences in different countries. The following are the two ethical challenges faced by the companies in introducing new product in another country in the area of ethics Price- Price is the most important factor to be considered in marketing a new product in another country. In the marketing of new products, the product would be unknown to the country and the marketer has to create a new place for its product in a foreign country with the help of advertisement and different promotional activities. The ethical issue faced in the introduction of new product in another country is the price dumping. To attract customers and create a market for the product, low price is charged. It charges a price less than the production cost or the price charged in the home country. Market competition- Another ethical issue faced by the marketing department in introducing new product in the foreign market is the market competition. Due to the cultural challenges the new companys face ethical issues in marketing their products in the international market. The market is already captured the market players and the new company will face the challenges of acceptance and the competition prevailing in the foreign market. The competition in regards to taste and preferences and customers are used to few particular brands, and are not willing to shift their choice to a new product will poise a barrier to the entry of the new product. A legal and a cultural  issue that  must be considered when marketing a product in another country- The legal issue to be considered in marketing a product in another country is the regulation of advertisements. Different countries induce different legal rules and regulation in advertising of products which must be considered in introducing new product in another country. Some products are banned from advertisements on certain media, for example, in France, large supermarket chains are allowed to be advertised T.V. In some European countries, it is illegal to discriminate price between customers and it is illegal to offer products on sale outside very narrow seasonal and percentage range. Therefore, the legal rules and regulations should be considered in advertising and selecting the media of promoting the new product in the foreign market. The cultural issues is based on the cultural psychology of the people in a country differs from another. One of the cultural issues is vales and the attitudes of the people differ in different countries. The cultural values and the attitudes of the people must be considered in the introduction of new product in a foreign country. This also requires the national and local languages must be taken into consideration in marketing new products in the foreign country. In a country spoken language carries a great emphasis of the communication; hidden cultural meaning of the words must be needs to be considered.

Burkina Faso :: History

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a small country located in Western Africa, north of Ghana, it's total land area is 274,200 sq km. The terrain is mostly flat to dissected, undulating plains; hills in west and southeast. Some of it's natural resources are manganese, limestone, marbleand small deposits of gold. The irrigated land in Burkina Faso is only a mere 160 sq km. The population is 10,422,828 (July 1995 est.) of which 50% is under the age of 15. Burkina Faso is a country with a rapidly increasing population in relation to the growth of food supply and other human necessities. The countries population is growing rapidly and the country is not able to adequately feed, shelter, and provide the basic human needs. The situation is not improving, it is getting worse with each year. The very near future could be disastrous for the people of Burkina Faso. The possible solutions in overcoming this problem are not plentiful and all have their drawbacks, and moral issues. One option would be to try to increase the death rate, and at the same time lower the birth rate. Another can be to try to raise the environmental limits so that food supply would adequate. Or the other option can be that we do nothing and wait. These are just some options that I think are the most applicable to the case in which Burkina Faso is currently facing. Of all three the most appealing solution to me is number one. That solution might be a little slower then other options but I believe it is the best approach for the country. The first option, to increase death rates and lower the birth rates would be the best choice. This option would be best because of the situation that is in Burkina Faso. The spread of HIV/AIDS has become an important issue in Burkina Faso, where the national statistics estimate that between 4 and 7 percent of the population is seropositive. While these rates are low in comparison to countries of East Africa, they place Burkina Faso second after Cote d'Ivoire among West African countries most affected by the epidemic. Burkina Faso's health problems include a high prevalence of many endemic diseases, poor case management by the health system and a weak infrastructure, with health centres that are geographically or financially inaccessible to most of those they are meant to serve.

The European Revolutions of 1848 Essay -- European History

The revolutions of 1848 were widespread and affected about 50 countries in Europe, considering the previously separate lands of Germany and Italy. These revolutions were extremely violent and costly. In terms of lives, tens of thousands were lost during battles with several thousand more being lost in executions. Over 100,000 individuals were jailed or exiled as well. While these individual countries had significant nationalistic grievances, such as anti-Austrian attitudes in Italy, anti-Russian and anti-Turkish opinions in Rumania, anti-Habsburg in Prague and Budapest, German patriotism divided German as did Polish patriotism in Poland; it was the political and economic struggle that were the prevailing catalysts for the revolutionary uprisings. There was widespread economic crisis in the European continent in the mid 19th century. Agricultural failures from 1845-1847 which resulted in increased food prices impeded the people’s ability to buy food. The people in Berlin were so angered over the cost of food that they rioted for four days. A third of the German population was on government relief by 1847, resulting in the number of Germans leaving for the United States in search of farmland to increase dramatically. In Prussian Silesia and Austrian Galicia over a quarter of a million people died as a result of starvation. Anger over the ancient regime of government and its political tyranny was viewed as the single most important cause of the numerous revolutions. Heightened political awareness due to the invention and extensive use of the printing press was instrumental in fostering political awareness of new ideas such as liberalism, nationalism and socialism. Additionally, many of the countries were aware of the succ... ... positive results of the uprisings were the spread of parliamentary governments, the allowance of manhood suffrage in France and briefly, in Austria, the elimination of lord owned and tenant farmed land in Central Europe, the beginnings of the German and Italian unification movements, and the establishment of Hungary as an equal partner with Austria under Hapsburg rule. Works Cited Western Civilization: A Brief History, Complete [Paperback] By Marvin Perry, Publisher: Wadsworth-Cengage Publishing; 7th edition 2010 pp 333-347 â€Å"Sparknotes† http://www.sparknotes.com/ Linked from â€Å"Sparknotes† The Revolutions of 1848 (1848) http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/1871/section1.html â€Å"Fordham University† http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.asp Linked from â€Å"Fordham University† Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/index.htm

Indian Book Retail Industry Essay

The Indian book retail industry is estimated to be over Rs 3,000 crore, out of which organised retail accounts for only 7 per cent. The industry is expected to grow by approximately 15 per cent a year. Book retail contributes only about 1 per cent to the overall retail industry. Text and curriculum books account for about 50 per cent of the sales. Second-hand books are also a big chunk of the book retail market. In the past few years, several large format book store chains have come up, such as Landmark, Crossword and Om Book Shop etc . More than 75 per cent stores of these large chains are in top eight cities. These Organized Book retailers are focusing on improved customer experience. Many book stores have also introduced coffee shops and provide a library-like atmosphere where customers can sit and read, while sipping coffee. Besides this online channel is also significant with players like Flipkart, Indiaplaza, Infibeam etc. With the printed word considered an endangered species in much of a rapidly digitizing world, India now represents one of the best book markets in the world. â€Å"There has definitely been a huge jump in the size of the industry in terms of book sales and the number of books being published,† said Mita Kapur, the founder of Siyahi, a literary agency, who says the number of books published in English is growing by 30 percent a year. Vikrant Mathur, associate director of Nielsen Book, India, said the volume of book sales grew by 45 percent during the first half of 2011. For the entire year, Nielsen, a global information provider, documented English-language book sales of 3. 28 billion rupees – about $62 million – from more than 12 million books sold. And that is probably only a fraction of true total sales, since Nielsen only measures about 35 percent of the total market. â€Å"Where physical books are concerned India right now is a very, very big market,† said Priyanka Malhotra, director of Full Circle Publications. â€Å"There is a whole younger generation coming up from BPOs who are starting to read in English, which is where a lot of new demand is coming from. † Online retail have also spurred growth in the industry. To summarize India’s book retail industry is broadly divided into 3 sectors : 1. Organized 2. Unorganized 3. Online The organized sector has big names such as : crosswords, OM book shop , landmark etc to name a few. On the other hand unorganized sector is huge and highly fragmented, with shops spanning from local book stores to road side book shanties to red light book sellers etc. This sector is also filled with piracy and pirated copies of original books (which is a serious threat to the sales of organized sector) Online sector is the newest of them all and has just started to takeoff in sales since last 3-4 years. The major advantage of such a format is the wide variety of offerings under one roof and ease of access for the users. Thus this is the fastest growing sector among all of them. The prominent players in this category are Flipkart. com, Infibeam. com etc. Unorganized sector (Golden book depot) Golden book depot is a typical book store among many in the unorganized sector of the india book retail industry. This store is loacated in the vicinity of our target organized sector store ( OM book shop) i. e.  Ber Sarai ( adjacent to IIT) in south Delhi. As can be seen in the photograph, this is a small shop , almost 1/10th of the size of om book shop and most of the products are available behind the counter, with only magazine stand placed just outside the store. As magazines as a category has most no of impulse purchase. On an average around 50-70 customers come to this book store, and this tore has a footfall conversion of over 85% which is very high as compared to the organized sector (OM book shop) . The reason for this behavior is that most of the products in these kind of shops are behind the counter and it doesn’t provide the luxury to the customer to stroll around and search and read a book as in the case of organized sector. Therefore almost all of the customers coming to these shops like golden book depot are aware of what they want and demand that directly from the shop keeper who then searches the book in the shop and hands over to the customer. Besides having a smaller area , less variety of books and behind the counter selling, the sales (in terms of no.of books sold) is still higher in golden book depot as compared to OM book shop . The reason for that being : 1. Availability of educational books , i. e. educational course materials and competitive exam preparation books. These books constitute the majority of the portion of these book shops in unorganized sector. These kind of books , especially course materials for various courses such as MBA, B. Tech, BCA etc . are not available at book stores like OM book shop. As they (Organized) focus more on selling of novels and leisure read books. 2. Many of the popular shops in unorganized sector offer a facility to bring the old books and exchange them with the new books at a discounted rate or return the old books at a discounted rate in form of cash return. This is a major reason why price conscious middle class Indian customers prefer unorganized sector over organized sector. 3. Perception in the minds of Indian customers that these small shops will offer the same product at cheaper rate than the organized sector shops, which have flashy interiors and huge shop floor. This perception is true also upto some extent as these shopkeepers in these small shops have the control over their margins and not guided by any company policy ( as in the case of OM book shop) that means these shop keepers can even squeeze their margins from around 10% to as low as 1-2% to attract or retain a customer by offering them the cheapest bargain. Organized sector (OM BOOK SHOP ) About Om Book Shop Retailer and Publishing House: Om Book Shop is a part of Om Books International, a leading English language trade publisher in the subcontinent, and is a prominent player in the Indian book industries. The book retailing chain has a significant presence across the Delhi-NCR region. Besides stocking books, movies, magazines and CD ROMs, Om Book Shop is also a major distributor of books of many leading international imprints. OBI began publishing in 1993. Collection: With a strong focus on children books and coffee-table books, the store has a diverse collection including books on Lifestyle, Nature and Wildlife, Fashion, Bollywood, Heritage and Culture, Management, Health & Fitness, Cookery, Architecture and Interiors, pictorial books for children etc. Children section is a major thrust area for the company and OBI publishes children’s titles under the Om Kids imprint: illustrated classics, mythology, folk tales, encyclopaedias etc. Loyalty programs and other salient features: Other salient features Om Book Shop currently holds about 50 thousand registered customers with the Om Book Privilege Loyalty Programme which offers points, discounts & other offers to its loyal customers. OBS aims to popularize the Gift -a- book idea across its stores and delivers services like Dial-a-book which allows the customers to shop from their homes; and the efficient and helpful staffs in the book stores assists them in finding the right book or the right gift for the right occasion. Overview: Product, Category and Store Product Category: ‘Books’ Retail Format: Category Specialists Customer segments: In terms of demographics, the Om Book shop customer can be a child/adult from any age group, gender, income class (reasonably well off) etc. Store: Om Book Shop is located in DLF Promenade Mall in Vasant Kunj. The store is located on the 2nd floor of the mall and the floor plan is provided in Figure1. The store is strategically located in a way that it falls on one of the 2 ways to the food court and movie theatre. Figure 1: Floor Plan of Om Book Store STORE PHILOSOPHY * Layout * Ambience/decor * Sale program * Loyalty Store layout structure Om book store has a very functional and efficient physical layout. Mall sq. foot area is very expensive so there seems to be an effort on part of the book store to utilize as much area as possible. Hence the layout may be a bit crammed for some customers. The bird’s eye view of the layout is as follows: K1 K2 K3 Graphic K Adv Cin/music Photo Sports Arch Interior Craft T20 F Ind F Sc F K Classic Rom F Languages (Dic//Ref/Hindi) Poetry(1) Classics(2) Travel Gardening Pet Wildlife OM KIDS (Activity) On the Ground OM KIDS (Story Books) MAGAZINES Cook Book Hor KR Envelopes Movies CD/DVD Biography NF Poi Hist Astro Psycho Philo Mili K NF (encyclopedia) Fiction (A-Z) BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS ENTRY s mp p s P NA Cooking T 20 NF s Teenage F Health Indian Religion Management HBR Fashion/Textile Om Posters Om Posters Hobby/Work F= Fiction. NF= Non Fiction NA= New Arrival K= Kids bm Loyalty info om The front view of the store is a transparent glass window through which a passerby can easily see into the store. The poster’s on display from the front view are only of â€Å"OM publisher’s† in different categories like kids books, cook books, and biography (Amir Khan’s â€Å"I’ll Do it My Way†. The most popular and eye-catchy book categories are positioned near the entrance of the store. The largest selling categories, Children’s books, Fiction, and New Arrivals are placed in shelves that a customer encounters as soon as he enters the store. These sections also have the largest impulse buy and are therefore kept at the forefront. Om book’s self published books in the kids category is displayed in big piles on the ground straight in the line of path of a customer who walks into the store. Since the child often runs about choosing his/her own story books and activity (colouring/mask) books and heavily influencing the purchase decision of the parent so the children books of the OM publisher has been strategically kept within reach of the child on the ground to woo the him/her. Other publications in the same Children’s category have been kept on the shelf and in â€Å"sideway† display to decrease their exposure to the child/parent. Om Publication’s in any other category when placed on the shelf have been given a frontal full display to encourage sales. Management books being the next most popular category, they have been placed right after the popular categories when comparing in terms of â€Å"distance from entrance†. Categories pertaining to work or hobby like gardening, travelling, cooking etc / or specific topics of interest like astrology, philosophy, poetry, etc have been grouped towards the end of the store, furthest away from the entrance. This is because these categories can usually not create impulse purchase and so every customer need not pass through these segments/aisles. People who do buy these books are targeted shoppers and will anyhow walk to the back end of the shop to pick up his/her book. These categories are not as popular as the others and have loyal customer following. The impulse buy accessories are lined along the passage on either side from the entrance to the cash counter. It is further seen that the counter is placed at the other end from the entrance to ensure that a customer has to walk through all the impulse purchase offerings before he/she can buy the book. The products on offer in this so called â€Å"impulse accessory† shopping segment are: pens (parker and waterman), magazines, cookbooks, horoscope books, key rings, bookmarks, marble-paper/wrapping paper, and bestsellers in each category. It can further be noticed that the best seller section just prior to the cash counter is dedicated solely to Om publication. Additional aspects of the Store Layout The layout is no doubt very functional keeping in mind the profit maximization philosophy of the store and the main agenda of pushing its own publication to the shopper. However the spacing of shelves is crammed with little walking space, hardly any sitting space (only 2-3 stools), and only 1 book stand. The entire focus is on 1 product offering i. e. books. Unlike competitors in the organised sector like Landmark, it is not focussing on the entire shopping experience, (no coffee, no other items on offer like stationary etc, no sitting space). Store Ambience and Decor The bookshelves were made of engineered wood like particle wood. This created a unique and rich traditional effect. Plastic or metal bookshelves were not used since they do not look expensive and give a modern feel, which was not something the book store wanted. Furthermore the particle wood was coloured a light shade of brown to give a bright and roomy/spacious look to the store. However the bookshelves were placed too close and for a particular section of customers who prefer the comforts of abundant seating arrangement, coffee facility, and walking space (as provided by Landmark), the sheer functional design of the store might be interpreted as a crammed. This might not work well for a particular segment of customers whose involvement with the shopping experience is as high as, if not higher than the involvement with the product itself. Furthermore the store works on the philosophy that it will focus on selling books alone and not encourage customers to spend hours just reading in the store. This is unlike some of its contemporaries like Landmark that encourage customers to sit and read inside the store. Hence at OM book stores some customers may complain that the staff hover close to them and make them feel uncomfortable if they stay too long. The store plays light and slow English instrumental music to suit the taste of the higher-strata of people who usually visit the Promenade Mall and create a relaxed atmosphere in the store. Instrumental music is played since a song with wordings would disturb the concentration of a customer reading the epilogue/back-cover of a book. This gives a contemporary feel to the store. Store Sale Programs The store’s maximum profit comes from its Children’s section. Hence the sale period coincides with the summer and winter vacation in schools in Delhi. December to Mid-January and May to June are the respective winter and summer sales. The store is also receptive to mall trends in sale. Since almost every other shop in the mall had a sale in July, so the store too announced a sale to cash in on the increased footfall to the mall during the sale-period. There was no Flat Sale offer. Discount amounts were graded on the basis of demand. Books with high demand had low sale; New Arrival, Top 20 Fiction/Non-Fiction, general Fiction, and bestsellers had only 10% discount. The store felt that irrespective of the price these books would sell and so gave negligible discount on them. However on the kids section the discount was higher, around 20%, and even higher discounts on children’s books published in-house by Om Publications. This is because the store believes that parents during the sale period buy in bulk and a higher sale would induce them to buy more and yet it would not affect your margins. Furthermore parents are price conscious when buying for little kids since the books cannot be added to a collection later on and mostly become irrelevant in a short time after the child has outgrown them. The sale on OM publication was the highest because they already had the highest margins on it due to the absence of a middleman, and therefore could easily afford a large discount on those books. By touting the large discounts they aim to attract consumers to their publication and yet make the largest profit on the same sales. The books with the largest discounts (say more than 50%) were displayed in piles on the floor. This was due to the belief that even if the books weren’t displayed at eye-level, even then the mammoth sale amount would encourage the shoppers to make the effort of bending down to pick up the book. To publicise the sale big red stickers were pasted on the glass walls of the store which can be viewed by the casual shopper passing by the store. Inside the store the discount for each section was mentioned separately through stickers and pointers. Store Loyalty Program A book is generally a product category where the consumer’s involvement with the product (i. e.the book itself) is much higher than his involvement with the store. Even if a person might have store preferences, yet his/her loyalty lies with the book and not with the store. Hence a consumer would not really care much as to whether he bought his/her book at OM Book stores or at Landmark, which is a stones throwaway. Thus in order to boost retention of loyal customers Om book stores has come up with a loyalty program, a privilege card holder concept which is as follows: * 1 point for every Rs. 10 purchase. * Minimum points for redemption are 500 points. * 1 point equals Rs 1 reduction in bill amount. 60-70% of walk-in customers were privilege card holders and the store already has 4500 privilege card holders. The scheme is a moderate success. Store Timings | 11 A. M to 10 P. M ( For Mall)11 A. M to 8 P. M ( For standalone shop not the store we studied)| Working days| All 7 Days of the week| Peak days| Saturday and Sunday| Peak hours| Evenings post 6:00 pm| Staff| 10-12 members including the manager. Manager stands behind the counter at one of the two cash registers. He is accompanied by 2 staff members whose work is to: 1. Use the second cash register for quick transactions during peak hour to prevent long queuing period 2. To get a book for a customer if he/she directly comes to the counter and asks for a specific book. | Floor Staff responsibilities| * Taking care of the specific three to four sections assigned to them. * keeping a track of inventory * Filling the requisition form for the replenishing of stock * Guiding the customers if required * Sticking the barcode behind each new book before placing them on the shelf. | Shifts| There are no shifts; each staff member works throughout the day from 11:00 AM -8:00pm (fixed) and from 8:00pm-10:00pm (variable) depending on the rush. Hence post 8:00 pm the retained staff is paid on overtime basis. | Showrooms (strategic positioning)| NCR – 5 in malls and 2 stand aloneMumbai – 1 stand aloneThe store we studied was in the Promenade mall beside DT cinemas movie ticket counter on the 2nd floor. | Revenues| 1. 5 to 2 Lakhs on weekdays3 to3. 5 Lakhs on weekendsChildren, Fiction – highest selling category (80% of sales)| CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR The product category is such that it involves Limited-Decision Making by the customers. The reasons for purchase of a book from the store can be: * Buying for self- Leisure * Buying for self Knowledge * Buying for Others- Regular * Buying for Others- Situational. The greater the motivation to make an optimal decision, the more likely an attribute-based choice will be made. Thus, attribute-based processing is more likely for an expensive book purchase than it is for an inexpensive magazine. The easier it is to access complete attribute-by-brand information, the more likely attribute-based processing will be used. A variety of situations influence which choice approach is most likely. A book bought with the intention of a gift purchase is assigned more importance than a purchase for oneself. Thus, gift purchases would be more likely to produce attribute-based decision processes. Time pressure is a major determinant of choice process used, with increasing time pressures producing more use of attitude-based decisions. Thus, we can identify 3 major clusters of customers that visit Om Book Shop. Category I: DEDICATED READER This is the kind of person who feels complete with a book in his hand. For him, the behaviour is governed by his choices alone and it is solely his decision. He is always trying to find the time to get back to his book. He is convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more. His primary information search happens within the store only. Category II: LITERATE GOOD CITIZEN This is the kind of person who usually buys a book after reading it review by a critic or an expert. Such a person does more information search before coming to the store. For our respondent group, the most dominant sources for this information were reviews and Bestseller lists published in newspapers, magazines or online blogs and sites likes Amazon. com. Category III: FAD READER This is the kind of person who only reads the popular books/ latest bestsellers so he can be up to date on what other people are talking about and be seen by others as someone who is well read. He often reads for the social credit he can get out of it. His primary information search is more through his friend circle or his group of colleagues from whom he might hear the latest ‘fads’ in terms of books. Such a person could also go in for information search in popular newspapers/magazines or the shares on social media websites. From the interactions with a few customers at the Store, we could find out the following: Social Class| Effect on Book Purchasing Behaviour| Contended Upper-Middle class| Preferences:†Popular fiction† is their favorite category. Read fewer authors. Might read books in vernacular. Purchases: most of them prefer borrowing from friends/library, buy books once in a while. Prefer buying during sales unless the book means a lot to them. Communication: they are most exposed to TV and then the Internet. Reviews from friends also propel them to buy popular books. | Aspiring Upper-Middle Class| Preferences: Like reading a variety of books. They read popular fiction, romance, thriller, and also lots of red classics, classics and mature serious books. Often read books due to peer pressure. The time they can devote to reading is very little because they are usually time-constrained. Purchases: Prefers borrowing books to buying them. Communication: Internet and TV is relatively high, followed by the newspaper. They often read books that are suggested by their friends. Being seen reading particular books gives them a social esteem and acceptance among their peers. | Upper Class | Preferences: prefer a variety of books from contemporary novels, to classics, red classics, neo-classical books, non-fiction and business related books. Hardly read romantic fiction and don’t blindly go for bestsellers. Purchases: convenience is important. If the book is available instantly with a friend they will borrow, else they will buy it without delay, whichever is faster. Communication: Highest exposure to and influence of net (online reviews and blogs) and newspaper. A close friend/colleagues suggestion might matter. They do not read to fit in with their peers. | Upper-Upper class| Preferences: A preference for mature intellectual serious reading and contemporary novels. No â€Å"cheesy romantic novels†. However since Sumedha is a housewife she admits that at times she also likes reading thrillers (fiction). Read a variety of authors. Reading books is a popular leisure activity in this class. Purchases: They purchase the book they want to read, never borrow. Communication: Newspaper, Blogs, online reviews, magazines matter. TV doesn’t play any role and nor do peer group tastes in books. Friends don’t influence their purchase. | Some interesting finds about what customers believe about book reading: * Strongly believed that if parents read book then usually the child inculcates the habit of reading books too. * Felt that girls read more than boys. * Felt that people pick up the habit of reading books in school. * Felt that books influence the internal self. * Felt reading books is an enjoyable activity. * Fiction is the most popular category. * Bestsellers and classics/novels are the next preferred category. * Non-fiction, philosophy/religion/supernatural, business/law books, and books on specific topics of interest are least favoured. RECOMMENDATIONS STORE BASED RECOMMENDATIONS: When we map the Customer decision making process to the Store philosophy and operations we see that OM book store fairs well on certain aspects and do poorly on others. These have been described in greater detail below: Strengths: * Promoting their own OM Publication Om Book stores layout and staff are clearly successful in attracting a majority of the customers to their own publication by strategically placing these books in certain ways. For eg: they have placed OM publisher’s children books on the ground within easy grab opportunity of children who majorly influence the parents buying decision. And this section is placed straight in line with the entrance, i. e. any customer entering the store will be bound to enter this section. However children’s books of other publishers have been placed on the shelves. Further the way the books have been displayed influence buying impulses. Even on the shelf display the store practices discriminatory display policy. They mostly display other books sideways, while at least 1 copy of each of their books have a frontal display. Further to cash in on impulse purchases they have stocked the bestseller section closest to the payment counter and the bestseller section at the mouth of the entrance is stocked only with OM publications. * Cashing in on Impulse Buying. Impulse buying can occur in 2 categories, either in the main category i. e. books, or in the accessory category i. e. pens, magazines, marble papers, key rings etc. Impulse buying can mostly occur in the Fiction, New arrival, Bestseller and Kids section. Hence these sections are kept in the front and a customer walking into the store is bound to encounter these sections because he will be forced to walk into these aisles. Further the right side of the aisle leading from the entry to the payment counter is lined with the best sellers in the respective branch aisle. Hence even if a customer isn’t a management book loyalist, he will still get an exposure to the top selling bestsellers in the management category, and this might interest him enough to buy the book. The categories which are specific to a hobby/work/topic of interest and have low chances of impulse buying have been pushed to the back end of the store so that every customer wouldn’t have to face the hassle of walking through them, which is also unnecessary since impulse buying scope in these sections is very low. A category loyalist would never mind walking up to the category and so there is no loss in customer sales. Impulse buying in knick knack accessories has been promoted by lining the left side of the main aisle from the entrance to the payment counter with pens, magazines, recipe books, horoscope books etc. Bookmarks have been placed on the payment counter. * Very High Discount books displayed on the ground This was a clever move because it saved space, and even though the books weren’t displayed at eye-level or reach level; the prominent low prices would make the customer bend down to pick up the book. Areas that need Improvement * In store shopping experience The lack of sitting availability, coffee counter, spacious movement space might annoy certain segments of book purchases who want to have a leisured nice shopping experience in-store. These customers might want to sit and evaluate the books and go through them. Om book stores would lose out on this segment of customers who wish to get a â€Å"feel† of the book to stores like Landmark and Crossword where furthermore the staffs does not hover around you if you have been in the store for too long. * Online/Flipkart shopping. In all cases where the publisher is not OM Publisher, the prices in the store would be definitely higher than prices on Flipkart since the latter has no middleman margin loss. It is often seen that OM book store purchases from Flipkart hence they can never sell at the same low online price. Further the variety online would be greater and have the benefit of home delivery. Most young or tech savvy customers are moving to Flipkart. The home delivery problem can be solved if the company decides to offer this service to privileged loyal/high potential customers by making them aware of the online purchase option on the OM books store website. They should promote the website. * Neglecting some Book categories The stores strong focus and monumental variety keeping priority in the kids, and fiction category often make certain customers, who are interested in specific work/hobby/topic of interest related categories, feel that the collection in these categories is unsatisfactory. As a solution they could either stock more books in these categories, or if it is not in line with their aim/policy, they can attract customers by giving marginally greater discounts on these books than their competitor stores. * Lack of Clear Sale communication It was often found that though the header of a category column bookshelf read 10% or 20% it still stacked books with higher discounts like 50% and up. This will make the store lose out on prise sensitive sale crazy customers. Additional Recommendations: * The store needs to decide on its vision, mission, and focus and align its product offering and ambience accordingly. If it still wants to differentiate as a non-commercial book stop then it can continue with its current policy and live with losing out some of its customers. Store space limitation is a problem in this particular store for it to provide a Landmark-like offering. * The store should specifically target the loyalist who will in any case come to the book store and purchase all that the book store has to do is to keep the books of their interest. The book store can also take advantage of the Social Conscious nature of North Indians. So they can provide seating within the book stores and so that the consumers can come and sit over which will give them a sense of good feel as they will be recognized by others as an intellectual person. It can also start service like home delivery for consumers like Rajiv who don’t have time to come and buy books although he like to buy them from book stores. * They should try to convey the value of the product. If he’s successful in conveying the value of the product then the marketer i. e. book shop can make the Marwari Baniya loyalist. They should also come out with sales once in a while so that the value buying consumers come in and along with the books giving value they also pick up other books which are not on sale i. e. promote impulse buying behavior. This will increase the customer traffic and also help in increasing revenues. For Bengalis since book reading is a culture so we should have book stores at as many locations as possible and also the marketer should try to make his book shop more popular among the group as they would buy books anyways so if the unaided recall is high then the consumers would go to the books stores. The book stores should also be at strategic locations where the crowd is more * As we can infer, that the person who is highly involved in purchase, will sit in the book shop for a longer time and browse. The book shop staff can go to such person and suggest him some of the latest books which might have come or ask him about his preferences and suggest books accordingly. * Another area which can be tapped is of low product involvement category like people buying for others they are the consumers who spend less time but are generally confused as to what they should buy so the shop staff should help these people in selecting the books and also add relevant suggestion wherever necessary. In this way the person might actually end up buying more than initially thought. SEGMENT BASED RECOMMENDATIONS: DEDICATED READER For the Dedicated Reader, as has been re-iterated time and again external influences do not work for him and if anything he only shirks off popular culture. Self-actualized people have realistic perceptions of themselves, others and the world around them. Thus promotions and marketing efforts have no influence on this category. She/he doesn’t need to be persuaded to read and neither does she/he need any felicitation or acceptance for picking up a book to read. This category needs to be communicated that Om Book Shop (OBS) is a place where she/he will find all the categories of books and that availability r variety is not going to be a problem. The ad pitch to him must re-iterate the points of variety and availability in all categories of books. Since, this category enjoys reading and wants to make an experience.